If you’re looking for Column 272, it was a rehash of a couple blog entries from last week, intro-ed by this comment:

My apologies for the brevity of this week’s installment. The Reader moved back its deadlines three days due to a printer scheduling issue that has something to do with the production of 11 issues of Neighborhood News — the shopper that arrives in your mailbox periodically. The Reader produces Neighborhood News along with El Perico and the Spanish Language phonebook and a handful of other secret projects that only publisher John Heaston knows about. You didn’t know this? That’s because like every other newspaper, The Reader does a lousy job of reporting on itself. But it’s opportunities like Neighborhood News and the Spanish language publications that keep this weekly afloat during tough economic times and an era when Omaha’s news stands are crowded with four competing “alternative weeklies”: The Reader, The City Weekly, Shout! Weekly and Go! (The Omaha World-Herald‘s stab at a weekly, but it doesn’t count because it lacks horoscopes, “News of the Weird” and ads for 1-900 porn services).

Bands and venues have little to complain about when it comes to media coverage, now that there are four weeklies tripping over each other to report on the music scene. My column deadline is pulled back again this week, to tomorrow… anyone got any column ideas?

Anyway…

According to this Spinner.com article, Conor Oberst has joined Sound Strike, a boycott of the state of Arizona by a handful of artists including Kanye West, Sonic Youth, Massive Attack, Michael Moore and Rage Against the Machines’ Zack de La Rocha. The boycott “aims to fight the Arizona law — named SB1070 — which requires a person’s immigration status to be determined if he or she is thought to be undocumented.” It’s a crazy, angry law that hopefully will get repealed or overturned by the courts. The folks at The Phoenix New Times

have pulled together a benefit comp CD called Line in the Sand that features a track by, among others, Andrew Jackson Jihad. Proceeds go to human rights and humanitarian organizations Puente and No More Deaths. Find out more about the comp here.

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Thunder Power is celebrating the release of its first-ever vinyl outing tonight at The Waiting Room. The album is a 10-inch split EP with Toledo band The 1959 Hat. Co. (who they met on tour) called Hearts Intersect, released by Slumber Party Records. It’s the first in a series of collaborative splits being released by the label. Thunder Power’s three songs are tight, simple, indie rock tracks that would fit in with the lighter side of Belle & Sebastian. The first track, “Heartifact,” already has received a shout-out from Under the Radar (here). The split marks the fourth EP by Thunder Power, who are in the process of writing an entirely new set of songs for a forthcoming LP (their first). Also on the bill is The Mynabirds (currently riding a wave of publicity with the release of their Saddle Creek debut) and Fort Worth band The Burning Hotels. $7, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Travelling Mercies and Ragged Company are playing with Kris Lager at The Barley Street Tavern. $5, 9 p.m. I feel a drunk coming on with this one…

Also tonight at The Brothers Lounge (who seems to be doing a lot of shows lately), it’s the amazing Vampire Hands with Daughters of the Sun and Perry H. Matthews. $5, 9 p.m.

Karl Houfek of It’s True wrote to let us know that Seattle singer/songwriter Rocky Votolato (Barsuk) will be playing a living room show at the house he shares with Adam Hawkins on Saturday, July 17. Their house hosted Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan last year. Tickets go on sale today at 3 p.m. at http://www.undertowtickets.com/product/rocky-votolato-living-room-show-omaha-ne-july-17

. Get yours while you can; seating is definitely limited. “For the record, we don’t make one damn cent off the deal…simply the enjoyment of hosting a pretty outstanding artist,” Houfek said. Simon Joyner currently is on a similar house show tour. Is this the new winning business model for singer/songwriters?

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Steve Bartolomei sent out a message from his new home in Manhattan, where he recently relocated shortly after last December’s release show for From the Fingers of Trees LP

. “In the week between the release show and my departure, Mal Madrigal recorded a new full-length record at Mike Mogis’ incredible ARC studios in Omaha, NE,” Bartolomei said. “The album came in a fury of writing and recording prompted by the deadline of my relocating. It still needs to be mixed, but the band and I are excited to share it with you.”
No doubt the new album will be released on Bocca Lupo Records, the new label cooperative Bartolomei is spearheading. This week the label is releasing Before the Toast and Tea’s Methods of the Mad. BTAT is a project of longtime Mal Madrigal collaborator Ben Brodin. The album features contributions from Orenda Fink (Azure Ray), who lends harmonies alongside Jake Bellows (Neva Dinova).

