Welcome to Lazy-i, an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news.
The focus is on the indie music scene. Yes, there’s a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area, but Lazy-i also offers interviews, stories and reviews about national indie bands.
Most of the feature stories and columns in Lazy-i will have previously been published in The Reader, Omaha’s monthly alternative newspaper.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
Reverb Lounge continues to book some interesting acts; tonight it’s Brooklyn-based post-punk no-wave artist Pons.
The description at onerpercentproductions.com says Pons is an experimental project that began in North Carolina with guitarist/vocalist Sam Cameron and drummer Jack Parker. They added second percussionist Sebastien Carnot after they released their first EP in 2018, according to Totally Wired.
The band moved to NYC after the release of their 2020 debut, Intellect. Their 2023 full length, The Liquid Self, was released on Dedstrange Records, a label run by Death by Audio / A Place to Bury Strangers’ Oliver Ackerman, along with Mitchell O’Sullivan and Steven Matrick.
Their latest single is a cover of Suicide’s “Fast Money Music,” and appears to have some connection to Gogol Bordello, who posted the video. Reminds me lots of acts like Devo, Uranium Club and various egg punk acts. It’s not necessarily indicative of their overall sound, which is much more percussive, and weird.
Pons has become known in some circles for their madcap live shows. This one could be sneaky good. Opening the show is Omaha’s Trees with Eyes and Lincoln electropunks Benjamin Gear X. $15, 8 p.m.
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
It’s Monday night in Omaha, which means concert night. Tonight it’s Mssv (Main Steam Stop Valve) at Reverb Lounge.
The trio consists of free jazz guitarist Mike Baggetta, drummer Stephen Hodges, who’s worked with Tom Waits, Sam Phillips, James Harman and David Lynch, and legendary bassist Mike Watt, best known for his work in ’80s post-punk bands MInutemen and fIREHOSE, though Watt’s played with a ton of luminaries including Porno For Pyros, The Stooges, J Mascis, the list goes on and on. In fact, most folks at Reverb tonight will be there to see Watt. who’s one of the most amiable guys in rock. Seems like everyone has either talked to him (or interviewed him) over the years.
That said, Mssv has been a band since 2019. The story goes (according to Wiki), Baggetta and Watt recorded an album with drummer Jim Keltner, who didn’t like traveling, so they brought on Hodges to tour that album. The trio has since recorded six albums, including their most recent, On And On (2025, Big Ego Records). Their mostly instrumental, proggy music combines jazz and punk for a noisy, angular sonic stew. At age 67, and after a number of illnesses, it’s good just to see Mr. Watt is still at it.
Kansas City’s Dan Jones & The Squids plays a more straight-forward style of post-punk, with Jones crediting Minutemen, Robert Pollard and The Meat Puppet as influences. Their latest is 2023’s Rock and Roll Daydreams.
Opening the show at 8 p.m. is Omaha synth-and-drums punk duo, Pagan Athletes. $18. I wouldn’t be surprised if this one sold out…
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
I looked and looked, and there doesn’t seem to be any indie shows this weekend involving either local or touring indie bands. Omaha is a metropolitan area with a population of over 1 million. Just saying.
In the city’s defense, it is Easter weekend, and let’s face it, the weather sucks. In the old days, we’d say this was a Brothers weekend, as in a weekend to hang out at the Brothers Lounge. Ah, but The Brothers hasn’t been open in years.
My only recommendation would be to check out the Free Farm Spring Fundraiser at fabulous O’Leaver’s on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. “Find handmade local goods, awesome merch and always delicious food & drinks made from our locally grown produce!” says the event invitation. And it’s free, though they’re accepting donations.
If I missed a show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
Catching up on that ol’ debble in-box…
Former Omahan Mike Jawarski’s band SAVAK has an ew album coming out May 30 on Ernest Jennings Recording Co. called SQUAWK! (SAVAK, it seems, likes using all-caps). Their last album, Flavors of Paradise, was a welcome surprise and a high-water mark for the Brooklyn-based band.
Jaworski, known locally as Jaws, has Omaha music roots that go back to ‘90s band Hong Jyn Corp. He also ran Mt. Fuji Records, that released albums by local heroes Little Brazil. SQUAWK! is SAVAK’s seventh album. Check out the first single and video, “No Man’s Island,” below and pre-order the album here. BTW, still no future Omaha tour stops. What’s the deal, Jaws?
