Column 57: Crystal Ball Gazing Pt. 2.
Premonitions for 2006

Look, it's very unlikely that I could outdo the unholy performance of my 2005 predictions (see last week's column). I know this. So much so that I considered taking my crystal ball to Sol's and trading it in for a second-hand shotgun or an 8-track-tape player. But, knowing how much you, the reader, depend on my precognitive skills, here are my visions of 2006.

Prediction: This music scene was built from a concrete bunker on Leavenworth Street called The Cog Factory. Just about every significant band of the current era either performed or watched a performance at the all-ages shithole during their creative infancy. Under a cloud of IRS controversy, the Cog closed its doors in 2001. Now as we reach the end of the Omaha music scene's second Golden Age, the next generation of bands will see the opening of a new, all-ages performance space in '06 that caters to high-school kids who've reached the age of anger and dissent. If the operators of this nonprofit venue are wise, they'll consider resurrecting the Cog Factory name, as blasphemous as that sounds.

Prediction: Living rooms will be introduced to Omaha music via a new weekly television program broadcast on one of the four local affiliates. Focusing exclusively on original music, the show will include interviews and taped performances from local bands (including Creek artists).

Prediction: Instead of a slew of music stores closing their doors, a couple new stores will open in '06 selling a combination of new and used CDs, collectables and Urban Outfitter-style apparel.

Prediction: Adding to the resurrection of independent record stores, national box chains (Best Buy, Target, but probably not Wal Mart) that successfully lured unsophisticated music buyers by offering new releases at fire sale prices will get out of the music biz altogether after the major labels finally drop CD prices below the $10 mark. Look for new CDs as low as $8.99 and $9.99.

Prediction: Meanwhile, to make up for this generosity, those greedy major-label bastards will force Apple's hand to introduce a tiered pricing scheme on i-Tunes. The oldies will still cost 99 cents to download, while new tracks by craptacular acts like Britney, Kanye and Stefani will run $1.29 or more. Promised cheaper prices for Freedom Rock classics will never materialize.

Prediction: We're all going to have to keep waiting for that next important music trend to emerge. The only trend in '06 will be more indie bands signing to majors (who will continue to water down their already tired sound), as well as the prolonged country music and retro-electronic/dance music revivals.

Prediction: Bands we'll be talking about this time next year: Morrissey, New Order/Joy Division, Radiohead, Modest Mouse, The Postal Service, Prince, Tilly and the Wall, Ladyfinger, Cursive, Sarah Benck, The Cure, The Who, David Bowie and Simon Joyner.

Prediction: Bands we won't be talking about: Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, Bright Eyes, U2, Kanye West, The White Stripes, Fitty, Fall Out Boy, Franz Ferdinand, Wilco and Ryan Adams.

Prediction: All of Michael Jackson's personal and legal troubles will come to an end in '06.

Prediction: In a maverick move, One Percent Productions will enter partnerships with a number of large venues in markets outside of Omaha and Lincoln. It's their next step as they evolve into a regional music promotion powerhouse. Marc and Jim in business suits? Unfortunately, yes.

Prediction: Slowdown, the highly anticipated downtown Saddle Creek Records office/music venue/bar/retail space/condos/movie theater/pizza place, won't open in the fall of 2006, as had been announced. But look out 2007.

Prediction: Like the guest who arrives at the party long after everyone's left, a local radio station will switch formats, giving Omaha its first true indie/college radio station. Regardless, local music snobs will still complain that it isn't playing "the right music."

Prediction: With the emergence this year of video i-Pods, myspace and satellite radio, technology will take a breather in '06. The division won't be between Sirius and XM radio users, but between those who listen to satellite radio and the rest of us.

Prediction: I say it every year and I'm gonna say it again: A non-Saddle Creek act from Omaha or Lincoln will make an appearance on a late-night chat show -- Conan, Carson Daly, Craig Ferguson, etc. Meanwhile, this year Bright Eyes will be a "special musical guest" on an episode of Saturday Night Live. It's going to happen this year, by cracky!

Column 56: Crystal Ball Gazing, Pt. 1
Glimpses forward, glimpses back

One of the more popular articles I write each year is my "predictions" story. So controversial was it last year that those ignoble poets of the airwaves, Todd & Tyler, skewered me over it during their dreadful morning show. The sods. I'll be using this column next week to give you, gentle reader, a glimpse at what lies ahead for '06. But first, let's look at how I did with my predictions published Jan 5, 2005:

Prediction: "Podcasting" will begin to replace traditional radio broadcasting, acting like an audio version of TiVo. Reality: In June, Apple added podcasts to its I-Tunes music store, giving easy access more than 3,000 downloadable podcasts. Today just about every popular radio show has a podcast counterpart.

Prediction: Watch out for Mash-Ups -- a music craze where DJs/remixers take two songs by two different artists and combine them. Reality: In November, boingboing.net reported that the RIAA targeted MashupTown.com, a site that hosts and distributes mash-ups, saying that their content violated copyright law.

Prediction: The first mix-and-burn custom CD kiosks will begin popping up at local coffee shops and music stores. Reality: Homer's added its first such kiosk at their Orchard Plaza location, allowing users to select individual tracks from different sources and burn them onto one CD in the store.

Prediction: The break-out indie artist in '05 will likely be Mastodon. Reality: Masta-who?

Prediction: U2, Bruce Springsteen and one other mega-band will be booked at the Qwest Center by year-end. Reality: U2 was last week. The Stones are Jan. 29.

Prediction: All of Courtney Love's personal and legal troubles will end in '05. Reality: She's alive and kicking.

Prediction: Bands we'll be talking about this time next year: Beck, Yo La Tengo, Nine Inch Nails, Cat Power, M Ward, Bob Dylan, Lou Barlow, Crooked Fingers, Ladyfinger, Anonymous American, Bright Eyes, The Monroes, Neva Dinova, Desaparecidos and The Golden Age. Reality: Beck's up for some Grammy's. NIN finally released With Teeth. Dylan got his own satellite radio show. Ladyfinger and Neva are on the verge of signing with Saddle Creek. And Bright Eyes just released a live CD (but that new Desa album never materialized).

Prediction: Bands we won't be talking about this time next year: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gwen Stefani, Eminem, Switchfoot, the Simpson sisters, Modest Mouse, Interpol, 50 Cent, Green Day, Avril Lavigne and U2. Reality: Mostly correct, other than Bono (the post-show buzz continues) and Green Day (more Grammys).

Prediction: Saddle Creek will cut a deal with the city allowing them to build Slowdown downtown, somewhere north of the Old Market. Reality: The bulldozers are currently digging away on 13th & Webster.

Prediction: Slowdown won't be the only new live music venue that'll hit the Omaha scene. Reality: A number of new venues opened, including Jobber's Canyon downtown, Shag and The Spotlight Club, but none of them are a replacement for The Ranch Bowl.

Prediction: Saddle Creek Records will add not one but two new local bands to their roster, including their heaviest band yet. Meanwhile, sister label Team Love will out-release Saddle Creek almost two-to-one. Reality: Criteria joined the Creek fold in April, followed by Azure Ray's Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink, with both Neva Dinova and Ladyfinger rumored to be next. Creek, however, out-released Team Love 11 to 4.

Prediction: Saddle Creek mainstay Bright Eyes will boast the label's first gold record. Reality: Not yet.

Prediction: Camera crews from a national TV news magazine -- 20/20, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours or Dateline -- will attempt to blow the lid off the burgeoning Omaha music scene. Reality: A VH1 exec came through this summer to research a proposed expose of Saddle Creek that never materialized.

Prediction: KM3 will replace talentless blowhole Travis Justice's "For What It's Worth" segment with a new nightly arts & entertainment segment. Reality: KM3 deemed For What It's Worth worthless, yanking it last month. But it's another local TV station that's in the early stages of developing a program dedicated to local music. Stay tuned.

Prediction: Scheduling conflicts will take their toll on one of the area's most successful recording studios, causing it to close its doors in '05. Reality: Presto! lives on, though it may be moving to Omaha this year.

Prediction: Two local video producers/film makers will gain national attention for their rock video work. Reality: Local videomaker Nik Fackler (The Good Life, Orenda Fink) will be directing his first full-length feature film this year.

Prediction: As many as six local bands will sign either to national indie or major labels. Reality: The big push never happened, though Criteria went to Creek, Venaculas is working with a start-up indie, and Emphatic is rumored to be working with a major.

Prediction: A non-Saddle Creek act from Omaha will appear on a late-night chat show while Bright Eyes will be a "special musical guest" on Saturday Night Live. Reality: We're still waiting.

Well, 12 for 18 (if I stretch it). Not bad. Next week: Premonitions for '06.

Column 55: No Love in Grammy Town
Bright Eyes doesn't get the nod. Surprised?

So last March I'm interviewing the guys who run Saddle Creek Records -- Robb Nansel and Jason Kulbel -- for a preview piece for the coming year. We talked casually about record releases and new construction and whims of temperamental artists until we got to a discussion about "the industry" and The Grammy Awards. "Wouldn't it be a kick in the ass if Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning got nominated?" I asked straight-faced.

