A Look at Rich History of The Music Box
Psychedelic Godfathers and Punk-Rock Gods Nils Erickson recalls looking up in awe at famed harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite. Erickson was getting ready to run sound for the burgeoning blues legend during a packed show at The Music Box in downtown Omaha. Then, Musselwhite did something Erickson didn't expect. He pulled the youthful sound technician aside. "He told me, you know, some of these kids run sound, but you look like you know what you're doing.” Erickson said. “Get the sound...then go dance." That's what The Music Box was for so many people, a chance to stand mere feet away from rock idols and blues gods—and it was a place that so many countless Omahans used for that purpose exactly. It was a place, and a chance, for a young kid to run sound for a man who would become an icon, and—above all—a place where you always, always could dance.
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60 PLUS • JULY/AUGUST 2021
“It was considered kind of an underground, hippie place in the early ‘70s.” - Nils Erickson
