I know I’m overloading you with Cursive data, but Mike Fratt at Homer’s passed along that Mama, I’m Swollen sold 5,429 physical copies nationally its first week, which is good enough to put it at No. 104 on the Billboard Top-200. Nice.

* * *

Bright Eyes is tonight at The Waiting Room. I will not be in attendance as I wasn’t one of the lucky ones to score a ticket in the 23 minutes that they were available before selling out. Will this “reunion” actually be a swan song for Bright Eyes? My guess is yes, it will be, but only for the time being. Conor goes out with the Mystic Valley Band for part of this year, and then has the M. Ward/Jim James/M. Mogis album after that. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say he’ll pull together Bright Eyes whenever the mood strikes him or the stars align for everyone involved. That said, who knows when that will be again or what he’ll say at tonight’s show.

* * *

Tomorrow I leave for SXSW, arriving in time to take in the Thursday night schedule. Look for updates on a daily basis right here. For “real-time” data, follow me on Twitter (twitter.com/tim_mcmahan) or on Facebook. That said, here’s my pre-trip perspective:

Column 214: South by South Wasted
Austin or bust.

I have seen the future of rock and roll, and it’s _______.

That’s why someone like me goes to the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin. Right? To discover tomorrow’s Next Big Thing, the band that we’ll all be talking about the following year, the one that will blow the lid off the Mercury Lounge next September when Bowie and Lou “just show up” with guitars and microphone and jam alongside them, the band that played here in Omaha last year to 50 people that we now know will never be back. The next Arcade Fire. The next Interpol. The next Animal Collective. The next Bright Eyes.

I’ve been watching SXSW from the sidelines for years, never dreaming of actually attending. The lead-up to mid-March always has been the same: “You goin’? You’re not? Dude, you’re really missing out, especially you. It’s a four-day fucking party, man, and you never know what’s going to happen or who’s going to show up. Dude, seriously, you need to go next year.” And so on.

There’s nothing more annoying than hearing how great someone’s vacation was, especially when they just got back from Antigua in the middle of January. No one really wants to see the pictures. No one really cares, because we’re stuck here, in this icebox called Omaha, and Antigua might as well be the surface of the moon. The same holds true for SXSW. Returning festival attendees go on and on about how so-and-so destroyed Emo’s or El Sol y La Luna or The Speakeasy. About how they drank themselves blind and greeted the sunrise with breakfast burritos at this little place off Red River St. And the whole time that they’re telling you this, you just want to punch them in the throat because you know you’ll never be able to get off work, never have enough cash, never get a “Gold Badge,” never get to go.

Well, I’m going this year for the first time. As you read this on Thursday or Friday or Saturday, I’m most likely crouched over somewhere on 6th St. in Austin suffering from a hang-over, confused, looking for a place to take a piss, wondering where I’m supposed to go next. As soon as I figured out a way to get there, I backtracked to everyone who had gone before — but who aren’t going this year — and got the same story: “You going? Really? Man, be prepared for the lines and the hassle and the heat. Austin’s weird because there’s really nowhere to sit down anywhere. You’ll be standing up for three days straight. Those laminates they give you, man, they’re worthless. Forget about getting in to see any band that you really want to see. And if you do get in, the sound system in every bar sucks. You’re better off just waiting to see those same bands when they come through town. Good luck, you’re going to need it.” And so on.

I’m told that there’s no reason to put together a schedule or list of bands prior to flying out because the odds that any of the clubs will keep to the schedule — or that I’ll actually be able to make my way through the line in time — are next to nil. On the surface — and based on my own research — I tend to believe this, but that’s not stopping me from pulling together a half-assed schedule anyway, so that I’ll at least have a few stars to navigate by as I try to make sense of it all. (You can see my half-assed schedule online, here: http://sxsw2009.sched.org/lazyi_omaha).

I did figure out one thing a long time ago — I’m not flying to Austin to see the same handful of bands that play in Omaha once a month. Every year I talk to someone who went to SXSW and spent the whole time running from venue to venue to see Omaha bands. Why see Ladyfinger when they just played at O’Leaver’s a week ago? The answer: “Because we really want to see how they go over with an impartial crowd.” It’s like rooting for the home team, but in the end, no one cares how well anyone goes over. Every band at SXSW has been signed to a label, in most cases for years. Their “big break” came long before they ever got invited to play the festival. And the only reason they came this year was because their label is hosting a showcase and told them they should.

Every band I’ve talked to who has played SXSW has bitched about it, placing it among the worst tour experiences of their lives because there’s nowhere to park their van, getting equipment into the club is an insane hassle, and once they do get their gear set up they can’t leave for fear of not getting back in — even though they’re in the band.

But that’s not my problem, is it. For me, SXSW is a spring break, a chance to burn up some carryover vacation time and check out the madness from inside the belly of the beast. My plan is to arrive Thursday afternoon, taxi over to the Hyatt and drop my bags, then stroll over to 6th Street just across the river and let fate guide me in the right direction.

