Singer/songwriter Stathi is performing a live stream tonight in Instagram.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Thought I’d share some new music that crossed my path over the last few days…

Local singer/songwriter Nathan Ma dropped a new song via YouTube called “Blue Bird.” The track, produced by David Nance and recorded and mixed by Jim Schroeder, features Colin Duckworth on pedal steel, Tanner Rogerson on drums, Jonathan Cobb on bass and Nathan on guitar and vocals.

Detriot’s Protomartyr dropped the second track from its forthcoming album, Ultimate Success Today, out July 17 on Domino. The track, “Worm in Heaven,” is downright laid back compared to previous Protomartyr burners.

Saddle Creek Records is releasing a new LP by Land of Talk July 31 called Indistinct Conversations. The first single is called “Compelled.” Got to hand it to the Creek for sticking with these folks.

And then there’s the one that got away… Big Thief yesterday dropped a stand-alone track called “Love in Mine,” that’s an outtake from 2019’s Two Hands’ sessions. The band recently released Demos Vol. 1 – Topanga Canyon, CA – Feb 2018, which benefits their road crew. Check it out here.

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Tonight at 7 p.m. local singer/songwriter Stathi is doing a live stream from Instagram Live at @thestathi. He’ll be playing six songs from his debut EP Life of Compromise, released in March 2019. That recording included a lot of local folks we’re all familiar with, including Mike Mogis on pedal steel/mandolin, Pat Oakes on drums, Megan Siebe on cello/viola and MiWi La Lupa on assorted instruments.

Listen tonight, but wait until tomorrow to buy the album, as Bandcamp is waiving fees again tomorrow to help artists during COVID.

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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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

D.C. band Beauty Pill has a new single from a forthcoming album.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Last Friday Bright Eyes sent out a press release saying it is cancelling or rescheduling a number of U.S. dates beginning in May through mid June.

From the release: “Regretfully, yet predictably, we have had to re-think many of our upcoming tour dates. We hope to be in a better position to gather and celebrate at a later date.”

No surprise here. Hey guys, when’s the album coming out?

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What I am surprised about is why artists haven’t jumped onto the NIVA efforts to drum up legislation to help venues, promoters and artists sidelined by the COVID pandemic. NIVA is the National Independent Venue Association, which I wrote about here last week (take a look).

I assumed this week we’d see a bunch of artists voicing support for NIVA’s lobbying effort, which will no doubt impact them and their careers greatly. And yet, I haven’t seen a word on social media or elsewhere from artists lending their support. Or maybe it’s too soon for them to act? Certainly amplifying NIVA’s current efforts can’t be a bad thing.

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A couple new songs came through my email this morning.

Beauty Pill is a D.C.-based indie rock act that’s been kicking around since 2002, born out of the ashes of another band I dug called Smart Went Crazy. The band has a new album coming out May 8 on Northern Spy Records called Please Advise. “The Damndest Thing” is the second single. Check it out out.

The last concert I saw before the lock down was PUP at The Waiting Room March 4. Fun show. The band today released its first new song of 2020 called “Anaphylaxis.” Check it:

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I almost forgot…

Once upon a time there was an Omaha band called Cactus Nerve Thang. It consisted of Lee Meyerpeter, guitar/vocals; Pat Dieteman, drums/vocals and Brian Poloncic, bass/vocals. Their sound was a sloppy mix of lo-fi noise, rock, grunge and punk. Their one and only album, Sloth, was recorded in ’93 at Junior’s Hotel in Otho, Iowa, and released on Grass Records, and featured what many believe to be one of the ugliest album covers in the history of recorded music (though I don’t think it was that bad).

Over the weekend someone posted an old Cactus Nerve Thang performance on YouTube: “Rose,” performed live at Davey’s Uptown in KCMO, 2/19/1993. Enjoy.

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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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The National Independent Venue Association is trying to save the future of live music as we know it.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Jason Kulbel who runs The Slowdown yesterday forwarded me a copy of the letter written by NIVA that was sent to Washington outlining how the live music industry and its participants will quickly go the way of the dinosaur unless Congress does something now to help support them during and after the COVID pandemic.

NIVA is the National Independent Venue Association, a just-formed organization that currently has more than 900 charter members in 50 states, including all the legendary clubs we know and love like 9:30 Club in D.C., First Avenue, Bowery Ballroom, Mohawk in Austin and of course our very own Slowdown, The Waiting Room/Reverb/Sydney and fabulous O’Leaver’s.

