Well, if you haven’t already heard, Mick’s Music and Bar is closing at the beginning of the year. The story became official in yesterday’s Omaha World-Herald (right here). Everyone knew this was coming, but the fact that Michael Campbell found a buyer for the club, which has been on the market for quite a long time, became street knowledge last weekend. I heard about it at the Criteria show, but was told that a bank loan was still pending – an iffy proposition in these troubled times. Well, it looks like the loan came through.

Two things I’ve been told about this deal: First, that the new owners intend to make Mick’s a hang-out bar, “similar to O’Leaver’s but nicer.” There will be no live music. The idea here is that people will just go to the “new Mick’s” on any given evening to drink. This idea seems tantamount to madness. I guess the new owners have never been to music venues – or even Mick’s for that matter – on non-music nights. You can shoot a cannon off in them and hit nary a patron.

There was some concern Saturday night on how this new non-music bar will hurt The Barley St. and Burke’s. Barley St. is slowly becoming a go-to destination on any night thanks to its stage, which could become a place where local musicians know they can try out new material – and I mean any local musician, from Brad Hoshaw to Jake Bellows to Conor Oberst. On top of that, Barley St. has Kyle Harvey, who’s an attraction all by himself. The clientele I’ve seen in Burke’s consisted mostly of bent-over locals looking for somewhere to get their nightly booze fix – true regulars in the Paul Westerberg sense. They’re not going anyplace else to get loaded. And both the Barley St. and Burke’s are about half the size (or smaller) than Mick’s. They’re true neighborhood bars.

The other thing I’ve been told is that the new owners intend to keep Mick’s PA intact, just in case. I predict that by the time summer rolls around (or probably much sooner) there will be live music again at the bar formerly known as Mick’s. The new owners will have no choice but to relight that stage.

I rarely went to shows at Mick’s mainly because I’m not a fan of the style of folk / blues that he booked. Mick’s rarely booked indie-style singer/songwriters – that just wasn’t his cup of tea. As a bar, I thought that it was well-designed with good lighting and ambiance, a nice room. But as a music venue – especially one that focused on folk music — it suffered from poor acoustics. Not from the stage, but from the crowd. Musicians always complained that Mick’s crowds talked too much during their set. The fact is, they probably didn’t talk any more than any other crowd – you could just hear them better. A young couple could be calmly taking to each other by the door and their conversation could be heard by the stage. Mick’s was like a whispering arch. When 15 or 20 people quietly talked, the whispers became a roar, forcing them to talk louder and louder and the next thing you know it was like being in a union hall during a political campaign, drowning out the musicians on stage. I spent a good part of one evening drawing diagrams of Mick’s on a napkin with a musician, trying to figure out a way that the room could be adequately partitioned so that music performances would be in one room while chatters could be in another. It couldn’t be done. Well, now it won’t matter as Mick’s stage is going dark for good (supposedly). The move hurts Benson’s efforts to become known as the city’s music district, leaving PS Collective, The Waiting Room and The Barley St. with live music. At least for now…

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Here’s a CD review I wrote for this week’s issue of The Reader:

Under Water Dream Machine, Under Water Dream Machine (Slo-Fidelity) – Singer/songwriter Bret Vovk (the be-all of UWDM) may never have heard a single note written by The Conor or Elliott Smith, but that doesn’t mean he’s not their natural progeny, especially when his echoing voice is emoting all broken-hearted and regretful. Lyrically, he’s not as clever as either of them, but he sings better than both and his melodies have just as many hooks. This is the inevitable lost-my-girlfriend debut with a brief glimpse of what could be after he gets over her (the Dylan-esque opus to over-indulgence “Too Much”). Not bad sounding for a home recording – Vovk knows how to fill out his guitar/vox with dense, layered multi-tracking — but it sure could use a good mastering (so say my headphones). A promising debut by a next-generation Omaha songwriter destined to carry on the tradition. Rating: Yes (Reader rating: 4 stars)

Tomorrow: Oui Bandits…

The following was written at 1:30 a.m. Saturday night:

My ears are still ringing.

