Lot of shows this weekend. Tonight it’s Hyannis with Nik Fackler (The Family Radio, filmmaker extraordinare) and Baby Walrus (which may be Le Beat) at The Saddle Creek Bar. $5, 9 p.m. Meanwhile, down at O’Leaver’s, it’s Outlaw Con Bandana with Chris Yambor, The Tall One Behind and Death and Flowers. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Tomorrow night it’s Matt Whipkey and Anonymous American at Sokol Underground for their CD release show, along with Sarah Benck and The Robbers. $7, 9 p.m. Meanwhile, Mick’s is hosting the Joe Budenholzer Annual Tribute Night. This year, Joe and his band (consisting of local musicians) will be performing Talking Heads’ Fear of Music in its entirety. The show starts at 9 p.m. with a performance of Back World songs (Budenholzer’s project), followed by Fear of Music, then the stage will be open for local musicians to come up and jam. $5.

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This version of the 2006 Year in Review is unabridged (vs. the version in today’s issue of The Reader, where I was forced to cut about 500 words). Included in the story is the annual Top-10 CDs list as well as a list of the best shows of ’06. Read it here.

While you’re there, make sure you enter to win a copy of the coveted Lazy-I Best of 2006 Compilation CD! All you have to do is e-mail me (tim@lazy-i.com) with your name and mailing address and you’ll be entered into the drawing. Tracks include songs by Yo La Tengo, Cat Power, Junior Boys, Ladyfinger, Röyskopp, The Terminals, Two Gallants, Simon Joyner and the Fallen Men, Cursive and more. Details and track order are right here. Enter today! Deadline’s January 17.

And speaking of “best of” lists, Kyle Munson of The Des Moines Register has put together his annual list, which also includes his annual critics’ panel that included yours truly. Check it out here.

There is a show scheduled tonight at O’Leaver’s, I’m just not sure exactly who it is. According to their website, it’s McCarthy Trenching, but according to SLAM Omaha it’s The Slats and Beati Paoli. Either way, it’s $5 and starts at 9:30 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Column 107: Leggo My Ego
Matt Whipkey no longer anonymous.

Omaha’s favorite high-flying beer-bottle Americana rock ‘n’ roll experience, Anonymous American, has changed its name to Matt Whipkey and Anonymous American. This change prompted one person to rename the band Ego and The Maniacs.

Whipkey, who has been performing either solo or as a frontman for almost a decade, is aware of his reputation for enjoying his own music. He laughed off the “Ego and The Maniacs” comment (only to ask, moments later, who said it), admitting that there was a time when the label fit like a pair of tight slacks.

“I plead guilty to being an asshole and over-arrogant in the past,” he said over coffee at Caffeine Dreams. “But I don’t feel that way now. There are people I meet nowadays who (afterward) I say, ‘I hope I wasn’t like that.'” He wisely wouldn’t say who those people are.

Fact is, you have to have a certain amount of ego to be a musician, singer-songwriter or front man (or, for that matter, a music columnist/critic). How else would anyone have the balls to stand up in front of a crowd and sing little stories, hoping that their message will “touch your life”? Bravado is a necessity.

Whipkey, of course, agrees. “It takes a certain amount of ego to ask people to pay money to hear your music, but you can take it past that.”

So it seems. Whipkey said the band’s name change, which will appear on their new record, has more to do with logistics than ego. Turns out that the rest of his band have lives of their own. Guitarist Corey Weber and his wife had a baby a few weeks ago. Drummer Wayne Brekke recently got engaged, while bassist Bobby Carrig is trying to finish up his degree. Their busy schedules, however, aren’t stopping Whipkey from promoting their new album with a three-week West Coast tour — as a solo artist.

“After The Movies (Whipkey’s former band), I didn’t want to make a record and have the band break up again,” he said. “We’re still very much a band. We still get along. We still play together. But now I can have an album, go on the road, and not confuse the bookers and the audience when I try to sell a CD that doesn’t have my name on it.”

The new record, Don’t Be Late, easily is the poppiest thing Whipkey has produced with any band. Songs like the bouncy “CTA,” his duet with blues-rock diva and girlfriend Sarah Benck “Don’t Be Late for the Rest of Your Life,” and the Christmas love song “Here With Me” are slick, three-minute rockers with a hint of John Hiatt twang. They’re also somewhat removed from the usual over-the-top let’s-get-this-party-started vibe of his live show.

“I went out of my way to not be bombastic,” Whipkey said of the new record. “It’s great that certain people enjoy that aspect, but I wanted to make a record that was well-crafted. When you see us live, we don’t have three background harmonies, we don’t have a piano or organ player. The beauty of making a record is you can do things you can’t do on stage.”

