Went to a couple shows this past weekend. Last night’s Simon Joyner gig down at Goofy Foot Lodge was the better of the two. Plans call for providing a little more detail and a review of Joyner’s new album in this week’s column, online Wednesday or Thursday. Look for it. Opening act The Miracles of God, who has opened for Simon on a few other occasions, sounded completely different to me, in a good way — like a hybrid of punk and beer-bottle rock, the kind of punk you might hear in a truck stop driving east of Chicago. Dirty and loud. They played a couple shows with Outlaw Con Bandana leading up to this gig (who I missed last night, thanks to the Cardinals). Outlaw apparently had some van troubles on this short tour, troubles as in getting T-boned somewhere around Iowa City. I’m told their van was totaled. I assume no one was hurt or they wouldn’t have played last night. Joyner, incidentally, declared them his current favorite local band during his set — quite an honor (if you ask me).

The Goofy Foot continues to be one of the cooler bars in Omaha that still doesn’t make you feel out of place, even if you’re wearing a Ft. Calhoun Pioneers hoodie and a stocking cap (it was cold last night). Their pseudo stage is still somewhat lacking — actually, it’s more of an anti-stage as you seem to be looking down at the band rather than up to them — but their sound system is more than adequate for the room. It does have a similar “standing in the way” problem that The 49’r has — if you’re not at a table or up at the pool tables, you’re probably in someone’s way. Oh well. They have the cheapest Rolling Rock in town, incidentally. More on Simon Wednesday (or Thursday).

I didn’t get a good enough feel at Saturday night’s Titanmoon/Davan show at O’Leaver’s to give a real review (I was chatting with someone in the back during most of the set). Titanmoon was fun, poppy rock, and durn good. Davan was quirky and didn’t hold my attention. Neither band was a good fit opening for the thunder of Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship, which pounded the place to rubble. Perhaps the bands are friends or the touring bands were just thrown on the night’s bill? No idea.

Tonight at Sokol Underground, Detroit’s Electric Six with Aberdeen City and The Blue Van. I’m listening to Electric Six’s “I Buy the Drugs” right now — sounds like a throwback to early ’80s FM radio rock a la Jack Black, lots of keyboards and guitar and a big, bad chorus. Could be fun. Niz wrote about Aberdeen City here in the OWH this weekend — their guitarist has Omaha ties, apparently, and Steve Lillywhite likes ‘am. $12, 9 p.m.

Here’s this week’s Slowdown photo. As always, click the thumbnail to enlarge. The cranes have been busy, but it’s getting colder out there, folks. Can they get it buttoned down before the heavy stuff moves in?

Post ’em here.>

Here’s what we got for the weekend, folks:

It starts tonight with The Willowz and The Terminals at O’Leaver’s. Hopefully more people will show up this time for The Willowz than when they came through here last August. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Tomorrow night is another one at O’Leaver’s, starting with Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship and Electric Needle Room. Dallas’ Titanmoon is an indie disco rock band. Sounds pretty fun, judging by their myspace page. Headliner Davan is weirdness from Lawrence. A lot of music for $5, 9:30 p.m.

Finally, Sunday, the long-awaited CD release party for Simon Joyner and the Fallen Men’s new CD, Skeleton Blues, at The Goofy Foot Lodge. Look for a full review of the CD online here sometime this weekend. Also playing are Outlaw Con Bandana and The Miracles of God. $6, 9 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Column 97: YouTubed
Videos are relevant all over again.

Overheard while out and about last weekend, talk of the new Ladyfinger (NE) video, the one featuring a slouched and beaten Matt Bowen — local legend and music hustler, former member of too many bands to list — pushing a broom in his role as a school janitor. I had to see it. But where?

Music videos have been around for what seems like forever, but they’ve never been a serious endeavor for local indie bands. What’s the point? You could spend thousands of dollars and hours making a video that ultimately will never be seen by anyone but your family and friends. MTV? Who do you think you are? A-Ha?

