This week’s column is actually a feature about The Waiting Room, which was originally slated to be a cover story for The Reader. The editors decided it would make a better “expanded” Lazy-i column. What you’ll read in The Reader is an abbreviated version of this story, where Johnson and Leibowitz discuss their new club and the role it’ll play in the future of the ever-growing Omaha music scene.

So, go read the story here, now, and consider the following as an afterward:

History points to the challenges these guys face just keeping the place open. One of the persistent questions that keeps coming up about The Waiting Room: Will it be open on evenings when no bands are scheduled to play? Leibowitz and Johnson look perplexed when asked. Clearly they’ve never had any intention of making The Waiting Room some sort of rental hall. It’s a bar, first and foremost.

“We’ve built a nice place here,” Leibowitz said. “We’ve made it comfortable. People should come just to hang out.”

“If we had a show every night, we’d eliminate our bar crowd,” Johnson said.

“Other bar owners have tried live music because they think it’ll bring people in,” Leibowitz added. “We’ll bring people in when we have shows, but I don’t know if Omaha would support a show here seven nights a week anyway. We’re looking at three to five shows a week, which is still a pretty good goal that will require expanding into different areas from what we’ve booked in the past.”

Leibowitz said that The Waiting Room will provide the most comfortable live performance environment for a room its size. “It’s not The Music Box, which was clean and all neoned out and too adult,” he said. “Some people who haven’t gone to shows since the Music Box closed will be coming here.”

So could it be that after years of whining that there aren’t enough live music venues in Omaha, that for the first time the city actually may have too many venues?

From their perspective, the answer is a resounding ‘No.’ After all, One Percent will be booking shows at practically all of them. In fact, despite the opening of The Waiting Room and Slowdown later this year, Leibowitz said Omaha still lacks at least one important stage.

“From a One Percent Productions perspective, Omaha needs a 215-capacity club, an 800-capacity club and a 2,500-capacity club,” he said, adding that only the largest will be missing. “We really need something like the old Peony Park Ballroom for acts the size of The Pixies, Flaming Lips, The Shins, Modest Mouse and Bright Eyes.”

Leibowitz said The Waiting Room is the perfect size to not only grow new talent, but to grow One Percent Productions, which incidentally, will have its offices housed in the same building. “We needed a place to develop new bands and talent,” he said. “Not only on a local side, but on a national side, too. This will be a realistic place for a smaller touring band to have a successful show. If you bring in 100 to O’Leaver’s, it’s too packed. One hundred at Sokol looks horrible — it’s empty. Here, 100 hopefully will be a success. One Percent needs to present as many alternatives to booking agents as possible, and this should help us do that.”

Yeah, but what about parking? I assume that Friday night’s show will be a capacity crowd, and that most of them will get plenty of exercise walking to the venue as the bar doesn’t have its own parking lot. You’re looking at street parking, or a public lot a couple blocks away. “I’m a big fan of parking,” Leibowitz said. “It’s the main reason why I don’t go to the Old Market, but my favorite place in Austin was a 1,000-capacity club with no parking. This is an issue that people deal with in other cities all the time. I wish there was a better scenario.

Johnson pointed out that D Dubs used to do a helluva business, “but there would be 100 bikes lined up out front,” he said. “If everyone got a Vespa, we could do 90-degree Vespa parking and the problem would be solved.”

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Speaking of big shows, O’Leaver’s has one of its own tonight — Ladyfinger and Dance Me Pregnant. I suspect there will be more than 100 people there. $5, 9:30 p.m.

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Look, I know you’re getting sick of all this Bright Eyes news. Every day it’s something else. Well, it’s only going to get worse. Just bear with me. Today’s news is that Bright Eyes announced the first leg of their tour in support of Cassadaga. Among the dates is a gig at The Holland Center April 26. Opening will be local boys and Team Love artist McCarthy Trenching along with Merge recording artist Oakley Hall. Expect a large ensemble on stage for this BE tour, including lots of lush strings. Tickets go on sale March 16.

And speaking of openings, The Waiting Room has opened their actual website at www.waitingroomlounge.com. Look for a long profile on Leibowitz and Johnson and the new bar online here tomorrow. An abridged version appears in this week’s issue of The Reader.

