With a violinist/accordionist that looks like a Bolshevik, a bass player who switches between a stand-up and a Christmas-tree-light adorned tuba, and a Theremin-playing frontman who yodels more than sings, Devotchka is as eccentric as you want them to be, right down to their cover of “Venus in Furs” that makes you think the Velvets could have been from an Eastern Block country.

There is an ethnic, Russian flair to most everything they do, a flair that the crowd of around 220 obviously came to see and hear. Sprinkled throughout the room, girls jumped and kicked in a sad, Americanized version of a Barynya folk dance, complete with obligatory squatting and foot stomps (Most of the guys did the usual immobile slouching, hands in pockets). When the accordion came out and the sousaphone was at full sail, the place turned into a Ukranian dance hall powered by the band’s polka-flavored bounce. On the other hand, when the band took a more-modern less-ethnic approach, they turned into a Hungarian (by way of Denver) version of The Arcade Fire, thanks to the frontman Nick Urata’s yodel croon and the music’s soaring, layered sound, reminiscent of the better moments off Funeral.

I was told that these guys weren’t an indie band. And I might have believed that if it weren’t for drummer Shawn King – who, though surrounded by music played in a foreign language, still cracked the set like a first-rate (indie) rocker. King was astounding, even when he put down the sticks, picked up a trumpet and followed the rest of the band into the crowd for a pseudo-mariachi number. Great fun. I left after an hour, just as the band closed their set with the Morricone-flavored whistler theme from the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack.

Tonight at Sokol Underground, The Black Keys with Brimstone Howl and Dr. Dog. This show was originally scheduled for Sokol Auditorium, but poor ticket sales drove it downstairs. Needless to say, the show is nearly sold out, so if you don’t already have tickets, go to the One Percent Productions site and click on the Purchase Tickets link. They’ll run you $17. If you plan on walking up, I suggest you get in line early (and bundle up, it’s cold outside).

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Column 103 — Two Years (and counting)
A look back on the second anniversary

The end of the year for music fans means endless retrospectives of the past 12 months written with great pomposity, and lists upon lists upon lists upon lists of “the best blah-blah-blah of ’06.” We complain, but we love looking back if only to say “I told you so,” conveniently forgetting the blind missteps, and hoping you forgot them, too. That said, let this be the first of those retrospectives for ’06, as we celebrate the second year of Lazy-i in The Reader and look back with great aplomb to update the past year’s columns.

Presto! Change-o! (2/1/06) — A description of the new Presto! Studios in Omaha, gleaned from an issue of Tape Op Magazine. Saddle Creek Records executive Jason Kulbel tells me that the building that housed the Lincoln Presto! Studios now sits empty following tracking last fall for the upcoming Bright Eyes record. The new studios, located near 69th and Dodge Sts., are coming to life. As I type this, the facility’s “B Room” is being used for the final mixing of said Bright Eyes CD. By the way, the name Presto! apparently will die along with the Lincoln studio.

Scars for All to Hear (2/16/06) — A profile of Outlaw Con Bandana’s Brendan Hagberg. The band currently is recording its fifth release, Faeries and Rewards, with producer Ted Stevens between Cursive world tours. “We are also attempting an EP by hook or crook during the down time,” Hagberg says on his myspace page. Look for both records in early ’07.

Band of Brothers (2/23/06) — A profile of them thar Thornton boys — Bob and Will — and their band Past Punchy and the Present. Since the column, Past Punchy has become rather dormant. Instead, Bob’s new band, Now Archimedes!, has established itself as the hottest new punk band in town.

Not for The Faint of Heart (3/22/06) — Wherein your fearless columnist reported about the possibility of The Faint leaving Saddle Creek Records for American Recordings, a rumor that Creek label chief Robb Nansel confirmed. Since then, The Faint has begun working on the long-awaited follow-up to 2004’s Wet from Birth in their new studio. Asked if the record will come out on Saddle Creek, Kulbel gave a two-word answer: “No comment.”

