by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A non-musical tangent: This week’s column in The Reader is about Yelp. You can read it online right here. (BTW, it looks like Over the Edge has stuck as the column name.)

A brief addendum to the column: Within 24 hours of posting my review of Lot 2 in Yelp, I received an email from the restaurant’s owner/operator, Brad Marr, thanking me for the criticism and wishing I had talked to him personally so he could address the issues. Marr said they’ve taken measures to address problems with heat and noise (though beyond stapling carpet remnants on the ceiling, I’m not sure what they could do). After asking that I come back and try Lot 2 again, Marr added that he took offense at my description of our server as being “elfin,” which he called “offensive.” I guess in Marr’s world elfin means “trollish” or “ogre-like.” I’ve always considered “elfin” a term of endearment for people who are strangely, unworldly attractive. I guess Marr was thinking of the Keebler type of elf rather than the Elrond/Arwen type as seen in The Lord of the Rings films. Regardless, I struck “elfin” from the write-up. These days any physical description of anyone is considered unacceptable, at least in more sophisticated circles than I travel in. You can read the Lot 2 review here.

Marr’s almost immediate reaction to the review sort of proves the strange power and reach of Yelp, and how much restaurants pay attention to it. On the other hand, it may also reflect the almost total lack of critical discussion outside the social media arena. That said, there are 19 reviews of Lot 2 in Yelp, and almost all of them give the restaurant a rating of 4-stars or higher, which would seem to indicate that my 2-star experience was unique. Everyone in Benson wants Lot 2 to succeed (including me), and what better way to help them along than by writing a 5-star review…?

There’s nothing quite like Yelp in the local music world — a place where fans can throw bouquets or turds at bands and their music. The closest thing we have is SLAMOmaha.com, but no one takes it seriously, as almost all of the comments on SLAM are anonymous, and as a result, useless.

Speaking of anonymous comments, yesterday’s blog post attracted a couple real doozies, which you won’t be reading on my website. While I do allow anonymous comments on my blog, I don’t if they include personal attacks or make direct accusations. Anonymous criticism is okay, but it’s spineless to call someone a name or accuse them of something without putting your own name behind the comment.

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Tickets are still available for tonight’s Shins show at Stir Concert Cove at Harrah’s in Council Bluffs. Opening is The Antlers and Blind Pilot. Tix are $35, and the show begins at 7.

Also tonight, it’s the return of Against Me! at The Slowdown with The Icarus Line and Sky Road Fly. Against Me’s front person, Tom Gabel, performed for the first time as Laura Jane Grace this past weekend in San Diego. Read the Rolling Stone review of the show here. From the write-up: “I was worried that some people expected me to come out looking like Little Bo Peep or something,” Grace said after the show while hanging out at the merch table with her wife, Heather. Talk about courage. $15, early 8 p.m. start time.

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by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Comments from a blog post on Lazy-i last week raised the eyebrows of one Mike App, the gentleman responsible for booking the local stage at this year’s Maha Music Festival.

The blog post outlined Maha’s announcement of the remaining main stage acts, along with the local stage line-up: Icky Blossoms, The Mynabirds, UUVVWWZ, Universe Contest and Eli Mardock. A sixth band will be selected by popular vote from performers at an Omaha Entertainment and Arts (OEA) showcase to be held in the near future.

Among those commenting was a Lazy-i reader named “Jake” who had issue with the local band selection, saying that many bands who have played OEA showcases “for free” in the past have never made the Maha cut. “To see so many Saddle Creek acts is just a poor choice,” Jake said, adding, “Once again Maha has picked their friends to play along with Garbage (yuck) and left out all the bands who have played their fundraiser and supported them…” You can read his comments and others’ at the bottom of this post.

Before we get to Mike App’s response I should point out that Maha is never going to please everyone, and shouldn’t try. There always will be bands in the line-up that someone doesn’t like, whether on the local or national stage. Jake’s larger complaint is that some bands he likes (and he lists them) have yet to play Maha (and Jake has pretty good taste).