A guy next to me asked during the set what the deal was with Criteria. Apparently he hadn’t read my recent write-up (no surprise there). My answer: They did the right things, they did what they needed to do, they went on the road for 18 months and it just didn’t happen. They never “broke”, so to speak. But you wouldn’t know that looking at the crowd at The Waiting Room Saturday night. I don’t know the official number, but it had to be a technical sell out. It was jam-packed. As packed as I’ve ever seen that place. And there was no question who the crowd was there to see.

I caught the last half of the Beat Seekers’ set. Standard pop-punk in the Green Day vein. Well played, or as one person put it, they did it as well as anyone trying to do that sort of thing. Very tight, but we’ve heard it all before. It seemed funny to hear a band play that Blink 182/Green Day style of music, a style that got left it behind so long ago. But it works for them, right?

Criteria’s Stephen Pedersen strolled on stage wearing a plain white v-neck T-shirt and carrying his trademark steel-head guitar and proceeded to play as good a set, maybe the best set, that they’ve ever played. The Waiting Room’s sound is tailored made for what they do, even moreso than Slowdown (TWR has become defined as a rock club, while Slowdown has become a singer-songwriter venue that hosts the occasional rock show). The room was red hot, figuratively and literally, and loud loud loud. Painfully so, but it was a good pain.

Whenever I see Criteria, I marvel at the band’s rhythm section, which to me is the core reason behind how they can do what they do. Mogis and Sweeney keep it all together, they put it all in the perfect black-velvet box, the leash that holds the mad-dog beehive sound from spinning out of control. Sweeney is an absolute animal, a dynamic wonder-being, the throttle that drives this speedy, shiny black Camero along all those hair-pin turns. The enormous sound is wave upon wave of guitar pressed to a sonic red line. It’s topped off by Pedersen’s mid-range croon that cuts through the roar, bright and clean. Pedersen is the epitome of the indie rock frontman – just flashy enough to keep the crowds attention, until he holds his guitar above his head like a modern-day Rick Springfield.

It was impressive. It was as good as anything I’ve seen on any stage this year. I still think they have whatever it takes to break through. But it’s too late for that now. The band has moved onto other things, and though he didn’t use the word, Criteria has become more of a hobby for these guys, who now have more important things to occupy their lives, things like wives and children and money-making careers that rightfully have taken precedent. Still…

I stand by what I’ve always said. Criteria is the best full-out rock band on Saddle Creek BE may be the most relevant (and popular), The Faint were the funnest. The Good Life had the best songs. But Criteria , well, they rocked the hardest, harder than Cursive. Fact is, it took way more than 18 months for Creek’s former “big three” to break. One has to believe it would have taken Criteria another year or two of constant touring, of releasing records, before it took hold, before they caught the attention of a larger audience, before they got their shot at performing on Conan, and man what a performance that would have been.

They played for about 40 minutes, then came back on stage and did a two-song encore, then after the crowd chanted “One more song,” and they did exactly that. To me it felt like a swan-song performance instead of a welcome back gig. There is a cliché about bands playing their best at CD release shows and at farewell gigs. It’s a cliché that happens to be true. Maybe it’s the adrenaline. Maybe it’s because in both instances, bands figure they have nothing to lose. And maybe that was the reason why Criteria never sounded better Saturday night.

Obviously we haven’t seen the last of them. In fact, this is only the beginning, or so Pedersen said. The band has written new material and plans to record… eventually. Whether what they record comes out on Saddle Creek remains to be seen, though the label has never not embraced its alumni regardless of what they’ve sold in the past, and that includes Son Ambulance, who put out an album last year, and Ladyfinger and Beep Beep who have new albums coming out in early ’09. None of those bands sold nearly as many albums as Criteria’s last album.

So how does a band “break” in an age of downloads and television-radio and audiences with 30-second attention spans who only follow bands for one album? How does a band get to that next level? It seems like Tokyo Police Club are slowly getting there. But it also seems even the Creek bands that have broken through are struggling these days, whether it’s Tilly or The Faint or even Cursive. Oberst isn’t the last one standing, but he’s the only one standing on a big pile of money. These days, right now, it seems like the dream of really making a living being in a band — and not having to live on Ramen — is over. The ones that are making it who haven’t sold their souls are very, very few. Like Todd Fink said, I don’t know how anyone makes money off selling CDs anymore. Unless you’re a legacy band or you’re willing to pump out meaningless pap to lifeless masses, you’re chances of being anything more than four guys in a van seem hopeless.