Living in Fun City (6/22/06) — The Omaha World-Herald took umbrage to my attack on their declaration — made after this summer’s Bright Eyes concert in Memorial Park — that Omaha is “Fun City.” An OWH editorial, cleverly titled “The Quest for Coolness,” referred to “a local blogger” who is “beside himself that anyone could possibly consider Omaha a Fun City.” Pity they didn’t have the stones to either mention The Reader (where the column also appeared) or my website’s address. But like I said last week, The OWH doesn’t acknowledge non-OWH-controlled local media sources in print. As for their editorial: If the paper and the Chamber of Commerce think the answer to Omaha’s “quest for coolness” is to bring in more national-chain retail outlets like Cheesecake Factory and Williams-Sonoma instead of supporting home-grown businesses, then they clearly have no idea what “cool” is.

Unlikely Underdog (6/29/06) — Amid a cloud of negative buzz, the column was an early defense of Cursive’s new release, Happy Hollow. The record, which I still consider to be the band’s best effort in their storied career — continues to split fans down the middle between those who love it and those who don’t. Regardless, the album sold 9,700 copies in its first week of release, enough to place it at No. 96 in the Billboard top 100. To date, Happy Hollow has sold more than 27,000 copies, according to Kulbel.

Urban Legend (7/6/06) — A profile of local rock band An Iris Pattern’s quirky, mysterious frontman, Greg Loftis. Since the column, Loftis reports that An Iris Pattern has been asked by world-renowned fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger to be the first band on his new record label. Stay tuned.

Flyover Country (6/1/06) — The premise: Top-drawer national indie bands are beginning to pass by Omaha because cheapskate concert-goers won’t pay more than $10 for tickets. In fact, ’06 will be remembered as one of the better years for stellar acts hitting our stages, including such bands as Yo La Tengo, Joanna Newsom, M Ward and Gillian Welch. Lately, however the crowds are staying home. One Percent Productions’ Marc Leibowitz, who along with partner Jim Johnson is responsible for most of Omaha’s indie shows, says ticket prices alone aren’t to blame. “It’s more likely the combination of higher ticket prices and over-saturation of shows,” he said. “There are a ton of shows that are all slightly overpriced. But when we talked about ticket prices (in June) it was just for Omaha, and this downturn in attendance is happening in a lot of other cities as well.”

The Kids Aren’t All Right (8/3/06) — Wherein I ask the question: Where have all the new indie bands gone? Leibowitz says they’re right here, you just have to look for them. Among them: Coyote Bones, Bear Country, Spring Gun, Domestica, Art Bell and Hyannis.

And so on… Thanks to everyone who provided their insight, inspiration, information — and most of all, ideas. These are the things that keep Lazy-I going. Now onto year three…

Here’s an early head’s up about Wednesday night’s Devotchka show at Sokol Underground. A little bird close to the show tells me that opening band McCarthy Trenching will, in fact, be the all-star line-up featuring Maria Taylor, Steph Drootin and Conor Oberst. We saw this lineup open for M Ward Sept. 6. Fact is, Dan McCarthy is just as good when he’s playing with his non-all-star lineup His music is lilting, folky waltzes with a hint of Neil Young in the guitars. Oberst might throw in some harmonies, but he’ll mostly just concentrate on being a faceless accomplice. Devotchka has become a hot property after contributing music to the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack. Last time they came through they drew a few hundred — this time it could be a sell-out, especially with the added star power.

Moving on… Here’s a well-written review from The Dallas Morning News of Cursive’s Nov. 25 gig at The Gypsy Tea Room. I generally don’t agree with the writer, who can’t help but pigeon-hole Cursive as an emo band. His comparisons to Fall Out Boy betray him — Cursive doesn’t have much in common with that band, so if he went to the show expecting that sort of performance he was destined for disappointment. Says he: “But with little exception (the raucous, whippy solo break on “Martyr” being one), its activity level didn’t measure up to a normal emo act, almost as if it chose not to expend the energy lest it lost its rep as the Emo Band With Indie Clout.” Right. I can’t imagine anyone wanting a rep like that.

Tonight, Minneapolis trio The Slats, sounding like a cross between The Cars and Guided By Voices, takes the stage at O’Leaver’s with Des Moines’ Beati Paoli. $5, 9:30 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

The site has been in a state of disarray over the last week because of ongoing technical issues which I hope to have resolved this week. I woke up this morning to discover that every link on the homepage (including in this blog) was broken and had to be reset. Not fun. Thanks for your continued patience.

