There Are Giants in the Earth

I interviewed Dan Brennan and Ryan Fox of The '89 Cubs way back in August (I never had a chance to speak with drummer Matt Baum, who fills out the trio). We sat on the deck behind Brennan's house in Little Italy, under a huge oak tree in our T-shirts and shorts. Halfway through the interview it began to rain, but we stayed safe and dry under those branches. There was no Reader assignment in conjunction with our talk; I just wanted to find out the story behind their remarkable then-yet-to-be-released CD, There Are Giants in the Earth. What a lyrical name for a record, but what did it, and the CD, mean?

"It's about transition and death, which is more interesting than singing about girls," said the always quiet, always reserved Fox, whose beard, glasses and wry smile make him look like a grown-up choir boy.

Brennan, on the other hand, looks like that guy you remember from high school -- the one with the wild hair and crazy grin who was always getting sent to detention. "2002 was a good year for death for us," he said. "I lost my brother, and Ryan and Matt both lost grandmothers. Making this record helped each of us individually."

"The losses brought us together," Fox said. "We never talked about it directly."

Fox broke the heavy moment with this story: "I went to lunch with my grandma and played one of our songs for her in the car, and she said she liked it. Then "Benny and the Jets" came on the radio, and she said, 'You sing so much better than this guy.'" Big laughs.

Pretty somber stuff. Balance it by the fact that Brennan and Fox's fathers -- longtime friends and veteran musicians from such bands as The Chevrons, Marquee Review and Bozak and Morrissey -- played guitar on a number of the CD's songs. "It took them a little while to figure out what was going on," Fox said. Those tracks were recorded in a homemade studio at Fox's parent's house in the room next to his parent's bedroom -- which he aptly named Adjacent Magic Studio.

With Fox a member of The Good Life, Baum a member of Desaparecidos and Brennan the touring soundman for Cursive, the Cubs garnered immediate attention from record labels, specifically NYC's Arena Rock Records, who began courting the band way back in June 2003 with talk of a recording budget, profit splits, the usual record deal mumbo-jumbo.

To seal the deal, Baum and Fox flew out to Brooklyn on their own dime to meet with Arena Rock label executive Greg Glover while Brennan also was in town on a Cursive tour. Glover gave the band the run-around up until their last day in NYC. "Then he calls us and says to meet him at this bar," Fox recalled. "After 15 minutes of chitchat, he said, 'We'll figure it out. I'll come out to Omaha.' We didn't hear from him again for a couple weeks. I asked in an e-mail if we were 'still dating,' and he said the label had overextended itself and couldn't do anything with us."

It was a crippling set-back, but just when all hope seemed lost, along came Ezra Caraeff of Portland's Slowdance Records. The label ended up releasing the CD in October. One of the driving factors for signing them? "They can probably out drink any band on the label," Caraeff said, "a talent which will probably sell few records, but impresses me greatly."

With Caraeff's comments, I thought I had the story, but it wasn't until after the interview that I really came to understand the gravity of the CD's title. That's when I bumped into Brennan again at O'Leaver's and he added an important detail. Though each one of the band member's losses had been giant in its own way, it was Brennan's brother, Tim, who fit the description from a stature standpoint.

"Tim was a big person," Brennan said of his brother, who had suffered with health problems his entire life. Despite constant setbacks, he had always kept in good spirits and was a joy to be around. "Everyone who met him loved him. He was a funny guy, and he just loved life."

A giant indeed.

Check out The '89 Cubs Thursday night (Dec. 23) at The Ranch Bowl where they headline a show with Ted Stevens & Dan McCarthy and Mal Madrigal.

Notes, Reviews and Rumors...

Some notes and rumors picked up from a weekend of shows, starting with VHS or Beta Saturday night at Sokol Underground: I came expecting Duran Duran and left thinking The Cure and The Church, two other bands from a decade that VHS or Beta apparently would like to permanently be immersed in. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about the sound mix screamed "single's bar cover band." Maybe it was the thump-thump-thump of the electronic drums or the shimmer of their glam-hair power chords. Comparing them to the latest cadre of electronic dance outfits, one guy I spoke to said they were better than Radio 4, but not as good as !!! I thought they fell somewhere below The Rapture on the list. The 130 or so on hand loved it, though, which makes me wonder if the re-emergence hair bands is in our future.

