Closeness at O’Leaver’s April 30, 2016. The duo plays tonight at Pageturners Lounge.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

If the first three paragraphs of the below story look familiar it’s because I lifted them from my 1999 interview with Goo Goo Dolls, which you can read online here. GGD’s Robby Takac was a very good interview way back then. He laid it all out when I asked why the band switched from being basically a pop-punk band to mainstream AOR alt rockers. The answer has something to do with selling millions of albums.

I’m told that their show Friday night at Stir Cove is getting close to selling out. Here’s Ten Questions:

Goo Goo Dolls play Friday night at Stir Cove.

Ten Questions with Goo Goo Dolls

The first time I heard the Goo Goo Dolls was way back in ’92, after staying up late on a Sunday night to watch 120 Minutes on MTV. When the video for “There You Are” came on, featuring Goo Goo vocalist John Rzeznick doing his best Paul Westerberg-style crooning over a punchy, punky power chord, I was intrigued.

It was the band’s first video, and pretty much summed up their indie punk-rock sound and style — three average Joes running around an empty Buffalo, New York, baseball stadium, smiling for the camera without a care in the world.

But six years later, Goo Goo Dolls were a different band. Riding the success of their million-selling 1995 album, A Boy Named Goo, which featured the smash ballad, “Name,” Goo Goo Dolls went on to record the most played song on radio in 1998, “Iris,” the theme from the Nick Cage/Meg Ryan chick flick, City of Angels. It netted them three Grammy nominations and a first-class ticket out of the smoky punk bars and into sold-out arenas.

With the release of their latest album, Boxes (2016, Warner Bros), the Goo Goos are trying to change course once again. Rzeznik and co-founder/bassist Robby Takac hired a stable of writers in an effort to push themselves past their comfort zone. The product is a collection of king-sized alt-rock anthems that are a perfect fit for Stir’s Cove’s outdoor concert space, where the band performs Friday night.

We threw the Ten Questions gauntlet down on the Goo Goo Dolls, and Robby Tatac breached it with the following answers:

1. What is your favorite album?

Robby Takac: Todd Rundgren, A Wizard / A True Star

2. What is your least favorite song?

“The Weight,” by The Band

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

The completion of the song cycle you experience at live performances.

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

Being away from my wife and daughter.

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

Green Tea

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

Buffalo, NY

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

They’ve all been perfect …. of course.

8. How did you pay your bills back when the band was just getting started?

Worked at a flower shop, was a DJ, spent lots of time recording punk rock bands, was a barback & bartender, spent some time as a stage hand ….

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

I would like to own a Pez museum. I wouldn’t want to be a cop.

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

I was there once and it was so hot cows were exploding ….. no lie.

Goo Goo Dolls play with Collective Soul Friday, July 22, at Stir Cove, 1 Harrahs Blvd., Council Bluffs. Tickets are $43, showtime is 8 p.m. For more information, go to facebook.com/StirCove.

* * *

Saddle Creek is squeezing every last penny out of its back catalog with the release of a new six-record Bright Eyes box set. Remastered by legendary sound engineer Bob Ludwig, the box includes Fevers and Mirrors (2000), LIFTED or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002), I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (2005), Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (2005), Cassadaga (2007) and The People’s Key (2011).

That’s six albums on 10 LPs housed in tip-on jackets, including digital downloads of each album. The vinyl box set exclusives include colored vinyl, twelve 8×10 photo prints by Butch Hogan, and an essay by Nathaniel Krenkel. The vinyl box set is limited to 5,000 copies and includes all 10 LPs housed in a foil stamped linen-wrapped box. Price, a cool $150. You can pre-order now, release date is Sept. 16. Look for black vinyl individual copies of each remastered album available in November.

Saddle Creek is also offering a CD box of the same albums limited to 1,000 copies, also out Sept. 16. It costs a mere $60 a box.

Hey Saddle Creek, we’re still waiting for that exclusive Ladyfinger box set…

* * *

The new Todd and Orenda Fink ambient rock project Closeness performs tonight at Pageturners Lounge. Here’s a review of their O’Leaver’s debut.  It’s definitely worth your while to see and hear them. Ridgelines opens the evening at 10 p.m. and the ‘nice price’ is absolutely free.