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Those of you keeping score, Bright Eyes has once again made it into the pages of the great, gray New York Times. In a review by our old friend Kelefa Sanneh, who has penned most of that paper’s Saddle Creek coverage, Conor is defined as a ‘miserablist.’ Since I’m not as smart as the typical NYT reporter (Who is?) I had to look it up in Merriam’s, but, alas, I couldn’t find it listed. It also didn’t show up at AskOxford.com. It must be a word, though, or the NYT wouldn’t let Kelefa use it in the headline (The Miserablist, All Grown Up and Hard at Work). Throughout the review, Sanneh comments on how Oberst has been labeled a boy genius, even though he now is in his late 20s. He then goes on to say Conor has earned his rep as a miserablist thanks to songs like “Laura Laurent.” Maybe Kelefa thinks the song is miserable and, since Conor wrote it, that would make him a miserablist — kind of like how a writer of a novel is a novelist? Anyway… Kelefa liked the concert, which went down last Friday at the Bowery Ballroom. You can read the full review here. So far the press on this BE tour has been positive, except for the consistently negative comments about Conor’s hair. This Globe and Mail review said he “resembled Anthony Jr. from The Sopranos (the sixth-season Anthony, not the baby-fat Anthony).” Funny. There should be an avalanche of Four Winds reviews hitting the net over the next few days, as the album drops today (as did Maria Taylor’s new one, Lynn Teeter Flower). It’s all just a mild precursor to the release of Cassadaga in April.

Even bigger news, however, is tonight’s show at O’Leaver’s featuring The Terminals, Brimstone Howl and their Alive Records labelmates Radio Moscow. The show is listed on SLAMOmaha as starting at 8 p.m., but is listed on the Terminals Myspace as starting at 9. Consider it a warm-up for all the bands’ upcoming South by Southwest gigs.

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My weekend was dominated by my parents’ 50th anniversary, a joyous occasion that kept me out of the bars Saturday and Sunday night. I did get out to Sokol Underground Friday night for Cap Gun Coup, Baby Walrus and Whatever Happened to the Dinosaurs?

The highlight was Baby Walrus, a trio featuring a drummer and two guitarists — with the frontman switching between guitar and keyboards. The guy sounded like a young Jim Morrison, especially on songs that had that weird Doors wonky flair. Their music was brash and bluesy and intricate bordering on experimental. They’re one of the best new bands I’ve seen so far in ’07.

Friday was Whatever Happened to the Dinosaurs?’ debut at Sokol, and you could tell. One funny comment from someone in the crowd: “They sound more like a Bright Eyes rip-off than An Angle.” There were definitely plenty of Conor-isms to go around, but like An Angle, WHD? also doesn’t have anything resembling Oberst’s songwriting chops. I’m told all the band members are transplants from Florida who made the trip to be near Nebraska’s burgeoning indie scene (or to be closer to Conor, whom I’m told they adore). Take the Bright Eyes adoration out of the equation and they come off as a very young band with a slightly skewed vision, which may or may not be misguided. With their preening frontman and stable of prancing musicians, they were more precious than Tilly and the Wall and would probably be eaten alive at rough-house bar like The 49’r. By the end of their set they exceeded their cuteness quotient when I noticed a young girl — maybe 17 — sitting on the floor next to the bass drum. Just sitting there, smiling like a stage prop.

Finally there was Cap Gun Coup, who I really came to see. I was told by someone who has heard them before that it wasn’t their finest moment. The set was sloppy and out of sync, and I have to wonder if it wasn’t just an off night. That said, the crowd of around 80 didn’t seem to mind. In fact, the whole evening had a house party feel to it and you could tell that the crowd consisted mostly of friends having a good time. Nothing wrong with that.

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I have no idea what’s going on tonight, the day after the blizzard of ’07. Last night I was driving around and the streets were snow-packed but fine. Still, OPS is closed today, as are a number of businesses. That said, check with the venue if you’re wondering about a show’s status tonight. The only real question mark that I have is whether Once a Pawn makes it from Lincoln tonight for their show with Jaeger Fight and Bent Left at O’Leaver’s. Last week I mistakenly said that Paper Owls had been recording with ARC Studio’s Ian Aeillo (and that may be the case in the future), but the fact is I confused them with Once a Pawn, who actually has been recording with Ian. That show is $5 and starts at 9:30.

Another notable show tonight is Cap Gun Coup w/Baby Walrus and Whatever Happened to Dinosaurs at Sokol Underground. Cap Gun Coup has the distinction of being name-checked by Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst during a recent interview — what that equates to, I don’t know. I haven’t seen them perform live yet, but dig their stuff on their Myspace page. $7, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, rootsy folk band Outlaw Con Bandana plays at Mick’s with jazzmen Kevin Pike/John Kotchian and Hot Sick. ($5, 8:30 p.m.).

And for the strangest gig of the evening, according to their Myspace page, New Jersey band Ours, who records on Geffen/Universal, are scheduled to play at The 49’r tonight with Bay Area band The Michetons. Ours, who I’ve never heard of, obviously are heavily influenced by Radiohead, right down to their vocalist’s Thom Yorke aping. $7, 9:30 p.m.

If I’m missing anything, post it here. Look for another show update tomorrow.

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