Nah'vermind: The Nah Collective takes over the OT & takes hold of a new era

Listen Up Toledo  |  05/16/2013

The Nah Collective takes over the Ottawa Tavern this weekend, bringing not just a celebration of music and art, but opportunity for artists too.

"Steve Warstler and I have been working together with for the past 5 years with our band Mind Fish, but we have decided to start a record label. With all the lessons we've learned along the way we feel that we can help artists reach their goals as artists and as entrepreneurs," said Dean Tartaglia, who is co-organizing the weekend event.

With simply stated goal of creating and collaborating, Tartaglia and Warstler plan to offer assistance to local acts for short run CD and vinyl pressings and distribution. "Gone is the model of going through disc makers and selling CD's at $10 a pop. Our main goal is physical distribution with DIY ethics and working on the artist's budget. We make handmade cases and insert album covers with burned CD's. We do small runs often so artists can pay us back and then make a profit," Tartaglia said. This new model is based on his own experience. "We sell CD's as 'pay what you want'; with our first release of Silent Lions' The Parliaments we made back more money on 'pay what you want' than if we would have if we'd have priced it for a dollar a song. It's all about being honest, humble and realistic with the community, who knows artists need to make a living," he said.

While Friday will serve as a debut for the business side of The Nah Collective, it too will serve as a debut for its incorporation of art and community. On Friday, Mind Fish will debut a new t-shirt designed by Matt Taylor of Devicious along with its live performance and will see the release of a new EP by Rollergirl of Athens, OH. On Saturday, Silent Lions will roll out The Parliaments on vinyl and will perform along with Detroit's Palaces. On Sunday, the weekend comes to a close as Swap Meet II fills the OT. Conceived as a smart, fun way to shop on a slim budget, Swap Meet will see more than 100 local fashion seekers trading in old duds for new, creating a win-win all around. Warstler was instrumental in the planning.

"It's all about fueling the fire in the local and regional scene. This isn't a project for extra credit, we just want people to know that they have financial options as artists. We're excited to help people reach new artistic heights," Tartaglia said.

The Nah Collective takes over the Ottawa Tavern (1815 Adams Street) this weekend, May 17-19. Music starts nightly at 10pm. For more information, visit www.nahcollective.com, www.otavern.com, or RSVP on Facebook.