Also this evening, if you missed Navy Gangs last night at Milk Run, the band plays again this evening at Almost Music in the Blackstone District. Joining them are Staffers and Sean Pratt & The Sweats. This early 7 p.m. show will cost you $5. Also, Coneflower Creamery will be on site serving their home-made ice cream. Yum!

* * *

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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Frigs take the Ten Questions survey. They play at Brothers Lounge tomorrow night. Photo by Caitlin McLafferty.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Toronto 4-piece noise punkers Frigs (formerly Dirty Frigs) play a dark, growling, acidic style of indie rock that either chugs angry and hot, or drags lethargically like a Robitussin-fueled nightmare.  On the band’s debut EP, Slush (2016, Arts & Crafts) the fast ones showcase front woman Bri Salmena sounding like a young Shirley Manson or Polly Jean Harvey as the band cranks like the reincarnation of Elastica. On the slower tracks, it’s all guitar chimes under water, backed by hypnotic, throbbing drums and Salmena spitting out the vitriol.

We asked Frigs to take our Ten Questions survey, Salmena and band member Edan Scime Stokell took the test:

What is your favorite album?

Bri Salmena: I hate this question because it changes, right all I want to listen to is Post Plague by Odonis Odonis.

Edan Scime Stokell: Rumors by Fleetwood Mac

2. What is your least favorite song?

Bri: Anything by Elvis Costello

Edan:  Anything by Janet Jackson

Bri: Edan you are insane.

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

Bri: I think if the answer isn’t playing music something is wrong.

Edan: Feeling cool and getting attention.

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

Bri: I don’t really hate anything about being in a band…

Edan: Road poops

Bri:  Oh ya, maybe that.

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

Bri: Ummmm Pepto Bismol. It helps me tolerate all my favorite “other” substances.

Edan: beer

6. In what city or town do you love top perform?

Bri: Hometown shows are always fun, but it’s also nice to perform in front of a bunch of strangers. There is a certain amount of freedom for me to be as weird as I want. But i don’t really have an answer to your question.

Edan: New York City baby!

Bri: lol

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

Bri: Hmm, not sure. I feel like our first show in London, England, was pretty brutal. We had a lot of technical difficulties that made it really hard to play, but everyone was really nice.

Edan: Definitely London, yeah it was bad.

8. How do you pay your bills?

Bri: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edan: I make pizza.

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

Bri: I studied Art History and want to go into art restoration if music is a bust. I would hate to do my job now as a real “profession” (sorry Mom, it’s just not for me!).

Edan: I’ve always dreamed of being an architect. I would hate to work in a hospital. I cant stand blood or guts or cuts or veins or stuff, ew.

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

Bri: I really like that song “Omaha” by Waylon Jennings, and I’ve heard really great things about Nathan Ma, the guy who booked us

Edan: Only the ones told by Bruce Springsteen on the album named after your glorious state.

Frigs play with Anna McClellan and Collin Duckworth & the Transcendental Lovers at Brothers Lounge, 3812 Farnam St. Tickets are $5, showtime is 9 p.m. For more information, go to facebook.com/brothersloungeomaha

* * *

Over the weekend Hear Nebraska released a handful of performers who will be playing the three-day Lincoln Calling festival Oct. 6-8. I told you there were some big names:

Real Estate
Twin Peaks
Ceremony
Icky Blossoms
Esme Patterson
David Dondero
See Through Dresses
Plack Blague

There’s a shit-ton more (and bigger names) that will be announced Wednesday. Their plan to release names incrementally is working, apparently. Passes at the “early-bird” rate have sold out. Three day general admission passes are now $39 and will likely follow suit. Get them while you can at lincolncalling.com.

* * *

Pageturners continues its summer music series tonight with Thick Paint, Graham Ulicny of Reptar’s one-man project. The 10 p.m. show is free.

While we’re at it, here’s the full calendar for Pageturner’s summer series. Impressive!

7/11 — Thick Paint
7/13 — Sam Martin / Pat Mainelli
7/18 — Digital Leather
7/20 — Closeness
7/22 — Phil Schaffart / Dan McCarthy
7/27 — Pro Magnum
8/1 — Noah Sterba / Ruby Block
8/3 — MiWi La Lupa / Justin Ready and Echo Prairie
8/6 — Tyrone Storm
8/8 — Chemicals
8/10 — Michael Favara / Mike Schlesinger
8/17 — Linemans Rodeo / The Shrinks
8/22 — Nathan Ma and the Rosettes

All shows are 10 p.m. start times and are free.

