White Mystery plays at O’Leaver’s March 4. Photo by BANGTEL/By the Barkers

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A favorite memory of past South By Southwest festivals was seeing White Mystery play outside at seminal Austin punk venue Beerland. The duo of Miss Alex White on guitar/vocals and Francis Scott Key White on drums belted out their usual ragged-edged garage rock startling passers-by on Red River Street. Before long, a mob formed blocking traffic in all directions.

It was like seeing local heroes make good, as the Chicago siblings have made Omaha a regular tour stop on their many national sojourns, like the one they’re currently on in support of their latest album, the blistering F.Y.M.S. that brings them to fabulous O’Leaver’s March 4.

Check out what Alex had to say in the Ten Questions survey:

1. What is your favorite album?

Miss Alex White: Who’s Next by the Who

2. What is your least favorite song?

Taylor Swift “Shake It Off.” Fight me!

3. What do you enjoy most about being in a band?

The best part about being in a band is the open road ahead of you. It’s a very free feeling of independence.

4. What do you hate about being in a band?

The worst part is the claustrophobia of being stuck in a vehicle all day, that sets in shortly thereafter.

5. What is your favorite substance (legal or illegal)?

My favorite substance is ice cream. My least favorite is mushrooms.

6. In what city or town do you love to perform?

Omaha is an awesome city to play in the Midwest because everyone is very down-to-earth, loving, and yet wild-out rock’n’roll. I spun records after Farnham Fest and realized how much everyone appreciated the DJ set, which is a really good, validating feeling. Doing that again at O’Leavers this time around. Beyond that, White Mystery shows in New York are always sold out, bonkers affairs. I also love playing Stockholm, Sweden, because it feels so geographically far away, yet super familiar.

7. What city or town did you have your worst gig (and why)?

Angers, France, was one of the worst gigs ever, because of what happened afterwards — we stayed in an absolutely pest-infested apartment above the ancient venue. A carpet of tens of thousands of cockroaches dispersed when the door opened! It’s hard to relax in that kind of environment.

8. Are you able to support yourself through your music? If so, how long did it take to get there; if not, how do you pay your bills?

Yes, White Mystery has been full-time for eight years. It required a lot of saving while reinvesting income into growth opportunities, like self-released albums and merchandise. The first four years, we did not buy any new clothes, shoes or recreational items. We have toured in the same hatchback this whole time, which is great on gas, but a sacrifice in comfort. The best way to get ahead is to do what is right for you, versus what you think people expect you to do. Take calculated risks to advance your career.

9. What one profession other than music would you like to attempt; what one profession would you absolutely hate to do?

One profession I would like to attempt is cartoon animator! I would be a terrible veterinarian though, because I’m extremely allergic to most animals.

10. What are the stories you’ve heard about Omaha, Nebraska?

Legends about our pals in Digital Leather, The Faint, Solid Dave Goldberg, and the Box Elders circulate worldwide. Love you all!

White Mystery plays with Those Far Out Arrows and FiFI NoNo Sunday, March 4, at O’Leaver’s, 1322 So. Saddle Creek Rd. $7, 5 p.m. For more information, go to liveatoleavers.com

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Maha is now running Big Omaha.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Things have been busy around here and I’m just now getting around to the big announcement from last Thursday, which was that the Maha Music Festival is expanding to two days for their 10th Anniversary edition.

The annual concert at Aksarben Village is slated for Aug. 17 and 18, that’s a Friday and Saturday. All of you folks who work day jobs, you have plenty of time to get that request in for the day off. We still don’t know who will be playing this year, but something tells me it’ll be someone big and special along the lines of Arcade Fire or LCD Soundsystem — we’ll find out soon.

The other half of the Maha announcement was that the Big Omaha conference is now being run by Maha and is being held in the run-up to the weekend, Aug. 16 and 17. Said the press release: “Attendees will have several options to purchase passes: a dual festival-conference pass will be sold as well as festival tickets to Friday or Saturday only, or both festival days combined. Pricing, artist and speaker lineups, and ticket sale dates will be announced next month.”

