Jeremy Messersmith at Slowdown Jr. in May 2010.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Minnesota singer/songwriter Jeremy Messersmith, who played a solo set with The Mynabirds at Slowdown Jr. last May (2010, review here), returns to Slowdown tonight, but expect something completely different.

“The show tonight will be much much different than the last time I played at The Slowdown, mainly because I’m bringing a band with me,” Messersmith said via e-mail. “It’ll be a mix of ’60s (influenced) rock with a bit of fingerpicking guitar songs, too (I have to keep my singer-songwriter credentials). Oh, and no looping pedals this time!”

Backing up Messersmith is Peter Sieve from the band Rogue Valley on guitar, Alex Young on drums, and Ben Rosenbush on cello, bass, keys.

The tour is in support of his 2010 release, The Relunctant Graveyard, which is sort of a concept album about death performed from a very sunny, pop-music perspective. You can download it on a “pay-what-you want” basis here. If you’re wondering about his business model, read my 2010 interview with Jeremy, where he talks about why he self-releases and offers his music for download.

“Also, I think we’ll be doing a cover of The Magnetic Fields tune ‘Epitaph for My Heart.’ Y’know, to stick with the whole death and dying bit o’ sunshine,” Messersmith said. “I’ll probably try out a new song or two, kinda depends on the vibe, if people are really listening.”

He asked if I had any requests, and I told him I’d love to hear “Virginia,” from his 2008 album The Silver City, which happens to be one of my favorite records. You can also download that one online, here. Make sure you throw some cash into his digital hat.

Opening for Messersmith is Ted Wulfers, In Love. $8, 9 p.m. Attendance is required.

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Tomorrow: The 2Q’11 CD review round-up.

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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

You may or may not know this, but Lazy-i has a comment feature. It’s located right at the end of each day’s post. You simply click on the “Comment” link and voila, you’ve got a space to espouse your own opinions about whatever it is I’ve been talking about.

Some of you made good use of that comment feature on yesterday’s blog entry, specifically commenting on the news that local band The Big Deep won the “popular vote” at last weekend’s OEAA Summer Showcase, and as a result, was named to open the MAHA Music Festival on Aug. 13. Some were not pleased; one person, OEAA Board Member MarQ Manner, rushed to defend MAHA’s process. You can read all the comments right here.

I’ve avoided the fray on all this, except for Friday’s blog entry where I once again kicked a dead horse over the lack of signed local bands participating in the OEA showcase. Chatting this weekend with three bands that turned down offers to play the showcase, it came down to this: 1) It wasn’t a paying gig. They all said they’ve played benefits before, but didn’t consider the OEAA’s award banquet to be a “charity”; 2) A couple bands said they didn’t “fit in” with the rest of the OEAA bands — interpret that any way you want, and 3) All understood that by playing the OEAA showcase they could win a slot to play at the MAHA Music Festival (which they’d all love to do), but knew that they had absolutely no chance of winning the “contest” (and they were absolutely right). There was also considerable loathing of the idea of bands “battling” each other. Actually, I don’t know anyone who likes the battle of the bands concept, other than Manner and the bars who put on such events and probably The Big Deep and, of course, the MAHA organizers, and MECA and the Red Sky people.

OEAA organizers could solve the problem of not being able to attract “signed” local bands to their showcase. They could name one “headliner” per night per venue, and pay them. An unrealistic suggestion I suppose, but all three bands said they would have played the showcase for a few hundred bucks — a small fee to pay for credibility. So would all the other bands who agreed to play for free cry foul? Maybe. Maybe not. Without such a system, however, OEAA leaves out a huge segment of the Omaha music community, and defines itself as a purely amateur event.

As for the comments about MAHA’s selection of The Big Deep, well, you can’t hate on the band for winning. That said, the commenter named “Mike” made an excellent point. “I doubt that the fans that came out to (the OEA Showcase) to see The Big Deep are going to shell out $30 to see them at Maha, and Indreama fans wouldn’t have shelled out $30 just for Indreama (or whoever… just wanted a name of a band for an example), but the Indreama fan is more likely to have a ticket and might show up earlier, buying more food, more beer and being seen by show sponsors…” So true.

Don’t agree? Add a comment…

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Tonight at The Waiting Room one of Omaha’s most beloved (and talented) singer/songwriters, Brad Hoshaw, and his band The Seven Deadlies opens for Portland folk duo Blind Pilot. $10, 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.