Also tonight, Atlanta garage band The Black Lips return to Omaha, this time to The Waiting Room. Not sure why they’re touring, as their last album came out a couple years ago. Trying out new material? Sounds like it could be a messy show, if this review of their gig last month at the 40 Watt Club is any indication. Chain and The Gang are opening. $15, 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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Kristin Kontrol plays SumTur tomorrow night.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Kristen Kontrol is the new project by Kristin Welchez, formerly known as Dee Dee, leader of indie rock band Dum Dum Girls, who you may have caught when they played a rainy Maha Music Festival in 2012. Garbage headlined that festival, just like they’ll be headlining Friday night’s show at SumTur Amphitheatre, which Kristen Kontrol opens. Some might argue after hearing each band’s new album that the promoters accidentally reversed the order.

X-Communicate (2016, Sub Pop) sounds nothing like Welchez’s last band. Rather than indie punk, Kristen Kontrol’s songs — rife with synths, huge beats and fist-pumping, anthemic melodies — recalls such ’80s acts as Blondie, ‘Til Tuesday and The Motels, with Welchez in the Debrorah Harry/Martha Davis role. These are songs that would be right at home heard on ’80s MTV as they are on today’s Sirius XMU.

I caught up with Welchez and asked her to take my Ten Questions survey. Here’s what she had to say:

1. What is your favorite album?

Kristin Welchez: Right now I’m listening to The Durutti Column’s Chronicle on repeat. I can work over it without being distracted, but it moves and motivates me.

2. What is your least favorite song?

The worst thing I’ve heard lately is the jingle from a White Castle commercial. Fuck all of that.

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

I make music because I can’t not. I play in a band because it’s the only way to transcend the creative process into something more visceral.

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

Bad A/C in hotels and lack of leafy greens. Not much else.

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

Coffee-and-hash

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

So many places surprise you, good or bad. Boston has somehow moved to top of the list.

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

Too many to name for essentially esoteric reasons.

8. How do you pay your bills?

Via cheque.

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

Customer service for elitists is my nightmare. Social work is probably where I’ll end up.

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

I haven’t heard any, but I’ve definitely contributed to some while in town.

Kristin Kontrol opens for Garbage Friday, July 8, at SumTur Amphitheater, 11691 So. 108th St., Papillion, Nebraska. Showtime is 7:30 p.m., tickets are $45 reserved; $35 general admission. For more information, go to ticketmaster.com.

* * *

Today Milk Run posted a graphic on its timeline under the heading NEDIY. According to Sam Parker, who runs Milk Run, NEDIY is a collective that includes Milk Run, Reverb, The Brothers and O’Leaver’s in Omaha, and The Commons in Lincoln.

“We’re all in this together, so why not act like it?” Parker said. “We want to start really supporting each other’s shows. Not just our own.” Sounds like a grand idea to me. Check out the NEDIY July ’16 schedule below.

* * *

Tickets to Lincoln Calling went on sale today at lincolncalling.com. You’ll notice LC dropped separate all-ages tickets, and for good reason: The Bourbon and Vega have been added to the list of all-ages venues that already includes The Bay and Tower Square — that’s a big coup for LC. So, all three-day general admission LC festival passes are available at one price, which right now is a mere $29 — a price that will steadily rise over the coming weeks to $49. Better get your tickets while they’re at the “Nice Price.”

* * *

Clarification is in order regarding yesterday’s Under the Radar post. I said that Nik Fackler’s new film will premiere this Saturday as part of the Kaneko event. In fact Nik’s film premiers next Saturday, July 23, at Kaneko, a program entitled Meaning in Movement. That event will include a performance by the .tbd dance collective scored with live original music performed by Graham Ulicny of Reptar. Again, that’s July 23. This Saturday .tbd dance collective performs at The Slowdown as part of Under the Radar. So look at my screw up this way: You’ll get a double dose of .tbd this Saturday and next Saturday.

