Let’s get to it. Another in a series of “last shows” for The Street Urchins is tonight at Mike’s Place in beautiful Council Bluffs. From a Nov. 14, 2004, show review, when thoughts of quitting never entered this trio’s mind: “Their sound melds power-chord hair rock (not ’80s schmaltz) with high-NRG throb that’s full-on fast, thanks to a rhythm section that knows what it’s doing. I kept thinking about bands like Sweet and KISS and Ram Jam and Thin Lizzy — i.e., all the bands I grew up loving back in the ’70s — but couldn’t keep my mind off acts like The Stooges or The Cramps or The Gories known for their campy theatrics. And in the end, the music is way too fast for either group — too frenetic and jittery, mixed with simple rock moves and a light show that featured a rack of blaring floods pointed straight at the crowd alternated with floor spots that lit from the bottom up.” Catch them while you can. Bad Luck Charm will warm up the stage. Mike’s is at 162 W. Broadway. 9:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, MC Buck Bowen and folk artist Tim Perkins take on O’Leaver’s tonight. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Saturday night Poison Control Center, Shelter Belt and Fizzle Like A Flood hump it up at O’Leaver’s. Ames Iowa’s PCC’s stage show is unpredictable while their music can be classified as “arty.” It’s worth the $5 just to see how Shelter Belt manages to cram their full ensemble on O’Leaver’s “stage.” If only this band shows up along with their families this will be SRO. I’m told Fizzle Like a Flood a.k.a. Doug Kabourek, has turned his live show into a ROCK show, with gunslinger Travis Sing on guitar. You never know what configuration you’re in for with Doug, though.

Finally, Sunday night it’s back to O’Leaver’s for Brimstone Howl’s CD release show with The Terminals and Iowa City’s Autodramatics (This, according to SlamOmaha –I can’t seem to confirm it on any other site, so buyer beware).

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For those of you who haven’t been paying attention to the local news, the city announced yesterday the construction of a 32-story condo tower smack-dab in the middle of downtown Omaha (at 14th & Dodge — just north of the new Union Pacific HQ to be precise). Unit prices start at $200k for those at the lowest levels and could rocket up to a half-mil for the top dogs. The burning question that continues to go unanswered: Who the hell wants to live in a high-rise condo in downtown Omaha? Certainly not families. Young urban professionals? Why when there are so many other (better) living options available downtown (and elsewhere)? It’s a mystery to me and to everyone I’ve asked. Regardless, it can only be good news to our friends building Slowdown (the soil-removal work continues on the site), or is it? Do the kind of people who spend between a quarter- and a half-million for an apartment go to rock shows? Maybe… maybe not.

Tonight you’ve got The (International) Noise Conspiracy with Circa Survive and Nightmare of You at Sokol Underground. (I)NC started its life as a Swedish hardcore band that’s been transformed into a Stooges/Hives garage-punk outfit that would have fit well next to the long lost Carsinogents (or one of its surviving brood of bands). Their last CD, Armed Love, was produced by none other than Rick Rubin and included cameos by Billy Preston and Benmont Tench. Sounds like a fun band. Philly’s Circa Survive leans more toward a traditional indie/emo sound while Nightmare of You is Morrissey crossed with The Cure and The White Stripes. Derivative? You bet. $12, 9 p.m.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No Bright Eyes.

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

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

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

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

We’ve obviously hit the holiday season. Just glancing that the various and sundry upcoming-shows calendars is rather depressing. There’s no shows this week until Thursday’s International Noise Conspiracy gig at Sokol Underground, at least none that I know of. In fact, the boys from One Percent will be taking Sundays through Wednesdays off for the next couple months. One hopes that O’Leaver’s will be stepping up to fill the void. I found out last weekend that everyone’s favorite man about town, MarQ Manner, is now working with O’Leaver’s to book their local shows. Hopefully MarQ has some latent HTML coding skills and can update the O’Leaver’s online show calendar, which hasn’t seen an updated since before Halloween.

