Column 306: Backyard Notions
Visions of 2011, Pt. 3

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

These “predictions” have dragged on long enough. In my defense, other than complaints about live reviews, I get more feedback about my annual predictions column(s) than anything I write. People just love being told what’s going to happen (or maybe they love being told what to do). Just to be clear: There is no “insider information” being let slip below; no rumor or innuendo being repeated. These visions are pure hocus-pocus; absolute hunches fueled by coffee and fatigue and all those annoying voices arguing inside my head. Do with them what you will.

This final chapter will explain what will happen in the local music scene in 2011. Read on, if you dare…

— Omaha’s festival season gets a lot more crowded with MECA’s mega orgy of music, the Red Sky Music Festival to be held at the TD Ameritrade baseball stadium. In its first year, ticket sales will fall below their projected target as MECA realizes no one is interested in dropping big bucks for the 6-day ride pass, and even fewer want limited-access tickets to the B- and C-list bands playing outside the stadium. Disappointing ticket sales will cause the Red Sky/MECA/Live Nation team to rethink its booking approach. Look for even more mainstream (i.e., country, jam, bland pop) acts lined up for 2012.

— In a year when it needs to differentiate itself from the Red Sky and other outdoor music events, MAHA will take fewer chances than last year for fear of messing up all the good it accomplished in 2010. Instead of forking over big bucks for major indie stars (i.e., Arcade Fire), they’ll go for an easy-access, locally grown act, and ticket sales will suffer. The good news: It’ll wake up organizers and force even riskier behavior in 2012, including the realization that the answer isn’t going to be found at Lewis & Clark Landing, but at a baseball stadium of their own.

— The local interwebs are going to get mighty crowded in ’11, but the fact is, Linoma’s small handful of local music fans don’t need seven or eight different “one-stop-shop” music resources to figure out what to do on Friday nights. Watch as a couple of the online outlets fail to catch traction with readers and lose interest in updating their content, beginning that slow, familiar slide into “404 Not Found” obscurity. Meanwhile, one website will emerge as the true winner of an online war where victory is counted in clicks rather than dollars.

— In a completely unexpected turn, at one least one local over-the-air radio station will take the plunge and commit to a “new music” college format that includes CMJ-caliber indie rock in regular rotation. And it won’t be The River.

— Get those Facebook protest pages ready. Another long-running local music venue will be in danger of being gobbled up by a developer. Can anyone save this lovable dump?

— Despite all the doom and gloom talk about the end of the Compact Disc, Homer’s Records will have one of its best years in recent memory in ’11, and will consider opening a new storefront in Benson.

— Riding high on the new Bright Eyes release and a resurgence of interest in The Mynabirds, Saddle Creek Records will add yet another local band to its roster. Their choice will surprise no one who follows the local music scene.

— I know I say it every year, but this time I mean it: Another band will emerge from Linoma and attract national attention, and it won’t be a Saddle Creek act. Could Nebraska become the next capital of the punk music world?

— Speaking of record labels, watch as another enterprising young businessman comes out of nowhere and launches a new subscription-based vinyl records club like Simon Joyner’s Grapefruit Records, but with a focus on 7-inch singles a la the Sub Pop Singles Club. Sign me up!

— With every other influential old-school local indie band reuniting over the past couple of years, one more will take the stage in ’11, if only for one song. Better dig that guitar out of the closet, Mr. Nansel.

— A new band will add a unique twist to the recent rage over classic ’90s-era rock as its members will consist of musicians who are the progeny of members of one of those classic ’90s-era bands — literally representing the next generation of Nebraska rock.

— Two new live music venues will open in Omaha in ’11. One will be located along an already crowded Maple Street in Benson (and I’m not talking about The Hole). The other will be the first live music venue west of 72nd Street to book serious local and touring indie bands since the good ol’ Ranch Bowl met a wrecking ball.

— Emerging from the bloody carnage of the winter recall election — and flying in the face of record deficits — the City of Omaha will get behind the return of a “youth concert” in Memorial Park that was left bending in the wind during the Suttle administration.

— Lady Gaga will return to Nebraska, and this time she’ll be wearing a pork-chop dress (because pork is the other “white” meat. Get it? Wearing white? GET IT? All right, all right, it’s a stretch)..

— Bright Eyes will once again be nominated for a Grammy, but this time it’ll be for their music. And (surprise) they’ll win.

* * *

Enough!

Like watching the final episode of an Omaha version of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew but done in reverse, tonight is the final evening of Con Dios’ boozy residency at the house of pain we call O’Leaver’s. Barring any personal catastrophes, I, too, will be on hand, along with 100 others, to wish our heroes farewell and good luck as they leave behind a womb littered with spent PBR cans and dirty looks to go out into a scary world and make a name for themselves. Goodbye, Con Dios, and god speed. Opening the show will be O’Leaver’s lifers So-So Sailors (a band destined for great things, you heard it here first on K-TIM). This is must-see TV. Tonight, 9:30 p.m., $5.

Also tonight, Matt Whipkey and his band, The Whipkey Three, will be opening a show at The Waiting Room, along with the rootsy, bluesy, Americana genius of Lincoln’s Son of 76 and the Watchmen, for headliner Voodoo Method. $5, 9 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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Column 305: Dangerous Visions

Music predictions for 2011, Pt. 2.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’m not saying that all of the following visions will happen in 2011, but the ball will start rolling next year that will cause the walls of the music industry to finally come tumbling down. It may take years, but it’ll happen sooner than anyone (except me, of course) expects. Here’s how it’ll go down:

— As you read this, everyone will be talking about the new Verizon iPhone; and the talk of 2010 was the iPad. But the big news in 2011 will be when Apple announces that iTunes now lives “in the cloud.” What that means is that all of your music in iTunes on your PC or Mac, as well as all of everyone else’s music, will be available on any PC or iPhone/iPod with 3G/4G or Wi-Fi connectivity. And that includes in your car (with a new 3G/4G-accessible car stereo).

Apple’s purchase of lala.com helped make “music in the cloud” possible, along with Apple’s enormous capital investments in massive server farms. Add to that a technological breakthrough that results in a quantum improvement in file compression that will make near-CD-quality music files available via streaming, and you’re seeing the beginning of the end of the Compact Disc. It also could signal the demise of the traditional album format as we know it, since music no longer will be sold in units, but in a subscription format — all the music in the world on your speakers or earbuds for just $10 a month.

— iTunes “in the cloud” and this new subscription format also will mark the end of illegal downloading — what would be the point?

— Picking up on the Pandora model, artists will no longer be paid based on album or singles’ sales, but on how often their music gets played in iTunes. Record labels will turn into full-time promotion companies, whose goal is to get their artists’ music listened to in iTunes as much as possible.

— Pandora, Grooveshark, Rhapsody and all the other streaming services will see the writing on the wall and will file anti-trust suits against Apple, who will argue that competition exists in the form of other media, such as radio and television, and other stream-tech companies such as Google and Microsoft. The glacial speed of the legal system will cause the case to drag on for years, long enough to put Apple’s streaming competitors out of business.