But such is the way of the world. I’ve asked Maha to book Digital Leather on the local stage for a few years. It’ll likely never happen, and it’s (probably) partially my fault because I’m the one who pointed out DL’s content (especially on earlier albums) isn’t exactly “family friendly,” with songs like “Slut” and “Studs in Love” and the irresistible “Please Be Quiet” (with its lovely chorus, “Shut the fuck up.”). But who ever said rock ’n’ roll should be safe? In the end, I have no idea why DL isn’t playing Maha, but I never thought it had anything to do with App or any of the Maha people “picking their friends,” and App inasmuch reiterates that in his response:

“The local stage (selection) started out as a battle of the bands format, but based on input from the music community — including two of the most vocal opponents, Tim McMahan and Kevin Coffey — we responded and shifted course to the format we employ today,” App wrote. “This year we allowed six different organizations the opportunity to make those selections.

— “OEAA ‘popularity contest’ format during the Benson showcases each summer selects the Maha opener.

— “Maha board selects the local stage closer/headliner, which is based on lots of input from the likes of (Tim McMahan), Chris Aponick, Kevin Coffey, Andy Norman, Kent Wolgamott and anyone else who wants to weigh in. We listen. In our four years that’s been It’s True, Satchel Grande, Somasphere and Icky Blossoms.

— “The managers at Waiting Room, Slowdown, Duffy’s and Bourbon each suggest 3-4 bands, from which Maha and Hear Nebraska representatives sit down to discuss and select. The input received when making the Maha board selection also goes into this decision. BUT, if the tavern manager does not suggest a band, we don’t have the ability to discuss it.

— “Maha is underwritten and driven by the community. We have tried our damnedest to engage broad swaths of that community when forming and shaping Maha. This present format provides Maha with more stakeholders than if we selected all the bands ourselves. We think this works.”

App pointed out that bands chosen by Maha local stage acts to play curated showcases get free tickets to Maha, but no assurance that they’ll be considered for the local stage in coming years. He agreed that he digs the bands that Jake lists. “All are crazy good bands that represent Omaha and Lincoln at such a high level,” he said. “We might be able to tweak our process to figure out how to get these bands and others like them engaged in Maha.”

He’s open to suggestions, but the fact is, as I said, he and the rest of the Maha board will never please everyone. No “process” will ever do that. As a whole, I think it’s a strong local stage line-up, albeit slightly heavy on Lincoln bands, but so what? Yes, three out of the five bands are Saddle Creek acts, but it would be hard to argue against any of them and the size of their fanbase compared to some of the bands Jake lists. Maha is trying to sell tickets, after all, and while none of the local acts by themselves will generate ticket sales, they may be enough to tip the scale for those on the fence trying to decide whether to drop $35 per ticket.

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Tomorrow, some off-topic comments about Yelp, restaurant criticism (and criticism in general) and Lot 2.

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The Rebates at The Brothers Lounge, May 26, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The Brothers Lounge turned into a punk-rock old folks home Saturday night for the big Rebates reunion, and I can say that without fear of reprisals since I was one of those old folks. Still, even I’m too young to remember The Rebates on their first go ’round circa sometime in the late ’70s. Back then I was busy tipping cows in Ft. Calhoun, listening to Zeppelin and Floyd on The Z and dreaming of Gina Tomasina. Meanwhile, this roughshod trio was injecting high-grade punk into the Omaha biosphere, reportedly for the first time.

I wasn’t the only person in the packed house who was too young to have seen The Rebates the first time, and was there because they’d been told the show would be special. And special it was. Although I didn’t recognize any of the songs (someone who was around during Omaha’s first wave pointed out a Stranglers cover) I recognized the vibe and the energy and can only imagine how it translated in a different Omaha, before punk and Caulfield and Saddle Creek, when the only thing in town was meat markets and cover bands. It was bands like the Rebates that helped lay the groundwork for what Omaha would become.

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It’s back to The Brothers tonight for the Capgun Coup tour send-off show. The band heads to LA for a month of shows. Help launch their tour in style. Opening is Gus & Call. 10 p.m., $?. More info here.