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Omaha alt-country/Americana band Clarence Tilton released their third full-length, Queen of the Brawl!, April 4. They’ve been dropping singles from the album for months, including collaborations with Marty Stuart and Tanya Tucker’s daughter, Presley Tucker. The band’s album release show is May 2 at Reverb. The record is streaming on the usual services (though strangely, it’s not available on Bandcamp).
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Sioux Falls post-punk band Shurr Jr. released their debut EP, Red Shelter, late last month via Omaha’s Max Trax Records. The power trio consists of guitarist/vocalist Nick Maxwell, drummer Frankie Maxwell and bass player Kelly Maxwell. The siblings’ father, Frank Maxwell, was an Omaha music legend who played guitar in the band Fifth of May in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Buy the digital album from their Bandcamp page.
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Speaking of Max Trax Records, the label announced Monday Leafblower’s LP, Burn Cruise, is slated for release June 13. The band consists of guitarist/vocalist Danny Maxwell (Little Brazil), guitarist Clark Jahn, drummer Tab Tworek and bassist/vocalist Craig Fort (Lightning Stills). They’re calling their sound “doom metal,” and I guess maybe it is, in an old-school, Ozzie sort of way. Judge for yourself when you watch the video for their first single, “Unsatisfied.” Preorder the vinyl here.
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Here’s the updated list of touring indie bands headed our way. Let me know if I’m missing anything. What’s my next show? Either Bad Nerves or Bright Eyes/Cursive – both shows are April 27. We shall see..
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
Last night’s Bob Mould/Craig Finn concert at The Waiting Room was a crowded house of graying temples and vintage concert T’s worn by eager (sometimes chatty) aging hipsters paying their respects to a rock god, who at age 64 is very much alive.
The crowd was so immense that after winding your way up the club’s front steps and past the seated dude scanning tickets you were met with the crush of humanity that seemed packed asses-to-elbows all the way to the stage on the other side of the room. In other words, a typical sold-out Waiting Room show.
I didn’t even try to get a Rolling Rock as we were only moments away from Finn’s opening set. Somewhere in the darkness, a dense fist smacked me on my right shoulder – either a greeting or a warning – I still don’t know who it was because I was determined to make my way through the crowd.
A pro-tip about sold-out Waiting Room shows: No matter how crowded it seems, you can always squeeze through as if headed to the bathrooms and instead find an opening to stand only a few feet from stage left, which is where I was for most of the show surrounded by a herd of middle-aged dudes holding cans of beer. The guestimated average age was 50, almost all guys, though later in the evening I saw a woman using a walker who had to be in her late 70s (and having a great time).
Usually at these shows a smattering of youngsters are peppered in the crowd, but last night, the “youngsters” were dudes in their 30s. The idle talk between sets – will Mould play songs from his days in Hüsker Dü – a band that broke up in 1988, 37 years ago.
With Mould’s reputation for being one of the loudest performers to come out of the indie underground, Craig Finn proved to be quite a contrast for an opening act. The bookish frontman of aughts-era indie rock band The Hold Steady took to the stage with an acoustic guitar and a sideman carrying a variety of wind instruments (saxophone, clarinet), for a quiet 9-song set of story-songs, many taken from his latest album, Always Been.
With a warm, Midwestern drawl, Finn came off like a combination of Randy Newman, John Darnielle (of The Mountain Goats) and short-story humorist David Sedaris singing/telling short stories about broken people forced to settle for whatever their desperate lives had become, all sung in his trademark nasal voice. It was like a kinder, gentler version of his Hold Steady output, but accompanied by a guy on saxophone instead of an electric guitar.
Before beginning, Finn said he had no allusions of competing with his hero, Mr. Mould, in a rock and roll contest, but I doubt he knew he’d have to compete with the rising roar of idle chatter that grew in the back of the room throughout his set. By the set’s mid-point, the crowd noise became distracting, but apparently not to Finn, who soldiered through if only for the attentive, respectful audience leaning toward the stage.
Right around 9:15, on came Mould dressed for work in black T-shirt, blue jeans, and a standard issue black-and-white Fender Strat (but, I’m told, a deluxe model with the LSR roller roller nut and lace sensor pickups, whatever that means).
All business, Mould roared into his opening song, “Star Machine,” from 2012’s Silver Age album, and rarely stopped 26 songs later. His stamina was impressive, never letting off the gas pedal for 90 minutes of impassioned yelling/singing acompanied by his riff-fueled guitar histrionics, all fueled by what has become his go-to rhythm section of bassist/backing vocalist Jason Narducy and drummer Jon Wurster.