— The old standby revenue stream known as “publishing rights” — artists getting paid to have their music used in TV commercials or movies and TV — will dry up. Suddenly artists will be willing to pay whatever is necessary to get their music used in commercials and movies. “Selling out” becomes known as “buying out.”

— iTunes “in the cloud” will become the boot on the throat of the radio industry. But without radio, how will new bands capture the attention of an audience outside of their home towns (as if they could depend on radio before)? We will welcome a rebirth in the importance of music videos, but this time making a video will have nothing to do with art or music. A 3-minute clip of your band performing its song on YouTube just ain’t gonna cut it. Instead, it’s all about “going viral,” and that means filming something that no one has seen before. Expect to see videos that push the envelope not only of good taste, but of human experience. For the first time, we’ll see a band member get killed while making a video. And it’ll be a monster hit.

— Another way to get your music noticed — get the stars to talk about it. Having your band name-checked on Kanye’s playlist already is an effective tool for young bands. Soon all the big-league commercial artists will post their playlists online or in Rolling Stone, effectively putting a spotlight on unknown artists. But be wary, it’ll only be a matter of time before those greedy bastards start taking money to include bands on their playlists (if they don’t already).

— With this quantum change in how we listen to music just around the corner, old-school record industry execs will make one last-gasp attempt at keeping as much market as possible by finally dropping CD prices below $10 a unit for all content (not just “sale items”). Some CDs will be as cheap as $5.99. This price drop will result in a brief resurgence of record stores — Homer’s might even consider expanding its world-wide chain of stores to three. But it’s too little too late. The audience for cheap CDs is dying off, literally. And the last kick in the crotch will be when automakers quit offering pre-installed CD players in their cars.

The scariest part about all of these visions — the same thing will happen to the movie and book-publishing industries.

Keeping with tradition, I can’t leave out these 2011 predictions:

— Artists we’ll be talking about this time next year: Bright Eyes, Deathcab for Cutie, Justin Timberlake, U2, Cat Power, Beastie Boys, Madonna, Tilly and the Wall, Decemberists, Commander Venus, Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship, Dismemberment Plan, Beck, Radiohead, Animal Collective, Conduits and Grasshopper Takeover.

— Artists we won’t be talking about next year: Lady Gaga, Kanye, Eminem, Ke$ha, Susan Boyle, Arcade Fire, The Beatles, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Bruno Mars, M.I.A., Wavves, Best Coast, The National, Sleigh Bells, Vampire Weekend, Sufjan Stevens and The Faint.

— And finally, all of Courtney Love’s problems will be solved once and for all.

So what will happen in the local music scene in 2011? Find out next week in the third and final chapter of the 2011 Predictions!

* * *

Spoon’s Britt Daniel recalled his brief time with Jay Reatard, just a few weeks before Jay’s death, in this item on spinner.com. Among the comments, Daniel recalls first learning about Reatard’s music. “I remember looking at a bunch of the live videos online and feeling like … I don’t know. That’s not how I usually learn about music. I remember for some reason being really turned on by looking at these live videos. It just felt like really great pop songs with a sort of very odd Midwestern punk sensibility to it.” An interesting read that helps keep Reatard’s memory alive.

* * *

Con Dios continues its brief three-week residency tonight at O’Leaver’s. Tonight’s special guest is Slumber Party Records artist Bear Country. And then there’s the $1 bottles of PBR (When are they ever gonna put Rolling Rock on special? Just imagine the response!). 9:30, $5. Need more reason? King Coffey has a review of last week’s Con Dios show in today’s OWH Go! (read it here).

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Lazy-i Best of 2010

Tick, tick frickin’ tick. That’s the sound of time running out on those of you who are thinking of entering this year’s drawing for a copy of the Lazy-i Best of 2010 sampler. Better get to sending your e-mail to tim@lazy-i.com with your name and mailing address. Tracks include songs by Arcade Fire, Jenny and Johnny, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Belle and Sebastian, Titus Andronicus, The Mynabirds, A Weather, Zeus, The Black Keys, Pete Yorn and more. Full track listing is here. If you’re lucky enough to win, you’ll also get the new limited edition Lazy-i Sticker to stick on something. Deadline is next Tuesday, Jan. 18. Better get on it most ricky-tick.

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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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Column 304: Visions of 2011, Pt. 1

Scoring last year’s predictions.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Before we can look forward, we must look back.

Last year’s predictions for 2010 started with nine hunches that can be summed up this way: There will be fewer bands all trying to get paid more to play in fewer clubs that will be booking fewer shows but with better national bands playing at a higher ticket price.

To gauge my accuracy, we went to the expert. Marc Leibowitz, whose One Percent Productions books most of the indie rock shows in Omaha (primarily at The Waiting Room and The Slowdown), said last year the number of shows booked was about the same, though “some were just smaller.” Ticket prices went up “a little bit, but not much. We fight to keep shows cheap.” And there weren’t fewer quality bands, just “fewer bands that have big followings.” All of which neither validated nor disproved my predictions.

What we do know: A number of notable local bands did break up or went into hiding last year, their official whereabouts unknown, including It’s True, UUVVWWZ, Box Elders, Beep Beep, Son Ambulance and The Faint. Both It’s True and UUVVWWZ are returning with new line-ups. And filling in the gaps was the arrival of The Mynabirds, Conduits and So-So Sailors — all three potential breakout national acts.

As for the number of clubs, the choices have dwindled to just The Waiting Room and Slowdown for touring indie bands. O’Leaver’s is booking fewer shows, and The 49’r was deep sixed.

Last year I also predicted that that we’d see fewer record labels with fewer bands recording fewer albums. But recording studios have hung in there despite the availability of high-quality home-studio options. And we’ve actually seen the rise of Grotto and Grapefruit Records join local entities Saddle Creek, Speed! Nebraska and Slumber Party.

So, I’m batting less than.500. Let’s see how I did in the Lightning Round.

2010 Prediction: Another well-known mainstream band will give away the digital download of its next album.

Gorillaz, The Fall; Girl Talk, All Day; Prince, 20Ten and Phoenix, Live in Sydney; were among last year’s free downloads. R.E.M would be wise to follow suit.

A new kind of record store will open that specializes in just that: Vinyl records.

Not here, not yet.

We’ll see an increase in “alternative venues” like in the ’90s, when social halls and practice spaces became options for one-off shows.

The Faint’s old Orifice practice space on Leavenworth has become a funky option for smaller shows.

A new social media tool will be optimized for easy, instant (and legal) distribution of online music, revolutionizing how musicians and fans access “music content” on portable devices.

We welcomed Apple’s Ping, but Ping ponged.

The Maha Music Festival will become the event organizers dreamed it could be, if they get the right line-up.

Direct hit.

Adding to the annual “Youth Concert” and the July 4th weekend county-fair freedom-rock concert, look for a third free major concert event featuring a genuine outside-the-box performer.

Slowdown’s free “block party” featured Built to Spill.

Like other big cities, we’ll see DJs spinning at more and more clubs and restaurants in Omaha.

