Omaha – It’s about the local guys.
That’s what Jim Casey was thinking when he created the Nebraska Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the mid-1990s.
Casey, a 59-year-old songwriter who grew up playing in bands in Norfolk before eventually having some success in Nashville, said the hall was meant to honor Nebraska musicians he played with and listened to.
“Here in Nebraska, it’s always been about the local scene,” said Casey, who lives in Lincoln. “We’re not a national scene.”
Casey has made national waves, writing songs recorded by Waylon Jennings and the Oak Ridge Boys.
But his intention with the hall was to honor great players from Nebraska who may or may not have achieved national success.
Today, the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame (the new name after Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame threatened to take legal action against the Nebraska hall) is an online entity that has honored more than 80 musicians, bands, venues and music stores across the state.
Casey has been joined in his effort by some of the Norfolk-area players from his youth, including Mike Semrad, who played with Casey in a band called The Smoke Ring.
The Smoke Ring recorded a song called “No Not Much” that hit the national pop charts in the late 1960s, Casey said.
About 10 years ago, Casey, Semrad and others started holding concerts to honor bands from the state.
“We’d just call the guys and say, ‘Do you think the band could get together and play a half an hour?”‘ Semrad said. “And it worked.”
The efforts eventually included Nebraska musicians from other eras and genres.
Those inducted include Buddy Miles, an Omaha drummer who played with Jimi Hendrix in the Band of Gypsies.
Miles played with Hendrix on New Year’s Eve 1969 and New Year’s Day 1970 at New York’s Fillmore East auditorium. From these concerts sprang a legendary performance of the song “Machine Gun” that has been hailed by critics.
Miles was inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame while performing in Omaha last year.
He said the Nebraska hall was important because it honored excellent musicians who may not have received national attention.
Some of these musicians, Miles said, inspired him to play.
Omaha saxophone player Pres ton Love, who was inducted into the Nebraska hall in 1998, was one such player.
Miles, who lives in Dallas, said his own inclusion was meaningful.
“I’m still a native Omahan,” Miles said.
Others in the Nebraska hall who achieved national success include Omaha’s Roger Williams, who wrote the song “Born Free,” among others, and Scottsbluff’s Randy Meisner, who played bass for the Eagles.
But it’s musicians such as Dan Stoeber, who in the 1960s played in a Fremont band called The 7-Legends, whom Casey was thinking of when he started the hall.
The 57-year-old Stoeber and The 7-Legends were inducted into the Nebraska hall in 2001.
One of the highlights of The 7-Legends’ tenure was placing second out of more than 80 groups in a battle of the bands in Omaha, said Stoeber, who now runs a real estate appraisal business in Fremont.
Among the judges at the battle of the bands that day was Murray Wilson, father of Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. Wilson voted The 7-Legends as the top band that day, Stoeber said.
“That made us feel pretty good,” Stoeber said.
As for future inductees, Casey said he would love to see current Nebraska rockers Bright Eyes, 311 and Matthew Sweet join the hall, along with several lesser-known musicians.
“We want this to be inclusive,” Casey said. “That’s my beef with the national hall of fame, how select it is.”
A call to the hall in Cleveland seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Being an online entity helps the Nebraska hall remain inclusive, Casey said, because it leaves unlimited room for inductees.
That’s not to say a building to honor musicians is not a possibility, but Casey said a Nebraska hall of fame probably would be most successful as a secondary attraction in a restaurant or a dance hall.
“It could still be a great attraction,” Casey said.
“I don’t care if they come in to have a sandwich or have a drink, just as long as you can see it.”
