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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Live Review: Reagan and the Rayguns; Indian Jewelry tonight...

Every table was filled in the "performance room" of the Barley St. Tavern last night, filled with people there to welcome back Reagan Roeder to the world of live rock and roll music. And Reagan did not disappoint.

To inaugurate the return, the Rayguns made some line-up changes, the most dramatic of which was the shift of Mike Friedman from keyboards to electric guitar. The keyboards always seemed out of place to me, anyway, and Friedman is one of the best axe men in town. He showed it last night, torturing his guitar to submission on a set of songs that made me think that The Rayguns could become Omaha's own version of Crazy Horse. New drummer Landon Hedges did his usual arm-swinging Animal-from-the-Muppets good job, while bassist Kyle Harvey tried to kill us all with low-end feedback. As one patron said afterward, "They sound like a rock band." That they do, my son. The Rayguns is a bar-owner's wet dream. Their thick, growling turbulence coaxes listeners to want to drink and drink more. They're a drinkers' band, a bar band, the last band you'll want to hear as the fog of alcohol sweeps over your consciousness, and the last thing you'll remember upon waking in a pool of your own sweat, piss and vomit, squinting in pain, blocking out the cursed sunlight with the back of your hand.

Reagan, by the way, sounded as good as he possibly could over what arguably is one of the worst vocal PA's I've ever heard. I've been to a number of Barley St. shows and the PA usually was adequate. Not last night. Reagan's vocals sounded like they were being sung into a $10 condenser microphone, and then blasted over a pair of $20 Radioshack 6x9 car speakers. I suspect he'll sound somewhat better when the band plays at The 49'r on May 10.

* * *

May 10 also is the date for The Whipkey Three's EP release show at Mick's. I've already received my copy of the EP, and can say without reservation that it's the best recording that Whipkey has ever produced with any band. As one person put it who hasn't cared for any of Whipkey's past projects: "I guess persistence pays off. I actually like this." I like it, too. The EP is about as DIY as you're going to get -- Whipkey burned the CDRs and hand rubber-stamped the discs and sleeves. I'm not sure where you can find a copy, but I know they'll be available at Mick's on the tenth.

* * *

The OWH has a story today on the "live music" ordinance (here), reiterating Slowdown's and The Waiting Room's open house events (TWR's is later today). Kids, get your paperwork together. The article doesn't mention if any other venues have applied for an all-ages permit. Will there be only two?

* * *

Tonight at Slowdown Jr., it's Houston drone-masters Indian Jewelry. According to Wikipedia, the band "is known for its droning vision music and seizure-inducing stage show." The few tracks I've heard were indeed dark, throbbing and psychedelic, yet… strangely catchy. Opening is Lymbyc Systym and Dim Light. $7, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, over at Mick's, Brad Hoshaw is playing with Cami Rawlings and Boston to Austin. $5, 9 p.m.

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


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posted by Tim at 10:48 AM

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Reagan's return tonight; TWR's all-ages open house tomorrow...

Singer/songwriter Kyle Harvey writes to say that a last-minute show is going down tonight at The Barley Street Tavern featuring the long-awaited return of singer/songwriter Reagan Roeder. Roeder's been sidelined the past few months recovering from injuries received in a car accident. The show features a new line-up for Reagan and The Rayguns: Harvey on bass, Mike Friedman on guitar, Landon Hedges (Little Brazil) on drums, and Roeder out front with guitar. 10 p.m., free. Don't miss it.

* * *

Like Slowdown, The Waiting Room is hosting an open house where it's inviting parents to drop by, check out the bar and get their children's permission slips notarized and on file. As mentioned yesterday, the new "music venue" ordinance goes into effect this week requiring all those 17 years old and younger to have a notarized permission slip on file with the club before they'll be allowed into all-ages shows. TWR's open house is tomorrow evening, April 30, from 6:30 to 10 p.m.

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


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posted by Tim at 11:29 AM

Monday, April 28, 2008

An O'Leaver's weekend (again); ordinance to take effect; American Princes tonight...

It was a weekend of contrasts at O'Leaver's. Friday night the bar hosted Sarah Benck and the Robbers and Landing on the Moon featuring new guitarist Matt Carroll, who replaced Shawn Cox last month. Cox, who was at Friday's show, said musical and personal commitments were piling up and something had to give, adding that Carroll's guitar skills were going to blow people away. Carroll, who looks like he just turned 21, was impressive, though for whatever reason, his guitar sounded secondary (volume-wise) in the mix. Maybe it was because the band was playing louder -- and looser -- than usual. Because of their songs' arrangements and style, LotM can sound somewhat tight on stage -- that wasn't the case Friday night at the jam-packed show. They seemed determined to let it all hang out -- and did, to grand effect. The band currently is recording new material with Carroll. More to come…

Call it The O'Leaver's Effect, but Sarah Benck and her posse also sounded more relaxed than I've ever heard them, ripping through a set of their bluesy tunes with laid-back panache. O'Leaver's usual crowd of drunk, unshaven neighborhood regulars, musicians and vagrants was replaced by a covey of well-dressed female Benck followers including a few choice cougars with their cubs in tow. Purrrrrr….

By Saturday night, the usual O'Leaver's crowd was back for a night of heavy-hard noise rock/punk. Much to my chagrin I missed the World Premiere of Techlepathy, who I thought was playing later in the evening. Instead, they were first. The buzz afterward: Techlepathy plays epic Midwestern punk rock and are "awesome." Guess I'll have to wait to see for myself. I caught the last couple death-hammer songs by Sirhan Sirhan -- way too loud for little ol' O'Leaver's. Prize Country, on the other hand, was just right -- aggressive punk rock by way of Helmet or Bad Religion or Fugazi -- super clean, super good, probably the best touring band I've heard at O'Leaver's so far this year. Last up was Omaha's own Fromanhole, playing injured. Bassist Doug Kiser had accidentally drilled a hole in his index finger prior to the gig. He filled the divot with Krazy Glue to numb the pain, and had to stop halfway through the set to apply a second coating. Despite the disability, it was the usual mathy/angular/chaotic set from the trio, who had spent the day recording new material for an upcoming release.

* * *

Val Nelson from Slowdown e-mailed to say that the new "music venue" ordinance that allows those under 21 to be admitted to shows at Slowdown (and other licensed music venues) goes into effect April 30. The biggest change is that those under 18 must have a notarized permission slip from their parent or legal guardian. Slowdown doesn't have a notary on staff, but will have an open house with a notary present this Saturday, May 3, from 2 to 5 p.m. They're encouraging parents with children 17 and under to come down, check out the club and get that permission slip filed.

The consent form can be downloaded online here.

All right, so where the hell else are you supposed to find a notary (and what the hell makes one qualified to be a notary in the first place?)? Well, most First National Bank branch offices have a notary on staff, and if you've got an account there, it's free (or at least it used to be). Check with your bank before you head out.

The new protocol for entry at Slowdown calls for those 18-20 years old to present a valid driver's license, state ID or passport to get in. For anyone under 21, admission will no be granted until one hour before show time, and they must leave immediately after the performance (and buying some merch). Find out more details at The Slowdown website.

Marc Leibowitz at The Waiting Room said the same permission requirements will apply to his club starting April 30.

* * *

Speaking of Slowdown, there's an interesting show in the front room tonight featuring Little Rock five-piece American Princes. Their new album, Other People (on Yep Roc), is a quantum step forward from their last album. At times (like on opening track "Auditorium") the band sounds Paul McCartney fronting Spoon. Local acts Manna and Icares open. 9 p.m., $7.

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


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posted by Tim at 10:39 AM

Friday, April 25, 2008

Live Review: Neva Dinova; Benck/Robbers tonight; Back When tomorrow...

I thought it was a nice-sized crowd last night at The Waiting Room for Neva Dinova (I'm guessing 150?), but there were still a few people complaining that the gate seemed a little light. The band didn't do itself any favors by playing a show just a couple weeks ago at Slowdown Jr. (I'm told it was supposed to be a "secret show," though there wasn't anything secret about it.). On top of that, Jake Bellows plays solo acoustic/electric quite often, and even though those sets are different than Neva sets, it's still Jake up there. If Neva wants to sell out TWR, they have to play less frequently around here (say once every six months?) and make the show an event.