I only went to one show this holiday weekend, but it was a doozy — Art Bell at Saddle Creek Bar Friday night. It was (surprise, surprise) packed. After three different shows at the Saddle Creek over the past few weeks — Virgasound, Eagle*Seagull and now Art Bell, I’m convinced that the club could become a player in the local music scene (for what that’s worth). The caveat is that they must get someone to take a serious look at their PA. Over the past three shows, the sound has been hit and miss. Ultimately, there are limits to what they’ll be able to do with such old equipment. Those two huge arrays of speakers on either side of the stage are ancient, and though I’m no sound engineer, even I can hear that something’s wrong with them.

Every musician and music pro that I’ve talked to about the bar’s sound has said the same thing — the PA needs to be replaced. Friday night’s show might have been a breaking point. A few minutes into Art Bell’s set, every bass note was met with a loud rattle from the left set of speakers, as if one of the units was blown. After about 20 seconds, the sound guy smoothed it out. At all three of the past shows, however, the vocals sounded hollow and tinty, like a PA you’d hear on the floor of a convention hall. I’m told the microphones are top-notch, that the problem, again, is the PA.

Another musician who’s played at The Saddle Creek on and off over the past decade told me that the room has never sounded good, partially because the stage is like playing inside a box. Club owner Mike Coldeway said the stage design prevents him from booking hugely loud metal bands because of noise issues. I doubt anything can be done about that.

That said — as has happened at every show I’ve attended there — a couple rather prominent musicians from the scene (one from the Saddle Creek stable) asked me what I thought of the place, and I told them what I’ve told everyone — I love its size and the overall vibe of the room. It reminds me of The Bottleneck in Lawrence. And the location couldn’t be any better — about a mile away from my front door. Add to that $2.25 Rolling Rocks (the lowest price I’ve paid for the beer anywhere in Omaha) and a $5 cover ($6 Friday night, for some reason) and I’m in heaven. Those musicians I talked to said the same thing. They also agreed that there’s something wrong with the PA. One of them wondered if the tables could be cleared out — that they created a natural barrier between the bands and the crowd. That can easily be done — and should be done for the upcoming Good Life show. Indie and punk bands don’t like people sitting around — they want them standing, preferably right in front of the stage — and to be honest, there’s nothing stopping them from standing in front right now, other than concern that they might be blocking the view of those seated (We are a courteous bunch here in Omaha, aren’t we?).

So that’s the executive summary on The Saddle Creek Bar. Check it out for yourself when the Danny Pound Band comes through on Dec. 9. Drakes Hotel sounded like Omaha’s version of Jesus and Mary Chain, complete with droning feedback and doom-laden mid-tempo beats brought to you in care of a drum machine. The thump-thump-thump was more than adequate to move this luxurious show-gazer fare in a right, moody direction, while the female lead singer provided the counterpoint to the droning bass. I liked it, especially when the band stepped it up a notch, wrestling itself out of its mid-tempo rut. The set, however, was too much of a good thing, and seemed to go on forever, especially considering that Jake Bellows didn’t start the night until well past 10 o’clock (but only played for about 15 minutes).

As mentioned before, Art Bell is a natural evolution for an Orenda Fink, an artist who has been defined by the warm, heart-throbbing style heard in Azure Ray. With a veritable supergroup of musicians backing her, Fink reinvents herself as a rock musician, taking her natural ear for melodies and galvanizing them with solid guitar and a rhythm section anchored by one of the city’s best drummers — Corey Broman, who’s played with Little Brazil, Statistics and Kite Pilot, among others. If the band’s recordings are anything like the live show, someone is going to have a hit on their hands — will it be Saddle Creek Records?

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Art Bell is Orenda Fink’s new band with Adrianne Verhoeven of The Anniversary and 4th of July. The last time I saw the band (back in July) it also featured Dan McCarthy on keyboards, Ryan Fox on bass, Steve Bartolomei on guitar and drummer Corey Broman (Little Brazil, ex-Kite Pilot, ex-Son, Ambulance). The One Percent Productions site says Fink and Co. are currently recording a new album with Joel Petersen of The Faint. Wonder what label will be putting that out… Also on the SCB bill is Drakes Hotel & Jake Bellows — a steal for just $5. Starts at 9.

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Column 102 — For ‘Biggest Oversight’ by an awards show…
The nominees are…

Before I get into this, I must tell you that I’m one of those hallowed few who have been asked to be a member of “The Academy” for the Live Music portion of the Omaha Entertainment Awards. And I also must explain that The Reader is one of OEAs’ media partners, if not one of its chief organizers. So one could yell “Bias!” at these words, but one would be incorrect, as I hold no allegiance to the organization and have just as many gripes as you about the Nominees list published last week. Instead of griping for gripe’s sake, however, I wanted explanations.

