You’ve seen him around Omaha. The long silver hair, the thin, peaceful face. You may know him as the bass player for Goodbye Sunday, the General Manager at Homer’s Music & Gifts, the host of “Sunday Morning,” on 89.7 The River. or the columnist about Omaha music for The City Weekly. Maybe you’ve seen him at one of your shows. As a music fan, you won’t find many people out there more supportive of local bands. I’m talking about Mike Fratt, and he’s been a mainstay on the Omaha scene for many years.
I hit him up with “Five Questions” through Facebook.
1) Q: How’s the music career going?
A: Career, pretty well. I’ve been running Homers for about 5 years now and I’m thankful we still have 4 stores in a challenging industry and economy.
I serve on 2 national music industry boards; National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM, narm.com) and hold the small indie seat on that board w/ amazon, best buy, verizon, nokia, itunes, walmart, etc, and I am a board member and Program Committee Chair for the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS, cimsmusic.com) and in January completed a 3 year term as Music Nominating Chair for the OEAs. This means I get to travel for biz about 8 times a year and I enjoy that.
I write a column about the music biz for the City Weekly, host and program a sunday morning “Triple A” show on the 89.7 the River and it’s number 1 in it’s time slot, and then of course, the band, Goodbye Sunday.
2) Q: What’s happening this summer for you?
A: Summer is good and every weekend seems to be scheduled for the entire summer with music and household projects. Can’t seem to fimd enough time to get out on my bicycle, though.
3) Q: What’s been the most exciting thing to happen to you in the past 6 months?
A: Getting re-elected to a second term on the NARM board and acquiring the Program Chair on CIMS board and finishing the band’s 3rd EP.
4) Q: Tell me about any new recording(s) you may be part of?
A: We just wrapped a new EP and just need to master it. Should be out within a month.
5) Q: Personal Life? Got one?
A: I’m single but seeing a nice woman right now and she enjoys live music which is pretty important if you’re going to be around me.
Check Goodbye Sunday out live, they will be playing next on June 20 at Slowdown with Shiver Shiver and Black Squirrels. Click the Slowdown link to purchase tickets on-line.
maryxo 