While the Neva set at Slowdown two weeks ago was good, last night's set was arena-rock quality. The band never sounded bigger or better as they ripped through songs off the new CD. Neva has evolved from being a fun-lovin' bar band whose performances more resembled band practices than concerts, to a highly honed, highly professional rock act that belongs on any stage. There's really nothing holding these guys back except luck or lack of it. They just need to get that one break that'll push them over the hump into the next level. Maybe their move to Saddle Creek will be that extra push. I suspect I'll be seeing them perform on the Kimmel/Daly/Letterman/Conan/Leno circuit sometime in the near future…

If you missed the show last night, you've got a chance to catch the rerun tonight in Lincoln when Neva Dinova plays at Box Awesome with tourmate Ladyhawk and local heroes Outlaw Con Bandana. $8, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, back here in the Big Oh, Sarah Benck and the Robbers are slummin' it at everyone's (well, at least my) favorite stinkhole, O'Leaver's, with Landing on the Moon (tonight featuring a new guitarist). $5, 9:30 p.m.

Down at Slowdown it's the YWCA Benefit Concert featuring The Wholes, Goodbye Sunday and Eustace. $10 or $7 with student ID. 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night's marquee attraction is Back When at Slowdown (on the big stage) with Lincoln's Ideal Cleaners, Noah's Ark Was a Spaceship and The Show Is the Rainbow. I haven't seen Back When since, well, way back when a couple years ago. Guess it's about time. $7, 9 p.m.

Also Saturday night, Sokol Underground is hosting a good show (a rarity since One Percent quit booking the room) with Thunder Power!!!, Dan McCarthy and AM Revival. $7, 9 p.m.

Finally, O'Leaver's wraps up the weekend with an evening of beautiful noise featuring art math metal maniacs Fromanhole, Oregon's Prize Country, California's Sirhan Sirhan (featuring former members of KC's Molly McGuire) and the world debut of Techlepathy, featuring members of Sound of Rails, Putrescine and The Monroes. $5, 9:30 p.m.

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


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posted by Tim at 11:02 AM

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Column 170: Know your enemy; Neva Dinova tonight...

This week's column is an extension of the portion of Monday's blog entry concerning Saddle Creek Bar's Mike Coldewey, recently made notorious by his role in the all-ages/music venue controversy that led to last week's historic City Council stripper discussion.

Column 170: Public Enemy
Hate for the right reasons.

Last Saturday night, I high-tailed it over to what is widely believed to be a den of pure evil -- The Saddle Creek Bar. There, I consorted with The Dark Lord accused of high crimes and misdemeanors to the Omaha music scene, and retrieved my winnings. As I mentioned in last week's column, I had a bet riding on the outcome of last Tuesday's City Council meeting, a bet I won. I played Randolph Duke to Mike Coldewey's Mortimer Duke, and he paid up: one dollar.

It was then that I realized that these days, people are hating Coldewey for all the wrong reasons.

If there's a back story to the City Council vote that allows minors into bars for all-ages rock shows, it's the demonization of Coldewey. But the fact is, before this whole thing got stirred up, few people who I know in the indie music scene liked the owner/operator of The Saddle Creek Bar or his brash, straight-forward approach.

Musicians already were avoiding SCB either because of its sound system, the lack of free booze for performers or Coldewey's abrasive tell-it-like-it-is personality that refuses to suffer fools lightly. That he pushed the all-ages issue to the forefront by asking Omaha's Finest what he can and can't do all-ages-wise at his bar only made him more of a pariah to people who never went to his bar in the first place.

The story goes back to October of last year when Coldewey e-mailed me a copy of Omaha Municipal Code 15-41. Actually, it goes back even further than that, to the opening of The Slowdown almost a year ago. It was in a cover story I wrote for The Reader in June 2007 where the issue of all-ages shows was first discussed. There, Slowdown owner/operator Robb Nansel said his new club would allow clearly identified minors into shows. "Being all-ages is an important part of our business plan," Nansel said in the story. "People under 21 go to shows. I was under 21 once and I went to shows, and I was really frustrated when I couldn't get in because of my age." I concluded by saying that conceivably, you could see 12 year olds walking around Slowdown on show nights.

This statement, like much of The Reader (unfortunately) must have gone unread by our city's law enforcement personnel who clearly know that minors aren't allowed in bars when alcohol is being served. We must assume that they didn't read it, because the alternative is that they did read it and ignored it or decided to turn their eyes away from an obvious violation of city code.

But the statement didn't go unnoticed by Coldewey, who (after a heated discussion a few evenings before at SCB) sent me a copy of the ordinance, highlighting all the juicy parts. Who knows who else received a similar e-mail from Coldewey, but I know that he did ask the city attorney to clarify the ordinance, which helped get this whole thing rolling.

A week after the April 1 Omaha City Council meeting where Councilman Jim Suttle introduced the so-called "music venue" ordinance, Coldewey outed his role in the controversy in a thread on the SLAM Omaha chatboard that accused him of having a vendetta against Slowdown and/or The Waiting Room.

Those accusations may or may not be true, but either way they're laughable. SCB has never been (and never will be) a competitive threat to those businesses, and had nothing to gain by seeing them ticketed or lose their all-ages shows. Coldewey did have something to lose, however, if cops had busted him with minors in his bar -- a bar that unlike Slowdown or The Waiting Room, is not being lauded by the City of Omaha as a cornerstone of neighborhood development. Considering the police presence in the SCB neighborhood, there's little doubt that Coldewey would have been busted had he hosted an all-ages show, and we all would have ended up in the City Council chambers discussing a "live music" ordinance anyway. The only difference, of course, is that Coldewey would have been ticketed and/or lost his license and maybe his business. But who cares, right?

Well, I do, and it has nothing to do with Coldewey. My reasons are purely selfish -- the Saddle Creek Bar is only a few blocks from my house. It's convenient, and the Rolling Rock is cold and cheap. Fact is, I only swing by SCB for shows once every two or three months. Indie music doesn't work well there probably because of its weird box-like stage and its step-back-in-time sound system. I've suggested that they forget about hosting indie music altogether. Coldewey will never be able to book (or afford) the top-flight touring indie bands handled by One Percent Productions, and all the local indie bands I know hate his guts, even moreso after all of this.

In fact, shortly after the SLAM thread, bands who never stepped foot in the Saddle Creek Bar before were calling for a boycott. And even a week after the book had been closed on the controversy, musicians were still telling me how they'd never go to SCB again.

People can boycott whomever or whatever they want. It's a free country, but do it for the right reasons. Coldewey didn't write the original ordinance. He merely asked a question that led to other questions that led to a new law. So if you're going to hate Mike Coldewey, do it because you think he's an asshole or because he said your band sucks or because he blames you instead of his sound system for the ear-piercing feedback on stage. Hate him because he made you buy drinks instead of giving you unlimited reign over his bar taps. Hate him because he can be a stubborn son of a bitch. But don't hate him because he called out people for violating an ordinance that the city would never allow him to violate, an ordinance that, partially due to his actions, has been changed for the better.

Tonight at The Waiting Room it's Neva Dinova's sort of official CD release show for You May Already Be Dreaming (Read about the band and the CD here). Neva actually played a last-minute show at Slowdown Jr. a few weeks ago on the CD's drop day, but this is the one that the band has been planning on for months. Opening is No Blood Orphan and Jagjaguwar recording artist Ladyhawk, who's touring with Neva through June 1. $8, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Slowdown Jr. is hosting a fund-raising concert for Democratic senate candidate Scott Kleeb featuring performances by The Night Gallery, Hyannis, Honeybee and Thunder Power!!! Suggested donation is $5; show starts at 8 p.m.

Also starting at 8 p.m., the Oscillations fund-raiser at PS Collective, mentioned in yesterday's blog entry.

And finally, over at The Barley St. Tavern, it's Sarah Benck and Matt Cox for a free show that starts at 9.

