Ten Questions with Lala Lala (playing this Saturday at The Slowdown)…

Category: Blog,Interviews — Tags: , , — @ 1:40 pm March 10, 2022
Lala Lala plays at Slowdown Jr. Saturday, March 12.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

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Chicago’s Lala Lala is the indie rock project by Lillie West playing at Slowdown Saturday night. You might remember when she opened for Better Oblivion Community Center back in March 2019, just months before the troubles. And she’s been through a few times before that.

Her latest, I Want the Door to Open (Hardly Art, 2021) is a sonic push forward for West, incorporating deep beats, electronic shifts and her breathy vocals that at times reminded me of a young Suzanne Vega. It’s a very modern-sounding eclectic collection of songs that can both rock and be quietly introspective.

West co-produced I Want The Door To Open with Yoni Wolf of Why? and had input from poet Kara Jackson, OHMME, Adam Schatz of Landlady, Sen Morimoto, Christian Lee Hutson and Kaina Castillo. Ben Gibbard sings a duet with West on “Plates,” a song about accepting the past regardless of whatever negative feelings accompany those memories.

We caught up with Lillie and asked her to undergo the Ten Questions survey. Here’s how it went:

  1. What is your favorite album?

Lala Lala’s Lillie West: Not sure of all time right now I’m really loving the Sudan Archives album Athena. And I always love Mudanin Kata by David Darling & The Wulu Bunun.

 
  1. What is your least favorite song?

I do not have one. And if I did I would not tell you.

  1. What do you enjoy most about being in a band?

Connecting with people. Traveling. Singing. Music is magic.

  1. What do you hate about being in a band?

Driving a lot.

  1. What is your favorite substance (legal or illegal)?

Ummm I dont know kombucha? Hummus? Soft fabric? Oil paint? THE SKY??

  1. In what city or town do you love to perform?

I love to perform anywhere but Chicago does always show up for me literally and spiritually. 

  1. What city or town did you have your worst gig (and why)?

I completely lost my voice during a set once but I won’t say where because it’s not their fault.

  1. Are you able to support yourself through your music? If so, how long did it take to get there; if not, how do you pay your bills?

Yes and no. I also do focus groups, sell prints of my photos, make content for different audio companies, sell clothes online… but I quit my day job at a record store in 2018. 

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

I would love to be a farmer or a dancer. I would never under any circumstance be a cop.

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

I haven’t heard many stories but early in our DIY days we stayed at a house that had a pile of dog food and an inside out dish glove on the ground that no one who lived there could explain. 

Lala plays with Elton Aura Saturday, March 12, at Slowdown, 729 No. 14th St. Showtime is 8 p.m., tickets are $20. This is a No Vax No Entry event, so bring your vax card or proof of a negative test taken within the past 14 days. For more information, go to theslowdown.com.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Parquet Courts, Mdou Moctar, Pears tonight…

Category: Blog — @ 7:24 am March 8, 2022
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Parquet Courts plays tonight at The Waiting Room.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

So. Tonight at The Waiting Room arguably one of the biggest indie shows of the year headlined by Parquet Courts, who have stepped up their game a bit since playing at Sweatshop Gallery way back in June 2013. Yeah, they’ve been through since then, notably at Lincoln Calling in 2018. Their latest album, Sympathy for Life (2021, Rough Trade), is a fave, as is their previous album, 2018’s Wide Awake, which was a commercial breakthrough for the band. They’ve gone from being a garage punk band to something that more resembles latter-day Talking Heads, which means you better bring your dancing shoes.

Opening is Mdou Moctar, the West Nigerian rock band that has been described as a blues band though that’s not right, either. The frontman is a guitar god who shreds with the best of them. They came through and played Pageturners a few years ago. Last year’s Afrique Victime (Matador) made a number of critics’ top-10 lists (including mine).

Mdou Moctar kicks things off at 9 p.m. at The Waiting Room. $28. I’m surprised that as of this writing, the show hasn’t sold out. This is a No Vax No Entry show, so bring your vax card or proof of negative COVID test if you want to get in.

