That's right, it's time for another hiatus for Lazy-I And I'll be out of town during one of the better weekends for shows this summer. What a drag! In fact, I'm going to miss what could be one of the best shows of the year tonight in Council Bluffs, with Sonic Youth, Flaming Lips and Magic Numbers (of the three, the band I actually would be most excited to see). Judging by its lack of listing on the stir.com site, I assume the show is sold out.

Then tomorrow night is Frank Black at Sokol Underground with Kyle Harvey opening. While I think The Pixies is the most influential band of the '90s, Frank's solo material has always been somewhat lacking, especially his new double-CD. That shouldn't prevent this from being a landmark show. Tickets are still available for $15... for now. Meanwhile also tomorrow night, Randy Cotton's band, Members of the Press, are doing a set down at O'Leaver's with The Shanks and The Lepers. $5, 9:30 p.m.

But if I was here tomorrow night, I'd be making the trek down to Lincoln to see Domestica with Head of Femur, Ideal Cleaners and The Killigans at Duffy's. That show starts at 8 p.m., and Domestica will be on first, so get there early. No idea on the cover; whatever it is, it's worth it.

Moving on to next week, Tuesday night is Gays in the Military with Shinyville and Plack Blague (I got the band's name wrong in the story because I took it off the O'Leaver's site -- stupid me). Should be theatrical/flamboyant. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Next Friday night, The Bombardment Society (with new bass player Lincoln Dickison of The Monroes) plays Sokol Underground with The Stay Awake and The Free Radicals. $7.

And then Saturday night, Sept. 2 is a special show at The Saddle Creek Bar -- yes, that Saddle Creek Bar, the one on 1410 Saddle Creek Rd. -- featuring Oh No! Oh My!, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, and Whispertown 2000 (who opened for Jenny Lewis back in March). Next week's Lazy-I column will focus on the Saddle Creek Bar and its emergence as a new music venue that could be a formidable player in the Omaha music scene. Look for it in The Reader -- it won't be online until I get back in town (though I plan on attending this). This will mark the first One Percent Productions show at this venue, and will be make-or-break on a number of levels (in my opinion). Let's hope it's "make."

One more bombshell to drop before I leave... Though it's no secret to those who are close to the Omaha music scene, there could be a "supergroup" of sorts opening the Sept. 6 M Ward show at the Scottish Rite Hall. Rumor has it that performing as part of McCarthy Trenching will be Conor Oberst and Maria Taylor. Now, I haven't been able to confirm this with the band, but I've been told by people close to this show that it's a done deal. As far as I know, Oberst will only be playing as part of McCarthy Trenching, he won't be doing any of his own music. Maria will likely be behind the drum kit. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if Oberst doesn't help out Mr. Ward on a couple numbers, either. If I hear more about this, I'll pass it on when I get back in town.

Enjoy the shows, and I'll see you when I see you...

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

Column 90: Have Mercy, Will Rule
Doin' it for the kids

Whilst stumbling around looking for a column idea, I received what could be called a "press release" from Omaha's other record label, Speed! Nebraska Records, authored by the label's official wagon master, Gary Dean Davis, lead "vocalist" of The Monroes and center-pivot of such legendary Nebraska bands as Pioneer Disaster and Frontier Trust.

I've written at great length about Gary and his label's efforts, including a June 2006 cover story that played a central role in drawing a whopping 30 people to the Speed! Nebraska showcase a week later. Ah, the power of the press!

Gary's press release was an announcement of epic proportions, at least for all of us who followed the Omaha/Lincoln music scenes in the late '90s, when bands like Mousetrap, Ritual Device, Simon Joyner, and Gary's own bands made a name for themselves outside of the sleepy confines of The Good Life state. Among those bands was a Lincoln-based power trio called Mercy Rule.

One my favorite memories of those golden days gone by was traveling with Mercy Rule guitarist Jon Taylor, bassist Heidi Ore and drummer Ron Albertson on a one-day road trip to Hairy Mary's in Des Moines, with Caulfield Records label mates Sideshow alongside in a separate van. Before returning home, we all spent some quality time stranded at a truck stop, eating poison spaghetti, puking off the side of the stage and rocking like there was no tomorrow.

For Mercy Rule, there seemed to be nothing but endless golden tomorrows. They had just signed a deal with Relativity Records -- a solid label that bordered on being a major -- and were about to release their non-Caulfield debut, Providence. But shortly after the 1994 release, Relativity decided the future was in urban music, and Mercy Rule found itself bending in the wind, their hopes and dreams of rock stardom (as meager as they were) dashed. Their penultimate album, Flat Black Chronicles, originally recorded for release on Relativity, found its way back to Caulfield Records, and a few years later, the band went into deep freeze as Jon and Heidi began pursuing another interest -- raising a family.

As the story goes, Ron moved to Brooklyn and formed the band Liars with fellow Lincolnite Pat Noecker and two Brooklynites.

My, how we all missed Mercy Rule. Then in April 2005, a glimmer of hope came in the form of a one-off performance by the Ore/Taylor team at The Brothers (It couldn't be called a Mercy Rule reunion without Ron, of course). Also playing that evening was one-half of Frontier Trust (called Half Trust), all in celebration of the release of a Mercy Rule/Frontier Trust split 7-inch on Speed! Nebraska.

Now comes word that Jon and Heidi are at it again, as boldly announced in all-caps from Gary's press release: SEE THE DEBUT OF DOMESTICA! THIS SATURDAY AT DUFFY'S TAVERN LINCOLN, NEBR. DOMESTICA! FEATURES JON TAYLOR AND HEIDI ORE OF THE FABULOUS MERCY RULE AND BOZ HICKS OF HER FLYAWAY MANNER, POLECAT, AND A BUNCH OF OTHER BANDS THAT ARE TOO MANY TO LIST.

Not knowing how to reach Jon or Heidi, I called Gary just as he and his family was about to sit down to a dinner of freshly microwaved leftovers. Turns out that Jon and Heidi's kids are now old enough that they can have band practice without causing them permanent hearing loss (with the help of some earplugs).

"Jon and I talked about how important we feel it is for our kids to know that artwork -- whether that's making art or being in a band -- is something everyday people can do, and how important it is to pass it onto the kids," Gary said.