First question you might have: What is Big Omaha?

Well, I’ve been scratching my head for years about that question. It’s marketed as “an annual conference that brings together the nation’s most passionate members of the entrepreneurial community including founders, investors, and emerging leaders to build community, start conversation, and provide inspiration.” Big Omaha and Silicon Prairie News co-founders Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson started the conference in 2009. Omaha’s AIM Institute has owned and led Big Omaha and Silicon Prairie News since 2015. Silicon Prairie News will stay with AIM as Big Omaha changes hands to Maha, according to this SPN article.

Anyway, Big Omaha is supposedly wildly successful. I have no idea because I’ve never been to one. I went to bigomaha.co to find out more, but it’s already redirecting to Maha. However, you can read about the 2016 event here and watch the Big Omaha video. BO conference tickets cost upwards to $600, but anyone who’s ever been to a business conference knows that’s peanuts — most national conference registration charges are well over $1,000.

On first blush, the merger of Maha and Big Omaha seems odd, so I sent an email to Maha’s Lauren Martin and asked, “I’m curious as to how Big Omaha will play into all this. I’ve always thought of BO as a sort of private gig for small businesses and start-ups. How will the general public be involved in BO and what role does the Maha audience play in it?”

Lauren replied:

“For Maha, the addition of Big Omaha is a first step in using our platform to unite events, or cultural aspects of Omaha that support our community’s overall effort to attract and retain young talent. If we can utilize the conference as a means to further connect individuals to networks and/or resources that will help them pursue their passions and be fulfilled here, we’re all about it. 

“Recognizing that BO has potentially appealed to a particular demographic of tech start-up types in the past, we hope to broaden the appeal while still maintaining a much smaller audience than the festival, and reduce the cost of entry.

“Ultimately, there may not be a ton of overlap between the conference and 2-day festival attendees, but hopefully the promotion of the two events as one experience will expand the idea of what’s possible here.”

Fair enough. I keep hearing how the addition is similar to the launch of Austin’s South by Southwest tech conference. Maybe so, but Big Omaha ain’t a tech conference. It’s really targeted toward entrepreneurs and start-ups, whether they have a tech bent or not. In fact, I once suggested a looong time ago to one of the Big Omaha folks that they should reach out to larger industries who could be possible buyers of these new start-ups’ products and services. The idea was met with crickets.

A few years ago I attended the SXSW tech conference, which leads up to the annual music conference. There was virtually no overlap between the two. The only impact might have been in the ability to find lodging. One benefit for the SXSW event is that people going to the tech conference could ask their employer to pay for their conference travel and lodging, then hang out for the music portion, saving travel costs. I can’t see that happening for Maha, but who knows…

In the end, I can’t see how this merger will impact the Maha Festival except to possibly keep a few of those Big Omaha folks in the city an extra day. Nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, I can’t imagine your typical Maha festival-goer being interested in taking part in Big Omaha (especially at last year’s price point)…

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Tonight at Slowdown Jr. it’s an indie rock double-bill with Palehound (who you read about yesterday) and Weaves. Frankly, it’s the Weaves part of the headline I’m most interested in, along with the opener, our very own See Through Dresses. $12. 8 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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Matt Whipkey and his band at Reverb Lounge Feb. 25, 2018.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Matt Whipkey helmed two album-release shows this past weekend — one on Friday night and a second in the early evening yesterday for old folks like me, I guess. In fact there were a lot of older people seated at tables in the Reverb’s stage room, making the concert feel more like a matinee performance than a rock show, though Whipkey did all he could to give the room a rock show vibe.

Whipkey and his core band of Zimmerman, Sing and Anderson (a perfect name for a law firm) ripped through a set of songs off his new double-LP Driver, which currently stands as my favorite Whipkey release. Like an episode of Storytellers Matt gave background between every song while he feverishly re-tuned his guitar (We were told that the songs off Driver have a variety of “tonal colors” that required alternate tuning).  Unlike on the recording, there were no keyboards at these weekend performances, which (to me) gave the set a more rocking feel.