The first half of the letter, which you can read in its entirety right here, explains the role music venues, promoters and artists play in our economy, our culture, the very fabric of our country. Next it outlines the problem — how venues were the first to close and likely will be the last to reopen, and how everyone involved is being impacted, and how historic, iconic institutions could be forced into permanent closure.

Finally, the letter outlines solutions, including flexible and abundant federal loan programs, tax relief, unemployment insurance, mortgage and rent forbearance, debt deferral and recovery funds.

Those recovery funds and tax credits will help venues comply with new health guidelines when they’re allowed to reopen.

Another key provision: “Establishing national guidelines for resuming and continuing large gatherings in a safe manner to ensure uniformity throughout the industry.” This is critical because without it, there’s no way artists and promoters could schedule tours without knowing which states’ venues are able to book shows; without national guidelines each state would do its own thing and that would be a mish-mash, patchwork approach.

Unfortunately, Trump doesn’t appear to support those kinds of national guidelines, leaving it up to the states to decide. Oh what a mess he’s made.

I was skeptical when I saw this letter, figuring most members of Congress don’t know a thing about the entertainment industry. But Kulbel wisely pointed out that Congressional staffers know what’s going on; they frequent venues and understand what role they play in communities. He’s optimistic.

Kulbel continues to book shows at Slowdown despite the constant wave of cancellations so the club will have something in place when allowed to reopen, hopefully sometime this summer. Keep your fingers crossed.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for legislation that includes the above provisions. No doubt some smart congressman or senator will include them in a bill or create a bill that adopts these provisions, and when he/she/they do, it’ll be your job to reach out to your representatives and lobby for their support.

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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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yesterday Bright Eyes dropped the second song from their upcoming album on Dead Oceans. The track, “Forced Convalescence,” features a bevvy of guest players including Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jon Theodore from Queens of the Stone Age.

From the press release:

“’Forced Convalescence’ finds Conor Oberst at his world-weary best, picking apart the human condition and struggling to reconcile the past with whatever the future holds. All from the comfort of his bed. The slick, near-joyous sounding fever dream grows into a rich and languid swirl with help from a gospel choir. This may be as close to a Rat Pack-era lounge singer as Oberst has ever come. Albeit one with a head full of prose and existential angst.”

Check it out below:

No word on the album’s release date. I can’t imagine they’re in any hurry with touring on hold everywhere.

I’ve been mulling over how bars and venues are going to reopen and allow shows when things begin to ease up COVID-wise. There’s no doubt some states will be opening much sooner than others.

If you believe what it says at this COVID website, social easing wouldn’t begin in Nebraska (and Iowa) until July, whereas Missouri could start as early as June 7 and Minnesota would start May 30, all based on projected peaks, etc. Hot spots like California could begin in mid-May.

With such a random pattern — each state doing its own thing — how are bands supposed to book tours? I guess when you can’t even fathom how a venue will be able to even host a show, tour booking is probably not front of mind.

This NME article describes a show in Sweden where “a room that can hold 350, capacity is restricted to 40 punters – plus a sound engineer, two members of staff and the band, bringing the number up to the guidelines of 50 people in total.”

Think about applying similar limitations at our clubs. How many could you allow in for a typical show at The Waiting Room and “be safe”? Fifty? Slowdown’s big room, maybe 75? How about tiny Reverb or fabulous O’Leaver’s?

That being the case, it seems more likely that we’ll see small local live shows before we see any big name touring acts. Or, imagine if you booked a band that would naturally sell out The Slowdown. Could you up the price for tickets knowing they would be limited to fewer than 100? It would be like an intimate performance, with people standing 6 to 8 feet apart… Still, very unlikely when you’re going to have a hard time just getting people to overcome their fear.

Arena shows and festivals now sound like they’ll be on hold until late 2021 or longer, if you read this Los Angeles Times article that pretty much guesses that you’re not going to see pre-COVID-style rock shows until about 70 percent of the population is vaccinated.

“The margins in this business are going to be the 20% of fans who won’t go back to shows until there’s a vaccine. We’re at a point where fans can really lose a lot of confidence, and it’ll take more than a vaccine to re-engage them.”

Coachella apparently is still scheduled for sometime in October, but as the article states: Even if California does what it needs to prevent new infections locally, a 125,000-capacity music festival with fans traveling from all over would be an ideal scenario for new transmissions. Every expert interviewed said large concerts and festivals would be a terrible idea for the foreseeable future.