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


0 comments

posted by Tim at 5:27 AM

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Oscillations, Kyle Harvey tomorrow…


Here's an early heads-up about an event tomorrow at PS Collective. It's a screening of the short film Oscillations by Evan Blakley featuring music by Kyle Harvey. I saw a screening of the film at the Omaha Film Festival a month or so ago as part of the festival's "short film block," the quality of which was, well, gratingly bad -- except for Oscillations, which was something of a mind-fuck. Don't ask me what the movie's about, I don't know. It's essentially a smear of iconic visuals and sharp, nested images that echo with isolation and unease. It's weird in a David Lynch sort of way, but without Lynch's dark irony. In that context, it probably has more in common with the work of another David -- David Fincher. There's no dialogue, just music and atmospheric tonescapes. Not surprisingly, Oscillations didn't take home any honors at OFF, but that's not stopping Blakley from entering the film into other festivals around the country. The PS Collective screening and concert is a fund-raiser to gather money to pay for entry fees and other associated costs. Harvey will start off the evening playing a set, then the film, then if you're not already creeped out enough, there's a performance by FATHR^, a project headed by visionary noise/performance artist Dustin Bushon. It all starts at 8 p.m. and will probably be over in time to walk to The Waiting Room to catch Neva Dinova. Recommended donation is $10.


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


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posted by Tim at 11:57 AM

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Conor signs to Merge; appears on the cover of Rolling Stone (sort of); New Waiting Room website...

Lots of Conor Oberst news today:

Billboard reported this morning that Oberst signed a deal with Merge to release his first solo record since '96's Soundtrack to My Movie. According to Billboard: "The self-titled set is due Aug. 4 and was recorded in January and February in Tepoztlan, Mexico. Oberst is backed on the project by the Mystic Valley Band, the members of whom have not been named. Longtime collaborator Andy LeMaster assisted with the recording, which Oberst produced." The full story is here.

The CD is a departure for Oberst on many levels -- it wasn't recorded at ARC, it wasn't produced by Mike Mogis and it won't come out on Saddle Creek. It'll be interesting to hear how those differences impact the music, and what it means to the future of Bright Eyes, which in most people's minds, was a Conor Oberst solo project (with side players) to begin with. There are going to be those who ask, "How could he put something out on a label other than Creek and his own Team Love?" Hey, we're talking Merge Records here, which over the past two or three years has emerged as the leader among indies. I have a feeling that the record ended up on Merge much the same way Jenny Lewis' solo record ended on Team Love -- the result of a conversation. Conor probably was talking to Mac McCaughan or Laura Ballance and one of them suggested that, hey, you should do a solo record and put it out on Merge. And Conor said "Why not?" followed by "Who's gonna tell Robb."

On top of that, I got my new issue of Rolling Stone yesterday and on the cover, sharing space with a dozen or so others, was Oberst. It's Stone's annual "best of" issue, and Oberst was named "Best Songwriter." Among the comments from the story: "The quality and breadth of Oberst's songwriting have provoked comparisons to Bob Dylan - an IED of a compliment that exploded the careers of many promising artists before him. Oberst is flattered but not fazed. Now twenty-eight, he pauses for a full ten seconds when asked how his songwriting has changed since adolescence. 'It's strange how similar it is,'he says with a laugh. 'It's still mysterious to me.'" Read the whole story (written by Anthony Decurtis) here.

I was reading this and thinking that despite the honor, Oberst continues to be flying under the general-public radar. He still hasn't done a "musical guest" spot on Saturday Night Live (My Morning Jacket is next in the barrel; can Matt Ward be far behind?); and he's never been given a solo Rolling Stone cover. Is it a scheduling issue? Could be. Probably. Or it could be that he doesn't want that limelight, though the last person to care about such things is probably Oberst himself.

* * *

The Waiting Room launched a new website this morning that's a lot easier to navigate (and works better on my iPhone). Check it out at waitingroomlounge.com.

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


0 comments

posted by Tim at 10:56 AM

Monday, April 21, 2008

Weekend review; consorting with 'the enemy'; Half-Handed Cloud tonight...

I didn't go to any shows on Friday night, while I went to three shows on Saturday, sort of. I dropped by at the Earth Day festivities at Elmwood Park Saturday afternoon and caught part of The Pendrakes' set. Very nice. The crowd was larger than last year's, probably because of the fine weather (or maybe it was the addition of a beer garden?).

Saturday night I swung by O'Leaver's. They had just poured their new beer garden patio earlier that day -- not huge but big enough, running along the north side of the building just outside the front door, which now will become a patio exit only. The new front door will be the current exit/entrance to the "pool table room." That means the doorman no longer will be able to watch the shows (Hey, he's not getting paid to watch them anyway, right?). So, I arrived just in time to see El Diablos Blancos' five-minute noise-rhythm set squelchingly played to about 15 people. I guess he wasn't feeling it.

Since it was only around 11:30, I high-tailed it over to what is widely believed to be a den of pure evil -- The Saddle Creek Bar. There, I consorted with The Dark Lord accused of high crimes and misdemeanors to the Omaha music scene, and retrieved my winnings. As I mentioned last week, I had a bet riding on the outcome of last Tuesday's City Council meeting. I played Randolph Duke to Mike Coldewey's Mortimer Duke, and he paid up: one dollar.

If there's a back story to the all-ages music venue issue, it's the demonization of Coldewey. Fact is, few people who I know in the music scene liked him or his brash, straight-forward approach to begin with. Musicians already were avoiding The Saddle Creek Bar either because of the sound system, the lack of free booze for performers or Coldewey's abrasive tell-it-like-it-is personality that refuses to suffer fools lightly. The fact that he pushed the all-ages issue to the forefront by asking cops what he can and can't do all-ages-wise at his bar (and the meaning of an existing ordinance that's never been enforced) only made him more of a pariah to people who never went to his bar in the first place. Accusations that he had a vendetta against Slowdown or The Waiting Room may or may not be true, either way they're laughable. SCB has never been (and never will be) a competitive threat to those businesses, and had nothing to gain by seeing them ticketed or lose their all-ages shows. Coldewey did have something to lose, however, if cops had busted him with minors in his bar -- a bar that unlike Slowdown or The Waiting Room, is not being lauded by the City of Omaha as a cornerstone of neighborhood development. Considering the police presence in his neighborhood, I have little doubt that Coldewey would have been busted, and we all would have ended up in the City Council chambers discussing a "live music" ordinance anyway. The only difference would have been that he'd have been ticketed and/or lost his license and maybe his business. But who cares, right?

Well, I do, and it has nothing to do with Coldewey. My reasons are purely selfish -- the Saddle Creek Bar is only a few blocks from my house. It's convenient, and the Rolling Rock is cold and cheap. Fact is, I only swing by SCB for shows about once every two or three months. Indie music doesn't work well there probably because of its weird box-like stage and its step-back-in-time sound system. I've suggested to Coldewey to back away from indie music altogether. He'll never be able to book (or afford) the top-flight touring indie bands handled by One Percent, and the local indie bands all hate his guts.

What works well at The Saddle Creek Bar is heavy metal shows, as evidenced by last Saturday night's Big Al metal showcase. I got there about halfway through a set by an all-female heavy metal band called The Clincher. It didn't matter if there was a slight error in sibilance in the back of the room -- you could hear the roaring guitars and the roaring vocals just fine. Though I was weaned on heavy metal at good ol' Fat Jack's (where anyone could get in regardless of age if they were ballsy enough to show their ID), I'm not a metal expert and rarely listen to the genre. That said, The Clincher did what they did pretty well, and the crowd (consisting of a cross-section of bikers, metal dudes, chicks in halters and guys who wear their baseball caps backwards) loved it. They also loved The Big Al Band and its four-word metal epics ("It's war, you die," "Boycott The Wal-Mart" "Oregano" and so on…).

SCB should try to become a modern-day version of Fat Jacks. Gary, their sound guy, is a metal fan and knows how to make it sound great in that room. He also has connections in the metal circuit. But it's unlikely that they'll ever go all-metal. Coldewey likes the idea of hosting a wide variety of music styles, from blues and jazz to hard rock, metal and yeah, even indie if it attracts a crowd. For him, it's all about attracting a crowd so he can sell more booze, and isn't that what running a bar is all about?

* * *

Tonight at Slowdown Jr. it's Asthmatic Kitty recording artist Half-Handed Cloud. The project's singer/songwriter, John Ringhofer, has worked with a number of collaborators from the Asthmatic Kitty stable including Sufjan Stevens, and as a result, his music has the same childlike, whimsy quality. Opening is another Ringhofer collaborator, Lake. $7, 9 p.m.