YouTube has changed all of that. Located at www.youtube.com, the website is one of technology’s ultimate time wasters right along with Madden ’07 and the Blackberry. Go there now and you’ll find linked off the homepage videos like “Sweet Tired Cat” — 27 seconds of a cat falling asleep, and “Chad Vader,” a 6-minute video that imagines Darth Vader as a grocery clerk at “Empire Market.” Funny? Well, sort of.

You’ll also find that aforementioned video of Ladyfinger’s “Too Cool for School” in all its cheesy glory. In fact, you’ll find just about any music video that you can remember seeing on MTV. Robert Plant’s “Big Log” circa 1983? It’s there. The A-Ha classic “Take on Me”? Of course. Cursive’s “Dorothy at Forty”? Yup, right along with every other video made by Saddle Creek artists, including The Faint’s “Agenda Suicide,” arguably the best music video ever produced by a local band.

Saddle Creek Records exec Robb Nansel likes YouTube. “It seems like a great way to get some additional exposure that bands may not have had access to before,” he said, adding that the website’s crappy Flash-based video technology is so poor that it won’t impact the label’s video sales. “But we have never viewed the music videos that we make as a revenue stream. We think of them as promotional materials for our bands, so the more people that see the videos, the better.”

Greg Edds, guitarist for local rock band Little Brazil, couldn’t agree more. Edds emailed me a link to their video for “Stretching Skin,” which captures the band playing in a well-lit practice space. He said the video has been viewed more than 1,300 times since it was uploaded to YouTube in September.

“(YouTube) definitely allows us and other bands to reach a world market without touring to those lengths,” he said. “It’s another avenue for bands to try something new… and free, creatively.”

But even more prolific than band-made music videos is live footage captured by fans — thousands of hours of it. You cannot go to a rock show these days without seeing those kids and their tiny palm-corders, capturing a performance that will be uploaded to YouTube the next morning.

The footage is clearly a breach of various copyright laws, but Nansel doesn’t seem to mind. “I think technically, people should ask permission,” he said, “but we have never asked anyone to take anything down.”

Those amateur indie-rock videographers certainly came in handy last Friday night for Saddle Creek band Two Gallants. Over the weekend, a number of outraged Houstonites emailed me to recount how Two Gallants were busted by the HPD during a performance at club Walter’s on Washington. They told stories of police brutality that bordered on Gestapo tactics, of people being thrown to the ground and 14-year-olds being “tazed.” However, the only mainstream coverage of the event, by Houston ABC affiliate KTRK, seemed to counter their claims, stating band members attacked the officer, who efficiently restored order. Who to believe? In the “old days,” most would rely on the ABC account.

But within hours of the confrontation, videos of the incident wound up on YouTube, capturing the frantic melee as it happened. One video clearly shows a cop taking down a band member on stage and calling for back-up. Another appears to capture a patron being pushed by the cop to the floor. Since they went online Saturday, the videos have been viewed more than 80,000 times. And that KTRK report has been updated, no longer stating the band attacked the cop.

In the end, the videos don’t capture how the scuffle began — that’ll be for a Houston court to determine (talk about your return engagements). As of Tuesday morning, the story had been covered by more than a dozen online news outlets, including Rolling Stone.com — many include links to the YouTube footage. You simply cannot buy publicity like that. And for a band that’s known in the indie music world for their song about spending a night in a “Las Cruces Jail,” they can now add a line about a real night in a Houston jail. Hopefully someone captured it on video.

Who would have thought Two Gallants getting busted in Houston last Friday night would become such a big deal? It’s a story that just isn’t going to die. The Houston Chronicle today follows with a lengthy feature headlined, “Melee Could Put the Hurt on Houston’s Music Scene,” with the underline “Brawl between HPD, band draws national notice, may keep acts away, fans say.” The story (here) says that Houston already has a bad rep among touring bands, and that the Two Gallants debacle is only going to make it worse. “Managers are trying to give their bands a chance in Houston. But there’s absolutely nothing we can say to help our case to get bands into town when they’re being attacked by cops. Whatever the official report is, there’s no excuse for it,” said local promoter Ryan Chavez, who booked the show. Two Gallants would be crazy to skip Houston now. Imagine the press coverage they’d receive, both locally and nationally, upon their return. The show would be huge. If they really want to make a statement about what happened, the best way to do it is from a Houston stage.