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The Waiting Room is hosting a punk show tonight with Council Bluffs hardcore band Ties, Gordon Shumway and Lightning Bug. $5, 9 p.m. And right down the street at PS Collective Well Aimed Arrows is playing a set with a handful of bands I’ve never heard of: Conflict Between, Peace and Space and Crash Davey, $5, 8 p.m.

Noah's Ark Was a Spaceship at The Slowdown, May 24, 2010.

How big was the draw at last night’s MAHA showcase at Slowdown? Well, the parking lot was full, and for a big-stage show the room didn’t feel empty. My guestimate would be that 150 people were in the house at any given time. Not bad for a Monday night. I arrived too late to see the band that I would have voted for if I had voted — Dim Light played first at around 8 p.m. I caught most of Betsy Wells’ set. I’d never seen the band before, and hadn’t even heard of them before this show was announced (even though I’m told they’ve played at The Waiting Room before). They’re a young four-piece with two guitars who someone told me sounded like Arcade Fire, which, of course, they sound nothing like. Instead, Betsy Wells was a conglomeration of influences that no one in the band probably has heard of before. Two people in the crowd referenced The Feelies. One person told me they reminded her of Blitzen Trapper. Someone outside on the patio compared them to U2 and Neil Young (uh, no). I think if you listened to them long enough you’d hear whatever band you wanted to hear in their music.  In other words, they sound like everyone — and no one. They’re a talented indie-pop band with a big-stage sound, but with songs that simply don’t stand out. Generic? Maybe. I think there’s something there, but it just ain’t “there” yet.

Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship added some stage spice in the form of a formal ball gown worn by lead guy Andrew Ancona Gustafson. Seems like everyone compares Noah to Sonic Youth, but to me, they sound like Seattle circa 1992 or one of the heavier, artier bands on Athens Ga. – Inside Out. Gustafson is a great lead singer who will take them far if he can tap into his undiscovered vocal range — and if they ever get “discovered.” They’ve got a new album coming out shortly (or so they said from stage).

Last up was Flight Metaphor, but I didn’t stick around. About an hour after the show ended, the MAHA organizers announced that Betsy Wells had won the ad hoc battle of the bands and would be invited to play the small stage at the MAHA Music Festival. Did the crowd — and conversely, the MAHA organizers — make the right choice? Find out for yourself July 24.

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Tonight at The Brothers Lounge it’s The Lepers CD release party with Bazooka Shootout and Kyle Harvey. $5, 9 p.m.

Catching up on some “news” after being out of town all week on bizness…

The MAHA Music Festival folks announced last Tuesday that Ben Kweller and local boys It’s True will round out the “TD Ameritrade” main stage line-up, and that Saddle Creek’s newest band, The Mynabirds, have been added to the Kum & Go small stage line-up, along with Satchel Grande and the winner of this coming Monday night’s talent show at The Slowdown as well as the winner of another talent contest to be held in Benson next month.

Kweller, a 28-year-old singer/songwriter, toured with Ben Folds and Ben Lee (who remembers him other than Jim Minge?) in 1993.  His C&W-inspired 2008 album Changing Horses

(ATO Records) peaked at No. 92 on the Billboard charts, which means, yes, he’s significantly under the radar for a national act and as such is a perfect fit for this festival, whose headliners also include Spoon, Old 97’s, The Faint and Superchunk. Will the addition of Kweller help sell more tickets? I would guess maybe 500, which is significant considering a successful festival is the sum of the all its parts.