The whole time I’ll be taking notes, snapping pictures, Twittering (twitter.com/tim_mcmahan), updating my blog (lazy-i.com), and putting together notes Hunter S. Thompson-style, scribbled on napkins, recorded into my iPhone, for a story in next week’s issue of The Reader. And nothing is going to stop me from having a good time.

If I discover the future of rock and roll, I’ll let you know.

If my own perspective wasn’t enough SXSW coverage, fellow Reader reporter Chris Aponik is in Austin as well and will be contributing his personal take on the festival as a Lazy-i exclusive. His “final report” will be published in The Omaha City Weekly. Chris left for Austin either today or yesterday. Here’s his pre-launch musings:

I’ve not even set foot in Texas and I already feel fatigued. There’s just no possible way I’m going to see all I want to see by week’s end. I’ve barely been able to wrap my mind around what I want to see. But I am armed and ready. I’ve logged in all the official showcases I want to check out and I’ve put in RSVP’s for just about every semi-private day show I could find. Now I just need to will myself to look through and whittle my list down to what I must absolutely see. That basically makes it a list of people that might soon be dead and people that won’t be caught dead playing in Nebraska in 2009.

So here’s my must-see list:
Heartless Bastards
Hymns
TV Ghost
No Age
Sam Roberts Band
Crystal Stilts
King Khan and the Shrines
The Wrens
Primal Scream
Ed Harcourt
Mika Miko
Red Red Meat
Human Eye
The Intelligence
Cause Co-Motion!
Tim Easton
The Drones
Black Joe Lewis
Blank Dogs
Echo and the Bunnymen
Andre Williams
Golden Boys

Chris also will be posting video updates at www.youtube.com/user/niteclubjitters.

Hold onto your hats, we’re in for a bumpy ride… to Austin.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

First, an update on yesterday’s blog entry regarding Cursive. A number of people wrote in asking what happened to Cornbread Compton, Cursive’s drummer who didn’t appear with the rest of the band for last Friday night’s performance on Late Night with David Letterman. Jason Kulbel of Saddle Creek Records wrote to explain that Cornbread had “work related things that prevented him from being able to tour.”

Moving on…

I used to head to The Dubliner on St. Patrick’s Day. But with SXSW just a couple days away, I’ll be lying low this year, perhaps only dropping in at Burke’s Pub for a pint of Guinness. There’s a ton happening tonight in Benson — a.k.a. Little Ireland. Over at The Waiting Room those Irish lads known as The Black Lips are playing a show with Gentleman Jesse And His Men, and Brimstone Howl. $12, 9 p.m. Meanwhile, down at The Barley St. Tavern, Brad (the Bard of Killarney) Hoshaw is hosting a party with performances by himself, Kyle Harvey, Adam Hawkins and Matt Cox, all for $5.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

First, Cursive on Letterman Friday night: Probably the best live network performance by a local band so far, and there have been a few (Bright Eyes, Mystic Valley, The Faint, Tilly). Kasher’s voice never sounded better, and the band was on point (They even got help from a few members of the CBS Orchestra). But the best part was that the CBS studio actually sounded good for a change. The band even looked like they got dressed up for the occasion — jackets and ties, as if headed to a First Communion brunch. Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed that the guy behind the drumkit wasn’t Cornbread Compton. Jason Kulbel at Saddle Creek tells me it was Cully Symington (Zykos, 1986). With the last chords of “From the Hip,” Dave bounded from the stage and asked, “Where you from?” “Omaha, Nebraska,” said Matt Maginn. “Omaha Nebraska? I’ll be damned. Nice job.” Dave said, pumping Matt’s hand and looking genuinely impressed. In case you missed it, here’s the performance YouTube.

* * *

Darren Keen went “all in” in a “Full Monty” sort of way at The Show Is the Rainbow CD release show Saturday night at The Waiting Room. Halfway through the second-to-last song, Darren dropped trow while performing from inside the crowd. He eventually climbed back on stage au natural and grabbed a guitar, and then slid his jeans back on for an encore. His “full disclosure” had the audience of around 200 in a state of shock and awe and ew. As funny as it was, Darren’s glistening buttocks may actually have taken away from the performance, not because it offended anyone, but because it’s the only thing those on hand will be talking about Monday morning, instead of what they should be talking about: His music. Ironically, halfway through his set I was thinking how he’d proven all the naysayers wrong, those who had lazily compared his past performances to a Har Mar Superstar freak show. There was no shtick to this set — just Darren, his samples, electric guitar and voice, along with his high energy stage — and floor — antics. The songs from Wet Fist got some added oomph from TWR’s huge low end, and had Keen had the necessary lighting and strobes, he could have had that crowd dancing like it was a Faint concert. But in the end, the only thing anyone will remember is his “set” within his set. Ah well, it was fun, but afterward I wondered if Darren planned on “dropping his tool belt” at every show on tour. Not likely. He doesn’t want to pull a Jim Morrison and end up scrounging for bail money in a southern town that doesn’t take that sort of thing lightly. Keen will be hard-pressed as it is to play both a TSITR and a Beep Beep set every night for the next few weeks. It’s an enormous challenge that will leave him either in a hospital suffering from exhaustion or America’s next big thing, or both.