One of those between-song stories was Matt telling the crowd about a convo he and I had during our interview. I had told Matt that, while I like the song “Fred, You’re Dead,” that it would be perfect candidate to be revamped into a punk song, especially considering the political nature of the lyrics. Lo and behold, Matt pulled out a punk verson of the usually slow, dour song, and it, indeed, ripped. The punk “Fred…” would make a perfect 7-inch single just in time for Record Store Day. Come on, Matt!

Charlie Ames at Reverb Lounge, Feb. 25, 2018.

Opening Sunday evening was singer/songwriter Charlie Ames, who performed an acoustic set of originals. Ames had a striking voice and a nice guitar style on a set of broken-hearted pop songs of the woe-is-me variety. A very talened dude, I’d love to see him write a set of songs that stretched him more creatively.

Palehound plays at Slowdown Jr. Feb. 27, 2018.

Ten Questions with Palehound

Led by singer/songwriter Ellen Kempner, Boston’s Palehound released their sophomore album, A Place I’ll Always Go, on Polyvinyl Records last summer (which received a 7.3 rating from Pitchfork, for those who care about such things).  Since then, the indie combo also dropped a new 7-inch release — “YMCA Pool” b/w “Sea of Blood” — as part of Saddle Creek Records’ Document Series singles program.

Having recently finished a U.S. headlining tour, which included shows with Big Thief, Jay Som, Mitski, and M Ward, Palehound launched a co-headlining tour with Weaves that brings them to Slowdown Feb. 27. We asked Kempner to take our Ten Questions survey. Here’s what she had to say:

1. What is your favorite album?

Ellen Kempner: I definitely don’t have one! My favorite album of this week has been Jolene by Dolly Parton.

2. What is your least favorite song?

I hate “Blurred Lines.”

3. What do you enjoy most about being in a band?

Getting to travel and see the country in a way I never would be able to without music.

4. What do you hate about being in a band?

Being anxious about shows/people liking our music.

5. What is your favorite substance (legal or illegal)?

Soda

6. In what city or town do you love to perform?

Hometown Boston shows are great because our friends are there.

7. What city or town did you have your worst gig (and why)?

Fort Worth, Texas,  the only people we played for were the two teenagers who were in the other band that played.

8. Are you able to support yourself through your music? If so, how long did it take to get there; if not, how do you pay your bills?

(No comment.)

9. What one profession other than music would you like to attempt; what one profession would you absolutely hate to do? 

Cooking!! I love cooking and used to work as a cook in a restaurant and loved it. I wouldn’t wanna be a professional runner.

10. What are the stories you’ve heard about Omaha, Nebraska?

Honestly my answer will be really bad cuz all of them just have to do with Conor Oberst.

Palehound plays with Weaves and See Through Dresses Tuesday, Feb. 27, at The Slowdown front room, 729 No. 14th St. Tickets are $10 Adv/$12 DOS. Showtime is 8 p.m. For more information, go to theslowdown.com

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Matt Whipkey and his band at Growler USA, April 1, 2017. Whipkey & Co. play tonight and Sunday at Reverb Lounge.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s a Matt Whipkey weekend. Omaha’s favorite Uber-driving troubadour is hosting two album-release shows for his double-LP Driver, which you read about right here and in The Reader.

Matt’s first show is tonight at Reverb Lounge with Stephen Sheehan (ex-Digital Sex) opening. Tonight’s show starts at 9 p.m. and costs $10.

Matt’s also doing a second show at Reverb this Sunday evening with Charlie Ames. That one starts early at 6 p.m. and also costs $10.

What else is happening this weekend?

Well tonight, Oquoa headlines at The Sydney in Benson with Dirt House (Annie DiLocker’s joint) and Ojai. $5, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, at fabulous O’Leaver’s, it’s a long night of hard rock with the debut of The Long Awaited, Sioux City’s Port Nocturnal, Jared William Gottberg and The Ramparts. $5, 10 p.m.