By the way, someone asked the other night how I found out about the Rebates show or any Brothers show for that matter. The only place I’ve seen their shows listed or mentioned was The Brothers Facebook page.  Go there now and “like” ’em.

Also tonight, a little ol’ band by the name of Best Coast plays at Slowdown with JEFF the Brotherhood. $17, 9 p.m.

Before you head to either show, drop by the Shop at Saddle Creek for tonight’s Record Club, featuring Talking Heads’ Remain in Light. The needle drops at 7, followed by friendly conversation. And pick up some vinyl while you’re down there.

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Tomorrow: Maha responds to the comments on this blog entry.

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by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

So what’s going on musicwise on this 3-day weekend?

Well Aimed Arrows, Adult Entertainment (2012, self released)

We’ve been hearing about the release of Well Aimed Arrows’ debut, Adult Entertainment, for a long, long time. Well, tonight’s the night. The band is having its official vinyl release show at Slowdown Jr. with Millions of Boys and Dads. $7, 9 p.m. Before you go, check out the entire WAA album right here on their Bandcamp page.

Also tonight, The Drowning Men play a free show at The Sydney with Lightning Bug. Drowning Men is the latest in a long line of Arcade Fire-inspired bands, this time from Oceanside, CA.  Check out “Get a Heart” via SoundCloud below. BTW, The Sydney has been ramping up its live show calendar lately, including a Dave Dondero show booked for June 2.

The Drowning Men, “Get a Heart”:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/9159544″ iframe=”true” /]
Saturday night is that big Rebates reunion show at The Brothers, which I told you about last week. A brief refresher: The Rebates is considered by some to be Omaha’s first punk band, whose members included Dave “Stinky LePew” Wees, who would go on to become a member of Buck Naked and the Bare Bottom Boys. Stinky, will join fellow Rebates Steve Warsocki and Tim Drelicharz (later of The Click) for the Brothers gig, which is a warmup for a show Sunday at The Joyo Theater in Lincoln with Pogrom/Ex-Machina, The Spastic Apes, Sacred Cows, Informed Dissent, Lon’s Garden and Battle Ship Gray. Joining The Rebates at Saturday’s Brothers gig is Bullet Proof Hearts and The Bob Garfield Experience. $7, 9 p.m., once in a lifetime event…

Also Saturday night, Kite Pilot returns to fabulous O’Leaver’s with Video Ranger and I Am the Navigator. $5, 9:30 p.m.

If that wasn’t enough, Gus & Call have scored a play for the Great Plains Theatre Conference, which will be performed on the opening night of the conference Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at House of Loom. Titled Muazzez, the play was written by Mac Wellman and directed by Elena Araoz. More info here. While your at the website, check out the Playfest schedule, which features local musicians including Shane Aspegren (the Berg Sans Nipple), Pearl Boyd and Bill Hoover, David Downing, The Answer Team, George Walker and  Gus & Call.

Finally, Austin-based indie band Nelo plays at Slowdown Jr. Find out more at their very cool website. $11, 9 p.m.

Finally Sunday night The Heartless Bastards perform at The Waiting Room with These United States. 9 p.m. Save a couple bucks and get your tix today: $12 adv./$14 DOS.

Have a fantastic Memorial Day.

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by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Somehow this one fell through the cracks. Received April 26 from one John Vredenburg with the subject line: “Dance Me Pregnant Over?”

“I think not. We’re finishing our record in May and will be out playing shows ASAP. We’ve just been on a delayed holiday, with all of us in our current projects….Chris Machmuller in the So-So Sailors and Ladyfinger, Mark McGowan in Ketchup & Mustard Gas, Corey Broman in New Lungs, and me in Digital Leather and Saudi Arabia. Busy dudes finally wanting to get this project back up and full steam ahead. Matt Balis is going to be the  fellow that’s mixing our first LP, and we couldn’t be more excited. Just figured I’d plant the seed in the scene.“

I think when he says “Matt Balis” that Johnny means Matt Bayles, whose productions credits include the latest Cursive album, The Sword, Mastodon, Minus the Bear and a shitload more. This is indeed welcome news. In a related story, Ladyfinger just announced that it’s doing a free gig with Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship June 22 at Slowdown as part of the club’s College World Series events.