Big Harp at Slowdown Jr., July 8, 2011.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Just as one would expect at the local debut of the label’s latest signing, it was a virtual Saddle Creek homecoming at the Big Harp show Friday night at Slowdown Jr. Chris Senseney started the set all by himself with his guitar before being joined by wife Stefanie and a drummer who I’m told used to play with him in Baby Walrus.

You wouldn’t have known that this was only the second time The Senseneys performed under the Big Harp banner. They were completely at ease with the material, as if they’d been playing these songs for years (and who knows, maybe they have, in the privacy of their El Lay living room). On stage the more upbeat story songs had an extra dimension of assertive cool, an undisputed sinister swing and bounce. Chris’ voice glowed with a throaty brio, matched in swagger only by his fret-burning guitar work (lest we all had forgotten what a fantastic musician Mr. Senseney is on a variety of instruments). It’s a golden needle of a voice that could catch on with a larger crowd if only it were discovered in the 10,000-foot-high haystack we call the music industry. We’ll have to see what kind of publicity Saddle Creek can muster upon tBig Harp’s debut release Sept. 13. Someone get Pitchfork on the phone…

Dim Light at The Sydney, part of the OEAA Summer Showcase, July 9, 2011.

Saturday night was spent at the second evening of the OEAA Summer Showcase in Benson, the highlights of which included Dim Light at The Sydney and Blue Rosa at The Waiting Room.  I’m told the crowds in general were larger on Friday night. There were only 30 or so in The Sydney and only a few more than that at TWR. Burke’s Pub, where I saw Manny Coon, was the most crowded room of the evening, but still only had 30 or 40 people total.

Finally, this morning the MAHA organizers announced that the winner of the talent contest portion of the OEAA showcase was The Big Deep. The band, whose music I’ve never heard before, received the most public votes among all the acts performing, and has earned the opening slot at this year’s MAHA Music Festival. And with that, MAHA’s lineup is finally complete.

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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.

The Get-Up Kids at The Waiting Room, July 7, 2011.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I was a bit surprised at the turnout for last night’s Get-Up Kids show at The Waiting Room. The band’s heyday was almost a decade ago. They broke up in the mid-’00s. And even at their height, they were never on my shortlist of important indie bands, veering more closely to the “alternative rock” / AP-style power-pop emo rock bands that Vagrant loved so much back then. That style of “emo” — some might say true emo — always felt more adolescent that indie rock, perfect for 18-year-olds (as GUK’s Rob Pope said). Nothing wrong with that, except that such style of music tends not to age so well.  Anyway, I figured their fans had forgotten them or moved past their music, but lo and behold, there were around 100 people at last night’s show, a testament to just how popular GUK was back in the day.

The Globes at The Waiting Room, 7/7/11.

I got to the club at around 9:30 when I discovered the second opening band, The Globes, were already well into their set — uh-oh, the start time was 8 p.m., not 9 p.m. as I said yesterday. Apologies to anyone who showed up late (the good news — it would be an early evening). The Globes recently signed to once-trendy Pacific Northwest label Barsuk, original home of Death Cab for Cutie and Rilo Kiley, among others, so I was curious if they carried on those bands’ tradition. They didn’t. Though a solid band with a terrific rhythm section, I’d classify them as indie prog bordering on noise-rock with tiny peeps of melody trying to escape through the cracks, despite having two pretty good vocalists that weren’t afraid to harmonize. The Globes are one of those bands where, moments after a song ends you couldn’t recall the central melody (if there even was one). That said, it’s not the kind of music you’re going to “get” in one listen (especially if that first listen is from in front of the stage). I think there’s something interesting hidden in all those time-shifts and chord changes, but I don’t know if I have the patience to find out what it is.

The Get-Up Kids came on at around 10:30, looking older and wiser and more confident than I remember them from the old days. Their music hasn’t changed much. Even their new stuff has that roaring anthemic lilt, like a Midwestern indie combination of Green Day and Weezer, but without either of those bands’ knack for hooks. Never being a big fan of the band, I couldn’t tell you which songs were oldies and which were new, though the crowd obviously knew the difference, occasionally bursting with applause to a familiar opening riff. The best moments were songs that leaned more on synth lines rather than riffage, though after a few songs everything began to blend into one long alt-rock tune that their fans obviously loved.