Despite the 35-degree windchill outside, the Waiting Room was a hot-house sauna. I was told Mould had requested no air conditioning in an attempt to save his voice and by the third song he was dripping sweat and his round book-keeper-style glasses were partially fogged over.
The set was front-loaded with songs from solo albums only dating back 13 years, many of which I was unfamiliar with. But even with this material, people up front were locked into the performance. The standouts in the first half were “Black Confetti” from 2016’s Patch the Sky and “American Crisis” from 2020’s Blue Hearts, along with the title track off the new album, Here We Go Crazy.
The second half kicked off with a moving version of “Hardly Getting Over It,” which would be one of seven Hüsker Dü classics, including four that closed out the set.
Mould shows – even the acoustic ones – have a reputation for being painfully loud, but last night’s show didn’t seem so bad, or at least it started out that way. The volume built up over time and midway through my iWatch warned me of 110 dBs. Earplugs became my best friend. Surprisingly, few around me also wore ear plugs, but I guess at their age it didn’t matter — the price for living a rock and roll lifestyle.
What were the other Hüsker Dü songs performed last night? “Celebrated Summer,” “Flip Your Wig,” “Love Is All Around,” “Something I Learned Today,” and set-closer “Makes No Sense at All.”
By the end of the evening I’d moved to the back of the room both to snag a T-shirt before the inevitable merch-table deluge and to stretch out after standing in one spot for nearly two hours. I was joined by many of the fans who had stood near the stage early in the set, all of them no less locked into the music.
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
It’s Monday night in Omaha, which means concert night. Tonight it’s Bob Mould at The Waiting Room. And the show appears to have sold out over the weekend.
Mould’s latest, Here We Go Crazy (2025, Granary/BMG), is his first solo album since 2020’s Blue Hearts, and a respectable follow-up. If you’re a Mould fan, you’ll be satisfied, though compared to his early solo work, Sugar or his Husker Du output, it can be somewhat passive and predictable.
Everyone has their favorite Mould era. Mine is ’89-’90 Mould of Workbook/Black Sheets of Rain – one album a full-spectrum acoustic/electric gut-wrencher, the other an emotional tour de force that was a prelude to his more accessible work in Sugar.
While there’s plenty of guitar and energy on the new record, it suffers from a lack of variety and feels like he recorded it over a weekend with his ol’ rhythm-section mates, bassist Jason Narducy and drummer Jon Wurster, who will be backing Mould tonight.
His 27-song setlist from last Friday’s show at Marquis Theater in Denver included only five songs from the new album along with seven Husker Du songs (including favorites es: “Love is All Around”/“Makes No Sense at All,” which he closed the show with). Also, a nice selection from his last few albums, but alas, nothing from Workbook/Black Sheets. You can’t always get what you want. Mould has been known to throw in a wildcard, so you never know.
There could be as many folks at TWR tonight to see The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn as to see Mould. Finn’s new album, Always Been (2025, Tamarac/Thirty Tigers), has been getting plenty of huzzahs, including a review by the dean of rock critics, Robert Christgau, who gave the record an “A” and said “its 11 songs achieve a literary pitch that could win this alt-rock lifer a short story prize.” He also said the story-songs can be a bit of a bummer, but such can be the case from aging rock stars looking back at their lives.
Finn has only been playing nine songs on this tour (like at his April 7 show in Seattle, according to Setlist.fm), only three songs from the new album and no Hold Steady songs. I’m unsure if this will be a solo acoustic set or not. I guess we’ll find out tonight.
Like I said, it’s sold out. Show starts at 8 p.m. See you there.
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
Here comes the weekend. It’s mostly local shows, but there’s one wild-card thrown in on Saturday night.
First, tonight at The Sydney in Benson, Indian Caves headlines a show with country bumpkins Lightning Stills and Wedding. I’m told that Lightning Still will actually be playing last after Indian Caves. Published start time is 8 p.m. $10.
Also tonight, Grapefruit Records is hosting an in-store performance by Expensive People – a new project featuring Lonnie Methe (Naturaliste), Alex Boardman (Shelf Life, Rake Cash, Watch the Stereo) and Bryan Day (Public Eyesore/Eh?). The trio has a new tape out on Baltimore’s Spleencoffin Records. Oakland’s Big Cat also is performing along with Omaha legend Dereck Higgins. This one starts at 7:30. I’m unsure the cost (if any). Grapefruit Records is located at 1125 Jackson St. in the Old Market.