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


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posted by Tim at 10:47 AM

Friday, April 18, 2008

Bad movie soundtrack tonight, Earth Day tomorrow...

It's been determined that I'm the only one on the face of this great mothership we call Earth who thought the movie Juno was a piece of shit. That critical overhang has caused me to be less than enthusiastic about tonight's premiere show, Kimya Dawson at The Waiting Room (with David Dondero, Angelo Spencer and L'Orchidee D'Hawai). I assume the show will attract avid fans of Juno (which happens to be everyone on the face of the Earth but me) dying to hear some songs from the soundtrack, a soundtrack that was unintentionally dumbed down by being associated with such a dopey film (a film that won an Academy Award for best screenplay, by the way, which is yet another reason why I don't write about film in Lazy-i). $14, 9 p.m. I'm surprised it isn't sold out yet.

Other than that, there's not a lot going on tonight. Kyle Harvey's doing a set at hole-in-the-wall Benson bar Incognito (with John Fino -- 9 p.m., free). Maybe it's time for a visit to The Brothers?

Tomorrow is Earth Day, which we celebrate in this country with day-long concerts interspersed with environmental testimony by people who are supposed to know more than you do about why it's important to recycle. That's what you're in for tomorrow afternoon in Elmwood Park. Highlight performances include Black Squirrels at 3:30, Bear Country at 4:20, Pendrakes at 5:10, Son Ambulance at 6:10 and Sarah Bench/Robbers at 7:10.

Also tomorrow afternoon, Homer's is celebrating "Record Store Day" with in-store performances at its Old Market location by Bear Country, Jake Bellows and Matt Whipkey starting at 1 p.m.

Tomorrow night it's El Diablos Blancos and Endometrium Cuntplow at O'Leaver's. I've never heard of either band, but it's at O'Leaver's so it has to be good, right? $5, 9:30 p.m.

Also tomorrow night, Talkin' Mountain is playing at PS Collective with Chow Nasty and Columbia Vs. Challenger. $5, 9 p.m.

And downtown at Slowdown it's fun-lovin' Philly angle-rockers Man Man (Anti Records) with Yeasayer (who were just here in February). $12, 9 p.m.

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


1 comments

posted by Tim at 11:04 AM

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Cover story: The Life and Times of Neva Dinova; Ladyfinger/Dance Me Pregnant, Mike Friedman tonight...

The biggest surprise from people who got a sneak-peek of this just-posted, rather long Lazy-i feature on Neva Dinova (read it here) is how the band has been around for 15 years. That's a long time. In fact, as I mentioned in the first feature I wrote about the band more than six years ago (here), I first saw Neva when they opened for Commander Venus and Norman Bailer sometime around '95 at the Capital Bar and Grill.

This new story takes up where the last one left off. The band talks about their 2004 split EP with Bright Eyes, their relationship with Crank! Records, their slow decline due to endless booze-fueled tours, their near break-up and their sort-of rebirth, as well as overcoming a mountain of obstacles to make their new album. Take a look.

Among the stuff that didn't make it into the story was an update on Bo Anderson, the band's original drummer who was replaced by Roger Lewis in the summer of 2003. Lewis said Anderson left the band to practice law in Houston, Missouri, a small town nestled on the edge of the Ozarks about 100 miles east of Springfield. "The opportunity arose for him to take over his father's law practice and settle down with his wife and kids," Lewis said. "He took that path as opposed to being in a rock band and not making any money." Anderson also is either a city or county prosecutor, depending on which member of Neva you ask.

Neva Dinova's April 24 show at The Waiting Room (and their April 25 show at Box Awesome in Lincoln) is the front end of a tour with Ladyhawk that runs through June 1. Come out next week and wish the band well before they hit the road.

* * *

Speaking of shows, there's a hot one tonight at Slowdown Jr. featuring Ladyfinger and Dance Me Pregnant. The bands are celebrating the release of a split 7-inch on Belfast label No Dancing Records, whose roster includes Desert Hearts and the super-talented Robyn G Shiels. How this tiny Irish label managed to find Ladyfinger and DMP is anybody's guess. I'm told that there is an extremely limited number of copies of the split available, so get them while you can. This show is guaranteed to be crowded and brutal. Opening is out-of-town band His Mischief. $8, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, a super-rare solo performance at Mick's by Mike Friedman, one of the best guitarists in the area. Friedman plays with Simon Joyner as well as Reagan and the Rayguns (and was a member of The Movies). Also on the bill are Heather Wessling and Black Squirrels. $5, 9 p.m.

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


0 comments

posted by Tim at 10:46 AM

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Column 169: A Confederacy of Dunces UPDATED; Girl Drink Drunk at TWR...

Update/Correction: Despite what I (and every civilian I spoke with) thought I heard (and re-heard in the Cox broadcast), the amendment requiring one security person per 50 attendees (instead of one per 100) did not pass. Slowdown's Jason Kulbel e-mailed last night to say the amendment never got seconded. The column (below) has been updated to reflect the correction...

The ordinance takes effect 15 days after it's signed by Mayor Fahey. I assume the venues can apply for this special license after that time. I talked to Slowdown's Jason Kulbel before the meeting. He said Councilman Brown's biggest concern with the ordinance was the lack of a "barrier" requirement -- i.e., demanding the construction of a barrier within a venue that would divide minors from the rest of the audience. Such a barrier would be prohibitive (and nearly impossible) in Slowdown, where it would have to run from the stage to the bathroom all the way to the front entrance. That wasn't going to happen, which meant Brown was never on board...

Column 169: No Poles, No Pasties
All ages shows become more legal.

It's been about 20 years since I've been to an Omaha City Council meeting, and in that time nothing has changed about the council chambers -- the paneled décor, the dirty upholstered chairs, the institutional florescent lighting. The place even smells the same, a mixture of dust, mildewed paper, Brylcreem, toilet bowl deodorant and bureaucracy.

Only the players have changed, but really, is Frank Brown that much different then say, Fred Conley? Is Garry Gernandt a big leap from Bernie Simon? No, not really. It certainly didn't seem that way at Tuesday's City Council meeting, which felt like stepping into a time machine, complete with all the usual inane discussions, dumb questions and stripper references that I remember from my days at J school.

At stake was the future of all-ages shows in Omaha bars. The council was voting on the so-called "music venue" ordinance introduced by Councilman Jim Suttle that would let bars allow minors onto their premises during live music events as long they were properly ID'd and identified as minors. The first reading of the ordinance was two weeks ago, and afterward no one thought it would pass. Certainly I didn't.

But over those two weeks, the folks at Slowdown and The Waiting Room tried to find a way to make the ordinance more palatable to a council that's stuck somewhere in the year 1972.

Among the compromises was an amendment that would call for those under the age of 18 to have a notarized parental consent form on file at the bar. I figured that could be a deal breaker -- who wants to bother with looking up forms and checking signatures when there's a line of people waiting to get into your venue?

But the Slowdown guys seemed fine with the amendment, especially considering that the alternative would mean only being able to allow access to those over 18, or worse, only those over 21. All-ages shows are a major staple to Slowdown's business plan and philosophy. In the face of losing that option, digging through a database for a consent form was no big deal.

Neither, apparently, was the inability to sell pitchers of beer -- not allowed under the ordinance. Neither could a patron buy more than two drinks at a time. Other new amendments included a more thorough definition of a live music venue -- it must have a permanent raised stage, fixed lighting and a house PA. That definition leaves O'Leaver's out of consideration, since it doesn't have a real stage.

But the amendments didn't stop there, and that's where the inane discussions began. Councilman Gernandt suggested that the $250 "music venue permit fee" just wasn't enough. How about $375? More "investment" would make the license owners more watchful, right?

And what about this part here that says there will be only one security person for up to 100 attendees, and another for each 100 additional attendees? Come on, how is one person supposed to watch 100 people? How about one security guy for every 50 attendees? Slowdown's Jason Kulbel argued that such an amendment could result in overstaffing. Do the math. It would mean 10 designated security personnel for a 500-capacity show. That's a lot of burly guys in "security" T-shirts. Between those two amendments, only the increase in the permit fees was adopted.

Then it was Councilman Brown's turn, and that's when things started to get out of hand.

