The Show Is the Rainbow at The Waiting Room, Jan. 28, 2011. Photo by John Shartrand.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Friday night, to an audience of fewer than 100 at The Waiting Room, Darren Keen, a.k.a. The Show Is the Rainbow, had a message he delivered just before launching into a set of all new material from an album that’s yet to be recorded. The message boiled down to this (and I’m paraphrasing here): The best work Keen’s done was when he was doing it for himself, and the worst work he’s done was when he was trying to impress all the wrong people. Well, now Keen’s through trying to impress anyone, as he hits the road for eight months on a self-booked tour with his girlfriend in tow.

Keen sounded like a man who had come to some sort of self-realization that no matter how hard he tries to control his future, his life, his career, he’s powerless in the face of a world, of an industry, that never knew and never cared. Which is a long-winded way of saying that now he’s doing it for himself. And that’s a pretty good message.

And with that, he tore into a set of abstract, art-damaged polyrhythmic “songs” that examined his view of the world around him. The themes: paying the cover, faux indie angst, learning how to think, learning how to (literally) grow, his love of dope, and his love of love. It sounded like hippie stuff, and maybe it was. As a one-man act, he sang the tunes over prerecorded keyboard tracks that were a dizzying kaleidoscope of circus arpeggios and electronic beats. Did I say sing? Most of the songs featured Keen doing a sing-song rap delivered from the floor instead of the stage while he performed an interpretive dance bare-chested, pants-sagging, sweat glistening off his fat rolls.

When TSITR first started all those years ago, Keen was criticized for being a home-grown version of Har Mar Superstar by people who had never actually listened to or heard Har Mar or Keen. The only thing those two had in common were a love of dance music, a willingness to take off their shirts and ivory white bellies. These days, thanks to his ginger beard and habit of improvising at the keyboard (and his “keen” wit), Darren could be compared to a young Zack Galafianakis, though only the most demented minds like my own would ever come up with that comparison.

The other thing that went through this demented mind Friday night was that Keen may be onto something. His set was fun and “in your face,” with just enough edge to be considered subversive. There is an aggression boiling just below the surface, a strange unnerving tension that could erupt at any moment. And though the music is less “dancy” than his earlier material (which may change after he fills it out in the studio), it’s no less engaging. Let’s face it, it’s impossible to be bored at a TSITR show, which is more than I can say for 90 percent of the indie bands that come through town. And for those folks who will stumble onto Darren by accident as he and his girlfriend criss-cross the country over the next eight months, he could be a revelation or at least one helluva conversation piece.

Opening the evening was Machete Archive, who has steadily become the most interesting instrumental-only band I’ve seen on stage since Mogwai (who they in no way resemble). Beyond the music, which is borderline metal balladry, is the headbanging performance itself. In addition to having insane dance moves, bassist Saber Blazek is a marvel on the fretboard, maybe the best bass player in Nebraska. But the only way that claim could be proven is if Hear Nebraska or Omahype or The Reader hosts another long-needed “bass off” among the state’s best four-stringers. The gauntlet has been thrown.

* * *

You can now stream Bright Eyes’ new album The People’s Key in its entirety at NPR.org. Here’s the link. My first impression is that the biggest by-product of the Monsters of Folk tour is that Conor now writes and records music that sounds like M. Ward tunes. You be the judge.

* * *

People are already rescheduling things in the face of what could be one of the more brawny storms to hit the city since… last year. Something tells me even if the storm gets here before 9:30, tonight’s show at O’Leaver’s will carry on as planned. The headliner is the amazing Dim Light, with Nature Boys and The Prairies. $5, bring a shovel…

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

What a long frickin’ week it’s been, filled with excitement and political intrigue. But somehow we managed to make it to the weekend…