* * *

It’s a busy weekend for music. The highlight is the Omaha debut of Saddle Creek Records’ newest act, Big Harp, tonight at Slowdown Jr. I suspect that the crowd will be rife with familiar faces as it will be a homecoming of sorts for The Senseneys. Opening is Kansas City/Lawrence Americana band The Grisly Hand and local favorites Gus & Call (ex-Bear Country, get there early for their set). $8, 9 p.m.

The other big event of the weekend is, of course, The Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards Summer Showcase in Benson tonight and tomorrow night. The program is the same as in year’s past — bands will be playing all night in five Benson clubs — The Sydney, The Waiting Room, Burke’s Pub, The Barley Street and PS Collective — starting at 8 p.m. A $10 wristband gets you into all the clubs all night, or you can buy 2-night access for $15.  The full schedule is in Facebook, here.

As in year’s past, one band among the 55 participating will be voted via public ballot to play the “local stage” at this year’s MAHA Music Festival at Stinson Park / Aksarben Village Aug. 13.

Also as in year’s past, the bands performing are of a, shall we say, “Benson flavor.” Once again  there are no representatives from the city’s important, progressive records labels — i.e., no bands from Speed! Nebraska, Saddle Creek Records, Rainy Road, Doom Town, Grotto or Slumber Party Records — nor any of the first-tier acts who are on other labels or are looking for labels, such as So-So Sailors, Conduits, Icky Blossoms, Little Brazil, Digital Leather, etc.  This continues to be a MAJOR problem with the entire OEAA program, which is supposed to be celebrating the best bands in the area. But the organizers don’t care, nor do the clubs, who are getting their usual two-nights’ worth of free entertainment on their stages.

I know, I know…that big ugly thing lying in the middle of the road is a dead horse, and all I’m doing is kicking it again… As I told one person who was bitching about the OEAAs the other night at O’Leavers — it is what it is. No, the area’s best talent is not represented at their showcase, but it’s still a good time if only to be able to bump around Maple St. from club to club all night. The only thing that would make it better (besides, of course, involving the area’s best bands) would be closing down Maple St. altogether and turning Benson into a giant beer garden so you could take your drinks with you from club to club.

Speaking of O’Leaver’s, tomorrow night (Saturday) McCarthy Trenching plays everyone’s favorite drunk-tank, with Lincoln band Kill County. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Then Sunday night, Deleted Scenes returns to O’Leaver’s with Landing on the Moon. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Finally, it’s another blast-from-the-past Sunday night when another old Vagrant band, Alkaline Trio, headlines a show at The Slowdown with Smoking Popes. $18/$20 DOS, show starts at 8.

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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.

Big Harp

Column 331: Big Harp: One Attempt at a Perfect Life

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Somewhere on a sun-baked highway in Southern California drives the Senseney family. Presumably in a mini-van.

Behind the wheel is father, Chris, navigating the straight-arrow route from their home in Los Angeles to Palm Springs. His wife, Stefanie Drootin-Senseney, leans over and adjusts a strap on the car seat that holds baby Twila, age 11 months, while brother Hank, who will be 3 in September, cranes his little neck toward the window, waiting for the giants to appear.

The giants in Hank’s world stand upright, one right next to the other, each with three heads that spin around a single eye, all facing the same direction like a row of sentries guarding the hilltops.

“Hank wanted to see the windmills that make electricity,” Chris said. “We found them, and he was happy at first, but he didn’t like it that we couldn’t go into the windmills.”

Golden family moments like this are one of the reasons the Senseneys moved to Los Angeles.

The story began three years ago in Omaha. Chris was the frontman to arty folk-rock band Baby Walrus, as well as a sideman in a handful of other acts including Art in Manila and Flowers Forever. Stefanie played bass in Saddle Creek Records band The Good Life as well as in her own project, Consafos.

“We’d seen each other around Omaha,” Chris said, “but we didn’t really know each other until the tour.” The tour was a joint road trip between Art in Manila and The Good Life. “It just kind of happened. We kind of hung out during the tour, now here we are with all these babies.”

Their move to Los Angeles was driven more by convenience than rock ‘n’ roll. Stephanie’s parents live out there, an eager pair of babysitters. Chris’ home in Valentine, Nebraska, also was an option, but “there’s not much of a music scene there,” Chris said.

