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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Column 53: What Have We Learned?
Looking back at a year’s worth of Lazy-i.

It’s been a year since this column began appearing in The Reader — Dec. 2, 2004, to be exact. Fifty-two weeks and 52 columns later, what have we learned? Here’s an update on some of the people, places and things covered over the past year:

Column 1 — Stronger than Bombs: Willy Mason Blows Up All Over the Indie Scene — Wherein we meet young Willy Mason, singer/songwriter extraordinaire who had just signed with Conor Oberst’s new Team Love Records (A label’s name hasn’t gotten any better with the passage of time). Incessant touring and the vices that come with it took its toll on ol’ Willy, and he pulled himself off the road early the following year, only to re-emerge, older and wiser, opening for Bright Eyes at the recent Orpheum show.

Column 2 — New Day Rising: Indie Music Returns to Omaha’s Air Waves (12/9/05). The 2-hour all-indie radio show, an experiment by our friends at 89.7 The River, continues to introduce Omaha to new music every Sunday night at 11. Eric Zeigler, half of the original on-air team, is gone, but Dave Leibowitz continues like Omaha’s version of John Peel (RIP). Hey Sophia, this show deserves a better time slot.

Column 4 — There Are Giants in the Earth (12/22/05) — A profile of band The ’89 Cubs. They have since broken up. Ryan Fox is now touring with Mayday, while drummer Matt Baum can be heard in Race for Titles.

Column 6 — Young Eyes, Big Vision (1/6/05) — A profile of Omaha filmmaker/actor Nik Fackler. When he wasn’t hanging out with Lea Thompson and Dave Foley, Fackler was lining up financing for his first feature film, Lovely Still, which could begin shooting sometime early next year with an all-star cast (I’m not kidding).

Column 12 — INXSessive or American Idolatry? (2/10/05) — Myself and most of America forgot to watch the Mark Burnett-produced reality series, Rock Star, which aired this past summer and fall. No one who took part in the Omaha try-outs made it to LA. One local performer invited to the final call-back turned it down, not wanting to be hounded by cameras 24/7 — a wise decision.

Column 16 — Grant-ed a Second Chance (3/10/05) — The story of the re-emergence of Todd Grant, an influential singer-songwriter from the Golden Age of the Omaha music scene circa early-’90s. Grant’s series of on-stage implosions last summer (including a brawl at Mick’s) all but guarantees that he won’t be seen on an Omaha stage anytime soon. Nonetheless, he continues his musical pursuits.

Column 21 — Selling the Ranch (4/14/05) — A look at the activities of former Ranch Bowl owner Mike Brannan, with WalMart looking over his shoulder. Brannan’s rumored 500-capacity venue at the old Club Joy never materialized. Something tells me we haven’t heard the last from him.

Column 26 — Heavy Rotation (5/19/05) — With the subhead “Has the River changed its course?” an interview with 89.7 The River’s program director Sophia John on the station’s shift to more indie-flavored programming. Six months later, that course seems to have changed back to their usual goon rock/aggra-rap/screamo formula — a pity.

Column 27 — Behind the (Omaha) Music (5/25/05) — An interview with VH1’s Eli Lehrer on a proposed documentary about the Omaha music scene. Lehrer visited Omaha a few weeks after the column appeared, looking for dirt about personnel conflicts within the Saddle Creek Records family. Methinks the project got shelved.

Column 32 — The Border Wars (7/6/05) — An interview with Shag owner Terry O’Halloran on the division between east and west Omaha venues (and their clientele). That division runs as deep as ever, with yet another west O venue — The O Zone — catering to cover bands and bands that sound like cover bands. Meanwhile, Saddle Creek Records’ Slowdown complex has broken ground on North 13th St., promising to provide everything indie.

Column 37 — One Hundred and 1 Percent (8/16/05) — One Percent Production’s Marc Leibowitz talked about quitting his day job, but it was partner Jim Johnson who took the plunge, quitting his job a few months after this column. Look for more One Percent news in next week’s column.

Column 40 — The 49’r Takes Five (9/1/05) — Where 49’r owner Mark Samuelson assured us that the mid-town tavern would pump up its live music after a brief hiatus. Funny, there were no shows at the Niner last weekend. We’re all waiting, Mr. Samuelson.

Column 41 — Brother, Can You Spare $3.30? (9/8/05) — Seems like only yesterday that bands (and the rest of us) were whining about $3.30 per gallon gas. Who remembers Katrina?

And so on. Thanks to all the “deep throats” who provided the inside poop that helped make Lazy-I — both in The Reader and online — an interesting read. Now, onto year two…