Two red hot local music news items…

First, yesterday The Barley Street Tavern posted on Facebook that the venue is changing hands and the last day of its operations under current management is Oct. 15. No idea who’s taking over the bar and/or if it’ll remain a music venue.

The Barley Street always has been a hole-in-the-wall bar more so than a go-to music venue. With a capacity of around 50 in its music space, it was a comfortable place to see up-and-coming acts as well as (former) Benson folkie stand-outs like Kyle Harvey and Brad Hoshaw. You always got your five-dolllars-worth and then some, along with plenty of peanuts and (in my case) ice cold Rolling Rocks.

Is the bar’s sale a symptom of the COVID-19 economy? I don’t know. I’ve heard rumors of the Barley Street either imminently closing or changing hands for years (including a rumor a few years ago that it was in line to become a strip club!). Even so, its sale comes as a bit of a shock. Here’s hoping whoever takes over retains some of the bar’s original soul…

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An article in Pollstar this morning announced the Maha Music Festival has named Knitting Factory Entertainment as its exclusive talent buyer.

“James Irvine, KFE’s Omaha-based talent buyer, will co-lead programming with KFE’s Danny Glazier as the festival expands to five days from four in 2021,” says the Pollstar story. “The team is already starting to work on a 2021 lineup, which is expected to be unveiled early in the year.“

More from the article:

“Working within industries that are typically white male-dominated, Maha makes a concerted effort to book underrepresented performers—often in headlining slots—to account for the majority of our lineup. We’re looking forward to working with KFE, and continuing those diverse, inclusive booking practices,” Maha executive director Lauren Martin said. “We’ve had an opportunity to get to know James and Danny through their work with [local music venue] Slowdown over the years, are excited about the potential the partnership holds — especially as we navigate safely hosting major events post-pandemic.” 

The move leaves One Percent Productions, which has booked the festival since its second year, out in the cold. One Percent’s Marc Leibowitz confirmed Maha did not renew its contract with Omaha’s premier indie concert booker. While you can point to Maha’s well-run organization and army of volunteers for pulling off the annual festival, it’s One Percent that has been at the core of lining up the bands that drew people to Stinson Park in the first place.

Knitting Factory Entertainment took over booking The Slowdown back in 2016, and as a result, the club has veered away from its original vision of booking indie acts to booking more mainstream pop acts, though they still host a few indie shows now and then. No doubt with Knitting Factory taking over Maha, look for that festival to continue to steer away from its original vision of being an indie rock festival in an effort to attract a larger attendance.

As for One Percent, the company’s La Vista venue/amphitheater (being built in partnership with Kansas’ Mammoth Live and City Ventures) will give Leibowitz and his team plenty of opportunities to fill in any gaps left from losing the Maha contract…

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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.

Yesterday an updated Heroes Act was introduced in the House of Representatives. This is legislation that, among other things, will extend unemployment benefits to those impacted by COVID-19. This new revision (surprise-surprise) included the Save Our Stages — or SOS Act.

To save you time reading the massive 87-page title-by-title summary document (the actual HEROES Act is 2,150 pages long, wouldn’t you hate to be a politician?), the summary language is:

Section 619: Grants for Independent Live Venue Operators (H.R. 7806, Save our Stages Act or the SOS Act)

1. Authorizes $10 Billion for the SBA to make grants to eligible live venue operators, producers, promoters, or talent representatives to address the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on certain live venues.
2. The SBA may make an initial grant of up to $12 million dollars to an eligible operator, promoter, producer, or talent representative; and a supplemental grant that is equal to 50% of the initial grant.
3. Such grants shall be used for specified expenses such as payroll costs, rent, utilities, and personal protective equipment.

This all seems well and good, but, of course, it has to pass the House and then the Senate, and there’s no guarantee this language will survive. Or that Trump would sign it.

Look, I know this shit’s boring to some of you but it’s super important. And if you don’t believe me, check out this list of venues that have closed as a result of COVID-19, published by Billboard last week. No Nebraska venue is on the list, though we can point to Lookout Lounge as one of COVID-19’s casualties.

