Kris Lager plays solo tonight at The Jewell.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’ve been told by a couple music folks (and have read on Facebook) that The Jewell is hands-down the best live music venue in Omaha. I couldn’t tell you if I agree having never stepped foot in the joint.

The Jewell originally was marketed as a live dinner/music-venue with a jazz focus, and many acts initially booked were jazz-oriented. But there have been exceptions, such as tonight’s Kris Lager solo show at 6:30 (tix are $15). Lager has generated a large local following for his style of feel-good blues rock. His Spotify bio, for example, shows he has 1,161 monthly listeners, most of them located in Omaha and the Midwest, though Lager tours his ass off.

It’s a smart booking for Jewell, along with upcoming dates by Cubby Philips Trio, Hector Anchondo Band, The Confidentials, Blues Society of Omaha gigs and various holiday shows that appear to reach for a different audience than is typically attracted to jazz fare.

That said, I’m still waiting for The Jewell to book one of Omaha’s premier indie / punk bands (and if you’re wondering who I’m talking about, you never read this blog, but here’s the list for 2019). One assumes these bands have never been considered for the Jewell stage because, well, they’re indie/punk bands. And while blues ain’t jazz, you could argue that there’s an overlap in those two genres’ perceived audiences.

That said, considering that the club is booked kind of like a dinner-theater — with ticketed calendar events where you get in, order dinner, watch the act and leave — there’s no reason why they couldn’t book any genre of music or performer — i.e., it’s not a hang-out jazz club where patrons show up expecting jazz five nights a week. You go to see the band you bought tickets to see.

If they’re willing to book Anchondo and Kris Lager, they certainly could book David Nance Band, Thick Paint, See Through Dresses or any of the Saddle Creek Records stable. I guess the question is whether those bands’ followers would show up and order dinner instead of just soak themselves in PBR. In that way The Jewell seems designed for old(er) people, the kind you see leaning over a king-cut prime rib at Anthony’s.

And you could argue that indie bands already have plenty of quality venues to play at — The Slowdown, The Waiting Room, Reverb Lounge, not to mention smaller clubs like O’Leaver’s, The Sydney and The Brothers. (But for those of you wondering whether those bands would play at The Jewell in the first place, the answer is yes they would, if the money’s right).

I guess I’ll just have to keep on waiting for the right moment to finally experience The Jewell. In the meantime, tickets to Kamasi Washington — arguably one of the most influential new jazz voices and (one would assume) a perfect fit for The Jewell — go on sale Friday at The Slowdown…

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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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Solid Goldberg at O’Leaver’s, Nov. 26, 2019.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Thanksgiving night at O’Leaver’s is becoming a new holiday tradition for the drunks and disenfranchised as well as the rest of us, and why not? Most places are closed on Thanksgiving. Instead. O’Leaver’s used the holiday for a boozed-up rock show.

First up at around 10:30 was the return of Solid Goldberg. Dave Goldberg has revamped his one-man project with more eye-popping gadgets and an enormous amount of sound-creating hardware — pedals, cables and wires surrounded both in front of and behind the shower-curtain scrim used to bounce lighting effects. Fire hazard? I watched the floor for smoke.

Despite the hardware and tech, the core of Goldberg’s performance are his songs, which have never been groovier. Goldberg’s beat programming and synth-work have upped his sound to an electro-dance party that sizzles beneath his keyboard melodies and vocals. The style is punk/blues rock a la classic Jon Spencer but with Goldberg’s trademark keyboard style like listening to a kaleidoscope on acid.

And while it’s hard not to get caught up in the performance — the lights, the gadgets, Goldberg himself — there is funk to be had. Goldberg has one of the better punk rock voices I’ve heard around these parts — rife with the swagger of a rock evangelist, it’s been that way as long as I’ve known him.

I asked after the set when he’s going to record any of the songs. He said he thought they  finally turned a corner, which I hope means he’ll be in a studio soon.

Digital Leather at O’Leaver’s, Nov. 26, 2019.

Digital Leather followed after at around 11. Every DL show seems to have a line-up change and this one was no exception. While Jeff Lambelet took his throne behind the drum kit and I believe Omahan Blake Kostszewa of FiFI NoNo was on one synth, across the stage was a new face who I was told was playing her first show with DL. No idea who she was, though the person next to me said there were Sioux City roots.