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Also tonight, New Orleans punk four-piece Pears (Fat Wreck Chords) headlines at Reverb Lounge with Neighborhood Brats. $18, 8 p.m.

Busy Tuesday. Are things back to normal yet?

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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New Little Brazil, Bandcamp Friday; BFF; No Thanks, Nathan Ma, Will Johnson tonight; Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy Saturday…

Category: Blog — @ 8:37 am March 4, 2022
Little Brazil circa 2022. The band has a new album coming out June 3.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The rumors are true: Little Brazil has a new album coming out. Just Leave will be released by Max Trax Records June 3. The first single, “Station,” dropped today, and pre-orders for the limited edition full-length vinyl just went up at maxtraxrecords.com.

The band’s core — guitarist/vocalist Landon Hedges and bassist/vocalist Danny Maxwell — are joined in this iteration of the band by guitarist Shawn Cox and drummer Austin Elsberry. The album was recorded by the band and co-producer Ben Brodin at ARC, Hand Branch Studio, with additional tracking by Nate Van Fleet at Studio D.

And while I was hoping the album release show would also be on June 3 (the release date and my birthday) it’s been booked for June 4 at The Waiting Room.

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By the way, in case you weren’t aware, it’s Bandcamp Friday. Buy your music from Bandcamp today and the service waives its fees taken from artists. A lot of labels also waive their fees, so it’s a good time to stock up on the tracks you’ve been dying to buy.

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It’s also Benson First Friday (BFF), so take a stroll down Maple Street tonight and soak in some awesome artwork. As part of BFF, the Sydney in Benson is hosting a rock show with Nathan Ma, Bokr Tov and Left Handed Country. $10, 9 p.m.

Also tonight in Benson Will Johnson of Centro-Matic fame is opening for John Moreland at The Waiting Room. Moreland songs have been featured on FX show Sons of Anarchy. $20, 8 p.m.

I’m not sure where I’ll be tonight, but in the running is a return to fabulous O’Leaver’s where one of my favorite bands, No Thanks, is headlining the club’s “Winter Formal.” Joining them Bug Heaven. $10, 10 p.m. (just like the old days, no early shows for this club).

Tomorrow night (Saturday), the big show is Superwolves, featuring Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Matt Sweeney and Emmett Kelly at The Waiting Room. The band’s new album comes out digitally April 30 on Drag City, and also includes Mdou Moctar playing guitar on the recording. David Ferguson opens at 8 p.m. $28.

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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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What is Outlandia Music Festival? The Admiral books Belle & Sebastian, Chvrches, Bright Eyes…

Category: Blog — @ 1:41 pm March 3, 2022

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

NOTE: FOR MORE CURRENT OUTLANDIA INFO, READ THIS.

I don’t know a whole heckuva lot about the Outlandia Music Festival, which was quietly announced online yesterday with little or no details. What I do know:

— It’s a music festival.
— It’s not a new name for SF’s Outside Lands Festival.
— It takes place Aug. 12-13
— The location has not been announced, though I understand it’s near Bellevue.
— It’s a two-day event with an emphasis on camping.
— It’s not a non-profit effort like Maha.
— Among the folks putting it on are 1% Productions and a few people who were originally involved in creating the Maha Music Festival.

More than that, I cannot say, but no doubt we’ll hear all about Outlandia very soon, including who they’ve chosen for a headliner, which will define what the festival is all about and who they’re targeting.

Will the headliner be an indie band similar to those that have played recent Maha festivals? Will it be a legacy indie act from days gone by? Will it be a jam band? Will it be a metal showcase? Will it be hip-hop act? Will it be a mainstream band like those booked at Stir?

The choice of headliner and the supporting acts may or may not be what differentiates Outlandia from Maha, though one assumes the camping element (if they treat it like a big deal) will also be difference maker. I’m not sure a lot of people over the age of 30 are into camping at music events (unless they’re Dead fans).

UPDATE: I’ve just been told by someone involved that there will be no camping in year one of Outlandia, so maybe camping won’t be such a big deal...

Another question: What makes Outlandia a “festival” vs. just two days of outdoor concerts?