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Random review…

Christian Lee Hutson, Beginners (2020, Anti-) — Kind of Sufjan Stevens, early Pete Yorn, no question Simon and Garfunkel and lots of Elliott Smith. I think of him in conjunction with Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst because he was a member of Better Oblivion Community Center. And while Oberst has a better way with words and Phoebe has a sweeter voice, Hutson is a stronger songwriter melody-wise than both of them. He writes in a quiet, indie-folk tradition, mostly confessional lyrics as if singing from a journal, which makes these songs maybe a bit too personal to reach a wider audience. They’re heart-breakers, played on chiming acoustic guitar, sung in a voice that’s more Paul than Art. The single “Get the Old Band Back Together” sounds like an out-take from XO until the drums come in and amps things up. It’s the star and a standout, along with “Northsiders,” in a collection of stars and standouts.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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.

And just like that, a weekend after announcing his demise at the Omaha World-Herald former OWH music reporter Kevin Coffey has launched a new music blog – Pops and Hisses. Look for music news, interviews, criticism and more, and now that Kevin is untethered from the OWH editorial yoke, expect spicy takes that we’re not used to seeing in Omaha’s great grey lady.

Another recent addition to our tiny music journalism world is Rabble Media. The successor to Hear Nebraska launched a couple weeks ago. According to the website, Rabble Media is a “for-youth, by-youth storytelling platform working to connect, engage, and develop digitally skilled young people (roughly 14-24) across urban and rural Nebraska.” The site will include stories on music, arts, culture, skateboarding, wellness, and civic engagement — which is a much broader scope than good ol’ Hear Nebraska’s original editorial mission.

Pops and Hisses and Rabble Media are welcome additions to what has become a rather barren landscape for music and arts writing. Who knows what will happen at the OWH now that Kevin is gone. As far as I can tell, Jim Minge is still publishing his Dispatch newsletter, but that’s just a calendar; good ol’ Omahype disappeared years ago.

Then there’s The Reader. It’s trying to reinvigorate its online presence, but the focus has been on the news side. BJ Huchtemann still writes about the local blues scene while Houston Wiltsey covers music outside that genre (mostly indie and pop); but both writers’ efforts are mostly for The Reader‘s monthly printed paper (which eventually make it online).

You could ask what’s the point of having music publications when there’s social media. Most bands post their upcoming gigs on their Facebook pages, and there’s no lack of music opinion on your typical news feed. That said, few people posting in social media do any sort of reporting or research. There’s value in reading local music news, interviews and opinion from sources outside the social media fray. At least there is for me, and apparently for you too, or you wouldn’t be reading this…

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The NPR Tiny Desk concert series today launched a Bright Eyes Tiny Desk (Home) concert. Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, presumably in ARC Studios here in Omaha, and Nate Walcott somewhere in LA perform threes songs off their new Bright Eyes album, Down in the Weeds Where the World Once Was, and “Shell Games,” off The People’s Key. The episode is directed by acclaimed filmmaker and local musician Nik Fackler no less. Check it out:

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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.

This morning Kevin Coffey signed off as the music reporter at the Omaha World-Herald. Kevin’s been covering the scene for 15 years, interviewing national touring acts coming through town, reviewing their concerts and keeping up with what’s happening music-wise locally. He posted on Facebook that he’s starting a new gig at Creighton University, where I’m sure he’ll kick much ass. Kevin continued a long line of OWH music writers that included Niz Proskocil, Roger Catlin, Tony Moton, Christine Laue, Steve Millburg, Jim Healy and Jim Minge.

So who will be covering music at the OWH in Kevin’s wake? That remains to be seen. The Omaha World-Herald historically has played an important role covering the arts, but the way things have been going at the paper the past few years… It would be a shame if they cut back on coverage. Reminds of what musician/stock broker Matt Whipkey once told me: “Getting a story about the band in The Reader is great, but getting a story in The Omaha World-Herald… I mean, my parents read the Herald.” It’s true, oh so true.