* * *

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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Twin Peaks gets the Ten Questions treatment. The band plays tomorrow night at The Waiting Room.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Chicago band Twin Peaks has been consistently described as a “garage band,” but on their latest album, Down in Heaven (2016, Grand Jury) the five-piece smooths out its sound for a collection of relaxed, casual rockers that are more mainstream than garage. It’s smooth vibe is quite a contrast to their breakthrough album, Wild Onion, (2014, Grand Jury), which felt like The Kinks combined with every band on the Titan! label. Maybe it’s a sign of maturity. The band, led by Cadien Lake James, was formed only six years ago, when all the members were still in high school. They’ve since gone from playing house shows to massive festivals like Bonnaroo and now Omaha’s The Waiting Room June 29.

I asked Twin Peaks to take the Ten Questions survey. Colin Croom (keys, vocals, guitar) took the plunge:

1. What is your favorite album? 

Twin Peaks: The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

2. What is your least favorite song?

“Piano Man” – Billy Joel

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

Best part is traveling all over the damn place and playing music every night.

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

The Canadian border (much love for Canada but that border patrol can be a real pain in the ass).

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

Tie between cheeseburgers and marijuana.

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

Chicago is home, so that’s my number one right there.

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

Can’t think of a worst. We played a ski lodge once in Canada and that was pretty weird, though.

8. How do you pay your bills?

I used to work at a bar called Parsons whenever we were home from tour, but this is my first time riding it out with music and I feel blessed to do so. I’ve worked in the service industry since I was 15 pretty heavy, so I’m grateful.

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

I’ll probably go back to working in bars once the well runs dry with music, hah. I used to work the window at a McDonald’s when I was 17, I would prefer not to do that again.

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

I’ve heard y’all got one hell of a zoo there, I’d definitely be down to kick it with some animals.

Twin Peaks plays with NE-HI and Eric in Outerspace Wednesday, June 29, at The Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St. Tickets are $12; showtime is 9 p.m. For more information, go to onepercentproductions.com.

* * *

There’s another in-store tonight at Almost Music in the Blackstone District. Performing are David Nance and So. Cal. indie rock band Refrigerator doing an acoustic set. Refer’s Allen and Dennis Callaci have never performed in Midwest before, so this is a rarity (though the full band will be doing a set Friday night at O’Leaver’s). Also tonight Allen Callaci will be reading from his new memoir Heart Like a Starfish. The reading begins at 7:30, followed by music. And the whole thing is FREE.

* * *

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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

On this #TBT, a brief memory from the Lazy-i blog, circa 2005…

Briefly noted, Slowdown… If you turned on your TV or picked up a Lincoln Journal Star than you know that the Saddle Creek folks held a press conference yesterday officially announcing the Slowdown project in downtown Omaha between 13th and 14th and Webster and Cuming, which means I’ll be able to watch its progress daily from the vantage point of my office at UP. No real earth-shaking news, though I figured the club would be larger than the 400-capacity space described in the Associated Press story. Time frame has the venue opening in a about a year. I know just as many people psyched about the facility’s two-screen indie/arthouse cinema as the club. I’m sure we’re gonna hear a lot more about the project as time goes by, like the club’s booking philosophy and how it could impact Sokol Underground. And what’s going on with that venture slated for the old Club Joy space? — Lazy-i, June 24, 2005

What did ever happen to that Club Joy space? Slowdown, btw, ended up opening the first week of June 2007, a year later than announced (and its capacity also is much larger than 400). Jason Kulbel and Co. should begin planning for the 10 year celebration concert right now…

* * *

Peter Bjorn and John play The Waiting Room Sunday night.

Ten Questions with Peter Bjorn and John

You might know Swedish indie pop musicians Peter Moren, Bjorn Yttling and John Eriksson — Peter Bjorn and John —  from their 2006 whistle-hook classic “Young Folks.” The song has more than 66 million spins in Spotify alone and was a hit in Europe and the U.S. before Spotify existed. Believe me, you’d recognize the song if you heard it. After a five-year recording hiatus, the band is back with self-released LP Breakin’ Point (2016, INGRID), a collection of bouncing pop songs that sounds like what you’d get if Belle and Sebastian cross-pollinated with ABBA.

I asked the band to take our Ten Questions survey, and here’s how the trio collectively responded, presumably in unison:

1. What is your favorite album?

Peter Bjorn and John: Tropical Moonlight. A reader’s digest vinyl compilation album with tropical easy listening highlights.