Nansel and Kulbel just smiled their usual dead-pan smile. Yeah, it would be something. Especially for an independent record label like Saddle Creek which is more of a co-op than a business. But it could never happen. Not the way Bright Eyes wunderkind Conor Oberst takes on Clear Channel and the rest of the above-ground record industry like a rabid rat terrier flushing out a ground squirrel. Oberst has gone as far as canceling gigs at venues upon discovering their affiliation with CC.

On top of that, there's no way that a community that worships the marketing possibilities of entities like American Idol are going to give the nod to a guy who's taken on our beloved Commander-in-Chief on The Tonight Show.

But still… well, anything's possible. There's no question that I'm Wide Awake is one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year, and that Oberst, despite his toe-scuffing gee-whizzes, has been deemed this generation's Bob Dylan by a covey of journalists too lazy to realize just how ridiculous that statement is.

I wasn't alone in my speculation. Last week before they were announced, New York Daily News critic Jim Farber posted his guesses at the nominees. Among them: "In the coveted Best New Artist category, expect to see John Legend (the male Alicia Keys), Daddy Yankee (the poster boy for reggaeton) and emo-poet Bright Eyes (aka Conor Oberst)," Farber wrote. "Of course, Oberst is hardly a new performer. But the Grammys, which will never win any awards for hipness, considers an artist eligible for this category if they simply made their first impact in a given year."

Certainly that could be said for Bright Eyes. This was the year that Oberst thrust himself wholeheartedly into the welcoming limelight, going on a peace tour with Bruce Springsteen and appearing (though uncomfortably so) on various late-night chat shows. Oberst has done every bit of publicity he could without losing his self-respect. If it's ever gonna happen, it's gotta happen now. As 2006 rolls in, Oberst, who's been putting out records for over a decade, will no longer be considered a "new artist."

Ah, what silly lads we are, Mr. Farber.

Later that day, amongst a blitzkrieg of flashbulbs and blazing-hot cell phones, the 48th annual Grammy nominations were announced at Gotham Hall in New York City. All the usual schlockmeisters were named in the usual categories, including world-class yodeler Maria Carey, thug-life role model and videogame character Fitty Cent, Madonna impersonator Gwen Stefani, and proud i-Pod hucksters U2. There were no surprises.

Eagerly, I scrolled down the list expecting the inevitable and getting it. The nominees for Best New Artist: Ciara (the so-called "first lady of Crunk"), Fall Out Boy (a painfully bad Green Day rip), Keane (a painfully bad Coldplay rip), John Legend (Touché, Mr. Farber), and SugarLand (yee-haw country).

No Bright Eyes.

OK, how 'bout Best Alternative album (even though there's nothing really "alternative" about Bright Eyes)? And the nominees are: The Arcade Fire's Funeral (For once, the Grammy's got something right), Beck's Guero (One of my favorite albums of '05), Death Cab for Cutie's Plans (Oops, this one was a step backward for the band, but better late than never); Franz Ferdinand's You Could Have So Much Better (*yawn* When will these guys go away?) and The White Stripes' Get Behind Me Satan (The love affair with this novelty act continues).

No Bright Eyes. In fact, a quick word search of the list for Bright Eyes turns up "Not Found." It looks like our boy has been -- as they say in the awards business -- snubbed.

I wasn't the only one who searched out the nominees list online Thursday. So did Nansel. When asked Saturday night about the lack of nominations for Wide Awake, I got the same faraway look that I'd seen last March when I first proffered the topic. Nansel said he wasn't surprised or disappointed. "Just look who got nominated," he said, betraying at least a hint of disappointment. Whether he wants to admit it or not, a Grammy for a Creek artist would have made a world of difference, not only for the artist, but for a label that's managed to survive in a business that doesn't tolerate troublemakers. When did rock 'n' roll become such a prissy sport?

And what about Oberst? Something tells me he wouldn't have accepted the award anyway.

Column 54: One Percent Turns 500
The independent promoters look back.

Thursday's Liz Phair concert at Sokol Auditorium marks the 500th show put together by One Percent Productions since Ani Difranco graced that same stage in October '97. While everyone touts Saddle Creek Records as the driving force behind the current state of the Omaha music scene, I also point to Marc Leibowitz and Jim Johnson - the guys behind One Percent -- for bringing Omaha the music that's influenced so many successful local bands. To commemorate the occasion, I asked the dynamic duo to list the 10 most important shows from the past 500. Without further ado:

1. Ani Difranco w/Indigenous, 10/24/97, Sokol Auditorium. It was One Percent Production's first show as a company, and it was a sell out. "It helped that she was on the cover of SPIN the week after we booked it," Leibowitz said. The $17-a-ticket show would give the team momentum moving forward, and they'd need it. "It paid for the first Jayhawks show, where we lost money, and a couple others as well," Leibowitz said.

2. Built to Spill w/The Delusions and Bright Eyes, 5/7/99, Sokol Underground. Legendary if only for the amount of cigarette smoke that filled the stuffy basement venue, the show was booked without the help of Saddle Creek Records personnel, who One Percent had worked with on a number of early productions. "The agent called me and said 'Let's do a show,'" Leibowitz said. "We knew we must be doing something right." Show highlight: Oberst played his entire set in the dark.

3. Guided by Voices w/Sensefield, 4/8/00, Sokol Underground. One of Leibowitz's "top-5 favorite bands," he first approached The Music Box to host it, but they passed having never heard of GBV. "It's a prime example of why The Music Box isn't around today," Leibowitz said. Colorful sidenote: While most large bands have a guitar tech, GBV had a "beer tech," whose only job was to fetch beer for the band.

4. Wilco w/Preston School of Industry, 7/29/02, Sokol Auditorium. Leibowitz had just moved back to Omaha from North Carolina, and the estranged Jim Johnson had rejoined the company. "It marked the beginning of Round 2 of One Percent," Leibowitz said, "and it was a good start"… even though the show didn't sell out.

5. Interpol w/Calla, 1/15/03, Sokol Underground. Though there was plenty of buzz about Interpol among music insiders, Leibowitz and Johnson didn't expect the capacity crowd that showed up, especially in the heart of one of the worst winter storms to hit Omaha that year. "It snowed hard the entire time," Johnson said. "At 12:30, you walked out of there and wondered how you were gonna get home." Perhaps one of the best-sounding shows heard in the Underground.

6. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs w/SSION and Beep, Beep, 4/5/04, Sokol Auditorium. Originally slated as an Underground show, its quick sell-out prompted a move to the upstairs auditorium. Most remember Karen O's skin-tight dress and Nick Zinner's (a.k.a. Edward Sissorhand's) buzzsaw guitar. The after-party in the Underground following the show is the stuff of legend.

7. The Arcade Fire w/Kite Pilot, 11/29/04, Sokol Underground. Booked before the band broke big in the U.S., One Percent got them for a mere $150 guarantee. "The agent laughed at me. He knew I was underestimating the show," Leibowitz said. The band still walked away with a ton of money, thanks to a sweet back-end deal.

8. Bright Eyes and The Faint, 5/11/05, Mid America Center in Council Bluffs. One Percent's first arena show drew 3,200 ticket buyers and stands as their largest-drawing production to date. The duo first approached The Qwest Center to host it, "but they didn't want to work with us," Leibowitz said. Thanks to a recommendation by 89.7 The River's Sophia John, the MAC took the show. Look for more One Percent/MAC shows in the future

9. Bright Eyes, Spoon, Dave Dondero, Willy Mason, 11/11/05, The Orpheum. "It was monumental because of the facility, which is big and amazing," Leibowitz said. It was also arguably the best Omaha Bright Eyes show this year.

10. Liz Phair w/The Fray and Aqualung, 12/8/05, Sokol Auditorium. In addition to being their 500th show "it's safe to say we've always wanted to book a Liz Phair show," Leibowitz said.

Honorable mention: Har Mar Superstar at O'Leaver's 10/24/04 (Leibowitz: "He (Har Mar) made out with every girl in the room."); Sebadoh at Sokol Underground 8/20/04 (Johnson: "One of the only times I've been star struck."); Ween at Sokol Auditorium 11/29/05 (Leibowitz: "I said I could retire after booking Ween. Well, I'm not retiring").

Milemarker tonight – Dec. 6, 2005 –

As I type this, it's -7 outside. But never fear those of you who are considering venturing out to see Milemarker tonight at O'Leaver's. Forecast calls for the temperature to rise dramatically to at least 7, which, admittedly is sweater weather. Opening is Louisville screamo band Lords, whose music combines fast metal riffs with vocals that are only slightly better than your typical hardcore screamer (At least vocalist Chris Owens doesn't sound like the Cookie Monster). Lords are on tour supporting Swords, their new release on Jade Tree Records. Note: This one is $6 (not the usual $5). Starts at 9:30. If it wasn't so bleedin' cold I'd predict a good-sized crowd as Milemarker has ties to a lot of Omaha bands (many on Saddle Creek).

Look for this week's column online tomorrow -- One Percent Productions looks back at their "10 most important shows" on the eve of their 500th show Thursday night.