Among Brown's concerns: What's to stop someone from dropping off their kids at Slowdown at 8 p.m. and using the bar as a trendy babysitting service? Nothing, of course, though as Kulbel said, it might be a lot cheaper and easier to drop your kids off at Denny's.

What about karaoke? According to the ordinance, a live music venue would be defined as a place where a "live instrumental and/or vocal musical performance is occurring." Well, isn't karaoke a live music performance? What's to stop a crappy karaoke bar from letting minors in?

And for God's sakes, what about exotic dancing? What's to stop a strip club that also has live music from allowing kids in the door? Hey, what about pole dancing? A shiver ran through the crowd. An amendment must be made that disqualified establishments that allow exotic dancing and pole dancing. It didn't matter that the city prosecutor said such an amendment would be meaningless, as he wasn't aware of any definitions for exotic or pole dancing in the city laws. "Without a specific definition, it's impossible to enforce," he said.

Still, the strip club amendment passed, bundled with the karaoke amendment.

But wait, what if someone stood on stage without an instrument and sang wearing nothing but pasties and didn't dance? Would that be allowed? I'm not kidding, that scenario was actually considered and discussed. Kudos to the crowd of more than 100 kids, musicians and other interested parties for not laughing their asses off during this discussion.

In the end, the City Council adopted the ordinance to amend section 15-41 of the Omaha Municipal Code by a vote of 5 to 2. Chuck Sigerson, who remained silent throughout the ordeal, and Frank Brown voted against the ordinance. Brown said he felt that that all of the discussion was proof that the ordinance needed more fine tuning. He was wrong, or at least his cohorts thought so.

Afterward, everyone seemed pleased that all-ages shows would again be permitted in Omaha, just like, well, they always were. Except from now on, you'll have to leave the pasties at home.

Wednesday night at The Waiting Room it's karaoke of a different nature -- Girl Drink Drunk, TWR's version of Lincoln's Shitook Karaoke featuring members of The Third Men and The Black Squirrels backing you on lead vocals. $5, 9 p.m. and by the way, it's all-ages...

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


0 comments

posted by Tim at 7:10 PM
It passed...

The Omaha City Council this afternoon passed the all-ages "music venue" ordinance with a vote of 5-2. Ah, but the amendments... No strippers! No pole dancing! No karaoke! More info later...

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


0 comments

posted by Tim at 1:44 PM

Monday, April 14, 2008

Last chance to be heard…

All right, the City Council meeting concerning the all-ages ordinance (read here) is tomorrow afternoon. Let's go through the list:

-- Have you signed the online petition yet? Do it now.
-- Have you written your City Councilman yet? Go here, click on your district listed on the left-hand side of the page, and e-mail your dude. Make it sound like you know what you're talking about.

Your other chance to be heard is in person at the City Council meeting tomorrow at 2 p.m. The ordinance is Item 20 on the agenda, which is fairly early in the meeting, so be on time. The address is 1819 Farnam St. Ask the information desk for directions. Do everyone a favor and don't dress like you're headed to a Metallica concert. That doesn't mean you have to wear a tie, just don't look like a stereotype.

While I have money riding on an amended version of this ordinance passing, the votes may not be there. This meeting could be a real circus, and your's truly will be there to capture all the action, so look for a late-afternoon Lazy-i update (though Omaha.com will probably break the news first).

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

0 comments

posted by Tim at 1:57 PM

Friday, April 11, 2008

Blitzen Trapper tonight; Minus Story, Zep Trib tomorrow; Malpais Sunday...

My streak of late nights was broken last night when I got word that Jay Reatard canceled (thank you, Omahype). I ended up skipping the show altogether, having already seen the Black Keys a few times, in favor of getting a few extra much-needed hours of sleep.

I doubt I'll get much sleep this weekend, though. Here's the rundown:

Tonight at Slowdown Jr. it's the return of Portland Sub Pop band Blitzen Trapper with fellow Sub Pop act Fleet Foxes and the free-wheelin' Tim Fite. $8, 9 p.m.

Over at The Saddle Creek Bar (yes, they're still doing shows) it's a line-up of bands I've never heard of, including NYC power-pop act The Crash Moderns, Melismatics, Sight Unsound and Pictures of Lilly. The best part: It's free. Starts at 9.

Over at The Waiting Room it's five more bands I'm not familiar with: Victory Records act The Audition, Hit the Lights, Every Avenue, The Morning Light and Kiros (Sounds kind of emo to me). The difference is this show costs $12. Starts at 8 p.m.

Down at Sokol Underground, it's more emo featuring Converge, The Red Chord, Baroness and Genghis Tron. $15, 8 p.m.

Saturday night at Slowdown Jr. it's the return of Lawrence band Minus Story (Jagjaguwar) with Denton TX band Tre Orsi and our very own Dim Light. $7, 9 p.m.

Zep tribute band The Song Remains the Same is playing at The Waiting Room with Matt's Rocket Collection doing an AC/DC trib. $7, 9 p.m.

O'Leaver's is hosting The Shanks, Mosquito Bandito and Perry H. Matthews. Big noise punk death and destruction vulgarity (and maybe a tribute to local music hero Madder. Check out Aponik's Reader story on Joe here). $5, 9:30 p.m.

The Whipkey 3 is doing a set at The Barley St. starting at 9. Barley shows are usually free, but there could be a cover.

Omaha avant-garde noise king and Public Eyesore label chief Bryan Day is putting on a show at Benson Grind with many experimental bands. Could be weird. Probably will be weird. Weird is good. 8 p.m., donation requested.

Finally, over at The 49'r, punk band The Deformities is playing its final show, which one assumes will likely get out of hand. Corpse Show Creeps also are on the bill. $5, 9 p.m.

Then comes Sunday and Malpais -- you know, that band fronted by Omaha man of mystery and walking urban legend Greg Loftis. Opening is the Son, Ambulance and Landing on the Moon. Quite a lineup for $7. Starts at 9.

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


0 comments

posted by Tim at 10:49 AM

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Column 168: Minor Threat; Jay Reatard, Black Keys tonight...

This column was written Tuesday morning, before Slowdown began its online petition drive, which you can sign here. Marc Leibowitz this morning sent out an insightful reason why you should sign it or send a letter to your councilman: "One of the main reasons we were able to bring so many shows to this market is that we were able to offer all-ages shows. And not just all-ages shows at venues like The Cog Factory that had no bar, but all-ages show at a venue that serves alcohol," Leibowitz said. If all-ages participation at rock shows is banned at our primary venues (Slowdown, The Waiting Room), we're going to see fewer shows coming through town.

Or Leibowitz will be forced to look elsewhere, to places like Sokol Hall and Sokol Auditorium -- venues that have seen almost all of their indie music shows dry up with the opening of Slowdown and The Waiting Room. The Sokol facilities, which are not classified as "a bar," would still be able to host all-ages shows and serve booze. Sokol would clearly have the most to gain if this ordinance fails to pass. Do you think that fact will impact how South Omaha Councilman Garry Gernandt will vote? Ah, but he's only one vote. There are six more available. But by my last count, only two of those six supported the revised ordinance as it was originally presented. There's still a lot of work to do.

Column 168: Minor Threat
Arguing for all-ages venues.

At issue is an ordinance introduced by City Councilman Jim Suttle a couple weeks ago that would create a new category of businesses called "music venues." The ordinance would allow these designated bars to admit minors as long as the bars followed security measures, including having wristbands for those 21 and older and serving alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks in different glasses.

The ordinance was discussed at a City Council meeting two weeks ago. Among those speaking in favor were Matt Oberst (Conor Oberst's father), David Jacobson (the father of Film Stream's Rachel Jacobson, who also is an attorney representing Slowdown and the Waiting Room in the matter), Jason Kulbel (Saddle Creek Records executive and co-owner of Slowdown) and Marc Leibowitz (co-owner of One Percent Productions and The Waiting Room).

Their arguments are obvious to local music fans: Omaha's world-renowned music scene was created by a bunch of kids who grew up watching bands perform at all-ages shows. To prevent the next generation from seeing these shows because they take place in bars (rather than halls) would be a tragic blow to the continued growth of the local arts and music scene.

Among those speaking against the ordinance were members of Project Extra Mile (PEM), a group formed to fight underage drinking. Their chief concern: What would stop an adult from pouring alcohol into a minor's cup at one of these bars? That, and the notion that it would be wrong to allow minors to mingle with adults drinking in public.

