Captiva

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Well I’m back from south Florida — Captiva Island, Florida, to be precise, an isolated land mass east of Fort Myers and just north of Sanibel Island. The kind of place where people ride around on bicycles and golf carts, and you’re lucky to find an open bar past 10 p.m. Music consists mostly of guitar-and-steel-drum trios playing covers of Jimmy Buffett and John Denver ballads. It was a long-weekend getaway and about as far away from a SXSW-style spring vacation as you could get. Like Nixon after a long week at San Clemente, I return tanned, rested and ready to go…

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Nebraska Exposed at SXSW 2016

Speaking of SXSW, the folks that bring you Lincoln Calling and Lincoln Exposed have organized a Nebraska showcase at this year’s Austin festival. Consisting almost entirely of Lincoln bands, they’re calling it Nebraska Exposed.

The showcase is Wednesday, March 16, at Cheers Shot Bar, which those familiar with the layout will remember is located a block and a half west of Red River Road on 6th Street — a red-hot location. Hats off to Jeremy Buckley and his pals for pulling this off with the help of a sponsorship by Nebraska Tourism.

The day party begins at noon with Oketo, followed by BOTH, Bonehart Flannigan, AZP, Universe Contest, Freakabout, Laughing Falcon and closes at 7 p.m. with Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal.

I’d love to see someone organize a showcase like this that featured Omaha acts. In the past, Saddle Creek Records have sponsored showcases that included one or two Omaha bands, but not this year.

My dream Nebraska SXSW showcase would feature one of Saddle Creek’s crown jewel acts along with Miniature Horse, See Through Dresses, Little Brazil, Digital Leather, Bloodcow, Brad Hoshaw/7 Deadlies, Lupines, Simon Joyner and Whipkey (for starters). Get to work on this for next year, Hear Nebraska.

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From the pages of this month’s Encounter Magazine.

If you’ve ever wondered what I look like, you can find out in this month’s issue of Encounter Magazine. Writer James Walmsley wrote the feature, that talks about my history writing about the Nebraska indie music scene along with some opinions about the current state of the indie ’round these parts. The portrait is by the amazing Bill Sitzmann, who has quite a history of his own shooting Nebraska bands. Look for your copy ’round town and in the Old Market. It’s not online yet. When it does go online, I’ll include a link.

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This being Super Tuesday, I figured it was as good a time as any to post my Over the Edge column from this month’s issue of The Reader focused (again) on Trump. The paper probably won’t hit the news stands until later this week, or maybe later. By then, the election on the Republican side (and likely the Dems, too) will be all but over. Trump is riding an unstoppable wave. Rumors of a secret New York Times recording of Trump speaking off the record support one of the points made in my column. In the end, it won’t matter, because his followers aren’t electing a politician, they’re electing a right-wing dream merchant, and nothing less than being convicted of murder is going to stop his ascension to the top of the GOP ladder, where Hillary awaits to knock him off… probably. Read the column here.

It’s good to be back.

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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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.