With the Bright Eyes concert around the corner, I thought I’d share a handful of reviews of his Canadian swing that’s taking place as you read this. The tone of the reviews is rather subdued, though there’s a couple spooge-fests along with a few hurled rocks. Sounds like Oberst and Co. played mostly mid-size venues — 1,000 capacity or smaller. You can read the full reviews by clicking on the headline in front of each capsule.

Concert Reviews — Straight.com Vancouver — Malkin Bowl on Sunday, June 4 — Maybe the best of the bunch. Inspirational quote: “Three vaguely embarrassed-looking security guards would march a teenage girl out of the venue not long after Oberst and his Bright Eyes band began—she presumably had a bomb or something—but it was an otherwise peaceful gathering of mostly young, female mall hippies. Of the men who were there, many were baffled dads, though there was also a healthy complement of clean-living young men, dressed like they wanted to be English schoolboys when they grow up.” Nice.

Band emotes punk — Goldstream News Gazette — June 9 — Probably the worst of the group, this one will activate the ol’ gag reflex. Get ready to lean over the toilet: “For me, it struck during ‘Lua,’ the fourth song of the evening that he performed alone under the spotlight with his acoustic guitar. On the brink of tears, I heard a little voice deep within me whisper, ‘I love you too.’” One’s gorge doth rise…

Oberst’s brilliance brightens concert — Ottawa Sun — Bronson Centre, Ottawa – June 12, 2006 — This one starts off like it’s going to be a bag full o’ razors with this quote: “I can’t tell you how many times Conor Oberst, the sulky singer and songwriter better known as Bright Eyes, was on the verge of storming offstage in a temper tantrum or breaking down into tears at Monday night’s Bronson Centre gig.” Turns out to be a yawner.

‘Saviour of literate rock’ fails to live up to the hype — The Ottawa Citizen, June 14, 2006. Lynn seemed upset that Oberst’s set was only 80 minutes. “But experience doesn’t always guarantee charisma, and having loads of material doesn’t always mean one is going to play for hours. Oberst gave a decent, 80-minute performance Monday at Bronson Centre but never seemed entirely comfortable in the spotlight. For those who were hoping for superlatives, it was a bit disappointing.” Still, it winds up being fairly even keeled.

London Free Press — Centennial Hall, London, Ont. – June 13, 2006 — Conor talks about loving Labatt’s from stage. “At one point, the Blue seemed to take its own revenge. ‘I’ve got to relieve myself. I’ll be back in 25 seconds,’ Oberst said around the 50-minute mark before actually leaving the stage.“

Concert Review: Bright Eyes, June 10, Winnipeg, Canada — Blah. “Conor Oberst’s vocals wouldn’t have won him a spot on American Idol; with his somewhat husky, shaky style, however, he excels at conveying emotions and telling stories.“

Bright Eyes surprise — June 11 — Hah. “Oberst’s stage schtick has always trended towards preciousness — his distinctive tremulous bleat, in particular — and he found ample opportunity yesterday to do his willow-in-the-wind bit on the slower numbers.“

Sounds like the set list will consist mostly of stuff from from Wide Awake, a new song, and no “When President Talks to God.” All in all, a timid outing that will likely set well with the Memorial Park crowd but won’t win him any new fans. So how many will show up? First, reread my take on what will happen, written back in April. The weather report looks pretty good, which will help, as will the fact that no Nebraska team made it into the College World Series. I still say the numbers will be far less than the 311 concert a couple years ago…

Tonight, retro stoner meets psychedelic rock band The Black Angels (check out their myspace page) are at Sokol Underground with Hopewells and Omaha’s own Virgasound. $8, 9 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Column 81: Catching Up with a Chameleon
Mark Burgess returns to Omaha.

The Chameleons is one of those bands that changed peoples’ lives.

No, they didn’t change my life. I only discovered the influential ’80s band a few years ago when I interviewed Chameleons frontman Mark Burgess for an article written in support of a solo show at the Healing Arts Center. There were a lot of people there that night, many who told me afterward that The Chameleons dreamy, floating music inspired them in some way, sort of how the band clearly inspired acts like The Psychedelic Furs, The Church, The Cure and Lincoln’s own For Against. All of those bands sport the same, hollow, ghost-eyed style of gothic ambient rock.

So when it was announced that Burgess was coming through Omaha again — this time at Mick’s on June 16 — I e-mailed him a few questions to see what he’s been up to since that first show way back in ’03. Here’s the bulk of our little internet-based Q&A (including emoticons!). See you at Mick’s Friday ($12, 9 p.m.).

What do you remember about the last time you performed in Omaha?