Doesn’t sound like that will happen though, based on the band’s interview with Pitchfork that went online yesterday afternoon (here). Adam Stephens’ and Tyson Vogel’s account of the situation is disturbing, painting a picture of a man-mountain strolling through the crowd brandishing a Taser like a cattle prod. “He was really focused on this one kid, who was really young,” said Vogel in the article. “I think he was 14 years old. He kept Tasing him over and over again. The kid started having convulsions or something. It’s so crazy. You can kill somebody with one of those things.” If true, that’s pretty creepy. The funniest line of the story comes from Stephens: “That guy was huge, and we’re skinny little indie rocker kids. It’s not like we go to the gym, and we definitely couldn’t take this guy on in any way. He was a big dude and he was on top of us, pretty much had us down.” So now the band is considering taking legal action, which would be a mistake. Says Vogel, “This is about a larger truth. We’re not trying to get something else out of it. We just want what’s right.” Good luck with that one.

Tonight at Sokol Underground, Thunderbirds Are Now! roll into town in support of their new album, Make History on Frenchkiss Records, a standard-issue indie rock album. With Rescue and Tie These Hands, $8, 9 p.m. Meanwhile, over at O’Leaver’s, it’s Mike Tulis’ Rock Movie Night featuring the documentary We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen. Movie details are here. The film rolls at 9:30 and it’s FREE.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

A follow-up to the Two Gallants’ drama. Just about every music outlet on the web has covered the incident, including Rollingstone.com and, of course, Pitchfork. And there are tons of blogs covering the fracas, including this one. Also as a result of the rigmarole, Thursday’s Lazy-i column will focus on YouTube and will mention the incident. Again, could Saddle Creek and Two Gallants ask for better (or at least, more) publicity, even if it costs the band some more jail time and/or fines? Guess that’s up to the band to decide…

Tonight at Sokol Underground Bonnie Prince Billy along with Dapose‘s Vverevvolf Grehv. Who remembers the last time Will Oldham came to town? I do. It was back in August 2001 at The Music Box. Simon Joyner opened the show, and Pinetop Seven did an amazing set. Oldham stumbled on stage last along with has band of very strange musicians. They created about 30 minutes of droning noise that featured Oldham mumbling words incoherently while some spook stood at the front of the stage and stared at the crowd (that appeared to be his only job, to be the official goon). Not one of the best shows of 2001, not by a long shot. But hey, that was five years ago. I’m sure things have gotten better for Oldham by then. He’s certainly turned out to be a helluva an actor (Junebug, Old Joy, etc.). And his new album, The Letting Go, has been getting raves. $15, 9 p.m. If you prefer to dance instead, drop in at O’Leaver’s for Chromatics, who’s playing tonight with Glass Candy and Eagle’s Blood. $5, 9:30 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

I received a number of emails over the weekend from outraged Houstonites who were there Friday night when Two Gallants got busted during a performance at Walter’s on Washington. Walter’s calls itself “the neighborhood bar that is also the best new live music venue in Houston.” Supposedly a few of those neighbors weren’t so happy with the noise level Friday night and called the cops. By the accounts I’ve received, what ensued was a police action that borders on Gestapo.

One member of the crowd, Lazy-i reader William G.K. Zhang, says it went down like this: “A policeman came into the venue and immediately got on stage. The policeman then started to confront Adam and after a short while, threw him down on the stage. The policeman then got up and immediately called for backup. The policeman also started thrashing around and destroying musical equipment. Afterwards, members from the crowd and the opening bands started confronting the police officer. The police officer then proceeded to harass and taze members of the crowd, including one 14-year old teenager. Adam then ran out of the venue and disappeared into the streets. Tyson was handcuffed and peacefully entered the police car. Soon, helicopters and police cars flooded into the venue parking lot. Arrests were made of members of the opening bands and dissenting crowd members.”