So I picked up the phone and called Tony Lange, the guy responsible for how the OEAs are being conducted. Lange comes to Omaha from Cincinnati, where the CEAs are in their 8th year. He said they were the boilerplate for the OEAs, right down to how bands were nominated. Anyone (as in you) could have submitted a nominating ballot, and Lange said around 2,000 of you did — not bad for the first year. A five-person committee (of which Lange is a member) developed the categories with the help of a few others who were brought in to “broaden the knowledge base.”

That brings us to the nominees and my list of gripes, first and foremost being the inclusion of South Dakota blues act Indigenous under the category of “Traditional / Indigenous” music. Anyone who’s ever heard a lick of the band’s Stevie Ray Vaughan blues-hammer aping knows that they don’t belong in this category, and that South Dakota ain’t Omaha (or Nebraska).

Clarification No. 1: Any performer from a 75-mile radius of The Holland Center was eligible for nomination, which explains why all those Lincoln bands are on the list (but doesn’t explain why the awards aren’t called the NEAs (N as in Nebraska instead of O as in Omaha)).

Lange admitted that, yes, Indigenous isn’t from Nebraska, and no, they don’t play indigenous music, and yes, the whole thing was a mistake. “That’s one that slipped by us,” he said. “We’ll take the blame. It’s a result of me not growing up here. It should have been caught.”

Some of the categories, however, were tougher to explain. Why, for example, group “hard rock” and “metal” together? Everyone knows they’re different genres. Apparently not everyone. “I know there’s death metal and speed metal and hate metal,” Lange said. “Next year we may consider separating the categories.”

“Next year” also applies to including a “Singer/Songwriter” category, an omission that is the awards’ biggest oversight, as Omaha is known nationally as a singer/songwriter town. Lange had no real explanation for this, other than to say he wanted to include the category but that other committee members preferred naming it “Adult Contemporary.” This, of course, makes no sense, but “that’s what you get when you deal with a committee.”

Lange is not apologetic about the “Cover Band” category. “Cover bands are the core meat of the local entertainment business,” he said. “Their art is just the same as anyone else’s. Remember, this award is based on entertainment.”

Complaints about who got nominated falls squarely on you, the voter, and your favorite bands’ inability to “get out the vote.” Lange admits that there always will be acts that simply aren’t comfortable lobbying for themselves. That may explain why local jazz legend Luigi Waites was overlooked under the “Jazz” category or why Breathless wasn’t nominated under “Hip-Hop/Rap.” It also explains why there are no punk bands under the “Punk” category. Would a real punk band lobby for votes? Go ask Johnny Rotten.

For the first go-’round, the list of nominees isn’t horrible, especially under categories “Alternative Indie” (rightfully dominated by Saddle Creek Records acts), “Folk Americana Roots,” “Hard Rock” (I’m leaving metal out of it) and “Live Music Event.” The full list is available online at oeawards.net. Yes, there are omissions, but hey, give them a break, it’s the first year.

The most glaring omission is in how the local media have covered the event. Yes, The Reader is a sponsor, right along with NRG Media on the radio side. That shouldn’t preclude the great, gray Omaha World-Herald from covering an event that has the full support of the Chamber of Commerce and a plethora of important local arts organizations.

The fact is, the OWH has historically put its own needs in front of its readers when it comes to covering anything that’s sponsored by rival media, whether it be an alt-weekly newspaper, radio or local TV station. They need to let the paranoia go and realize what everyone else already knows: They don’t have any competition. No one’s going to steal away any of their potential advertisers and/or readers, certainly not The Reader. Acknowledgement of the OEAs by the OWH and other media is critical if this thing is ever really going to get off the ground. But I’m afraid that the polarizing, Citizen Kane mentality of local media will never let that happen, even for an event that’s designed not to make money (OEA is a 501c3, nonprofit organization) but to celebrate this city’s talent. Let’s do this, before all that talent finds a more grateful place to play.