Ugh.

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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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Erie Choir, Starlight Veins EP (2020, Potluck)

Ah, to have been in Chapel Hill this past January to see the remaining members of Sorry About Dresden play a reunion for the Cat’s Cradle 50th anniversary — a once-in-a-lifetime event. Ex-Dresden-er Eric Roehrig now of band Erie Choir mentioned that concert in a letter about EC’s upcoming EP (which I’ll get to in a minute), saying not only were the three remaining Sorry About Dresden members performing that night, but that Tim Kasher of Cursive and Jason Sieling of Weld and a handful of others were there to sing some of the late, great Matt Oberst’s songs. There’s video out there on YouTube if you’re interested (and you should be).

Anyway, all of that was an aside to the news that Erie Choir has a new 4-song EP on CD and vinyl (2-song 7-inch) coming out April 24 called Starlight Veins on Potluck Records. The band is Roehrig, fellow Sorry About Dresden alumnus James Hepler, Bob Wall and Jack Watson.

“The song ‘Night Junction’ references some of the Dres’ mishaps that occurred in Indiana, including a broken transmission that prevented us from playing Omaha with Cursive and others for the Ugly Organ (I think?) release show,” Roehrig said.

Check it out below:

How and where you can buy this EP wasn’t mentioned in the email (Come on, Eric!), but I have to believe it’ll be available from the band’s Bandcamp page (eventually?) or through Potluck or the usual streaming outlets…

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This floated up on my Instagram feed — its Todd & Orenda Fink of CLOSENESS covering Will Oldham’s “I See a Darkness.” The masked man in the background on the pedal steel is none other than Jason Steady. They’re all living out in the desert near Joshua Tree, where dust never sleeps…

View this post on Instagram

“I See a Darkness” by Will Oldham with @toddthefink @closenessmusic and @jason_steady. If you are able to donate please support @bootlegtheater (check their page to see how). The Bootleg fosters a remarkable community feel for being in such a big city. We need them for when we can all come back together again and do what we love… making and listening to music and hanging with friends. In fact it was the last place we went before the lockdown! ❤️ u @sidthecatpresents !!!!! #willoldham #bonnyprincebilly

A post shared by Orenda Fink (@orendafink) on Apr 11, 2020 at 3:24pm PDT

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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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Happy Monday. How about a slice of pop candy to brighten up your home offices (or whatever)…

Last week See Through Dresses’ drummer Nate Van Fleet released another two-song EP from his band Big Nope. Recorded by Nate and STD bandmate Mathew Carroll last fall, listen for the Benson shout-out in A-side “Kid I” and enjoy the party slacker vibe of flip-side “Throwaways.” Both tracks are here. So when are we going to see Big Nope on stage? Hey, when are we going to see anyone again on stage?

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Last week Pitchfork published an article about Apple Music’s $50 million COVID-19 fund and what it means for indie labels. Apple’s program offers interest-free loans against future royalties to indie labels and distributors that earn more than $10,000 through Apple Music per quarter and have a deal with Apple.

While it seems like a generous officer, the details can get rather complicated as to who qualifies. And let’s face it, this isn’t a grant, it’s a loan, so while Apple may be waiving interest on that $50 mil, we’re talking about a company with $207 billion in free cash on hand.

Among those quoted in the Pitchfork article is Saddle Creek label exec Robb Nansel, who said he doesn’t plan on taking advantage of Apple’s generosity.

“I’m interested to see what the terms are. It’s not like they’re just giving you free money.” Nansel is quoted as saying in the article. “They have a lot of cash and if they can help some people out that can be cash-strapped, it seems like it could be a good thing.”

That said, the last thing struggling labels need right now is to get further in debt.

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Speaking of Saddle Creek Records, the label has declared April the “Month of the Album” and is offering a 15 percent discount on its entire catalog with the offer code: SUPPORT. It makes it as good a time as any to finally pick up a copy of that Beep Beep album you’ve always wanted… Find out more.

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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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Ugh, there’s not a lot of music news to pass along, and the few things I do have you probably already know or heard, but this being Friday and the space where I usually recommend live shows for the weekend, I feel obligated to pass along something.