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Late Live Review: Head of Femur, The Bruces; Bright Eyes lends a hand... – Dec. 5, 2005 –

Our man Alex McManus (a.k.a. The Bruces) was already on stage with drummer Chris Deden when I finally showed up at Sokol Underground Friday night, having missed the entire Simon Joyner and the Wind-up Birds set -- a set that I'm told was one of the best Joyner performances in recent history (all the more painful considering it may be quite awhile 'til I get a chance to see them again). McManus never seemed more confident in voice, belting out his tunes while bending his electric guitar in all directions, doing just fine only with Deden's drums (Who needs a bass these days?). He's reminding more and more of a looser, groovier version of John Darnielle, with songs that sport the same sameness of melody as Mr. Mountain Goats, songs that depend on the stories to keep them interesting, along with his stylistic guitar playing honed to a bitter edge after years and years of sideman duties for other good songwriters. McManus seemed, dare I say it, happy on stage, which is more than you can say about a lot of indie troubadours these days.

Head of Femur -- performing as a five-piece -- came out of the gate somewhat stiff and less than dynamic. Part of the problem was a flat mix that seemed to blend everything into a gray sonic stew. Focht still did an admirable job with the stripped-down version, though prog this proggy demands those extra instruments (the trumpet was sorely missing) to give it the wind it needs to take off. Highlights included a number of covers, the best of which was a take on The Rolling Stone's "100 Years Ago." As the night wore on, the band picked up steam (again, I credit the mix, or maybe it was the Rolling Rock), and an uneventful set turned out to be respectable, but far from the best Femur show I've seen. Crowd size: 125.

And in this holiday season when we're surrounded by good Samaritan stories, here's a great one from the Daily Freeman that involves our boy Conor Oberst, who did what he could to give a couple Boston girls badly burned in a house fire at least one evening to try to forget their troubles. From the story: "Peone (the mother of the two girls hurt in the blaze) said a friend arranged for the family to see the band Bright Eyes, a favorite of Dina and Angie. They especially like frontman Conor Oberst. 'Dina and Angie are crazy about him,' Peone said. 'They treated us like queens. We went backstage, and Conor kneeled down in front of Dina's wheelchair and took her hand. She was over the moon. They gave us CDs and posters and T-shirts. We had great seats and they dedicated a song to my girls.'" Nice.

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A cold weekend ahead; Head of Femur, The Bruces and Simon Joyner tonight – Dec. 2, 2005 –

I was going to write about the whole Scott Stapp vs. 311 brawl, but really, who cares? Stapp is a no-talent has-been who will end up on America's Most Wanted some day while 311 is a band that continues to suck off the teat of its former fame, having done nothing innovative musically in over a decade. There are a couple amusing lines from the story, however, such as "Meanwhile, 311 is due in Toronto Friday as part of a fall tour in support of the Omaha-based band's latest album, Don't Tread on Me." Omaha-based band? And "(Stapp's) debut solo album, The Great Divide, barely dented the charts this week, opening at 19 with 94,000 in sales." I can see why he's drunk all the time -- only 94k in sales the first week?

Anyway, the hottest show of the weekend is tonight down at Sokol Underground with Head of Femur, The Bruces and Simon Joyner, all on one bill for a mere $7 -- a remarkable value. According to their website, the line-up for HofF tonight will be Ben Armstrong, Mike Pardington Elsener, Matthew Focht, Tyson Thurston and The Chancellor. I assume since 1 Percent is billing him as simply "Simon Joyner" that he won't be backed by his band, The Wind-up Birds, who just wrapped up recording an album down at The Goofy Foot space slated for release sometime next year. That likely won't stop Simon from playing some songs off the upcoming album, however.

Meanwhile, also tonight, is Meadowlarks, Austin Britton (Kite Pilot), Bill Latham and Outlaw Con Bandana at O'Leaver's. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Saturday night, O'Leaver's has Kansas City's Roman Numerals (Steve from Season to Risk), Members Of The Press (Randy Cotton), and Fromanhole. $5, 9:30 p.m. And that about does it for shows this weekend.

Column 53 -- A year in the life; Appleseed Cast tonight – Dec. 1, 2005 –

The hardest part about doing this column week after week is, of course, coming up with a new ideas every week. So far it hasn't been that bad, but as we enter Year 2, things could get kinda tricky. As always, I ask for your input, ideas, insight, ingenuity, gossip, poop, skinny, even lies (I'll do the part of proving you wrong, or right). Send them to me at timmymac29@aol.com or just tim@lazy-i.com. Other than "write-about-my-band" suggestions, every idea will get considered and get a response. The response might only be "I'll look into it" or "You're full of shit," but you'll hear from me.

Tonight, The Appleseed Cast with Latitude, Longitude and Lifeafter Laserdisque at Sokol Underground. Lawrence's Appleseed Cast was pegged early on as just another emo band, thanks to a handful of Deep Elm Records releases. Then in '01 they went crazy and released a two-volume collection called the Low Level Owl series that critics hailed as artsy, ambient, experimental... even genius. Two years later they took another U-turn, called Two Conversations, a record as lonely as the echo of traffic heard across a cornfield on a clear, moonlit night. Find out tonight where they're headed for their next record, due out in April. $8, 9 p.m.

This week's feature story: Milemarker – Nov. 30, 2005 –

I've been following Milemarker for years, having reviewed both 2001's Anaesthetic (Rating: No) and 2002's Frigid Forms Sell (Rating: Yes), both on Jade Tree. It was the latter album where the band really hit its stride. They'd release the moribund Satanic Versus later in '02, before disappearing from the music scene altogether -- which is discussed in the interview (read it here). It was during those Jade Tree years that Omaha became something of a regular stop on the band's tours through Nebraska, even opening for Desaparecidos' CD release show back in January 2002 (surprisingly, none of their shows were One Percent gigs, until now). Starting over means going from playing rooms the size of Sokol Underground to the more intimate O'Leaver's -- a switch that frontman Dave Laney is fine with, realizing that the band couldn't draw a crowd big enough to fill anything larger. We'll see. There are a lot of Omahans who remember this band and hopefully will show up next Tuesday.

And if you're wondering, no, I didn't go to the Ween show last night. Anyone who did, please be kind enough to grace us all with a brief review on the webboard...

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Ween tonight – Nov. 29, 2005 –

Well, as hard as I tried, I couldn't get Ween to do an interview. Not this time, said their tour guy/publicist person. In all honesty, I'm not sure what I would have asked them. I'm one of those people that never got into the band, which says more about me then about them. Though I've heard that they deplore jam bands and the whole jam-band aesthetic, Ween and its horde of followers has a lot in common with Phisheads, Deadheads, Widespread Panicheads, etc. Without the help of radio, Ween has managed to garner a sizable following of fans who travel from town to town to hear their heroes, thanks for the most part to their stage shows that draw from a wildly diverse catalogue of music and styles. And because they're funny. So as background for you Weeners and non-Weeners who are braving the arctic cold to attend tonight's sold-out festivities, here's some recent Ween articles to study:

For weird's sake -- Dirt, Boulder, Colorado, Nov. 28 -- A good backgrounder about the band and this tour, written in support of Ween's three-night stand in Boulder that concludes this Saturday. Writer Andy Stonehouse (a more appropriate name for a writer of a Ween article I could never think of) describes the band as "Sophomoric. Ridiculous. Homophobic. Asinine. Puerile." And he's being nice.

Vegoose has flown -- The Rebel Yell, University of Nevada, Nov. 3 -- A review of the Vegoose Festival featuring Ween, Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire and Widespread Panic. A snapshot of the crowd: "All the lead singer had to do was say 'Ween,'and then all the weirdos in the crowd immediately began to howl, conditioned like Pavlov's dogs, which left all the sane people in the vicinity stricken with fear." Look for the same reaction tonight.

Order from Chaos -- Metro Newspapers, Bay area, CA, Nov. 2 -- A piece about Dean Ween side project Moistboyz, who One Percent should try to book when they go on tour this winter.

Ween Radio -- A website that does nothing but stream Ween music. You can request a song and find tour info... from as recent as 2002.

The Official Ween site -- The usual stuff.

Look for a feature on Milemarker here tomorrow, and a column that recaps the past year of columns on Thursday...

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Live Review: Civicminded, Summer Birds in the Cellar; a quiet weekend ahead... – Nov. 25, 2005 –

It seems unfair to make any comments about Civicminded's set Wednesday night at O'Leaver's. The sound couldn't have been any worse. Look, everyone knows that O'Leaver's has an inferior PA, but some nights bands sound pretty damn good (bordering on great). Wednesday night wasn't one of them, at least not for Civicminded. I was curious about these guys after hearing their song on the one.one First National Bank comp. I know that they do a lot of gigs in the West Omaha club world. Their stage presence reflected this. Not that there's anything wrong with the frontman saying "How's everybody doin' tonight?" halfway through a song, it's just not what I'm accustomed to at indie shows. Most indie bands slouch onto the stage, plug in and play their entire set without acknowledging that there's anyone else in the room. A common question during an indie band's set "Who are these guys?" No one seems to know, and you usually don't find out until after the set, when you can ask the frontman (and he might even tell you). That wasn't a problem with Civicminded (or the headliner, for that matter). The frontman announced, "We're Civicminded, thanks for coming out," after almost every song. Again, nothing wrong with that, it's just something I'm more used to hearing at The Ranch Bowl or from a cover band.