Or used to be able to do. A bizarre accident Oct. 20 nearly ended Whipkey’s guitar-playing career when he accidentally severed the tendon of his left index finger with a pair of scissors. After surgery, Whipkey underwent three weeks of physical therapy at Midwest Orthopedic. He says he still struggles to play an F chord, which is in all of his songs.

“What used to be automatic I have to think about, and that’s kind of weird,” he said. “I’m not going to live forever. I’m mortal. In retrospect, there are worse injuries that can occur to a person. It’s just the fact that I couldn’t do what I wanted to do. I could always go home and play guitar. When I couldn’t do that, it was pretty maddening.”

And humbling. Whipkey said stabbing himself also cut away at his self-esteem. “But before it happened, I was already losing some of that ego, stepping down from my high horse, thinking I’m the best thing ever. I’ve come to the conclusion that some people won’t like what I want to do.”

Still, Whipkey couldn’t help himself. Before the interview ended, he pointed out that he’d love to pursue a career as a song writer for other artists. The caveat: “I could do the songs better than any artist could perform them. I guess I have an ego because it’s true. We’re a great band and I write fantastic songs. Sorry.”

Now that’s the Whipkey we know and love.

Things are kind of quiet ’round these parts after the holidays. We’re heading into that after-the-holidays dead-zone void musicwise after this weekend. Newswise, there’s not a lot to report, so I thought I’d take a quick look at the mailbag.

— A reader who goes by the name RJ Sak wrote me with his top-10 list, which included MC Lars, Fiona Apple, Basement Jaxx, Three-6 Mafia and Hayes Carll, who topped it at No. 1. He’s “The real deal,” says Sak. “Found him playing a bar in Austin. His music and lyrics confirmed my hometown hunch: Saddle Creek Records is finished. The whole ‘I’m-a-sensitive-nervous-little-tea-pot’ routine was cute. But when the kiddos outgrow their Batman undies and Superman PJ’s, the party is over. Time for Hayes and I to watch some football and change the air filter.” Ouch! I listened to a couple Hayes tracks on Myspace. His stuff is on Lost Highway and reminds me of BJ Thomas. Not bad, though I don’t know how his music is related to Saddle Creek, which doesn’t do this sort of thing. No reason to lash out, RJ, just change the channel quietly. Speaking of top-10 lists, mine will go online as part of the annual Year in Review article tomorrow morning.

— Matt Beat, of local band Electric Needle Room, writes to confirm that Omaha radio is indeed a-hurtin’. Says Matt, “…Here I come to Omaha and, I must say, I was VERY disappointed. Sometimes I wonder if I was destined to come here and somehow start my own station — it was something I always wanted to do, for I loved radio the three years I was in the business.” Good luck with that one, Matt. If you or anyone else gets the bread together to create a broadcast college-style radio station in this market, they’ll have at least one volunteer to give them a hand.

— Todd Hanton wrote to give me a head’s up that Kite Pilot will be back in January, performing as a trio. The band has written six new songs along with two others they wrote with Austin Britton before he moved to the West Coast. Kite Pilot has gigs lined up at O’Leaver’s Jan 5 (with red hot local band Cloven Path and Latitude Longitude), and the Saddle Creek Bar Jan 19 (with Eagle*Seagull and Landing on the Moon) and Feb. 23 (with Spring Gun and Adam Weaver and the Ghosts).

— Finally, Greg Edds of Little Brazil writes to say his band has one of their new tracks posted on their Myspace page. “The track is called ‘Shades.’ The record, Tighten The Noose, has been pushed up to a Feb. 6th release date,” says Edds. Little Brazil also have a gig slated for Sokol Underground Jan. 22, opening for The Appleseed Cast and Asobi Seksu.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Was the three-day Eastern Nebraska Tour a sell-out like it said on the T-shirts (with a question-mark added)? They didn’t sell out in Lincoln and last night’s show, while close, probably didn’t (but I don’t have the numbers either way, at least the SCB show sold out). That said, it was still a remarkable set from a band that has taken their live show from being something of a snooze to a real killer.

The Good Life unveiled seven new songs (at least) that take their sound to a different place than the circus-barker off-Broadway theatrics of Album of the Year (which is the best soundtrack to a musical that was never staged). In interviews with me and Niz at the OWH, the band talked of stripping it all down for the next album. After what I heard last night, that seemed to mean building songs around Steph Drootin’s simple, melodic bass lines. Throughout the evening she was the center of my attention, the backbone to every new song. Drootin led the charge with one arm figuratively around Roger Lewis’ crisp, kicky drums. Ryan Fox added tasty chits of guitar while Kasher did his usual soulful emoting (in terrific voice) — this time, with less frown and more wide-eyed wonder.