So, Speed! Nebraska has signed Domestica! sight unseen or heard. "They're going to record, that's a definite," Gary said. "I haven't heard the band but I'm sure that they'll be awesome. It's Jon and Heidi!"

Those lucky enough to be at Duffy's this Saturday for Domestica's debut will also likely be treated to a few Mercy Rule songs, Gary said. And if (like me) you can't make it, don't worry. Plans are under way to set up a show here in Omaha in the near future.

While I had Gary on the horn, I followed up on a couple other noteworthy Speed! Nebraska items. Brimstone Howl's "Heat of the Beat" 7-inch is officially the fastest-selling Speed! Nebraska release in the label's 10-year history. "We need to decide if we're going to repress it," Gary said. Released in June, the band has sold 300 copies, thanks to touring. "It tells me that kids are still buying 45s -- at least 300 kids have."

And finally, Gary mentioned The Monroes' recent performance in front of 2,000 highly tatooed No Coast (Roller) Derby Girls fans last Friday night at the Pershing Auditorium, where the band was part of the between-match festivities. "It was a fistfight," Gary said. "The whole event was well done. They put us on the JumboTron. A bunch of little kids danced in front of us and people were yelling."

Bloody girls on roller skates and gnarly punk rock -- what more could you ask for?

The first new feature on Lazy-i in a month went online this morning, an interview with Omaha/Lincoln band Shinyville (read it here). Two of the guys from the band were kind enough to drive to Omaha from Lincoln for the interview last Saturday, while the third, Omahan Jaime O'Bradovich, corresponded via e-mail from a swanky film festival. One of the bigger surprises (to me, anyway) was that the band was formed via SLAM Omaha -- that's right, they met through the site's music board. Just another example of how SLAM used to be a vital part of the Omaha music scene. The band says they still visit SLAM occasionally. "It's not the resource that it used to be for me," said frontman Scott Scholz, who went on to philosophize, "The way SLAM decayed reflects issues we deal with all the time. Technology has developed faster than people's ability to incorporate it into their lives." Drummer Brian Alt had a more down-to-earth take, saying the site could become vital again "if someone took an active interest and steered off people who want to talk about boobs." I agree with Brian, and I think SLAM is in the process of trying to do that now.

I suspect Shinyville's show next Tuesday at O'Leaver's will be a packed event, partially because of the name of the headlining band, Gays in the Military. If that doesn't bring out the throngs (and thongs) what will?

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

It's drop day for two of Saddle Creek's biggest releases of the year. Cursive's Happy Hollow and Eric Bachmann's To The Races both officially go on sale today. Will there be big parades or fanfare of any kind? "Not really anything that comes down to one day or a blitz," said Saddle Creek Records executive Jason Kulbel in an e-mail. "The blitz is really spread out in the three months prior to a record coming out. By the time the record-release day comes, most of the work is done. After that, we start focusing on tours, etc."

Well, there may be no parades down 13th & Webster, but there appears to be the beginning of a a parade of reviews for Happy Hollow, including this one posted today at punknews.org which calls the record "Cursive's most complete work to date and arguably its best," giving it 4 1/2 stars. The Washington Times chimes in with this comment, stating, "Like the middle-American tensions and anxieties portrayed in the lyrics, it's a swirling, sometimes violent collision of sounds and styles." I'm not sure if that's a rave or a pan. Even MTV.com mentions the release here as part of a "new releases" wrap-up, asking "...could even bigger and better things be in store for Tim Kasher and company?" You've seen my take on both records (the Cursive profile is here; the Bachmann review, here). I talked to a certain Omaha retail music executive who told me that he thought Happy Hollow could be Creek's biggest seller ever -- and that includes Bright Eyes. We'll see.

Incidentally, I tried to pry some info from Kulbel about Creek's upcoming 100th release (Ladyfinger (NE)'s debut, locked in for Sept. 26, is LBJ-98 (Creek fans know that "LBJ" stands for Lumberjack, the label's old name)). Asked if something special is in store for 100, Kulbel only said, "Yeah, something. Just not sure what that will be yet." Sure you don't, Jason...

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

A few mental notes from the Landing on the Moon show Friday night: First off, the crowd, or should I say the lack of a crowd -- only 30 people, despite the fact that the OWH did a large-ish feature on LotM in last week's Go! section. And the fact that there were three touring Lawrence/KC bands on the bill. There appears to be no formula that will guarantee a turnout at any show, except maybe having a Saddle Creek band on the bill. A couple months ago, I wrote a cover story for The Reader on Speed! Nebraska Records (here) in support of a label showcase down at Sokol, which also got hyped in the OWH. The result: only 30 people...again. Ah, the power(lessness) of the press... (on the other hand, I can point to the recent Cursive show at Sokol Auditorium that almost sold out and say, "It's all because of my cover story...") NOT!

Anyway, the turnout was a disappointment for LotM after having just spent the last couple weeks on the road. It's safe to say they expected people to show up not only to welcome them back, but because of the strength of the bill. I missed The Only Children (ex-Anniversary) but caught Ghosty, who never sounded better, and 1090 Club, who's bass-less, violin-driven indie pop was mixed a bit too brightly for my delicate ears (good thing I had ear plugs). Their music was sweet and fluid, but I would have liked some low-end in the mix...

Last came Landing on the Moon. I've seen them play at least a half-dozen times, and last Friday's show was probably their best performance. They managed to create plenty of energy despite playing for a near-empty room. The most notable diff, however, was vocalist Megan Morgan, who in the past seemed to struggle with the dynamics of a rock presentation despite putting everything she had into her performance. Any uncertainty or wavering in her voice was gone on Friday night as she belted out her numbers like a young Pat Benatar. Funny what two solid weeks of live performances will do for your vocal style. Same held true for hubby Oliver, whose vocals never sounded better. Pity so few were there to hear it.