Tonight at the Waiting Room it’s the triumphant return of The Show Is the Rainbow — Darren Keen’s original musical vision returns as a one-man show. There have been some memorable TSITR performances over the years, not the least of which was this March 2009 TWR gig where Darren ended up on stage in his birthday suit. Sorry, no photos, just this description: “His ‘full disclosure’ had the audience of around 200 in a state of shock and awe and eww.” Where will Darren go with it tonight? Opening is Lincoln’s Machete Archive and Prairies. $5, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night The Brothers Lounge is doing a a rare show, hosting Minnesota band Marijuana Death Squad. “Headed by Ryan Olson (the man behind GAYNGS), MDS is a mix of semi improvised electronic music mixed with absolutely explosive drumming,” says the listing on the webboard. Looks like MDS will be sharing a month-long residency with Omaha fave Har Mar Superstar at Satellite in LA. Opening is The Fucking Party (Craig Fort & Party Paul). $5, 9:30 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Column 307: A Kind of Homecoming
Local boy Andy Norman launches hearnebraska.org

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

To understand the vision for HearNebraska.org — the new online music-directed website that is more than a website — you must understand its creator, Andy Norman.

HearNebraska.org launched Monday morning. I’m not going to go into great detail here about the site because you can discover its multitudes on your own simply by typing hearnebraska.org into your browser. I will tell you that its goal is to provide resources and a voice for bands, artists and members of Nebraska’s creative class — as well as the businesses that support them — in an effort to make the state a globally recognized cultural destination. I know that because I helped write the mission statement.

Full disclosure: I’m on the HearNebraska.org Board of Directors, so bally-hooing the site will seem somewhat self-congratulatory until you realize I get nothing from its success other than knowing that Andy and his lovely wife, Angie, are one step closer on their quest to acquire health insurance.

It didn’t have to be that way. Norman could be sitting in a fancy office on K St. in Washington, D.C., right now contemplating his next deadline had he followed his initial career path.

OK, let’s start at the beginning.

Shortly after graduating with a degree in journalism from University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2003, Norman headed to Omaha to work with former Omaha World-Herald columnist Jim Minge and a cadre of others (including The Reader‘s own Eric Stoakes) to create Omaha City-Weekly, an alt-weekly competitor to The Reader, in 2004. His tenure as managing editor at OCW was short-lived, as he ended up at The Reader in June 2005, where, among other things, Norman was my boss as the paper’s managing editor.

Three years’ worth of deadlines later, and Norman left The Reader in May 2008. “I was looking for a new challenge and didn’t want to work for any other paper or alt weekly,” he said. “I just wanted to go back to school.”

He found a program that offered a Master’s in Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University. “Basically, they teach you how to find and produce environmental stories by taking dry science and making it compelling,” he said. Norman paid his tuition by working as a grad assistant and editor of MSU’s award-winning EJ Magazine. He went on to spend the summer of ’09 covering environmental legislation on Capital Hill for Congressional Quarterly.

It all sounds very impressive, doesn’t it? “I had picked environmental journalism because I was trying to position myself and my career,” Norman said. “I wanted to learn about new media; I wanted to know how to transition in a rough journalism climate that hadn’t even gotten rough yet. I thought I was ahead of the curve.”

But something funny happened on the way to picking up his future Pulitzers — the economy died, along with journalism. “The housing bubble busted and the economy went to shit and no was buying newspapers anymore,” Norman said. “It was all about sports and entertainment. Lifestyle reporting was safe. Environmental journalists and foreign correspondents were disposable.”

Norman hadn’t even graduated from MSU yet and he was already second-guessing a career in environmental journalism. Instead, he and Angie were having drinks in a dive bar in Lansing and the conversation turned as it always did, to Nebraska music.

“We talked about how no one in Michigan knew about Nebraska music, and if they did know something it was only about Saddle Creek Records,” Norman said. “The idea popped up to create a statewide website that increased Nebraska’s music presence nationally.”

He took the idea to his advisors at MSU, and hearnebraska.org became Norman’s master’s project — a project that had nothing to do with the environment. “My advisors were incredibly supportive,” Norman said. “They said if you can make a job out of this or if it helps you get a job, we’re in no position to stand in your way. There was this air that no one had a fucking clue what was happening in journalism or how to navigate the waters, so they were open to it, and I had a pretty good pitch.”

Among his biggest supporters were Cliff Lampe, one of the founders of nerd/geek tech site slashdot.org, and Jonathan Morgan, a reporter for the New York Times and the Detroit News, who was behind a neighborhood hyper-local online application.