I’ve talked to people concerned that Outlandia will crowd out Maha for festival goers. I don’t see that happening, as it sounds like a completely different sort of experience. And as far as I’m concerned, the more the merrier. But I won’t get too excited until we hear the festival line-up.

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Speaking of 1%, Omaha’s favorite production company’s newest venue, The Admiral, is booking some sweet shows as it gets off the ground.

The Admiral, of course, is the old Sokol Auditorium. Yesterday they announced Belle & Sebastian has been booked to play May 28. Chvrches is booked for June 15. Neko Case are is coming June 23. And of course you’ve got two nights of Bright Eyes concerts July 2 and 3. That’s an impressive start with some real A-list bands.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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News rewind (new Tim Kasher, Desaparecidos remastered, Mesa Buoy, 80/35 announced) Thelma & the Sleaze, Universe Contest, Solid Goldberg tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , — @ 6:06 pm February 25, 2022
Tim Kasher relaxes in a median somewhere in Southern California.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s been a crazy week and I’m just now catching up on the news and announcements that hit my mailbox over the past few days.

Tim Kasher of Cursive and The Good Life fame announced his next solo album, Middling Age, is coming out April 15 via his 15 Passenger Records label. This is number four for Kasher, which I guess makes it his “senior release,” and includes some help from Against Me’s Laura Jane Grace, Cloud Nothing’s Jayson Gerycz, Jeff Rosenstock, and Cursive compadres Patrick Newberry and Megan Siebe, and Macey Taylor from Conor’s Mystic Valley Band, engineered by Jason Cupp (American Football, Ratboys).

From the one-sheet: “Middling Age is an existentialist screed on mortality and loss that has inadvertently arrived as the world struggles in kind. Known for his ability to thoughtfully explore complex subject matter with empathy, humanity, and wit, Kasher is now contemplating some of life’s thorniest, yet most universal topics. The fear of losing loved ones, feelings of personal stagnancy and uncertainty, sweeping self-evaluations, and a sense of unrelenting disquietude all unfold across these 11 tracks.

Sounds lovely. The first single, titled “I Don’t Think About You,” dropped this past Monday a features harmonies by Ms. Siebe. Check it out below and preorder the digital album.

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Speaking of old school Omaha, Saddle Creek Records is releasing a 20th Anniversary Edition of Desaparecidos’ Read Music/Speak Spanish on vinyl May 6. It includes two bonus tracks via digital of “What’s New for Fall” and “Give Me the Pen” (which was also available as a limited 7-inch that has quickly sold out).

No word on a reunion, though the time is definitely ripe.

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Speaking of former members of Desa, Landon Hedges’ project, Little Brazil, is poised to release a new album any day now. I have no details, other than having seen a photo of the test pressing on Facebook. Where’s the love, guys?

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Mesa Buoy, the project from Nebraska legendary guitarist Jim Schroeder, will see the formal release of his 2020 debut album on vinyl March 25. Schroeder has surrounded himself with a supergroup of sorts for this release, including Kevin Donahue, Colin Duckworth, Patrick Newberry, Michael Overfield, Megan Siebe, Jay Kreimer and David Nance. I’m told a release show is in the making… stay tuned.

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This morning tickets went on sale for this year’s 80/35 Festival in downtown Des Moines. The line-up includes a lot of folks who have played Omaha over the years, including Maha festival alumnus Father John Misty, Japanese Breakfast and Guided by Voices (all three on the festival’s first night, July 8) and Charli XCX and Future Islands on Saturday, July 9. There’s a lot of new acts on the undercards, which you can check out at www.80-35.com. More bands to be announced later, I guess. $95 for a two-day GA ticket. This isn’t a bad line-up, but it’s not enough to get me to Des Moines.

We’re all waiting with baited breath to hear who’s playing at Maha this year…

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All right, what’s going on this weekend…

Well tonight at The Sydney in Benson it’s a three-band bill headlined by Nashville act Thelma and the Sleaze. The band is “an all-female, queer, southern-rock and roll band” according to Spotify. Their last album, Fuck Marry Kill, was released in 2019 on The Way of Whom Records, and is a grinder. Joining them are veritable Sydney house band Universe Contest, and the one and only Solid Goldberg. $12, 9 p.m. This is a No Vax No Entry gig, so bring your evidence.