It was a similar set as the one played in September at The Sydney. Once again, the highlights were “Puff” off Headache Heaven, “B12” from the Mere Mortals project, and a kick=ass closer called “Compass” that’s yet to be recorded (but needs to be).

Frontman Shawn Foree brutalized a four-string bass with heavy fuzz tone — a welcome shift in style though few people are more ingenious behind a synth keyboard. If there’s a complaint it’s that the set could have been longer. Certainly the audience, which crowded the stage, wanted more…

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Los Angeles psych-rock band Allah-Las headlines tonight at Slowdown Jr. The band has a sweet ’60s Cali-garage sound reminiscent of acts like Arthur Lee and Love. Their latest album, LAHS, was released this past October on Mexican Summer Records. They’re joined tonight by LA duo Mapache and Tim Hill. $18, 8 p.m.

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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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Digital Leather at The Sydney, Sept. 6, 2019. The band plays tonight at O’Leaver’s.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Fabulous O’Leaver’s is starting a new tradition tonight by hosting one of the hottest Tryptophan-fueled rock shows of the year.

Solid Goldberg is a project that features Omaha legend Dave Goldberg, who takes the one-man-band experience to a whole ‘nuther level. Goldberg, who’s past projects include Sucettes, Rusty Lord, Box Elders, The Terminals, The Carsinogents, Street Urchins and Full Blown, to name a few, creates an audio/visual head trip that must be seen to be believed.

He’s followed by Digital Leather, a project helmed by an Omaha doom-vision electronic music svengali. Beyond what I’ve reported in the past, I know virtually nothing about Shawn Foree other than he’s the only post-wave singer/songwriter actively trying something new in a tired genre dominated by tribute acts and unwanted reunion tours.

Over the past 15 years or so, Digital Leather’s musical style has constantly shifted between electronic No Wave, garage rock/psychedelic and static-powered synth-punk. Prolific, Foree records a record (or two) every year, released on labels like FDH, No Coast, Volar, Goner, Fat Possum and Stencil Trash.

You get both acts for just $7. The fun starts at 10 p.m. Expect your typical O’Leaver’s crowd, which is another way of saying expect the unexpected. And that’s something to give thanks for…

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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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Black Mountain plays tonight at Slowdown Jr.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I don’t remember there being so many shows on the night before Thanksgiving. With (most) of us off work on turkey day, it makes sense (although who wants to be hungover at the family gathering? Everybody?).

Three shows are on my radar tonight:

Over at the Reverb Lounge, See Through Dresses returns with what I have to believe will be a set that includes a lot of new songs. Locals Hail Varsity opens at 9 p.m. $10.

Meanwhile, just around the corner at The Waiting Room, there’s a slew of tribute acts hitting the stage. Headlining is Control, a Joy Division tribute that features among its players guitarist Mike Saklar and bass player Randy Cotton. In fact, that duo will also be part of Stigmata Martyr, a Bauhaus tribute that comes on right before Control. The evening kicks off at 9 p.m. with 138, a Misfits tribute. $10.

Finally, down at Slowdown Jr. indie metal band Black Mountain headlines. Their new album, Destroyer, was released on Jagjaguwar, a label that’s been releasing their stuff since their self-titled debut back in 2005 — an album that’s still a regular on the ol’ stereo.

At the top of the mountain is Stephen McBean, who’s rock history goes back beyond his previous band, the more laid back Jerk with a Bomb, which merely hinted at the harder stuff to come. On Destroyer, McBean and Co. give us a modern take on Black Sabbath combined with something that’s a lot more funky. Check out “Boogie Lover” to hear what I’m talking about.

I tried getting McBean to do a 10 Questions survey but he wasn’t having it. Instead, here’s seven questions (sort of):

What is your favorite album?

Black Mountain’s Stephen McBean: Rudimentary Peni, Death Church

What is your least favorite song?

Thankfully, I can’t remember.

What do you enjoy most about being in a band?

Playing music with humans & machines.

What is your favorite substance (legal or illegal)?

Oysters.

In what city or town do you love to perform?