So after receiving his master’s in May 2010, Norman began to piece together the non-profit hearnebraska.org from his new home, back in Lincoln. Despite the unmistakable death knell of print journalism, with his credentials Norman still could have landed a cushy reporting gig somewhere. Instead, he followed his more financially modest dream.

Why didn’t he go for the money grab? “It’s not what I want,” Norman said. “I want to live comfortably. It would be great to have health insurance, but I lived in D.C. for a summer and worked for one of the best political papers in the country and I saw the lifestyle and how fast everything moved and how much I would have had to focus on my career as opposed to my family and friends, and that’s not what I wanted. I didn’t want to chase those ambitions.

“I’m proud of Nebraska, and I realized in Michigan that I had become this huge cheerleader for the state. I want to help it grow. I’m a Nebraska guy. It just makes sense to be here.”

* * *

Speaking of The Reader, there have been a ton of changes at the paper which you may or may not know about. The executive suite sees the departure of Sarah Wengert as Managing Editor. Sarah’s not leaving town, she’s just looking to try something new. You’ll be seeing her byline out and about in various publications, including The Reader. Her replacement is Sean Brennan, who you might recognize from the ol’ Omaha City-Weekly. But there’s also a bunch of new warm bodies that have been added to The Reader‘s torch pile, including news writer Lincolnite Hilary Stohs-Krause, a name you may recognize from the Starcityscene.com blog. And something I didn’t have room to mention in the above column — Andy Norman also continues to contribute to The Reader in a news capacity — you didn’t think he was paying his bills doing hearnebraska.org, did you?

And then there’s maybe the most earth-shaking change of all, a monumental shift that very likely will have a quantum impact on the Omaha music scene — Chris Aponick has been added to The Reader staff as its new music editor. I’m not sure what his actual title is, but Aponick is now responsible for assigning music coverage as well as writing the weekly “Backbeat” column.

In the driver’s seat for only a couple weeks and Chris already has snagged his first exclusive. In his column this week he reports that Digital Leather has signed a deal with Tic Tac Totally Records to release their upcoming album, Infinite Sun, sometime this summer. This is the album that was partially funded through a successful Kickstarter effort, so if you, like me, laid down some cash you’ll be getting your limited edition copy sometime soon. TTT is a Chicago label whose roster includes Bare Wires, Wavves, So Cow, Meercaz, and Omaha’s very own trash-punk deviants, The Shanks. Pssst… just between you and me, Digital Leather is one of my favorite local bands…

* * *

Finally, the Playing With Fire concert series announced yesterday that Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings is the headliner for their July 16 concert at Lewis & Clark Landing. It’s a huge announcement that sends shockwaves through the local festival circuit. SJ&theD-Ks is one of those bands that cuts through multiple genres — blues, R&B, rock and yes, indie — as well as age groups. Everybody thinks they’re cool because they are. Huge. Red Sky very likely never even considered booking them, but SJ/D-Ks would have been a perfect get for the MAHA Music Festival. This ups the ante even further. Can MAHA top it?

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Re: Yesterday’s Special Comment: I humbly and proudly stand corrected.

* * *

Tim Kasher has the honor of being the subject for the debut of Pop Matters new video interview series. “Backstage at Chicago’s historic Vic Theatre, Kasher was candid and open with us, discussing why he chose not to write two more Ugly Organ‘s, how he deals with the frustration of those who feel somewhat betrayed by his songs not being autobiographical, and—after coming clean with some of his regrets—how getting to open for The Cure was one of the highlights of his life.” It’s a nice five minutes. Check it out.

* * *

Bright Eyes’ new free mp3 from the upcoming The People’s Key, “Halle Selassie,” is a real grinder. It chugs along on top of a 6/8 electric guitar riff that provides a strangely formal structure for Conor’s heavily delayed vocals. If someone asks me what is one of the threads that runs through classic Saddle Creek artists’ music, I tell them it’s a penchant for waltz-time arrangements, and in that context, this is sort of a throwback. You can get a download key for the song delivered to your email box through the widget below.