Despite the lockdown I continue to get 30 to 40 emails a day from promoters and labels about new music. It continues to keep coming, god bless it, even though there’s nowhere for these bands to play these days. If I were a band I’d probably postpone my release, however the other argument is that you’ll never have such a captive audience as the ones stranded in their homes for the next month or so (that’s right, I have doomed us all to quarantine until at least May 10 (if we’re lucky)).

Supermoon, Half Country (2020, Bandcamp)

Among the music to cross my screen is the new lyric video for Supermoon’s “Come to Learn,” which dropped last Tuesday. Supermoon is a project featuring Jake Bellows, who you remember not only as a one-man songwriting phenomenon but also frontman to Saddle Creek Records act Neva Dinova. Singing alongside Jake and making up the better half of the duo is Morgan Nagler of Whispertown. This campfire lullaby begs you to sing along, too.

And thus, the entire album was released: “The debut album ‘Half Country’ was recorded to half-inch tape and produced by Nik Freitas, who also contributed on drums, bass, and keys. In the surreal soup of the Covid-19 Pandemic wild west, the band has decided to release the album April 7, 2020’s biggest Supermoon, (the Pink Supermoon) in the hopes of shining a little light in the dark.”

Here it is, via Bandcamp.

It would be great to get these two and Mr. Freitas came to Omaha after the cloud of contaminants has lifted.

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I’ve been consuming in 30- to 40-minute chunks the 4-hour Henry Rollins podcast via KCRW called Cool Quarantine. It’s Henry playing records (lots of hardcore punk but also rock and other stuff) and telling stories and I love the format, but it’s hard to have on while you’re trying to do something (other than drive or run or work out) because it’s so distracting. Check it out below.

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Speaking of online content, Phoebe Bridgers is doing some sort of livestream via Pitchfork’s Instagram today (Friday) at 3 p.m. CT. She dropped a new video last and has a new record coming out soon.

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As you may or may not know, the Mars Bar located way out in West Omaha closed its doors for good weeks before COVID struck and shut down everyone else. Despite the setback, proprietor Brent Malnack hasn’t lost his love for live music, and thus created Live from Mars House, a new live stream performance program that debuts tonight at 7 p.m. via Twitch.

Brent is promising a three-camera shoot with a 24-track live mix. The first guests are N8 M Sic and Sarah Brandt, two musicians I’m not familiar with. That said, Malnack said future guests will include a lot of past performers at Mars Bar. Here’s the link. https://www.twitch.tv/livefrommarshouse

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Let me leave you with something I’ve been listening to for the past few weeks. It’s the new album by Lewsberg called In This House (12XU Records). Think Lou Reed meets Silver Jews meets your favorite Rotterdam deli. As good a soundtrack as any for these times we live in.

That’s all I got. If you hear anything worth passing along, send it my way. 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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The folks behind the Maha Music Festival today announced that they’re canceling the 2020 festival, scheduled for Aug. 7-8, because of COVID-19 concerns. Is anyone surprised by this?

No doubt we’ll be well out of quarantine by August, but everything else surrounding the festival depends on planning and faith in the unknown, from whether booked acts would continue to be available to organizing volunteers to sponsorships.

“Lacking confirmation that a festival of this scale will be considered safe by public health officials in August, cancellation arose as the most viable option to preserve the annual event and organization as a whole,” said the Maha press release.

Executive Director Lauren Martin said if Maha had been forced to cancel after ticket sales started they might be in a position where they’d have to refund tickets after having spent the money. “Canceling now helps ensure that Maha can return in 2021, and for years to come,” Martin said in the press release.

No word on if Maha already had booked the festival’s acts, though you’d have to believe everything was all in place by now. The 2020 line-up will remain one of those great mysteries. Was this the year that Maha finally got Wilco or LCD Soundsystem or Arcade Fire or Bright Eyes? We’ll never know…

The news is just one more bummer in a list of COVID-related bummers knee-capping the Omaha music scene. Yes, it sucks that Maha isn’t happening, but it’ll be back next year. Maha is an established brand with a track record that any sponsor would be proud to support.

At this point I’m more concerned about the financial well-being of our local musicians, venues, recording studios and the rest of the creative ecosystem. What will be left when we emerge from our houses and apartments in late May/early June?

One thing we know for certain is that the nation will be in a fairly deep recession. For a lot of people, money will be tight. Not everyone is going to get their jobs back right away. And let’s face it, more than one of your favorite businesses and/or restaurants / bars won’t reopen.