The one I’m currently performing in.

What one profession other than music would you like to attempt; what one profession would you absolutely hate to do?

I like the Philadelphia Flyers.

What are the stories you’ve heard about Omaha, Nebraska?

Camp Dump strike.

Opening for Black Mountain tonight is Ryler Walker. This is a Slowdown front room show; tickets are $20; showtime is 8 p.m.

Look for an update tomorrow.

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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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Disq at O’Leaver’s, Nov. 23, 2019.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It was one of those mid-sized crowds at O’Leaver’s Saturday night. OK, maybe it was a bit smallish. No one was standing in front of the band or crowding along the railing, but there were still 30 or so folks in the house for sets by Disq and Goon.

Disq is a band that released a 2-song single on Saddle Creek Records earlier this year that caught a bit of national attention. A five piece — all quite young — their sound is sort of a combination of influences that range from early Teenage Fanclub to The Kinks and Blue-album-era Weezer. Still, uniquely their own thing, fronted by Isaac deBroux-Slone, with a voice and style that makes him the perfect indie frontman.

I’m a big fan of this band. I saw them in June at Slowdown Jr., and dug them just as much Saturday night. “Communication,” the A-side of the single, is one of my favorite songs of 2019 (and was well represented in their set).

Saddle Creek would be well advised to consider releasing Disq’s full-length, though I’m not sure where the band fits into the Creek roster these days, what with the plethora of singer/songwriters (most of them female) that has dominated their signings over the past couple years (Young Jesus, being an exception). But with its big, fun, guitar-fueled ruckus, Disq recalls the early days of Saddle Creek, and that’s a good thing.

Goon at O’Leaver’s, Nov. 23, 2019.

Goon followed Disq sometime after midnight, playing songs off their latest, Heaven is Humming (2019, Partisan). It’s a tight band with a great rhythm section (drummer Christian Koons is outstanding) playing indie songs that ranged from throttled-back mood pieces to ripping noise rockers.

Frontman Kenny Becker has a high, thin coo of a voice that too-often got lost in the mix — there were times when I wondered why they didn’t just make the song an instrumental, it was pumping along so well on its own. Becker’s voice is more pronounced on the recordings, and kind of reminded me of early R.E.M./mumble-Stipe — another tonal instrument layered within the crisp arrangement.

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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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Disq at Slowdown Jr., June 2, 2019. The band plays at O’Leaver’s Saturday night.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A busy weekend for a change…uptown, downtown, all over…

Let’s start with fabulous O’Leaver’s, where tonight sees the return of Louisiana duo Ghost Foot. I wrote about them yesterday. I’m told they’ll also be hanging around Omaha this weekend doing some recording. Treat them like locals even though they ain’t. Lincoln’s Universe Contest and The Sunks open at 10 p.m. $5.

Also tonight, Nik Facker’s space-prog-art-rock project InDreama headlines at The Sydney. I’m told Nik and Co. have been working on new material. Go see what they’ve been up to. And How and Jacob James Wilton open at 10 p.m. $5.

Meanwhile, downtown tonight at The Slowdown seminal alt-rockers Helmet brings their 30th Anniversary Tour to the big room. It’s just Helmet playing 30 songs over 30 years. $25, 8 p.m.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) it’s back to O’Leaver’s for Saddle Creek Records band Disq. Their gig this past summer at Slowdown Jr. was one of my favorites of 2019. Disq is opening for LA psych rockers GOON (Partisan Records). This is a very cool show for $7. Infinite Video kicks off the night at 10 p.m.

Reverb’s hosting a very interesting hardcore show Saturday night headlined by NYC act Show Me the Body. Their latest album, Dog Whistle, is as hard and shrill and uncompromising as they come. Urochromes and Jocko are the openers. Things could get heated in Reverb’s tight confines. Bring your Docs. $15, 9 p.m.

On the other end of the spectrum, LA psych-pop band Dreamers headlines at Slowdown Jr. Saturday night. Arrested Youth and American Teeth open at 8 p.m. $18.

Meanwhile, over at The Down Under Lounge, 24 Hour Cardlock headlines a show Saturday night with Wagon Blasters and Korey Anderson. It starts at 9 p.m. and No Cover!

