by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

For once Omaha got it right when it comes to pre-holiday shows. Since we all have tomorrow off (Well, maybe not all of us), there’s nothing stopping us from checking out some shows tonight…

First on (my) list is one of the city’s hottest up-and-comers, Pleasure Adapter at O’Leaver’s. This one starts at 7:30 with a BBQ pot-luck. Music starts at 9:30 with opening bands Toys That Kill (members of skate-punk band Five Year Plan) and Co-Axed. $5. See you there

Meanwhile, at The Waiting Room, Uncluded is a clever combination of Kimya Dawson (Moldy Peaches) and Aesop Rock (indie hip-hop royalty). The result is acoustic hip-hop balanced by Dawson’s happy-lonely singing, each providing personal lyrics that take you inside their thrift-store world. Opening is funny, acerbic, political Hamell on Trial. $18, 9 p.m. BTW, has anyone asked Kimya if she’s pissed about the Prius commercial that  steals her musical style to sell cars? Whenever that commercial gets to the “Oh-oh-oh” part I want scratch some Madison Avenue whore’s eyes out.

Marilyn Manson? I forgot about ol’ ghoul-eyes, who knifed his way to pop-culture stardom by first tightly clinging onto Trent Reznor’s leather smock and then by trying to “shock” the world with miss-matched contact lenses and Kabuki make-up and his take on growly “industrial” music. Manson’s (real name Brian Warner) claim to fame was a cover of a Eurythmics song and a follow-up single ironically titled “The Beautiful People.” At the time, some were saying he was “his generation’s Alice Cooper,” forgetting of course Cooper’s “horror”-laced campy stage shows that, while over-boiling with cheese, managed to entertain an intellectual crowd who got off on fake beheadings, bored pythons and overplayed radio rock. Manson had none of the above. It didn’t take long for people to forget Manson even played music as his private life took center stage with his marriage to even-less-talented Rose McGowen, the two often showing up at red carpet events like a couple unchained circus geeks. And now… what? Well, Mr. Warner is still making records, though Interscope has dropped him, but who needs a record label in this do-it-yourself era of the music industry, especially when you’ve still got a legion of goths willing to pay $50 to see you prance about like a poorly wigged transvestite with a bad case of vocal cord nodules? Opening is Picture Me Broken, a sort of pop-metal version of Pink without the hits. 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.