Digging through my e-mail yesterday I found an update from Ezra Caraeff of Portland’s Slowdown Records with news that the label signed Denver Dalley’s Intramural project. Denver’s been working on this for over a year with his Nashville bro Sam Shacklock. Essentially the duo write foundation tracks and e-mail them off to a plethora of vocalists who add their talents to the mix. Confirmed vocalists include members of Men Women & Children, Brand New, The Velvet Teen, The Faint (who could this be?), and John Roderick (The Long Winters). Seems to me one of the women in Azure Ray also was involved. Regardless, this originally was strictly a recording project with no intention of touring, but those things have a way of changing. The first track is online at the Intramural myspace. Ezra doesn’t mention a release date. Let’s hope it isn’t another year away.

In Bright Eyes news, the band’s latest video (for “At the Bottom of Everything”) went online Dec. 9 at Video Static and stars Terrance Stamp, Evan Rachel Wood and Brady Corbet. Stamp, btw, has been named as a primary actor in another upcoming Omaha-based film project, which I’ve written about a number of times on this blog. You remember Stamp from The Limey, right? OK, well then you remember him from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, doncha? OK, how about as General Zod from Superman II. Now we’re talkin’!

Bright Eyes gets taken behind the barn for a whoopin’ by our liberal friends at The New Republic. In an article titled “Trite Eyes,” Jason Zengerle slowly dismembers Oberst, with the central theme of “why aren’t there any good protest singers anymore?” His description of Bright Eyes’ “When the President Talks to God”: “Yes, the lyrics are that bad, and the instrumentation–provided by a lone, off-putting acoustic guitar–isn’t much better. And then there’s the problem of Oberst’s voice: It is fey and timorous, which may be good for lamenting lost loves but is ill-suited for stopping a war.” Ouch. He goes on to try to decimate any comparisons between Oberst in Dylan: “Where Dylan’s protest songs awe and maybe even frighten you with their power, Oberst’s make you want to give him a hug and tell him everything’s going to be OK. Dylan was an angry young man; Oberst is a whiny boy.” Yikes. While amusing, the article is hardly insightful. Everyone who knows Bright Eyes music (not the least of which is Oberst) has always laughed at the Dylan comparisons.

As a counter, “Bernie” at Pop Politics tells Zengerle to relax.

I’ll be writing more about Bright Eyes (and The Grammys) in this week’s column, which appears in tomorrow’s pulse-pounding installment of Lazy-i!

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Last night started at O’Leaver’s, where a revolving cast of performers took the stage, almost all connected in some way to Saddle Creek Records. The exception was Nik Fackler, who though not directly connected to Creek has done a lot of videos for Creek bands. He also was an exception in that his was the only inspired music of the bunch. First up was The Dead Bird, featuring Tilly and the Wall’s Derek Pressnall on acoustic guitar and vocals and Nick White on keyboards. The duo did a couple mid-tempo singer-songwriter ditties, before being joined by Neely Jenkins for a song. After that Clark Baechle of The Faint took up a stool and an acoustic guitar and sang a couple numbers, one of them with lyrics involving gas pains. Somewhere in there Joe Knapp joined in (or at least was on the stage) as did another women who I didn’t recognize. None of the music sounded terribly inspired or memorable.

It’s become something of a necessity for Creek performers to put together solo side projects. They obviously want to explore something creative outside of their usual schtick along with new frontiers involving publishing rights, and you can’t blame them for that. But the effort has to be inspired or else it’s just another side project that borders on a hobby. Had this music been performed by a cast of no-name local musicians it would never be heard (or at least not in front of a crowd like last night’s).

After the Creek acoustic parade ended, Nik Fackler took the stage backed by Dereck Higgins and White again on keyboards. Fackler was clearly nervous, and why not? I think this was one of his first gigs, and it just happened to be in front of a jam-packed crowd that consisted of the entire Saddle Creek Records staff as well as members of The Faint, Cursive, Neva Dinova and a variety of scenesters. Anyone would be nervous. Fackler pulled it off, however. In his soft voice he sung four songs that sported intricate acoustic guitar lines reminiscent of Kings of Convenience or early Simon and Garfunkel. Higgins, the consummate pro and artist, provided the perfect accompaniment (as always), adjusting his style and tone throughout Fackler’s uncertain set. What made the performance stand out was Fackler’s enthusiasm and youthful intensity. You’d think with his film aspirations that music would only be a novelty, but that clearly isn’t the case after what I heard last night. He’s talented and knows how to write a good ballad. Obviously his vocals were somewhat subdued, but that’ll come with time, if he continues to pursue it.