Well, if getting press is a curse, I've probably just jinxed Shinyville, who is the subject of a lengthy feature that'll be online at Lazy-i Wednesday morning in support of their O'leaver's gig next Tuesday with Gays in the Military. Sorry guys.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

Your first kiss, your first car, your first run-in with the law -- these are the moments of your life. Omaha band Landing on the Moon wants you to help them celebrate a first of their own -- completion of their first tour. Known for their modern, heartfelt take on traditional rock, LotM is as comfortable playing music reminiscent of "Love Hurts"-era Nazareth as they are slinging mathy, piano-propelled post-punk. Their 14-gig tour with Sidecho Records artist 1090 Club has taken them from Laramie and Billings all the way to The Knitting Factory in NYC, closing out at Sokol with Lawrence bands Ghosty (Future Farmer Records) and The Only Children (ex-members of The Anniversary). 9 p.m., $7.

A couple quickies…

-- Bright Eyes has made it to Broadway, sort of. The cabaret review "Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway" involves a boozy drag queen and her sidekick pretending to be showbiz wash-ups. The duo perform a number of modern ballads, including covers of songs by The Scissors Sisters, Public Enemy, Dan Fogelberg, The Cure and our very own Bright Eyes, specifically "First Day of My Life" off Wide Awake. The show's getting mixed reviews, judging from this review from broadway.com.

-- The upcoming Cursive tour is getting tons of exposure. I've seen it mentioned on a half-dozen music sites, including this item in livedaily.com. Their publicist, Nasty Little Man, is definitely earning its keep. Hey, where's the Omaha date?

-- Personal writing guru/inspiration Robert Christgau has posted another "consumer guide" at his home rag The Village Voice (read it here) He digs the new Towers of London disc (as did I), but files the new Coco Rosie and Liars discs in the ol' "Duds" category. I couldn't agree more.

So tonight there's a couple very interesting shows: At Sokol Underground Skull Fight! (formerly known as The Cuterthans) opens a bill that includes mad-cap hip-hop singer-songwriter performance-artist punk-stud The Show Is the Rainbow. Nintendo cover artist The Advantage is the headliner. $8, 9 p.m. Meanwhile, down at O'Leaver's, An Iris Pattern is sandwiched between Civic Minded and the evening's headliner, Anvil Chorus from Kansas City. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Column 89 -- Why Buy the Cow?
Is music losing its value?

There are basic rules to business, commerce, whatever you want to call the process of "making a living." You make something or provide a service, and in return, people give you money.

The record industry (and America for that matter) was built on this concept. Musicians made records and sold them via record companies, who in return provided them money to buy large mansions, runway wives and long-term drug habits.

All that is starting to change.

On a recent Saturday night at Sokol Underground local band Go! Motion (not to be confused with The Go! Team) celebrated its "CD release party." After the band charged up the sizable crowd with its take on post-punk indie dance music, they set up camp at a merch table, but instead of selling their new CD, they handed it out … for free! I told one of the band members that the idea was to "sell" -- not give away -- the merch, but he just laughed at the old man.

A couple weeks later, Someday Stories was down at O'Leaver's punching out a set of brutal, angular indie rock. Afterward, one of band members strolled up and offered me (and everyone in the bar) a copy of the band's 4-song EP. "How much?" I asked. "Nothing. We're giving them away."

It should be pointed out that both bands' CDs are among the better recorded listening experiences I've had so far this year. Go! Motion's 11-track disc, Kill the Love, is professional both in its recording and Digipak packaging. Someday Stories' EP is less fancy -- a CDR in a paper sleeve -- but sounds just as first-rate. So why just give it away?

"Nobody's heard us before, so people may not buy our CD," said Go! Motion frontman Albert Kurniawan, "but they will take a free one because they've got nothing to lose." Kurniawan said the disc, which was recorded at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, and Blacklodge in Eudora, Kansas, cost the band $4,000 and eight months of their lives. They gave away around 200 copies to the crowd at Sokol figuring, "if they don't like it, it's cool, but if they do, then we gain more fans."

Someday Stories guitarist Joe Provil said giving away the CD gets their names in the cars and houses of potential fans. Recorded at Bassline Studios and mastered by engineering wizard Doug Van Sloun (who also mastered Go! Motion's disc), the EP has become the band's $2,000 hand bill. "It's the ultimate flyer. If they go home and like it, they can go to our MySpace page (the address is printed on the disc) and see our upcoming show dates," he said.

Is this a new phenomenon in a business where, more and more, music is available for free on the Internet? Mike Fratt, president of Homer's Music, isn't sure. He pointed out that the music world is becoming crowded. In 2003, about 37,000 new CD titles were released. This year that number will approach 60,000.

"Some bands feel that touring is where the money's at," he said. "They figure they won't make it off CD sales." Giving it away is nothing new. Indie labels like Barsuk and Fat Wreck Chords have always given away mp3s on their sites. So does Conor Oberst's Team Love Records (home of Jenny Lewis and Tilly and the Wall), which shook the industry by making CDs available in their entirety as free downloads, hoping that listeners will eventually buy them.

Fratt says even his band, Goodbye Sunday, makes a few songs available from a MySpace account. "I think you should give away some music, but not all of it," he said. "Where does it stop? Where will the revenue stream come from?"

Fratt's not even sure some bands understand the concept of selling their music. "We (Homer's) have to reach out and ask them to let us carry their records," he said. "Two years ago we had them coming to us." To help educate bands, Homer's placed a "How-To" document on their homepage that explains the basic process of selling music on consignment at their shops.

But will it make a difference or is music simply becoming worthless?

Fratt pointed to research conducted by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) that states that today's 18- to 24-year-olds see no value to CDs. "That crowd grew up using their mom and dad's broadband or the computer in their dorm room to download music," Fratt said, adding that bands giving away CDs at shows only furthers the process of devaluing music.

Provil disagrees. "To me, music is music regardless of the price, and paying a low price or even getting it for free isn't going to change how I feel about the album."

He said the fact is that most people -- when given the chance -- will download an album. "The album art isn't worth the money these days," he said. So how does Someday Stories hope to earn gas money for their upcoming tour?

"I don't have an answer," Provil said. "We're just trying to be heard and cutting out the cost of the CD for the consumer seems to be the easiest way to do that. It is taking a loss, but it takes money to make money."