It’s True, who has a new album and has played around Omaha a lot this year, was an insignificant addition from a sales perspective (but not from a fun perspective). “We decided that It’s True! was better than any other band we were looking at getting, so why not just book them,” said festival organizer Tre Brashear in an e-mail. “If our other five main stage artists (+ Satchel + Mynabirds) can’t sell enough tickets, then we’ve got problems that a sixth ‘smaller’ main stage band from somewhere else wasn’t going to solve. Plus, we think it would be cool to give them the opportunity to play in front of Mac (MacCaughan) and Laura (Ballance, both from Superchunk and the proprietors of indie powerhouse record label Merge Records). Plus, we just like them.”

You can’t argue with that logic. Now look for MAHA posters to start popping up around town.

Lets get to this weekend…

Our Fox is playing tonight at The Barley Street Tavern with McCarthy Trenching, Love of Everything and probably one other band. According to Our Fox’s Ryan Fox, “Love of Everything is Bobby Burg (who plays in a bunch of Chicago bands including Make Believe and Joan of Arc), and his wife, Elisse. They’re doing a Daytrotter session and stopping here as part of a brief midwest tour.” Their record label is cleverly (if not confusingly) called Record Label.

Fox added that “Ben Brodin (drummer in Our Fox, guitarist in The Mynabirds, drummer/guitarist/etc in McCarthy Trenching, Mal Madrigal, etc.) recorded an LP, Methods of the Mad, under the moniker Before the Toast and Tea, which was released on Bocca Lupo Recordings (which was started by Steve Bartolomei). He’ll probably have a few records on hand to sell as well.” $5, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Landing on the Moon is opening for the Jes Winter Band at The Waiting Room, along with Lonely Estates and Rock Paper Dynamite. $7, 9 p.m.

And the band that win’s today’s award for “best name,” Peace of Shit, is playing at O’Leaver’s with Watching the Trainwreck and Forbidden Tigers. $5, 9 p.m.

Saturday night’s marquee show is Criteria at The Waiting Room with Ladyfinger and Masses. So who’s Masses? Even Criteria’s Stephen Pedersen didn’t know. Thankfully, Masses member Eric Nyffeler emailed to say that the band is from Lincoln and “this is only the second or third time we’ve played in Omaha, so not a lot of people know who we are.” The few tracks that I’ve heard from the band are instrumental and are brazenly mathy and bombastic. Masses members are Jon Augustine, Shane Brandt, Mike Vandenberg and Nyffeler. $8, 9 p.m. This one will be crowded.

Also Saturday night, The Beat Seekers (Keith from The Fonzarellies) are playing at Slowdown Jr. with Scott Severin and the Milton Burlesque and Whipkey/Zimmerman. $8, 9 p.m.

I have nothing for you from this past weekend as family stuff kept me from going to any of the shows, including the two early-evening Benson showcases (at Jake’s and TWR). If you were there and you want to share, post your review either at the end of this blog entry or on the webboard

, which continues to get action despite this new blog design.

There are two shows going on tonight, neither of which I’ll be able to attend, but that shouldn’t stop you. At The Waiting Room it’s Mono, a Tokyo-based experimental instrumental rock band (i.e. ambient guitar-driven roar) that records on Temporary Residence Ltd. Their last album, Hymn to the Immortal Wind

, was recorded by the legendary Steve Albini. Opening is The Twilight Sad. $13, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, over at O’Leaver’s, So-So Sailors have a last-minute just-announced gig with Jake Bellows and Before the Toast and Tea. You can read my review of So-So Sailors debut performance at Slowdown Jr. here. The band is anchored by Chris Machmuller (Ladyfinger) on vocals and piano, Dan McCarthy (McCarthy Trenching) on Wurlitzer, Alex McManus (The Bruces) on guitar, Brendan Greene-Walsh (O’Leaver’s) on bass and Dan Kemp on drums. $5, 9 p.m.

And later this week at Lazy-i look for interviews with Criteria and The Lepers… See you then.

The hot show tonight is at all-ages club The Hole, 712 So. 16th St. (formerly the Diamond Bar). Cave rock sensations Box Elders are headlining a show with Perry H. Matthew and No Bueno. It starts early (as all their shows do) at 7 p.m., cover is $6. And there’s No Booze! Afterward, head up to The Brothers, because that Hole show is the only thing on the radar tonight. Hey, there’s always the goon-rock festival over at Westfair featuring Godsmack.

