It’s an unbelievably quiet time for shows. Yes, there were a couple good local shows this weekend (well, actually, both Ladyfinger and The Terminals are national bands with Omaha roots), but national indie rock shows have become fewer and fewer, for now. Hey, it’s the height of winter. Tonight we’re supposed to get sub-zero wind-chills. Who wants to drive around in a van in that kind of weather? Metal bands do. One Percent is on Day 2 of three days of metal at Sokol Underground. Last night was Destruction, tonight is screamo band Alesana and tomorrow is The Number 12 Looks Like You, which is classified as post-hardcore by AMG but which sounds like a tame version of The Locust — or at least their song on the Eyeball Records site does. The metal continues on Thursday with Unearth, and then it’s back to indie Friday for The Oxford Collapse/Thunderbirds Are Now! So is metal taking over? Is it the next big thing? No, not really. Metal sells in Omaha, folks. Always has. Always will. Part of the reason, of course, is 89.7 The River, which plays lots of screamo-metal-goon stuff. If you have a radio outlet that pours metal into the airwaves 24/7, you’re going to get a lot of metal bands pushing their way through the soil. This is called beating a dead horse — we already know where we stand as far as radio stations in this town. It’s only been a month, and already a number of my ’07 predictions appear to be coming true… except for that one about a new college radio station. No one’s bit on that. No one probably will. Was that a prediction or just wishful thinking? Anyway, lots of non-metal stuff happening this week around town, and I’ll plug you in on it as it comes around.

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