Fresh from a successful European tour, non-Creek Omaha supergroup Statistics opened the show with a new, stripped down line-up. No more fiddling with keyboards and sample tracks for frontman Denver Dalley. Instead it was just him on guitar, bassist Jon Tvrdik (Back When, Plosion), and drummer Corey Broman (Son, Ambulance; Kite Pilot), creating something harder than anything heard on Dalley's records. Without the keyboards, Statistics sounds even more like The Cure. Expect more of this style of tonal rock when Dalley and Co. enter Presto! Studios in January to record their new album with A.J. Mogis.

I received a certain amount of razzing throughout the evening about last week's column, where I erroneously reported that The River's new indie music show would launch on Sunday. In fact, New Day Rising, hosted by Eric Ziegler and Dave Leibowitz, will (probably) start this Sunday if they can get all the pre-recorded accoutrements (bumpers, promos, etc.) completed in time. Leibowitz pointed out that they will be playing some Saddle Creek music during the show after all, just not any on the River's regular rotation.

Other news from last weekend:

-- Neva Dinova has completed mastering their new CD, and has found a new label to release the album in February 2005. I guess that means the end of their relationship with Crank! Records.

-- Music goers at Austin's South By Southwest -- one of the industry's largest music festivals -- will have to wait another year for a Saddle Creek showcase. Label guy Jason Kubel says Creek was originally planning on hosting a showcase this year, but that the bands' conflicting schedules made it impossible.

-- If you're used to showing up at 1 Percent Production rock shows after 11 because they never start on time, you better change your plans. Marc Leibowitz and Jim Johnson -- the 1 Percent guys -- swear that shows will begin at 9 p.m. sharp beginning Jan. 1. The hope is to finish shows earlier in the evening -- a welcome change for all of us who have to get up the next morning. PS: I'll believe it when I see it.

-- Omaha Americana rock band Anonymous American is headed on a 10-day tour to the West Coast starting with a Jan. 1 gig at The Larimer Lounge in Denver, followed by gigs in Albuquerque, Phoenix, and three dates in L.A. before returning Jan. 9. Word has it that label execs may be audience at some LA dates.

-- Two-thirds of the boys in The Sons of… have formed a new band called The Third Men. Joining veteran guitarist Matt Rutledge, bassist Mike Tulis and drummer Mike Loftus is guitarist/vocalist Pat White of Iowa City's Bent Scepters. Check out their debut Thursday night at O'Leaver's.

I closed out last weekend by catching a set by Citizen's Band at O'Leaver's Sunday night. I reviewed the band's debut EP a couple years ago and always felt I was a bit, well, harsh, calling their music "watered down, relatively boring stuff that wanders and repeats more than it rocks." Despite those cruel words, the band invited me to check out their new set, saying it had a "1990s SST mentality." Well, I didn't notice any SST influence. Instead, their all-instrumental numbers sported a distinct Santana vibe, thanks to the guitar solos laced throughout their four-chord, progressive jams. Very '70s FM. It's still not my thing, but I can't deny that they're amazing musicians. Looks like I'm getting soft in my old age.

• Someone e-mailed me to say that Tim Kasher WILL NOT be playing Saturday night at O'Leaver's. The line-up will be Outlaw Con Bandana, McCarthy Trenching, and Jake Bellows (Neva Dinova). Still a quality show. Incidentally, O'Leaver's finally updated their calendar.
  
  
• Dave Leibowitz posted a message on the webboard saying that New Day Rising, the new indie music radio show that he's hosting with Eric Ziegler on The River starting Sunday, Dec. 19, will in fact include music from Saddle Creek bands -- just not Creek bands that are heard in The River's regular rotation. Perhaps we'll get to hear Son, Ambulance's new stuff on the airwaves after all.
  
  
• Someone on the webboard also mentioned that UNO has a local/indie music show, available on the Internet (from here). UNO always had a student-run station other than KVNO, even when I was earning my valuable degree. According to their site, they'll begin broadcasting again on 93.7 FM, but only on campus. The dream has been to figure out a way to get the station heard throughout the city and make it the equivalent of KRNU in Lincoln. It'll never happen.