Man, my ears are still ringing…

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Last night I had a discussion with a cohort about the past week’s worth of shows, or complete lack thereof. I don’t remember having an entire week without a single show worth seeing. But as this person told me, the offers for touring bands through his club has slowed to a trickle (which didn’t mean much because his club has all but stopped hosting shows). Maybe it’s the economy or maybe it’s just the time of the year. I took a look at what was going on during the second week of December 2007 — major ice storm Dec. 10-11, Dinosaur Jr. Dec. 12, Race for Titles Dec. 13. Draw your own conclusions. It just seems as if clubs are bringing in fewer shows on weekdays, and that shows that feature local bands are inordinately outnumbering shows featuring touring bands. Is it the economy (stupid)? Are fewer bands touring these days? In reaction, bars seem to be doing whatever they can to draw drinkers. There are now four clubs that have “movie nights” during the week, including Slowdown which started theirs yesterday and TWR which showed movies two nights this past week. Wonder how that’s working out…

Well, the long cold week is over and so is the absence of shows (though only one touring bands is playing this weekend).

The weekend’s only CD release show is for Under Water Dream Machine at The Barley St. tonight. The album is the second release on Kyle Harvey’s Slo-Fidelity Records label. Joining UWDM are It’s True, Raven Carousel, and Lisa and Bess. $5. Show starts at 9.

Also tonight in Benson, Lee Meyerpeter’s punk rock outfit The Coffin Killers headlines a show at The Waiting Room that features Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship, Paria and Dim Light. $7, 9 p.m. Bring your earplugs.

Tonight down at Slowdown Jr. it’s San Francisco freak folk band Vetiver, who in the past has collaborated with, among others, Joanna Newsom and Devandra Banhart. They’re touring in support of a new album on Fat Cat. Opening is Our Fox. $10, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) is, of course, Criteria at The Waiting Room with The Beat Seekers and The Envy Corps. This will be a madhouse. $7, 9 p.m.

Also Saturday night The Pendrakes play at Slowdown Jr. with The Third Men and The Great Atomic Power. $6, 9 p.m.

And part two of the Homeless for the Holidays benefit concert series also takes place Saturday night at West Omaha bar Club Roxbury, 108th and Q. Among the performers is Thunder Power, Big Al Band and Scott Severin’s band. It’s free, but donations are encouraged (at least $6). Show starts at 8 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

The back story behind this Criteria feature is as follows: I wrote a story with frontman Stephen Pedersen right around the time he left Kutak Rock to do music full time (read that one here). Off he went on tour for a year and a half. And then one day as I’m leaving my office at Union Pacific to get some lunch, I ran into Pedersen — in suit and tie — as he was headed to the UP cafeteria (which is open to the public, btw). Stephen told me he was back at Kutak and that he’d fill me in on his brief spin with rock stardom. It took a year, but here’s the story, just in time to support Criteria’s gig at The Waiting Room this Saturday night with The Beat Seekers and The Envy Corps. Sounds like Pedersen has found a comfortable middle ground between his life as an attorney and his life in Criteria. I know he says he isn’t going to tour again, but I’ll believe it when I see it… Anyway, go read the story and get your tickets for Saturday night’s show.

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Looks like Rolling Stone struck first with their list of the top albums of ’08 (actually, Omahype beat them to the punch — they posted their list on Tuesday). Of note with RS, TV on the Radio was No. 1 (blah…); My Morning Jacket was No. 4 (huh?) and our very own Conor Oberst came it at No. 23. Sayeth Stone about Conor: “Tracks like ‘I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital)’ feel like lost Hank Williams demos.” No, no they don’t. I like the album, but it doesn’t sound like Hank Williams. Anyway… I suspect we’ll be seeing Pitchfork‘s list any day now. And watch for the Lazy-i list in the coming weeks.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

I can only imagine what Todd Fink was looking at from his Portuguese vantage point when we were doing our interview Saturday. “I’m in the most futuristic building I’ve ever been in,” he said, asking if I’d ever seen the George Lucas film THX 1138. “Everything looks like that everywhere, outside, inside. Everything is super strict. You have to have cards to get in here. It seems to be an art school or music academy. We were told it cost $77 million to build.”