Speaking of next big things, Lincoln’s UUVVWWZ opened the show with its usual panache. Teal Gardner is our Debbie Harry, our Karen O. Mesmerizing in her own way, could anyone be more relaxed on stage and still bring it the way she does? Funniest part of the set: When the bass player’s guitar strap became unstuck. “Anyone got any duct tape?” he asked from stage. In the end, the soundman came through with a jumbo roll.

* * *

Tonight at The Waiting Room, it’s the post-Afrobeat stylings of NOMO, along with dance giants Satchel Grande. $10, 9 p.m. Also tonight, Tokyo Police Club plays at The Slowdown with Ra Ra Riot and Ruby Coast. $15, 9 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

In commemoration of Cursive’s appearance tonight on Late Night with David Letterman, here’s one of the more scathing reviews so far for Mama, I’m Swollen from the Johns Hopkins News-Letter. The publication managed to find another critic who liked Happy Hollow, but then used it to call the new album “a bit of a back-pedal,” with “less of the sheer catchiness that makes your average Fall Out Boy rip-off so shamefully entertaining.” Uh-Oh. The Fall Out Boy reference is all you need to predict the rest of he review, which later references the Von Bondies. I’m not criticizing the reviewer or the review — it’s well written, though I don’t agree with her comments or her perspective. The most killing line: “These guys (Tim Kasher, Matt Maginn, Ted Stevens and Cornbread Compton) are upwards of 30 and it seems about time for them to step back from opening veins all over the pages of their own diaries.” Ouch. If Kasher isn’t supposed to write about his life, than what is he supposed to write about?

* * *

So, for everyone who wasn’t in on the joke, Das Tango Boyz is/was Beep Beep doing a secret warm-up show at The Barley St. last night. The tip-off might have been that Pharmacy Spirits was opening and DTB was the “headliner.” Pharmacy Spirits’ James Reilly is now in Beep Beep, “replacing” Chris Hughes, who quit the band last year.

Pharmacy Spirits was my favorite band of the evening. A Lincoln 4-piece that features Reilly in the frontman role (looking like a younger, trimmer (taller?) version of Greg Dulli), they play college music (not indie, not punk, just college) the way I remember it and the way I love it. Each song carried a mesmerizing, throbbing, trance-inducing moment — usually toward the end — where all four got into a perfect rhythmic groove. At the heart of the matter is drummer Courtney Nore — she’s got a bracingly clean, uncluttered style, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her the entire set (yeah, I know, it sounds creepy). Sometimes I was reminded of Poster Children and The Pixies, and a couple times early in the set Reilly sang like a young Tim Kasher, but ultimately Pharmacy Spirits brings a modern touch to a college sound that thrived before the onset of all these retro, beirdo indie bands. And on top of that, they’re light-hearted enough to put their stamp on the Tommy James & the Shondells song (covered by Tiffany) “I Think We’re Alone Now.” Nice.

Oui Bandits were next and started by launching into two new songs not on their latest album, both of which were better than anything on their latest album (which is pretty darn good, btw). Their new material is more streamlined and straight-forward than the stuff on the record, and since I’m a sucker for a good melody, I loved it.

Finally, at around a quarter to 1, on came Das Tango Boyz playing what co-founder Eric Bemberger called “a Beep Beep practice set.” And by god, that’s exactly how it sounded. Once on stage, it took about 10 minutes for the band to sort out its instruments and technology before prying into the first of a set of 7 or 8 acidic, proggy, post-punk songs. Reilly appears to be filling the spot vacated by Hughes, but seemed a bit tentative and unsure at the microphone (compared to his Pharmacy Spirits set). And who can blame him? This is complicated music with vocals that intentionally sound like a man struggling with his own voice. But here’s the thing about the new Beep Beep album — half of it is the usual proggy noise assaults that you’d expect, and half sounds like moody, slow-stroll Fleetwood Mac FM rock — a real departure from their last record. So the first thing I wondered was whether they were going to play some of the more laidback, more melodic and less proggy stuff like the rollicking “Return to Me,” the late-night stroller “The Lion’s Mouth,” and the piano-sax-driven “Wooden Nickels.” The answer was no. Instead, it was 20 minutes of post-punk Beep Beep freak-out, with a couple songs on the end that turned into stone jams, anchored by a drummer wearing a bee costume, and the always entertaining Darren Keen on bass. So, a bit rough, but fun. It’ll be interesting to hear how they sound when they come back through town in April at The Waiting Room.