At this point, the councilmen already have made up their minds. They either see the ordinance's obvious benefits, or see it as another wrong-headed opportunity for bars to get their hooks into the innocent minds of our youth. As one of the councilmen put it, surely if this music is as good as the proponents say it is, it can survive at venues that don't serve alcohol, right?

Councilman Suttle knew that the ordinance wouldn't pass in its original form, so he moved the vote -- originally slated for last Tuesday -- to this Tuesday in hopes of reaching a compromise that more councilmen could support. Maybe it's a change from "all ages" to 16- or 18-and-older. According to the Omaha World-Herald, Councilman Franklin Thompson "is concerned with how the city can keep businesses that aren't serious about music from qualifying under the new ordinance as a way to get minors in the door." In other words he's "worried that unscrupulous bar owners will attempt to turn their businesses into music venues as a way to skirt the existing law," the story said.

This is where we indie music fans are guilty of wearing blinders. We only think of Slowdown, The Waiting Room and Sokol when we think of this ordinance. We forget that it would apply to all the bars in Omaha, not just the ones we frequent. We know that the folks who run "our" bars are honest, trustworthy, ethical people who will enforce the ordinance's restrictions with an iron fist. In fact, we've already seen it. These bars have been hosting all-ages shows since they opened a year ago and have never been ticketed. For anyone who knows them, the idea of these owners allowing minors to drink in their establishments is, to say the least, amusing. Have you ever met a more paranoid bunch of people? I haven't.

Although I don't have any children (that I know of), I can say with confidence that I'm comfortable with any of my underage nieces and nephews seeing shows at these bars, and could recommend them to my friends and co-workers who have underage kids.

But, ironically, the bars that are pushing for the ordinance aren't the ones in question.

How would bars like Glacier, The Arena or Chrome Lounge be classified? They host live music in the form of cover bands on weekends, but are known more as pick-up joints than music venues. Suddenly parents wouldn't be as concerned about their underage daughters getting drunk as much as their daughters getting hit on by a 21-year-old horn-dog.

Still, I can't imagine a place like Glacier ever wanting to admit anyone under 21. Minors are bad for the bar business, even if they pay extra at the door. They don't get drunk, and bars make money off drunks.

The only solution to Thompson's concern would be for the City Council to grant "music venue" status on a case-by-case basis, similar to how they grant liquor licenses. I'm not sure how that would work.

Anyway, this is the part in the column where I tell you to Google "Omaha City Council" for the contact information and write your councilman and make your voice heard. Will it make a difference? It can't hurt.

You may want to point out that the current ordinance allows kids to go bowling or to hockey games at Qwest or Royals games at Rosenblatt -- all places that serve booze in the presence of minors in a far less restricted fashion than the new ordinance allows.

But they already know that.

Or you may want to point out that kids who really want to drink, are going to drink. They'll get their booze from somewhere. The only place they're likely not going to get it is, well, at Slowdown or The Waiting Room.

But they already know that, too.

Or you may want to point out that not passing the ordinance will take away one more thing for kids to do on a Friday and Saturday night, in a city that is painfully at a loss for things for kids to do.

They don't want to know that.

Like the folks who run Slowdown, Leibowitz also is calling for a show of support at Tuesday's City Council meeting, which starts at 2 p.m. Plan on going. For you kids, I can't think of a better civics lesson.

Tonight at Slowdown it's The Black Keys with Jay Reatard, and it's SOLD OUT.

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


0 comments

posted by Tim at 5:38 AM

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Live Review: Neva Dinova; Creek/Slowdown prepare for ordinance battle; Feist in the park...

Jake Bellows is mighty busy these days. This weekend he's off to London for a video shoot with Alessi. Then starting on the 23rd, Neva hits the road with Ladyhawk for a tour that runs into June. In the meantime, the band figured out a way to do a last-minute show in support of the release of You May Already Be Dreaming, which dropped yesterday. People were walking around Slowdown Jr. last night with the vinyl version of the album, an impressive sleeve design that includes a dye-cut outer sleeve made to look like a shadow-box stage with the inner sleeve bearing the katydid-in-the-moonlight design. Scattered on the merch table in the back were prescription bottles, each apparently containing a download of the album (Was there a thumb drive in the vial? I didn't look to see). Those Saddle Creek designers sure know how to do packaging.

Neva opened their set of sweet, downcast folk lullabies at around 11, playing a couple older numbers before rifling into the new album, played in its entirety in track order. This is the first time I've seen the full band in a long while. Bellows plays solo all the time; Neva, not so often. Back in the old days, the band could be criticized for having three guitars that all seemingly played the same guitar line, leaving listeners wondering why not just use one guitar and turn it way up. They've moved well past that. Performing as a five-piece -- bass, drums and three guitars -- the songs on You May… are a foundation for the ensemble to push the songs into much denser territory than heard on the album, with each guitar moving in its own distinct direction. The result, on songs like "Apocalypse," are torrid Crazy Horse-inspired jams that wind in and out of a central chord progression, building to a feedback-bleeding conclusion. Roger Lewis' drumming style is both narrow and controlled, targeted and intense, laid-back or bombastic depending on the song's needs. Underlining everything is Bellows' warm, mewing voice gently coaxing out melodies as if he's trying to either lull a loved-one to sleep or quietly waken her from a coma. It gets as big as it needs to for the epic rockers, but never leaves its cradle-ready sweet spot. If there's a criticism about Neva's music these days it's that it can have a narcotic-laced quality. Bellows and Co. may be playing modern-day cowboy songs, but this lonely cowpoke is slouched-over half asleep as Old Paint slowly trots across a dusty prairie, a Stetson pulled down over his eyes, eager for the evening's campfire and a quiet night's sleep with his boots on, alone under the stars.

* * *

After the set, documentary film director and Slowdown employee Rob Walters passed out slips of paper that said the following:

SAVE ALL AGES SHOWS IN OMAHA. Email the Omaha City Council and sign our petition by Monday, April 14.
Info available at theslowdown.com. Please tell all your friends. Thanks.

Looks like Saddle Creek and Slowdown finally have reached full battle mode with less than a week before the City Council votes on the "music venue" ordinance. I received e-mail from both Val Nelson and Robb Nansel before last night's show with details about an online petition in support of all-ages shows in Omaha. The details and the petition are available here, along with a boilerplate letter that they're asking people to cut and paste into an e-mail and send to the council with the subject line I SUPPORT ALL AGES SHOWS IN OMAHA.

In addition to all that, there was discussion as to how to get those impacted by the ordinance -- specifically school-age kids -- to the City Council meeting next Tuesday afternoon to provide a massive show of force/support. Should a large number of kids skip school to attend the meeting, this whole thing could become national news in sort of a "Footloose" kind of way. Will any of this do any good? It certainly can't hurt. Take a sec and go to the site and sign the petition, and if you haven't already, write your councilman.

This week's column is focused on the ordinance, and will go online tomorrow morning.

* * *

Our esteemed Mayor, Mike Fahey, announced yesterday that Feist will be the headliner for this year's Memorial Park Concert July 12. This is the fourth year for this so-called "youth-oriented" concert (The old-fogey Bank of the West concert is July 27). It started in 2005 with 311, Bright Eyes in '06 and Plain White T's last year. I think the city went with the T's because someone in the mayor's office thought that such a commercial-flavored band would attract a huge youth audience. That didn't work (despite the city's overblown crowd estimates). This year they've gone the complete opposite direction. Feist is well-known by all of us indie music folks. And people who follow Apple computer commercials may recognize her marketing tune (though they probably don't know who sings it). That's where any familiarity ends, however. Don't get me wrong, I think Feist is a huge leap forward, but I've got a feeling the crowd will again be somewhat measly. All's that means is that I'll be able to get closer to the stage. Start praying for good weather.

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


0 comments

posted by Tim at 10:45 AM

Monday, April 07, 2008

'Music Venue' vote held over; Speed! in the OWH; Nora Jones in Team Love; Help Wanted Nights to be produced; Neva Dinova tomorrow night...

Lot's of news over the weekend. Let's get to it:

The Omaha World-Herald reported Saturday that the vote for a "music venue" ordinance originally slated for tomorrow's Omaha City Council meeting is being held-over for a week. The ordinance would let bars designated as "music venues" allow minors in during live music shows.