* * *

Meanwhile, Azure Ray is giving away an 3mp of its new single, “Silverlake,” recorded with their friends in Sparklehorse. It’s a non-album track from the Drawing Down the Moon sessions, and as such, isn’t much of a departure from the usual AR fair, which means pretty harmonies and melodies and everything else you expect from Maria and Orenda. The two-song single includes ”Silverlake” and ”Silverlake (demo),” and is available via iTunes and the Saddle Creek Online Store. Download widget below:

* * *

Finally, there’s this story from USA Today, which could have a major impact on the Omaha’s Red Sky Music Festival.

Buffett’s in stable condition, btw…

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Tomorrow, the story behind what makes hearnebraska.org tick.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Because there’s nothing going on tonight (in fact, there’s nothing going on this week until Friday from a music vantage point) and in honor of the late, great though self-important, pompous and overwrought Mr. Olbermann, I bring you my “Special Comment” about today’s election. If you don’t give two shits about politics or if you live outside of Omaha, I’ll see you tomorrow when we resume our regular programming. That said, there is a local music/venue spin to all of it, and it’s this:

One night recently I visited one of my favorite local bars, bellied up to the counter and ordered my usual Rolling Rock. Ye kindly ol’ bartender brought me my cold green glass of America’s Finest and said, “It’s $4.50 now. We had to raise the price 50 cents to cover Suttle’s entertainment tax.” So now in addition to the outrage of having to pay $4  — premium beer prices — for a beer that’s as common as Budweiser or PBR, here I was having to spend an extra 50 cents because the bar wanted to make a political statement to mask its greed.

The “entertainment tax” instituted under Mayor Suttle’s administration amounted to around a 2 percent tax on booze and food. Last I checked, 50 cents is not 2 percent of $4. So who is really benefiting from the tax? Bars and music venues like the one I speak of who upped their prices a full 12.5 percent. Do you think these outraged bar owners who want Suttle’s head on a stick are going to drop their prices once they get him out of office and repeal the 2 percent tax. No, they’re not.

If I sound matter-of-fact about this election it’s because I know Suttle will lose for the simple fact that most of the intelligent liberals I know are lazy pieces of shit who won’t go to the polls today, unlike the Teabagger Republican a-holes behind this recall effort — one of whom bears an unfortunate resemblance to our past and future mayor, Hal Daub. Regardless of your political views (or view of reality) you have to hand it to the conservative goon squad. They got out there, they spent the money (or got the local right-wing millionaires to spend their money), and they got it done. Say what you will about the GOP, they’re not lazy.

In fact, it dawned on me that after the election and the inevitable return of Hal Daub to office that I should immediately start a recall effort to get rid of him and base it solely on my dislike of his dumb-shit policies. I know that if I got enough signatures to get his recall on a ballot, that he, too, would get removed from office for no other reason than I dislike his point of view. But that won’t happen because liberals and free thinkers are generally lazy people who are satisfied with merely winning some sort of intellectual internal argument rather than deal with reality. They just assume everyone around them is a dumb shit and that there’s no holding back the Great Wad of Stupidity that engulfs politics. And though they may be right, they end up losing elections.

Don’t agree with my cynical point of view? Than do something about it. Get off your lazy ass, turn off your television (or in the case of my typical reader, lift the tone-arm on that rare, limited-edition 7-inch) and go to the polls and vote against this mindless recall. I know it’s a pain in your ass. I know you “already voted for the mayor once.” I know that in the back of your mind you think that going to the polls is “giving in” to the fuckwits that are behind this effort by even acknowledging this ass-fist election. Yeah, it’s their game, but you’re playing it whether you want to or not. By not showing up and filling in the “no” oval, you’re letting a minority of dunces shout over your voice. You’re letting them take away your point of view. It’ll take two frickin’ minutes to vote, and your actions will send a message to the mighty Nebraska GOP/Teabagger/conservative a-holes that we’re here and we’re not going away.

Or prove me right and sit on your ass and let Suttle go down in flames. Look, I figure my 50 cents is already gone, and it ain’t coming back.

Don’t let me say “I told you so.” It’s your call. Maybe I’ll see you at the polls.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Instead of wasting your time here today, might I suggest you waste your time at the just-launched hearnebraska.org?