Sunday, of course, is a day of rest.

Did I miss anything? If I did, put it in the comments section. 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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Listening to albums the way god intended…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’m catching up on a couple columns that appeared in The Reader over the past couple months but only just went online. First is this month’s column. I’ve written variations on this theme a number of times over the past 15 years, this idea that digital music has forever changed the way we listen to music. But this time I include critics.

When I was much younger I used to love to peruse the album reviews in Rolling Stone, SPIN, Option, Magnet and a slew of other printed publications. The only one of the above that still exists in printed form is Rolling Stone, and their reviews are little more than capsule summaries with a star rating. As I say in the column, while I rely on Pitchfork and Stereogum as well as the never-aging grand bard of critics Robert Christgau (you can now subscribe to his writings online here), I’m just as apt to catch recommendations in Facebook and Twitter as anywhere else. In fact, you may recognize a couple people I namecheck in the column as folks whose opinion I value (It wasn’t until after I filed the article that I realized, hey, 99 percent of my column’s readers have no idea who I’m talking about).

Anyway, read the column in the current issue of The Reader, on newsstands now, or online right here

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The October column also is online, which asks the question: “Does the art change once you discover that the artist is an asshole?” Woody Allen, Ryan Adams and Aziz Ansari are subjects of discussion, among others. I have always separated art from the artist. Social media is now making that more difficult, as we all know. And in the end, it might be yet another reason why it’s time to unplug your Facebook account. You can read that column online right here.

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If you’re involved in music at all in Omaha you already follow Ian Aeillo in Facebook and Twitter. If you don’t, you need to. Ian, who is a veteran musician and something of a scene legend, is the sound engineer at The Sydney and also works with bands on occasion.

One of them is Louisiana band Ghost Foot, who will be playing at fabulous O’Leavers this Friday night. Ian shared a new track by Ghost Foot called “Leaving Omaha,” which is destined to join the ranks of other Omaha-themed songs by the likes of Counting Crows, Moby Grape and Desaparecidos.

This one’s less a celebration of our city and more of a sordid snapshot taken by someone who lived to tell about it, with the lyrics:

Leaving Omaha

I’m leaving Omaha
With just my clothes
And all the powder
I put up my nose

I lost my girlfriend
I lost my wife
I lost my billfold
In that great good life

I’m leaving Omaha
Dead sick in my shoes
With a big head
All filled up with blues

I lost a song there
I lost a dream
I gained a nightmare
A few friends and a scene

But the sun
The sun is still shining
And the rain
The rain will still come

Let the bombs
All fall on the big world
As ashes
We all will become

Here’s the track, below. See them sing it live Friday night at O’Leaver’s.

Then there’s Ian’s project Flight School. After photos of Trump’s childlike handwritten notes exploded on the internet like a sad American meme yesterday morning, Flight School took those notes and created “I Want Nothing,” a track that accurately captures this moment in our country’s unfortunate history. As Mr. Trump would say, 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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Future location of restaurant/music venue The Berkley.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The Berkley is a new live music venue / restaurant that’s opening in January at 1901 Leavenworth, the building that used to house Connections and is just a door down from where the first Milk Run was located, with Shuck’s on the opposite end.

It’s the brainchild of Amelia Drake and Deb Sauls. You might remember Amelia from the post-wave duo Drakes Hotel, a band that included her husband, Christopher Yanulis (and if you don’t, here’s a reminder from 2007).

Drake said she and Sauls are going full force on renovating the space, and at the same time, she’s figuring out the kind of music The Berkley will host.

“We’re looking for lower-decibel bands like singer-songwriter or small piece acts,” Drake said. “We are going to be a little different from other venues in town in that we are primarily a restaurant. So, musicians may find performing with us similar to playing a supper club. I’m hoping to attract talent that would be comfortable playing in a coffeehouse circa 1995.”

She’s working with local musician Virginia Kathryn Gallner to book bands. “She’s given me a formidable list of local acts to check out. I’m still making my way through them,” Drake said, adding that she only just moved back to Omaha in June. In addition, she’s reaching out to an Ohio connection who books national acts to try and piggyback on bands passing by Omaha.