According to the OWH article, councilman Franklin Thompson "is concerned with how the city can keep businesses that aren't serious about music from qualifying under the new ordinance as a way to get minors in the door." In other words he's "worried that unscrupulous bar owners will attempt to turn their businesses into music venues as a way to skirt the existing law," according to the article, here. This could make things rather complicated. How would you classify a bar like Glacier or Chrome, clubs that host cover bands on weekends and are known more as pick-up joints than music venues? Suddenly parents won't be as concerned about their daughters getting drunk as much as their daughters getting hit on by some 21-year-old horn-dog.

Fact is, I can't imagine a place like Chrome wanting to let anyone in under 21. So who exactly is Thompson worried about? He seems to want the City Council to grant "music venue" designation on a case-by-case basis. Actually, that's the only way it could possibly work considering how many bars host live music on weekends. Very complicated indeed.

I figured if a compromise was being sought, it would be concerning the age limit -- a 16+ or 18+ limit vs. all-ages. Even with that change, however, someone like Chuck Sigerson isn't going to change his position.

The venue with the most to lose (in my opinion) is Slowdown. Although the Waiting Room does host all-ages shows, I rarely see anyone who looks like a minor wandering around in there. Slowdown, on the other hand, always seems to have minors at shows. Should the ordinance fail to pass, promoters like One Percent Productions would have no choice but to again look at the Sokol properties (or other halls) for all-ages shows, which could impact how councilman Garry Gernandt -- who represents Sokol's district -- votes on the ordinance. Think about that a minute: If the ordinance doesn't pass, it would mean that minors would have to go a couple miles down the street to Sokol Aud or Sokol Underground instead of Slowdown to see all-ages shows. Does that make sense to you?

The vote's delay means you've got another week to write your city councilman and voice your support for the ordinance. Go here, click on your district listed on the left-hand side of the page, and e-mail your dude. Don't wait a week. Do it need now.

* * *

The OWH has been all about music coverage lately. The front of this Sunday's ETA section was dedicated to a huge feature on Gary Dean Davis, one of the operators of Speed! Nebraska Records and frontman to punk band The Monroes. Super-nice story by Niz. Take a sec and check it out.

* * *

I number of you e-mailed me a link to last week's Pitchfork story (here) about El Madmo, the new Norah Jones rock band that signed to Team Love. Look for their self-titled debut May 20. So when are they coming to Omaha?

* * *

The L.A. Times is reporting that Tim Kasher's screenplay "Help Wanted Nights" has found money for filming. "We're working with Lars Knudsen, who owns the indie production company Parts & Labor; Mira Shin, who's an assistant to Scott Rudin, though this is an independent project for her; and Nicholas Shumaker of White Buffalo Entertainment. It's coming along well enough. All the financing is arranged," Kasher said in the LA Times Music Blog entry (here). Casting already is being kicked around. "We have interested parties, but I can't talk about it quite yet," he said in the item. "You always have a wish list, though. For the female lead, I imagine a Mary-Louise Parker or Jennifer Jason Leigh, someone like that." Read the whole interview here, and while you're at it, read my interview with Kasher from last October, where he talks about the script and The Good Life album of the same name.

* * *

Roger Lewis, drummer for Neva Dinova, e-mailed to say that Neva is putting on a special last-minute show tomorrow night at Slowdown with Outlaw Con Bandana. To make it even more special, the band is performing their new album, You May Already Be Dreaming, in its entirety in track order as a celebration of its official Saddle Creek release. Should be quite a bash. $5. 9 p.m.

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


0 comments

posted by Tim at 10:52 AM

Friday, April 04, 2008

Live Review: Talkin' Mountain, Honey & Darling, Grand Ole Party; 'Music venue' ordinance trouble; Grand Buffet tonight...

Talkin' Mountain is a cool indie/slacker-rock trio that's sort of known for playing shows wearing colorful, furry, Muppet-looking masks. When I got to Slowdown last night, they were onstage doing a sound check without their masks, and I thought maybe they gave them up. But a half-hour later, they were on stage, with their monster masks. Maybe the funniest thing about them is that they obviously annoy the band, and that annoyance is part of the show. One of the lead guys constantly pulled on the mouth-hole, trying to get clearance for his vocals. They must be hotter than hell, but they're funny. Especially funny when the band chats with the crowd between songs, telling stories about how the brakes went out on their new van ("Looks like I've got a weekend project") or how the bass player burned the roof of his mouth eating a chicken pot pie ("I didn't know it was going to be that hot.") Remember, they're casually saying all this wearing those fucking masks. Funny, funny shit.

But does wearing the masks automatically put the band in the "novelty" category and/or distract from their music? Not really, no (although the vocals were muffled a few times). Talkin' Mountain plays light-hearted indie pop songs heavy with hooks and attitude -- party songs with party beats. It's the kind of band you'd want to play in your backyard or block party. They're fun. And their music is good. Their "Abdominal Snowman" song is the best winter surf tune I've ever heard. Their new stuff is just as good. I suppose if you had to compare them to someone, it would be Atom and His Package (though these guys actually play instruments). I picked up a copy of their 4-song $3 cassette (with awesome hand-stitched tape-sock) and rocked it in the Tracker all the way home.

Next up was Honey and Darling, featuring a full band. Well, almost a full band. Pint-sized frontwoman/guitarist Sara was joined by another guitarist and a drummer for a set that "electrified" some of the material that I've heard performed solo acoustic. The new personnal are a great add, though she could use a bass player -- the arrangements were way too bright. And most of the songs -- which resemble Girly Sound-era Liz Phair -- were too long. The best song of the set was the shortest -- a rocker that Sara said was written while the drummer was on a smoke break ("It took two minutes to write and two minutes to play."). Ironically, the band's weakest link is Sara's vocals, which could be somewhat pitchy and flat as she tried to be heard above a full band. Sara's got a good voice that'll only get better over time. She's already got the hard part -- writing good songs -- covered.

Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) the least interesting band of the evening was the headliner. Grand Ole Party, a San Diego trio that features vocalist Kristin Gundred on drums (wearing a headset), played a set of simple, mid-tempo garage rock songs that were too neat and tidy to be mistaken for garage rock. Gundred is a good little drummer, but the music was run-of-the-mill backbeat swing rock with simple, repeated guitar lines sung by a Chrissie Hynde voice replicant. I asked a guy sitting nearby who he thought they sounded like -- he said Chrissie Hynde fronting Creedance Clearwater Revival (also pointing to the simple guitar riffs). Great band, boring music, especially after six songs played at the exact same tempo. What would these guys sound like if they trashed up their sound a little bit? Yeah Yeah Yeahs' saving grace is Nick Zinner's freak-out guitar work that can transform anything into something special. There's nothing that interesting here, but there could be. Regardless, the nice-sized Slowdown crowd (maybe 60 people) seemed to dig it.

* * *

Speaking of Slowdown crowds, I have it from a very reliable source that the "music venue ordinance" currently in front of the Omaha City Council (that I wrote about Tuesday, here) does not have enough votes to pass, and likely won't pass in its current "all-ages" format.

The vote on the ordinance is on Tuesday's City Council agenda (notice the O'Leaver's beer garden item? Interesting.), but I'm told there's a good chance that the vote could be held over until next week's meeting due to the expected absence of one of the council members. Every vote will be necessary to get this passed. The local politics surrounding this ordinance are unfortunate, and not surprising. I plan on writing about it in detail in next week's column, but the message will be the same -- you really need to take five minutes out of your hectic day and write a letter to your councilman urging him to pass the ordinance.

* * *

Tonight, it's back down to Slowdown Jr., this time for Grand Buffet -- a hip-hop duo whose sound borders on good club/dance music, but with trippy, funny rhymes. I dare you to go to their myspace page and listen to "Creamcheese Money" and tell me that this show isn't worth the $8 cover. Bonus: Talkin' Mountain has been added as the opener. Starts at 9 p.m.