The up songs were downright poppy (and brief, around three minutes, no more), while the slow numbers were bluesy and laid-back, slouching forward on Drootin’s bass, which leaned with the posture of a low-down reggae band. Clearly the band has decided to edit everything down to the bare essentials. The effect is the most straight-forward, cohesive music that Kasher has created with either band (the other being Cursive). Gone is the over-the-top shimmering drama that characterized (and sometimes cluttered) the songs (especially on the pre-AOTY/Lawyers material). Lyrically, Kasher’s narratives nonchalantly get to the point, with no filler and plenty of clever double entendres to keep you smiling at just how clever he can be, telling stories of love debauched with regret (usually).

The contrast between old and new was startling and, for me, downright abrasive. Or maybe it was just the preponderance of more bombastic, dramatic selections from the back catalog that filled out the night’s set list.

I don’t think I was the only one who recognized how the two styles didn’t quite mesh. After playing two new songs, Kasher started an older one only to stop dead in his tracks after the first phrase. He wanted to take a moment to thank the crowd, saying (I’m paraphrasing here, I didn’t take notes) “I don’t really like performing, I like writing songs. So I’m still getting used to doing this. Sometimes after shows, someone asks if I liked the set and I usually say that I wasn’t really feeling it. But tonight I’m really enjoying myself.” It was a charming — if odd — moment that felt prompted by the sheer awkwardness of the gear-grinding shift between new and old, casual and dramatic.

With the new music, Kasher no longer oversells his angst. It’s as if he doesn’t care if you get it or not, he’s just gonna lay it out there for you to fill in the blanks. There is no effort to make you feel sorry for him because he no longer feels sorry for himself. This matter-of-fact style is more simple, more pure, more honest – and to me, more tuneful. This seems to be where Kasher wants to go from now on. After playing the first “oldie” last night, he responded to the crowd by saying “I’m glad that you applauded less for that one than the new ones.” The crowd laughed, but after a few moments, Kasher added, “I’m serious.” I think he was.

If I don’t see you tomorrow, Happy Holidays from everyone at Lazy-i.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

The conclusion of the three-part mini-series known as The Good Life’s Eastern Nebraska Tour is performed tonight at Sokol Underground with Drakes Hotel and Mal Madrigal. $9, 9 p.m. It’s the last significant show before Christmas, so get it in while you can.

In other indie music news, Pitchfork has posted their annual top-50 for the year (read it here). There are a few surprises, one of which is that Joanna Newsom wasn’t No. 1. A glance at the various lists around the ‘net indicated that Ys is maybe the most-lauded album of the year. It didn’t even make my list, though, which goes online next Wednesday along with the usual Year in Review story that you’ve all been waiting for. And for the first time in a while, no Creek band made the Pitchfork list (but I may be wrong about this — were any Creek releases in the ’05 Pitchfork list?).

See you at the show (I’m really gonna make it this time).

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Well, I parked the Sidekick over at Kelley’s Hilltop and made my way to the Saddle Creek Bar last night at around 10:30. I got as far as the front door. Looking through the windows, I could only see the backs of people pushed to the pool tables. Above their heads, Ryan Fox was on stage, presumably playing the opening set with Art in Manila (Fox is in a death-struggle with Mike Tulis for the honor of being the hardest working man in the Omaha music scene, playing sets last night with both Manila and The Good Life). I turned to a couple guys standing outside the door smoking and asked what the chances were of me getting an quick beer inside. They just laughed. Having had a grueling week, I didn’t feel like standing in a crush mob for two hours. Besides, I could see The Good Life Saturday at Sokol Underground… Or if I lived in Lincoln, tonight at Knickerbockers where Domestica was opening along with The Golden Age. $8, 9 p.m.

What else is going on this holiday weekend? Tonight, Adam Weaver and The Ghosts play at Mick’s with a slew of Omaha singer-songwriters including the irascible Kyle Harvey and former Kite Pilot member Austin Britton, who one assumes is in town for the holidays. Your $5 cover goes to support the Mosaic Community Development. Starts at 9.

As mentioned above, The Good Life play at Sokol Underground Saturday night with Mal Madrigal and Drakes Hotel. $9, 9 p.m.

And then it’s Christmas Eve. Whoop! Whoop!