2. What is your least favorite song?

More bubbles with Peter Bjorn and John.

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

Good question.

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

Loud noises.

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

Coriander.

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

Mexico City.

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

In Stockholm, Sweden 2002. We were booked as the opening act on an outdoor festival and when we got there they told us we had to build the stage ourselves. When we, after two hours, played the first song it was totally out of tune since Peter had forgotten the tuning pedal in our rehearsal studio. Then it started to rain.

8. How do you pay your bills?

With a twisted smile.

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

I would like to try to be the writer of a very short book.

I would not like to be a bee keeper.

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

I have heard that Bruce Springsteen was there at some point. Don’t know what he did though.

Peter Bjorn and John play with All Young Girls Are Machine Guns Sunday, June 26, at The Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St. Tickets are $20, showtime is 8 p.m. For more information, go to onepercentproductions.com.

* * *

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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The Hottman Sisters at Aksarben Village, June 18, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

While people are loudly muttering about a local festival that dropped the ball over the weekend (I’m looking at you River City Music Festival), another pseudo festival was carried off nicely. I’m talking about the Proseeds show at Stinson Park in Aksarben Village, which happened Saturday night.

About 500 people were lazing on the green when I was there just after 7:30 to see Hottman Sisters’ set. There were food and other vendors and along with about a dozen cops — I saw more cops at this tiny one-day local show than I’ve ever seen at a Maha Festival, they were everywhere, smiling, talking to people, looking as if they were enjoying the show as much as the audience.

As for the Hottman Sisters, the duo (supported by a drummer and bassist) kicked through a set of mostly uptempo pop songs. They’re marketed as an indie rock band, but their sound lies closer to alt country, thanks to an overhanging rural lilt to their harmonies and guitar style. I think they’re going for a sort of Decemberists thing with a touch of Lilith — a predictable description, I suppose.

* * *

Laura Gibson opens for David Bazan at Reverb Lounge Tuesday, June 21. Photo by Shervin Lainez.

Ten Questions with Laura Gibson…

Singer/songwriter Laura Gibson’s life is at a crossroads. Originally from Portland, Gibson has been releasing albums since her 2006 debut If You Come to Meet Me (Hush Records). These days she’s on Barsuk/City Slang and lives in NYC where she studied to be a fiction writer. In fact, her new album, Empire Builder, which came out in April, was inspired by the name of the Amtrak route she took while crossing the country to her new home (and bears a resemblance to a certain Simon and Garfunkel song about a couple lost in America). But shortly after she arrived, her East Village apartment burned to the ground, an experience that “will continue to be, something that shapes me for the rest of my life. I cannot separate that experience from these songs,” she said.

There is a haunting poise to Empire Builder, a solemn intimacy that’s warm and pleasant and heartfelt. Contributors on the album include members of Death Cab for Cutie, Decemberists and Neko Case’s band, an artist whose style her music most resembles.

I asked Gibson to take our Ten Questions survey, and she obliged:

What is your favorite album?

Laura Gibson: Songs of Leonard Cohen by Leonard Cohen

2. What is your least favorite song?

There’s a song that keeps playing at my gym that says something like, “Girl you’re beautiful because you don’t know you’re beautiful.” I don’t know its name, but I hate it.

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

Getting to meet and connect with people all over the world.

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

Being away from home so often.

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

Tie between coffee and wine.

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

New York; Spring Green, Wisconsin; tiny German towns.

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

I had a few rough SXSW shows in Austin, but they’ve became pleasant/comedic in memory. Bad shows always make for good stories.

8. How do you pay your bills?

Music: a combination of tour income, royalties and licensing for film and commercials.

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

I would like to write novels and I would like to do some sort of social justice advocacy work. I would be terrible at law enforcement.

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

There is such an incredible music community in Omaha, so I feel like I’ve gotten to know it through song. I’ve heard stories of tornado alerts (but no actual tornado stories).

Laura Gibson opens for David Bazan Tuesday, July 2,1 at Reverb Lounge, 6121 Military Ave. Tickets are $15. Showtime is 9 p.m. For more information, go to onepercentproductions.com.