There was a lot of commotion in the background as Fink learned he was supposed to be at soundcheck. “How come I’m finding this out now?” he asked a ghost on the other side of the phone. In fact, he said he hadn’t even known about the interview until only moments earlier, which made sense as the publicist said I’d be talking to Jacob Thiele, not Todd. Here’s what happened next:

Column 202: Camel-Towing the Line
The Faint talk about music, money and cigarettes.

I was more than a bit surprised when I got the e-mail from Carla Senft of Press Here Publicity, the publicist for a variety of top indie artists, including The Faint.

“The Faint will play in Omaha on 12/19 and 12/20 at Sokol Auditorium,” the e-mail said. “I would love to hear your thoughts on speaking with the band or previewing the show!”

First I laughed; then I wondered what was going on. About two and a half years ago – March 22, 2006, to be exact – I had written a column that asked if The Faint were leaving Saddle Creek Records and headed to American Recordings to work with producer Rick Rubin. I was trying to confirm a deep-throat rumor from a reliable anonymous source. I left a message with a member of The Faint, but heard nothing back. It was Saddle Creek label exec Robb Nansel who confirmed the rumor, saying that The Faint had negotiated with American and that Rubin had expressed interest in working with the band.

It seemed like a fairly innocuous column at the time, except that it represented the first instance that one of Creek’s core artists was considering jumping ship. Word got to me that the band wasn’t pleased with the article. Months later, when I tried to line up an interview with The Faint, my editor passed word that Saddle Creek had been instructed that any reporter could interview the band, except me. And then recently I was told by a friend of the band that the column had resulted in a potential deal with a major label falling through.

But I wasn’t telling Carla any of this. She set up the interview for last Saturday morning. After some misconnections, I was talking to Faint frontman Todd Fink via Skype from Portugal where the band was on tour. My first question: Had the column really caused fall-out with a potential suitor?

“Something in that article, I don’t remember what, did affect how things went down on some level,” Fink said. “Ultimately we were in some negotiation. Once you write anything now, everyone will pick up on that kind of stuff. I don’t think it actually fucked things up.”

So had the band blackballed me? “I don’t know if we made a stance like what (Saddle Creek) told you, but I wouldn’t be surprised if (band member) Joel (Petersen) made that stance on our behalf.”

Other than not getting interviews, the situation never affected how I covered The Faint. I still reviewed their music and their shows, and continued to enjoy both.

Anyway, through the static-crackle of our Skype connection, Fink said the band’s self-released album, Fasciinatiion, was living up to their expectations sales-wise. “I think it’s doing what we figured it would do,” Fink said. “We told ourselves we’d put as much money into it as we needed to. We also had to come up with a bunch of money to go on tour and make the CDs and to finish paying for building the studio. I wouldn’t be surprised if we kind of went light on it in some way, but I haven’t noticed any difference. It seems about the same to me as far as promotion and sales. The whole business is down from four years ago. This record will sell 30 percent less or half as much as the last one did. With that in mind, we’re about where we figured we’d be.”

Had releasing it themselves made a difference? “Everyone is still learning by making mistakes,” he said. “A record label that’s been around longer has already made mistakes and figured things out. I haven’t felt any kind of regret. I don’t think anyone in the band has.”

Fink said self-releasing may be the wave of the future. “More bands are doing this,” he said. “It depends on what size band you are. If you have to take out a loan to put out a record, if you have no idea if anyone is going to buy it at all or if you don’t have an agent to book your shows, it could be a bad investment.”

Unable to rely on CD sales for revenue, touring has become a primary money maker for some bands. “We’re going to be touring longer than making sales from records,” Fink said. “I don’t know how you make money from selling records in the future, but you can still have an event, and that’s what we do on tour.”

But keeping a band alive also means sometimes taking money where you can find it. The Faint has augmented its income in the past by taking sponsorship gigs, including shows sponsored by Camel cigarettes. “That stuff comes up here and there,” Fink said, “and sometimes the bills are high enough that we need to find a way to have money come in. We did that one, but I doubt that it will be the end of it. It would be great to do everything without any kind of sponsorships that weren’t charities, but it doesn’t really add up. Being in a band is expensive, and there has to be money coming in. Whatever the offers are, we need to consider them. If they’re not going to ruin the band and they pay for that year for writing songs and recording, we’re going to do it.”