At least Kevin says in Facebook he hopes to continue as a freelance contributor to the OWH. And he has other music-relate stuff up his sleeve that he’ll reveal when he’s good and ready. I have no doubt I’ll continue to bump into Kevin as shows, once we get past all this pandemic nonsense…

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The Slowdown continues its summer concert series its hosting in partnership with Maha Music Festival. The gigs are being held on the Slowdown’s parking lot with enforced social distancing in the form of cattle fencing! We’re talking 10’ by 10’ pods, each holding 10 people. There’s also some small pods for two or three people. Bring a lawn chair if you want to sit down on something other than pavement. And of course, wear a friggin’ mask!

All the rules are right here.

Tonight’s headliner outside at The Slowdown is country picker Kolby Cooper, with Pecos & the Rooftops opening at 6:30 p.m. $15

Tomorrow night (Saturday) indie-folk artist Andrea Von Kampen headlines Slowdown outside, with Matt Cox opening at 4 p.m. $15.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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.

This morning the folks who run the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin sent out a press release announcing SXSW Online.

Sayeth the release: “Today we’re excited to announce SXSW Online as part of our 2021 offerings. We’re working hard on a digital experience in March that brings you the benefits of sessions, film festival screenings, music showcases, networking and exhibitions. SXSW Online will take place March 16 – March 20, 2021.“

Entries for the 2021 “digital experience” will open on Tuesday, Oct. 6. The press release went on to say in lieu of the standard showcase application process, the Music Festival will be curated by programming staff with priority given to showcase presenters and artists who were scheduled for the 2020 event.

The real news:

“SXSW is working with the City of Austin and public health authorities on plans for a 2021 physical event. SXSW will provide updates as more information becomes available.”

If I had to venture a guess, I’d say the odds of a live SXSW music festival “physical event” in March are…. very iffy. Even if they have a vaccine for COVID-19 by the end of this year (a real stretch) the chances of it being administered in any great numbers is extremely remote, making the physical SXSW that we’re used to very unlikely.

A better question: Could organizers move SXSW to the fall of 2021 to coincide with the fall school break (just like how SXSW historically has coincided with spring break)? The odds are much better that by this time next year the pandemic will be under control enough to host SXSW (and everything that goes with it — the travel, the lodging, etc.). But even then…. who knows?

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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.

As we all know, when the pandemic first emerged this past spring bars and music venues were forced to shut down. Many of them are still closed. Reverb Lounge in Benson took the downtime as an opportunity to remodel their club, and the changes they’ve made are pretty awesome.

The walls have been torn down that separated the performance space from the rest of the bar, turning the venue into one large open facility. Once you see it you’ll wonder why they didn’t do it in the first place. Reverb is now a single room with a bar on one end and a stage on the other. The sound and lighting (as before) are among the best in town, but now you can watch and hear while seated at the bar.

This change would appear to broaden the options for the kind of performers One Percent books at Reverb. With the old, isolated performance room, they were limited because the capacity was only a little more than 100. Now the performance capacity is probably twice that (or more if they take out the tables), with great sight lines from anywhere in the bar. The possibilities are exciting… once we get past the pandemic.

Saturday night’s show required all patrons be seated. Three low-top tables were placed right below the stage while four high-top tables were placed further back. Were the tables six foot apart? Maybe, but the person sitting at the table behind us was definitely closer than six feet away. Everyone not on stage wore a mask when they weren’t seated. Once seated, the masks could come down, just like in restaurants. This was the first time I’ve felt a tad bit squeamish at a public space. You’d have to be pretty trusting to sit at one of those low-tops right below where the vocalist was belting out his songs without wearing a mask. The club was limited to 25 percent, so if you felt uncomfortable you could always move back to one of the booths or by the bar and see just fine.

First up was the debut of Dead Letters. The trio, consisting of two former members of Well-Aimed Arrows — drummer/vocalist Koly Walter and bassist Brian Byrd — along with guitarist/vocalist Mark Johnson (Places We Slept), is clearly influenced by the early R.E.M., if you didn’t catch that by their name. Byrd drives everything from his base, forming the backbone of the melodies while Walter and Johnson take turns on lead vocals. There’s some Well-Aimed overhang on a couple songs, but overall this is more tuneful than that band, less brittle and a lot more fun. They only played for about 20 minutes and left me wanting more. Watch for them.