Also tonight, Crash Test Dummies are headlining at The Waiting Room with Mo Kenney. Ugh. $35. 8 p.m.

Tomorrow night Stronghold brings the heavy to Reverb Lounge with Mere Shadows and Hand Painted Police Car. $8, 9 p.m.

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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Welcome back (again); Plack Blague tonight; Eric in Outerspace Saturday; Specter Poetics Sunday…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , — @ 8:31 am February 18, 2022
Faye Webster plays Saturday night at The Slowdown.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Aaaaaand…. we’re back. Again.

If you believe all the hype, the pandemic is over and it’s smooth sailing from here on out. Right, we’ve all heard that one before. Even if it’s just a reprieve, I’ll take it.

Tour announcements have been hitting my email box hot and heavy. Unfortunately, the NOmaha trend continues, with so many acts bypassing our friendly (and numerous) stages. I guess we should be thankful for anything we get these days. Can’t say I blame the promoters for being gun-shy toward booking indie shows. Times have, indeed, changed. But while indie music is more popular than ever outside of our fair city, the jury’s out as to whether it’ll continue to draw crowds like it it did leading up to the pandemic.

And then there’s the question of how many concertgoers were lost after two years of COVID. Folks who went to shows before the pandemic have seen their lives change — older, new commitments, new family members, the list goes on and on. A changing of the guard is about to happen at Omaha’s music venues, a new audience will either augment or replace the old one. No doubt I’ll be seeing a lot of new faces at the clubs, and will miss seeing a lot of the old ones.

Moving on.

Atlanta singer/songwriter Faye Webster became one of indie’s frontrunners with the release of 2019’s Atlanta Millionaires Club on Secretly Canadian. She’s got a laid-back, swinging, rural style layered with plenty of pedal steel and her twanging, nasal vocals that remind me of Natalie Prass.

Faye and her band are hitting up The Slowdown Saturday night in support of her latest, I Know I’m Funny haha (again on Secretly Canadian). I believe this show was originally slated for the small room and was moved to the big stage weeks ago.

Opening for Webster is Richmond, VA’s Kate Bollinger, whose records are pressed by Ghostly International, and who has a more straight-forward indie rock sound in the Belle & Sebastian vein. $18, 8 p.m. This is a No Vax No Entry show, so bring your evidence. You may also want to have your mask at the ready. I think Douglas County dropped the mandate, but Slowdown might have different ideas.

THIS SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED!

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Also Saturday night, Eric in Outerspace is headlining at The Sydney in Benson. Joining them are Sweet Streak along with Emma Lyness and the Legumes. There’s almost no details on this show. I suggest showing up around 10 and expect a $10 cover, more or less.

Hey, before all that happens, Nebraska’s own singing leather bondage geek, Plack Blague, is playing at Reverb tonight (Friday) with Gore-TXT. You want weird? You got it. $12, 9 p.m.

Finally, Sunday night Pageturners is hosting shows again, this time with Specter Poetics (Jack McLaughlin), Bellhead and David Schock. This free show starts at 8 p.m.

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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Yikes, another quiet weekend; new SAVAK…

Category: Blog — @ 2:13 pm February 11, 2022
SAVAK have a new album coming out April 15.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Hmm.. well. Love to tell you there was something going on indie music-wise this weekend, but I’d be lying. It’s really a dead weekend. I blame a combination of COVID impacting tours and Super Bowl Sunday.

The good news is that reported COVID cases in Douglas County are severely trending down. And we’ve got a hot show next weekend with Faye Webster with Kate Bollinger at The Slowdown.

And in other good news, The Sydney is coming through with some good stuff on their calendar. Saturday night is Benson Soul Society, next Saturday is Eric in Outerspace, and they just announced a BIB show on St. Patrick’s Day.

And 1% is bringing March in like a lion with Bonnie Prince Billy, Parquet Courts, Pears and Minnie Lussa all booked in the first two weeks.