DJs are becoming so ubiquitous; there’s even one (Brent Crampton) spinning at the new Republic of Couture jeans store in Midtown Crossing.

A new all-ages performance space will take hold, becoming this generation’s Cog Factory.

We watched the rise and fall of The Hole, the all-ages venue that started downtown and moved to Benson, and whose future remains uncertain.

Who we’ll be talking about this time next year: Arcade Fire, Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Liz Phair, Tim Kasher, Of Montreal, Okkervil River, Bright Eyes, It’s True, Soundgarden, Prince, Pavement, Ritual Device, Beck, MGMT, Bear Country, Modest Mouse, The Wrens and Sufjan Stevens.

Most were hot topics, though we’re still waiting for Radiohead, Ritual Device and The Wrens’ return.

Who we won’t be talking about: Animal Collective, Susan Boyle, Monsters of Folk, Wilco, Cursive, The Faint, Emphatic, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Phoenix, Green Day and Vampire Weekend.

There’s no avoiding Lady Gaga.

UK musician/dope fiend Peter Doherty will finally see his problems resolved once and for all.

He’s still kicking.

Conor Oberst will break the hearts of thousands of his female (and a few male) fans.

Well, he didn’t get married anyway.

Sick of life on the West Coast and seeing no discernable advantages to living near L.A., a member of a national band we all know will move back to Omaha.

Cursive’s Tim Kasher returned home from the wild last summer.

A major musician will record his/her new album at The Faint’s Enamel Studio.

Didn’t happen, as far as I know.

Watch out SLAM Omaha, a new local online resource will launch in ’10 that will act as the definitive arts, entertainment and music information hub.

We welcomed Omahype.com last month, and HearNebraska.org is at the starting gate.

Like Michael Jackson another 6-year-old raises the eyebrows of an America still mourning the passing of the King of Pop.

Willow Smith, Will Smith’s daughter, had a mega hit with “Whip My Hair,” but she’s downright elderly at 9 years old.

Look for a new live original music venue to open in Midtown Crossing among all those restaurants.

Nyet.

The next national breakthrough for a local band will come when one of its songs is included on the soundtrack of a major motion picture.

Well, there was Lovely Still.

Next week: Visions of 2011.

* * *

As discussed yesterday, Con Dios begins its “residency” (translated: weekly booze binge) at O’Leaver’s tonight. Joining them is the amazing McCarthy Trenching. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Also tonight, The Benningtons and Moses Prey open for Rock Paper Dynamite at Slowdown Jr.  The Benningtons are fronted by guitarist/vocalist Tony Bonacci (ex-Hyannis) and includes Michah Renner, bass; Ben Brich, drums; Matt Tilwick, guitar; Hannah Emsick, keys, vocals; and Catherine Carne, vocals.  $7, 9 p.m.

* * *

Lazy-i Best of 2010 sampler

Must you go on and on about your frickin’ Lazy-i Best of 2010 CD sampler? OK, we get it. You’re giving away a copy(ies) in a drawing to any loser who sends their name and mailing address in an e-mail to tim@lazy-i.com. Big deal. Next you’ll tell us that the CD is “highly coveted” and a “collector’s item,” as if I could sell it on eBay or something (which I couldn’t), and that tracks include songs by The Mynabirds, Sally Seltmann, The National, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Jenny and Johnny, A Weather, freakin’ Land of Talk, Arcade Fire, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, and that the full track list is here. Oh yeah, better not forget about the free Lazy-i Sticker that comes with it (whoop-dee-doo!). Don’t bother telling me the deadline for entires is Jan. 18 because I already have a frickin’ copy. I bought mine on eBay!

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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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Column 303: Stage Dive

The best shows of ’10

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Wrapping up the music year in review, here is my list of the best shows of the 100 or so that I attended in 2010. Yeah, I know there are a few missing (Where’s the Pixies? Where’s Justin Bieber?), but I can’t be at all of them. Help fill in the blanks by listing your favorites in the comment section of this story.

Jan. 22-23 — The Waiting Room re-grand opening. After gutting the interior and literally “raising the roof” (or at least the ceiling), the centerpiece Benson club celebrated with two nights of shows — a local gig featuring Little Brazil, Little Black Stereo, Ground Tyrants and Kyle Harvey, and a national show featuring afro-beat band NOMO. The verdict, Omaha had another world-class club to compete with Slowdown.

Jan. 29 — Haiti Relief Concert at Slowdown — What more could you ask for than Conor Oberst singing “Lua” backed by Nate Walcott on flugelhorn? The Bright Eyes reunion was one of the highlights of a sold-out show that benefitted the earthquake-torn country, that also included performances by Tilly and The Wall, It’s True, Simon Joyner, The Mynabirds, Bear Country, McCarthy Trenching and Brad Hoshaw.

March 15 — Digital Leather at O’Leaver’s — With a full beard, frontman Shawn Foree resembled an indie version of Jim Morrison circa Morrison Hotel. And with an extra keyboard player, he was free to get more involved on stage and with the crowd on such moving anthems as “Studs in Love.”

April 5 — Beach House at TWR — Visually, a boring show. Sonically, nothing less than amazing. Every note of their chamber pop echoed and glowed as they played all the songs from breakthrough album Teen Dream. Between numbers, they talked about Malcolm X, the Omaha Beef and 311, dedicating songs to each of them.

May 2 — So-So Sailors at Slowdown Jr. — I came to see Jeremy Messersmith, the crowd came to see The Mynabirds, but it was So-So Sailors that everyone was talking about after the show.

May 22 — Criteria at The Waiting Room — You couldn’t tell that this band hadn’t been on a stage in almost two years. Everything was tight, including Stephen Pedersen’s high-flyin’ vocals that still had that pop. They were having the time of their lives, and so was an audience that greeted old favorites with raised fists.

June 13 — The Mountain goats at Slowdown — Balladeer John Danielle did a Storytellers shtick, with bits about life on the road or what inspired the next rousing anthem or stirring ballad, delivered in the rapid-fire style of a well-seasoned stand-up comic.

June 28 — Deerhoof at TWR — As a live band, Deerhoof eclipsed their restrained, measured recordings with sheer ferocity, transforming from an art band into something that more closely resembled punk.

June 30 — It’s True at Slowdown Jr. –“This is our third to last show,” said inebriated frontman Adam Hawkins without giving an explanation. The performance had the charm of a drunken wake, with Hawkins taking double shots between songs. Despite proclaiming that he was “wasted,” he still put on one helluva show.

July 9 — Lincoln Invasion in Benson — Twenty bands from Lincoln decended on Benson for one night, but it was Mercy Rule that made the best argument for Star City’s superiority.

July 24 — MAHA Music festival — We all had a favorite performance. Some said Spoon, others Ben Kweller and The Faint. For me it was conquering heroes Superchunk playing for their first time in Nebraska.

July 31 — Concert for Equality in Benson — For one day, 2,000 people crowded the streets of Benson to celebrate freedom, or the lack of it. While host Conor Oberst shined with Bright Eyes, it was the reunion of his other band, Desaparacidos, along with Lullaby for the Working Class, that made the day historic.