Tonight at O’Leaver’s, Iowa City citizen Ed Gray takes the stage. Gray is something of a legend in the low-fi folk circuit. His first serious recordings involved John Crawford (Head of Femur, Grey Ghost), violinist Tiffany Kowalski (Lullaby for the Working Class, Mayday, Shelley Short), and producer Alex McManus (The Bruces, Bright Eyes). On his new record, Gray plays with a crapload of Omaha musicians that are usually seen orbiting around Simon Joyner. It’s a folkie treat in a style that is right at home with Simon and Outlaw Con Bandana. Hear for yourself at his myspace page. That said, it makes sense that he’s playing with Simon tonight, who, according to Ed, will be backing him along with the rest of the band, which he refers to as The Wind-Up Birds. Don’t know if this is a different line-up than we usually see in The Fallen Men or not, but there’s one way to find out. $5, 9 p.m.

But first, this member of the Academy for the Omaha Entertainment Awards will be venturing west, to Shag for the OEA showcase. The show starts at 7 and will include performances by Anonymous American, Scott Severin and a host of others (the schedule is here), while the American Music Awards are broadcast over Shag’s television screens. I suspect this will be a surreal event and that I and the rest of the Academy will be plied with booze, whores and drugs in an ill-fated attempt by the nominees to garner our votes. Fun!

There are a ton of questions that arose when the OEA nominees were announced last week, which I’ll attempt to answer in tomorrow’s column. Look for it, and a reflection on tonight’s festivities.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Column 101 — And Now a Song from our Sponsor
Commercials go indie…

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I dig watching sports on TV. Football, baseball, basketball, you name it. I know it isn’t cool from an indie perspective to admit to such a steak-and-egger sort of past-time, but at any given moment during the season I generally know where the Yankees stand in the AL, and I cry right along with everyone else in the Big Apple when the Knicks inevitably skid to the bottom of the Eastern Division (Damn you, Isiah!).

The problem with watching televised sports, however, is having to put up with all the commercials, and Sunday Night Football is easily the worst. Why? Because during every time-out, you’re force-fed John Mellencamp’s ode to America in the form of a Chevy truck commercial. Once upon a time, Little Johnny Cougar wrote real songs — stuff like “Jack and Diane,” and “Pink Houses.” Not anymore.

Artists whoring their music to Madison Avenue is nothing new. Even such upstanding, well-respected musicians as U2 have gleefully traded in their flesh-and-blood to sell a few iPods. If Reverend Bono does it, it must be okay, right? Certainly it’s a no-brainer for someone like Mellencamp, whose flat-lined career was in the same place as Bob Seger’s when Seger let Chevy turn “Like a Rock” into a commercial.

But these days, it isn’t just the county fair circuit that’s grabbing the cash. Earlier this year I heard Spoon’s “I Turn My Camera On” used to sell Jaguar XKE’s. And it wasn’t just incidental background music — the commercial was produced like a rock video prominently featuring the song along with tight, quick cuts of a shiny new Jag. When they replayed the spot about five minutes later, I immediately thought, ‘Well, there goes that song.”

Then last night the whoring reached a new low. On screen was a commercial for Outback Steakhouse. Amidst the weird buzzing didgeridoo noise was the melody from Of Montreal’s “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games).” But instead of Kevin Barnes singing “Let’s pretend we don’t exist / Let’s pretend we’re in Antarctica,” some poor schmuck sang “Let’s go Outback tonight / Life will still be there tomorrow” while animated cave drawings danced gleefully around a steak.

My first thought: “Those idiots! Don’t they know that Barnes will sue their asses off when he finds out that they so blatantly ripped off his song?” Then I went online and found out that Barnes was in on the whole thing. Pitchfork reported that Barnes had given Outback’s ad agency permission not only to use the song, but to rerecord it with new lyrics.

“We thought it would be totally amusing to hear their take on one of our songs as a jingle,” he told Pitchfork. In this case, “totally amusing” means receiving a check worth a few thousand bloomin’ onions.

Can you blame them for selling out their music? Fact is, in the case of both Of Montreal and Spoon, more people heard those songs on those commercials than will ever hear them on the radio. What price can you put on that kind of exposure?

When you live in a town like Omaha — a city with no real college radio station — TV commercials may be the only way to hear new music over the airwaves. And I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t admit that I’ve searched out a song used in an ad.

Case in point: The latest commercials for Geico featuring that loveable caveman that gets no respect. He first appeared on TV having lunch with a high-powered ad exec who apologized for the insensitivity of the company’s “so easy a caveman can do it” commercials. “I didn’t know you guys were still around.” Caveman’s response: “Maybe you should do some research.” Classic.