Alas, the Ladyfinger/Noah’s gig is the only one of consequence for the June 15-26 tent-city CWS madness at Slowdown. The rest of the schedule, announced earlier this week, includes such cutting edge bands as The Mother Dudes, The Lizard Kings, Hi-Fi Hangover, The Fishheads and Lemon Fresh Day. I realize that Slowdown feels that they should cater to the great unwashed masses (i.e., the non-300) for CWS, a crowd that one presumes doesn’t give two shits about indie rock. Still, I’ve been told that Slowdown’s tents weren’t exactly at capacity at last year’s CWS event with basically the same lame-o coverband lineup. For what it’s worth, it has been suggested that Slowdown build on its strengths as an indie/quality rock music centerpiece to Omaha’s music scene by booking some of the best local indie bands for the CWS weeks, which at the very least would expand some culture into a rather culture-starved CWS fanbase. Deaf ears…

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Tonight at The Waiting Room, it’s classic ’90s band Son Volt (Jay Farrar ex-Uncle Tupelo) with Matt Cox. And yes, I prefer these guys to Wilco (but as you might guess, I’m in the extreme minority). $15, 9 p.m.

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by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The premise of this week’s column: There are only 300 people in Omaha who really give a damn about indie music (or local music, for that matter), which means all of the various and sundry media that report on the scene are talking to the same 300 people. Talk about your echo chambers, but it’s the same in every city. Hey.. it’s just a theory, right? Check it out at thereader.com, here, or pick up a copy of this week’s edition.

By the way, the column’s name this week is Over the Edge. I’m going to keep coming up with names until something sticks.

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A couple interesting locally produced videos went online today. First up is the latest installment from the Love Drunk Tour 2012. The crew has been back from their tour for a few days now and keep spitting out the videos, like this one from The Spinto Band for “The Living Things.” As videographer Brendan Greene-Walsh says at the beginning of the video, the Love Drunk team filmed this one just as Spinto’s keyboard player, Sam, crossed the finish line at the Delaware Marathon Running Festival. Had that been me crossing the finish like, I would have been immediately rushed to the nearest ER hooked up to an IV drip. Not Sam. He just plunks down on the pavement and starts playing. The video would have been funnier if he threw up at the end. Check it out.

Also online today, Omaha.com’s “Guest List” caught Whispertown doing “Blood from Wine” at Krug Park when the band was in town a couple weeks ago. That breathy voiced guy is, of course, good ol’ Jake Bellows of Neva Dinova fame. Me like-ee. Check it out here.

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Tonight at The Barley Street it’s The Betties with Todd Day Wait’s Pigpen. $5, 9 p.m.

Down at Slowdown Jr. it’s Great American Desert, a.k.a. Max Holmquist, with Desert Noises and Betsy Wells. $5, 9 p.m.

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by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Jeremy Buckley, the guy behind Lincoln Calling, says that he’s in the middle of  organizing the 9th year of the event, which takes place Oct. 9-13, 2012. As part of the process, he’s posted an form on the home page of lincolncalling.com for bands to apply. “As was the case last year, applying does not mean bands are ensured a spot, but it will allow me to compile contact info for bands and maybe find out about a few bands that might have so far slipped under my radar, definitely in the case of regional bands,” Buckley says.

Buckley also points out that bands are compensated for their appearances at Lincoln Calling, “and it’s been a great way for bands from Lincoln and Omaha to create relationships that last long past the fest itself,” he said.

Last year’s attendance at LC was just under 5k. If you’re in a band, go to the site and sign up.

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As a precursor to their respective full length releases on Saddle Creek, Icky Blossoms and Mynabirds are releasing tracks through various and sundry websites.

In Icky’s case, it’s Pitchfork, where yesterday IB premiered the album version of “Perfect Vision,” which you can check it out here. Their full self-titled debut comes on July 17.