Aug. 27 — Slowdown Block Party — With his stringy hair and big, crazy graying beard, Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch looked like he just walked out of a survivalist compound. And though his Neil Young-meets-Kermit the Frog voice couldn’t hit the high notes, he could still shred on guitar like few others in the indie world.

Sept. 16 — Titus Andronicus at TWR — I wouldn’t say it was “epic” as much as an attempt at being epic. Every one of Titus’ tuneful anthem punk songs started small before exploding into pounding riffs, sing-along lyrics and the occasional Celtic-flavored melody.

Sept. 24 — Serena-Maneesh at TWR — Slowdive. Ride. My Bloody Valentine. I never saw any of them perform live on stage. And after this show, I get the feeling that Serena-Maneesh will be the closest I’ll ever get.

Oct. 22 — Bad Luck Charm at The 49’r — The headliner was BLC, but the real star was the bar itself, which was celebrating its second-to-last show before closing its doors forever.

Nov. 19 — Tim Kasher at TWR — Backed by a solid band, an unually reserved Kasher was all business, serenading the crush mob with solo ballads, Good Life covers and a tip o’ the hat to David Bowie.

Nov. 29 — Mark Mallman at TWR — Ever the professional showman, Mallman played as if he were in front of a sold out Carnegie Hall instead of a virtually empty room. He deserved better.

Were we saving the best for last? An early press date kept me from including the Dec. 23 reunion of Slowdown Virginia and Polecat, and the Dec. 29 return of Mousetrap to The Waiting Room. I guess I’ll just have to include them on next year’s list.

* * *

Mousetrap at The Waiting Room, Dec. 29, 2010.

Actually, you needn’t wait for next year’s list. You already saw the Slowdown Virginia review. And last night was Mousetrap at The Waiting Room.

Before I get to the specifics, let me get this off my chest — There is something strangely timeless about Mousetrap’s music, and here’s what I’m talking about: No one — not back then in the ’90s and certainly not now — could channel rage quite the way these guys could and still do. It’s not a macho or tough-guy thing like today’s corporate metal goon-rock bands. Instead, it’s bitter and angry, but it’s anger channeled more toward themselves than whatever situation Patrick Buchanan and Craig Crawford are screaming about. Actually, it’s more about pain than anger — not a broken-hearted pain, but an exposed nerve physical throbbing abscessed tooth sort of agony. Bright red and pulsing.

Nothing sounds like Mousetrap today. Look at any of the 2010 top-10 album lists floating around the internet right now and ask yourself how many of those bands sound like they’ve ever been mad about anything. Arcade Fire, for example, channels regret and lost hope in mournful tones, as if they’ve come to accept the fact that we’ve all somehow been cheated. They’re martyrs. Mousetrap is on the opposite side. They’re not giving an inch. If you fuck with them, they’re going to let you know what they think of you at 300 dBs with spit flying from their mouths. And that is what makes their music strangely timeless. I can’t think of another band that has their ridged-back attitude. Mousetrap is that scrappy guy that no one fucked with in high school — not because he was the biggest or toughest in the crowd, but because everyone was afraid what he might do if you piss him off. Because if he snaps, there’s no stopping him. Mousetrap is that guy, that scary guy. You don’t want to get them started.

Last night they were in fine form, as good as they sounded last  year and better than I remember them back in the ’90s. They were always a great live band that spent every set teetering over the edge of the cliff. That sense of uncertainty is gone. They’re more focused; they know exactly what they want to do, and they do it. Their sound is as vicious and acidic as ever;  but Buchanan’s voice (as well as Crawford’s) is more controlled and certain. And after last night, I’m somewhat convinced that Mike Mazzola may be the best drummer they’ve worked with, giving the absent Scott Miller a run for his money. The crowd of 130 or so looked like they were paying homage to returning legends, which they were.

Buchanan ended the set saying, “See you next year,” but made the surprise annoucement that the band is considering recording a new album in 2011 — that is, if they can find a label to give them some cash. Somebody needs to step up, because it would be a shame if Mousetrap remained a once-a-year reunion gig. And we all could use a regular dose of anger in our musical diets. With the world the way it is, we certainly have a lot to be angry about.

* * *

The reunions continue tonight at The Slowdown. The last time I saw Stolen Kisses was way back in January 2009 (reviewed here). The band split up shortly afterward when Chris Kramer moved to Chicago. Well, he’s back tonight for this Stolen Kisses reunion show that also includes performances by Darren Keen and the Fellowship of the Ring, and the debut of Our Hearts Are Stars, a new band that features members of Bear Country and Talking Mountain, among others. Show starts at 9 and is absolutely free.

* * *

Don’t forget to enter to win a copy of the highly coveted Lazy-i Best of 2010 Sampler CD!  Just send me an e-mail (to tim@lazy-i.com) with your name and mailing address and you’ll be dropped in the digital hat. Tracks include songs by Arcade Fire, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The National, Tim Kasher, Hot Chip, Sally Seltmann, Belle and Sebastian, Titus Andronicus, The Mynabirds, Zeus, The Black Keys, Pete Yorn and more. Full track listing is here. Enter today. Deadline is Jan. 18.

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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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Mousetrap, from left, Patrick Buchanan, Craig Crawford, Mike Mazzola.

Column 302: From Russia with Rock

The return of Mousetrap…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Mousetrap frontman Patrick Buchanan thought he was getting the opportunity of a lifetime. Little did he know that the next six months would forever change his entire perspective on life in these United States.

But before we get to that, I urge you to get online right now and buy your ticket(s) to the Mousetrap reunion show Dec. 29 at The Waiting Room (or Dec. 28 at The Bourbon Theater for you folks in Lincoln). Guitarist/vocalist Buchanan and bassist Craig Crawford, who make up the core of this seminal Omaha punk band along with new drummer Mike Mazzola, are once again faced with great expectations. They not only have to compete with the golden memories of fans and bands that grew up watching them in the ’90s (which includes just about every Saddle Creek Records musician), they also have to live up last year’s reunion show, which was better than any Mousetrap show I’d ever seen. Read their reunion story here.

Now on with Buchanan’s version of It’s a Wonderful Life…

Like Spalding Gray or Eric Bogosian or any other great storytellers of the past, Buchanan knows how to spin a yarn that’s so utterly fantastic, you’re forced to wonder if he’s telling the truth. Back in the ’90s, he would call long-distance while on tour with Mousetrap and confess to some of the sickest, most twisted behavior imaginable — all of which not only built upon the band’s already notorious reputation, but also made for some great copy, whether it was true or not.

This time, Buchanan said everything was true, and I believed him. He said he just returned stateside after spending the past six months in Russia, where he worked at BBDO Moscow — one of the largest advertising agencies in the world whose accounts include Mercedes Benz and Pepsi.

“Everything about life there was so intense and heavy, every single aspect of every minute of your day was so difficult that it toughened me up in ways that I can’t explain — mentally, physically, everything,” Buchanan said. “Stuff that would have bothered me before or pissed me off doesn’t even affect me now. All I have to do is remember life in Russia and think about how amazing we have it here.”