Quite a lot actually. The beautiful room, which was more like a kind of New Age temple than a venue, the hushed attention of the audience, which I recall was a bit unnerving ’cause I wasn’t used to that level of respect at acoustic shows 🙂 I remember strolling the streets with Stephen (Sheehan, the show’s promoter) watching all the buskers that were around in glorious sunshine, one guy played the theme from 2001 on partially filled wine glasses. That was something. * And Dereck (Higgins, who accompanied on bass) of course, whom I’d never met before the sound check, how quickly he grasped the arrangements and dynamics and then later he introduced me to his amazing record collection, which included practically every record I ever grew up with. And one guy at the show who shyly made me a present of a guardian angel talisman, which I’ve carried around with me ever since.

* You’re only doing three U.S. shows this time ’round, and once again you’re including Omaha. Why?

Well, one of the reasons is to preview the up and coming live Chameleons DVD and promote that. It won’t be distributed traditionally, rather it’s only available via mail order directly from the band. So the manager thought it would be a good idea to preview it and make a few personal appearances. I was invited to come to Atlanta and to Omaha when Stephen heard about it; and the SF thing is a good opportunity to hang out with one of my closest friends, James Oakes of The Bellows. I’m hoping very much to bring my band out here before the end of the year and play more widely. I’m trying to drum up support for a new recording of fresh material.

* I believe when we last spoke, you were living in Hamburg. Are you still there and, if so, what keeps you there? Is it particularly conducive to the artist’s lifestyle?

Yeah I’m still in Hamburg. I think it’s one of the most beautiful and energetic cities in northern Europe, that’s not to take anything away from other great cities, like Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen etc. But for me Hamburg has a very special ambiance, it was a love affair that began a very long time ago during the early days of The Chameleons. My wife is from there so it seemed logical to settle there. We spent some months living in Manchester, but it didn’t really suit us. We both love going back to Manchester and have a lot of friends there, and family of course, but Hamburg is a bit more relaxed generally.

What is the current state of The Chameleons? When we last spoke, guitarist Reg Smithies’ son had just been born, putting a damper on any upcoming reunion tours.

Yeah, and they’re now expecting their second child, a girl I believe so that’s pretty much that 😀 We’re all kind of scattered to the four winds and you know with the passing of time we’ve become very different people, different priorities. I think we took it as far as we could really.

Are you more interested in pursuing a career as a solo artist than keeping The Chameleons active?

Yeah, I think so. I mean I try and get involved with different types of people in terms of collaborations and I like re-exploring past musical relationships, I think with Chameleons we’re too anchored in the past really from an audience’s point of view. Having said that, I still enjoy playing a lot of that stuff, especially songs that we didn’t play for one reason or another, like “Looking Inwardly” for example. It is very difficult, though, because Chameleons is what people are mainly interested in, it’s hard to get them to put that aside and be open for other people I play alongside. Some do though, so I still have an audience 🙂

* Tell me about the Ascension DVD. How did you put it together. What were you trying to accomplish with it?

A film maker contacted me prior to the US reunion tour and asked if he could come to the Californian shows and film them. The understanding was that if we had something we were happy with we could come to some kind of arrangement about putting it out. It was too good an opportunity to miss, really, and I think it’s the best footage of the band I’ve ever seen. That was the point really, to document the band at a time, which we all felt it was better than ever.

Do you keep current with what’s going on with today’s music? If so, what’s your take on the current status of American music? To me, it’s been in a rut for the past two or three years!

I think generally it has. One reason is because from the point of view of genre, it’s become very, very fragmented. There hasn’t been one scene that kind of unifies a ground swell of attitude or thought. I don’t keep as current as I used to, I tend to rely on friends or whatever pointing interesting things out to me. Currently I’m still playing the Arcade Fire pretty much non-stop.

I think part of the reason for America’s artistic malaise is its current political climate. What’s your take on US foreign policy and how do you think it’s impacted your life and your music? (I remember you throwing out some interesting jabs at Tony Blair during your ’03 Omaha performance).

Well obviously all our lives have changed with what’s been going on with US foreign policy. I understand that politically America has been forced to react to the forces that have been raging. I’ve lost what little faith I had that power politics will ever change the world for the better. I have contrary opinions to a great many issues that potentially may offend. I find it almost impossible to trust information that I’m given by the major media and think that in many instances, such as 9/11 for example, they fail us by failing to address very important questions. My cynicism toward Blair, though, predates all of that to a large degree. I feel that he got his party elected by betraying every ideal that the party was founded on. It was clever politics, forcing the Tories even further to the right and occupying the middle ground, but it was a betrayal in my view and it made me very sad.