Tomorrow starts off early with Jake’s “Cuz We Can” block party, hosted (apparently) outside of Jake’s in Benson. There’s no actual details as to how this showcase is going to work. Are they blocking off the street? I guess we’ll have to find out tomorrow. The line-up of local acts is top-drawer: Satchel Grande, UUVVWWZ, Brad Hoshaw & The Seven Deadlies, Matt Cox Band, Gooses, Awkwords, Conchance and Dim Light. It’s a benefit, so your $6 will go toward the ongoing publication of the Found in Benson ‘zine. Show starts at 5 p.m. and runs to 11.

Also tomorrow starting early, and also in Benson, is the Liquid Courage 10 Year Anniversary Party at The Waiting Room, whose two chief proprietors, ironically, lack a single tattoo (as far as we know). The free show features The Mercurys, Cover Me Badd and headliners The Filter Kings. Show starts at 6 p.m. and according to the 1% website, “food and beverages will be provided while supplies last.” Better get there early.

Also tomorrow night, Ragged Company is slated to play at The Barley Street with Western Electric. $5, 9 p.m.

And Sunday Simon Joyner is playing a house show at 4507 So. 15th St., start time is 8 p.m.

The Show Is the Rainbow mastermind Darren Keen e-mailed me a link to a soundcloud page where he’s hosting demos recorded of his new band, High Art. The page is here. High Art is Keen on guitar/vocals, Jim Schroeder (UUVVWWZ) on drums/vocals, Saber Blazek on bass (Machete Archive — yes, that guy) and Josh Miller, keyboards, vocals (Columbia Vs. Challenger).

Keen calls the music Post Elfman Experimental Japenese Punk. It’s spazzy and outrageous; sonically challenging and kind of weird, just like Keen.  I asked him what inspired the music other than drugs. “High Art isn’t just a drug refrence,” he said. “My MAIN influence here is THE GUITAR. I really miss playing guitar and I hadn’t written much music on guitar lately (except Darren Keen stuff, which is all so nice and pretty). I just wanted to play in a guitar rock band that didn’t sound like butt rock or garage rock and was still super complex and musical. And weed! but not all of us even smoke weed so seriously, that’s not like our MAIN jam.”

Muscial influences include XTC, Danny Elfman / Oingo Boingo, Sparks, Nina Hagen, Deerhoof and NOFX. So what’s Keen & Co. going to do with these songs? “We are going to record a full length in September and release it early next year. This recording will be distributed online and via CDRs.” Check out High Art when they play at The Waiting Room June 3.

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Tonight at The Waiting Room, Minneapolis multi-instrumental artist Dosh performs with White Hinterland and This Is My Condition. Dosh is a one-man outfit who uses an array of technology to create arty soundscapes. His albums are released on SF label Anticon (Anathallo, Tobacco). $10, 9 p.m.

Interpol announced on its website

yesterday that founding member, bassist Carlos Dengler (a.k.a. Carlos D), has left the band. The parting, apparently, was amicable.

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Carlos back in January 2003, just as Interpol was beginning to explode (read that interview here). The story was written in support of the band’s one and only Omaha appearance — a sold-out show at Sokol Underground that took place during a blizzard. Those who made it through the snow that night saw one of the best shows ever hosted at that smoky dungeon (My review of that show also is still online, right here). Since then, Interpol has released two more albums, the last one — 2007’s Our Love to Admire — peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard charts. But for my money, they never achieved the creative or artistic peak reached with 2002’s Turn on the Bright Lights, and they probably never will again.

* * *

Tonight at Slowdown Jr., it’s the long-awaited return of Matt Pond PA (which you read about here). I saw Matt and Co. at SXSW this year, and if this band is half as good as that one, well, we’re all in for a memorable show. Opening is Bobby Long. Show starts at 9 and is $12. Go!

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Tomorrow: 24 CD reviews in one column…

Tonight at The Waiting Room, Austin garage-punk band Harlem takes the stage. The trio is out on the road supporting their just-released Matador debut Hippies. The Reader‘s Chris Aponick interviewed the boys in the latest issue, or you can read it online right here.