We all have a list of "dream shows" that we'd love to see, those bands that for whatever reason -- whether it be that they've never come near Omaha or the ticket price was too high or the band no longer exists -- we've never been able to see perform live. Yo La Tengo has been on my list for almost a decade. I first interviewed the band way back in March 1998 (the story is online here). I had just started working with John Heaston and The Reader after a few years writing for The Note out of Lawrence Kansas. And one of the things I promised myself at this new paper was that I'd try to write about bands that I love -- not because they have a new record coming out or because they were coming through town -- just because I loved their music and wanted to interview them. Modest Mouse was one of those bands. So was Yo La Tengo. And John, much to his credit, ran the stories even though at the time few people had ever heard of those bands. As part of that interview, I remember asking Ira Kaplan why his band never came through Omaha, and he said he didn't know. The idea had never occurred to them and that he'd have to remember Omaha on the next tour.

Well, more than eight year later Ira has apparently remembered Omaha. One Percent Productions has posted on their site that Yo La Tengo will be playing Sokol Underground Oct. 8. Tickets go on sale Aug. 19. Big fans of the band may wonder "why Underground, why not the auditorium?" but the fact is, there are fewer of us "big fans" around here than we realize. I doubt that Yo La Tengo's music has ever been heard on Omaha airwaves, ever. I'm sure that the band is an unknown commodity to most people, including a lot of young indie music fans who have yet to discover them. For me, the show is a dream come true. Better get in line for those tickets, folks.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

No shows attended this weekend so no live reviews. Drat. You have a show you want to talk about? Post a review on the webboard. The Reviews Matrix has been updated and formatted for '06. The '05 Matrix is here, while the '04 Matrix is here. Both are linked off the current Matrix. With intern Brendan lending a hand on reviews, look for this to be updated more often.

I heard from Jeremy Buckley, the organizer of Lincoln Calling, over the weekend and this year's event -- slated for Sept. 14-16 -- sounds like it's coming together rather well. If you haven't already seen the preliminary line-up on Starcity Scene or SLAM Omaha, here it is:

Criteria
Maritime
Tie These Hands
Heiruspecs
The Show is the Rainbow
Neva Dinova
Little Brazil
The Golden Age
Eagle*Seagull
The Prids
Her Flyaway Manner
Spring Gun
Ladyfinger
Ideal Cleaners
Axes to the Sky
Tijuana Gigolos
The Jazzwholes
Forty Twenty
The Killigans
Mezcal Brothers
56 Hope Road
The Speech Impediments
Deformities
This Is We
Boycaught
Youth In Asia
Jaeger Fight
Once A Pawn
Bloodcow
Westside Proletariat

Jeremy tells me they'll be splitting up the three Saddle Creek bands to help spread the crowd around (instead of having a one-venue, one-night Creek showcase). I suspect there will be more bands added in the near future. It looks like One Percent Productions is helping out again this year as well. Keep an eye on the Lincoln Calling website, which he promises will be updated soon.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

Apologies to Rent Money Big for missing their show last night at O'Leaver's. I fully intended to come, but figured it might not look too cool to be sitting at the bar with wads of toilet paper sticking out my nose. My allergies are slowly, surely killing me. That said, I soldier on as the weekend approaches, but judging by the looks of things, all the very hot shows will involve a trip to the Star City for a three-day line-up that could rival their annual Lincoln Calling fest next month.

Starting with tonight: Of Montreal takes the stage at Knickerbockers with The Minders. $10, 9 p.m. But waitaminit, that's not the only hot show of the night. Neva Dinova frontman Jake Bellows is playing at O'Leaver's with Madison Wisconsin superstar Charlemagne. If you like Neva, you'll love this band. This will be a big show (look for the guy with toilet paper sticking out of his nose and say hello).

Tomorrow night at Knickerbockers, the return of Ladyhawk with Coke Dares and Spring Gun. Ladyhawk just played at Sokol July 25 and I missed it (out of town). Wish I hadn't. Their new disc on Jagjaguwar has been burning up my i-Pod for the past few weeks. $8, 9 p.m. Cross town (or more like, across a few streets) in Lincoln Eagle*Seagull is playing at Duffy's with The Choral Sea and Jumbling Towers. What else? Blood Cow is tearing it up over in CB at a place called Goofy's (807 S. 21st St.). $5, 9 p.m.

Finally, Sunday night, again in Lincoln at Duffy's, The Willowz take the stage with Rent Money Big and Wires on Fire. Make the trip down to Husker town this weekend and catch a show. It's only 50 miles away.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

Clicking around the ol' Internet, found a couple interesting things this morning. Nothing ground-shaking, but noteworthy:

-- Here's one of the first reviews of Cursive's new Happy Hollow record (at least that I've seen) from thespacelab.tv. The writer clearly doesn't like the CD -- saying the songs sound bland, that the horns don't work, that Kasher has nothing to say -- then goes on to give it 3.3 out of 5 stars. Gretta certainly has her fans. We're all just waiting for that Pitchfork review. What are they waiting for? (And didn't it seem strange that Pitchfork ran this piece on Film Streams yesterday?).

-- Speaking of Cursive, they seemed to be mentioned in a good share of the Lollapalooza coverage, including this piece from Chart Attack that comes with a pic from the show and the line, "Happy Hollow is shaping up to be one of the better albums of 2006." From everything I read and heard on the tele, Lolla was a huge success. They should just host it in Chicago every year.

-- Here's a long profile of Andy Lemaster that talks about his connection to R.E.M. and reviews the new record and the live show, from The Independent Florida. Now It's Overhead is a band that's ready for a live album with lots of "special guests." This, of course, will never happen, but as I've said before, the band is 10 times better live than on their most recent recording.

Tonight at O'Leaver's, the return of Lincoln's Rent Money Big. Asked on the Webboard if they changed their name again, "Drew" replied. "Yes, we are R$B. We have a fifth member now. Jim Schroeder, from Mr. 1986, The Show is the Rainbow, Stratosfear, and other such nonsense is playing guitar and synth with us. We are writing new songs with him. He also learned some of our old songs. www.rentmoneyhuge.com has mp3s w/o Jim. He is too lazy to record." Also on the bill tonight is San Francisco's Tenebre and A Passing Feeling from Huntington, New York. $5, 10 p.m.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

Column 88: The Porn of Indie
On useless terminology

We're living in the heart of the indie rock world, right? Right? But exactly what does "indie" mean?