His description of Russian life was like a scene straight out of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. Buchanan’s office was in a row of giant identical, numbered office buildings that resembled faceless prisons. His daily two-mile bicycle commute was like a post-war obstacle course, spotted with falling buildings and 100-foot-deep holes in the streets. “I would always listen to Throbbing Gristle’s ‘Discipline’ during the commute,” he said. “It was a meta experience of total extremism.”

Extreme, like the gigantic forest fires that blazed just outside the city throughout August. “Because they deregulated their entire fire department to make money, a fire that here would have been put out in a couple days raged out of control for a couple weeks,” Buchanan said. The blaze eventually spread to a nearby peat bog. “The combination of wild fires and the peat bog blanketed the city in toxic smoke. For a week I had to wear a full-on gas mask outside just to breathe. When I walked down the street at two in the afternoon the sun looked like the moon because the sky was so dark with ash and shit. It felt like a nuclear holocaust, like World War III had happened.”

Adding to the conditions was the hottest summer in Moscow’s recorded history. “About 150 people died over the course of two weeks because they drank themselves to death in public places,” Buchanan said. “No one has air conditioning. To escape the heat they’d get a bottle of vodka and drink until they passed out, sometimes into a fountain where they drowned. They had the choice of dying either by burning up or breathing the air.”

Luckily, Buchanan’s 300-square-foot studio apartment, which cost 50,000 rubles a month (about $1,500) was air conditioned. He hadn’t counted on Moscow’s extremely high cost of living, not only in terms of money, but in time. The simple act of making a deposit at a bank took no less than an hour, thanks to the mountain of forms that had to be filled out. “It’s like their whole system was designed by some evil architect to try to make every single factor of life as difficult as possible,” he said.

At least the city was safe from crime; that is if you could afford to bribe the police. “They’re shameless about it,” Buchanan said of the payoffs. “If the police shake you down and you don’t have any money, they’ll drive you to an ATM,” which is exactly what happened to him after he accidentally drove the wrong way down a one-way street.

Over time, things only got worse. Then out of the blue, Buchanan got a call from a former colleague who knew of a job opening at Detroit ad agency Doner. And just like that, the nightmare ended. Clarence got his wings and Buchanan was back in the U.S. of A. with a new, more patriotic attitude.

“I never considered myself one of those ‘America, I love it’ guys,” he said. “I grew up a punk rocker in the Reagan years, so my idea of the United States is more negative — the world’s oppressor. But it’s like what people say who have been to war: If you haven’t experienced it, you can’t know what it’s like. Moscow is like that. The people are incredibly tough, and it toughened the shit out of me. I feel invincible here.”

God Bless America, and pass the borscht…

* * *

The folks at Saddle Creek Records are hinting that tonight’s Slowdown Virginia/Polecat reunion show at Slowdown is bound to sell out, so if you don’t have your tickets yet, you better get them now, right here. Show is scheduled to start at 9. See you there…

One more thing: The entire Polecat discography, including Dilly Dally and the never-released-followup album, are available for download for free at thebandbrokeup.com, where you’ll also find tracks by Pablo’s Triangle (pre-Head of Femur), Thirteen Nightmares (pre-Mercy Rule) and a ton more from Lincoln and Omaha. Check it out.

* * *

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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Column 301: Omahype Returns

The notorious music blog takes on a new life…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Sometime in March 2009, a quiet sadness swept over the Internet when Andrew Bowen and Ian Atwood grasped firmly and pulled the plug on one of Omaha’s more original websites: omahype.com.

Omahype enthusiastically chronicled the local music scene through Bowen and Atwood’s acerbic music news bits, live reviews and leaked mp3 files that one assumes had to be illegal. The website had a wonderfully subversive streak running through it, and carried on an outsider’s tradition, giving voice to Hotel Frank, Slumber Party Records artists and the Antiquarium record store, powered by the duo’s uncanny good taste in music. Over the course of a couple years, Bowen and Atwood managed to make a small but significant mark, providing a fresh, young perspective that this scene was — and is — sorely in need of.

Now, almost two years later, omahype.com returns, but without Bowen and Atwood at the helm. Instead, the Internet domain has been acquired by two other local music insiders — Will Simons and Laura Burhenn. Simons, who sings and plays guitar in local indie band Thunder Power, has been in the music news business for years as a writer for the now-defunct Omaha City Weekly. Washington, D.C., transplant Burhenn is the singer/songwriter behind Saddle Creek Records band The Mynabirds.

The duo acquired Omahype.com through local “youth branding agency” Secret Penguin, who count among its clients skateboarders, The Faint and Jim Suttle. “(Bowen) gave those guys the domain name,” Simons said. “It was Laura’s idea to get the whole thing rolling. She asked me earlier in the spring if I wanted to help with it, while Secret Penguin built the site.”

Burhenn had been rolling the idea of a local arts and music website around in her head for well over a year. “I got the idea from a friend in D.C. who runs a website called brightestyoungthings.com,” Burhenn said. “It’s a curated events calendar where you can find anything you might want to know about what’s going on in D.C.” Omaha, she said, had nothing like it.

Like brightestyoungthings.com, Omahype.com will cover more than just local music. “It’ll include everything from lectures to art shows to indie films,” Burhenn said, “any event that would be interesting to the youth culture.”

But what exactly is “youth culture”? Burhenn said it’s anything that’s inspiring about living where you live. “‘Youth’ is anybody from a teenager to who knows how old,” she said. “It’s not an age thing at all. It’s the creative, adventurous minds in Omaha.”

Simons and Burhenn said they’ll begin by scouring other online calendars for events to include in Omahype, along with (they hope) reader submissions. “We’ll start with events and editor’s picks, and it’ll grow,” Burhenn said. “We also want to be a blog aggregator, a jumping-off point for people to find out who’s doing things around town.”

Their site will be joining an already crowded webspace for local online event calendars that includes the new, improved Reader website at thereader.com; the music-focused hearnebraska.org, which launches Jan. 24; towncommons.com, which provides a “personalized guide to events in Omaha;” the lilting underground-omaha.com; the Omaha World-Herald‘s Omaha.com; the bar-focused omahanightlife.com; local news/events website omaha.net, and, of course, good ol’ slamomaha.com, which has been in the art/music events calendar business for more than a decade. And don’t forget the ubiquitous role of Facebook in keeping people up to speed with what’s happening around town.

Simons knows they’re entering a crowded room. “We don’t want to compete with other websites, we want to collaborate with them,” he said. “We all have the same goals in mind.” It’s a noble thought, but seems to ignore the fact that those other websites also have the goal of being Omaha’s “one-stop shop” — at least that’s what they’re telling potential advertisers and donors. Simons said somewhere down the road Omahype also will sell advertising space, but “our intention isn’t to make money; it’s to support the community.”