And today Rolling Stone premiered the new Mynabirds track “Body of Work,” which you can check out right here. The rest of Generals hits the stores June 5.

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Tonight at The Barley Street Tavern it’s Landing on the Moon with Schwervon! and Tenderness Wilderness. $5, 9 p.m.

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by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

With the news reported last night via social media, the Maha Music Festival has locked in all but one of its acts for the 2012 event, to be held Aug. 11 at Stinson Park/Aksarben.

Main stage performers are: Desaparecidos, Garbage, Josh Rouse, Delta Spirit, Dum Dum Girls, Frontier Ruckus, Conduits

Local stage performers: Icky Blossoms, The Mynabirds, UUVVWWZ, Universe Contest, Eli Mardock

The only band missing is the Local stage opener, who presumably will be the winner of an OEA Battle of the Bands-style public vote competition.

Hear Nebraska, who is one of Maha’s media sponsors, played a role in selecting the local stage performers, which partially explains the deep Lincoln representation — both UUVVWWZ and Universe Contest are Lincoln bands, and Eli Mardock used to front Lincoln band Eagle Seagull. The HN connection also could help explain how a relatively unknown band like Frontier Ruckus got named to the Maha main stage. HN’s Andy Norman is a fan of the Michigan band, whose claim to fame appears to be a 2010 Bonnaroo appearance. FR records for Quite Scientific Records, a label who released a Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. EP before the band joined Warners.

Other than Frontier Ruckus, the other surprise from last night’s announcement was the addition of Universe Contest, a band that’s only played in Omaha once, and only to about 40 people (review here). Needless to say, they’re not going to sell many tickets, but that isn’t the point. In addition to drawing national indie bands to Omaha, Maha wants to help break local acts to a larger audience — that is if there’s anyone there to see them early in the day.

Glancing at the Maha website, it looks like all the big attractions will again be back-loaded to play late in the day, which I suppose is standard operating procedure but seems counter to the idea of getting people to come to your concert all day and not just for the evening performances. It’s a problem that Maha and Red Sky face every year — getting people to come out early, or in RS’s case to come out at all for the day stage events (which may not be returning this year).

The solution is simple but risky — put one of your big names on stage early and hope that people hang out afterward. Josh Rouse, for example, was chosen for Maha because he has a following (right?). Why not put him on at 12:45 and see if his fans show up? Your vendors would love you for it. The risk, of course, is that no one would show up, and you would have wasted your booking money on a band that’s playing to an empty grassy knoll.

How about this for a crazy idea: Put Garbage on at 1, Desaparecidos at 3:30, Dum Dum Girls at 6,  Josh Rouse at 8 and Icky Blossoms at 10. Imagine the crowd for Conduits if they were following Garbage, or for Universe Contest following Desa. Yeah, it’s crazy, and it could never happen, though you’d get a lot of people out there early for Garbage who might hang around all day instead of everyone crowding in at 8 or 9 p.m.  We’ll never know.

More perspective from OWH‘s Kevin Coffey, who points out that this year’s line-up is very Nebraska-heavy.

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Tonight at The Waiting Room it’s Xiu Xiu with Dirty Beaches and Father Murphy. Not familiar with Xiu Xiu (which some people pronounce Shoo-Shoo)? The San Jose band has been around since 2002 and have recorded for such labels as Polyvinyl and Kill Rock Stars. Their influences include The Cure and Joy Division, but on their new album, Always (Polyvinyl, 2012) there’s a fantastic experimental Peter Gabriel vibe going on (at least to me). Fantastic, weird electronic rock. $12, 9 p.m.

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by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Following up on yesterday’s post: Hear Nebraska ended up with 310 donors in yesterday’s giving bonanza called Give to Lincoln Day. I don’t know the actual breakdown of donations to matching funds and prizes, but the grand total they’ll receive was $9,622 in cash, $1,000 of which came as a result of being the organization with the third-highest number of “new donors” during the promotion (300), nosing out 4th place finisher Cat House by a paw (but don’t feel sorry for them, Cat House raised more than $18k, which will buy a lot of Meow Mix). You can see the stat here. Congratulations to HN and thanks to all who gave money and spread the word via social media.