* * *

Tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s it’s Orange County punk duo The Garden (Burger, Epitaph), along with local boys Shrinks and Guts. $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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

O’Leaver’s for Mike Tulis’ celebration of silver & gold…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Busy weekend for shows. Very busy. But the big stuff doesn’t start until tomorrow.

First, a mention of the OEAA showcases going on in Benson this weekend. I admit to knowing almost none of the bands performing this year. The few stand-out bands I recognize include John Klemmensen, Mitch Gettman, Latin Threat and Ragged Company. The full schedule is online right here. Cost is $10 one night, $15 for both nights. This is the only OEAA event that I participate in; it’s always fun to walk around Benson and check out new bands.

Onto Saturday night…

The marquee show is, of course, the Silver & Gold Celebration for Mike Tulis at fabulous O’Leaver’s. For his 50th, Tulis is getting the band back together — in this case, Cultural Attraction. Read all about the band’s history right here. Opening is Little Brazil and The Sons of O’Leaver’s. This can’t-miss show starts at 9:30. See you there.

Also celebrating a birthday Saturday night is The Brothers Lounge — opened apparently in conjunction with Tulis’ birth (both are 50 years old). Playing the party are Minnesota band Jaw Knee Vee, Lincoln madman Plack Blague and surprise guests You’ll Love These Rockets. $5, 9 p.m.

Also Saturday, Jerry’s Bar in Benson is hosting a festival all afternoon and evening. Among the performers are Matt Whipkey and Clarence Tilton. More info and the day’s schedule here.

Sunday it’s back to fabulous O’Leaver’s for their Sunday Social and one of the best line-ups of the weekend: Chris Cohen (Ex Deerhoof, Ariel Pink’s Huanted Graffiti), Son, Ambulance, Kansas City’s Shy Boys and Thick Paint. All for $8 plus FREE FOOD (no idea what kind of food, but it’s free). This starts early — 4 p.m.

* * *

Nothing plays Slowdown Jr. Sunday night.

Sunday night Nothing plays with Culture Abuse, Wrong and Bib at Slowdown Jr. Here’s Ten Questions with Nothing…

Ten Questions with Nothing

Philly band Nothing may be known as much for its frontman’s brutal history as its music. As the story goes, Domenic Palermo spent a couple years in the slammer after stabbing someone in a fight back in 2002 when he was a member of hardcore punk act Horror Show, according to NPR. As you would expect, the experience changed him and his musical direction. With Nothing, Palermo returned to his first love: shoegaze. The music on the band’s latest album, Tired of Tomorrow (2016, Relapse) sounds like a reinvention of (or at least heavily influenced by) bands like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive combined with early Smashing Pumpkins. The product is dense, bleak and oftentimes brooding.

We asked Nothing to take our 10 Questions survey. Palermo took the plunge:

1. What is your favorite album?

Nothing: Sun City Girls, You’re Never Alone with a Cigarette

2. What is your least favorite song?

Theme song to “Frasier”

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

Not having to be at home.

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

Having to be on the road.

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

Semen

6. In what city or town do you love top perform?

Chicago

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

Chicago. I fell asleep standing up, while we were playing.

8. How do you pay your bills?

Relapse Records allowance money.

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

Writing questions for newspaper; prostitution

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

One about these two brothers. One’s a cop and one’s a bad ass. The bad ass brother gets in a fight and kills a man in a bar fight. The cop brother chases him down through the back roads all the way to Canada, but decides to let him go, because a man that turns his back on his family, just ain’t no good.

Nothing plays with Culture Abuse, Wrong and Bib Sunday, June 12, at Slowdown Jr., 729 No. 14th St. Tickets are $13 Adv./$15 DOS. Showtime is 7 p.m. For more information, go to theslowdown.com.

That’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great (red hot) 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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The Reader has a new managing editor. It’s David Williams, the former editor at Omaha Magazine and their family of publications. This new addition is a big deal for Omaha’s favorite arts and entertainment monthly, and long overdue. John Heaston and Eric Stoakes have been handling all the editorial decisions at the pub for a long, long time.

Also joining The Reader staff is another Omaha Magazine refugee: Super talented music write James Walmsley. James has been writing music profiles for Omaha and Encounter for some time, including this rather well-written profile of little ol’ me that appeared in Encounter. Walmsley’s title at The Reader will be something like Music Contributing Editor.