Music wasn’t on his mind much at first, anyway. Perhaps out of a sense of duty or roll-playing tradition, Chris got fitted with a cubicle inside an LA advertising agency, where he joined the legions of Americans who toil behind a computer from 9 to 5.  Still, he never quit writing music.

Big Harp, self-titled debut (2011, Saddle Creek Records)

“It seemed to make more sense to at least make another record and put it out and tour on it and see what happens,” he said. And so, Chris and Stephanie created Big Harp, and fleshed out Chris’ simple story ballads, sung with a smoky, throaty yowl similar to Mr. T. Waits or Mr. R. Newman or Mr. D. Berman or Mr. S. Merritt. They got their friend, Pierre de Reeder of Rilo Kiley fame — whose daughter is around Hank’s age — to let them use his studio and record their songs over the course of three days.

They sent the recording around to some labels and got a few bites, but it was their old friends at Saddle Creek Records who took the bait. “There was some back and forth,” Chris said. “They wanted to make sure we were willing to tour and do other things bands do.”

And so, on Sept. 13 Saddle Creek Records will release the debut full length by Big Harp, but before that happens…

Somewhere on a sun-baked Midwestern highway drives the Senseney family headed to Omaha. Presumably in a mini-van.

Sharing the back seat with Hank and Twila is a drummer, and maybe one more band member, along with someone charged with looking after the kids when mom and dad are on stage. Just like their search for the windmill giants, touring is a family affair.

“We’ll try to have one of our moms along or try to find a friend who can come with us,” Chris said of the tour logistics. “We’re going to do whatever we can to make it work. It’s not the easiest thing to do with kids, it’s a little harder, but we can manage. The only concern is we’re going to have to make more stops along the way, and we’re not going to be sleeping on people’s floors. It’s going to be more of a production, but that’s okay. I think it’ll be fun.”

In some ways, Friday night’s show at The Slowdown is a return to the scene of the crime, though Stephanie has made trips back and forth between Omaha and L.A. to coordinate her new project, Omaha Girls Rock (omahagirlsrock.com), a much-needed organization focused on providing support for girls who want to try their hand at making rock music. Helping her is an army of the area’s best talent — members of Omaha’s tight-knit creative community who are more like an extended family, a type of family that doesn’t exist for them in L.A. It’s something that the Senseney’s have learned to live without.

“It’s different now, we have our own family,” Chris said. “Most of the creativity stuff happens at home. I’m doing this with my wife, someone who’s always around me. We have each other to work with; we have our own creative community.”

Life for the Senseney family seems, well, kind of perfect.

“I don’t know if it’s perfect,” Chris said, “but we’re all really happy where we are right now. We’re looking forward to getting the record out, hitting the road and bringing the kids along, and seeing if we can make it perfect.”

Big Harp plays with The Grisly Hand and Gus & Call Friday, July 8, at The Slowdown, 729 No. 14th St. The show starts at 9 p.m., tickets are $7. For more information, go to theslowdown.com.

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I first interviewed Kansas City self-proclaimed emo band The Get-Up Kids way back in 2002 when they were arguably at the height of their popularity (you can read that story here). Three years later the band called it quits after a decade in the business. A year after that, I interviewed then-former Get-Up Kid Rob Pope as a member of Merge Records band White Whale (read that one here). When asked if he still listens to his Get-Up Kids output, Pope said he hadn’t. “I’m sure I will at some point for novelty’s sake,” he said. “The last time I did listen to it, it took me back to when I was 18, which was cool. I still appreciate music I listened to when I was that old, but, really, do you listen to the music you listened to when you were 18?”

Well, Rob, now not only will you get to listen to it again, you’re getting to play it again, as the band has reunited with a new album released this past January called There Are Rules out on their own Quality Hill Records imprint (rather than old label, Vagrant). Now you, too, can relive those 18-year-old memories all over again tonight when The Get-Up Kids play at The Waiting Room with The Globes and Major Games. $19, 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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yesterday’s blog post that talked about Playing With Fire’s move to Aksarben Village now also applies to the MAHA Music Festival. MAHA organizers announced yesterday afternoon that they’re following PWF’s lead and moving to Stinson Park / Aksarben Village for their Aug. 13 event.