Burhenn said that partnering with artists, musicians and “progressive thinkers” to “put a new spin on an old story” is what will differentiate Omahype from the rest of the online herd. That new spin might include an artist creating a photo essay that explores the city from a different angle. “We want to be irreverent in nature,” Burhenn said. “We want people to join in the conversation and be honest with how they feel, but we want them to be positive. At the end of the day, I just want everyone to be nice.”

They both acknowledged the legacy of the original Omahype.com. “Omahype was great for what it was, a music blog,” Simons said. “We’re taking its spirit and expanding it to all the arts and creative communities. We’re not taking a hard-nosed journalistic approach. We want to have a fresh, youthful take on things.”

And while they will curate the site’s content, “I don’t want to be the person who says ‘This is what’s cool and this is what’s not,'” Burhenn said. “I’m interested in hearing from other people what they think is cool, and sharing it.”

Omahype.com’s launch is being celebrated as part of the “Holiday Throwdown” at Slowdown Friday Dec. 17. The free event, which starts at 9 p.m., will feature performances by members of Bear Country, Conduits, Flowers Forever, Honeybee, Talking Mountain, UUVVWWZ and, of course, The Mynabirds, who also will be celebrating the release of their new 7-inch single. Local artists and designers also will have their wares for sale, just in time for Christmas.

* * *

Yesterday, MECA, the people who run the Qwest Center and the new downtown TDAmeritrade ballpark, announced that it’s hosting the Red Sky Music Festival July 19-24. MECA is working with Live Nation to book 50 bands that will perform in and around the ballpark. Kevin Coffey at the OWH has the entire scoop right here.

So the first question that comes to mind: How does Red Sky impact the MAHA Music Festival? In theory, it shouldn’t. Based on what Kevin reported and what I saw this morning on KETV Channel 7, MECA isn’t interested in booking indie-style bands for their All-American family-friendly ballpark. MECA guy said something along the lines of “We’ll be booking the same kind of entertainment that we book at the Qwest Center.”

MECA will likely be looking for the biggest drawing bands they can find to fill their stadium — and other than, say, Arcade Fire (and even that’s a stretch), those aren’t indie bands. I suspect you’ll see a strong top-40 and country line-up, sprinkled with touring pop acts. Think Lady Gaga, Garth Brooks, the American Idol contingent, and legacy stars like Kenny Rogers and REO Speedwagon, just some of the folks you’ll find on the Live Nation website. You’ll also find Broken Social Scene, Killing Joke, Bear Hands, and Wu-Tang Clan. So the opportunity will be there if MECA wants to try to deep-six MAHA by booking a day or two of top-flight indie bands during its 5-day bacchanal, but something tells me that’s not going to happen. At this point, it’s all speculation.

Red Sky does force MAHA to dig deep and define itself in a way that’s thoroughly unique in the festival world. Right now, MAHA is kind of/sort of a one-day outdoor rock concert that features at least one upper-tier indie act along with a sprinkling of up-and-comers and locals. It’s just a big ol’ one-day concert. If it wants to be branded as a truly unique destination concert/festival series, it has to be more than that. But even if it remains on its current path, MAHA will survive and only get bigger, especially after it decides to leave Lewis & Clark Landing behind.

Here’s an idea: What if MAHA became a 3-day festival that was also held in and around a ball park — but this time the ball park is located in Sarpy County? Werner Park’s cozy 6,500 fixed seats and 9,000 total capacity is perfect for upper-tier indie bands like LCD Soundsystem, The National, Sufjan Stevens, Wilco, Ryan Adams, Yo La Tengo and Interpol — i.e., the good bands. Just a thought…

* * *

Yesterday I asked who else other than Laura Burhenn was headed out with Bright Eyes on the tour supporting The People’s Key. Billboard published the answer today, right here — Clark Baechle and Andy LeMaster join Burhenn, Oberst, Mogis and Nate Walcott. Also included in the story is some insight by The Conor himself on the new record. I suspect we’ll be hearing a leaked track any day now…

* * *

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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

When was the last time I went to a show? Well, I guess that would have to be Mark Mallman way way way back on Nov. 29. That’s right, it’s been more than two full weeks. It seems like an eternity, but the fact is, there just haven’t been any national shows that have piqued my interest, and the local shows have involved bands that I’ve seen countless times, and have fallen on nights where the temps have been more than enough to convince me to stay inside (plus, I’ve suffered though bouts of the stomach flu and a head cold). Let’s face it, it’s been a quiet last few weeks show-wise, but the volume is about to be ratcheted up as folks return home for the holidays, signaling the annual round of “reunion shows,” and we’ve got quite a spate in store through the end of the year.

Not the least of which is another grand and glorious Mousetrap reunion show. Whilst researching a column in support of that Mousetrap show here in Omaha at The Waiting Room Dec. 29 and in Lincoln at the Bourbon Theater Dec. 28, I came across this recently produced short film called “I Shot Myself Today,” that stars Mousetrap frontman Patrick Buchanan, shot entirely in Moscow. It’s quite a head trip. And there’s quite a story behind it. But you’ll have to wait until next week to hear about that. Until then, check out the film right here on YouTube. It’s as weird and trippy as anything you’d expect from Buchanan.

* * *

Tonight at The Waiting Room it’s the first of two nights of Homeless for the Holidays benefit concerts. Tonight’s line-up features Jake Bellows, The Whipkey Three, No Blood Orphan, Orion Walsh, and The Fergesens. The $10 cover goes to Sienna Francis House. Show starts at 8:45.

* * *

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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Column No. 300

A look back at year 6.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Goddamn. Just look at that number. 3 0 0. Not all were as perfect as a bowling score, but still… that’s a lot of friggin’ words. And I haven’t run out yet.

It’s hard to believe that six years ago Column No. 1, an interview with then hot propriety Willy Mason, was published, Dec. 2, 2004. Golden-boy entrepreneur John Heaston and the work-hardened galley hands at The Reader have been kind enough to keep this page open to me all these long years, with hopefully many more to come. Don’t believe all that putrefied tripe about the “death of print.” Newspapers will be around long after that shiny iPad you’re getting for Christmas has been recycled a dozen times over by the good folks at PBR.

So, as I crank out yet another recap and update some of the “better” columns of the past year, I thank you, precious reader, for coming along for the ride, always willing to crack your window whenever the gas accidentally escapes. At the same time, I kneel before you, hat in hand, eyes turned downward, and beg you to send your column ideas via dancing electron to tim@lazy-i.com. Your thoughts make my thoughts grow, and are the fertilizer that keeps this mighty tree sturdy as we enter year seven — just in time for Second Grade.

Column 255: The Letting Go, Jan. 20, 2010 — We said goodbye to a pure garage-punk genius named Jay Reatard, who at age 29 was way too young to die. Jay’s impact on our modern world is still being felt by all of us who value flash-brave creativity, and without a doubt, his spark always will be felt long after we let him go. We’re still letting go of The 49’r, whose bitter demise remains fresh in our minds. When this column was published, the hopeful were organizing the “Save the 49’r” Facebook page, but I think we all knew better. You can’t stop graft. The lights went out in October. The wrecking ball awaits. Fuck you, CVS, you overblown toilet-paper store. I’ll never step foot in your fluorescent nightmare. And yes, Mr. Gray, voters will remember.