From a music standpoint, the term "indie" has become a catch-all phrase, like "alternative" was in the '90s after Nirvana changed the pop-music landscape. Suddenly bands that weren't part of the previous era's music hierarchy (i.e., arena and hair bands) were quickly classified as "alternative." Even bands with a distinctly traditional rock style, like Counting Crows and Stone Temple Pilots, were considered "alt" though there was nothing alt about them other than their record labels' marketing wizards understanding that alt was considered cool by the record-buying public.

"Indie" emerged from that alt era as a term that was short-hand for "independent," as in independent record labels. You were indie if your band wasn't signed to a major. Didn't matter what you sounded like. Simple, right?

But lazy critics (myself included) commonly began to use the term "indie" to describe "college" music -- stuff played on college radio stations whose play lists are dominated by bands on the College Music Journal (CMJ) charts. Bands tend to get dumped into the classification based on their music's reference points. For example, if a band sounds like it was influenced by Pavement or The Replacements or Cursive or any band popular on campus not played on commercial radio, it's likely to be classified as an indie band. If a band sounds like it was influenced by music heard on your local corporate radio station, it's probably not going to considered indie. The lines became blurred when traditional indie bands, like Death Cab for Cutie and Modest Mouse, got signed to majors and began to be heard on commercial radio yet managed to keep their "indie" status.

It's not as confusing as it sounds. Like "pornography," what classifies as "indie" is purely in the ears of the beholder. As our old friend Justice Stewart said about porn: "I know it when I see it." Same holds true for indie. You know it when you hear it, and everyone's point of view is different.

But recently indie has started to become a dirty word to bands in the same way "emo" was a few years ago. Other than maybe Jimmy Eat World and The Get Up Kids, no band I've ever interviewed embraced the term emo. It meant a lot of things to a lot of people, mostly bad things. Emo quickly became an easy way to throw a back-handed insult. "You like those guys? They're emo, aren't they?" I don't know how many times I've heard people who don't like Bright Eyes describe them as "emo" when Oberst's music in no way resembles emo as I've always known it.

Now "indie" is beginning to be treated the same way. Used to be if you were "indie" it meant you were flying outside the common circles. Your music was unique and you weren't afraid to let your personal voice or point of view be heard. Now the term is just as closely associated with sickly thin guys with bad haircuts wearing youth-medium-sized T-shirts and their girlfriend's jeans to accentuate their bony frames.

Is indie the new emo? I dropped by O'Leaver's Sunday night and asked a few bands what they thought. At the bar was Drummer Devon Shirley and vocalist/guitarist Alan Andrews of Denver band The Photo Atlas, a dance punk band in the vein of The Rapture or Radio 4.

Shirley said he's noticed a tide-shift when it comes to indie among bands he's encountered on the road. "What's getting popular now is a revamp of '70s rock," he said. "Those bands will tell you they're not indie, they're rock 'n' roll."

"I don't find (the word) insulting at all," Andrews said. "I like it better than emo. I think it also describes the work ethic needed to make it on your own."

"Majors are pushing 'indie' these days," Shirley said. "It's the new pop-punk."

Steve Micek, frontman of Omaha punk trio The Stay Awake, said that's the problem. "Indie was stolen by bands on major labels to sell records," he said. "Now it's used to describe a brand of shitty pop music. Are The Killers an indie band? No, they're on a major label, but they're sold as an indie band."

"I never liked the term and still don't know what it means," added Little Brazil's Landon Hedges. "The genre was made up by the media. It's not a genre at all, it's a lazy term used by people who don't have a good way to describe a band's music. I try not to use the term, but I don't really give a fuck what people call us, even though we're actually on an indie label (Seattle's Mt. Fuji Records)."

Ironically, the least "indie" musician I spoke with -- Sarah Benck of Sarah Benck and The Robbers -- fessed up to the indie moniker. "I guess you could consider my band an indie band since we're not on a major label," she said from behind the bar. "We're an independent band, but you wouldn't call what I do indie music." If she had to be categorized as anything, Benck said it would be as a singer/songwriter.

And that's what it really comes down to with bands -- they don't want to be classified. They want their music to stand on its own, unaffiliated with any style or trend. No band wants to be put in a box, and once you're in the indie box, it quickly closes in around you and doesn't let go.

This show actually happened Sunday night down at O'Leaver's, where I stopped in not only to see the band but to get comments for this week's column which tries to define what "indie" is and how it's perceived these days. Look for that column on Thursday (or maybe tomorrow if I don't have anything else going on).

I showed up just before opener The High IQ's took the stage. They sounded like a British '80s pop band fronted by a guy with a mean swagger reminiscent of Psyche Furs' Richard Butler. The guy standing next to me said they reminded him of Taco. They were fun, though generic, and quite a contrast to The Stay Awake, a punk trio fronted by Steve Micek on guitar and vocals/screams/yells. I've talked about The Stay Awake here before, but that was over a year ago. They've honed their sound to a razor-sharp point since then. For me, it boils down to bassist Robert Little's roving bass lines acting as a foundation for Mario Alderfer's precision drumming and Micek's guitar shard-riffs, distortion and noise, along with his occasional barked vocal. When they're at their peak, the sound roars with a hypnotic frenzy and confusion. For my money, they're one of Omaha's front-running punk acts.

Tonight at Sokol Underground: The Black Heart Procession with Devics and Castanets. I just listened to "Not Just Words" from their new Touch & Go release The Spell. I figured it would be dark and brooding, but it's not nearly as grim as I was led to believe by various media accounts. There's no question that this is a late-night recording, but the chugging rhythms and keyboards are hardly depressing. $12, 9 p.m.

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It was hot, it was smoky, it was sweaty, it was loud. O'Leaver's looked, sounded and smelt like a rock club last night circa 1995. Appropriate considering the line-up that drew one of the largest crowds I've seen down there in a long time. No idea as to who was the main draw, maybe all the bands equally, considering that the crowd was large from the start and stayed even through a fourth, unbilled band.

