by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Last night on my way home from work, I drove by Stinson Park at Aksarben Village and noticed that Mercy Street had already been closed. Semi-truck trailers were parked all along the west end of the street near the park, conceivably filled with staging equipment. The handful of workmen on site weren’t scurrying around the park’s fixed stage, but rather they were climbing around the roof and grounds around the bathroom outbuilding next to the stage, I assume finally getting it finished before tomorrow’s big event, the Playing With Fire Concert featuring Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings.

Maybe a better name for the series would be Trial by Fire, because with an estimated crowd of more than 7,000, we’ll see if Stinson Park and the surrounding village can handle such massive numbers. I’m a tad skeptical, having seen how a few hundred looked during last Saturday night’s jazz concert in the park (and that was without all the additional staging and lights that are being hauled in for this massive free (but donations accepted) concert). Needless to say, somewhere in and around the grounds will be the folks who are organizing the MAHA Music Festival, which also moved its day-long Aug. 13 show from the Lewis & Clark Landing to Stinson.

I guess maybe we should just stick with the Playing with Fire moniker as temperatures could be in the 90s at showtime. The details:

Gates open at 4 p.m. Free parking will be available at the parking garage at 64th & Center. You can bring lawn chairs, blankets and sunscreen, but leave your pets, coolers and outside drinks at home. Opening bands include Crimson Dawn, Brad Cordle Band, and Malford Milligan. So if I’m doing my math correctly, Sharon Jones & Dap Kings probably won’t hit the stage until around 8 p.m. The concert is scheduled to end at 11, according to the Playing with Fire website.

So that’s one of the big concerts this weekend. The other is the Omaha Girls Rock! Showcase at The Slowdown, also on Saturday night. The showcase will feature one original song from each of the six bands at this year’s rock camp, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The bands’ fantastic names are: Cherrybombs, The Jellybeans, I Just Don’t Like Trees, Mischief Managed, Urban Scrunchies and Pandas Of Peace. Also on the bill are Honeybee & Hers, Jessica Errett, Arrica Rose and Tara Vaughan. Of course your entire $5 ticket price will go to the 2012 Omaha Girls Rock Camp. I have this image that the show will somehow resemble the battle of the bands scene from Jack Black’s School of Rock. It should be a blast.

What about the rest of the weekend?

Tonight’s marquee show also is at The Slowdown. San Francisco’s The Fresh and Onlys (In the Red Records) plays with so-called sunshinecore/no coast act Bad Weather California, and the always amazing $olid Goldberg. $10, 9 p.m.

O’Leaver’s has Saturn Moth tonight with Mother Of All and The Beatseekers. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And over at The Barley Street Tavern it’s Thunder Power with The Benningtons and Talking Mountain. $5, 9 p.m.

Saturday night has the recently lauded-in-Lazy-i band Well Aimed Arrows playing at The Sandbox, 2406 Leavenworth, with The Fungi Girls (HoZac Records) and Eric in Outer Space. Find out more here. $5, 8 p.m.

And Omaha legacy band Such Sweet Thunder has another reunion show Saturday night at Venue 162, 162 West Broadway in Council Bluffs. 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.