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Column 106: Wishing in Stereo
We’ve got everything here, but…

Always striving to be a team player, I thought I’d add to the wishful discussion of The Reader’s annual “holiday wishes” issue. But when I sat down to write this column, there was one undeniable problem. From an indie music perspective, there really isn’t that much to wish for. We’ve got it pretty good here in ol’ Omaha.

I’ve done my fair share of traveling around the country, whether for work or pleasure. And whenever I’ve had the chance I’ve gone out of my way to check out the local music scenes in these far-off lands. Other than New York City and Austin, I’ve yet to find a town with as robust a music scene as Omaha’s in terms of quality local bands and the chance to hear the best touring acts.

There are probably more than 100 active original local bands in Omaha. Sure, most of them suck, but a lot of them are pretty freakin’ good and more than a few have garnered a national following thanks to terrific songwriting, first-class musicianship and a strong Midwestern work ethic that puts them on the road for weeks at a time despite financial (and mental) risk. Eventually they always come home to roost — usually around the holiday season — just like The Faint and Bright Eyes and The Good Life have for the past two weeks. The Good Life doesn’t have to play three nights at three different local venues. The Faint didn’t have to do two back-to-back nights at Sokol and Bright Eyes and Simon Joyner and Alex McManus didn’t have to do a benefit concert for The Bemis. But they do and they did and we’re all better for it.

So what else do we really need? More music venues? We’ve got plenty already, with new ones waiting in the wings. Get out your piggies and count: O’Leaver’s, Saddle Creek Bar, The 49’r, Mick’s, Sokol Underground and Auditorium, The Scottish Rite Hall, as well as the clubby West Omaha venues like Shag and Shea Riley’s and upscale theater spaces like The Holland Center, The Orpheum, The Music Hall and The Qwest Center. What more could you ask for? An all-ages club? Perhaps, perhaps… but your wishes should be grounded in at least a hint of reality. It would take either an ageless core of organizers who would never outgrow the venue or a good-hearted millionaire to make one work. We’re lacking in both. Even still, there’s Sokol and the Mosiac Center and The Rock.

How about good independent music stores? We’ve got that covered as well, with Homer’s, Drastic Plastic, The Antiquarium, Zero Street, Leola’s, and Kanesville across the river, to name a few. Now all we need to do is patronize them. Quit being a bunch of cheapjack hustlers and buy your music at the indies instead of saving a couple bucks at the faceless box stores. A dollar spent at an indie record store is a dollar spent supporting your music scene, because the guy or gal behind the counter most likely is someone in a local band trying to scrounge up enough bread to go back on tour, buy a new guitar or pay for studio time.

So let’s do an inventory: We’ve got the bands, the venues, the music stores. What else could I possibly wish for? Amidst all this wealth, I don’t want to sound greedy, but I do have a wish:

I wish there was just one good radio station in this town. But that’s not really a wish, that’s asking for a miracle.

I know that the lack of real college radio is aging me way before my time, forcing me to listen to the dispatches from the End-of-the-World News Team at NPR or the droning, pointless back-and-forth nattering of sports talk radio. There are no other options. Retro FM is a bizarre life-support system for those who desperately want to hold onto the memories of a time when they had hopes and dreams and could enjoy new and unfamiliar things. And while the quality of that old time rock ‘n’ roll will never be heard again, feeding at that trough will only make you lose sight of the younger world around you, turn your hair gray and eventually transform you into that guy that calls the cops whenever he hears someone else having a better time than himself. I don’t want to be that guy.

I’m tired of listening to Internet radio on my tiny computer speakers. Satellite radio sucks — it’s the box store of broadcasting devoid of local color and personality. And The River doesn’t count. Yes, the station is run by a college, but their programming is modeled after commercial goon rock/metal radio, not the College Music Journal (CMJ) or traditional college music.

God, how badly this town — this hub of the indie music work — needs a good college radio station that plays new, fresh, intelligent music from the CMJ charts. I’m tired of hearing how it’s not financially viable, how there is no audience for college music. We live in Indie Central, people. We as a city are known nationally for our indie music, and we can’t hear it on our airwaves. We can’t support a real college music station? For fuck’s sake, has anyone tried? When a far-sighted pioneer finally does take the plunge, the beneficiaries will be our venues, our music stores and all of our local bands who can’t get heard on the radio today. And, of course, this poor, aging music critic who ain’t too proud to beg.

What’s your favourite childhood memory?
Chris: Hangin’ out at Mel’s diner with Richie, Potsie, Ralph and Fonzie.
Ethan: My family had a creek/stream in our backyard when I was a kid. My younger brother and I practically lived there building forts and having a blast just being kids.