Now Archimedes! is Bob Thornton's trio that includes former members of Fischer, Solid Jackson and Raymond Nothing. As heavy as they were the last time I saw them, they were even heavier and more confident last night. What they do is what I love, which is play a searing brand of '90s Omaha punk that takes me back to an era of bands like Mousetrap, Culture Fire, Ritual Device, all the usual suspects. And they do it unbelievably well, probably because these are the guys that were part of the group that invented that sound in the first place. I can't get enough of the extreme distortion, the screeching guitar, the throaty, thick-limbed rhythms, a sound that is brash and painful, raucous, dirty fun.

Their take on punk is so wonderfully dated, that I don't know how it'll go over to anyone other than those of us there last night who absolutely thirst for this style and continue to wonder why it never exploded during its original era. I always thought that it was only a matter of time until Mousetrap and Ritual Device and all the others would be featured on the cover of national magazines, but it never happened, probably because people didn't "get it" back then, and the bands themselves could only do so much with their limited resources. Now I have to scratch my head and wonder if that time is long past, except for the fact that, other than a small circle beyond those at the show last night, few have heard this style of music, and to a new, young generation, it could very well be viewed as being as fresh and new as it was when it first was heard on the stages of The Howard St. Tavern and The Capitol Bar & Grill and The Cog Factory and the various hall shows back in the mid-90s. In this era of prefabricated, overproduced, supersweet pop-punk that the mall youth consider to be daring and rebellious, imagine how a gritty act like Now Archimedes! would go over… Maybe huge, or maybe not at all. Will we get a chance to find out?

Next was the new version of The Bombardment Society, featuring The Monroes' Lincoln Dickison on bass. How different did they sound? It's impossible for me to compare the two line-ups as the band was playing all-new material and I haven't seen Bombardment in over a year at least. That said, Dickison doesn't just play an incidental rhythm line -- he makes his bass as prominent as any guitar in carrying the counters and energy of the songs. It seemed to overpower (in a good way) everything, including the drums which needed to be brought up in the mix in a show of punk one-upmanship. Guitarist Jason Ludwick's vocals are just as intense as I remember. Providing more of a chopping bark than a melody, it becomes another layer or rhythm in a band that's already whiplash raw.

The Protoculture continue to get stronger and stronger and tighter and better, playing the same songs every set, but more confidently, more cohesively. Like Now Archimedes! these guys are a throwback to an Omaha sound that thrived in the late '90s, but taken to another level thanks to blending new (at the time) influences from bands like Lawrence, Kansas' Zoom (one of my all-time faves). Can they make a run with a modern audience? Time will tell, but wouldn't it be great? The highlight for me: a flawless version of "My New Laugh" where nothing got broken or lost.

Finally, added to the night's lineup at the last minute was Sacramento band Brilliant Red Lights, who stayed in town after playing the night before at O'Leaver's. The trio is centered around their crazy, Animal the Muppet-style drummer -- a tall blond guy who thrashes his kit with absolute gusto, a blur of hair, arms and drumsticks. Their sound was all about those drums along with the frenetic bass lines, while the frontman/guitarist/vocalist added mathy guitar lines and punk vocals. The post-hardcore sound was complex and calculated but always willing to jar with a quick u-turn or break-down. Thornton, still in the lovely dress he wore on stage at the beginning of the evening, said they reminded him of long-forgotten Chicago band Trenchmouth, yet another band whose heyday was in the mid-'90s, and whose style hasn't been heard since -- a fitting capper to an evening devoted to making the old new again.

I talked to more people last night who are going to see The Stay Awake along with The Photo Atlas and Hot IQ's at O'Leaver's than people going to X, Rollins Band and Riverboat Gamblers at Sokol Auditorium, which isn't surprising considering the low-rent clientele that O'Leaver's draws. Both shows are worth their respective ticket prices ($24 for X, $5 for The Stay Awake). You can't go wrong either way. Me, I'll probably just stay home and recover from last night...

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The first time you see a band (or in this case, the first time the band has ever performed in front of an audience) you naturally try to make comparisons to bands you think influenced their sound. Such was the case last night at O'Leaver's when Coyote Bones celebrated its stage debut in front of a packed house of notorious Omaha music scene Glitterati. Talk about pressure. Are comparisons straight-out-of-the-box fair? No, probably not. So I won't go into detail about the conversation I had with the guy leaning along the rail next to me about how the lead singer's pained (in a good way) howl reminded me of a certain blond lead singer of a seminal
'90s grunge band (my cohort thought his howl reminded him of Greg Dulli, and that was right on as well) or how their songs had an essence of '90s alt-pop rock a la Buffalo Tom and, for me anyway, laid-back Nirvana as in their classic MTV Unplugged album (and a band out of Kansas called Vitreous Humor, who my cohort knew all too well but didn't recognize in their sound).

No, making a list of comparisons wouldn't be fair. Instead, let me describe them this way: Coyote Bones had a distinctive Midwestern '90s indie rock sound that comes from growing up around here, whether the band members did or not. The line-up included a shaggy front man on acoustic guitar, an electric guitar player who also added keyboards to a couple songs, a bass player and drummer. That acoustic guitar, however, was the essence of the ensemble, along with the singer's tweedy, earthy rasp. Favorite song of the night was a tune titled "39 Forever," which epitomized a style that mixes that acoustic guitar with a strong, central bass line (again, I'm reminded of that famous acoustic Nirvana set).

One other characteristic that I think was absolutely central and essential: Their songs were all short, only two to three minutes long. No drawn-out solos, no repetitious rhythm orgies, just well-crafted tunes played long enough to get the point across. I can't tell you how much I dug the fact that their songs were so well-contained and complete.

For the final number, our frontman put down the acoustic and strapped on a bass, while the bass player picked up another electric guitar for a rock song that was tough and sweaty like something right out of the '70s.

I stayed long enough to see Someday Stories' take on angular indie rock. Their first two songs had that same 1-2-THREE, da-da-WOMP da-da-WUMP sound that Criteria is known for, in fact the frontman even sort of sounded like Stephen Petersen. The Criteria comparison waned as they continued with a set of very heavy, very indie-sounding rock clearly influenced by bands like Cursive, Fugazi and Archers of Loaf. They were at their best when they strayed from the usual convention and allowed themselves to stretch out, like on their set closer.