Column 258: Long Live the Hole, Feb. 10, 2010 — In the dead of winter, all-ages basement punk club The Hole was forced to move out of its hole beneath the Convicted skate shop across the street to the above-ground relic that used to house jaunty Omaha gay bar The Diamond on south 16th. It looked like a new beginning for a venue that some thought could serve kids the same way the Cog Factory did in the ’90s. But the location was too good to be true, and in September The Hole was dug up once again, forced to move to another basement, this time beneath Friendly’s Family Bookstore in Benson, where it now resides. Probably. A glance at the club’s Myspace and Facebook pages shows no listings for upcoming shows, and the sign above the club’s alley entrance is gone.

Column 262 & 263: Austin Bound, March 10, 2010 — Why should local bands play at South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin? Little Brazil, It’s True, Digital Leather, The Mynabirds, Thunder Power, Eagle Seagull and UUVVWWZ all gave their best reasons, which boiled down to: 1) exposure, and 2) fish tacos. Despite playing to crowds that ranged from a few to a few hundred, none of them got their “big break,” but they did get king-sized hangovers and lots of memories. I haven’t decided if I’m going back this year…

Column 266: No Excuses, April 14, 2010 — It was an opportunity to point an accusatory finger directly at you, the local indie music community, and warn you that there were no excuses this time. None. The MAHA Music Festival line-up — Spoon, The Faint, Superchunk — and an ultra-cheap $33 ticket made sure of that. If Omaha really wanted a true indie rock festival — the beginning of a Midwestern Lolla or Coachella or Bonnaroo — it had to turn up at Lewis & Clark Landing this year. And you did, thousands of you for what is now being rumored as the last Faint performance ever (though I’ll believe it only when Todd tells me so). Now comes word that an already crowded local music festival season is about to get more crowded next year. Will MAHA be able to get you to come out again in 2011? Two words: Arcade Fire. Dare to dream.

Column 267: Identity Crisis, April 21, 2010 — This bitter live review of Digital Leather’s performance at Harrah’s Casino was a chance to whine like a pussy at how the band on stage only vaguely resembled the one heard on their amazing albums (Blow Machine, Sorcerer, Warm Brother). In hindsight, well, I had nothing to whine about. Digital Leather live is a filthy, punk factory that bleeds anger on its own level, whether or not I can hear the friggin’ keyboards. If I want nuanced subtlety, I can always stay home and listen to the records (something we’ll all get a chance to do when Digital Leather releases its latest work of art in 2011).

Column 271: Comfort Zone, May 19, 2010 — Stephen Pedersen, Omaha’s version of Buckaroo Banzai (high-fallutin’ Kutak-Rock lawyer by day / Saddle Creek rock star by night) explained why he and the rest of the aging yuppies in Criteria are content only playing the occasional reunion show. In fact, the band hasn’t played again since that Waiting Room gig in May. Instead, the esteemed counselor has his eyes set on a different sort of reunion — this time with his old pals from seminal Nebraska indie band Slowdown Virginia, who are prepping to take the stage Dec. 23 at the club that (sort of) bears its name — 16 years after their first show. I’m sure they’ll all look and sound exactly the same.

Column 277: A Modest Proposal, June 30, 2010 — David Fitzgerald from Athens, GA’s Flagpole magazine did me a solid by writing a review of the debut album from It’s True. Alas, his kind words weren’t enough to keep the band alive, as the same evening the column hit the streets, It’s True announced from stage its demise. So we said goodbye to one of Omaha’s most promising acts… didn’t we? Don’t be so sure.

* * *

There are a couple of shows worth checking out tonight at the usual hot spots.

At The Waiting Room, Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies return to the stage with a bunch of new material. Opening is relatively new Americana/Folk Rock act The Big Deep. $7, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, down at Slowdown Jr., it’s Regina, Saskatchewan indie band Rah Rah, who was named named “Best Alternative New Artist” and “Best New Canadiana Artist” in iTunes Best of 2009 list. They’re opening for local faves Honey & Darling, along with Canby. $7, 9 p.m.

* * *

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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Column 298: Still Ungrateful

…after all these years.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

With this issue’s deadline pressing heavily on my shoulders a full week before the paper will hit the stands (thanks to a lousy print schedule), I was left pondering a topic for this week. That’s when I stumbled upon something I wrote five years ago, in 2005. It was a time just after the Omaha music scene had hit its peak and was beginning the slide down the other side of the mountain. We were all still cocky back then. Omaha wasn’t going to be a flash in the pan like Seattle and Athens and Chapel Hill. We were going to reinvent how the music industry was going to operate. We would always be at the center of the indie music world.

And here we are now.

Anyway, back then I wrote the following column that the staff hated, probably because (well, definitely because) it made fun of the newspaper’s annual holiday cover story. Five years later, and The Reader is still doing that same cover story. So, here’s a look back at a column that continues to fit this issue’s theme, and is as relevant today as it was back then. The only things missing from the list are good cell phone reception and Wi-Fi at the apartment you’re crashing at for the night. Touring will never change.

And no matter what anyone says or thinks, Omaha still is at the heart of the indie music world. To me, anyway…

Column 52: Be Thankful for Nothing

Omaha’s music scene has no one to thank but itself.

Nov. 23, 2005

About two weeks ago, the editorial staff at The Reader approached me and the other writers to lend a hand on this issue’s cover story based on the question: “What are you thankful for?” I was given a list of local musicians and important figures from the music scene, which I was assigned to call or e-mail asking them what they’re thankful for during this holiday season.

My reaction: This has got to be the lamest idea I’ve ever heard. Look, I’m not going to pick up the phone and call Simon Joyner or Marc Leibowitz or Tim Kasher and waste their time by first, asking what they’re thankful for and second, explaining why The Reader thinks their comments are relevant to anyone outside of their immediate family, close friends or whatever deity they worship.

Beyond the basics — their health, and the health of their friends and family — what could they possibly say that would be interesting? What curveball could they throw that would be “good reading” to the guy or gal sitting at O’Leaver’s or The Blue Line or your local convenient store or any other place where The Reader is stacked? “Dude, I’m thankful for my sweet, sweet Electro-lux Flying V with duo pick-ups and flaming starburst finish.” Right on.

Look, I’m sure the story, which is tucked somewhere inside these pages, is absolutely riveting. And upon reflection, the local music scene and its participants do have a lot to be thankful for. But once you get past thanking the obvious — the venues, the labels, the promoters, the recent national attention, and, of course, their natural talent — there’s not much left to be thankful for.