These additions represent surprising growth for a print publication in a time when word of magazines and papers shutting their doors comes on a daily basis. In fact, the June issue of The Reader looks to be the fattest in recent memory. It’s the annual “Music Issue,” and highlights a run-down of all the best places in town to buy vinyl. Also included is my annual list of favorite bands, as well my column that recaps the history of Cultural Attraction and local music legend Mike Tulis on the occasion of his 50th birthday. I’ll be posting a link to that column in the coming days, but you can read it right now in the printed edition of The Reader, available wherever fine journalism is sold.

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I would be remiss to not mention the passing of Antiquarium proprietor and all-around good-guy Tom Rudloff. I first met Tom when I was a nerdy young lad, probably around 12 or 13. My mother drove me to the bookstore where Tom was selling a large collection of comic books. Among the one or two I bought that day was a copy of Avengers No. 4, the first appearance of Captain America in the Silver Age, a comic book I still own.

Over the years I got to know Tom through my writings about Bill Farmer, a local artist who I profiled in a couple cover stories for The Reader (You can read one of those profiles online here). Tom and Bill always were very patient with my questions about art and the lives of those who make it and, in Tom’s case, support it through running an art gallery.

Tom was known for holding court inside the bookstore, offering coffee and conversation to anyone who wanted to drop in. The kids and record hounds headed to Dave Sink’s record store in the basement probably wondered who that tribe of intellectuals was gathered just inside the entryway. They could be intimidating, though Tom never was.

Tom was funny and smart and one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. He will be missed.

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We Were Promises Jetpacks at Mohawk Patio, SXSW, March 19, 2010.

We Were Promised Jetpacks has become something of an indie staple. Seems like every year I journeyed to Austin for South By Southwest since 2009 the Scottish 4-piece was playing the festival, drawing large crowds for a sound that takes a guitar-fueled indie dance vibe (see Phoenix, Tokyo Police Club) and injects it with an emo sensibility that Cursive would approve of. The band continues to tour its 2014 release, the exquisite Unraveling (FatCat Records), making one assume that they must be working on new material. Find out if that’s the case when they play The Slowdown Monday, June 6.

I asked WWPJ to take the Ten Questions survey. Guitarist Michael Palmer stepped up to the challenge.

1. What is your favorite album?

We Were Promised Jetpacks: Right now, it’s The Wilderness by Explosions In The Sky. We’re just off a support tour with those guys and they’re the nicest people and the best band. Love them. All time favourite (yup, that’s a ‘u’ in there – don’t take it out) is probably Kid A or something.

2. What is your least favorite song?

“Happy Birthday.” We once all started singing it to a friend of a friend on a night out, it was going great, then we all got to the “dear…” bit and, at the same time, realized that none of us knew her name. So we all just sort of stopped…

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

The part when you start writing a new song, and play it together the first few times. Before you have to talk about changing things. That part.

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

Not getting to see certain people for long stretches of time.

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

Pepsi.

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

Glasgow, because afterwards I don’t have to get into a van. It’s not that getting into a van afterwards isn’t sometimes amazing, it’s the not having to that makes it special.

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

Glasgow. Early on. There was a show where there were only like 10 people there and none of them cared at all. So we thought it would be funny to all kick our shoes off at the same time. It was. It was hilarious actually. Never mind.

8. How do you pay your bills?

I’d like to point out here that I used “where there were” in a sentence above and it was awesome. We pay our bills the usual way, I guess.

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

One where you get to leave at 5 p.m. and go to your own home EVERY SINGLE DAY! That’s the answer to both halves of the question, by the way.

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

I hear that there’s a $200 million development plan for land off the I-80. But that’s just because I went to omaha.com and read one of the headlines. I love that there’s an omaha.com, great work guys!

We Were Promised Jetpacks plays with Tokyo Police Club Monday, June 6 at The Slowdown. Tickets are $16 Adv./$18 DOS. Showtime is 8 p.m. For more information, go to onepercentproductions.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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Speedy Ortiz at O’Leaver’s, 8/15/15. The band plays tonight at The Waiting Room.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Peach Kelli Pop is Canadian Allie Hanlon and four other women playing jangling, abrasive, driving straight-four beach-flavored punk rock that sounds like go-carts and too much coffee. On the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it LP, Peach Kelli Pop III (2015, Burger Records), Hanlon and her band race through 10 songs in just over 20 minutes — simple math tells you that averages about two minutes per song, just long enough for punk rock. Popular themes are video games, Chinese food and conspiracy theorists as well as the usual songs of love.