New Day Rising: Indie Music Returns to Omaha's Air Waves

It always seemed somewhat ironic that Omaha has become this so-called "center of the indie music world," yet none of the music from that world can be heard on the radio waves within its borders. Important national touring indie bands come through town all the time and draw respectfully well without an ounce of radio support. The only way anyone finds out about these shows is through articles in The Reader, websites (lazy-i comes to mind), word of mouth and show posters and fliers.

All that will likely change Sunday, Dec. 19, at 11 p.m., when Omaha's only college rock station, 89.7 FM The River, launches a new, locally produced two-hour radio show whose focus will be, believe it or not, indie music.

Omaha's had indie radio shows before, most recently "Pirate Radio," hosted at the same 11 to 1 a.m. Sunday night timeslot on 93.3 KRCK -- the grunt-rock station that became The Dam and now spins "legendary American country." Hosted by Saddle Creek main man Robb Nansel and Good Life drummer Roger Lewis, Pirate Radio was a laid-back (some would say unstructured) two hours of indie rock, where you were bound to hear a couple songs by Cursive or Bright Eyes. My fondest memory of Pirate Radio was being a guest host and hearing callers requesting Korn, Metallica and Limp Bizkit songs throughout the entire two hours. Typical call: "Dude, something's wrong with your station. Turn this shit off and play 'Freak on a Leash!'").

Now comes "New Day Rising" (For you younguns, that's a tip o' the hat to Husker Du), hosted by Eric Ziegler, manager of Homer's Old Market store, and Dave Leibowitz, former head of Mafia Money Records out of Madison, Wisconsin, who just moved back to the Big O.

Ziegler says their show will plow similar ground as Pirate Radio, with a play list derived from the College Music Journal charts. CMJ has become the defacto bible of college radio stations all over the country, and indie music is at its very core. Just don't use the "I" word around Ziegler. Call it "College music" or "Underground" or even "Alternative" (though that word was bastardized long ago by the likes of Creed and Matchbox 20, who are about "alternative" as Britney Spears).

Ziegler says the term "Indie" turns people off. It's at once too broad (What is indie, anyway?) and too confining (Like "emo," no one wants the term applied to their music), with baggage that conjures images of pasty scenester kids squeezed into youth medium-sized T-shirts, with dyed-black hair and thick, clunky glasses.

Instead, the show's play list will be all over the map, even beyond CMJ. "We'll play anything from Bauhaus to The Replacements to My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult to The Smiths and Pavement."

Isn't that oldie indie? "The thing is to play newer music -- the stuff the kids are into -- and also keep listeners our age (i.e., in their 30s) intrigued. We want to throw in a couple gems to educate people. Half the kids today don't know who Joy Division is, but will listen to all the bands that were influenced by them."

The key, Ziegler said, is variety -- underground metal next to underground hip-hop, a Shins song followed by the new one from Mastodon. Expect local music, too, but no Saddle Creek artists. "We might stay away from Bright Eyes and The Faint," Ziegler said. "That stuff's already on The River's regular play list." They'll also avoid music heard on The River's local-music show, Planet O.

Could the show's success influence The River's regular play list? Ziegler hopes so. "I would suffer through Slipknot to hear TV on the Radio." But considering the success of the station's current goon-rock format, any change seems unlikely.

Stronger than Bombs: Willy Mason Blows Up All Over the Indie Scene

Why Willy Mason for a first column? He's not even from Nebraska let alone Omaha, and isn't the focus supposed to be on "local music with an indie slant"?

Well, Mason holds the austere honor of being the second act to have a CD released on the horribly named Team Love Records -- Saddle Creek Records' so-called "sister label" owned and operated by a pair of New Yorkers, one of which has Omaha ties. Maybe it's a bit presumptuous to call Conor Oberst a New Yorker, but it sure seems like he's been spending a lot of time in his Manhattan apartment these days, lots more than he's spending in his Omaha home. Heck, according to the OWH, he didn't even come home for Thanksgiving. What kind of no-good son is he, anyway?

Team Love appears to be the place where all the acts that couldn't get signed to Saddle Creek get a second life, at least if they know Conor. Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley fame -- that's the band that fled Saddle Creek for a posh deal with Warner Bros. disguised as their vanity Brute/Beaute label -- just announced that she's got a solo record coming out on Team Love. And everyone's favorite suburban white-boy rappers, Team Rigge (a.k.a. Ian McElroy and Clark Baechle), already have put tracks from their upcoming Team Love release on the label's website for free download (Eminem watch out!). But mystery man Willy Mason seems to be the exception to the rule. No one 'round these parts ever heard of the guy before his name showed up on the Team Love website, along with a handful of working man glamour shots.