After months and months of delays, the site finally went live this morning. And what a site it is. It’s an events calendar, it’s live reviews, it’s band profiles, it’s a forum, it’s a video resource, and it’s a whole lot more. One key differentiator of HN over all the other local “all-in-one” calendar websites is its unique, exclusive content, including this video taken at last week’s Cursive’s Domestica concert at The Waiting Room.

I suggest you go to the site, click on the Register link in the upper-right-hand corner, and create your account before someone steals your nickname. Go. Hurry up.

I’ll have more on hearnebraska.org in this week’s column, and on this site in the coming days. For now, just go and check it out so’s you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Shoo.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A personal catastrophe didn’t keep me away from O’Leaver’s last night, but a lingering cold and general fatigue did. Now that I’ve glanced at the weekend’s line-up, I wish I would have gone out last night anyway.

There is nothing going on in regards to national touring bands. Nothing. Slowdown is closed for a private event tonight and tomorrow night, according to their website.  Saturday TWR is hosting a benefit for Habitat for Humanity of Omaha featuring Satchel Grande, Midwest Dilemma, The 9’s, Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies and The Half Hearts. Tix are $10 today from onepercentproductions.com and $12 tomorrow at the door. Show starts at 7 p.m.

Hoshaw’s also playing a singer/songwriter gig tonight with Sarah Benck and a few others at Louis’ Bar on Radial Hwy. Back in the day, Louis’ was the home of the 50-cent shot. Probably not any more, but you never know. That show starts at 9 p.m. and is free.

And that’s it for the weekend.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Column 306: Backyard Notions
Visions of 2011, Pt. 3

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

These “predictions” have dragged on long enough. In my defense, other than complaints about live reviews, I get more feedback about my annual predictions column(s) than anything I write. People just love being told what’s going to happen (or maybe they love being told what to do). Just to be clear: There is no “insider information” being let slip below; no rumor or innuendo being repeated. These visions are pure hocus-pocus; absolute hunches fueled by coffee and fatigue and all those annoying voices arguing inside my head. Do with them what you will.

This final chapter will explain what will happen in the local music scene in 2011. Read on, if you dare…

— Omaha’s festival season gets a lot more crowded with MECA’s mega orgy of music, the Red Sky Music Festival to be held at the TD Ameritrade baseball stadium. In its first year, ticket sales will fall below their projected target as MECA realizes no one is interested in dropping big bucks for the 6-day ride pass, and even fewer want limited-access tickets to the B- and C-list bands playing outside the stadium. Disappointing ticket sales will cause the Red Sky/MECA/Live Nation team to rethink its booking approach. Look for even more mainstream (i.e., country, jam, bland pop) acts lined up for 2012.

— In a year when it needs to differentiate itself from the Red Sky and other outdoor music events, MAHA will take fewer chances than last year for fear of messing up all the good it accomplished in 2010. Instead of forking over big bucks for major indie stars (i.e., Arcade Fire), they’ll go for an easy-access, locally grown act, and ticket sales will suffer. The good news: It’ll wake up organizers and force even riskier behavior in 2012, including the realization that the answer isn’t going to be found at Lewis & Clark Landing, but at a baseball stadium of their own.

— The local interwebs are going to get mighty crowded in ’11, but the fact is, Linoma’s small handful of local music fans don’t need seven or eight different “one-stop-shop” music resources to figure out what to do on Friday nights. Watch as a couple of the online outlets fail to catch traction with readers and lose interest in updating their content, beginning that slow, familiar slide into “404 Not Found” obscurity. Meanwhile, one website will emerge as the true winner of an online war where victory is counted in clicks rather than dollars.

— In a completely unexpected turn, at one least one local over-the-air radio station will take the plunge and commit to a “new music” college format that includes CMJ-caliber indie rock in regular rotation. And it won’t be The River.

— Get those Facebook protest pages ready. Another long-running local music venue will be in danger of being gobbled up by a developer. Can anyone save this lovable dump?

— Despite all the doom and gloom talk about the end of the Compact Disc, Homer’s Records will have one of its best years in recent memory in ’11, and will consider opening a new storefront in Benson.

— Riding high on the new Bright Eyes release and a resurgence of interest in The Mynabirds, Saddle Creek Records will add yet another local band to its roster. Their choice will surprise no one who follows the local music scene.