So, maybe just take it easy this weekend. Things will get better.

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Brooklyn post-punk mainstays SAVAK have announced their fifth album, Human Error / Human Delight, which will be released on April 15 via Ernest Jenning Record Co. We all know that SAVAK’s line-up includes Omaha expat Mike Jaworski (a.k.a. Jaws), with Sohrab Habibion and Matt Schulz on drums. SAVAK’s playing four days at SXSW this year, but no Omaha dates as of yet… Here’s the first single.

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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Fear of COVID got the best of me; truth or consequences (in the column)…

Category: Blog — Tags: , — @ 1:47 pm February 7, 2022

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Based on the analytics, the most-read new content on Lazy-i is live reviews (while vintage interviews from the last decade probably attracts the most readers). Live reviews give people a glimpse of what happened during a night at a club — if they were there, too, they can compare mental notes; if they weren’t there, they can catch up on what they missed. It also gives a band’s followers or those just getting familiar with a band a sort of score card. If written with enough detail, live reviews can have a gossipy feel to them — fun!

Live reviews also are the easiest content to write. All I have to do is sit down and recall the evening, glancing at whatever notes I jotted down on my iPhone or pictures taken from the floor. So it pains me to no end that I missed Friday night’s sold-out Cursive show at The Waiting Room. Joel from 1% was kind enough to place me on the list and I was all set to go.

But at around 8 p.m. I began to get cold feet. A number of people from my office have their entire families down with COVID. About half the people I know have had it, and the numbers — though finally on the decline — are still in the hazardous range, with hospitalizations at an all-time high. I sat on my couch Friday night with my uncomfortable N95 mask on and asked myself if I wanted to be in a sold-out room wearing this for three hours, struggling to drink a beer, likely packed up front of a huge crowd or standing all the way back by the bar, and it just didn’t add up.

This was the first time since COVID began that I skipped a concert I had planned to attend, and it was a bummer, but with everything going on, I can’t afford to get COVID and don’t want to.

So, thanks to Joel for the list and apologies for not going. The numbers are improving every day and there will be more shows, including more Cursive shows, to attend. But dang, I really miss seeing Vitreous Humor. That opportunity will likely never happen again in Omaha…

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Speaking of COVID, my column in this month’s issue of The Reader is focused on COVID conspiracies and other lies that are ruining our lives. Read it here.

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Speaking of shows and COVID, tonight’s Black Angels show at The Slowdown has been postponed.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Cursive, Vitreous Humor, Eric in Outerspace tonight at The Waiting Room (SOLD OUT); BFF; Bandcamp Friday…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , — @ 8:11 am February 4, 2022
Cursive at The Waiting Room, Dec. 19, 2013. The band returns to The Waiting Room tonight.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

There’s no argument about it, tonight’s Cursive show at The Waiting Room is the biggest indie show to happen since last summer’s Maha Festival. It’s also the only indie show going on this weekend.

And it’s a loaded show. Eric in Outerspace kicks things off at 8 p.m. By themselves I’d be recommending this show. But in the center slot is legendary Lawrence, Kansas, band Vitreous Humor (who I wrote about here – catch up!). Fans of ‘90s post punk take note; this is a once-and-done sort of performance.

Finally, Cursive takes the stage (probably at 10). The band has been on tour with Thursday, Jeremy Enigk and The Appleseed Cast, slated to play Denver tomorrow, so Tim Kasher and Co. edged this show in before the next leg. With no new music (their last release was 2019’s Get Fixed) expect a night of greatest hits, kicked off with “The Martyr,” if their show Tuesday night at Gabe’s in Iowa City is any indication (Here’s that setlist via setlist.fm).

OK, so the show is $20 and as of this writing is not sold out and I have yet to see any “low ticket warnings” from One Percent Productions. Doesn’t mean it won’t sell out before you get there, so you might want to eat the additional $5.69 fees and get your ticket online. This just SOLD OUT.

Nothing on the 1% site or the Facebook event page indicates that this is a No Vax No Entry show, however, Douglas County continues to be under a mask mandate, so mask up. If I go, I’ll be the guy in the blue N95 and the parka skulking near the stage trying to get a photo.