That's because Mason made Oberst's acquaintance by sheer luck. Via a call from Chicago a few days after his recent Omaha gig, Mason told me the Hollywood movie version of how he fell into Conor's life (For reference, think of the shitty Cameron Crowe rock epic Almost Famous). Seems a friend of Mason's dad owned a local radio station on "the island" -- Mason's vernacular for his hometown of Martha's Vineyard -- and asked Willy if he would play a song on the air during his Friday night show. Turns out an associate of Oberst's, Sean Foley, who works in the production office at NYC's Irving Plaza, was driving through Cape Cod and heard the performance. He liked it enough to leave his phone number at the station.

"I thought it was cool that someone from New York had heard it," Mason said. "He started sending me CDs of bands he thought I'd like -- a lot of Saddle Creek stuff like Cursive, Rilo Kiley and Bright Eyes. It was like another scene of kids had popped up that I felt I could relate to even though they lived in a different part of the country."

Foley invited Mason to see Bright Eyes perform in Northampton, Mass. In no time, Mason, Oberst and the rest of his crew hit it off and presumably partied the night away. "I woke up on their tour bus in Vermont, and that night Conor, without warning, called me onto the stage. That was my first gig off of the island. The whole thing was surreal." Afterward, Mason, a high school student at the time, ended up hitching a ride with a fan headed back to the Berkshires, where he hopped a bus and made it back in time for his second-period class.

Foley soon began lining up shows for Mason, who would stay at Oberst's apartment whenever he was in Manhattan. "We were walking through the East Village one day, and Conor told me he was starting a record label and would love to do some stuff with me."

The rest, as they say, is history, or is becoming history. Mason's debut, Where the Humans Eat, was released in October and already has garnered praise on both sides of the Atlantic. The British newspaper The Independent called the track "Oxygen" (which just happens to be the song Foley heard on that fateful drive-by) "an anthem to generosity of spirit, a hymn to a better, buried America, 'stronger than bombs' and 'cooler than TV.'" Better watch your step, Conor. Your student could quickly become your master.

Cub Country – Dec. 1, 2004

Just placed online, a profile of Chapel Hill's Cub Country (read it here). The Cub in charge, Jeremy Chatelain, talks about being raised in the "cultural vacuum" of Salt Lake City as a Mormon and how it affected his future in music. Chatelain's been in a couple renowned bands -- metal/core band Handsome and indie band Jets to Brazil. He says he's played shows in Omaha eight times in the past -- four in Handsome and four in Jets. "First time through there was about 15 years ago," he said. "The kid we stayed with took us down to the Old Market to some really cool record store and a cool pizza place." Now what could he be talking about? He said both were gone last time he came through... He was quite excited when I told him about O'Leaver's. "I specified (to my booking agency) that I wanted to play small clubs. It's gonna make more sense. Cub Country is by no means a big band. We're a tiny band." But if his old Jets and Handsome fans come out next Monday night, something tells me O'Leaver's might get packed.

Come back later tonight (or tomorrow morning) when I post the first column for The Reader, which talks about how Willy Mason met Team Love.

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Live Review: The Arcade Fire, Kite Pilot – Nov. 30, 2004

Those Arcade Fire guys aren't a-holes after all, at least not their drummer, who chatted with me back by the soundboard before Kite Pilot took the stage last night at Sokol Underground in front of an impressive crowd of 300. Funny and kinetic, the Montrealean talked about Canada and America and how much he liked being here. It's not America that Canadians don't like, it's gee dubya, and who can blame them? And it's not smoky bars that they hate, it's... well, actually they do hate smoky bars, so much so that the band taped hand-made signs throughout Sokol asking patrons to please not smoke in the main hall "at the request of the band." The tactic was surprisingly effective, at least until they got on stage.

Those who arrived late missed what was Kite Pilot's finest live set. Playing songs off their EP, everything seemed lighter and quicker, on target and upbeat. All were on their best game, including substitute drummer Jeremy Stanosheck, who took Corey Broman's place while he's on tour with Statistics. For many, it was the first time seeing Kite Pilot, and judging by the people gravitating around their merch table during the set, they left a good impression. Bassist/backing vocalist Austin Britton said KP is headed back to the studio in early 2005 to record a new full-length, and then they'll fish it around to the labels to see if any will bite. Something tells me they will.