In the new ad, our caveman (Who I’m sure is now headed for a sitcom career) stands on a moving walkway headed toward his departure gate in an airport when he passes yet another insensitive Geico airport display ad with the same catchphrase. Meanwhile, in the background plays a cool, simple, Casio-powered song that is, quite frankly, absolutely infectious.

Two seconds after entering “Geico Caveman Commercial” in Google, I discovered the song was “Remind Me” by Norwegian Euro-dance duo Röyksopp — an act I’d never heard of, and likely wouldn’t have without this commercial. Like Trio’s “Da Da Da” song — which went unnoticed for 15 years until it was used in VW commercials in the mid-’90s — “Remind Me” also is destined to become an international smash that never would have been discovered if not for some savvy ad exec picking the song out of the ether and placing it in the commercial.

Like it or not, the same can probably be said for the new Mellencamp song. Without its Chevy connection, it never would have made it out of the blocks. Now it’s fueling his next world tour.

I feel like I got Borat-ed by The Slip. They went on and on in our interview about how much they don’t want to be plopped in with the rest of the jam band scene — how, sure, they used to do experimental jazz “back in the old days” but that now their music is much more structured and melody-dependent. A listen through their new CD, Eisenhower, and you (almost) believe they could be a next-generation indie band.

But last night… well… they sure sounded like a jam band to me. I was expecting to hear tight, structured renditions of songs from the new album. Instead, The Slip launched their set with four acoustic numbers, none of which I recognized, then went right into an electric set that featured lots of wild, experimental sound collages, jazzy interludes and an extra helping of long-form solos — i.e., jams. When they finally got around to playing their pop opus “Children of December” the song was so all-over-the-place that it was tough to recognize.

There’s no denying that these guys are first-class musicians. It was some of the best instrumentation I’ve heard in a long, long time — throaty, precise drums, intricate guitar and spider-hand bass. But the basic underlying structure seemed designed only to allow for the musicians to pull away from standard songcraft (especially on the rock songs). So while, yes, they played well, their songs were hidden somewhere in a cloud of noodling.

The only time they came close to sounding like an indie band was on “Airplane/Primitive,” but even that was marred by a number of improvisational gymnastics that would have been more at home at a groove festival. Missing were some of the more gorgeous ballads from the new album, including “If One of Us Should Fall.” Why skip it? The only thing I can think of was that frontman Brad Barr was uncertain about his vocals, though he clearly had the chops last night on the acoustic numbers (including a new song that reminded me of classic ’70s folk rock tune). Or maybe they were catering to the tiny crowd of 40. Just to add fuel to the jam-band fire, they encored with two instrumentals — one featuring drummer Marc Friedman playing a home-made PVC-pipe percussion device that made hollowed notes when pounded with flip-flops Blue Man Group-style. Bonnaroo here they come.

***

We’re having some serious technical difficulties around the Lazy-i servers these days, which is why there was no update or column yesterday. Look for Column 101 tomorrow morning if I can get the FTP transfer mumbo-jumbo figured out. Thanks for your patience.

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I’m back from Dallas, and here’s The Slip interview I promised Monday. The story ended up focusing on the band’s inability to shake their “jam band” status that they developed early in their careers. Believe me, they, uh, dislike jam bands and the jam band scene, which they made perfectly clear in their interview. In fact, their manager sort of warned me that it was a sore topic with the band and that they’d be a bit unresponsive to questions about the whole jam band thing. But once we got started, the topic dominated the discussion. As I say in the story, judging from their new album on Bar/None, The Slip sound more like a traditional indie rock band influenced by Death Cab and Built to Spill than a jam band. One would hope that constant touring and the strength of their new album, which just came out, will help them get past being thrown in with noodlers like Widespread Panic and Phish. The show is tomorrow night at Sokol Underground with The Lovely Feathers and The Bon Savants. $10, 9 p.m.

The problem with going out of town all week is trying to catch up. Column 101 is ready to post, but I don’t have the time to do it this morning, so look for it tomorrow morning.

Tonight at O’Leaver’s you got Outlaw Con Bandana with A Poet Named Revolver and “The Antiquarium Staff” — no idea who that could be — along with Good with Guns. I have a feeling this could be a night of good eclectic music. $5, 9:30 p.m.

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