And in addition to opening for Whipkey Friday night at Reverb, Stephen Sheehan is doing a DJ set at O’Leaver’s Saturday night with Tres Johnson. $5, 9 p.m.

That’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Shaun McCabe Forever

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I did not know Shaun McCabe, but I know from many people who did know him that he must have been a great dude and a big music fan.

McCabe passed away Feb. 1 at UC Health University of Colorado Hospital after a life-long battle with Cystic Fibrosis.

He was a Lincoln resident and became friends with a lot of Nebraska musicians. In addition, he was the lead singer/keyboardist in the band Bone Camaro, and a music director at KWSC 91.1 FM while in college. But most of all, he was active in the Lincoln/Omaha music scene.

In a show of appreciation of McCabe’s life, a ton of bands, led by Mike Elfers (Thirst Things First, JV Allstars), put together Shaun McCabe Forever, a compilation of rare and unreleased tracks from a variety of Nebraska artists. Among the 23 tracks are recordings by Columbia Vs Challenger, The Killigans, The Machete Archive, Her Flyaway Manner, Halfwit, Gramps and The Golden Age, there’s even a couple Bone Camaro songs.

“Any and all donations or purchases of this album will go directly to a McCabe family PayPal account that will ultimately make it to either the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Nebraska or the Children’s Organ Transplant Association in Shaun’s name,” said the Bandcamp page.

Check out the page and make a big-fat purchase. There’s some great stuff there. Shaun McCabe Forever!

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Pageturners’ Winter Concert Series continues tonight with Sun-Less Trio and Little Brazil. This dynamic double-bill begins at 9 p.m. and is absolutely free.

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers play The Slowdown Thursday night.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Being the self-proclaimed indie music snob that I am, I typically would never have discovered Joe Hertler & the Rainbow Seekers. I mean, the Michigan-based band has been classified in the jam band / funk / pop category, has counted major label Universal among its distributors. and has been known to perform in Hawaiian shirts. That’s about as far away from “indie” as it gets.

But after receiving multiple emails from their publicist, I watched the video for the single “Lonely” off their Kickstarter-financed latest release, Pluto, and found myself tapping my toe. When I read via Wiki that Hertler started the band in an effort to get the attention of a girl who hosted an open-mic night, I was hooked.

Hertler was game to take the Ten Questions survey. Here’s what he had to say:

1. What is your favorite album?

Joe Hertler: It’s basically impossible to pick my favorite, but off the top of my head, maybe Black Radio by Robert Glasper? Sgt Peppers and maybe Live in Verona by Jamiroquai are up there, too.

2. What is your least favorite song?

I love It, by Iconopop. My sax player uses it as a wake up song sometimes for the band when everyone’s been sleeping in the van and we’ve reached our destination. I really do not care to ever hear that song again.

3. What do you enjoy most about being in a band?

Obviously playing music is super fun, but the adventure of tour with my bandmates (and getting to visiting and reconnect with friends and family in distant locations) is ultimately what makes it the most meaningful.

4. What do you hate about being in a band?


It can be stressful at times, but honestly we have a pretty damn good time playing music together and keeping each other in good spirits. It’s important to be aware of your emotions and the emotions of others. It’s also just as important to take care of yourself, you know, like exercising, eating decently, sleeping, and doing fun shit that doesn’t have to do with music, like hiking, site seeing, etc. If you’re aware of how your behaviors affect your bandmates, then really, there’s really not too much to hate. You gotta embrace all aspects of band life.

5. What is your favorite substance (legal or illegal)?

I think they’re all pretty damn fun 😉

6. In what city or town do you love to perform?

Michigan, Mountain States, and the West Coast have always treated us very, very well!

7. What city or town did you have your worst gig (and why)?

We had a sound system take a shit on us at a gig in Ashville. This was also after the promoter moved us to their rave cave room because there were issues with original room we were going to play. The heat went out, too, so it was like 50 degrees in the venue. Made for kind of a rough show. Honestly, though, we don’t really have bad shows. We tend to get pissed and nit-pick over little fuck-ups, but being critical of oneself is just part of it. Certainly doesn’t determine whether a show is good or bad. As long as the crowd is engaged, which they always seem to be – that’s what makes a show good.

