by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

One of my favorite Minnesota singers/songwriters/rock stars, Mark Mallman, is playing a weird little gig today at Joslyn Art Museum from 5 to 6:30 p.m. as part of his cross-country Marathon IV Road Rogue tour.  According to markmallman.com:

“Marathon IV: Road Rogue is a transcontinental bio-musical webcast. Composer Mark Mallman will perform music 24 hours a day for 7 days webcast in its entirety live from the back of a 1992 GMC Vandura.”

According to Omahype.com, the performance will take place inside the van. This could be very cool or very strange. Either way, it’s worth checking out. You can watch what’s going on right now from the site’s live feed. It’s kind of… creepy.

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I’m listening to the Speed of Sound EP by Minneapolis band Communist Daughter, who plays at Slowdown Jr. tonight — indie acoustic guitar folk clearly influenced by Simon/Garfunkel, CSN, Bon Iver, the usual suspects. But who they most remind me of is the late, great It’s True. Very wispy, very winsome well-defined melodies, though too often I find myself ignoring the words, which are of the love/lost/longing variety. “I wish I didn’t have to love you this way…” We’ve all heard that one before. Still, worth the $5 cover (probably). Wonder if they’ll be bringing a small horn section with them like the one heard on the EP… Opening are local folkies Blue Bird and Tara Vaughan Band. Starts at 9.

Communist Daughter, “Don’t Remember Me”

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/52296638″ iframe=”true” /]

Communist Daughter, “Ghosts”

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/52297525″ iframe=”true” /]

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.