That 300 number… interesting.

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The folks at the Maha Music Festival will make their final lineup announcement Sunday night, including a list of local stage acts. I think you’ll be pleased by what you’ll hear.

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The weekend lineup is looking pretty light, especially in Omaha. The only show on my radar is the return of Deer Tick Sunday night at The Waiting Room. Opening is Turbo Fruits (Fat Possum, Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace Records) along with York PA band Teenage Mysticism. $13 Adv./$15 DOS. 9 p.m. start time.

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Hear Nebraska's Andy Norman showing off where he got the idea for his organization's logo.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Before I get to the pitch, the usual disclaimer: I’m on the Board of Directors of Hear Nebraska and have been since the organization launched over a year ago. I’m proud of my association with HN and proud of the work Andy and Angie and Michael and the entire Hear Nebraska team have done in such a short amount of time to promote the state’s music scene, and with very limited resources.

One of the things that sucks about running a non-profit organization like HN is always having to ask people for money. It’s a chore that comes with the territory. I doubt Andy realized when he started Hear Nebraska that he was going to have to spend so much time walking around with hat in hand fund raising. It’s an endless task, but it’s necessary if HN is going to continue to grow into something more than just a web-based music information hub.

But here’s an interesting stat: Andy reported yesterday that of the more than 6,000 unique visitors to hearnebraska.org last week an amazing 46 percent were from outside of Nebraska and 7 percent were from outside the U.S., which ties directly to the organization’s mission to make the state a globally recognized destination. It’s happening, people.

OK, so here’s the deal, and it’s very simple:

If you’ve ever thought about helping Hear Nebraska, which btw is a dyed-in-the-wool 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the time to do it is today, May 17. Because today is Give to Lincoln Day. And that means over the course of this one day, every dollar you donate to Hear Nebraska via the givetolincoln.com website (right here), will eligible for a proportional matching share of a $200k fund, contributed in part by the Lincoln Community Foundation. There’s even bonus cash for the top-3 fund raisers. Track HN’s progresss here.

If that wasn’t motivation enough: For every $10 you donate, you’ll also be purchasing a raffle ticket to win a custom electric guitar created by Lincoln guitar maker Andy Essink. It’s a spalted-maple topped, mahogany-bodied instrument with a cocobolo fretboard, ebony headstock laminate and electronics cover plate, Gotoh tuners, a Wilkinson wraparound bridge and Seymour Duncan Vintage Blues humbuckers. It’s valued at more than $1,300. Give $30 to HN (for example) and get three tickets in the drawing, and so on. I’d love to show you a photo of said guitar, but the only picture available also has a naked Andy Norman in it, and no one but Angie needs to see that. Trust me, the guitar is very nice.

Where does the money go? Well, in addition to covering basic operating expenses (including paying their one employee/editor), money raised would go toward pressing a vinyl compilation of local music, buying promotional banners to hang at events, and eventually building a live, streaming radio station featuring music and interviews by and with Nebraska musicians and touring bands passing through our borders.

All you have to do is slide that little ol’ mouse over to this little ol’ link and head on over to the donation website, read the “Make a Donation” box on the right side of the page, select the donation level that you can afford, then click the donate button. It’s easy, and fun! And for all you deadbeat musicians that HN promotes, it’s the least you can do. Plus you could win a guitar. Just do it before midnight tonight when the matching gifts promotion ends.

End of spiel. On behalf of the hippies at Hear Nebraska, I thank you.

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Two fun shows going on tonight:

Over at The Sandbox, Lawrence band Cowboy Indian Bear headlines with Adult Films, Cheap Furs and Raptor Visions. 8 p.m., $8. More info here.

Also tonight, LA’s Grouplove (Canvasback Records), whose song “Tongue Tied” currently is being used to sell iPods, headlines a show at The Waiting Room with Athens band Reptar (Vagrant). $15, early 8 p.m. start time.

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