Our music scene was built on hard work. Not luck, not fortune, not the good will of some omnipotent rock god. The bands that have made a name for themselves did it by busting their asses in the studio, in the clubs, on the road. Beyond that, I can only imagine what they could be thankful for:

A good van
A better mechanic.
Cheap(er) gas.
Free booze at gigs.
A quiet place to throw up after all that free booze.
Getting away with it.
Getting caught by the right people.
The decision to not press charges.
Staying together, because it makes sense.
Breaking up, because it makes sense.
Just getting rid of the fly in the ointment.
Thinking through every possible consequence before saying no to a groupie.
Those times when you said yes.
Catching the flu on off nights.
Being able to fake it when it catches you on a show night.
Staying away from the wrong drugs.
Surviving those time(s) when you weren’t smart enough to avoid them.
Making that one last phone call.
Sending that one last e-mail.
Making and sending one more after that.
Listening to the right people.
Ignoring the wrong ones.
Not giving a shit either way.
Being clever enough to come up with the right riffs,
The right fills,
The right lyrics
At the right times.
And most importantly, doing things the right way when tempted time and time and time again to do it the easy way.

This is getting preachy. And trite. And it’s just the kind of thing I wanted to avoid by not participating in that article in the first place. What do the fans and musicians and everyone involved in the Omaha music scene have to be thankful for? That there is an Omaha music scene at all. And who can they thank? Themselves.

* * *

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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Column 297: Playing God

Pandora’s Tim Westergren on the future of music.

Pandora founder Tim Westergren stood alone on the empty oak stage floor of the packed Durham Western Heritage Museum auditorium holding a microphone, looking like Peter Krause from Six Feet Under, and calmly told the audience of music fans, musicians, business people and techni-geeks what the future of the music industry looks like. If he’s right, we’re all in for a long, boring ride.

Westergren was in town last Tuesday night conducting one of his many “town hall meetings,” where he goes among the masses like a wizened messiah and tells them about the magic of Pandora while answering questions not only about the technology, but about why it’s so damn important.

Westergren believes Pandora and Internet radio will ultimately rescue the drowning, dying music industry. It will do this by offering its listeners only the music they want to hear, and nothing else. Pandora is web-streaming radio powered by the “Music Genome Project” — a complicated algorithm where users enter a song or artist that they enjoy, and the service responds by playing selections that are musically similar.  ”Instant personalized radio,” is how Westergren describes it.

He spent the first half-hour talking about Pandora’s origin, about how he maxed out dozens of credit cards and almost went broke, but how the project  eventually broke through. He talked about how the broadcast music industry has become irrelevant, how it no longer speaks to us, and how music has become sonic wallpaper. “What Pandora has done is reconnect people with music,” Westergren said. “That’s why it’s growing.”

But it can’t keep growing unless there are musicians out there supplying the grist for this electronic mill. Westergren said rock stars of the future will be “kind of a middle class of musicians that are really talented, that are willing to work hard and travel, but that don’t have a home anymore” with traditional record labels. And that’s OK because Pandora makes great big record labels unnecessary. Here’s why.

“We (Pandora) know essentially the songs and music people like, and where they live in the United States,” Westergren said. “One vision of the future is that a musician will come to Pandora, log into his information, and literally see a map of the U.S. with his audience plotted out.”

From there, the musician can route his tour, and go to every location where listeners have “thumbed up” (akin to approving) his music in Pandora. Fans who have “opted in” will receive an e-mail two weeks before that musician hits their town or might find out about the concert while listening to Pandora. “That’s when you can start being serious about this musician’s middle class,” Westergren said. “Musicians will be able to make a living instead of living on Ramen.

“Through our service, there will come a time when the day your song gets added to Pandora, you’ll be able to quit your job,” he added. “Because that song goes out and is played for literally millions of people who like your kind of music, who can connect directly with you, who know when you’re coming to town, can buy your CD and join your fan list. It’s this magic kind of eBay, connecting music fans with music more efficiently.”

Westergren said they’ve surveyed listeners and that about 40 percent bought more music after they started listening to Pandora, while only 2 percent bought less. “We’re one of the top affiliates of sales to iTunes and Amazon,” he said.

But more than music sales, Pandora does something that broadcast radio never did — it pays musicians. “When you’re a musician and your song is played on an AM/FM station, the composer is paid a very small amount of money, but the performers get no compensation,” Westergren said. “With Internet radio, we actually pay a very large royalty to the performers. If you took all broadcast radio today and slapped it onto Internet radio it would be billions of dollars of new revenue for the music industry just from radio royalties (that musicians) are not getting right now. That’s the biggest tectonic shift that’s happening for artists.”

Yeah, but doesn’t that make you an artistic dictator? someone asked.

“I like to think of us as being an empowerer of artists,” Westergren said. “We have a team of musicians that determine what should go into Pandora, and it’s based on quality. At that point, we are playing God and are deciding what should go in and what shouldn’t. But I’m OK with that. Pandora is providing opportunity. These are musicians that wouldn’t get heard anywhere else.”

It all sounds so perfect. Maybe it is… except for one little thing: If all you ever listen to is music that you think you like — or that sounds like music that you think you like — how will you ever discover something new, something different, something that could change your life?

What fun is that? I mean, I like Bruce Springsteen as much as the next guy, but Bruce Springsteen Radio? The only thing worse than listening to non-stop Springsteen would be listening to bands that supposedly “sound” like Springsteen. Not only does that deify homogeneity, it’s downright boring.

Even more depressing: If everyone listens only to what Pandora thinks they want to hear, how would we find the next Beatles? We take them for granted as if they’ve always existed, but I’ve been told by people old enough to remember that when the Beatles first arrived, they sounded like nothing anyone had heard before. They certainly wouldn’t have fit onto Beach Boys Radio or Bobby Vinton Radio or Chubby Checker Radio.

Or maybe the ones playing God wouldn’t have let them in at all.

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Two more quick points about Pandora. First, there’s a good chance that Pandora could wind up being the next Myspace in a couple of years — a once-popular online service that is now passe. If Apple ever gets its shit together and puts iTunes “in the cloud” as has been rumored since the company bought Lala.com, it could cripple Pandora. After all Apple’s “Genius” service is designed to do what Pandora does using your personal collection of music.  If iTunes becomes a subscription service, allowing access to millions and millions of songs in the iTunes library, it would provide virtually the same service as Pandora, though Pandora will claim that its “Music Genome Project” is a better solution for finding music that fits your personal taste. Personally, I’d rather have Genius’ variety.

The other point: I created a Little Brazil Radio station in Pandora, and among the “similar music” provided by the genome were songs by Staind and Jon Spencer — not exactly a perfect match. It also played a song by Superchunk which was a good fit. To see if the system was reciprocal, I set up a Superchunk Radio station, but lo and behold after more than an hour, I was never served up a Little Brazil song. If I had been, I would more confidence in Westergren’s claim that Pandora is opening up new listeners to bands, specifically small indie bands.

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Tonight at PS Collective it’s the return of Brad Hoshaw after a month on the road playing solo acoustic shows throughout America. Opening is Pat Gehrman (5 Story Fall, Shovelhead). $5, 8 p.m.

Also tonight, Tim Kasher and his band play Lincoln’s Bourbon Theater with Darren Hanlon and Conduits. $12, 8 p.m. It’s a preview of tomorrow night’s show at The Waiting Room.

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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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.