Drake said The Berkley will only book music Friday and Saturday nights while it fine-tunes its service. It’ll also host youth acts on weekend days (likely Sunday) “to give young musicians an opportunity to cut their teeth on our stage.”

I think they’ll have no problem finding singer/songwriters to book, but I’m hoping they branch out to more acts like, well, Drakes Hotel. It’ll be interesting to see how the bookings evolve.

No doubt it’s a unique neighborhood to start a business. I remember parking being a bit of a challenge, but I’m told they’re reconfiguring the venue’s back lot for additional parking — who remembers that back lot when the Milk Run was in operation?

To keep track on The Berkley’s progress, follow them on Facebook, here

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Tonight is the big Wilco show at The Orpheum Theatre. One assumes this is the type of concert Omaha Performing Arts intends to book in the proposed new $109 million music venue to be built next to the Holland.

That said, this show is far from sold out. Tickets were still available — including a ton of $45 balcony and $70 orchestra seats.

Tuomo & Markus, “a Helsinki Finland based musical group founded by renowned Finnish soul artist and jazz musician Tuomo Prättälä and singer/songwriter Markus Nordenstreng from Finnish rock band The Latebirds,” kicks things off at 7:30 p.m.

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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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Relax, It’s Science at Lookout Lounge, April 30, 2016. The band plays Saturday at The Brothers.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

More information yesterday on the proposed $109 million music venue by way of Omaha World-Herald

’s Kevin Coffey. Kevin answers 8 questions about the venue. There is no new “news” in the piece; rather it’s Kevin conjecturing as to what it all means.

As this weekend rears its ugly head, let me do some conjecturing of my own:

We don’t need more venues; we need better booking — i.e., better shows featuring better touring bands. Yes, acts are passing Omaha by, but the size and number of venues probably is the least of their reasons.

Here’s some questions: Are bands passing Omaha because no promoter, venue, etc., is willing to gamble on covering the guarantee — the contracted minimum fee paid for performing? How many quality indie bands on tour right now have reached out to an Omaha promoter or venue with an offer only to be passed on? How will that change with the addition of more venues?

I guess you can’t blame the venues and promoters, who have been burned in the past paying top dollar for very cool acts to play in half empty rooms. So let’s build more rooms?

Anyway… there are no touring indie rock shows at any of the major local clubs this weekend. What else is new?

Tonight at The Waiting Room, local roots/rockabilly band The Mercurys headline with The Pink Flamingos. $10, 9 p.m.

That’s it for tonight.

Saturday night, local double-bass-attack rock band Relax, It’s Science plays at The Brothers Lounge with Sioux Falls sludge/psych/instrumental rock duo Articles. Omaha post-hardcore act Mere Shadows opens at 9 p.m. $5.

Local power-pop / American a band The Broke Lose plays at O’Leaver’s Saturday with Lincoln’s Red Cities and Virgin Mary Pistol Grip. 10 p.m., $5.

Finally on Sunday, Omaha indie act The Regulation plays at The B Bar at 4330 Leavenworth. Joining them is Omaha ex-pat Mitch Gettman. Jake Norstadt gets things rolling at 8 p.m. No idea if there’s a cover here…

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 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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Omaha singer/songwriter Joe Knapp.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A quick note to make you aware of a GoFundMe campaign that’s been set up for Joe Knapp.

Joe recently was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, a chronic autoimmune condition in which the body attacks its own insulin-producing cells.

As the singer/songwriter behind seminal Saddle Creek Records act Son, Ambulance, Joe is one of Omaha indie music’s elder statesmen. Though the band hasn’t released an album since 2008’s Someone Else’s Déjà Vue (Saddle Creek), they’ve continued to perform sporadically over the years, always rolling out new material, which we can only hope will one day be recorded and properly released.

Needless to say, with this diagnosis, Joe is finding himself with medical bills his ACA insurance isn’t covering, which is where this campaign comes in.

“On the brighter side, I quit smoking. I am eating healthier than ever and practicing regular exercise and yoga,” Joe said. “Type 1 is a ‘self-awareness disease’ and I am more aware of my body than ever before.”

Joe’s nearly halfway to his $3,000 GFM goal. If you’d like to contribute, go to his GoFundMe page, located here.

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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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.