What can we expect from your upcoming Omaha performance?

I honestly don’t know. I never really know how it will go or exactly what I’ll play. Hopefully the people who come will hear something or feel something that will stay with them for a long time. And at the very least it will be an honest performance.

* What’s in the works for Mark Burgess for the rest of ’06 and beyond?

Hard to say. I do hope I can take the band out and develop the new songs I’ve been working on. I have an autobiography coming out in December. Beyond that, I don’t know. I have to think long and hard about whether I should continue as I have been doing or go into something else. I just don’t know.

I was informed late last night that Eux Autres was in town at The Goofy Foot with The Family Radio and The Third Men — an a-list show that completely slipped in under the radar. We almost have too much stuff going on these days, and I need data, people, if I’m going to help get you there! I rarely hear about Goofy Foot shows until afterward, which is a shame because it’s a fun (and different) place to see a band. Tonight, Fresno California indie band Rademacher is at O’Leaver’s. They sound sound like Yeah Yeah Yeahs meet, I don’t know, a ’60s garage band on ludes? Listen for yourself. No opener listed on the O’Leaver’s site…

Tomorrow, look for an extended interview with Chameleons frontman Mark Burgess (which is the topic of this week’s column).

Post ’em here.>

Here’s some late comments on last Friday’s Protoculture show at O’Leaver’s that I never got around to posting this weekend. I was pleasantly surprised (shocked?) at the turnout — as many or possibly more on hand than the evening before for NOMO/His Name Is Alive. Certainly more than their debut gig a few months back, that was lightly attended. How many people were there to see opener Her Flyaway Manner is hard to say, though the place was packed when Protoculture got things rolling at around 11:30. Needless to say, this gig was hands down better than the first one, when they were probably nervous to be playing for the first time in years. Friday night was more relaxed, maybe too relaxed. The set started out strong, with Koly Walter and Erica Hanton in fine voice. Then came the moment of truth about halfway through the set. “This next song is called ‘My New Laugh,'” announced Koly to a smattering of applause and hoots. With that, Clayton Petersen played the tinkling intro on guitar and Erica ripped into the vocals, making their way to the explosive chorus MY NEW LAUGH WILL KILL YOUR SMILE. And then right before the second verse they stopped. What happened? Someone turned to me and said “He broke a string.” A moment later and they got it going again, but instead of starting over, they proceeded with the second verse. So I sort of got my wish, having wanted to hear that song performed live for years. The rest of the set took on a wonky tone. Songs started, then stopped, followed by more whooping (Erica had to tune her bass). It sort of had a band practice vibe, which wasn’t all that bad. In some respects, it took the edge off and was more fun. Still, I’m waiting for that perfect Protoculture show, where all the stars align and the spirits of past New Wave/No Wave artists appear out of the smoky ether to take a seat and watch with nodding respect. That time will come.

Tonight at O’Leaver’s, The Show Is the Rainbow opens for underground/outsider comedian Neil Hamburger. I’ve heard some of Hamburger’s schtick, including his Letterman appearance. He’s Kaufmanesque in his “laugh at me not with me” style of performance art — an anti-comic whose gig is to be so bad that he’s good — i.e., the Tony Clifton of stand-up comedy. I suspect this will be packed. What will Darren Keen and The Show Is the Rainbow do to unsettle Hamburger and his audience? That’s worth seeing all by itself. $5, 9:30 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

You know you’ve just seen a great band when you forgot to pay attention to them in a journalistic sort of way and just LISTENED to them. Such was the case last night for NOMO at O’Leaver’s. Seven people on “stage” (I know I reported that they’re a 10-piece — hey, that’s what Warn Defever told me) including a bari and tenor sax, two trumpets, two percussionists, a bass player and keyboards (I didn’t see/hear a guitar). I don’t know a thing about “afro-beat” music. I do know that I dug what I heard last night — intricate horn charts played over intricate rhythms that pulsed with a dirty global beat. Think Fear of Music through Speaking in Tongues-era Talking Heads, then add plenty of funky brass. The guy next to me mentioned Fela Kuti, who I will now have to research further. To say it was celebratory would be an understatement — O’Leaver’s glowed. Though the horn lines were well-charted, there was plenty of room for the saxophones to stray into freeform improvs. They ended their set playing a song while parading through the bar, ending up in a chanting circle right in front of where I sat by the door. There was a sense that we were seeing and hearing something special that we never seem to see and hear around these parts, and should more often.