Speaking of Darren Keen, Saturday night at The Waiting Room is The Show Is the Rainbow CD release party for Wet Fists, the best album that Keen has ever created and the one that is going to place him in front of a larger national audience. Keen’s evolution into a singer-songwriter could be heard on his solo album that came out a few months ago. Melody has become the center of his music instead of just beats and irony. Don’t believe me? Check out moody instrumental “Wordless Whisper,” which is followed by funk-town dance number “Mother and Son,” which ranks up there with anything The Faint has been doing lately. This is one of the funnest records I’ve listened to in quite a while. Buy it at the show Saturday. Opening is Lincoln post-punk faves UUVVWWZ and one other band that Keen told me last night is a Stoner-rock-lovers dream.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s how the weekend is looking, starting with tonight:

At O’Leaver’s it’s the hard stuff with The Stay Awake and Perry H Matthews. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Benson has Fortnight playing at PS Collective with John the Savage and Dane. 9 p.m. $5; while over at The Barley St. She Swings She Sways plays with Jason Walsmith, Turtle Moon and Sean Haupt. $5, 9 p.m.

Over at The Saddle Creek Bar it’s The Reddmen, Lucky Losers, Eastern Turkish and Angry Eyebrows. $5, 9 p.m.

Where will I be tonight? With Teresa watching a fashion show featuring Project Runway winner Jeffrey down at The Slowdown.

Tomorrow night, as I mentioned, it’s The Show is the Rainbow CD release show at TWR. $7, 9 p.m. O’Leaver’s has another heavy night featuring Techlepathy, Ideal Cleaners and Dean Armband. $5, 9:30 p.m. And John Klemmensen has his CD release show at The Barley St. with Bright Light Fever. $5, 9 p.m.

Let’s not forget Sunday– Bloodcow, The Dinks, 20 Dollar Love and The Black Hand are at The Waiting Room, all for a mere $5.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

I learned a few things reading this Seattle Spectator interview with Orenda Fink, written in support of a Seattle O+S show. Among the story’s revelations (which are probably old news to those closer to the action): Orenda and Todd Fink now live in Los Angeles; Art in Manila are officially over, and there may be a new Azure Ray album sometime in the future. “I think what I’d like to do is have O+S, and I think I’m going to have other solo records as well,” Fink said in the article. “And there will hopefully be another Azure Ray record too … but I’m going to stop changing my name.”

I’m listening to the new O+S album as I type this. Although its billed as a loop-heavy pairing of Fink with Scalpelist, aka Cedric LeMoyne (Remy Zero), the recording doesn’t stray too far from Orenda’s other recordings, and actually seems slower and more downcast than either her solo or Manila stuff. In fact, it’s the closest thing to Azure Ray I’ve heard since Azure Ray, albeit moodier and more atmospheric. The new record drops March 24. This new collaboration is pretty cool, but here’s one I’d love to see: A full-length collaboration between Orenda and Todd — and I don’t mean the kind that walks and talks, though that would be pretty cute as well.

* * *

This week’s column is a recast of last week’s blog entry regarding bands playing gigs for free. Among the changes: no mention of Harlan Ellison, and a different ending. Other than that, it’s pretty much the same. That blog entry has generated plenty of chatter on the Webboard.

Column 213: Playing for Free
What’s it worth to you?

Late last week I wrote an entry on my blog about bands playing shows for free. The touchstone was the benefit concert for the Young Professionals Council held at Slowdown. I assumed it was a benefit, since none of the bands that performed were paid even though just about everyone else involved — the Slowdown and its employees, the door guy, the sound guy, the vendors that sold the liquor to Slowdown, OPPD who’s supplying the power, heck everyone who played a role in the program — got paid. Just not the bands.

And whose fault was that? Why, it was the bands’ fault, of course. They accepted the gig believing that they’d make money on merch sales and would gain exposure. My take: It’s a free country. If you’re in a band and you want to play gigs for free when everyone else is getting a paycheck, well then by god you should. Certainly accepting those kinds of gigs helps define you and your band — just maybe not the way you want to be defined.

Who doesn’t want to help out a charity that they believe in? I’ve even kicked around the idea of organizing a charity concert for the Nebraska Humane Society, which I’m told is struggling these days. And what band doesn’t want to open a show for one of their favorite touring bands coming through town? They may not get a red cent for doing it, but it’s an honor and it’s fun. And yeah, there are those bands that “just want to play” and have no interest in making money. We all have our hobbies.

Serious bands (not hobbyists) seem to fall into four categories when it comes to non-paying gigs:

First there are the new bands that just want to build a following. In their minds, any chance they can get to be on stage is an opportunity. Sure, they should get paid, but their anonymity — and their lack of drawing power — puts them in a weaker position then, say, bands at the next level — the ones that know what they’re worth, and quite frankly, so do most of the venues in town who know better than to ask them to play for free (except under certain circumstances, like real benefits or opening for a band that they love for a show that could tank).

Then there’s the superstars, which really only applies to a few bands around here. I’m talking about the bands that everyone thinks are making millions — whether they are or not. Charities might approach these guys to play a gig for free thinking the band has so much cash it doesn’t mind giving it away. What the charities don’t understand is that the one thing more valuable than money to these bands is time.