Then came Arcade Fire. The six-piece band crowded a stage lit with two Christmas-light lawn deer and assorted instruments. Win Butler towered front-and-center like a good frontman should, singing in his perfect David Byrnesian chirp. Live, their music was even more upbeat than on their smash CD (though I thought the sound was a little too bassy). This was the first band I've heard in a while where people in the crowd knew the record well enough to comment on every song -- this in spite of the fact that you'll never hear this band played on an Omaha radio station.

Arcade Fire ended their hour-long set with a three-song encore that included a rickshaw cover of Talking Heads' "This Must be the Place" as well as a brand-new song that Win introduced by saying "we're gonna try a new one, you can leave now if you like." Needless to say, no one did. A great show.

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A new column; the Arcade Fire tonight... – Nov. 29, 2004

Delays, delays... I spent the morning writing a feature on Cub Country as well as reworking the first installment of a new column that'll be appearing in The Reader and on Lazy-i, likely named after this very website. It'll focus on the local scene, with the first installment featuring an interview with Team Love badboy Willy Mason. That one, along with Cub Country, will be online and in print Wednesday.

The column will give me some breathing room at The Reader, allowing me to write about topics other than just features on upcoming bands touring through the area. Look for topics ranging from local radio, venues, trends and of course, bands including and beyond those signed to a certain Omaha-based record label. Hey, there's more to life than Saddle Creek. Lot's more. There also will be breaking news sprinkled among the text when space allows...

Anyway, tonight's big show is The Arcade Fire, a little band that's become a huge band virtually overnight. The fact that they're playing Sokol Underground at this stage in the game is somewhat amusing, considering their distaste for "dingy smoky bars." A glance at their website shows that they've been moving their shows to bigger venues in some cities to compensate for larger crowds. While that won't be necessary in Omaha, I think the promoter will be pleasantly surprised at the size of the turnout, that is if the buzz has made it to Omaha. Get there early for the opening act, a personal favorite of mine called Kite Pilot. This could be the biggest crowd this little local band has ever played in front of. Can you say "turning point"?

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Live Review: Mal Madrigal, Manishevitz, Edith Frost – Nov. 28, 2004

I go to a lot of shows. This is a fact. And often I see what I expect to see and little more. But every once in a while I get a surprise -- something I was completely not expecting. Such was the case with Manishevitz, the second band on the line-up last night. I gave these guys the best endorsement I can possibly give any band, and haven't done at a local show in a long, long time. I bought a copy of the latest CD -- a miracle of idiocy considering I have about 50 CDs piled at my feet at this very moment that I haven't listened to -- the last thing I need is another one. But I couldn't leave without picking up a copy. I had to hear if they sounded as good on CD as they sounded last night on stage. But I'll get to that in a moment.

First up was Mal Madrigal. The lineup for this version was frontman Steve Bartolomei, Mike Saklar on guitar, Ryan Fox on bass and keyboards, and Dan McCarthy on banjo and other assorted instruments. Judging by how the crowd waned as the night went on, most of the 75 to 100 that showed up were there to see Mal, and I doubt any of them left disappointed. Just like every other set I've seen Bartolomei and company play, the music was right on, introspective and always tuneful. Bartolomei has a clear, grainy voice that sounds like he's been doing this sort of thing for 20 years instead of 20 months. Saklar's guitar tones add stark shadows and bright colors on songs already lush with Bartolomei's own guitar and the skillful work of the other sidemen. Given a chance by a larger audience and an astute record label, only good will come of this band. Speaking of CDs for sale, Bartolomei bashfully said from the stage that he constructed 10 copies of his CDR for anyone who wanted one and if he ran out that he'd "figure something out" for anyone else. Sure enough, he sold all 10 right after his set. They're gonna be collector's items, I tell ya…