8. Are you able to support yourself through your music? If so, how long did it take to get there; if not, how do you pay your bills?

Yep! We do various side hustles, but for the most part we support ourselves through music. Aaron is an ex-engineer and part-time chainsaw carver. I used to be a teacher. Micah and Ryan do some work for our producer’s company on the side, and Rick makes giant mechanical wooden clocks.

9. What one profession other than music would you like to attempt; what one profession would you absolutely hate to do? 

I would love to make horror movies!

10. What are the stories you’ve heard about Omaha, Nebraska?

Haven’t heard many stories, but there’s some really great music happening in Omaha. My buddy, Rick Carson, owns a really incredible studio called Make Believe, which is a really hot space right now. Of course, there’s the Saddle Creek label. It’s a pretty bad-ass city 🙂

Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers plays with Here Come the Mummies Thursday, Feb. 22, at The Slowdown, . Tickets are $22 Adv/$25 DOS. Show starts at 9 p.m. For more information, go to TheSlowdown.com.

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Bad Bad Men at The Brothers Lounge, Feb. 17, 2018.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

No matter what happens to the Blackstone District — no matter what new restaurant or bar or business opens its doors, no matter how gentrified it becomes — there will always be The Brothers Lounge.

The Brothers has always been — is — and will always be an Omaha punk Mecca that remembers its past and welcomes its future with open arms. The Brothers is where you’ll find the best jukebox, the nicest staff and the coldest beer (though they quit selling Rolling Rock because, I was told, the last “regular” who ordered it died of a heart attack. I guess Trey either forgot that I drink Rolling Rock or I need to become a regular).

I can’t imagine Omaha without The Brothers, and hopefully I’ll never have to. I write this because in an effort to keep up with all the new-fangled businesses (including yet another new bar that opened practically right under them) The Brothers has been beefing up its live music bookings lately. This past weekend featured back-to-back showcases Friday and Saturday night.

I made it to Saturday night’s three-band bill, figuring I’d miss the opening act (hey, Black Panther is a long friggin’ movie), but there was John Wolf and and Co. belting out the magic at 10:30 p.m. The band is Bad Bad Men, featuring legendary punker Wolf fronting a power trio rounded out by drummer Chris Siebken and bass player Jerry Hug. Saturday night’s show was their debut, but you’d never guess judging by how tightly they played.

Bad Bad Men is a natural continuation of the style of music Wolf has been playing for more than 20 years, reaching back to acts like Cellophane Ceiling and Bad Luck Charm. The only difference is in the economy of arrangements (BBM is a mean, lean fighting machine) and Wolf’s growl, which has grown into a brash, guttural bray that cuts through the band’s back-beat swing.

At times BBM felt like high-energy boogie blues punk, somewhat rootsier than Bad Luck Charm’s ’90s-influenced Ameri-alt-rock sound (can you believe Viva La Sinners came out 17 years ago?). The music chugged along like a high-ballin’ locomotive powered by the Siebken/Hug rhythm section and Wolf’s blazing riffs. The band closed out its set with a brutal cover of Warsaw’s “No Love Lost” (compliments to Dr. Sheehan for pointing this out) that was the perfect capper to a perfect debut. More to come.

The Lupines at The Brothers Lounge Feb. 19, 2018.

Next up was The Lupines, who played a solid set that included a few songs off their most recent collection, Mountain of Love (2017, Speed Nebraska). They closed with a long burner that I wouldn’t have minded had it gone on for 20 minutes. It was good to once again see guitarist Mike Friedman ripping alongside frontman John Ziegler and hearing his crazy leads laced throughout the songs.

Those Far Out Arrows at The Brothers Feb. 17, 2018.