Finally, there are the bands that everyone knows will play anywhere for free.

Look, if I organized a benefit show for the Humane Society I would absolutely expect to pay all the bands playing. Why? Because I would want to feature the acts that I hoped could draw the biggest audience and sell the most tickets. I wouldn’t want to limit myself only to those bands that I know would play for free. It doesn’t matter if the band believes in my cause as long as it can draw a thousand paying customers to the show (that said, I wouldn’t invite, say Michael Vick’s All Star Extravaganza to play). I’ll let the band decide if it wants to donate its earnings or not, and I’m more than happy if they don’t because they helped get asses in seats.

I know what you’re thinking: Who am I to say anything? Don’t I write my blog for free? True, true, though most of what I write there eventually ends up here, and I’m paid for it (though that’s not the reason I do it). There’s a philosophy that bloggers who write for free are killing newspapers and other publications. It’s bullshit, since most bloggers (myself included) are insignificant to the general public compared to the dailies. I can tell you indisputably that Lazy-i.com played no role in the cuts announced at the Omaha World-Herald last week.

There was an exquisite irony to the entire situation. YPC stands for Young Professionals Council. You know what a professional is? It’s someone who gets paid for doing what s/he does for a living. Paid. It’s not the Young Philanthropists Council. The YPC’s mission isn’t to build houses for the homeless or gather clothing or food for the poor. It exists as an opportunity for young pros to learn more about business and leadership so they can become more-effective leaders and hence, make more money. It’s also an opportunity to network to find better-paying jobs than the ones they currently have. Woven into their mission is a chamber-of-commerce element to “promote the city” along with themselves.

Young Professionals do not do what they do in their companies for free, nor should they. And yet, here they are asking bands that presumably view themselves as young professional musicians to do what they do for free. Well, a number of bands that were approached to become “young amateurs” for one night said, “No thanks, I don’t ask you to do your job for free, why are you asking me to do mine for free?” The organizers just shrugged and asked someone else until they found willing bands. They will always find willing bands.

Since the blog ran, a member of one of the bands said he was “doing a favor for a friend.” Good for him. Like I said before: You want to play for free? God Bless America, go right ahead. Ultimately, you’re the one who puts the price on the value of your music.

* * *

It’s a busy night for shows. The highlight kind of snuck up on me: Har Mar Superstar at The Slowdown Jr. with His Mischief and Talkin’ Mountain. Har Mar’s alter ego, Sean Tillmann, has been known to pop up in the crowd at Slowdown shows from time to time. Unfortunately, HMS hasn’t released a new album in five years. Maybe it’s time? And yes, you read correctly, this is a frontroom show, so it’ll very likely be packed (if not sold out), especially at the $8 ticket price.

Also tonight, Merge recording artist The Broken West is playing at The Waiting Room with Blind Pilot and Skypiper. $8, 9 p.m.

Down at the Barley St. Tavern, Das Tango Boyz plays with Oui Bandits, Lincoln’s Pharmacy Spirits and Electric Needle Room. $5, 9 p.m.

While over at The Saddle Creek Bar it’s Brave Citizens with Farewell Flight and The Answer Team. $5, 9 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

I see by a post on Slam Omaha that the March 18 Bright Eyes show at The Waiting Room sold out in 24 minutes (and like most of you, I also didn’t get a chance to buy a ticket). That’s fast, but it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, considering that Conor Oberst and his band(s) have been known to sell-out medium-sized music halls these days.

Other than that, not much else to report. Lazy-i Reader “Dane” posted links to two more Cursive-related articles on the webboard (here): A Magnet interview with Kasher, and Kasher reviewing the semi-new Aimee Mann CD @#&%* Smilers. Take a look.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

If I’m doing my math correctly, the Cursive CD downloads are now at their full price of $9, which means it’s drop day for Mama, I’m Swollen. And with drop day comes plenty of press, starting with this AZ Central interview that’s so good that if I ever get a chance to interview the band for this album I’ll only be left with the stupid questions (what else is new?) like “Why did you call the album Mama, I’m Swollen?” (Oops, Stereogum beat me to it). The best quotes of the piece: “I didn’t realize when I was 20, that to be doing what we’re doing, playing rock and roll essentially, in its broadest sense, really does give you this kind of leniency to stay young, which I would love to uphold for as long as I can. In that sense, I really embrace immaturity,” and “But this is the first time in my life where if I have some sort of ailment, then, the thought can cross my mind that I’m degenerating. My body is now degenerative. I don’t even want to get into my 40s because I think I’ll probably go insane.” Don’t worry, Tim, you’ll survive intact… probably.