Fink said Camel gave away tickets for their sponsored shows or only charged $5; and the tour gave The Faint a chance to play smaller rooms in cities they hadn’t been to in a while.

“It’s not a Faint show. They’re having a party to promote their brand and they need people to show up at the party. They’re paying a lot of money for bands to show up and make it cool or something,” Fink said. “If you have enough money, you can get anybody, that’s what it comes down to. If you’re getting a million dollars to do a show and you’re Fugazi, you’re going to take it. That’s too much money. It’s too selfish to not do it. You could give the money to the charity that means something to you.”

I told Fink that there was a perception by some that The Faint had become millionaires off of their music. “If anyone thinks we’re doing it and getting rich, they’re wrong,” he said. “As a matter of fact…actually I don’t want to talk about that.”

And with that, Fink had to leave to join the band for sound check. As of deadline, The Faint’s Friday night show had already sold out, with tickets going fast for Saturday night.

There were a couple other things from the interview that didn’t make it into the column. Among them, Fink’s discussion of Enamel — The Faint’s new state-of-the-art recording studio. Is Enamel another revenue stream for a band that’s doing everything on its own? “It may be a wise investment,” Fink said of the studio. “Maybe not. We’ll have a place to record, and it’s worth it that way, but we can make some money renting it out when we’re gone that could help pay for it in the long run.”

Then there was the question as to why The Faint even bother recording new material. They’ve consistently sold out large venues over the past few years without having released a new album. “We tour enough that people keep coming whether there’s an album out or not,” he said. “It’s easier to tour when you have a new album; there’s more things working together to get people there, the advertising, the publications, whatever.”

Seriously, if you’re thinking about going to the Dec. 20 show (the 19th is sold out) you better get your tickets today (online here). Opening on the 20th is Capgun Coup and Son Ambulance (opening the sold out show on the 19th is Brimstone Howl and The Show Is the Rainbow).

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Team Love announced yesterday that it’s “reshaped” its free download policy by introducing the “Team Love Library,” where they’re offering a rotating selection of TL albums for download, along with exclusive content, unreleased tracks and remixed versions, etc. Users first have to register (here). Current titles include Capgun Coup’s Brought to you by Nebraskafish, McCarthy Trenching’s self-titled debut, Jenny Lewis’ Rabbit Fur Coat, The Berg Sans Nipple’s Along the Quai, Dave Dondero’s Simple Love and Tilly and the Wall’s Wild Like Children.

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And now, the intern (I got nothing to add to this as I haven’t heard this CD):

1090 Club, Natural Selection (Sidecho Records) — They’ve always carried an interesting approach to writing rock music, partially due to their instrumentation. While piano and guitar are at the core, a violin weaves beautiful, flowing melodies throughout this Billings band’s sophomore effort. Tasteful, technical and precise drumming propels the recording and keeps the orchestration consistent. This is a more focused product than the band’s debut, Shipwrecked On Shores, thanks to tighter instrumentation and more prominent vocals. Opening track, “ITSON,” delivers a musical punch with a hook that’ll stay in your head for days. Rating: Yes — Brendan Greene-Walsh

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Tomorrow, an interview with Criteria’s Stephen Pedersen.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Here’s today’s intern submission (It’s nice to have something to fall back on when nothing’s going on…).

The Dresden Dolls, No, Virginia… (Roadrunner) — The Boston duo delivers a whirlwind of piano and drums, self-described as “Cabaret Punk.” They’ve crafted an original style that combines elements of straightforward rock and theatre. The rock comes by way of precise, technical drumming coupled with vibrant piano. The theatricality comes by way of dramatic stops and starts, dynamic changes and pianist Amanda Palmer’s voice. Some might describe it as over-exaggerated, forced or even downright irritating. But halfway through the album, the garishness subsides into the song structure and meshes with the music to create the band’s unique genre. They avoid monotony by differentiating tempo and pacing, showing a willingness to pull back the rock in place of gentle, more somber numbers. Rating: Yes. — Brendan Greene-Walsh

Tim sez: This is a collection of b-sides, rarities and leftovers from the recording sessions that produced 2006’s Yes, Virginia… of which this is sort of a sequel. I’ve never been a DD fan, and this didn’t change my mind. Of note is a rather languid cover of the Furs’ “Pretty in Pink,” which was a bit too pretty for my taste. The duo are said to be on an indefinite hiatus, so this could be their swan song. Rating: No.