Saturday night it’s back to The Sydney for groovy Seattle trio Black Ends. They call their sound “Gunk Pop,” which is a ginchy way of describing their psychedelic garage rock. Their latest album, Psychotic Spew, came out last year on Youth Riot Records. This four-band bill also includes Trees with Eyes, Amphibaphobia and The Ivory Claws. $8, 9 p.m.
Meanwhile, across midtown at fabulous O’Leaver’s Saturday night, Frankie Chiaro headlines a show with Watson & Co. and Katie Kasher. This one’s free and starts at 9 p.m.
Finally, Sunday night Tulsa’s Township & Range headlines at Reverb Lounge. You may remember the band’s frontman, Travis Linn, from his work in Black Squirrels and The Electroliners. Opening is the duo of Matt Whipkey and Mike Friedman. $10, 7 p.m.
And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
FYI: Record Store Day is tomorrow, Saturday, April 12. I didn’t realize this until I did a Google query. It’s sure not like the old days when RSD information literally flooded my in-box and social media streams.
Here’s the list of “RSD special releases” available in limited quantities (or not at all) at participating records stores, which in Omaha include Homer’s, Grapefruit, Vinyl Cup and Recycled Sounds. If I was still buying vinyl, I’d be looking for The House of Love, The Mission Neverland, Graham Parker & The Figgs and The Cure/Four Tet remix 12-inch.
Despite listening to more music than ever, I haven’t bought a new vinyl album in a few years. I simply don’t have enough room in my house for more (I also don’t buy books anymore, preferring to check out what I read from one of our convenient local libraries).
Ah, but when it comes to music buyers, I’m the exception. The Recording Industry Association of America last month released its 2024 year-end revenue report and according to their numbers, vinyl sales last year were the highest since 1984.
“Vinyl’s 18th straight ascent scored nearly three-quarters of physical format revenue at $1.4B,” the RIAA reported, adding that for the third consecutive year, vinyl also outperformed Compact Disc sales, with 44M records shipped compared to 33M CDs. That said, CD sales grew 1% last year.
Those 2024 numbers are impressive, but nothing compared to paid streaming, which last year exceeded 100 million subscriptions in the U.S. for the first time in history. “Streaming remained the biggest driver at $14.9B with paid subscriptions, ad-supported services, digital and customized radio, social media platforms, digital fitness apps, and others collectively accounting for 84% of total revenues for the third year in a row,” said the RIAA report.
Meanwhile, revenue from digitally downloaded music continued its decline – down 18% to $336 million. “Both digital album sales and individual track sales were down double digits,” the RIAA reported. “Downloads accounted for just 2% of US recorded music revenues in 2024, down from a peak of 43% of revenues in 2012.”
Ironically, the only music I buy these days outside a Spotify subscription and Sirius radio are digital downloads, and only because I don’t want to rely on a cellular signal when I’m listening to music while on a run.
In case you were wondering, vinyl sales during the industry peak in the ‘70s reached north of 300 million units sold annually, according to RIAA.
So, lots of people are buying vinyl, but are they listening to it? One of the most quoted statistics about vinyl came out of a 2023 trend report by research firm Luminate that said: “50% of consumers who have bought vinyl in the past 12 months own a record player, compared to 15% among music listeners overall.” The numbers were based on a survey of more than 3,900 U.S.-based respondents.
The majority of those non-record-player-owning buyers, Luminate said, are “superfans” who want to support their artists by purchasing an “artifact.” I’ve always found the statistic a bit dubious, but then I think about all the comic book collectors who buy physical comicbooks and never read them, preferring to read them digitally for fear of harming their precious collectables.
Does it really matter why people are buying vinyl? The fact that the format continues to survive – and thrive – is pretty cool in an age when people are glued to their phones. So, here’s to another Record Store Day. And maybe you’ll run into me trying to find that Cure remix 12-inch…
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
Last week it dawned on me that I better buy a couple VIP tickets to the 2025 Maha Festival, which is Aug. 2 down at the RiverFront Park. But much to my frustration, I couldn’t find an option to purchase VIP tix at the Maha etix webpage.