Three NOMOs joined Warn Defever and Andy FM for His Name Is Alive (including the tenor sax player who set his horn down to play keyboards). How do you follow that sort of organic, exuberant explosion of a performance? You showcase Defever’s white-knuckle guitar work. His style that spanned everything from metal to acid rock to avant gard to drone. For obvious reasons the music didn’t have as much of an hypnotic effect on the 100 or so on hand as NOMO had. Still, a great set, a diversion from the usual indie-rock schtick and something that we rarely get to see in Omaha.

Tonight, again at O’Leaver’s, The Protoculture with Lincoln’s Her Flyaway Manner. I’ve been told by Protoculture drummer/vocalist Koly Walter that the band has worked up a version of “My New Laugh,” my favorite of their repertoire that they didn’t perform at their comeback show last March. Again, the chorus: “My new laugh / My new laugh/ My new laugh / My new laugh / MY NEW LAUGH WILL KILL YOUR SMILE.” Be there. 9:30, $5.

Also tonight, Mal Madrigal is playing at The Pizza Shoppe (which is now called PS Collective). $5, 9 p.m. Meanwhile, at The 49’r, it’s The Diplomats of Solid Sound, The Bent Scepters and Springhill Mine Disaster. No idea on price. They usually get things rolling at around 10 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Column 80: Special Delivery
A peek inside the ol’ mailbag.

Believe it or not, The Reader does get letters. They just don’t print them. I have no idea why. I’m sure they have their reasons that involve “ad space” or “page count” or some inconvenience involving the phases of the moon. That said, in these days of the interweb, the fact that someone has gone to the trouble to sit down and compose a comment in response to something published in your paper deserves not only acknowledgment but proper presentation in those pages. It’s called giving your readers a voice.

Readers like a local celebrity of old, responding to the May 11 column about how “vintage” music has taken over the airwaves:

… As someone maybe 10 years older than you, let me assure you that Styx, Foreigner and the 70s incarnation of Steve Miller sucked then, suck now, and will still suck 30 years from now. Boston — not so bad.

Meanwhile, I agree completely with your premise. Let me add this for your consideration: Radio is ruining memory, sucking the sweetness out of nostalgia. In c. 1979, if I heard “Windy” by the Association, it took me back to high school, reminded me of the friends I hung out with at the pool that summer, put me in a specific place and time. And it was bittersweet because it took me directly from age 30 to age 17, skipping the intervening years in a sort of “time travel for the emotions.” But now when I hear Windy, it reminds me merely of when I heard it last week. Or maybe the week before, or the week before that, or …

Come to think of it, maybe you can’t share my regret at this turn of events, since there never was a temporal gap between spins of “More Than A Feeling” and the like — it’s been played every week since its release.

Your points about the fragmentation of today’s music audience are also true. Do you know that the fragmentation was deliberate, brought about by consultants, radio stations and (of course) advertisers? Anyway, one upshot is that these kids will never have the bittersweet experience of a shared nostalgic moment.

Not the most pressing problem in the world, I know. Just kind of a little sweetener that isn’t available any more.

Signed: D.D. Doomey

“DD” as in Diver Dan as in half of the team of Otis XII and Diver Dan Doomey that owned local morning radio on Z-92 when I was a tot growing up in Omaha (and later, Ft. Calhoun). I won’t wax nostalgic about Space Commander Wack (and Stupid Larry) or Lance Stallion Radio Detective other than to say Otis and Diver’s unbridled creativity hasn’t been heard on local radio since they left it sometime in the ’90s, unless you consider misinformed, opinionated blather and fart jokes “creativity.” Some do. Actually, most do, judging by the Arbitron numbers.

Reader Robin Tills also wrote in about radio’s nostalgia boom: “I am not a musician, but I wonder since there are only so many musical notes to write from, and a lot of great songs have already been written and sung from groups like Journey, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Boston, John Cougar, Cheap Trick, Survivor, and on and on, it’s gotta be hard to come up with something new. … I don’t know if today’s musicians really make an honest commitment to create great music…”

The problem isn’t that today’s music isn’t as good, the problem is that the good music isn’t getting heard. Tooling ’round town the other day with my iPod, Low’s “California,” Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins’ “Rise Up with Fists!!” and Sufjan Stevens’ “Jacksonville” came up on the shuffle back-to-back-to-back and I thought to myself all of these songs could be hits as big as any hit from the ’70s or ’80s if they only got picked up by Clear Channel or whatever music conglomerate owns the radio waves, because, folks, we certainly don’t own them anymore. Judging from D.D.’s comments, maybe we never did.