Finally, Those Far Out Arrows hit the stage well past midnight. The band had played The Replay Lounge in Lawrence just the night before, and could be the next break-out act to grab national attention thanks to their take on garage psych-rock. If you haven’t seen these guys lately, do yourself a favor. They have a West Coast/San Francisco style reminiscent of ’90s-’00s acts like Brian Jonestown Massacre, BRMC and The Warlocks. but with a nod to bands that go back even further and farther (Them, Small Faces, etc.).

Unfortunately their set got cut short when first the bass drum pedal broke and then the bass drum head broke. These things happen. You’ll get a chance to catch them again when they open for White Mystery March 4 at fabulous O’Leaver’s.

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Tonight Nashville band Blank Range headlines at Reverb Lounge. Rolling Stone named them one of the “10 New Country Bands You Need to Know” though I’d classify their sound as leaning more toward alt-country/Americana than straight up C&W. Think Jason Isbell or Sturgill Simpson but with less twang. Frankly, they remind me more of The Band than anyone else, and are keeping their options open by opening shows for everyone from Spoon to Drive-By Truckers to Black Joe Lewis. Evan Bartles opens tonight at 8 p.m. $10.

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Twinsmith on the Maha Music Festival main stage back in 2014. The band plays tonight at Slowdown Jr.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s a packed weekend for local shows, not much from a national-touring-indie perspective, but what else is new? It’s February, after all. Who wants to tour through Omaha in February? Apparently no one.

Anyway…

The Brothers Lounge is really stepping up its game, hosting two shows this weekend. Tonight’s headliner is The Broke Loose. The band released a single this past January called “Flatlands,” and another in February called “Cold As Hell.” Both were recorded with Rick Carson at Make Believe Studios. Frontman Glenn Antonucci said they’re the first in a series of nine singles, all recorded at Make Believe, that they plan to release one by one over the course of 2018.

Why release a single at a time versus a full album?

“Well, a couple reasons,” Antonucci said. “For one, we thought many of the individual tracks that came out of this session had a distinctive feel, and could stand on their own. And of course, it also gives us the ability to offer up something new each month (or thereabouts), rather than drop an album on people all at once and then retreat into silence for a year or more.”

I like it. It’s like the old days or rock ‘n’ roll when bands released 45s then compiled them into albums. Too bad Broke Loose songs aren’t being released as 45s, but imagine how much that’d cost…

Opening for The Broke Loose tonight is legendary tractor-punk band Wagon Blasters (Gary Dean Davis and crew) and Ottumwa Iowa basement rockers X-Ray Mary. $5, 9 p.m.

Also tonight Closeness headlines at The Sydney in Benson. Seems like we haven’t heard from the dynamic duo of Todd and Orenda Fink for quite a while. Will we be getting a glimpse of new Closeness music tonight? Opening is Lincoln’s Universe Contest and garage-punkers FiFI NoNo. $5, 9 p.m.

That’s not all. Tonight Saddle Creek Records band Twinsmith headlines at Slowdown Jr. The Sunks open at 9 p.m. $10.

And also tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s it’s another shit-kicker of a bill headlined by Omaha’s finest alt-country band Clarence Tilton, who just released a split LP with Monday Mourners. Opening for Tilton is fellow boot-scooters The Eletroliners and 24-Hour Cardlock. $5, 10 p.m.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) it’s back to The Brothers for a special night of rock headlined by Those Far Out Arrows. The always awesome Lupines hold the second spot while a new band called Bad Bad Men, featuring John Wolf (Cellophane Ceiling, Bad Luck Charm), Chris Siebken (Lude Boys) and Jerry Hug (Ritual Device), has the opening slot. Lots o’ curiosity about these bad hombres. $5, 9 p.m.

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend…

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Conor Oberst slouches next to Craig Ferguson from the Late Late Show circa 2005.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

This being Conor Oberst’s birthday (he’s 38 today, whoda thought?), and with nothing else going on, here’s a TBT item from Lazy-i from way back on Feb. 15, 2005. Back then, Bright Eyes national TV appearances were still very much a novelty, and YouTube didn’t exist to post the shows online the following day. If you wanted to watch them after-the-fact, you had to have a TiVo, which I just happened to own back in the day…

Anywhere, here’s the Lazy-i write-up the day after, written 13 years ago….