There is a major difference between these two events, however. Playing With Fire is a free concert. The MAHA Music Festival is a $30 ticket. How does MAHA keep freeloaders from just watching and listening from the sidelines? That was one of the questions posed to MAHA Festival organizer Tre Brashear.  And here are his answers:

The view from the fixed stage at Stinson Park / Aksarben Village.

Lazy-i: I assume there will be a fence that surrounds the Stinson Park compound? Will it circle just the park area?

Brashear: Yes, we will have an 8- foot-high privacy fence (i.e., can’t see through) that will encircle the entirety of the park (including Center St. and Papio Creek sides).  However, we will expand fence to include Mercy St. between Aksarben Dr. and 67th St. so that that portion of the street will be part of the MAHA grounds.

How will you be able to keep freeloaders from simply watching/listening to the concert from outside the fence?

First and foremost, we’ve tried to keep our ticket price low enough that people can afford to attend.  After all, part of the festival experience comes from being in the crowd, feeling the energy, dancing with your friends, etc., so standing around listening will never be as good as being there.  Also, given our nonprofit status, we are hopeful that people will “want” to actually buy a ticket in order to be supportive and help us grow the event in future years.

That said, we are realists and know that people will always look for a chance to take advantage, but we’ve spent enough time at the site and evaluating the sight lines that we feel comfortable that the 8-foot fence will prevent anyone from being able to watch the show without paying.  As for listening, we can’t prevent that.  However, people who are content merely to listen probably weren’t going to buy a ticket anyway.

Will you be able to block off Mercy St. for the event? Where do you intend to set up vendors?

Yes, Mercy St. will be fenced in and included as part of the festival grounds between Aksarben Dr. and 67th St.  Part of the street will be used for our production activities and the other part will house some of our vendor and sponsor tents.

Have you brokered deals for parking either at UNO or in the parking garages?

We have access to the entire parking garage immediately to the east of the park as well as an open area to the northeast, so we will have enough parking for everyone within two blocks of the festival.  Also, the fact that Aksarben Village is both on a bike trail and within walking distance for many of our fans will cut down on some of our parking needs.

Is there a forced noise ordinance to deal with? A concert cut-off time?

There is no noise ordinance specifically.  Only specific requirement is that we be done by 11 p.m., which would be the same anywhere we went within city limits, so that is when the show will end.

Lighting/PA-wise, what will you need to bring in to make it work?

From a music/lighting/performance standpoint, we are going to have bring in all the same equipment that we had to bring in at the Landing, so that’s not a big change.  However, we are upgrading our local stage from last year with better sound and lighting and inclusion of a roof and backdrop.

What’s the biggest challenge about making Stinson work for MAHA?

Besides the general need to encourage people to buy a ticket and not plan to freeload, we suspect our biggest challenge will come after the show is over because we have to have everything cleaned up and moved out before the Aksarben Village Farmer’s Market on Sunday morning.  We can do it (or we wouldn’t be there), but it’s certainly going to be a hassle and make for a long night.

With an expected crowd about half the size of PWF’s, MAHA probably won’t have to worry about getting everyone comfortably inside that 8-foot-high fence. In fact, MAHA will have the advantage of learning from whatever mistakes PWF makes at its show, which is just a week from Saturday.

Moving to Aksarben Village appears to be a home run for everyone involved, and some might consider it a sizable upgrade. Parking will be easier and cheaper, Aksarben Village businesses will be introduced to some new clientele, it just seems like the whole thing will have more of a festival, community atmosphere. The only apparent downside is freeloaders, but there won’t be a lot of room for them to roam around outside the compound. And like Brashear said (though more tactfully) those cheap bastards weren’t going to buy a ticket to the show anyway.

Speaking of which, have you bought your ticket yet? For just $30 you get Guided By Voices, Matisyahu, Cursive, J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), The Reverend Horton Heat and newcomers The Envy Corp along with So-So Sailors, The Machete Archive, Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship, Somasphere and one more band TBD this weekend at the OEA Summer Showcase in Benson. Plus booze and food vendors galore. Find out more, get tickets or volunteer at the MAHA website.

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Tomorrow: An interview with Saddle Creek Record’s newest band, Big Harp.

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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.