The local ABC affiliate filed this report, which originally stated the band attacked the cop. Ah, but the power of portable digital video cameras proved that those initial reports were, to say the least, questionable, and story has since been updated. Take a look a couple different videos of the incident on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxKQb03A0bw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40x2KghHX_A

Ugly. I ran into Saddle Creek’s Robb Nansel yesterday, who confirmed that the incident did indeed go down, and that Adam and Tyson didn’t get out of Houston till the next day, then booked it to Austin for their gig at Emo’s. Zhang said that among the casualties in the fray was Langhorne Slim’s 90-year-old bass, which got broken when the cop pushed a crowd member into it. Now there are reports that the neighbors never complained about the noise. And let’s be honest, isn’t it odd for a cop to storm the stage and try to take a guitar away from the musician? If you want the sound cut, you go to the sound board and start unplugging things. Strange, strange business. It’ll be even stranger when the Two Gallants make their return visit to Houston — to appear in court.

The Houston Chronicle weighs in with this account, where an HPD spokesman calls the policeman’s behavior “commendable.”

Zhang’s full account is now on the Two Gallants Wikipedia entry.

There’s another account on a witness’s myspace page:

And more comments at the Two Gallants forum.

Expect this story to be covered in all the usual music media over the next few days. Could Two Gallants ask for better publicity? Congratulations, Saddle Creek. And thanks to those who wrote in (Emily, William, John) to give me a head’s up.

* * *

There was a nice crowd at the Chin Up Chin Up show Saturday night at O’Leaver’s to hear a nice set from a nice indie 5-piece that plays nice, mid-tempo indie rock. I like Chin Up, but the set was less than riveting. To their credit, they got better as the set wore on, peaking with the final two songs.

Tonight at O’Leaver’s, Oakland-based indie heavy-metal trio Totimoshi takes the stage with Omaha’s own Lepers. $5, 9:30 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Maybe 65 people were at Sokol Underground last night to see Protoculture play the best set I’ve ever heard them play. If you were around the stage, you saw the hi-jinx between the crowd and band, that at one point forced them to start a song over. Kooky. Great sound, though, and always fun to watch (though they didn’t play their Kite Pilot cover as drummer Koly Walter has promised.).

STNNNG had a tougher time. Halfway through their set, something went amiss with one of the guitar amps. It killed the momentum the band had gathered up to that point with their brand of hard-edged post-punk. Frontman Chris Besinger was in his usual bizarre form, looking like a dwarfish sex deviant straight out of Times Square circa 1971. With his scream-bark, leather gloves and piercing eyes, he looked like a homicidal street lunatic ranting at an imaginary friend, pointing and grimacing and storming around the stage. Meanwhile, a small moshpit formed up front, consisting of five or six young guys stomping around elbowing each other. Whatever happened to the slam-dance culture? STNNNG’s new songs are bleak, intense and filthy, at times creating an intense groove with Besinger playing the role of punk shaman. And man, it was loud.

Tonight at O’Leaver’s, Chin Up Chin Up, with Skull Fight and Electric Needle Room. $5, 9:30 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Friday the 13th. Pretty scary. Is it safe to go out tonight? Well, if you do, there’s a great show down at Sokol Underground: STNNNG, The Protoculture, Bombardment Society and The Stay Awake all for just $8. I’m told that The Protoculture will be rolling out a new cover of a Kite Pilot song this evening. And if you haven’t seen Bombardment with new bass player Lincoln Dickison (The Monroes), well, you’re in for a treat.