— I know I say it every year, but this time I mean it: Another band will emerge from Linoma and attract national attention, and it won’t be a Saddle Creek act. Could Nebraska become the next capital of the punk music world?

— Speaking of record labels, watch as another enterprising young businessman comes out of nowhere and launches a new subscription-based vinyl records club like Simon Joyner’s Grapefruit Records, but with a focus on 7-inch singles a la the Sub Pop Singles Club. Sign me up!

— With every other influential old-school local indie band reuniting over the past couple of years, one more will take the stage in ’11, if only for one song. Better dig that guitar out of the closet, Mr. Nansel.

— A new band will add a unique twist to the recent rage over classic ’90s-era rock as its members will consist of musicians who are the progeny of members of one of those classic ’90s-era bands — literally representing the next generation of Nebraska rock.

— Two new live music venues will open in Omaha in ’11. One will be located along an already crowded Maple Street in Benson (and I’m not talking about The Hole). The other will be the first live music venue west of 72nd Street to book serious local and touring indie bands since the good ol’ Ranch Bowl met a wrecking ball.

— Emerging from the bloody carnage of the winter recall election — and flying in the face of record deficits — the City of Omaha will get behind the return of a “youth concert” in Memorial Park that was left bending in the wind during the Suttle administration.

— Lady Gaga will return to Nebraska, and this time she’ll be wearing a pork-chop dress (because pork is the other “white” meat. Get it? Wearing white? GET IT? All right, all right, it’s a stretch)..

— Bright Eyes will once again be nominated for a Grammy, but this time it’ll be for their music. And (surprise) they’ll win.

* * *

Enough!

Like watching the final episode of an Omaha version of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew but done in reverse, tonight is the final evening of Con Dios’ boozy residency at the house of pain we call O’Leaver’s. Barring any personal catastrophes, I, too, will be on hand, along with 100 others, to wish our heroes farewell and good luck as they leave behind a womb littered with spent PBR cans and dirty looks to go out into a scary world and make a name for themselves. Goodbye, Con Dios, and god speed. Opening the show will be O’Leaver’s lifers So-So Sailors (a band destined for great things, you heard it here first on K-TIM). This is must-see TV. Tonight, 9:30 p.m., $5.

Also tonight, Matt Whipkey and his band, The Whipkey Three, will be opening a show at The Waiting Room, along with the rootsy, bluesy, Americana genius of Lincoln’s Son of 76 and the Watchmen, for headliner Voodoo Method. $5, 9 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Cursive at the Waiting Room, 1/18/11

By Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The chatter in the crowd: How old were you when this album came out? Me, I don’t remember. What I do remember is interviewing the band a decade ago in the back room of the USA Baby store just east of 72nd on Dodge St. where Tim Kasher’s mom worked. Kasher had just moved back to Omaha. Ted Stevens had just joined the band. They were a tight, fun, happy bunch singing bitter, angry songs about Kasher’s broken heart. Cursive’s Domestica was the ultimate break-up album, whose cover art featured a young couple in strange, awkward embrace — a couple played by a cute young girl who would become the keyboardist/vocalist of Fortnight (and who looks as cute as ever) and a young guy who would become a Grammy Award winning CD sleeve designer. Domestica would eventually become recognized as Cursive’s epic masterpiece, and songs like “The Martyr” and “The Casualty” would become a permanent part of their set list for the next 10 years.

It didn’t matter if Kasher messed up the opening line of “The Casualty” or if he even remembered the words, because the SRO crowd at The Waiting Room last night spent the evening singing along like an indie rock Greek chorus — a happy soccer mob chanting anthems that have become part of their lives. The set honestly didn’t sound much different than when they first played the album top-to-bottom at Sokol Underground a decade ago. Kasher’s voice certainly hasn’t changed… much. The guitar interplay between Kasher and Stevens — the most distinctive element of the album — was as playfully distorted as ever.  As much as the songs themselves, it was that guitar style that I remember most about that album.

