Courtney Barnett at the SXSW Convention Center, March 20, 2015. She plays tonight at the Maha Music Festival.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s Maha Music Festival Weekend. The festival dominates the Omaha indie music landscape — i.e., it’s about the only thing happening today and tomorrow.

I have little to add to what you already know about Maha. It’s schedule and all the details are online at the Maha website.

I’ve purchased VIP tickets for tonight’s festivities — my wife and I are big Courtney Barnett and Jenny Lewis fans. We’ll be arriving in time to see Snail Mail, who according to the schedule, goes on at 7:15.

Also tonight… Barebear is the project of Omaha’s No. 1 man about town, bassist/vocalist Rob Walters. Walters has a long history and connection to Saddle Creek Records. He’s surrounded himself by an all-star band that includes guitarist Nik Fackler (Icky Blossoms, InDreama), drummer Matt Focht (Hartford/Focht, Head of Femur, Bright Eyes) and Jacob “Cubby” Phillips (jazz master, Miwi La Lupa). The band celebrates the release of their debut album, The Party’s Over, at fabulous O’Leaver’s.

The album is surprisingly good. I figured it might just be a buddy act, but the tracks rock. Walters at times sounds like he’s channeling Paul Stanley on songs with cool, heavy riffs. Check it out (but skip the first track).

BareBear doesn’t come on until midnight, presumably because they’ll have spent the night partying with Jenny Lewis at Maha. I wouldn’t be surprised if she shows up at O’Leaver’s. (By the way, in years past there has always been a secret after-party type performance from Maha artists around town (usually at O’Leaver’s), and there might be one this year, but I haven’t heard about it). This show is free. DJ Dorsia opens.

Tomorrow night is Maha’s main event — Lizzo. Just like last year’s “Maha Saturday” could have been considered a big Weezer concert, this year’s has kind of turned into a big Lizzo concert. One wonders how many people will be there only to see Lizzo. For me, the day’s other highlight is the Oh Sees, who go on at 7:45, followed by Matt and Kim and then Lizzo. The rest of the day’s line-up is locals and a few under the radar acts that even I’m not familiar with (they’re certainly not played on Sirius XMU or KEXP). Well, Maha’s supposed to also be about discovery, right?

Both tonight and tomorrow, you can follow my Maha exploits via Twitter  or via Instagram.

Also Saturday night, indie band The Regulation plays a free show at O’Leaver’s. Late start time of 11 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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.