If for some reason you’ve gone crazy and you don’t feel like driving downtown, Mark Mallman is “scheduled” to open a show at O’Leaver’s with Pendrakes and Jon Yeager Band. Ironically, I mentioned Mallman’s show to Chris Besinger of STNNNG, and he said if these two shows were going on simultaneously in Minneapolis, Mallman’s show would be the one to sell out. Please Note: Mallman’s O’Leaver’ show is not listed on his tour page. He was scheduled to play in Fargo last night and in Albuquerque tomorrow. The show’s promoter hasn’t been able to reach him to confirm tonight’s show, so caveat emptor on this one.

If you survive Friday the 13th, you may not be so lucky on the 14th, what with Skull Fight!, Chin Up Chin Up, and Electric Needle Room playing at O’Leaver’s. CUCU just released the long player This Harness Can’t Ride Anything on Suicide Squeeze. Skull Fight! is the new Cuterthans, but tougher, angrier, maybe not as smarter, but angrier (sort of). Electric Needle Room is one of the guys featured in my Joslyn column from a few weeks ago. I believe this will be his O’Leaver’s debut. Will he be great? Will he suck? Find out for $5.

* * *

A bit of Saddle Creek-related news to pass on: In an interview with Billboard (they’re getting all the scoops lately), Cursive’s Tim Kasher said that the band is writing a new album’s worth of music with the intention of hitting the studio in January for a fall release. Kasher also continues to work on his screenplay titled, “Help Wanted Nights.” Ain’t looking so good for us Good Life fans, as Kasher is unsure when he’ll return to that band. Read the whole story here. If you’re wondering how Cursive is doing on the road, here’s a colorful review of their show in Philly, that starts with “A man has found his way onto the stage of the Starlight Ballroom and he is very, very drunk.” and ends with “A smile deep across his face, Kasher thanks everyone post-sing-a-long, bending over and hugging the front row. His sincerity probably only half due to his drinking.” Glug-glug-glug…

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Column 96: What’s the Point?
The trouble with lists.

The core problem with creating a special “music issue” of The Reader that includes a “list” of the 20 “best bands” in the Omaha/Lincoln area is obvious. You’re forced to answer the question: “What’s the point?” Why place bands in a pecking order based on the (hopefully, though unlikely) well-informed opinion of a group of faceless critics who feel compelled to tell the public what is good and what isn’t?

The argument against such a list gets down to one undeniable fact: When it comes to art, competition sucks. It serves no purpose. It makes friends enemies. It creates pride, envy and doubt in the heart of the artists. It discourages as much as it encourages new art, new ideas, risk-taking.

And yet, “best of” lists and the endless string of award shows have become an acknowledged method of recognizing art and music in our culture, even though the determination of what’s good and what isn’t ultimately rests solely in the eyes and ears of the beholder. You can tell me a thousand times that something is great or something sucks, but in the end, I’ll decide for myself (Unless, of course, I’m a sheep).

So why do it? Why make a list of the best and a list of runners-up (and, by default, a list of those that didn’t make the lists)? The most obvious reason: Because it’s fun. It’s controversial. And most importantly, because people love their lists and awards. They need to have their opinions validated, to affirm that they, indeed, have “good taste.” So I guess it all comes down to ego, and doesn’t ego fuel all art? Perhaps, perhaps…

What I can tell you with extreme confidence is that no matter how Editor Andy and the rest of the staff cut it, the list will piss people off. Hell, I don’t even like the list. Where’s Mal Madrigal and Outlaw Con Bandana? Where’s Brimstone Howl? WHERE THE HELL IS THE MONROES?

But let’s start with the obvious complaint: Of the top 20 “best bands” 40 percent of them are Saddle Creek Records artists — Neva Dinova, Tilly and the Wall, Cursive, Criteria, Bright Eyes, The Faint, Ladyfinger and The Good Life. The discussion whether to include Saddle Creek bands was — to say the least — heated. The core arguments against it: They’re not local bands, they’re national bands that happen to live in Omaha. They’ve already “made it.” They’re mentioned constantly in the national press, why do they need any more recognition? Aren’t they all millionaires? Hell, they rarely even play in Omaha. And so on.