Civicminded seems to be somewhere between being a radio-alt band and something different, something better. They're teetering on the edge of heading different places than the run-of-the-mill alt-band. A couple of their songs (the one.one track, for instance) wander from the typical radio formula to more interesting territory. It's their rhythm section that seems to be in limbo. Most of the time, the bass and drums were playing atypical heavy-metal backbeat rhythms a la cover bands. This music, especially the guitars and keyboards, demand something more creative than that. Too often the compositions seemed formulaic, as if someone came up with the riffs and everyone else nodded and smiled and thought "Oh, it's one of those songs" and then went into auto pilot. That style -- that straight-on alt rock/bar rock style -- is exactly what 85 percent of a typical bar audience wants to hear. They want the familiar. They want Pearl Jam. That won't cut it with the 15 percenters who are used to hearing more unique (or oddball) stuff that typifies college/indie music. But then again, I have no idea where these guys want to go. Maybe they're targeting the FM alt-radio crowd. And that's fine, too. But if they're interested in doing something more creative (and better), the potential is most definitely there.

It's impossible to comment much further because of the horrible, muddy, cluttered mix. Civicminded is a five-piece that features a frontman (who only sings, he plays no instrument), two guitars (one guy also plays keyboards), bass and drums. Rarely could you make out the second guitar line in the fog of noise. The vocal pick-up was worse than bad -- at moments the guy sounded like he was blowing out the stage-right amp with his voice (He has classic rock frontman tendencies that don't lend themselves to O'Leaver's RadioShack microphones). The proof in the pudding lies in how they would sound on a better PA...

The inferior sound system was no problem for Summer Birds in the Cellar. They spent about 15 minutes dragging a mountain of amps onto the stage and stacking them under, then in front of, the plasma TV. The additional firepower made all the difference. But even then, there were problems. Thing kept getting unplugged to the bass head, and someone would constantly have to lean over and plug stuff back in. Despite the technical glitches, these guys were pretty amazing, with a sound that combines dance rhythms with Cure-style drone guitars and intricate, repeated riffs that pulled songs out with extended, jammy endings that you didn't want to stop. The frontman introduced the last song with "I hope we win the war on terror, because I hate it," or something like that. About halfway through, however, the bass head apparently fell off the stack of amplifiers. Once they lifted it back onto the stack, they declared that the bass head was blown, fiddled around with some wires, and started the song over from the beginning, declaring it was the first encore they ever performed. Great set, great band. I should have bought a copy of their CD that night.

As for the weekend: For me it'll probably start at The Brothers tonight since there's no shows to speak of. There might be a show at O'Leaver's but who knows? They quit updating their calendar again and sending out information on their e-mail list. I do know, however, that they've got a hot show tomorrow -- Bad Luck Charm with The Black Rabbits -- this one will be packed. $5, 9:30 p.m. And that about does it for the weekend. Blame the holiday for the lame schedule.

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Column 52: A Thanksgiving Prayer; Summer Birds in the Cellar, Civicminded tonight – Nov. 23, 2005 –

This column is self-explanatory. The staff at the paper hated it. I don't blame them.

Maybe I should have ended it with "Happy Thanksgiving"? Anyway, in addition to spending my holiday with family, I'll be spending it in the bar, starting tonight at O'Leaver's. The headliner is Summer Birds in the Cellar, a Florida-based four-piece that combines keys and guitar and guy-vocals to create a sound that's more mellow than rock. The stuff I heard online is unremarkable but pretty. More interesting to me is opening band Civicminded, who had a stand-out track on the First National Bank Omaha music compilation. They've been playing the West Omaha circuit for months now, so I fear they could draw a large crowd which would likely drive me right out of the bar. Guess I'll have to get there early and try to grab a seat, as you should, too. $5, 9:30.

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Watching them dig a Slowdown hole; Ladyfinger tonight in Papillion – Nov. 22, 2005 –

I e-mailed Jason Kulbel the day I noticed the heavy-moving equipment touch down at the Slowdown site, figuring he would regale me with stories of a fireworks-laden ribbon-cutting ceremony, tales of how he and Robb Nansel and Rachel Jacobson -- decked out in business suits and hardhats (with their names printed on them) --grinned as they pushed their gold-painted shovels into the half-frozen November soil while a small crowd of poorly dressed Creek staffers and well-dressed Kutak Rock "friends" clapped with enthusiasm. Maybe Robb made a speech in his usual acerbic style that captured the moment in everyone's hearts, the totality of which was "Thanks for coming" and a half-wave. On hand for the occasion, of course, would be Mayor Mike Fahey with his usual leprechaun grin, strongly shaking the Creek crew's hands, their arms waving like wet noodles. "I just love you goddamned kids! But tell me, why Slowdown? I figured you'd want something more up-tempo, like The Rock House or Shakers or something like that." Robb would quietly reply with, "Well, we thought about those names and all the other ones you e-mailed us, Mr. Mayor, but Slowdown... well... it would take too long to explain..." Fahey's face would remain a frozen grin as he moved on to talk about the real meaning of Election with Alexander Payne...

Instead, Jason replied to my e-mail with: "we wanted to have an official groundbreaking ceremony but nansel lost all of the shovels. no, there was nothing official. a lot of people told us we should have one, but it seemed a bit over the top. we're just happy to finally see something happening down there." (Note the lack of capital letters -- this is a Saddle Creek correspondence trait, reflecting how the writer is way too fatigued to push the Caps key.) I'm sure Fahey was disappointed. I know how much he likes to wear a hardhat. Anyway, they tore out the sidewalk along the west side of the property yesterday, and steamshovels (or whatever they're called) are eagerly digging away at some sort of foundation. It won't be long now.

Noteworthy show tonight: Ladyfinger at The Rock (now there's a cool club name) in Papillion along with The Atlas and emo bands Renee Heartfelt and Leaving Lafayette. $7, 8 p.m. Ladyfinger is probably playing early...

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Injury Time Out – Nov. 21, 2005 –

The day after I wrote the Nov. 18 blog entry I woke up and couldn't move my fingers without lightning bolts of pain shooting from my wrist, up my arm to my elbow. Any pressure on my right hand created tiny sparks of agony. It's only now that I can type, and even then it's a bit of a struggle. No, I didn't break my wrist, more like sprained it (It never swelled up). So, as this medical report would indicate, I missed all the weekend shows. Driving was out of the question. Ah well, there will be other weekends. It also means there will be no column this week (the deadline was last Friday). More tomorrow. I promise. And if anyone went to any of the shows this weekend, give us a bit of a review, will you?

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Weekend Update – Nov. 18, 2005 –

I write this in a broken and battered state, having fallen flat on my ass on some icy stairs. My back and ass are sore but fine, my hands are two bloody stumps, which is why you're not reading a review of last night's Eagle*Seagull/Benck/Neva show. Anyone who did go, please leave us a brief review on the webboard. My personal agony, however, will likely not deter me from attending the weekend highlights, which start tonight at O'Leaver's where Brimstone Howl, The Terminals and Autodramatics will be performing. Brimstone Howl, if you didn't know, was formerly known as The Zyklon Bees before the Anti-Defamation League stepped in and gave the band some one-on-one sensitivity training. This is the CD release show for Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! or as I call it Seven Bangs! or Bang! x 7. released on Speed! Nebraska Records. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, downtown at Sokol Underground tonight it's LA noise-rock outfit Mae-shi (5 Rue Christine Records), Lincoln's The Show is the Rainbow and St. Louis' So Many Dynamos (who AMG compares to Dismemberment Plan). $7, 9 p.m.

Saturday night it's The Third Men (ex-The Sons of...) with the jazzy Iowa City combo The Diplomats of Solid Sound at The 49'r. $5, 9:30 p.m.

But perhaps the biggest show night of all this weekend is Sunday. Down at Sokol Underground it's a four-band bill with Broken Spindles, GoGoGo Airheart, The Joggers and Flamboyant Gods, all for just $7 (Starts at 9). Meanwhile, at Mick's, Kite Pilot takes the stage with Unwed Sailor. $4, 8 p.m.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go change the dressing on my wounds. Have a good weekend.

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Feature o' the Week: Eagle*Seagull, playing tonight with Neva Dinova – Nov. 17, 2005 –

I am occasionally asked by the very few who read this blog or my stuff in The Reader what's hot these days. My answer for the last few months has been Lincoln's Eagle*Seagull, a band to which I just posted a feature story about (read it here). My first question during our recent interview (which they drove all the way from Lincoln to do -- I was touched!) was the traditional "stupid question": What in hell does your name mean, and why the cock-a-doody asterisk (which is a pain in the arse to type)? The answer to the first half is in the story, the answer to the second was never really given. It had something to do with Google and the Internet. However if you type Eagle*Seagull into Google these days, the top result is a model airplane website, followed by a site selling decorative mobiles. For God's sake, get rid of the asterisk!