Las Cruxes was next. The last time I saw them play they crowded the stage with two drummers and two or three guitarists, but Saturday night they performed as a trio (a keyboard was set up but was left untouched all night). Having seen them in both big and small formats, my suggestion is to keep it as a trio. While frontman Ed Trujillo is the centerpoint with his great guitar work, the rhythm section keeps things rolling (no matter who’s playing drums). I may not understand a word he’s singing but punk is a universal language and Las Cruxes speaks it very well.

I was told the new business plan for Reverb is that it’ll only be open if it’s hosting live shows. That being the case, it’ll be awhile until you’re able to check it out. The next show is Oct. 3 featuring Norfolk band The Begats.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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.

It’s been about six months since I wrote a weekend shows preview; it seems like six years. There are two actual live indie shows happening — one tonight and another tomorrow, each showcasing a venue that’s making its way through COVID-19.

Tonight is the premiere of The Slowdown’s outdoor concert series I mentioned in yesterday’s blog. It’s a joint effort with the folks from the Maha Festival and is being held in the parking lot behind the Slowdown. Indie country rock/alt-country band Clarence Tilton headlines. Pony Creek opens the hootenanny with an early start time of 6:30. $15. Don’t forget your mask. Read all the COVID rules for entry right here at the Slowdown website.

The Slowdown fall outdoor concert series continues Saturday afternoon with Rhythm Collective, Ro Hempel Band and Dereck Higgins. $15.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) I’m planning my return to Reverb Lounge for the first time since COVID to see the new, improved bar/venue. They’ve blown out the walls of the old music performance space to make Reverb one large open music venue/bar.

The remodeled club has been operating since the end of last month, but tonight is the first indie show they’ve booked since their return. Headlining is Mere Shadows, a post-punk 4-piece framed by the twin guitar attack of John Kestner and guitarist/vocalist Michael Johnson.

In the center slot tomorrow night at Reverb is Las Cruxes, the Spanish-language punk outfit that’s releasing a new full-length on cassette tape from CINTAS in Mexico and digitally from Afonico/Sony U.S. Latin in the states.

Get to Reverb early Saturday night (show starts at 9) for the stage debut of Dead Letters, a new project from Koly Walter (Well-Aimed Arrows, The Protoculture) with Brian Byrd (Well-Aimed Arrows) and Mark Johnson (Places We Slept). Koly is always entertaining and full of surprises.

You get all three bands for $7. Due to COVID, all shows at Reverb are seated and the club will only be at 25% normal capacity, which means you may want to get your ticket in advance. Of course masks are required everywhere except when seated at your table.

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 (if there’s news) 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.

When The Slowdown posted their announcement that they’ve teamed up with the Maha Festival folks for an outdoor concert series to be performed in the Slowdown parking lot, I tripped over the COVID stipulation that your $15 ticket gets you access to an outdoor “pod.”

WTF’s a pod?

“A pod is a 10-foot by 10-foot U-shaped space made with sections of 3-foot-tall fence (called ‘bike rack’ in the biz),” said Slowdown’s top banana Jason Kulbel. “These are spaced six feet apart. We’ll have about 40 of them in the lot.”

Ten people maximum per pod. So does that mean I could end up sharing a pod with very hip but total strangers? Could I get my own private pod for my $15 ticket?

“Maybe if you took one at the back,” Kulbel said. “We decided to do these GA instead of a ‘you need to spend $120 and buy the whole thing’ approach. We’ll have staff to help sort/seat (and note that if you like that seat, bring along a lawn chair).”

It sounds cozy. It sounds fun. Most of all, it sounds safe. And, of course, all the specifics about pods and other COVID-related regulations surrounding the live concerts are online right here on the Slowdown website.

The first in the concert series is tomorrow (Friday) at 6:30 p.m. with Clarence Tilton and Pony Creek. In addition to your lawn chair you may want to bring a cowboy hat.