I headed home before the touring band took the stage (some of us had to work in the morning). By then, half the crowd had left, too. I guess you could say The Living Blue had been Omaha'd.

So what's in store for the weekend? The highlight is Saturday night, again at O'Leaver's, where the lineup includes Now Archimedes!, The Protoculture and Bombardment Society, who are unveiling their sound with new bassist Lincoln Dickison -- yes, that Lincoln Dickison, the one in The Monroes. For $5 (and starting at 9:30) this will be SRO.

Sunday night at O'Leaver's is almost as good, with The Photo Atlas, Hot IQ's and The Stay Awake. The draw could be hampered by X and Henry Rollins down at Sokol Auditorium.

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Column 87: The Kids Aren't All Right
Omaha's impotent indie music scene.

I was leaning against the rail at O'Leaver's as the evening's show promoter, Joe Vavak a.k.a. Joe Someday a.k.a. Joe Disco, told me about Bob Latham, the talented, clever, story-telling local folkie who had just performed as an opener for touring band Fishboy. Then Joe says to me, "It's getting harder and harder for me to find bands to open shows here."

Joe explained his strange, unbelievable predicament. Unbelievable because just a few years ago Omaha had been ordained by the national press as ground zero for the under-the-radar indie music world. Not only were there dozens of local bands scratching to get attention, but bands from beyond our borders were beginning to move here "to exploit the booming music scene."

And now, here was Joe Vavak/Someday/Disco telling me there were no bands left to play his opening slots at O'Leaver's. Joe ticked off the reasons and it began to make sense.

The old reliables from just a few years ago were gone. He pointed to Fizzle Like a Flood -- Doug Kabourek's band. Doug quit playing live, having officially retired like so many before him. People get old, people give up. Then there's all the talent that's moved away. Denver Dalley a.k.a. Statistics now calls California home, along with film maker/budding rocker Nik Fackler of The Family Radio, Nick White of Tilly and the Wall and Austin Britton of Kite Pilot. They've joined all the others who managed to escape Omaha's comfortable vortex. What about Lincoln bands? Joe says he can't pay them enough to make it worth their time, what with gas going for more than $3 a gallon.

Finally, there are the success stories. Ladyfinger -- now known as Ladyfinger (ne) -- has outgrown O'Leaver's tiny room even if their lead singer still tends bar there. So have Little Brazil, Tilly and the Wall, Neva Dinova, and the rest of the Saddle Creek stable whose shoes have been resized to walk the festival circuit.

Moving on, moving away, moving up -- all are inevitable and accepted, until you glance at the empty bench and realize there's no one waiting to take their place.

Was this just a Joe thing? Nope. Marc Leibowitz, who runs One Percent Productions with Jim Johnson, acknowledged the problem, but said that most medium-sized touring bands that he books at Sokol Underground come to town with their own support. "So there's not that many shows we can add locals to anyway," he said. "But in the end, we have the same problem as Joe. Bands are either too big to support all these shows or too small to help the attendance."

Unlike Joe, Leibowitz said the next generation is out there, somewhere. "We're getting old and out-of-touch," he said. "When's the last time Joe went to any show other than his own? Does he expect to find new bands while in the basement of his house? The same applies to Jim and I. We're too busy to go scout new bands."

Scout new bands? Where? That, Joe says, is the crux of the problem.

His simple explanation for the current talent deficit: Omaha is feeling the impact of the void left after The Cog Factory closed its battered doors. For those too young to remember, The Cog Factory was a beloved shit-hole located on the scary side of Leavenworth that acted as an all-purpose incubator for Omaha's indie rock scene. Back in its '90s heyday, every Omaha band of merit -- including the entire Saddle Creek stable -- played at The Cog Factory, usually to crowds that counted in the dozens. It was an all-ages proving ground for bands that had nothing to prove. Cog owner, DIY punk guy Robb Rathe, wasn't in it for the money. He just wanted a place to see the bands he loved and for his friends' bands to fall flat on their faces in front of a crowd.

When Rathe moved to Portland in '98, he took the spirit of the Cog Factory with him. Sure, it hung on for a while, run by those who loved it. But eventually it slid into insolvency, closing its doors five year ago and leaving the kids with no place to play… literally.

So where will the next generation of Omaha indie bands come from? Joe hesitates to say that this could be the end of the line, but pointed out that "there is no all-ages venue that supports young, unknown bands. The Cog Factory took those bands under its wing. I don't know where they could play today. There's no place to put on a show that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and where you don't need connections to get booked. Sokol is too big and O'Leaver's is over-21."

But the funny thing is, as Leibowitz pointed out, the building that housed The Cog Factory is vacant and available right now, along with dozens of other vacant shit-holes more than adequate to host the next Cog Factory. Too bad no one's willing step up.

So don't bemoan the loss of The Cog Factory -- it was only a building. Bemoan the loss of the Robb Rathes of the world, the ones who epitomized the DIY lifestyle, the ones willing to give a kid a hand. And ask yourself what will happen to our scene without them.

There have been -- I don't know -- 1.1 million stories written and broadcast within the last 24 hours about the 25th anniversary of MTV, and of those 1.09999 million complained that the channel, which (lest we forget) was created to air television commercials for record companies, was no longer a "music station." Most of the reports devoted a lot of time to MTV's current reality-show programming -- like the sickening My Super Sweet 16 -- and then pondered if it was "the right thing for our kids to be watching." Even the OWH's former music reporter, Christine Laue, did sort of an "overview" story about MTV (here).

In every thing I've seen, heard and read, the reporters completely missed what I consider to be MTV's biggest impact not only on today's national music scene, but on the Omaha music scene as well. Since there's nothing else going on today -- no music feature to post this week (X ain't doing interviews, at least not with me), no shows tonight worth pimping -- let me explain…

Growing up in Omaha, the only music I heard was whatever records my parents owned (the usual collection of Broadway soundtracks and lounge music, plus my dad's copy of the Original motion picture soundtrack to the movie Grand Prix (blared as loud as possible on his then-cutting-edge Telefunken stereo system) along with whatever was on Z-92. When we moved to Fort Calhoun and I was in high school, the music of choice came in two flavors -- Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd... And, of course, whatever was played on The Z (Van Halen, Journey, REO Speedwagon, you know the drill).