After Fackler, I drove downtown to Sokol Underground, missing both Cocoon (The Faint’s Todd Fink and Jake Bellows from Neva Dinova, apparently dressed in Zorro costumes) and Dave Dondero. I got there just in time to see The Stnnng, and believe me, after an hour of acoustic love ballads it was just what I needed. The Stnnng is one of those bands that you can’t enjoy from the back of the room. You have to get right up there near the stage and just soak in the madness and naked aggression. They are brutal and angry. Frontman Chris Besinger doesn’t sing, he exorcises by yelling into a leather-grasped microphone like an unholy reincarnation of David Yow. The fist-poundingly quick music bludgeons you… in a good way. It’s an amazing band sporting one of the most muscular rhythm sections I’ve heard in a long while, balanced by two blazing guitars and the crazy man on the microphone. This must be seen and heard live and loud. A studio recording will pale in comparison.

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There is a plethora of shows tonight. I’ll start off with the one I’ll likely be at: Dave Dondero, Nik Fackler and The Dead Bird at O’Leaver’s. Dondero is the headliner, while The Dead Bird — Derek Pressnall and Nick White from Tilly and the Wall — will open the show. Sandwiched in between those two bands is a new band fronted by local filmmaker Nik Fackler with Dereck Higgins and Nick White. I suspect that this show will be unbelievably packed if only due to its innate hipster factor. Dondero and Tilly are both on Team Love, which means the Creek contingent will be in the house. One could argue that this should have been held in a larger (all ages) venue. $6, 9:30.

Meanwhile, down at Sokol Underground it’s Minnesota’s The Stnnng (pronounced “The Stunning”), Ladyfinger and The Stay Awake. The Stnnng are arty, proggy punk; they sort of remind me of Dismemberment Plan but not nearly as tuneful. $7, 9 p.m. Then there’s Bad Luck Charm and Escaping Sobriety at The ’49r. $6, 10 p.m. And Brad Hoshaw and Adam Weaver at Mick’s, $5 9 p.m. Find a show and go.

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Well, I’d like to tell you that I was disappointed by the Liz show last night, but I’d be lying. I went into it thinking the show would be just south of mediocre — Liz isn’t exactly known as a live performer, her strength used to be in her songwriting, which she compromised years ago leaving her with nothing of value other than really nice hair. Like I said, I wasn’t disappointed.

The mix was about as bad as it gets at Sokol Aud. It’s always boomy. It was particularly boomy last night. You could barely hear her guitar. Unfortunately, you could hear her lead guitarist and his overtly ornate style all too well (someone needs to take away about half of his pedals). And although Liz played a half-dozen songs from Exile, I would have preferred that she hadn’t. Not with this band, not with these arrangements. To make the most of her “new style” of songwriting, Liz has put together a So Cal-style chug-a-lug ensemble — an absolute necessity of you’re going to play the type of cheese-flavored shitola that she now squats for a living. Keep them away from the classics, please. I don’t need to hear “6’1″” turned into an Eagles song. There’s a reason why there isn’t a guitar solo on that track. Exile wasn’t about guitar histrionics.

Which brings us to Liz’s vocals. Look, everyone knows she sings like your sister fronting a neighborhood garage band — that’s part of the charm and honesty of Exile. The slightly off-kilter voice is every girl you knew in high school who decided to take a shop class instead of Home Ec. On stage, it’s just as wobbly — not a bad thing if you’re playing the ’90s. A problem if you’re playing Avril karaoke. Judging by the crowd’s reaction, most were there to see a Sheryl Crow concert. Well, Liz ain’t no Sheryl Crow. Liz will never be Sheryl Crow. She doesn’t have Sheryl Crow chops. And writing Sheryl Crow songs only accentuates the negative.

So am I wrong calling her new songwriting style misdirected? Well, my girlfriend, who’s never heard a Liz Phair album in her life, preferred every song performed from Exile and Whip-smart — even in this watered down form — over the limp stuff from her last two records. “6’1″,” “Never Said,” “Mesmerizing” “Fuck and Run” “Supernova” all rocked with an energy that made the new stuff seem formulaic and flaccid in comparison. Regardless, the biggest cheers she received last night came for the more recent stuff. The opening chords of the Avrilesque “Why Can’t I?” were met with high-pitched squeals from all the women in the crowd (and there were a lot of them). Liz said “This one isn’t very radio” when introducing “H.W.C,” her current take on “edgy” sung to a melody that has all the depth of a toothpaste commercial jingle. It was a short set, maybe 40 minutes, and I didn’t stick around for the encore.