Ran into Roger Lewis on the phone the other day. He was getting ready to go to work at Homer’s. In addition to selling records, Roger also is the drummer for The Good Life, Neva Dinova and his new band, Artsy Golfer. The main topic of conversation: The upcoming three-day Eastern Nebraska tour for The Good Life, with starts tomorrow night at The Saddle Creek Bar before heading to Knickerbockers and finally closing out at Sokol Underground Saturday night.

Roger said he and the band are headed into the new Mogis studios in fun, funky Fairacres in January to craft “the perfect 10-song record” to be released in August. The Good Life, he said, is officially the first band to record at the new studio. Mike Mogis will produce and AJ may track and do some recording. “I’ve looked inside,” he said of the new studio space. “It’s really nice, kind of overwhelming. It’s one of the nicest studios I’ve ever seen.”

Fans will get a sneak-peak at the new Good Life material during the tour. “We’re gonna play a bunch of new songs the next three nights and mix in some old ones also,” Lewis said. “Practice has been an ordeal since right now we have so much work to do, trying to prepare 30 songs and get ready for the studio at the same time. It can be kind of nerve-wracking.”

Don’t expect a huge change in the band’s musical style. “I feel like this record is more organic. We’re trying not to have as many overdubs. It’ll just be the four of us creating music.” And it probably won’t be a concept album. “It’s just a collection of songs, that’s the vibe I’m getting now.”

The usual road work will follow the CD release. “Touring may not be as intense; we’ll support it the best we can,” Roger said. “It won’t be as it has in the past.”

That’s probably a good thing, since Lewis is knee deep in his other projects. Neva Dinova is slowly working on their next record. “We’ll record most of it ourselves,” Lewis said. “We’re taking time to learn how to do that.”

Then there’s Artsy Golfer, a new project with Ryan Fox, Steph Drootin and Alan Tanner (who also plays guitar for Maria Taylor). They had one of their first shows a couple weeks ago at Sokol Underground. “It went over really well. It kind of reminds me of an early ’90s rock band. We’re gonna try to work on that as much as possible, time permitting.”

So why three Good Life shows at three different venues? “The original idea was to do four shows in Council Bluffs to present the new songs,” Roger said. “Then we thought about doing one big show at Sokol upstairs, but we figured we’d have to put on a real show, so we nixed it and decided to go with the three shows. We’re calling it our Eastern Nebraska Tour. We’re printing up T-shirts and everything.”

* * *

Bright Eyes news exploded on the Web around lunch time yesterday when Billboard reported that Conor Oberst has decided to call the next full-length BE album Cassadaga. After the announcement, hundreds of Google searches ensued to try to figure out what the word means. Top of the list is the site for Cassadaga, Florida: “Known as ‘The Psychic Center of the World,’ Cassadaga continues today as the premiere psychic community and is home to some of America’s finest psychics.” Nice.

The new album, due out April 10, includes guest appearances by M. Ward, Gillian Welch and Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney, Quasi), and will be preceded by the six-song Four Winds EP, due out March 6. You can hear the first track from those sessions online at www.thisisbrighteyes.com. Starting in February, Oberst will be spending most of ’07 on tour. By the way, according to Billboard, Wide Awake and Digital Ash have, combined, sold more than 622,000 copies.

* * *

Tonight at O’Leaver’s is Mike Tulis’ Rock Movie Night, this month featuring Haack: King of Techno. More details here. Starts at 9:30 and it’s free.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Three of the biggest shows of the year this past weekend and I made it to, well… none of them. I’m not losing interest folks, really. It’s the holidays and on top of everything else, I’m under ridiculous deadline pressure from The Reader, and then there’s the whole “buying presents” thing that still needs to be addressed (X-mas is one week from today, in case you were wondering). I would have loved to have seen Bright Eyes and Simon and The Faint and The Terminals this weekend, I even had passage worked out, but it just wasn’t happening. That, of course, didn’t stop you from going. I heard from a number of people that all the shows were nothing less than spectacular, but especially The Faint’s back-to-back shows, the band having brought in even more equipment to beef up their sound and visuals. They are, it seems, destined to become an arena band, the type of act whose concerts are events, spectator sports, life-altering experiences. Both The Faint and Bright Eyes are expected to explode on ’07, with new records and big tours in the making. We may not see them come through these parts again for a long time, which makes missing these shows all the more painful, but… you gotta do what you gotta do. I can almost guarantee I won’t be missing The Good Life this week, and you shouldn’t, either.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—