What didn't make it into the story? Frontman Eli Mardock's reticence to explain, read and/or publish his lyrics, though he says he takes great pride in them. When I asked him what "Your beauty is a knife I turn on my throat" means, he hum-hawed. "I get self conscious about my lyrics when I see them printed out," he said, avoiding the question. "Poetry is supposed to look good on the page. Song lyrics are about the song. Seeing any of my lyrics makes me cringe." Fair enough. I guess it just means we need to listen to the songs more closely, and that ain't such bad thing.

Tonight Eagle*Seagull opens for Neva Dinova and Sarah Benck & The Robbers at Sokol Underground, which means you must get there at the stroke of 9 p.m. You will not be disappointed. As good as their CD is, their live show is much better and really does deserve comparison to The Arcade Fire, whether the band likes it or it. $7, 9 p.m.

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Column 51: Caulfield, Goodbye; Gerald Lee Jr. a.k.a. Lee Meyerpeter at The Niner tonight – Nov. 16, 2005 –

Switching things around this week and running the column today and the feature on Eagle*Seagull tomorrow (that show it tomorrow night with Neva Dinova).

I said last week in this blog that I'd heard that Caulfield Records' label chief, Bernie McGinn, had moved to San Francisco, but that there'd been conflicting reports to the truthfulness of that rumor. Bernie put those questions to rest when he e-mailed me with the real poop, and then agreed to do an interview for the column. This piece merely scratches the surface of what Caulfield Records was all about. Believe me, Caulfield was a big deal in the '90s, much in the same way that Saddle Creek is today. In an era before the widespread use of the Internet, Caulfield was the real deal -- a distributed label (via Lumberjack) that got your music heard all over the country. The quality of their releases was consistently first-rate.

Tonight, Bad Luck Charm's Lee Meyerpeter is doing an acoustic set as "Gerald Lee Jr." at The 49'r. Lee says his songs are written in the vein of Waylon Jennings, Uncle Tupelo and Iggy Pop. Also playing is Lash La Rue from The Mercurys. Hey, is there a better place to be on a cold, cold night than The Niner? $2, 10 p.m.

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Live Review: Mal Madrigal; Slowdown breaks ground; Rachel's tonight – Nov. 15, 2005 –

Where was I yesterday? Writing a feature on Eagle*Seagull and a column on Caulfield Records, that's where. Watch for them tomorrow and Thursday.

I never got a chance to talk about Saturday Night's Mal Madrigal show at O'Leaver's. It was a packed house. I stood by the door most of the night, which sucked. Nothing like being in somebody's way all night, but what could you do? I don't know what the deal was, but the place was filled... with women -- unheard of at O'Leaver's. I halfway expected some guy to walk in wearing a cop's uniform and tell one of the women that "she's under arrest" before throwing his hat across the room and unbuttoning his shirt to the throbbing beat of The Petshop Boys. Even the owner was perplexed by the number of women who came out to see Mal Madrigal. I guess it's that sexy heartthrob Steve Bartolomei, this season's Keith Partridge.

First up was Denton, Texas' Shiny Around the Edges, a minimalist noise-rock trio with heavy Sonic Youth influence. Their music was tribal and rhythmic, featuring chant male and female vocals. Some songs were feedback dirges while others were gritty rockers (They opened with a gruelingly slow Neil Young cover). Quite a contrast to what was about to hit the stage. It's been about a year since I last saw Mal Madrigal, and their sound hasn't changed much. The band's rural folk is centered around Bartolomei's warm, almost-soothing vocals. Some songs were downright pretty; all were laid-back -- at least all the songs I heard. After about five songs-worth of people constantly walking back and forth in front of me, I gave up and went home. Mal Madrigal may well have outgrown O'Leaver's Saturday night. It will be awhile until we get a chance to see them again as Bartolomei is headed to Europe for a month to play in Mayday. I ran into drummer Corey Broman (Statistics, Son, Ambulance, Little Brazil) at the show -- he'll be on the same tour, playing for both Mayday and Orenda Fink, who are sharing the bill.

A brief mention that Saddle Creek Records' Slowdown project apparently broke ground over the weekend. I saw tractors and other heavy equipment busy at work yesterday from my office window. I was beginning to wonder if they were going to get the hole dug before the ground froze.

Tonight, The Rachel's take the stage at Sokol Underground with Invert and The Mariannes. The Rachel's play incredibly droll, drawn-out found-sound instrumentals on their last CD Systems/Layers. It's a tough listen and could be challenging to pull off on stage. $10, 9 p.m.

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Live Review: Bright Eyes, Spoon; Mal Madrigal, Dereck Higgins tonight – Nov. 12, 2005 –

One advantage to being a music writer other than getting free CDs in the mail all the time is getting on "the list." Most newspapers (The World Herald for instance) don't allow reporters to be "on the list." Reporters aren't even allowed to keep the CDs they've reviewed for fear that it might give an impression of impropriety. That's not a problem at alt weeklies (or online 'zines, for that matter), where receiving free stuff is one of the chief motivations for writing in the first place. Impropriety be damned.

That said, I was on "the list" plus one last night for the Bright Eyes show at The Orpheum. After eating a fine Mexican dinner at Trini's I considered bypassing the whole event. It was already 9:30, and I've seen Bright Eyes more times than I care to admit. But since we were walking in the general direction of The Orpheum, we figured we might as well take a peek.

The Orpheum is an amazing venue, absolutely gorgeous, like walking into a New York Opera House (or what I imagine one to be like). If you've never been there, you need to go at least once before the City decides to bulldoze the place to make room for a parking garage (now that we have their cold, sterile Holland Center). Our seats were in The Loge in the front box on stage-right -- actually the two front seats of the front box -- so close you could watch the rock stars stumbling around backstage.

Spoon already had begun their set and I quickly realized the drawback to our location. Sure, you were close enough to piss onto the stage, but you'd have to heave it over the stack of sub-amps stacked on either side. At first I didn't think I'd need earplugs -- not here, not in this home of perfect acoustics. But after a couple minutes, I put mine in, and after a few songs, it was like I wasn't wearing earplugs at all. The bass so dominated the sound that you could hear or feel little else. This must be what it's like inside one of those rattling Escalades that you can feel approaching your car about eight blocks away. The sound was worse than bad, it was horrible, (at least from our seats).

Spoon walked through its set with mechanical gusto. Britt Daniel played the role of the frontman with as much panache as he could muster, looking like a thin version of Gary Busey circa The Buddy Holly Story. His one rock star trick was dropping to his knees to face a small amp, his back to the audience as if trying to leech feedback from his guitar. While I like Spoon's records, last night, it all sounded the same except for the few numbers where the band played drawn-out, droning endings. It was a boring set that seemed to go on forever, but maybe that's because I was being shaken to jelly by those sub-amps.

Between bands The Orpheum's lobby swelled with hipsters desperately trying to down as many drinks as possible before the next set (no drinks allowed inside the theater). I ran into a few people I knew, all of whom had seats up close but against the wall, and all complaining about the bass. I don't think these types of theaters were designed to handle this sort of music, certainly not this sort of sound equipment.

It wasn't as bad when Bright Eyes came out, serenaded by a harp. Though the harpist played on half the songs, I never really noticed her other than during the opener, "Sunrise, Sunset." It was ornate and pretty. The rest of the time it was drowned out by, well two drummers (Clark Baechle from The Faint and Jason Boesel from Rilo Kiley), Mike Mogis on electric guitar, a trumpet (I think it was Nate Walcott), and bass. The harpist also played keyboards and vibes, and sang harmonies on one song.

Conor looked relaxed in his too-tight pants and button-down shirt. He spent most of the time between songs complaining to someone off stage about the monitors, pointing at his microphone and then pointing up, occasionally doing impromptu sound checks and saying "I need a little more" while, again, pointing at the mike. It reminded me of a Warren Zevon concert I saw at the Ranch Bowl years ago. Zevon did the same thing -- pointing at his mike and angrily jerking his finger upward to some poor soundguy in the back of the room, before he finally blew up and threw his keyboard to the ground. Conor didn't do anything like that last night. He just ran through his playlist, which included selections from throughout his career. The most amusing part of the show was watching Clark Baechle get up from behind one of the drum sets like a trained bear, walk up to the front of the stage and play clarinet. He's pretty good at it, too.

Conor did the obligatory "thank you Omaha" speech, and acknowledging his family in the crowd. He said the last time he was in The Orpheum was for his graduation, then did a mock reenactment with Mogis playing the role of his principal. He went on to say how much he hated his f---ing school. That was the only controversial moment of the evening. After about five minutes of clapping, Oberst came back out for an encore that started with an angsty rendition of "Lua," where he painfully pulled every note from his guitar. It was the highlight of the night. The band came on after that to play a song I didn't recognize before belting out "Ode to Joy," the usual set closer, and my cue to leave.

Two good shows on tap tonight. At O'Leaver's Mal Madrigal is playing with Shiny Around the Edges. The Madrigal band this time consists of Mike Saklar (guitar), Ryan Fox (bass), Eric Ernst (drums), Dan McCarthy (accordion, keys etc.), and of course, frontman/guitarist Steve Bartolomei. The band just finished recording a live, all-analog set of songs using old vacuum-tube mic pre-amps and two linked tape machines. Shortly after this show, Bartolomei will be headed to Europe to play bass on tour with Mayday. 9:30, $5.