But to not include Saddle Creek artists would have made the list more pointless than it already is. Cursive and Bright Eyes and The Faint are Omaha bands — they live here, they interact with other local musicians, they go to local shows, they drink booze at O’Leaver’s and Sokol and The Brothers like the rest of us. They love Omaha or else they would have moved away a long, long time ago. But the most obvious argument: They’re the sole reason the Omaha music scene is recognized east of the Missouri River and west of Elkhorn.

Yeah, they’re successful, and they don’t need any more pats on the back. And I can pretty much promise you that the one-sheet included with Bright Eyes’ next release will not include the accolade, “Named one of Omaha’s top-20 bands of 2006 by The Reader.” But one-sheets for Anonymous American and Prospect Avenue and Jazzwholes might. How valuable is it for those bands to be on the same list as Saddle Creek acts in terms of just capturing the attention of an out-of-town club owner or small indie label?

Look, there’s no way The Reader was going to completely satisfy anyone with this list. And from that standpoint, it’s a failure before it was ever printed. But will it get people thinking, arguing, debating the music scene, defending their favorite band, discussing the merits of another, discovering a new band that they never heard before? Perhaps, perhaps…

So don’t get mad. Relax. It’s all in good fun. You already know that your favorite band is good, whether the idiots at The Reader know it or not. And maybe next year those asswipes will remember The Monroes and Mal Madrigal and everyone else that didn’t make the list. But somehow, I doubt it.

Had enough of those guitar-and-drum acts? You know, The White Stripes, The Black Dice, Two Gallants, and on and on? How ’bout an organ-and-drum duo? Now there’s a new twist. The Benevento-Russo Duo are just that. Organist Marco Benevento and drummer Joe Russo can go from loungy jazzy interludes to all-out cacophonous rock anthems in no time flat. The duo started out playing a weekly residency at The Knitting factory in NYC, and have since played everywhere from the Fuji Rockfest in Japan to SXSW to Bonnaroo. How did a Wurlitzer ever get so cool? $10, 9 p.m.

Yes, that STNNNG interview just went online (read it here). Frontman Chris Besinger was one of the better interviews I’ve had in recent weeks. Translated: He was funny and engaging, as opposed to dry and boring. In addition to mocking Wayne Coyne and Chris Machmuller, Besinger talked about his leather glove, his love of Omaha, his new and old albums, and why he does what he does.

On how all cities have both a good music scene and a crappy music scene: “You can’t have a good scene without a crappy scene, they feed off each other. Sometimes when you’re on tour you just end up in the crappy scene, which is usually the people who are willing to give out their shows. About a week afterward, you heard from someone from that town who says, ‘Oh, you really should have played with this band or at this club.'”

On chicks at shows: “There aren’t any. If we were all gay guys, that would be awesome, because there’s not a whole lot of babes at our shows.”

On the fact their their new record is a “concept album”: “It turned into a concept album accidentally, a concept that doesn’t make sense. It’s kind of about things and people or animals that are two conflicting things at the same time. It’s not like one of those weird, unwieldy Pete Townsend or Pink Floyd concepts. I don’t want people to think we’re Tool or the Mars Volta.”

On text messaging during shows: “We opened a show for a friend of ours and it was a much different crowd than we’re used to. There was this dude up front texting on his phone, three or four rows back. I just wanted to get that phone and throw it against the wall. We’re a loud, crazy, out-of-control band and you’re sending a text message? NO TEXTING!”

On owning his first house in Minneapolis: “It’s weird. You end up at weird times of the day thinking ‘I own this house? I’m in my kitchen. I own all this crap.'”

On Prince: “He’s still very much in the mindset in Minneapolis. Prince was at one of our shows, but when I say he was at one of our shows, it was more like he ended up at 7th St. Entrance after we finished playing.” He went on to say Grant Hart is another local legend that still hangs out around town. “You see him all the time.”