Tomorrow: The Faint

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There were dualing charity rock shows going on Friday night (and the rest of the weekend). The one held at The Saddle Creek Bar still managed to draw about 60 patrons to hear a handful of bands willing to give their time for a good cause. I stepped in halfway through No Blood Orphan’s rather loud set and stepped out halfway through Beta Minus’s. In the middle was Two Drag Club, a band that includes two thirds of Grasshopper Takeover and one of the city’s best drummers. They played relatively straight-forward bar rock reminiscent of, well, GTO and traditional ’80s arena bands. Very well played, albiet not my thing. Siena Francis House should be pleased with the take at the door.

Here’s today’s Brendan review:

Friendly Fires, self titled (XL Recordings) — This three-piece UK outfit brings an ecstatic brand of music highlighted by strong backbeats and solid bass patterns reminiscent of dance bands from earlier this decade. But in this case, they don’t rely on disco beats to propel their songs toward after-hours dance parties. The music is light-hearted and fun to listen to without typical dance-band structures. While the synth is a big part of each song, it’s used as a layering effect to create depth behind prominent guitar and bass parts. The vocals are the real selling point. At times they remind me of everthing from ’80s Michael Jackson (the good Jacko, mind you) to the non-talkbox stylings of Roger Troutman of Zapp. This is a band that you don’t need to be in the mood to enjoy. Rating: Yes — Brendan Greene-Walsh

Tim sez: Their single “Paris” already is getting the deserved MTV/Subterranean treatment. Opening track “In the Hospital,” is “I Zimbra” by way of Earth Wind and Fire. The rest is updated ’80 retro dancefloor fodder sung in Ed Macfarlane’s sometimes breathy/sometimes falsetto croon. It’s kinder, gentler indie dance music that could make them the next Duran Duran (but won’t). Rating: Yes.

In case you’re wondering, there’s nothing going on tonight and practically nothing going on until later this week. These are, indeed, quiet times… but not for long.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

First, intern Brendan Greene-Walsh’s series of CD reviews continues (and will continue for the next week). Here’s his latest:

Fucked Up, The Chemistry of Common Life (Matador) — Fucked Up is a band known for its antics during live shows. Mosh pits, bodily injury and general chaos are all commonplace elements. After listening to this release, I can completely understand. The band needs this madness to distract from the fact that their music is just not that good. Attempts to steal from real punk, their song structures and guitar parts come off as phony. The vocals sound like Cookie Monster is trying to squeeze a watermelon out of his throat. I’m not sure what that means, but if you take a moment to make a visual of that, you will understand what I’m getting at. Rating: No — Brendan Greene-Walsh

Tim Sez: The vocals aren’t so much Cookie Monster as an Andrew W.K. rip — over the top, slightly out of control, in your face. But not Cookie Monster — that term is forever reserved for the vacuous metal-esque goon-rock bands that litter high-NRG Nickelback stations (in Omaha, 89.7 The River). Fucked Up isn’t “goon,” and you would never confuse it with metal or, really, even punk (though it is loud and obnoxious). This is spaz rock in that AWK-vein. Overbearing and sometimes annoying, it’s best served in small doses. That, along with odd tangents like space instrumentals “Golden Seal” and “Looking for God,” that owe as much to Pink Floyd as anything punk, are enough to make this worth checking out. Rating: Yes.

‘Tis the season for benefit concerts, and there’s a slew of them in the coming days/weeks, including two tonight.

The Saddle Creek Bar is hosting the Homeless for the Holidays benefit featuring No Blood Orphan, Beat Seekers, Two Drag Club, Beta Minus, Sleepy House, FreeJack and Rock Paper Dynamite. No idea of the order. Show starts at 7 and your requested donation is $5, which will go toward the Sienna Francis House.

Meanwhile, The Waiting Room tonight is hosting the Christmas for Pine Ridge a.k.a. Lash’s Toy Drive featuring The Mercurys, The Filter Kings, Black Squirrels and Korey Anderson. Admission is $10 or a new unwrapped toy. 9 p.m.

