Maha Music Festival: More main stage artists announced

More of today's festival news: Welcome J. Mascis and The Reverend Horton Heat to the lineup of Maha Music Festival.

You know Mascis as the frontman of indie group Dinosaur Jr. At the moment, Mascis is supporting his latest solo effort, "Several Shades of Why," which is a mostly acoustic endeavor released on Sub Pop.

The Reverend Horton Heat - both the man and the psychobilly trio - apparently have quite the manic live show and are known for being incredibly entertaining. Honestly, I've never seen them, but I've always heard great things.

While I'm not a Mascis fan (feel free to read either of my posts about him from SXSW '10 and '11), he obviously has a great following. Both are fine additions to the lineup, which also includes Guided By Voices, Cursive and Matisyahu.

That's a solid group of artists from top to bottom. Who's the signature act? Hard to say. Probably Guided By Voices because of the reunion aspect.

Most of these groups' fan bases skew a bit older than other indie rock bands, but I'm not sure if that's a bad thing. People in their 30s tend to be able to buy more tickets than 20-something hipsters.

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In related news, the festival has announced three of its local artists and a new showcase format (which I pretty much love).

Noah's Ark Was A Spaceship, The So-So Sailors and The Machete Archive will all play the Maha local stage AND they will each curate and headline a showcase at one of three area venues before the festival.

Noah's Ark will play the Waiting Room on June 22, Machete will play Duffy's Tavern in Lincoln on June 30 and the Sailors will play Slowdown on July 28.

One additional local band will be selected by winning the OEA Awards' summer showcase on July 8-9. Fans get to vote and the band with the most votes win.

I think the format (picking the local artists and then showcasing local talent by letting the band pick its favorites) is a great way to run the local stage. And it's a great way to build buzz for the festival.

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Certainly all of that is well worth your $30. Seriously, at least a couple of those bands have charged nearly as much to see just them, let alone five other good bands.

Get your tickets at etix.com.