In case you missed it, here’s the Pitchfork review, which gives the album a flunking 5.2 rating and concludes with this: “There is of course a huge market for their kind of angst-ridden emo, and in many ways– particularly lyrically– this album sounds like it’s been lifted straight from the emo handbook, which may well satisfy many listeners. For the less committed, however, the lack of the band’s usual wit and musical inventiveness will be missed.” Somewhere along the way (some) critics confused “emo” with “confessional,” so now any indie music that’s even slightly angry and personal is considered “emo” (along with anything on Saddle Creek, which somehow had an emo blanket thrown over all of its artists sometime around 2001). And in case you were wondering, emo is never used as a compliment.

Rolling Stone, on the other hand, gave the album 3 stars (here), and said, “Cursive haven’t sounded this crazed and inspired since their breakthrough album, 2003’s The Ugly Organ.”

I stand by my earlier statement: This is the best Cursive album since Domestica.

Don’t forget: Cursive’s network debut is this Friday night on Late Night with David Letterman. Set your DVRs…

* * *

Surprising news of the day yesterday: Bright Eyes has scheduled a show at The Waiting Room on March 18. Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. for $20 a throw (limit 4). Just when people were beginning to think that they’d seen the last of Bright Eyes, Conor pulls this rabbit out of his hat apparently as a way of saying “I haven’t forgotten where I came from.” Hopefully that’s all he’s saying. We won’t know until next Wednesday night, which also happens to coincide with the first day of the SXSW music festival — I don’t leave until Thursday, so I’ll be at this show…if I can get a ticket.

* * *

At the same time that Little Brazil was recording its new record, Pete Yorn was working at ARC Studio on his new album, Back and Forth. Sony announced today that the album will be released June 23 on Columbia Records. The record is being touted with the headline “Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley) produces with additional creative consulting from Rick Rubin.” Among the guest stars on the album are Bright Eyes’ Nate Wolcott and O&S’s Orenda Fink.

* * *

Tonight at The Barley St., perennial noise-rock favorites Perry H. Matthews takes the stage with Stress Ape and The Contrails. $5, 9 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Congratulations, you made it to the weekend. Now here’s your reward for persevering:

Spring Gun is playing its final Omaha show tonight at Slowdown Jr. There will be tears, along with plenty of blood and other bodily fluids. SG, along with Thunder Power and Noah’s Ark, was one of those bands that seemed to constantly be evolving, so you never knew exactly what you were going to see on stage at any given performance. Opening is new kids on the block Sweet Pea and Slumber Party Records artist Honeybee. $5, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Speed! Nebraska artists The Diplomats of Solid Sound and The Third Men return to The Waiting Room with Satchel Grande. $7, 9 p.m. Meanwhile, punk is the flavor of the evening tonight at the Saddle Creek Bar with The Shidiots, Officially Terminated and Youth & Tear Gas. $5, 9 p.m. Also, Lincoln’s Cory Kibler is doing a set at The Barley St. $5, 9 p.m.

Expect a crush mob Saturday night for the Grand Opening of The Sydney in downtown Benson (formerly Mick’s, read about it here). The night will feature performances by Mal Madrigal and Jake Bellows (of Neva Dinova). No cover!

Also tomorrow night (Saturday) at O’Leaver’s, Denver’s The Photo Atlas is performing with Epilogues and Cooper from Dim Light. $5, 9:30 p.m., while down at The Saddle Creek Bar it’s Curbstone with Twitch and classic ’80s punkers Cordial Spew. $5, 9 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

The day after Cursive and Saddle Creek started offering 320 kpbs-quality downloads of Mama, I’m Swollen on the Creek site for $1 last Sunday, I dropped an e-mail to Creek head honcho Robb Nansel asking him how many copies they moved and why so cheap.

The specific details — the download started at $1 on March 1 and the price has increased by one dollar each day afterward. The price as of today is $5. Nansel’s not ready to share any sales numbers until the promotion ends, presumably on the March 10 drop date.

“As for the decision,” Nansel said. “It’s simply an experiment, to raise awareness for the record. The hope is that we get interested listeners talking about the band and ultimately build excitement for the physical release March 10th. We successfully protected against an early leak in an attempt to condense the period between when a record becomes available for free download and when it’s available for purchase. In order to bolster physical sales, we designed CD and LP versions that have exclusive additional content (downloads for bonus tracks, demos and videos) and snazzy packaging. We’ll see how it turns out.

The 180g ruby-red vinyl offering is indeed luscious and comes with a CD, 15-page gatefold jacket, and a download card that gets you extras including bonus tracks and videos — all for a mere $15. Could this be the future of music marketing?

* * *

Tonight is the benefit concert for the Young Professionals Council down at Slowdown. Well, I just assumed it was a benefit concert since I’ve been told none of the bands performing are getting paid. Strangely, I assume that everyone else involved — the Slowdown and its employees, the door guy, the sound guy, the vendors that sold the liquor to Slowdown, OPPD who’s supplying the power, heck everyone who plays a role in the program — is getting paid. Just not the bands.