Not feeling generous? Check out the free show at Slowdown Jr. featuring Darren Keen, Anniversaire and Thunder Power. 9 p.m. Note that they changed the one-way roads on the east and west side of the Slowdown compound. Both streets are now two-way, which means you no longer are forced to take a left when leaving the Slowdown parking lot (yay!). The owners tell me that the on-street parking along 14th Street will remain forever and ever.

Tonight at The Bemis Underground it’s Nebraskafish Rising III featuring Capgun Coup, Flowers Forever, Yuppies, Stdz and Adam Robert Haug. Show starts at 10 and is $5, and they’re giving away a keg of beer to boot.

The benefit shows continue Saturday with night two of the Lash LaRue Toy Drive, this time at Mick’s featuring Michael Campbell, Vago and Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies. Rules are the same: $10 or an unwrapped toy gets you in the door. Show starts at 8.

Meanwhile, down at Slowdown Jr., it’s another free show, this time featuring Jake Bellows (of Neva Dinova) and Landon Hedges (of Little Brazil). Show starts at 9 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Below, a couple new CD reviews…

Race for Titles, The Closer (Redemption) – My biggest gripe with RFT always has been that their vocals seemed like an afterthought. Sure, Jamie Massey’s ghost-howl is suitably atmospheric, but it feels casually laid atop RFT’s dreamy, Cure-ish riffage. Songs like “Under/Above” and “Dimmer,” for example, may have been better served as instrumentals when you realize that you’re not paying much attention to what Jamie is singing as much as imagining his voice as an extended guitar solo, again, added after the fact. What you’re missing by not CONCENTRATING are lines like “Something makes me want to pick you up / Take you away from here” (Lighter on the Inside) and, from the title track, “Build me from the ground up / To tear it all back down / These walls don’t have the secrets to keep / From us anymore.” Instead of words, I was mesmerized by the tense, intricate, duo-guitar interplay and the throaty, tribal rhythms that set this album apart from past RFT efforts. Maybe some things are better left unsaid, or unsung. Rating: Yes. The Reader rating: Three stars.

Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy (Geffen) – Fourteen years. Was it worth the wait? For die-hard fans, yes; for the rest of us… well, let’s go down the list of pluses and minuses. Axl’s voice sounds surprisingly good, but maybe that’s because these vocals were recorded during the Clinton administration. The riffage (at times) is stone-head heavy metal at its finest — blunt, uncaring, brutal. And the songs? All the best ones — “Shacker’s Revenge,” “Better,” the title track — come from the first half (or “side one) and have that classic G n’ R swagger. This comes out of the box smoking. But things dampen when Axl channels his inner-Elton John. The syrupy “This I Love” is Axl’s “Lick My Love Pump” right down to the cheesy piano chords. But unlike Spinal Tap, it’s not played for laughs. Had he thrown out most of the meandering ballads, this would have stood up right next to Appetite. And had he released it 12 years ago it might not have been considered merely a retro oddity or a tribute to procrastination by rock’s Rip Van Winkle, who woke up to find that music had passed him by. Rating: Yes. The Reader rating: Three stars.

The Grammy nominations came out yesterday. The list is here. When did the Grammy’s turn into the AMA’s and People’s Choice Awards? Looks like the “new Bob Dylan” got passed over again. Well, he’s not in it for the awards anyway, right?

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Cursive announced a brief January tour that includes two nights at Slowdown (Jan. 23-24). Tickets: Just $5. They’ll never get rich at those prices. Seriously, here’s to a band that’s cognizant of the current economy and how it’s affecting its fans. Tickets go on sale Saturday, according to The Slowdown website. Get them while they last.

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The following column is essentially a repackaging of a couple blog entries from last week, slightly modified. Old news repackaged.

Column 201: Darkness on the Edge of Town
Of Crime and Blackouts…

There’s an underlying sense of anxiety these days when going out at night, what with all the murders going on.

Just getting home after an evening at one of the city’s tony music venues seems like an accomplishment, something that you can gloat about while enjoying a cup of coffee the next morning and hearing about who got shot or stabbed or knee-capped in a drive-by the night before. Each news story is accompanied with a city map and a bloody red star to indicate where the “incident” took place. There is that edgy moment when you mentally do the math and figure out how close it was to where you were, and when.