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Yesterday the folks at National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), who have been lobbying you to send a plea to your Congress-person to get on board with the Save Our Stages Act, cc’d me on a letter sent to Congress with this dire message:

“We write to express our dire need for assistance, and to urge you to move quickly to pass additional COVID relief. Absent a deal by the end of September, our businesses will disappear, millions of Americans will permanently lose their jobs, and entire industries will take decades to recover, if they do at all.“

Some stats to back it up: According to Yelp, more than 163,000 businesses have already closed, 60% permanently. That number rises daily. More than 22 million jobs have been lost due to the pandemic and less than half have been recovered. The National Bureau of Economic Research estimates that 42% of recent layoffs will be permanent losses.

Along with NIVA, the letter, which was headed with this hashtag: #DoNotAbandonUs, was co-signed by organizations Arthouse Convergence, ExtendPUA.org, International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, League of Historic American Theaters Live Events Coalition, The Main Street Alliance, National Association of Theatre Owners and National Independent Talent Organization.

Things are getting scary. They already were scary for these guys, but now they’re getting very real and very permanent. If you want to do your part, go to the NIVA website and fill out the letter that will automatically be sent to your representative in Washington. Let your voice be heard before it’s too late.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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.

In Monday’s blog I mentioned that one of the remastered Mousetrap singles was included in the 1994 release Linoma: A Nebraska Compilation. That comp also included tracks by classic ‘90s-era Nebraska artists Frontier Trust, Mercy Rule, Ritual Device, Simon Joyner, For Against, Todd Grant, The Millions, Such Sweet Thunder and more.

The executive producer of the Linoma comp was Eric Medley. Yesterday, word began to trickle out on Facebook that Medley had died, sadly on his birthday.

Over the years but especially in the ‘90s, Medley’s name was associated with many exceptional Nebraska acts that would go on to influence what would come later when the state became the short-lived center of the indie-rock world. A glance at his AllMusic credits list includes producer, engineer, editor, mixer and/or mastering credits on recordings by a string of legendary bands including Cursive, The Faint, Bright Eyes, Mercy Rule, Lullaby for the Working Class, Wide, The Millions, Sideshow and his own band, The Young Executives, among others.

Medley would go on to run his own label, Tremulant Records, whose roster includes Floating Opera, Domestica, Robert Hinrichs and Matt Banta.

Though we corresponded a few times via email over the years, I was never fortunate enough to meet Medley. At some point he moved from Lincoln to Charleston, South Carolina. From what I can glean from the outpouring of remembrances I’ve read by friends and musicians on social media, the Tremulant mission statement could also sum up Medley’s philosophy toward music:

“We are passionate and driven to make great records. We are not accidental in our approach and not cavalier in our choices. Popular music today seems to be merely a  means to support a modeling career for a select few performers. We find this unacceptable.  We believe people listen to music to maintain a soundtrack for their lives.  They listen to add meaning to their surroundings.  They listen to reach out and know that others are experiencing life as well.”

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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.

Yesterday Aaron Gum, half of the duo Glow in the Dark along with Lawrence Deal, sent the following new video for the track “Phantasy.”

“‘Phantasy’ was filmed by the two of us in the early days of the pandemic,” Gum said. “We had to get creative with operating the camera and performing multiple puppets at the same time.”

He said COVID has hampered the release of the next GITD album release. The duo were on track for an album release show in October “with us carefully working on tightening up tracks throughout spring and summer until Lawrence became sick and tested positive for COVID-19,” Gum said. “We lost most of August and pulled out of the Bemis outdoor concert event ‘LOW END on the Bricks’ for safety. We had been working together in my home studio just two days before he started showing symptoms… so I self quarantined for a few weeks as he was recovering.”

In addition, Facebook “unpublished” GOTD’s band page for no apparent reason, and no way to get it back.

“Obviously everybody is concerned by COVID and bands are now becoming more aware of how easily Facebook can delete their content,” Gum said. “We have faced both in the past month.”

That said, Glow in the Dark still plans to finish the album this fall, but there’s no ETA on its release. Until then, check out the new video:.

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In something-to-look-forward-to news, today Stephen Malkmus announced rescheduled tour dates in support of Traditional Techniques (2020, Matador), and Omaha is on the list — April 10, 2021, at The Waiting Room. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that masks will have become a thing of the past by then (but I’m doubtful).

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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.