Whose fault is that? Why, it’s the bands’ fault, of course. They accepted the gig believing that they’d make money on merch sales and would gain exposure. This is an issue that was discussed ad nauseam on Slam Omaha. My take: It’s a free country. If you’re in a band and you want to play for free for gigs where everyone else is getting a paycheck, where you don’t know or like the organization, well then by god you should. Certainly accepting these kinds of gigs helps define you and your band — just maybe not the way you want to be defined.

Who doesn’t want to help out a charity that they believe in? I’ve even kicked around the idea of organizing a charity concert for the Nebraska Humane Society, which I’m told is struggling these days. And what band doesn’t want to open for one of their favorite touring bands coming through town? It’s an honor, and it’s fun. And yeah, there are those bands that “just want to play” and have no interest in making money. We all have our hobbies.

It’s another thing altogether if you’re an established act that’s been around for years and you’re playing corporate-level events for free.

Serious bands (not hobbyists) seem to fall into four categories when it comes to non-paying gigs:

First there are the new bands that just want to build a following. In their minds, any chance they can get to be on stage is an opportunity. Sure, they should get paid, but their anonymity — and their lack of drawing power — puts them in weaker position then, say, the bands at the next level — the ones that know what they’re worth, and quite frankly, so do most of the venues in town who know better than to ask them to play for free (except under certain circumstances, like benefits or opening for a band that they love for a show that could tank).

Finally there’s the superstars, which really only applies to a few bands around here. I’m talking about the bands that everyone thinks are making millions — whether they are or not. Charities might approach these guys to play a gig for free thinking the band has so much cash it doesn’t mind giving it away. What the charities don’t understand is that the one thing more valuable than money to these bands is time.

And then there are the bands that everyone knows will play anywhere for free.

Look, if I organized a benefit for the Humane Society I would absolutely expect to pay all the bands playing. Why? Because I would want to feature the acts that I hoped could draw the biggest audience and sell the most tickets. I wouldn’t want to limit myself only to those bands that I know would play for free. It doesn’t matter if the band believes in my cause as long as it can draw a thousand paying customers to the show (that said, I wouldn’t invite, say Michael Vick’s All Star Extravaganza to play). I’ll let the band decide if they want to donate their earnings or not, and I’m more than happy if they don’t because they helped get asses in seats.

I’ve never included an embedded YouTube video into the blog, so this is a first. Here’s my personal writing guru/savior/inspiration, Harlan Ellison, talking about getting paid for his work. It’s amusing, and accurate.

I don’t know if Ellison’s point about the amateurs ruining it for the professionals really applies to this argument. The amateurs can play all the free shows they want to and it’s not going to lower the price that The Faint is going to receive for playing a gig. If you can sell a lot of tickets, you’re going to get paid.

I know what you’re thinking: Who am I to say anything? Aren’t I writing this blog entry for free? True, true, though most of what I write here eventually ends up in The Reader, who does pay me (though that’s not the reason I do it). There’s a philosophy that bloggers who write for free are killing newspapers and other publications. It’s bullshit, since most bloggers (myself included) are insignificant to the general public compared to the dailies. I can tell you indisputably Lazy-i.com played no role in the cuts announced at the OWH a couple days ago.

I’m rambling now. Let me wrap this up by reiterating my earlier comment: You want to play for free? God Bless America, go right ahead. Ultimately, you’re the one who puts the price on the value of your music.

* * *

Not playing for free tonight is Murder by Death at The Waiting Room with Fake Problems and Sam Lowry. $10, 9 p.m.

* * *

Finally fellow Reader music writer Brady tipped me off that David Bazan will be playing a house show in Omaha on April 13. To find out where, you have to pay $20 per ticket. Check out how Bazan has figured out an innovative way of setting up a house-show tour. And it’s working. He’s selling out shows all over the country. Go to davidbazan.com for details.

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And now part three of what has become a trilogy of stories featuring Ladyfinger. Part one was an indepth feature on the band (here). Then came last week’s column, where I reviewed their CD release show (here). And now this week, a look beyond the music to the businesses owned and operated by two of the band’s members. Something tells me this won’t be the last thing I write about Ladyfinger this year.

Column 212: The Entrepreneurs
For these rockers, it’s business as usual.

I’m told we’re living through the second coming of the Great Depression. Maybe it is. People are losing their jobs and houses and livelihoods. Fear is strangling all of us as we await the return of the bread lines. Even Warren Buffett says that times are tough.

In the middle of all of that, when people are holding each dollar tightly in their angry fists, two Omaha entrepreneurs are starting new businesses. What all this has to do with music (this is, after all, a music column) will come later.

Chris Machmuller, 28, and Jamie Massey, 34, figured now was as good a time as any to roll dem bones and invest in a new business despite an economy bad enough to scare any survivor of the Depression into epileptic fits. But while they explained how they got their businesses off the ground, neither brought up the current state of the world. Booze and sandwiches, it seems, are immune to economic downturn.

