Karl Houfek of It’s True wrote to let us know that Seattle singer/songwriter Rocky Votolato (Barsuk) will be playing a living room show at the house he shares with Adam Hawkins on Saturday, July 17. Their house hosted Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan last year. Tickets go on sale today at 3 p.m. at http://www.undertowtickets.com/product/rocky-votolato-living-room-show-omaha-ne-july-17. Get yours while you can; seating is definitely limited. “For the record, we don’t make one damn cent off the deal…simply the enjoyment of hosting a pretty outstanding artist,” Houfek said. Simon Joyner currently is on a similar house show tour. Is this the new winning business model for singer/songwriters?

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Steve Bartolomei sent out a message from his new home in Manhattan, where he recently relocated shortly after last December’s release show for From the Fingers of Trees LP. “In the week between the release show and my departure, Mal Madrigal recorded a new full-length record at Mike Mogis’ incredible ARC studios in Omaha, NE,” Bartolomei said. “The album came in a fury of writing and recording prompted by the deadline of my relocating. It still needs to be mixed, but the band and I are excited to share it with you.”
No doubt the new album will be released on Bocca Lupo Records, the new label cooperative Bartolomei is spearheading. This week the label is releasing Before the Toast and Tea’s Methods of the Mad. BTAT is a project of longtime Mal Madrigal collaborator Ben Brodin. The album features contributions from Orenda Fink (Azure Ray), who lends harmonies alongside Jake Bellows (Neva Dinova).

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The Waiting Room is hosting a punk show tonight with Council Bluffs hardcore band Ties, Gordon Shumway and Lightning Bug. $5, 9 p.m. And right down the street at PS Collective Well Aimed Arrows is playing a set with a handful of bands I’ve never heard of: Conflict Between, Peace and Space and Crash Davey, $5, 8 p.m.