Meanwhile, in the heart of Benson at Mick's, Dereck Higgins and his band will be opening for Goodbye Sunday and Stephanie Pilypaitis. This is the same band that backed Higgins at his Healing Arts gig last July (here's that show review). $5, 9 p.m.

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In anticipation of Bright Eyes, Spoon and others tonight – Nov. 11, 2005 –

What are we in for tonight at The Orpheum? Going to a Bright Eyes show used to be like going to Sunset Speedway to see something blow up good. Will Conor be so loaded that he'll barely be able to stand up? When will he throw something at the audience or spit on someone? Will he stumble off the stage halfway through his set? Will he smash his guitar after the encore? Will he accidentally insult half the audience or the entire state of Nebraska? The operative words here, however, are "used to be." Bright Eyes sets these days are rather tame affairs. Maturity has caught up with our boy, and he seems to now understand that most of the crowd is there to hear his music, not see him hoist a jug of wine over his head like a pro.

Others from around the country apparently go to his shows with the same level of gruesome anticipation. Check out this review from The University of Washington-Seattle Daily of a recent show on this tour. The lead: "The question on most fans' minds as they wait for a Bright Eyes show to begin usually has something to do with front man Conor Oberst's level of inebriation." Bravo, Keegan. I suspect Conor will be on his best behavior, this being The Orpheum, Omaha's version of Carnegie Hall, a special, regal place to most people who grew up here (God forbid it should be torn down or turned into condos now that the World Herald got its precious Holland Center). Doing the math, I suspect the show will start at the strike of 8 p.m. with Willy Mason and his guitar, followed by Dave Dondero, then Spoon, with Bright Eyes coming on stage at 10:30. If you're still hungry for music afterward, stumble down to Ted & Wally's for Tomato A Day (helps keep the tornado away) featuring Dude Wyoming, Abigail Fishel, and Doug Wray with Morning at Sea and Nick Hugg -- I have no idea what any of these bands sound like, but you'll be downtown anyway...

Look for a review tomorrow, along with a preview of Saturday night's show here tomorrow.

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Column 50: Shelter Belt comes home from the road – Nov. 10, 2005 –

This column originated while driving home from work. Running down the street was sweat-covered Shelter Belt frontman Jesse Otto on his daily jog. I waved him over and we chatted for a couple seconds (No one likes to be interrupted during a workout) about their touring life and studio work. An interview was scheduled later that week. Shelter Belt has always been one of those bands that flies just beneath the radar. They're not terribly concerned about building a big following in Omaha, preferring instead to take their show on the road, which they've done in spades. Will their hard work pay off when they shop their new CD to labels early next year? It should. Most larger indies insist that the bands they sign do the necessary touring to support a release, as it should be. But because Shelter Belt's sound doesn't fall into any trendy categories, they might get overlooked, which would be a shame but not the end of the world for a band that seems satisfied with their current level of success (with hopes, of course, of making it to the next level). But just imagine what they could do with support from a label and a booking agent... Check out Shelter Belt at their website: beltcave.com.

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This week's feature: Spoon; Tristeza tonight – Nov. 9, 2005 –

It's become something of a habit to tell you that the mere 400-word limit that The Reader places on feature stories wasn't enough and that I had to commandeer my column to have enough room to get all the important meaning out of an interview. That wasn't the case with Spoon's Britt Daniel this time around (read it here). Britt clearly wasn't in the mood for an interview. I got a sense that I caught him at a bad time, or that he'd just woken up. I can understand that. I don't know how musicians, especially popular ones, stand being interviewed over and over and over. In the case of Conor Oberst, he simply doesn't do interviews anymore, at least not with small publications (I should point out that I didn't request an interview with Conor this time around. There wasn't anything new to talk about. I gleaned his no-interviews policy from The Omaha World-Herald's precoverage of Friday's show -- Niz was forced to interview Conor's publicist). Daniel could have refused as well, but he was willing to take 10 minutes to at least chat with me.

Interestingly, most of the time was spent with me updating him on the Saddle Creek's Slowdown project, which he was "eager to see while in town." I told him he'd be staring at an overgrown weed field with a railroad track running through it as the project hasn't broken ground yet (and time is ticking away). The other stuff that didn't make it into the story includes how Omaha has sort of slipped off Daniel's radar screen. "A lot of people who made Omaha special have left," he said. But he couldn't really think of anyone else other than Conor, who now lives in New York. "Nansel's still there," Daniel said, referring to Creel label head Robb Nansel, "and some Saddle Creek people are still there. The Faint still are still there, but some of my best friends left." The rest of the interview was somewhat forced. Britt talked about how digital downloads will never replace record stores and how he's never really pursued top-40 status. He also had no idea what kind of venue The Orpheum is, figuring it was just a large hall. Not a stellar interview, but that can't all be.

Anyway... Tonight is Tristeza with Bella Lea at O'Leaver's. Tristeza has gone from being one of the hottest acts in the indie sphere back in 2000 (and here's my 2000 interview with the band) to just another touring indie instrumental act. I remember them talking about breaking up way back then, but they never did (though I think some of the personnel did change). It should be a rather soothing show. $6, 9:30 p.m.

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The Lepers in the studio; Brother Ali tonight – Nov. 8, 2005 –

Owen Cleasby of The Lepers tells me that he and drummer, Ken Brock, are recording a new album at Steve Micek's home studio. Owen said this one will be more fleshed out instrumentally than the last Lepers CD, The Love from Above, which was released on Caulfield Records. Very unlikely that Caulfield will release this one, Owen said, as the guy behind the label, the legendary Bernie McGinn (ex-Sideshow), has moved to San Francisco. Someone else had told me that McGinn moved to S.F., then I mentioned that news to someone else, who said it wasn't true, then Owen told me the same story at the Okkervil River show. I guess I could try e-mailing McGinn via the Caulfield website, which is still live. Anyway, Owen says their CD should be done in early 2006 and then they'll shop it around to labels.

Tonight, Brother Ali returns to Sokol Underground with Swollen Members and Buck Bowen. Fellow Reader screed Jeremy Schnitker did an interview with Ali last week (read it here), where race again became the center of the discussion. Sounds like he's getting tired of the same questions over and over. I'm lucky I got to interview him waaay back in June 2003 (read that one here), before he caught fire with the critics and was more open about those sorts of questions. That didn't stop him from calling me out on stage about my article, however (you can read about that uncomfortable night in the June 13, 2003, Lazy-i blog entry). $10, 9 p.m.

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Chromatics tonight with... Black Guys (Darren Keen strikes again!) – Nov. 7, 2005 –

It's shaping up to be a pretty busy week, with significant shows somewhere every night. Tonight it's Chromatics at O'Leaver's with Black Guys? Who are these Black Guys? None other than Darren Keen of The Show is the Rainbow with Jim Schroder (Mr. 1986), Javid Dabestani (Bright Calm Blue, Broken Spindles) and Brendan McGinn (Her Flyaway Manner). No idea what they sound like. Keen describes them as a "rock band." Chromatics record on Troubleman Unlimited, so expect arty noise mixed with electronics. $5, 9:30.

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Live Review: Cursive; Virgasound, Local H tonight – Nov. 6, 2005 –

It's my assessment that the whole Cursive storyline -- opening for The Cure, The Hiatus, The Return -- couldn't have been more ingeniously calculated by our friends at Saddle Creek. Cut the band off whilst it prepares to break through whatever invisible force field the protects the different layers of public acceptance, leave the masses wondering if the band has breathed its last, leave them yearning for more. Then a little more than a year later, seemingly out of nowhere, pluck them from the ashes reborn as a lean, mean four-piece, casting aside the glitter and glow to reveal muscle and bone. The New Cursive is a Jeet Kune-Do version, stressing power in efficiency, building strength through simplicity. Applying this new philosophy to recordings and the road, their fans, who have wept in their dormancy, will have new heroes to celebrate. And all will once again be well in Cursive land.

I mentioned this theory to the label chief last night, how he couldn't have marketed the band any better if he tried, and he just laughed. He didn't laugh, however, when I told him that the next Cursive album will be King Kong-sized, as will the subsequent tour. Cursive is slowly evolving from being just another indie band with principles to folk heroes on par with Fugazi. I mentioned that to Matt Maginn last week, and he quickly denied it. "We try to walk the fine line, we try to make good decisions, but we don't make decisions based on whether it follows a DIY or independent ethic or rule," he said. "We follow our own ethic. I love Fugazi. We don't take ourselves seriously enough to be in their league."

Fair enough. But the hiatus did prove that Cursive isn't in it for the cash (though the cash can't be bad). Whether they want it or not, people are identifying with this band for than its music.

But I digress…

Cursive brought their A-game last night, dipping deep into the catalog for what was an inspired set. I was told by three or four people that it was a night-and-day difference from their Friday night show, when Kasher and the band seemed more stressed and disconnected with the audience. Halfway through the set, Kasher inasmuch admitted it, saying that the band was too anxious Friday night having tried to relearn so many different songs. There was no anxiety in the house last night as the band eagerly rifled through a huge set list that included what I assume was a number of new songs that sounded altogether different than their usual fare. The new music is more muscular, angular and less interested in providing hum-able melodies. The songs don't seem angry as much as intense, and while there's an inherent dissonance to the new stuff, there's also something undeniably, well, funky about it, specifically in the rhythm section. Who knows how much of what I heard will ever make it to the studio. If it does, look out.

