One problem with The Saddle Creek Bar is that they don't promote their shows very well. Last night they had one of the better local-band line-ups that I've seen in a while: Paper Owls, Lincoln's Floating Opera, Drakes Hotel all opening for out-of-town band The Daredevil Christopher Wright. I found out about the show at around 7 last night. I mentioned it to someone online who said he would have gone had he known about it ahead of time. Was it on the Saddle Creek Bar calendar? I don't know because their site's show list looks all jumbled on my PC, dates overlapping dates. I've become too dependent on the Slam Omaha calendar (where SCB shows aren't listed) and other online sources for show info (SCB isn't the only venue with this problem. These days I have no idea who's playing at The 49'r now that their site is gone and they don't update their MySpace page). I guess the rule of thumb is to start looking at those show posters whenever I'm in the clubs.

The band order according to the e-mail I received yesterday was supposed to be Paper Owls, Drakes Hotel, Floating Opera and the out of town band. The order last night was Drakes Hotel, Floating Opera, the out of town band and Paper Owls. As a result, I missed Drakes, saw Floating Opera and wasn't willing to hang around for the last two bands. Drakes and Floating Opera were who I really wanted to see, having just seen Paper Owls a few weeks ago. I guess one of out two ain't bad. At least I got home early.

Floating Opera was a curiosity. I've heard their recordings over the years but have never seen them play. Last night the band consisted of a bass, keyboards, guitar, violin and vocalist. No drums. Seems like they had drums on their records. In fact, I remember them being a little bit "rockier" than last night's set of lullabies, sweet tunes that relied on the frowning candy-voiced front-woman, hidden behind a music stand, to carry the day. All the musicians were talented, but the songs were just too saccharine-flavored, except for one number that kinda rocked in a Dixie Chicks sort of way, but still came off limp without drums -- the bass, electric guitar and keyboards doing their damdest to provide a backbone while the violin filled in with quick-fingered arpeggios. They seemed uninspired, maybe because they were playing to around 20 people.

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I mentioned a few weeks go in this here blog how when I interviewed Conor Oberst in February the only local band he mentioned liking was Capgun Coup. Well, Oberst repeated himself yesterday in Rolling Stone online (here). Says Oberst: "There's a band from Omaha that's amazing called Cap Gun Coup, they're my favorite Omaha band right now. It's a full band, four or five people, and they made this great record - it's sort of all over the place, pretty weird indie rock." So how much is it worth to be name-checked in Stone by Oberst? Will Merge (or Sony) be calling them to set up a record deal? What about Team Love?

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Tonight is the start of three big evenings at The Waiting Room when The Bad Canadians open for San Francisco's The Dodos, a guitar-and-drum combo that sounds like an indie band backed by an Indian tribe. Hey, Matt, hate to break it to you, but there's already a band called Bad Canadians on Myspace, and they're from Spain!

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Tomorrow in Lazy-i, an interview with the lovely Cripple Lilies, who are playing at the Saddle Creek Bar Saturday (now that's how you promote a show)…

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