Harlem isn’t the only trio playing at TWR tonight. Digital Leather opens the show… as a three-piece. I guess a couple of the guys aren’t available tonight, so expect to see and hear the band in a different light. Show starts at 9 p.m. (I double-checked) and cover is $8.

It would just be a shame if the best bands in Omaha never get a chance to play at the MAHA Festival simply because the Committee wasn’t willing to make the choice themselves… By the way, has anyone seen any posters around town advertising the event? Daylights a-wastin’, folks…

Column 269 — Battle of the Blahs

MAHA lets you pick the winner…

The fine folks at the MAHA Music Festival just announced two band showcases to be held this summer at Slowdown and The Waiting Room. It is through these free events that bands will be selected to play the festival’s Kum & Go local stage at the July 24 concert at Lewis & Clark Landing. The showcases are battle of the bands competitions where you — the concert goer — will choose the winner. Slowdown’s showcase is May 24, while The Waiting Room event is June 24. A third band will be chosen (again, via public vote) from those performing at an Omaha Entertainment and Arts Association summer showcase July 16-17. The fourth local band, Satchel Grande, already has been selected by the MAHA Committee.

If there’s an obvious flaw in the MAHA Festival it is this democratic approach toward selecting the local bands. Waitaminit, how could something democratic be bad? It starts with the nomination process. Only bands that are willing to play for free at the three showcases can be considered in the “election.” That immediately eliminates some of the area’s best bands, who have reached a point in their careers where they expect to get paid for their performances, and who look upon battle of the bands competitions as publicity stunts for those who haven’t paid their dues by recording, touring, doing what it takes to get their music heard.

In an effort to change my mind about their process, MAHA Organizer Tre Brashear sent me an e-mail where he argued that the showcases build community awareness, give bands a chance to promote the event (and sell tickets), and give the audience a voice in the selection process.

“We do not want MAHA to be perceived as three guys holding their own concert,” Brashear said. “Us picking all the bands would run that risk.”

Well, I hate to tell you Tre, but that boat left the dock a long time ago. The “three guys” already picked the festival’s headliners. Why not go ahead and pick the locals as well? One could argue that by surrendering the selection process to “the public” (which in the case of the OEAA showcase, is the folks who frequent Benson bars on any given weekend) you have backhandedly voiced a certain level of disdain — or your isolation from — the local music scene that you’re supposed to be supporting.

Tre goes on to say, “If we just ‘picked’ all the bands for the local stage, who’s to say that we’d pick ‘correctly’ in the eyes of the community? Some would agree with the choices, some would disagree.” That same argument obviously could be made toward their main stage selections. And in the end, it’s the concertgoers who will say if MAHA chose correctly when they decide if they’re willing to shell out $33 for a ticket.

The real problem with battle-of-the-bands situations, though, is that the best bands — the ones that truly need the exposure, the ones that are leaning out the furthest on the delicate limb of creativity — never win. What if, say, The Mynabirds were up against Paria, who do you think would get the most votes? How about Emphatic vs. It’s True? Or Digital Leather vs. any one of the area’s most popular cover bands? Who would the pubic choose? In the end, we’ll never know the answer, because none of those bands will likely be taking part in these showcases.

See, it’s not about ticket sales. No one is buying a ticket to see the Kum & Go local stage. They’re going for Spoon, Superchunk, The Faint and Old ’97s. MAHA is designed to be a sort of celebration of indie/alternative culture, not a money-grab. If it were about the money, they’d be booking Ke$ha or Justin Bieber.

Come to think of it, I wonder who would win a battle of the bands between Spoon and Justin Bieber. See my point?

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O’Leaver’s is gutting its Myspace page, which was the only semi-reliable place where you could find a schedule of their upcoming shows. Instead, they’re moving their schedule to the O’Leaver’s Facebook page. Go there and click on the Events tab. Remember when Myspace was thee hot music website just a few years ago? We’ll be talking about Twitter and Facebook the same way in a few years…

Tomorrow: An interview with Matt Pond PA.