Cheap Trick at Memorial Park, July 1, 2011.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yeah, I know. Cheap Trick ain’t exactly “indie.” And looking over my record collection I realize I own all of zero Cheap Trick records. But as someone pointed out, why would I need to buy any since all their best songs are played in regular rotation on Z-92? If I need a Cheap Trick fix (or Zeppelin fix or AC/DC fix) I always can turn it to the Z for an hour for a helping of “The Flame” or “Surrender” or “The Dream Police.”

That said, Cheap Trick was always one of the cooler radio bands of the ’70s. Certainly cooler than REO Speedwagon or Journey. The chance to see them for free Friday night — and just a few blocks from my house — well, I’d be stupid to turn that down.

The impact of moving the Memorial Park concert stage from the “west bowl” — where it’s always been held as long as I can remember — to the north side of the park was immediate. In year’s past, wife-beater-pulling-a-cooler traffic began as early as noon on show day. Not this year. In fact, if someone had been searching for a parking space, there were plenty down by my house — unheard of in years past.

But the best part of the shift was seen at the park itself. With the stage now located on the much larger south end of the park there was ample room for the toothless to roam and sit and watch the show without having to trample someone’s precious bedspread compound. Paths were cardoned off with plastic snow fence, allowing anyone to walk unimpeded all the way to the soundboard only a few yards from the stage — another impossibility in past years. Everything just seemed bigger and better and… cleaner. Bravo to Bank of the West and whoever else was responsible for this year’s changes.

I didn’t get to the park until 8:30, well clear of .38 Special. Shortly after arrival at the standing area near the soundboard, Cheap Trick came prancing on stage and ripped into a set of every one of their radio oldies that I know. Intermixed was new material which fit in well with the old stuff — a testimony to the band’s continued creative output. Seeing as we will never hear this new stuff on the Z, I may actually have to run out and buy a copy if I want to hear any of it again.

Unlike some of the legacy bands playing at this year’s Red Sky Festival (Journey, 10,000 Maniacs), Cheap Trick has maintained its core structure of vocalist Robin Zander and guitarist/madman Rick Nielsen. Zander, wearing his usual Dream Police costume, sounded fantastic for a guy pushing 60. In fact, he managed to keep his voice pushing those high notes all the way through an encore of “Gonna Raise Hell,” a song that would tax even the youngest karaoke yodeler. All-in-all, a fantastic show by a band that helped define arena rock in the ’70s.

* * *

The view from the fixed stage at Stinson Park in Aksarben Village. How many people will it hold?

So the question is, how much will it hold?

I’m talking about Stinson Park in Aksarben Village where it was announced a week or so ago that this year’s Playing With Fire concert will be held July 16. The concert, featuring Sharon Jones and the Dapkings, was moved due to the flooding of Lewis and Clark Landing. Jeff Davis, PWF’s organizer, would like to see attendance exceed 7,000, which could very well happen. But will they all fit comfortably in Stinson?

The Stinson Park fixed stage.

Having never really explored the area before, after having a lunch at one of the eateries in Aksarben Village Saturday, I walked over to Stinson Park, which is just west of the main businesses and along the south side of Mercy Road to get a glimpse of the stage. It looks like a prime set-up, especially if Davis can get them to close Mercy Road and use that area for concessions and beer tents. How the additional  lights and PA equipment will fit on the hill should be interesting.

* * *

Tonight, of course, is The Black Keys at Stir Concert Cove. How will the Stir folks manage the parking problems that have arisen due to flooding? I’m told the bus/shuttles didn’t work so well at Mumford & Sons a few weeks ago. Hopefully they’ve figured it all out. Good luck to those of you who got tickets to this long sold out show. Opening is Cage the Elephant. Show starts at 8.

As for the rest of us, there’s always All Young Girls Are Machine Guns playing at O’Leaver’s tonight with 19 Action News and Moscow Mule. $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.

Grant Hart at The Waiting Room, June 30, 2011.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

There were those who were disappointed at the turnout for last night’s Grant Hart show at The Waiting Room, me among them. But the crowd of only around 40 wasn’t a huge surprise. There virtually was no press for the show, and Hart’s music — both solo and as a member of Husker Du and Nova Mob — has never had a home on local radio. In fact the number of those who remember Husker Du — and who still go out to shows — is getting smaller and smaller.

Fizzle Like a Flood at The Waiting Room, 6/30/11.