* * *

The hottest show Saturday night also is at Slowdown Jr.: The Paper Chase with Fromanhole and Shiny Around the Edges. $8, 9 p.m. Also Saturday night, Satchel Grande and Sleep Said the Monster play at Bar Fly. But maybe the best show Saturday is the State Theater Spring Fashion Show in Lincoln featuring The Show Is the Rainbow, Columbia Vs. Challenger, Black Hundreds, Domestica and Strawberry Burns. The show integrates live music performances with a fashion show from downtown Lincoln boutiques. $5, 8 p.m. The State Theater is located at 1415 "O" St.

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posted by Tim at 10:43 AM

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Column 167 -- New York Minuet; Grand Ole Party tonight...

More New York stories...

Column 167: New York Minuet
Searching for sound in the city.

I spent last week in New York, and had intended to write a column about the vast, exciting world of music swaddled within the dark nightclubs of a city that never sleeps.

Unfortunately, I never made it to any clubs, which kind of puts a damper on the whole column idea. What happened?

There are dozens and dozens of music venues in New York. The best ones all seem to be located in the once-seedy area called the Lower East Side (LES), just a handful of subway stops below the Empire State Building. When I visited New York a few years ago (on the exact day of the infamous eastern seaboard blackout) I took the 6 train from the glimmering clean streets north of Times Square and south of Central Park down to LES in search of a club called Sin-é.

I emerged from the urine-scented subway surrounded by high-rise housing projects and people angrily pushing shopping carts loaded with empty aluminum cans. The cart pushers glared at me with suspicion as I unfolded a subway map, vainly trying to locate Attorney St., their heads encrusted in dried sweat under wool stocking caps, out of place in the August heat.

I never found Sin-é. I did find the Mercury Lounge and Katz's Deli before heading back underground to the 6 Train uptown and the embrace of a thousand street vendors selling knock-off Fendi hand bags and Rolex watches.

Five years later and the Lower East Side has changed. The army of bent-over street people has been replaced with sunglasses-wearing urban hipsters, their hair mussed and tussed just so, faces framed by colorful knotted scarves tied over jet-black pea coats. There were urban hipsters on the LES years earlier, but I never really noticed them. Last week's walk along Houston St. was like a runway show for American Apparel's fall/winter collection, with all the girls dressed either as tortured '80s art school punks or Holly Golightly stand-ins. If I looked like a tourist five years ago it was because I was dressed too well in my jeans and hoodie. If I looked like a tourist last week it was because I was dressed too slovenly in my jeans and hoodie.

In an effort to find something musical to write about (this is a music column, after all), I mapped out all the records stores in Manhattan. Other than Virgin and Barnes and Noble, there aren't many north of 14th St.

But a quick walk through Other Music on 4th St. and I realized there was nothing here that I hadn't seen in Omaha -- bins of CDs and a small selection of used vinyl. There was no way I was going to buy anything and haul it back on the plane, so I looked to see how well Omaha was being stocked in the bins. I found a single copy of Cursive's Happy Hollow and a copy of The Faint's Danse Macabre (I didn't bother looking for Bright Eyes). No Ladyfinger, no Little Brazil, no Tilly and the Wall.

That scene was repeated at a couple other stores, most of them tiny with limited stock. It took me a half-hour to find The Sound Library way down on Orchard St., and when I did, the shop was shuttered on a Friday afternoon.

For music, that left live shows, but a glance through Time Out New York (which along with the Village Voice is the best guide to what's happening) revealed nothing worth risking a late-night ride alone on a subway. The Heavenly States, a jangly, fun indie band from Oakland, was doing a three-night stand at Pianos on Ludlow St. But the States are slated to play at The Waiting Room in May with Head of Femur.

It reminded me why I don't go to the South by Southwest Festival in Austin. Every year around March, SXSW comes along, and every year I'm offered a free all-access pass by The Reader. But when I see the list of bands, I'm always compelled to just stay home. All the best acts either have been to Omaha or soon would be. Why spend a thousand dollars in air and lodging to wait in line for bands I can see in the comfort of The Waiting Room or Slowdown, venues with better sound and sight lines, and that are certainly bound to be less crowded?

The same holds true for New York and Lower East Side clubs. I could take a subway and wander the streets with a map looking for the venue (or take a $20 cab to the club) just to see a band that will be in Omaha in a few weeks. After a day of walking, it just didn't seem worth it.

Instead, I spent last week watching the Knicks at The Garden, "Spring Awakening" at Eugene O'Neill Theatre, "Cool School" at Cinema Village and eating, eating, eating.

There were, however, two musical memories that stood out: The continued deification of Sinatra and swing, heard in almost every bar and restaurant like a desperate attempt to hold onto a stereotype of a city that passed away 50 years ago. And the ubiquitous subway and street buskers playing for your spare change -- everything from a small stringed symphony to a guy with a guitar -- it's an ever-present soundtrack trying to be heard above the traffic and train brakes.

I love New York, its streets, parks, buildings and subways, and I'll be going back again, probably this fall. But not for the music.

Tonight, San Diego indie trio Grand Ole Party plays at Slowdown Jr. with local sensations Honey & Darling and Talkin' Mountain. GOP sounds kinda/sorta like Chrissie Hynde or Grace Slick fronting a very mild garage band. They're too laid-back to be compared to Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs (though vocalist/drummer Kristin Gundred does bear a striking resemblance to Karen O). GOP spent the last part of '07 opening for Rilo Kiley (Blake Sennett produced their debut, Humanimals, on DH Records). $8, 9 p.m.

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posted by Tim at 10:52 AM

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Escape from New York; 'music venue' ordinance; Kasher interview; Neva review; Nada Surf, Little Brazil tonight...

First off, thanks to everyone who sent suggestions for my trip to Manhattan last week. Most revolved around dining, and resulted in a trip to Thai Me Up on East 14th St. and the Doughnut Plant at 379 Grand St. in the Lower East Side. I'll recap the trip tomorrow in this week's column.

A few newsy notes from my inbox:

There's a story in today's OWH about yesterday's Omaha City Council meeting where a proposed ordinance was introduced by Councilman Jim Suttle that would create a new category of businesses called "music venues." The ordinance would allow these designated bars to admit minors as long as they followed security measures including having wristbands for those 21 and older and serving alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks in different glasses, according to the OWH. Among those speaking for the ordinance were Matt Oberst (Mr. Oberst), David Jacobson (Film Stream's Rachel's dad), Jason Kulbel (Slowdown) and Marc Leibowitz (The Waiting Room). Speaking against it were members of Project Extra Mile (PEM), a group formed to fight underage drinking.

The story implies that without the ordinance, The Waiting Room and Slowdown wouldn't be allowed to host all-ages shows. Kulbel said it would be "pretty devastating" if the Slowdown could no longer allow minors in to see bands. "The amount of shows that would come to Omaha would dwindle," he said in the OWH report. Read the whole story here.

I don't need to tell anyone who reads this site how important this ordinance is to our music scene. Most of us grew up going to all-ages shows. I understand PEM's concerns, but these folks need to realize that if their kids want booze, there are easier ways to get it than going to a rock show and risking getting booted and banned from the facility. If anything, TWR and Slowdown are ultra-vigilant about this sort of thing because they don't want to risk both getting ticketed and getting a reputation among parents as a place where kids can acquire alcohol. You can voice your support of the ordinance by contacting your City Council representative. Do it now. The vote is next Tuesday.

* * *

Interesting new interview with Tim Kasher in The Maneater (here). Kasher talks about the process of making a new Cursive album, his screen-writing efforts and living in L.A. Inspirational quote: "We joked a lot on Happy Hollow about how we were trying to do a new brand of folk metal, but it didn't turn out. It was brought up at practice the other day that maybe this is getting closer to folk metal. Like, I say that, and it's not going to sound anything like folk metal." Sounds like multi-instrumentalist Nate Lepine is a permanent addition to the line-up.

* * *

One of the first reviews of the new Neva Dinova disc landed at Aversion.com (here). They give the disc three stars and compare it to Bright Eyes, for which they say the band is so "closely intertwined," calling the disc "a little bit predictable for anyone who'd hope the band (would) break free of its Omaha-folk roots." Somewhat luke-warm. The album comes out next Tuesday.

* * *

Tonight at The Waiting Room it's Nada Surf, who's on the road supporting Lucky, their latest album on Barsuk/City Slang (Rough Trade). Opening is LA band Sea Wolf (Dangerbird Records) and Omaha's own Little Brazil. $14, 9 p.m.

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posted by Tim at 10:43 AM

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