by Tim McMahan,  Lazy-i.com

The more things change, the more they stay the same. In the case of fabulous O’Leaver’s, things just seem to stay the same.

Or so it seemed last night when I dropped by The Club that Cursive Built to catch a set by Anna McClellan. The post-Omaha singer/songwriter is crossing the country on tour with Matt Norman. She said from stage she’s moving out of LA and headed to the East Coast, and who can blame her?

First up for the evening was Nutrition Fun, which turned out to be a solo electric performance by Andy Berkley. With guitar in hand, Berkley rifled through a set of micro-songs, none lasting more than 30 seconds, each with its own quirky, punky, slice-of-life imagery. Fun, cool.

Matt Norman took the darkened O’Leaver’s “stage” next. Seems like the last time I was at the club they at least had a three or four colored floodlights pointed at the performers. Not last night. A black-and-white security camera was pointed at the stage area and the performances were displayed live on a large flat-screen TV mounted along the wall to the left, which actually was kind of cool. O’Leaver’s now now not to livestream every performance.

Norman’s songs, played on electric piano, were also quirky, slice-of-life ditties but felt like jaunty ’80s TV theme songs. A few songs in, McClellan joined him on stage singing harmonies. Again, lots of short, sharp songs (and another short set).

Finally, at around 10:30, McClellan took her place behind the same electronic keyboard for a solo set taken from her most recent album, Electric Bouquet. Norman squatted off stage left and sang harmonies. Two standouts — along with set-closer “Omaha” — were new songs “Veronica” and “Restless,” that have me looking forward to her next record. 

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This 4th of July weekend looks rather weak for shows. Only one of note. It’s back to O’Leaver’s Saturday night for an electric evening of music headlined by post-Omahan Darren Keen a.k.a. PROBLEMS. Keen’s music is a kaleidoscope of synth sounds and beats augmented by his often humorous vocals. Darren’s always entertaining.

Also on the bill is Laserbulb, an electronic project by Clark Baechle of The Faint. Baechle is another post-Omaha guy, now living in Philadelphia. While researching this blog entry, I fell across Baechle’s music producer business page. “Whether it’s polishing up a band’s rough demo, programming synthesizers, or actualizing sounds and ideas that only exist in my head, there’s just nowhere else I’d rather be,” he says on the website, which also includes a number of music examples. There’s not much info about Laserbulb aside from the Bandcamp page. 

DJ Beetlebitch opens this one at 9 p.m. and (as per usual) there’s no cover. Expect the healthy crowd to include plenty of old scene faces out to welcome back an old friend. 

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

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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.