The night began with a solo set from Doug Kabourek performing as Fizzle Like A Flood, the name he used for a number of very cool records that came out in late ’90s and early ’00s. Kabourek has performed for the past couple years as At Land, but is revising the old name, presumably because his new music is in the dreamy, sore-hearted Fizzle style. Alone with his acoustic guitar, Kabourek played a split set — half the songs from his new record, the other half golden oldies. And just like that it felt like 1998 all over again, though Kabourek is a much better guitarist and singer than he used to be in the old days. His new songs have that classic Fizzle lilt and heart-on-sleeve appeal. With a high, soaring and sometimes nasal voice, Kabourek is setting himself up as Omaha’s version of John Darnielle a.k.a. The Mountain Goats. I have to wonder if, like on his classic Fizzle albums, he’ll use 20-some tracks to record these new songs. We’ll have to wait and see.

Students of Crime at The Waiting Room, 6/30/11.

Next up was Bob Thornton’s Students of Crime, a gritty, twanging, punky rock band that was a good fit for a Husker Du night. This is the most straight-ahead band that Thornton has ever been a part of — short, poppy rock songs that lean heavy on the hooks and the band’s rock-solid rhythm section. Thornton has a good voice whether he knows it or not, spending too much time apologizing for it on stage. One of the set’s highlights was a new song just recorded for a 10-inch multi-band compilation being released in support of the Speed! Nebraska Adult Soapbox Derby July 23 at Seymour Smith Park and O’Leaver’s. I don’t know what it was called, but I do know it was about going fast.

Finally, onto an empty stage came Grant Hart with just an electric guitar, an amp and a microphone. I guess I expected a band to back him, I don’t know why. Instead, Hart stood on point and played a 45-minute (or so) set of songs that spanned his solo work, Nova Mob and flecked with Husker Du classics.

The mostly seated crowd stared mesmerized as Hart went from one song to the next without pause. A smattering of applause greeted him when he dived into Husker classic “No Promise I Have Made.” It wasn’t until the end of the set that he started opening up and talking to the audience about Iowa and medical marijuana and missing his cats.

I thought he might end his set and leave, but he was coaxed back on stage for en encore that started with “Flexible Flyer,” before taking requests. Someone yelled out “Diane,” but he said he doesn’t play that one anymore, that it was a bummer trip. Instead, someone yelled “The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill,” and off he roared. Next, someone yelled “Evergreen Memorial Drive” and off he went again. Finally he ended the night with “My Regrets,” the closer from his most recent solo album Hot Wax.

Whether you knew his solo material or were just waiting for the next Husker song, you got the feeling that you were watching something special. Will there ever be a Husker Du reunion? Despite being an enormous payday for Hart, Mould and Norton, something tells me if it hasn’t happened already, it probably never will. That being the case, shows like last night’s and Bob Mould’s ongoing book reading acoustic tour (which I wish someone would bring to Omaha) are the closest thing we’ll ever get to hearing those classic Husker songs again.

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If you’ve driven by 60th and Dodge in the past couple of days you’ve seen the enormous stage that has been erected for tonight’s Cheap Trick concert in Memorial Park. How the distraction won’t leave Dodge Street in absolute gridlock is beyond me. Luckily I don’t have to worry about it since I live walking distance to the park.

Remember that contest they held for a local band to open the show? Well, the winner was Take Me to Vegas, a band no one’s ever heard of. Nice job, Bank of the West. Oh well, it’s not entirely their fault. I was told by a couple bands who considered entering the contest that the legal stipulations attached to the show were far too much for what it was worth.

Anyway, the concert in the park kicks off at 6 with the winner, followed by .38 Special and finally Cheap Trick, who probably won’t get on stage until around 8:30, leading up to the after-show fireworks. Expect a mammoth crowd eruption during “Surrender.”

Another classic band, The Meat Puppets, also is playing tonight, this time at The Waiting Room. I saw them play a couple years ago at SXSW and was impressed with the sheer intensity of their set. You (probably) won’t be disappointed. Opening is The Whipkey Three. $14, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night promises to be another “memorable” show at O’Leaver’s. It’s a warmup for The Fucking Party, who are about to head out on tour. Joining them is Qing Jao (featuring Bob Thornton) and Yuppies. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Have a good 4th…

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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.