The only thing I can whine about was the all-Cindy-Lauper encore -- "Time After Time" would have been enough of an ironic statement. "True Colors," OK, cute. You can stop now. "She Bop," however, pushed the envelope a little too far, and maybe that was the intention. I didn't hear a lot of complaints when they left the stage for the last time. Nobody wanted to hear "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" Cursive-style.

Tonight it's Local H doing what's been billed as their "all request" tour. I have no idea what that's all about. I do admit to liking their last studio release, Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles? Opening is Virgasound (formerly known as The Philharmonic) and that alone is worth the $12 ticket. Unfortunately I'll be too busy tonight writing a feature on Spoon and a column on Shelter Belt to go. Goddamn deadlines.

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Live Review: Okkervil River, The Minus Story; Cursive Pt. 1 tonight – Nov. 4, 2005 –

Sorry for lateness of submission but I have the day off and was busy raking. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you've been pulling your hair out wondering 'When is that lazy bastard going to update his blog?' Especially when you know that I went to Okkervil River last night at Sokol.

The biggest surprise of the evening was the turnout. Last time they came through maybe 60 showed up at O'Leaver's to hear their set. Last night the number was around 200 -- quite a jump. What's the deal? Has their stuff been played as background music on an episode of The OC or something? Maybe people are just starting to catch on that Okkervil River is one of the best folk/rock/indie bands going these days. They certainly proved it last night, despite a number of setbacks.

But first, Lawrence's The Minus Story opened (actually, Fizzle Like a Flood opened, too, but I missed their set. Sorry, Doug.). I've heard they're all the rage down in Lawrence. I was told last night that a certain Omaha record label had looked long and hard at them a year or so ago, but missed out to Jagjaguwar. I can see why they'd be interested. To me, The Minus Story sounded like a slightly more indie version of Now It's Overhead, probably because vocalist Jordan Geiger has the same nasal high-end delivery as Andy LeMaster. Their opening song was a bit of a dud, but they only got better as their set went on. I'm a bit reticent about saying more because I wasn't really in the mood for their style of dreamy/indie/pseudo-psychedelic rock, or maybe I'm just getting tired of the drone. They're probably better than I give them credit for (Hey, Jagjaguwar doesn't sign slouches).

Then came Okkervil River. Frontman Will Robinson Sheff warned everyone before their set that it wouldn't be typical. The band apparently just returned from a few weeks in Europe, where Sheff lost his voice. He got it back, but then drummer Travis Nelsen broke his hand a few days ago (I'm told he had it iced before the set). To make matters worse, Sheff broke a string on the very first song (an acoustic version of "Happy Hearts") and proceeded to tell us while he was restringing how his ex-girlfriend, who he had been pining for, told him last night that she never wanted to talk to him again. "Awww!" cried the girls in the audience. Cute. He also said that Omaha was special to the band, recalling how their March 5, 2002, show at The Junction was the first gig they ever played outside of Austin, and what a crappy gig it was (Though I thought they performed well that night. Guess I'm the only guy in Omaha that misses The Junction).

Regardless, Sheff got it together, played his solo song, and then was joined by five other players, including guys on accordion, mandolin, keyboards, trumpet, the whole ball of wax. The drummer's broken hand supposedly caused them to rewrite their set list and omit a few songs (not the least of which was "Black," which someone kept yelling for, and which Sheff kept saying he couldn't play because of the broken hand). I didn't notice a drop-off in the quality of drumming, I certainly couldn't tell the guy's hand was broken. But maybe the set-list was a little more restrained than usual. There were a few more droning, atmospheric numbers than I remember from last spring, but there were still all my favorites, including "Red," "Black Sheep Boy" "The Latest Toughs," "Okkervil River Song" (the traditional set closer), and "Kansas City" (part of the two-song encore). Good stuff.

Tonight is the first of two nights of Cursive at Sokol Underground. As you know from reading Wednesday's feature, it's sold out and has been for a long time. Even the tickets on eBay are gone. Opening tonight's show is Back When and The Stay Awake. Tomorrow night it's Criteria and Race for Titles. It will be a madhouse, as all sold-out shows are at Sokol Underground. Bring your earplugs. If you don't have a ticket, you might want to check out pop-rockers The Plus Ones with The Hooligans at O'Leaver's. $5, 9:30 p.m.

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Okkervil River at Sokol, Eagle*Seagull at O'Leaver's – Nov. 3, 2005 –

Two good shows tonight. The marquee act for me will be Okkervil River at Sokol Underground with Lawrence's The Minus Story and Omaha's own Fizzle Like a Flood. Okkervil is touring in support of a just-released addendum CD-EP from their last full length, called Black Sheep Boy Appendix. I assume these are the tracks that didn't make it onto their amazing full length. Three of the seven tracks are keepers, though, the rest are dour or found-sound collages, but those three (titled "No Key, No Plan," "Another Radio Song" and "Last Love Song for Now" are as good as anything they've done before. They travel large. When they played at O'Leaver's last April (review here) there must have been six or seven of them, most were drunk or sounded drunk. Still, it was a good show. Okkervil's label, Jagjaguwar is also releasing the new Minus Story CD. From the couple tracks I've heard online, they sound like a good fit. Who knows what configuration of Fizzle Like a Flood will show up. Last time it was just Doug on drums and vocals and Travis bearing an ax. $7, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, at O'Leaver's, straight-up indie rockers Sam Champion take the stage: My review of their new one on Razor & Tie is on the Reviews Matrix, but here it is for the lazy reader: "Starts off as country by way of Johnny Cash (without the ornaments) and shifts into grind rockers with the snarly Cash drawl. Meanwhile, track 3, is a stone-cold Pavement rip. So yeah, I guess you could say they're all over the place. In the end, the Wowee Zowee-era Pavement wins out -- which is an easy way of saying this is slacker indie rock. It's not bad, but it's been done before, and better." Rating: No. Consider it melodic Pavement-lite. Most will be on hand to see Eagle*Seagull, which has become something of a breakthrough local act. They're even better live. More on them later. $5, 9:30 p.m.

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Feature interview: Cursive – Nov. 2, 2005 –

First, an apology for screwing up the location of yesterday's Cracker show -- I said Sokol when it was in Lincoln at Knickerbocker's. I figured it out after I got back to work and wasn't able to fix it until I got home. Hope no one got misdirected by my miscue. Speaking of Lincoln, tonight is the real "final show" for The Street Urchins at Duffy's. Brimstone Howl will also play. $5, 10 p.m., if you're in the Capitol City you won't want to miss it.

This week's feature is an interview with Matt Maginn from Cursive (read it here), where Matt talks about the band coming out of its hiatus, the sold-out $2 Sokol Underground shows, the "fake name" tour, their return to Junior's Motel this winter, their new CD and how they'll keep it together once they return to the road. It will appear in The Reader as my weekly Lazy-i column because I needed more than 400 words (the typical word-count limit) to tell it. Even with twice the real estate I didn't have room in the article for everything Matt and I talked about. Among the stuff that got left out: Has marriage gotten in the way of being in the band? Apparently not. Maginn said he and his wife have been together the entire time he's been in the band. "Obviously I don't like to be away from her, but the situation's the same for other members of the band. If anything, I'll talk myself into going on longer tours, figuring if we're going to go out, we might as well hit all the cities. Clint (Schnase) is married now, too. No one wants to live on the road."

Will the "back-to-basics" approach be heard on the new CD as well? No again. "We may be returning to the oldies in our style and mind, but not in our music. We're going to approach each song differently," he said. Asked about whether it will be a collection of songs or a concept album, Maginn hmmed and hawed and deferred to Kasher. He knew, he just wasn't gonna tell me.

Finally, the $2 shows were originally going to be free, but logistics made it impossible to not charge something. "Originally, since it marks 10 years that the band existed, we wanted to do something for free," he said. "But it was explained to us why that wouldn't work. If it was free, people might take more and more tickets and we'd have no idea if they used them or not. Also, we wanted the shows presold." If you're heartbroken that you can't get a ticket, don't sweat it, Maginn said there will be other Omaha shows. "That's a guarantee, and they'll be sooner rather than later."

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Ex Models tonight; Matrix; some interesting headlines – Nov. 1, 2005 –

Ex Models at are O'Leaver's tonight with Brilliant Red Lights and Omaha's The Lepers. Should be a very noisy, jarring experience. $5, 9:30 p.m. Cracker is also down at Sokol Underground at Knickerbocker's in Lincoln tonight with Matt Whipkey of Anonymous American opening. $15, 9 p.m.

The Reviews Matrix has been updated with some new reviews. Check it out. More to come.

The San Jose Mercury News has an interesting review of last Saturday's Bridge School Benefit Concert that featured Bright Eyes along with Neil Young and others. Sayeth the writer: "It looked just as awkward during the show closer, 'Teach Your Children,' as Good Charlotte twins Joel and Benji Madden, (Conor) Oberst and (Nora) Jones, craned their necks to read lyric sheets of the song that was an anthem to the Woodstock generation that, sadly, must not have been taught to its children."