Bright Eyes on the Late Late Show… – Lazy-i, Feb. 15, 2005

I TiVo’d Bright Eyes on the Late Late Show last night. What happened to Craig Kilborn? He turned into an unfunny, geeky Irish guy in a bad suit. To be honest with you, I hated Kilborn’s snarky approach and was happy to see him go. But who is this guy? What the hell? I guess he’s kind of charming with his I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing schtick. Especially when he’s talking about Bright Eyes:

“I’m a big fan of the Bright Eyes. The American kids look to me for their musical tastes, and I have to say, ‘Bright Eyes, that’s my tip for the tour.'” A lot of what Craig Ferguson says doesn’t make sense. He could be Scottish. His next comment confirmed it. He said Bright Eyes is really just Conor Oberst, and compared BE to Scottish band Aztec Camera, saying that band was basically just Roddy Frame. “There was no Aztecs or cameras or anything. So when he gets out here I’m going to ask ‘Are you Conor or Bright Eyes?'”

Before that, though, was Jane Seymour and the bastard responsible for writing that over-glorified piece of shit called Million Dollar Baby – not exactly A-list guests. If you don’t have TiVo, really, consider picking one up. Then: “Please welcome Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes!” They played “Road to Joy,” a good choice, though I’m sure it frightened a lot of people in the Heartland. Conor smashed a guitar, Nate Walcott smashed his trumpet (I’m not kidding). It was very noisy. The mix was pretty bad.

And then, lo and behold, Conor did his first sit-down interview after a performance. So are you Bright Eyes or Conor Oberst? “Mike Mogis is the other person in the band.” Was anyone hurt during the destruction? “Everyone’s fine, I think.” Are you okay for cash? “That was an extremely expensive guitar I smashed.” You rock. I love your work. I’m reading you’re the new Bob Dylan. Do you like that? “There’s worse things to be called. I don’t see it myself, personally.” Who else is an influence? (I think that’s what he asked. Ferguson mumbles a lot.) “Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, Simon Joyner.”

Conor was funny with his shy-guy stutter, but he looked like he couldn’t wait to get out of that leather chair. Next up is Leno on May 3. I doubt that Oberst will be doing any chatting afterward on that one. Oberst is playing three sold-out nights at The Orpheum while he’s in L.A.– Lazy-i, Feb. 15, 2005

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Presumably one of the people in this photo is Tim Kasher filming a scene from his new film, No Resolution, which will be screen tonight at O’Leaver’s.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Lots o’ shows on this Valentine’s Day / Ash Wednesday, which is kind of odd but oh well, right?

Top of the list is the big UnValentine’s Day event at fabulous O’Leaver’s featuring a screening of Tim Kasher’s epic motion picture No Resolution. Director Kasher will introduce the movie to an inebriated, possibly high O’Leaver’s crowd and will play some “UnValentine’s Day” songs before hand. I’m not sure this means he’ll actually perform songs or that he’ll be manning the O’Leaver’s soundboard/DJ booth. No matter, either way it’s worth the price of admission, which, btw, is absolutely free. The fun starts at 9.

Also tonight a couple bands that usually play at O’Leaver’s are setting up cross town at Pageturners Lounge — Rusty Lord and Ocean Black. This is bound to be some “rough love” for all involved. This free show also starts at 9 p.m.

Meanwhile in Benson at Reverb Lounge Sam Martin tops a bill of singer songwriter bands that include Small Houses and Midwest Dilemma. $7, 8 p.m.

Finally, The Door, a new collaboration between Dereck Higgins and Aaron “Bird” Williams, will perform their debut album, Virgo, tonight at B Side of Benson Theatre, 6058 Maple Street (the old PS Collective space). Joining them is Johnna Dortch & Steven Kat Lanier. Your $15 ticket gets you a copy of Virgo. This early show starts at 7 p.m.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all…

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.