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Since you’ll be in Benson anyway tonight, you might as well take advantage of Benson First Friday, wherein shops and restaurants along Maple Street will be displaying local art. Here’s the rundown.

As part of BFF, The Sydney is hosting a show with Nowhere and Teeth. 10 p.m., no price listed, but probably $10.

Also tonight, Slowdown Jr. has Infinite Video, Topher Booth and Ebba Rose. $10, 8 p.m.

And lest I forget, it’s Bandcamp Friday, which means you can purchase digital downloads of all our favorite indie music today and Bandcamp (and most of the labels) will waive their cut of the proceeds – which means the artists get the whole pie. Look, you’ll need to take advantage of this now that you’ve dropped Spotify because of the Joe Rogan scandal.

As for the rest of the weekend, tomorrow night punk-rock cover band The Damones is playing at The Waiting Room. $10, 8 p.m.

And that’s it. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Mask up and have a great weekend. Here’s hoping The Covid spike is nearly behind us.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Maha announces two-day festival July 29-30; Bright Eyes at The Admiral, new reissue/EP project; Wild Rivers tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 8:29 am February 1, 2022
The crowd at Maha 2021. The Festival is back again this year July 29 and 30.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s hard to think about it with Douglas County boasting a COVID-19 positive-test rate of 36%, but summer is coming and this ever-lasting pandemic will eventually be behind us. The folks who put on the Maha Music Festival believe that, enough so that yesterday they announced their 14th annual festival will take place July 29 and July 30 at Stinson Park in Aksarben Village.

It’s a return to two days — or one night and one day, as the Friday night fest will run from 5 to 11 p.m. The Saturday show will go from 2 p.m. to midnight. It’s still too early to say if this will be a limited engagement as it was last year. That depends on the COVID numbers (I would assume). I thought last year’s limited 6,400 sell out with Japanese Breakfast, Thundercat and Khruangbin was a sweet spot capacity for that location.

No word on bands/acts — that’ll come in March. Also, this will be a music-only event. Maha took over Big Omaha a few years ago and hasn’t hosted another Big Omaha event since COVID arrived. More info to come, like ticket prices and such.

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The other big announcement this morning is that Bright Eyes has booked two nights at The Admiral (the newly refurbished Sokol Auditorium) July 2 and 3. The concerts aren’t so much in support of their last album, 2020’s Down in the Weeds. Where the World Once Was, as much as the reissue of nine Bright Eyes albums, in chronological order, in groups of three, beginning this spring. But that’s not all.

There will also be nine companion EPs released. From the event Facebook post: “Or as Oberst puts it, ‘the supplemental reading’ for the primary reissues: One six-track EP per reissued album, each featuring five reworked songs from that album. ‘My thing was they had to sound different from the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.’ Plus one cover that felt ‘of the era’ in which that particular albums was made – a song that meant something to the band at the time. To help the EPs come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends, like Phoebe Bridgers, M. Ward, and Welch and Rawlings, as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee. It was the band’s way of reframing, rediscovering, and renewing the past. It was also a hilarious amount of work. ‘I thought it was a cool concept,’ Oberst says. ‘Then I realized its nine records, six songs a piece, so that’s like 54 different songs you have to record!’

The project is not listed on the Dead Oceans website (Dead Ocean released Bright Eyes’ last album), but there’s a Dead Oceans logo at the end of the rerelease promo running on the Bright Eyes Twitter page, so…

As for the Bright Eyes concerts, no openers listed, tickets range from $40 to $75 though they’re not available yet.

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In other concert news, The Slowdown announced today they’ve booked Guided By Voices for July 9.

Speaking of The Slowdown, Toronto indie trio Wild Rivers headlines in the big room there tonight. The band has a new album coming out Friday called Sidelines on Nettwerk, produced by Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Sharon van Etten). Stylistically, this fits right in with acts like Oh Pep, Waxahatchee and the Haim sisters — very well-produced summer-night indie pop. LA singer/songwriter Corey Harper opens at 8 p.m. $23.

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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.

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