Along with partners Ryan Albers, Ken McNealy and his boss at Media Services Jim Pettid, Massey purchased Benson folk music club Mick’s Music and Bar from Michael Campbell and reopened it as The Sydney — named after an old bar in Sioux City where Massey’s grandparents would “kick it.”

It was Pettid who found the ad in Craig’s List. “I told him that it’s always been a cool space, though I didn’t always agree with what Mike (Campbell) was doing with it,” Massey said. “If someone did something different, it could be a good place to hang out.”

Hang out, and drink. Immediately after Massey and partners took over the bar in January they made changes — painting the walls, taking out tables, adding a TV, jukebox, darts and a Golden Tee machine — all the typical accoutrements of your local neighborhood bar. And they tore out Mick’s famous stage, replacing it with a platform that currently holds a foosball table.

“We wanted it to be kind of like O’Leaver’s, with regulars and a happy hour crowd,” Massey said. “In my opinion, it’s a little nicer than a dive bar.”

Machmuller and his business partner, Pat O’Neill, originally looked at opening a restaurant in a vacant Old Home outlet on Farnam St., just down the road from The Brothers Lounge. After the deal fell through while working a shift at O’Leaver’s — a bar Machmuller’s managed for three years — he realized the answer to his dreams might lie on the other side of the bathrooms.

“I started wondering about how big that space was next door,” he said. “I knew that there was no room for seating, but if we made it simple and good, a take-out restaurant would work fine.”

It took 11 months of remodeling and construction before Worker’s Take Out served its first sandwich last August. Machmuller said he came up with the recipes himself and with some help from his friends. Just months after opening, the shop’s Cuban Pork Roast already has gained a rep as the restaurant’s flagship sandwich.

And now, as the late Paul Harvey used to say, is the rest of the story. Machmuller and Massey are members of Ladyfinger (ne), a band that’s signed to Saddle Creek Records and that just released their second full-length album, Dusk. Rock ‘n’ roll protocol states that upon releasing a new album (especially for a label with national distribution) that the artist hits the road and spends weeks driving around the country in a shitty van, performing nightly in hopes of generating attention, exposure, word-of-mouth and ultimately, album sales. So how do you do that and run a business?

Guitarist Massey said there are plenty of people to watch his back at The Sydney; the struggle will be keeping his head above the waves at Media Services, where he’s the art director. Machmuller, the band’s frontman, also has the necessary staff at Worker’s, and there’s always someone to take his shifts at O’Leaver’s.

“I spread myself pretty thin,” Massey said. “I’m the type of person who doesn’t want to say ‘no.’ It becomes stressful, but it could be worse. I could be doing a job that I hate, or be at home doing nothing.”

Fact is, Machmuller and Massey have no choice but to burn the two-sided candle. Both Ladyfinger and their businesses are at a crossroads, and what happens over the next few months will determine their success or failure.

“It’s a matter of just staying open,” Machmuller said. “Year to year — from the first year to the second to the third — your business should double. You hope that the longer you’re around that more people will know about you, and a sense of consistency will come into place.” The same holds true for rock bands.

But if Ladyfinger fails to catch fire, it only costs Machmuller his pride, whereas with Worker’s, “if we have a bad week and the rent’s due, even if the business can’t afford it, someone’s got to afford it,” he said. “The money comes out of someone’s pocket. You hope that the business pays for itself completely, after that, you hope to start paying yourself.”

But what if the stars align as they should and Worker’s and The Sydney become money-making machines at the same time that Ladyfinger finally gets the attention it deserves?

“We’ll have to do everything on a bigger scale,” Machmuller said, “We’ll have to order more food.”

“When that happens,” Massey added, “we’ll do another interview.”

The Sydney celebrates its grand opening this Saturday, March 7, with music by Mal Madrigal and Jake Bellows (someone’s going to have to move that foosball table). The bar opens at 4 on weekdays and noon on weekends, and boasts a “reverse happy hour” from midnight to closing in an effort to scoop up the after-show business.

Worker’s is open Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Call ahead at 932-6083. If you order a hot Cuban for me, tell them to hold the mustard.

* * *

Here are a few words about tonight’s A.A. Bondy show at The Waiting Room: Before opening for Felice Bros last September at TWR and Kevin Devine at Slowdown in early ’08, it had been almost five years since A.A. Bondy came through town. Back then, he was going by the name Scott Bondy and was fronting Verbena, a major-label band that mixed grunge with Delta Blues. Verbena probably got tagged with the grunge label thanks to Bondy’s grainy Cobain-esque voice. Shortly after that show in ’03, Verbena hung it up. Bondy disappeared for four years and reemerged with a stripped-down sound and a new name. In ’07 A.A. Bondy released American Hearts on Superphonic Records. The LP is 40 minutes of earthy indie-folk ballads that combine a heartfelt ’70s Americana vibe with the subtle urgency of Nirvana Unplugged. The disc caught the ear of blues label Fat Possum Records, who rereleased it in April ’08.

And so on. Opening the show is McCarthy Trenching and It’s True. $8, 9 p.m.

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