Some sidenotes: It was crowded, and hot, probably because the adjacent gym was closed off for the first time that I can remember. That said, it looked like there was still about 800 people there (I didn’t get a headcount from the promoter). One guy commented about how lifeless the crowd seemed. I’m not sure what he expected or, really, how the crowd reaction was different than at an indie show. The only difference was in the average concertgoer’s age. There were a lot of soccer moms in the audience last night, and that ain’t such a bad thing. They need to get out more. Like maybe tonight, when Lawrence bands The Pomonas and Conner (very Rapture dance-esque) take the stage at O’Leaver’s. I was told last night that there have been some improvements in the sound system there. We’ll see.

Look here for a blog update tomorrow (which will probably include a show review).

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Besides the fact that it’s One Percent Production’s 500th birthday, I do actually want to go see Liz Phair tonight. This could be a surprise to you younger readers, those who are only aware of Phair’s last two albums. Why would Lazy-i be interested in a performer who’s music is so vanilla, so candy-white boring, uncreative and clearly manufactured to please MOR FM “adult contemporary” music programmers? They might say, as I do, that Phair’s self-titled 2003 Capitol Records outing is merely an adult’s attempt at Avril Lavigne’s moronic pap. And they’d be right, of course. The only thing more mundane is the just-released Somebody’s Miracle, which takes the same bland, bordering-on-country-music formula and slows it down slightly. It is worse than bad, it is boring.

You see, kids, it wasn’t always like this. Once upon a time there was an album called Exile in Guyville that came out on indie powerhouse label Matador Records in ’93. If you haven’t heard it, get up right now, go to your nearest Homer’s record store, and plop down $10 and take it home. It’ll be the best $10 you spend this month. Exile easily is one of the 10 best albums released in the ’90s. Not “the 10 best indie albums.” Not “the 10 best albums by a female vocalist.” One of the 10 best albums released in the ’90s. Period. It is a testament to what can be done by a songwriter. It is personal and confessional, dark and sexy, and above all, it rocks. It’s one of my favorite albums of all time. It is a “stranded on a desert island” selection. I do not stand alone in this assessment. Many of my generation, who grew up with indie and punk and music that isn’t afraid to push the boundaries, looks upon Exile as an achievement. From a female vocalist standpoint, it’s the best thing done by a woman since Joni Mitchell’s Blue album changed everything in ’71. It is one of a kind, and there will be nothing like it again. Certainly there’s no one doing what Phair did back then currently on the concert circuit, except for Phair herself. And even she doesn’t exist anymore.

Now the best thing you can say about Phair (other than Exile) is that she perfectly defines the concept of a “sell out,” and she did it unashamedly. She turned her back on her former self because she was tired of being deified by the indie music scene and glorified by the critics only to have to crawl back inside a van and tour the same smoky clubs that she toured for a decade. She wanted better — financially. So she brought in some “songsmiths” (among them, the same team who created the Frankenstein monster of idiocy named Avril) and tried her damndest to write a radio-friendly album. Then she did whatever an artist needs to do to get the radio industry to pay attention (so ugly and sordid, that I don’t want to go into it on a publicly accessible website… let’s just say it involves a lot of schmoozing) and lo and behold, Liz had a hit on her hands. The totally forgettable ’03 album connected with that great unwashed audience of people who prefer celebrity over creativity when it comes to their music (how else could one explain shit factories like American Idol?). Now, whenever there’s a discussion at a record store and a kid asks a clerk “What exactly is a sell-out?” the clerk can say “Someone who compromises their art to make money, you know, like Liz Phair did.” A confused look with cross the kid’s face before s/he says “You mean lady that sings about motherhood on Q98? She’s awful.” “Yes, my child, she’s awful, but she wasn’t always that way.” And then the clerk will put on a copy of Exile and the two will laugh and cry and wonder why — like plastic surgery or becoming a Republican — why would anyone do that to themselves?

See you tonight.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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