Omahan Ed Perini commented on the May 25 column about wearing hearing protection at rock shows: “…I agree that the myth that wearing earplugs ‘ruins the experience’ is ridiculous. In fact, I have found that wearing them cuts out a lot of the distortion, and eliminates some of the background noise – like, say, people who insist on talking loudly while a band is playing.”

They also protect from people who insist on talking — or rather screaming — at you during the set. Conversations like: “WANT ANOTHER BEER?” “WHAT?” “I SAID DO. YOU. WANT. ANOTHER. BEER?” “WHAT?”… Full throttle, directly into the ol’ ear canal. Much more damaging than that guitar solo you just missed. And completely unintelligible unless you’re wearing ear plugs. Just sayin’, do yourself a favor.

Keep those cards and letters coming, folks.

“Sometimes you just wake up and say, ‘What are we doing playing in a sports bar?'”

It’s a good question coming from a band that has played in such regal locations as a 500-year-old Buddhist temple in Osaka, a 19th century synagogue on the lower east side of New York City and countless historic venues throughout the United States, Europe and the world.

One can only wonder what Warn Defever, the mastermind behind His Name Is Alive, will think of the beer-stenched confines of O’Leaver’s Pub. Weeks into the band’s first headlining U.S. tour in 10 years, he’s already devised his own, personal ritual for exorcising demons from less-than-hallowed performance spaces.

“Some bars have a vibe that comes from people drinking there for years. Just the smell of the place, it’s not the most spiritual of environments,” Defever said via cell on the road somewhere between San Francisco and Seattle. “We used to play a song at the beginning of our set to cleanse the room of evil spirits and get everyone on the right page. Then last night I realized — where did those bad spirits go? They went to the next bar down the street.” (continued)

I’m told that The Cardinal Sin didn’t make it to O’Leaver’s last night. Something about one of the guys in the band “throwing out his back,” according to the show’s promoter. Just how old are these guys that they’re already suffering from back problems? Apparently Jaeger Fight made it, so the night was salvaged. I didn’t go. Nor will I be attending tonight’s festivities at O’Leaver’s: A Utah band with the unfortunate name of TaughtMe, along with Justin Lamoureaux’s Midwest Dilemma and the always interesting Kyle Harvey. $4, 9 p.m. There are more details about this show here on the webboard.

One other item: This Bright Eyes article is making the rounds up in the Great White North where boy wonder will be playing a string of shows leading to his Memorial Park gig a week from Friday. His Dylan comparisons = lazy journalism comment is old hat. He’s right about Canadians being more laid back — they clearly are, in my experience. Smarter and kinder as well. Based on this piece, I assume that he’ll also pass on playing “When the President Talks to God” when he makes it back. Quote of the article: “I don’t see the record being as homogenized as the last two were.” Homogenized? So does that mean he’s going back to low-fi? Not likely.

Look for the His Name Is Alive piece bright and early tomorrow morning.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

I went to a total of no shows last weekend (If anyone wants to chime in on the Tilly show, please do so right here). That’ll all change this week. In fact, having not stepped foot in O’Leaver’s in a while, it looks like I could be spending a lot of time there in the next few days, perhaps starting tonight with Jaeger Fight (featuring The Reader‘s managing editor Andy Norman on bass) and Minneapolis’ The Cardinal Sin.

I’m going to stupidly give you an early head’s up about Thursday’s His Name Is Alive/NOMO show. Stupid, because it could well be one of the best shows of the year, and me telling you this will only make it more unbearably packed in tiny O’Leaver’s. NOMO is a 10-piece afro-beat band that is, in a word, amazing. The new His Name Is Alive CD, Detrola, is on heavy rotation on my iPod as I type this. This one would have been nice to see at Sokol Underground. Look for a feature/interview with HNIA’s Warn Defever online here Wednesday.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Tonight at Sokol Underground, Tilly and the Wall with Dave Dondero. The $5 show is SOLD OUT. Tilly keyboardist Nick White said their staging might have a “tropical theme” complete with flower leis. Fun! Speaking of Tilly, did anyone see this item in yesterday’s Des Moines Register about the band’s upcoming marriage? I didn’t even know Jamie and Derek were dating. When is Of Montreal just going to throw up their hands and move to Omaha? Seems like they play here or in Lincoln about six months.

Also tonight, the return of Charlie Burton to the Omaha stage at Mick’s. The show is supposed to be a “CD release party,” except that I’m told there won’t be any CDs on hand to release. Maybe FedEx will come through in time. Take a trip down memory lane and read this 1998 interview I did with Charlie when he was still living in Austin. $5, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night is Anonymous American with Scott Severin and Virgasound at Sokol Underground. $7, 9 p.m. And that’s it for the weekend, folks. Get out and enjoy the weather.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—