The good news is there will be a new appreciation for live music, for bars and restaurants, for having fun as part of a community. The year 2020 is going to remembered as a dark, soundless void, but 2021 could emerge like spring after a long winter.

One last Maha-related thing: Omaha Lit Fest is still slated for the Blackstone District Aug. 5 & 6, and Maha has not ruled out the possibility to launch alternate programming later in 2020, as COVID will allow. I foresee a large fundraiser in the organization’s future…

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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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

A screencap from The Cog Doc.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Ah, the Cog Factory documentary. Filmmaker Kyle Benecke has created a 41-minute ode to an Omaha music scene landmark, and it’s a scorcher — extremely entertaining and engrossing.

The film traces the all-ages music club’s origins, highs, lows and the bathrooms, and includes a fine selection of live footage taken at dozens of shows interspersed with interviews from founder Robb Rathe and club mainstays, fans, volunteers and musicians who performed on its stage, including Todd Fink (The Faint), Gary Dean Davis (Frontier Trust), Matt Baum (Desaparecidos), Jason Ludwick (Bombardment Society) and a ton more.

As a film, the documentary is well-shot, well-edited, as good as (or better than) what I’ve seen at Film Streams or on Netflix, which makes me wonder why it couldn’t have gotten a more elaborate World Premiere than a post on Facebook, but times being what they are… I’m hoping when the COVID lock-down is lifted that the folks at Film Streams figure out a way to do another premiere, preferably at the Dundee Theater (and somehow get Rathe there for a Q&A).

Until then, enjoy it in whatever bunker you’re hunkered down in:

There’s a documentary website at thecogdoc.com that includes more performance video, flyers, photos and whatnot as well as a “tip jar” that connects to a gofundme page. I don’t know what Kyle will do with the money, but it would be cool to see this get more exposure and entry into film festivals, etc., and that costs money.

Seems like I remember back in the day there always was a benefit show going on to help pay for the Cog Factory’s bathrooms. I can’t remember if it was a city code thing to what.

I only went to the Cog a couple times over the years, including once to interview Frontier Trust for a publication out of Lawrence called The Note. When it was going full blast I was in my late 20s and spent most of my time at clubs like The Capitol, The Howard Street Tavern and, of course, Sokol Underground.

If you want more info about the Cog Factory, read my ’98 interview with Robb Rathe, written about his leaving Omaha and the Cog Factory. Also, an interview with Chris Harding, who took over the reins for a time.

Wish I had some show announcements to pass on for the weekend. Hang tight, folks. We’ll all be back in the clubs before you know it.

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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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Chapel Hill band Mipso has been booked at The Slowdown June 5.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I received notification via Facebook today that Chapel Hill band Mipso has been booked to play at The Slowdown for June 5, and it got me wondering whether things will even be back up in running by June 5.

That Mipso gig is not the first show back for Slowdown. The club currently has Against Me! booked to play May 7 with Baroness. The Waiting Room is even more optimistic, booking Jeremy McComb for May 1 (though Domino recording artist Night Moves is the first booking of interest for me, and that one’s currently slated for May 22). O’Leaver’s earliest current booking also is May 1.

Gov. Ricketts said yesterday that despite current state orders, there could still be restrictions on bars after April 30, though he doesn’t know what they’ll be. No one really knows for sure when COVID will peak in Nebraska and begin to recede, which will determine when the gov is going to allow us back into the bars.

But even when they give an all clear, it’ll be interesting to see who shows up that first week after the pseudo quarantine is lifted. Would I go to a rock show right after the all clear? Yeah, probably, if I liked the band. But you better believe I’ll be super careful about how close I stand next to total strangers (and to known dirt-bags at places like fabulous O’Leaver’s).

After the reopenings, getting past the stigma that comes with COVID will be the next big hurdle for clubs that are already feeling extreme pain. Every time they book a touring act it’ll be a gamble knowing some folks will still be too afraid to show up. That COVID hangover could last deep into the summer months, and a pessimist might say well beyond.

I, on the other hand, am the eternal optimist. I think we’ll all be invited back to the clubs by mid-May, though band tours are going to be all screwed for the rest of the year.

Imagine trying to book a tour for this summer or fall not knowing which state will be allowing people into clubs and which will still be dealing with COVID. And then not knowing how many people will be willing to stand in a crowd after thousands of people have died.

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I’ve been been sitting on this new single by The Sunks for about a week and now is as good a time as any to share it with you. Look for the full record this spring (Hey, it’s spring right now!).

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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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.