The reason: Maha VIP tickets have already sold out. That was quick, and no doubt reflects the level of interest in this year’s line-up, headlined by Pixies, with Waxahatchee, Band of Horses, Magdalena Bay, Silversun Pickups and Little Brazil.
Past Maha Festival VIP tickets were definitely worth the extra clams – food options, private bar, private AC restrooms and an exceptional viewing area. I have no idea where they’re setting up the VIP area for this year’s Maha festival, but it must be enticing if tickets sold out so quickly.
General Admission tickets to Maha 2025 are still available for $79 (plus fees).
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Speaking of sold-out shows, while flipping through my Facebook feed last night I ran across a couple photos of David Nance and Mowed Sound opening the sold-out Jack White show at Steelhouse Omaha. To my knowledge, this was the first time a local band opened for a national touring band at Steelhouse.
I guess that’s one of the benefits of having your latest album released on White’s Third Man Records label.
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V.V. Volume 1 is a new compilation album announced over the weekend with a drop date of June 6. The 7-song vinyl album will include new songs by local artists Lodgings, Custom Catacombs, Neva Dinova, Ash Rayne Boe, The Sun-Less Trio, Violenteer and Stephen Bartolomei, who appears to be one of the folks behind the project.
“There’s something distinctively collaborative about making a vinyl compilation album in 2025,” Bartolomei wrote on the project’s Bandcamp pre-order page. “Each recording includes past bandmates, tour mates, local repair technicians, studio engineers, and longtime friends. Putting together music for vinyl requires a high level of trust.”
Indeed. Four of the seven tracks were recorded at Mike Saklar’s Ant-Records, while the remaining were recorded at various studios in Omaha and Kansas City.
The album will be celebrated with a release show June 6 at Slowdown with performances by six of the seven bands on the album. How did all this come about? I’ll let you know when I know more.
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Lady Lamb is singer/songwriter Aly Spaltro, who you may remember as Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, a moniker she dropped shortly after her 2013 debut, Ripely Pine. She’s actually been releasing EPs and LPs since 2009, bouncing between indie labels Ba Da Bing Records and Mom + Pop Records. Her latest, In the Mammoth Nothing of the Night, is a box set that includes a remastered version of Ripely Pine along with new recordings of songs written during that era.
No doubt you’ll be hearing some of those songs tonight when Lady Lamb plays at Reverb Lounge. Massachusetts singer/songwriter Hannah Mohan opens the show at 8 p.m. $22.
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
First off, it’s the first Friday of the month and that means Benson First Friday (#BFF). Artists will be showing their wares in galleries and shops up and down Maple Street tonight, including at Ming Toy Gallery, 6066 Maple St., where we’ll be hosting the opening of Courtney Kenny Porto’s latest collection, “Shiney & Bright.” Come by, check out the art, have a drink and a treat. Love to see you.
I am currently listening to Manic Fever, the latest studio album by Des Moines punk trio Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops (2023, High Dive Records). It sounds like sort of a hybrid between, say, Jay Reatard and early White Stripes. I actually quite dig it. Well, most of it. You might remember Wheeler from The Slats or Night Stories. The new project has opened for the likes of No Age, Bob Log III, Death Valley Girls, and so on. See them headline tonight at The Sydney. $10, 9 p.m. (Sydney Time)…
Wheeler is hardly a substitute for Jack White, whose playing at Steelhouse Omaha Saturday night. But that show has long been sold out. However you can find tickets online at Stubhub.com for a mere $82, which is actually pretty cheap if you’re a super fan – certainly cheaper than driving somewhere to see him. This one starts at 8 p.m.
If you can’t get tickets or White simply ain’t your thing, check out Housewares at Reverb Lounge Saturday night. The new project by Fromanhole’s Doug and Daryl Kiser is a five-piece noise-rock band rounded out by Jason Koba of Thunder Power on drums, Scott Klemmensen of Reset on vocals, and Andy LaChance on keyboards. I caught the end of one song at their stage debut at The Sydney in November and it was violently loud! Speaking of violence, Randy Cotton’s band, Violenteer, also is on the bill, along with Sundown Effect. This will be a late night, starts at 9 p.m. $10.
Finally, in the wildcard category, Sam Blasucci plays a peaceful, easy sounding SoCal style of indie rock (that borders on yacht). A modern-day Boz Scaggs? Maybe. Joining him Sunday at Reverb Lounge is Hudson Valley singer/songwriter Julia Zivic. $22, 8 p.m.
And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend!
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
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