Drive-by shootings and random murder used to be something that no one in the indie music scene cared about because those sorts of things only took place in parts of Omaha where few rarely, if ever, stepped foot. Certainly not at night. But when that guy got shot a couple weeks ago getting cash out of the ATM in the parking lot across from the A&B’s in Dundee, well, people started to notice. Everyone has used that ATM before without a thought that they could find themselves rolling on the ground in a puddle of blood clutching their leg, waiting for an ambulance to take them to Emergency. I personally have stepped into that Infinite convenient store on Leavenworth — the scene of a tragic random killing a few weeks ago — numerous times. Now it’s impossible to go in there and not think about Tari Glinsmann, who was minding her own business and ended up dead in the parking lot. How did we get to this place?

Shortly after the crime spree earlier this month, the talk on the midtown sidewalks turned to speculation as to who was behind all the violence. Were these just desperate acts generated by desperate times? No, too random, too scatter-shot. Was it gangs moving into Dundee, trying to lay claim on the coveted latte and batter-fried fish cartel that the neighborhood is known for? That, too, seemed unlikely. But as we all were scratching our heads, the body count continued to rise. Every morning brought fresh news of yet another shooting or mugging – most of them likely unrelated to the spate of crime that had crept into Dundee, but now each demanding our attention. By mid-November Omaha was enjoying a record eight homicides so far that month.

Paranoia reached a fever pitch last Wednesday night, the day before Thanksgiving. I was driving north on 60th St. from Western Ave. and noticed that the streetlights were out. I turned on my brights and glanced at the houses flying by and saw that they, too, were dark. Power outages are commonplace in my neighborhood. At least once a week I come home from work and all the digital clocks on the appliances are blinking. It’s the price you pay for living in an old neighborhood with lots of trees and dangling overhead power lines.

I struggled to see where I was going as I rolled up to Benson’s main drag. Every storefront was dark, but the streets were far from empty. Cars motored down Maple, blowing through intersections without slowing down. I eased onto the street and drove by Mick’s and The Musette and the empty Subway sandwich shop.

The outage encompassed all of Benson and points beyond. Would all the venues be closed? Surely it would take more than lights out to keep drunks away from the bars. I parked in my usual parking lot and made my way to Burke’s Pub, the site of Kyle Harvey’s CD release show.

When I got there, I could see the candles burning from the sidewalk outside the venue. Burke’s was packed to the gills, in fact too packed to get in. A couple smokers outside said that Harvey had already played his set (though it was only 10:30), and now the Black Squirrels were playing in the front end of the bar. Who needs power when you’re a bluegrass band?

I never stepped foot inside Burke’s. It looked too crazy, and I knew that even if I could squeeze in that getting a Rolling Rock would be a dicey challenge. So I made my way through the darkness down to The Barley St. Tavern, passing The Waiting Room, which looked as empty as the streets had suddenly become. I kept an eye over my shoulder and wondered to myself if it made sense to be walking around alone.

Any fear disappeared once I got to The Barley St. Tavern, a bar that’s become one of the city’s most talked-about music venues not because of a state-of-the-art sound system (it has a tiny PA) or an enormous capacity (you can probably stuff 50 into the music room), but thanks to an inviting, unintimidating stage where singer/songwriters feel comfortable trying out new music.

Little Brazil’s Landon Hedges was behind the candle-lit bar and quickly handed me a needed beer. Emergency lighting glowed from the ceiling in the music room, and people milled around wondering when the power was going to come back on. The usually electric Whipkey Three had been slated to play, but was left with nothing to plug their amps into. It took about 15 minutes for Matt Whipkey to find an acoustic guitar (lent to him by Kat of the Black Squirrels). He and the rest of the band played an acoustic set to about 20 people gathered around in a circle.

Right after they played their last song, the power came back on, ending the Great Benson Blackout of 2008.

To the best of my knowledge, no crimes were committed in the few hours that Benson was in the dark. I don’t know what this recent crime wave means, but I know that even in the darkest moments, there is a sense of community that brings people together and makes them feel safe. It’s a kind of security you’ll never find with a gun.

Tonight at Slowdown Jr., it’s Audrye Sessions with Midwest Dilemma and Down with the Ship. $7, 9 p.m.

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