And there's an interesting looong piece over at the South Florida Sun-Sentinal about the advent of indie music. The writer points toward the Internet and the coming of age of fans of '80s underground music to decision-maker status as a couple of the reasons. Interesting quote: "If the pattern holds true, what will happen next is a rash of really terrible bands that are pale imitators of Death Cab and Modest Mouse will get signed by the major labels and be marketed to a mainstream audience." That's already happening, trust me. When it comes to imitators, Death Cab could be this generation's Dashboard Confessional, god help us.

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Happy Halloween – Oct. 31, 2005 –

Briefly for I have zero time: Fromanhole is playing a special gig tonight at Bemis Underground, 12th and Leavenworth, with Chicago band Gemini and Ladyhawke. Bands begin at 8 and it's free. While you're downtown, One Mummy Case is also playing a show at Ted & Wally's. That one starts at 10. Have a fun Halloween.

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Live Review: The Standard – Oct. 29, 2005 –

They had a lead singer who's quivering voice was a strange mix of Stuart Staples of Tindersticks, Cat Stevens and Tricky, a bass player/guitarist who looked like Jason from Saddle Creek, a drummer who looks like James Cameron, a second guitarist who looked like he belonged in Gang of Four circa 1981, a keyboardist who struggled to balance a tower of keyboard on his lap. Each song had something interesting and unique woven within its arrangement. You could argue that they're progressive, but you'd probably lose the argument to someone who insists that they're angular traditionalist indie miracle workers. I fancy them as straight-on purist songwriters who aren't afraid to inflict layers and layers of rhythms into the center of any song. Tim Putnam has a subtle quality that isn't coy or treacle, Jay Clarke's keyboards are assertive, adding a broken-hearted counter that, at times, reminds me of Vince Guaraldi in their tonal range. Neither Putnam nor the second guitarist (whose name doesn't seem to appear on the new CD's liner notes) ever seem satisfied with a run-of-the-mill rock guitar approach. Highlights included the guitar counter on "Little Green" (played by bassist Rob Oberdorfer) that cut-syncopated against the Putnam's vocals. Another was the lovely, amber "Hills Above," that featured a gorgeous chiming piano line and Putnam singing broken "When I left home they said you're a helluva disaster / So I moved fast but disaster moved faster…" This was special. Too bad nobody saw it.

It's a shame that there were only about 25 people on hand to see one of the coolest bands to come through town, playing some of the coolest music I've heard in a long time. It's depressing to hear someone pull out an amazing chord progression and then look back at an empty room. It seems to be happening a lot lately (Last week's remarkable Dios Malos show comes to mind). Blame it on the holiday or the costume party that was going on upstairs. Blame it on the sheer volume of indie shows that have come through here in the past month. Or blame it on the scene's unwillingness to take a risk on a band they just don't know much about. At least I got to see and hear it.

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The Standard w/The Mariannes tonight; the rest of the weekend (in costume)... – Oct. 28, 2005 –

I wrote blurbs for The Reader this week for a couple upcoming shows. One of the blurbs was for tonight's show at Sokol Underground headlined by The Standard with The Mariannes and The Close. In the words of Mariannes' frontman Matt Stamp: "Very few people around here are familiar with The Standard. They are really f***ing good. Equal parts jazz, art rock, folk songwriting, ambient experimentation. Wounded, introspective lyrics." Matt should know. He's their biggest fan. In fact, he's been hounding us for months to hype this show. It's our pleasure. The Close is a tight pop rock band from Atlanta "worth the price of admission just to see their bass player dance." Thank you, Mr. Stamp. It does sound like a fun show, especially for a mere $7. And a costume isn't required. Meanwhile, upstairs at Sokol Aud, The Jazzwholes is hosting their CD release show/costume party w/Sarah Benck and The Robbers. The Jazzwholes, who gig for free at The Goofy Foot every Sunday night, sound like the sort of combo that would play during commercial breaks of a late-night TV chat show. They promise an "exciting, diverse, large scale production." It better be for $15.

Saturday night is dominated by costume-related shananigans, the most interesting of which is The Lude Boys, a Social Distortion tribute band, and 138, a Misfits tribute band, at The Brothers. Something tells me a lot of the patrons' costumes will involve leather, and yes there will be a contest at some point in the evening. $5, 10 p.m.

I wrote this blurb about Sunday's Broken Spindles show at Duffy's w/The Golden Age: Broken Spindles is a project spearheaded by Joel Petersen, better known as the whirling-dervish bassist in Omaha No Wave band The Faint. Here, Petersen takes center stage on keyboards and vocals, and instead of the usual AV gear he'll be backed by a full band that includes Faint cohort Dapose, Garaldine Vo, and Javid Dabestani of Lincoln's Bright Calm Blue. They'll be performing songs from Inside/Absent, Petersen's latest long player on Saddle Creek Records that's part noodling-keyboard-spider-web-tinkling spook and part thump-thump-thump electronic pulse. You'll either dance or be very afraid. Lincoln band The Golden Age's downbeat folk-rock should provide a jarring contrast. $5, 9:30, no apparent costume requirement, though I'm sure there will be plenty to go around.

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Column 48 -- CD Reviews; Michael Allison Memorial show tonight w/star-studded lineup... – Oct. 27, 2005 –

About once a quarter I like to do a column of CD reviews, which is below. I'll be focusing more and more on CD reviews as the winter months approach, so keep an eye on the Reviews matrix, which will be updated this weekend.

Tonight is the big Michael Allison Memorial show at Sokol Underground. Allison, who was in a number of local bands including Kid Icarus and Goblin Grenade, recently passed away. According to a post on the webboard, "The money raised will help his brothers and sisters take his ashes to South Korea as well as release a collection of his many songs written over the last ten years." The lineup includes Bombardment Society, Outlaw Con Bandana, The Stay Awake, Ladyfinger, and He Do The Policeman In Different Voices. It starts early, at 8 p.m., and is $7. In addition to supporting a worthy cause, you'll get to see some of the best local bands the city has to offer.

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This week's feature: Ex Models; Statistics, Little Brazil tonight – Oct. 26, 2005 –

Ex Models music is a hard pill to swallow. Very noisy, very chaotic, to many it'll sound only like noise. Writing this feature (read it here) was reminiscent of writing the Public Eyesore article a few weeks back, where I had to find the method to the madness. Ex Models Shahin Motia is very aware that he's going to alienate fans of the older, more danceable version of his band, but he figures that's just the way it goes. I asked him if he thought the methodical shift from album to album to becoming a more "noise-based" band was what also drove down the band's numbers from four to just two guitarists. "Yeah," he said. "For me personally, I feel like Other Mathematics (their debut album) was very rhythmic, and we spent a lot of the time creating these bizarre drum patterns and threading the guitar and bass through them. A lot of that was simplified on Zoo Psychology (their follow-up) through raw power. At the end of that tour, I felt like I personally had grown tired of it. We were going into rehearsals with very little creative energy and I knew what the four of us were capable of, and it wasn't a good feeling. I was convinced personally that I didn't want to deal with drums anymore; I didn't want the beat to be the thing anymore."

Motia went on to say it's been tough learning to play live as a two-piece. "We have played 100 shows since February and have figured out what we want to do and what we like about it," he said. He divides the band's audience into three groups: Those who are familiar with their old stuff who turn up and say "What the hell is this?"; another third who like the old stuff and think the new stuff is great; and another third who will have seen this incarnation of the band before and have come back for more. "The U.S. is the only place we've toured as a two-piece twice," he said. "So now there are those who have seen it who were never into our older stuff. That's cool."

Tonight it's Statistics and Little Brazil together at one show at O'Leaver's. The gig is a warm-up for the bands' upcoming joint tour, where Little Brazil will actually be acting as Statistics' backing band. Should be a rousing good time indeed. $5, 9:30 p.m.

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Hot Topic night at O'Leaver's – Oct. 25, 2005 –

Yesterday morning was spent writing a feature on The Ex Models (online tomorrow morning) and a column's worth of CD reviews (online Thursday morning) and recovering from a weekend of shows (see Oct. 22 and 23 entries). A full week of shows begins tonight at O'Leaver's with what essentially is a Hot Topic tour, featuring The Forecast with tourmates Lorene Drive and My Epiphany. The Forecast is a straight-up indie rock band with male and female vocals. They've got a new CD coming out on Victory -- the king of bland pop-punk labels. Sacramento's Lorene Drive is the kind of band that is thrilled to be opening for an act like Yellow Card, and signs their e-card "See you in the pit" even though no self-respecting punk would ever listen to their music. My Epiphany has a new CD out on Eyeball Records and has a lead singer with one of those yearning emo voices (Dashboard Confessional?) that can only be described as "unfortunate." This should have been an all-ages show somewhere, as the bands clearly fall into the high school or younger demographic. Still, it's three touring bands (as lame as they may be) for $5. If you feel like going out anyway, you might want to check out Kyle Harvey and Reagan Roeder at Mick's. It's free. I'll be at home, watching Game 3.

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