Then along came Manishevitz. I had no idea who they were, just some band from Chicago. The five-piece included two guitars, a bass, drums and a guy who alternated between baritone and tenor sax and flute. Musically they reminded me of a combination of The Feelies and The Wedding Present, while Adam Busch's vocals were the same clipped, hiccup of early David Byrne, Ric Ocasek and Lou Reed. And you could leave it there if not for Nate Lepine's saxophone and flute work, which threw everything out of whack in a good way. Lepine along with lead guitarist Via Nuon led counter-melodies that balanced the straight chop rock chords and locomotive rhythm parts. At times Lepine simply added more bottom with his bari-sax, at others he peppered songs with a contrite, upper-register flute counter, but most often he laid down a strange, throaty rock via the tenor. Some songs found a groove that the band was smart enough to draw out for extended jams that I would have been happy to hear for 20 minutes or more, all the time Lepine threw in colorful improvisations on his sax that never got in the way or were cheesy. Unfortunately, you only get a small taste of those Feelies-like jams on their latest CD, City Life, released on Jagjaguwar in 2003 (which I'm listening to as I write this) -- the recording being a more straight-forward approach than we saw on stage. Manishevitz is probably the best "discovery band" I've heard at the Underground this year, and discovering them makes up for all those smoky nights when I was treated to the usual predictability. Quite a find indeed.

Last up was Edith Frost, of course. I had a vague idea of what I was in for and pretty much got what I expected -- nice, folky tunes bordering on country singer-songwriter fare from a woman with a voice that lies somewhere between Mary Lou Lord and Kristin Hersh. She started alone, but as the night wore on, members of Manishevitz backed her up, most notably bassist Ryan Hembrey, who added some rich harmony vocals and guitarist Nuon, whose subtle touch brought on a whole new depth and edge to fairly typical folk songs. By the end of the evening, the Frost and the band were a full-throttle rock outfit a la Throwing Muses, rife with noise and distortion -- quite a contrast from where Frost starting things off.

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Mal Madrigal tonight with Edith Frost and Manishevitz... – Nov. 27, 2004

As the headline said, that's the show of the night, down at Sokol Underground. Get there early to see Mal Madrigal. It should be a relatively quiet, intimate evening of arty folk music, perfect for that after-Thanksgiving vibe. Kyle Harvey, Little Brazil and Anonymous American will be playing to a crammed 49'r tonight.

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The Arcade Fire online; Ointments (Kyle Harvey), LB and S,A (?) @ O'leaver's; Floating Opera/Shelterbelt at Sokol – Nov. 26, 2004

You might get a sense from reading my story that The Arcade Fire is less than interested in doing press these days (read it here). Why should they? They are, after all, the hottest band in the world, right? The phone pass-around scenario mentioned in my story was awkward, and instead of being funny ha-ha it came off funny asshole. But, hey, come on, they don't really need us little guys anymore, do they? Funeral probably will be the album of the year, whether you like these guys or not. As interviews go, Richard Parry was, uh, less than interesting. Since he didn't write the lyrics he didn't really know what the record was about, or at least that's what he implied. At least he pulled out the comments about Bowie and Byrne. Judging by what's online, it doesn't sound like Niz over at The Omaha World-Herald had a very good time with these Canadian lads either, but at least she got to talk to Win. Too bad he didn't want to talk to her (read Niz's story here).

Tonight's winding up to be one of the biggest show nights of the year. Top drawer is Kyle Harvey and the Ointments with Little Brazil and Son, Ambulance (probably) at O'Leaver's. Next drawer is Floating Opera, Shelter Belt, and Papers at Sokol (Luigi's on that one as well. Guess what, guys, Luigi was a clever novelty when The Faint had him opening for them. Now he's just boring). Then there's various shows at Mick's, The Ranch Bowl and elsewhere. If you miss Harvey, who's in town this week for the holidays, you can catch him tomorrow night at The 49'r with Little Brazil again.

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Mal Madrigal feature online; Anonymous American tonight… – Nov. 24, 2004

Just posted a profile of Mal Madrigal a.k.a. Omaha singer-songwriter Steve Bartolomei and friends (read it here). Steve talks about the making of his new, unavailable CD which you should ask him about at Sokol Saturday, when he and his band open for Edith Frost. He probably won't have one, but it's worth a shot. I've got one and I'm not giving it back -- I know that once he gets signed and discovered that this little baby is gonna be worth serious ka-ching on good ol' e-bay.

I'm tempted to drop by Mick's in Benson tonight to see Anonymous American with Springhill Mine Disaster, though I'm somewhat concerned that it'll be too packed to move in there (