So yes, they played all the songs in order with no pauses or stage banter in between, and that’s just the way the crowd wanted to hear it. It’s a slim set — just a little over a half-hour — and that brevity has helped it age well. But while I have to admit that Casualty/Martyr are one of the best one-two punches in indie rock history, Domestica is not my favorite Cursive album, not anymore. That honor goes to 2003’s The Ugly Organ (which hopefully we’ll hear in its entirety in 2013). Regardless, Domestica is the band’s most important album. It’s the one that pushed them to the next level of national attention, at a time when everyone around the country was just beginning to whisper about what was happening in Omaha.

* * *

The folks at the MAHA Music Festival announced this year’s dates/location — August 13 at Lewis and Clark Landing. The festival remains a one-day event, which makes it more of an all-day concert rather than a festival. Regardless, their growth won’t be contingent on the success or failure of the Red Sky Music Festival, but rather their willingness to take risks and go out on a limb with a line-up that will attract the gaze of the world outside of our city limits. Will they be successful? Come back tomorrow for the final part of this year’s 2011 music predictions and find out…

* * *

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Here are the winners of the Lazy-i Best of 2010 CD sampler:

Elizabeth A. Toepel, Morse Bluff, NE
Adrian Mejorado, Edinburg, TX
Cami Rawlings, Omaha, NE

Congratulations! And thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. See you next year!

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Peace of Shit at O'Leaver's, Jan. 14, 2011.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

How good is the new Peace of Shit cassette? Well, really good, actually, though it sounds (appropriately) like shit in my ’99 Tracker. The poor sound quality has as much to do with my standard-issue cassette player (which makes everything sound like shit) as it does the overblown, tin-can rattle recording. But no matter how dirty it sounds, you can’t keep a song as good as “Out of Our Heads” hidden beneath all the filth, nor can you ignore a line as good as, “I can only do one thing, and that’s drink, without you.” Sounds like frontman Austin Ulmer has had a little of his Digital Leather experience rub off, both in his vocal style and his song structure. Consider this the more punk, less New Wave version of DL (closer to the live DL sound). But amidst all the anger and angst and panic in the streets, there’s room for a ringing little pop song like “Slumber Party” that will have you doing a drunken twist with your chained-up gimp down in your personal basement torture room. Don’t have a cassette player? Doesn’t matter. You should still buy a cassette from the Rainy Road Records website, or from The Antiquarim if the band ever gets around to dropping some copies off down there. It comes with a download code so you can add the digital files to your portable listening device. Those files provide more pristine versions of these songs, but I still prefer the fuzzy, shitty versions coming from my Tracker’s 6 x 9s.

As you would expect, the live version of POS is a different animal than the cassette version. Frontman Ulmer had his paws wrapped around a couple microphones while he mmrrwwrrred the lyrics backed by a 5-piece punk band. Unlike, say, a Shanks show (I went to a fight and a rock show broke out) all the energy was focused directly on the music. Though they’ve only been around for a few months POS has somehow already floated to the top of the punk-rock toilet bowl as one of the best collections of local hard music talent in Omaha. It’s like they’re stars already, sort of. OK, maybe not stars, but a band that deserves more exposure. That is if their name doesn’t hold them back. It’s Ceelo Green all over again. Maybe they should change their name to the less offensive Peace of Poop.

Uh, maybe not…

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Tonight at The Waiting Room, Cursive performs their landmark album Cursive’s Domestica top-to-bottom, beginning-to-end, in honor of the 10-year anniversary of its release. No more needs to be said, except that they performed Domestica in Chicago on New Year’s Eve (review of that show here) and that tonight’s show has been sold out for quite a while now. Lightning Bug opens, show starts at 9 p.m.

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Lazy-i Best of 2010

This is it, the last day for entering the drawing for a copy of the Lazy-i Best of 2010 Sampler CD. Considering the number of entries received so far, your chances are pretty good this year of getting a copy. Just send an e-mail to tim@lazy-i.com with your name and mailing address. Tracks include songs by Arcade Fire, Jenny and Johnny, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Belle and Sebastian, Titus Andronicus, The Mynabirds, A Weather, Zeus, The Black Keys, Pete Yorn and more. Full track listing is here. If you’re lucky enough to win, you’ll also get the new limited edition Lazy-i Sticker to stick on something. Deadline is TODAY. Do it.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.