Just like today, Omaha didn't have a college radio station that played real college (i.e. "underground") music. You had The Z, Rock 100, Sweet 98 and a boatload of country stations. You could not hear what was going on in the then-infant world of alternative music. The raciest thing I remember hearing on the radio was The Z's Slats Gannon playing a track or two off U2's War album, which seemed bold and experimental.

Then along came MTV. It'd been around for years, but no one I knew had cable TV until I was in college. Suddenly all the lousy music you heard on the radio now had pictures to go with it. That awful Jefferson Starship song or the ubiquitous ZZ Top song off Eliminator that Z-92 played into the ground could now be both seen and heard. Who remembers Gina Tomasina? Sure, MTV played videos by a few bands that we (thankfully) hadn't heard of, like Men Without Hats or The Thompson Twins or Duran Duran, which eventually would cross over to the radio, but that was about it for any breakthroughs. MTV was there for those brain-dead moments, it was something you had on before you went out that night or when you were sitting around your friends' house drinking beer after class. Completely inconsequential, except for one single program, and I think everyone who reads this blog knows what program I'm thinking of (and no, it wasn't Yo! MTV Raps).

For two hours every Sunday night, MTV aired a show called 120 Minutes, a program dedicated solely to college music in the early days of indie. For the first time, many of us who had been shielded from that weird alternative music were hearing bands like The Smiths, Joy Division, The Cure, Husker Du, Echo & The Bunnymen, Public Image Ltd, The Psychedelic Furs, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Depeche Mode, Aztec Camera, World Party, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, The Alarm, The Connells, Syd Straw, The dB's, Buffalo Tom, Chapterhouse, The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, Galaxie 500, Cocteau Twins, The Sundays, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, Mazzy Star, Pixies, Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails… the list goes on and on throughout the early '90s until the Grunge bands brought alternative to the surface.

120 Minutes was the only place to hear this kind of music broadcast in Omaha other than the short-lived cable-only KRCK. Sure, the show skipped over entire genres of underground music (There was no hardcore on 120 Minutes, for example -- bands like The Butthole Surfers, Black Flag and other SST acts were too harsh for television or didn't make videos), but at least it was something. I can say without hesitation that the program had an impact on my current taste in music.

And I can tell you from interviews with a number of local bands that 120 Minutes impacted their taste in music, too. Yes, most of the '90s-era Omaha musicians became aware of the music that influenced their sound from places like The Antiquarium, Drastic Plastic, The Cog Factory (see tomorrow's column) and their network of friends, but most of them also watched 120 Minutes every Sunday night. It was a cool show, chock full of cool music and the occasional cool interview by Dave Kendall -- I still remember seeing Johnny Rotten complain about The Cure was ("It's all done in minor key. It's boring!").

I have to believe that Omaha wasn't the only city or town inwhich 120 Minutes was the only avenue for college music. Think about all the indie bands out there now and ask yourself how many of them watched that show. It's probably more than you think.

Anyway, in its ongoing evolution to become an electonic pile of shit, MTV cancelled 120 Minutes in 2003, but the show still lives on in a different format on MTV2 -- the 60-minute-long Subterranean, which I Tivo every week. The sad truth is that, to this day, Subterranean is still the only place to hear real college music in the Omaha area other than Dave Leibowitz's two hours on The River, which is also broadcast on Sunday nights. It's sad that we still don't have a college radio station that plays college music in this town and ironic that Subterranean played Saddle Creek videos years before any radio station in Omaha played them. The more things change, the more they stay the same…

You can read more about 120 Minutes here on the altmusictv.com site.

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So the guy next to me turns around during The Go! Team's final song last night -- while the 300 or so on hand were jumping up and down to the beat with their hands in the air -- and he says "I'm proud of Omaha tonight." Yeah, people actually danced at last night's show. But really, how could they not? Not only does the Go! Team's flavor of trip-hop meets indie meets School House Rock good-time music produce involuntary "bounce" spasms, there also was Spice Girl-style front woman Ninja yelling for people to "show their best moves" while she waved her arms like a hip-hop aerobics instructor. The crowd wanted her to like them, and judging by her comment -- "Best American crowd evah!" (which I'm sure she says to all the guys) -- she did.

Lots of surprised last night:

The turnout, for example. Says Ninja, "We were afraid no one here would know who we were and that we'd be playing to an empty room."

The music, for another example. While I knew it was going to be different than the records, I didn't expect it to be as hip-hop heavy (and at times just plain heavy) as it was. Six people constantly changing instruments, including two drum sets, glockenspiel, keyboards, recorder, guitar and bass. I have no idea how the samples -- a Go! Team staple -- were handled. Some horn samples were programmed into one of the keyboards. But for the most part the sample effects from the recordings were reinterpreted by the instruments.

And finally, the dancing. I warned them that they could be playing in front of a crowd of arm-crossed zombies. That wasn't the case. The last time I saw that kind of pogo-ing was at a 311 show.

It wasn't all dance music, though. The band played at least four unreleased songs, and two or three of them were somber instrumentals. The first one sounded like an Arcade Fire offshoot. Another sounded like it came from the motion picture soundtrack to '70s thriller The Parallax View (the part where Warren Beatty is brain washed -- you remember don't you?). The instrumentals brought the crowd down. But each was followed by another roaring dance number that usually involved Ninja prompting the crowd to yell-spell GO! TEAM or scream "OH Yeah!" which the crowd was more than happy to do.

Tonight, a first for One Percent Production -- the As I Lay Dying show that was slated for Sokol Auditorium has been moved downstairs to Sokol Underground due to poor ticket sales. Also on the bill are Black Dahlia Murder, Terror, Evergreen Terrace, Through the Eyes of the Dead and Cellador. The show still starts at 6:30 (it would have to considering the number of bands) and still costs $15. I'm guessing this will now sell out...

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