Catching up on last weekend, with this weekend in the cross-hairs.

Brian Poloncic’s project, A Tomato A Day, played the inaugural live music show at The Little Gallery in Blackstone last Saturday night. Joining Poloncic, who sang and played a 12-string acoustic guitar, were bassist Brian Lynn and percussionist Alex Boardman. The quiet little trio was just enough to fill the oak-walled confines of the The Mansion where The Little Gallery resides.

For the performance, the trio played in an adjacent room where a roll-back wall was pulled back, opening the space into the gallery for a crowd of 20 or so. This was the first performance by this line-up and the first time Poloncic has performed live in years. Hopefully, it won’t be the last time. His singer/songwriter style and knack for getting the most out of simple melodies most closely resembles musicians like Bob Pollard or fellow ’90s local dude Todd Grant.

Here’s a video shot during the performance. I made the bush league mistake of not holding my iPhone horizontally! Whoops! Wouldn’t it be great if this was the beginning of a new acoustic house show series at The Little Gallery?

Then last Sunday afternoon, Brad Hoshaw blew into town for a live acoustic performance at The Trap Room. The gig was limited to 30 tickets, so Dan Brennan decided to stream the show on Facebook Live. Nothing has changed with Hoshaw — he still has a honey-sweet voice, a light-handed guitar and a unique way with a melody. I think he’s one of the best pure songwriters to come out of Nebraska, and one of the state’s great undiscovered talents. My dream is that some day one of his CDs will find its way to a Nashville star, who will take a liking to one of the songs and ask to record it. And the rest, as they say, will be musical history.

But it hasn’t happened yet. Still could.

Anyway, the whole performance is still online at the Trap Room Facebook page. I can’t embed the video, so you’ll have to scoot on over to watch it. The performance is right here.

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Shows are coming back, and people are itching to see them. Just look how quickly that Sept. 16 Pixies show sold out. 1% is indeed bringing the heat, with ’90s indie cult band Idaho playing at Reverb Lounge July 8; Black Pumas at The Waiting Room Aug. 8, and Neko Case and AC Newman at The Bourbon Theatre in Lincoln Aug. 31.

And the 1% folks said keep an eye open for their first show announcement next week for the new Admiral Theater, formerly the Sokol Auditorium. You can read about The Admiral in my column in the June issue of The Reader, online here.

For reasons I don’t fully understand 1% doesn’t list shows at The Sydney (which they own) on their website. The Sydney has a busy upcoming schedule, including Digital Leather June 26, Little Brazil July 2, Relax, It’s Science July 16, and a night with the legendary Tyrone Storm July 23.

The Slowdown is somewhat lagging behind on show announcements. They’ve got their hands full for the next two weeks with the College World Series, which turns their entire facility into a money-printing machine. The only shows of note so far booked at The Slowdown are Mannequin Pussy Sept. 17, and a blast from the past — former Saddle Creek Records act Tokyo Police Club Oct. 28. Hopefully they’ll fill in some dates after the CWS ends.

What hasn’t come back yet is fabulous O’Leaver’s. There’s still no solid date on when The Club will be hosting live rock shows. To me, the pandemic isn’t over until there’s a band playing at O’Leaver’s.

Yeah, Tim, but what about this weekend?

I got nothing on my schedule, which is fortunate because I won’t be in town. If you have a show worth mentioning, put it in the comments sections. See you next week.

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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 © 2021 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.