We caught up with Hanlon and asked her to take our Ten Questions survey. Here’s what she had to say:

1. What is your favorite album?

Allie Hanlon: Red Cross’ s/t EP, released 1980

2. What is your least favorite song?

“(You’re) Having my Baby” by Paul Anka

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

Free stuff! Just kidding, I like going on adventures, traveling and playing music with 4 really cool girls.

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

Having your work and time constantly devalued. Also rude sound people

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

Ice-cream & fancy cheese

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

Tokyo, Japan will always be #1.

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

Our shows in Nashville have sucked the last few years, so we stopped playing there. On tour in Europe last fall, we played a show in France where we were playing on the floor, with some drunk, confrontational people inches from my face during our entire set. They spilled beer all over my pedals. I don’t condone violence, but I was ready throw down.

8. How do you pay your bills?

Usually via credit card over the phone.

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

Canine massage therapist or a psychic. I think I’d be a great aerobics instructor as well. I would hate being a meter maid or having any profession involving sales.

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

Growing up in Ottawa, Canada, I didn’t know anything about Omaha, NE. I learned about Saddle Creek Records and its bands, which were really influential when I was a little teen, and became more familiar. The rich music history makes Omaha stand out. I also heard that 311 is from Omaha which is pretty cool.

Peach Kelli Pop plays with The Way Out Wednesday, May 25, at Reverb Lounge, 6121 Military Ave. Tickets are $8, showtime is 9 p.m. For more information, go to onepercentproductions.com.

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One of the biggest shows of the month is happening tonight at The Waiting Room where The Good Life kicks off its latest tour in support of their 2015 Saddle Creek release, Everybody’s Coming Down. That alone is worth the price of admission, but then you add indie superstars Speedy Ortiz and you’ve got yourself a monster of a show. But wait, there’s more. Local indie rockers Oquoa are opening the show. All this entertainment for a mere $15. The show starts at 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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Dolores Diaz & the Standby Club, from left, are Ben Brodin, Miwi La Lupa, Dan McCarthy, Roger Lewis, Corina Figueroa, Mike Mogis, Matt Maginn and Conor Oberst. Not pictured is Phil Schaffart.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
What do you do for fun when musically you can do anything you want? You put together a country cover band.

That’s what Conor Oberst did with his wife, Corina Figueroa, and their two roommates, Roger Lewis and Miwi La Lupa.

The project began last November strictly as a lark. Among the belongings La Lupa brought with him when he moved to Omaha from Brooklyn was a copy of Them Old Country Songs, a 1972 “various artists” classic that includes songs by the likes of Skeeter Davis, Connie Smith, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton.

“We love this record,” Oberst said last week over drinks at his Dundee bar, Pageturners Lounge, while fellow Standby Club member Dan McCarthy pounded out ragtime tunes on the bar’s upright piano. “I’ve not been a person to cover a lot of songs. It was nice to learn new ones. I’ve never played songs with this many key changes before.”

Oberst said Figueroa has a great voice and loves to sing, so it made sense to give the band a try. “She’s sang with me a few times before,” he said. “She was super excited at practice, but for that first show, she was extremely nervous. We all were.”

The rest of band is made up of people Oberst said are part of his extended household: Phil Schaffart, Oberst’s partner on the road and in running Pageturners; Mike Mogis and Ben Brodin, whose studio, ARC, is practically an extension of Oberst’s home, and Cursive’s Matt Maginn, who at one time also lived with Oberst.

“No one in the band is a country player in any way, shape or form,” Oberst said. “Even Mike (Mogis) doesn’t consider himself a country player. He doesn’t know all the Nashville things. The guy who’s most dialed in is Ben. He can play anything.”

The band’s first gig, at O’leaver’s Jan. 3 of this year, included covers of songs by the aforementioned country legends along with Charlie Pride, Sammi Smith, Bob Dylan and Randy Newman and more. The evening’s music was recorded and is online at liveatoleavers.com. Expect to hear a lot of those numbers when the band plays at The Waiting Room Saturday, May 21, along with a few new covers, possibly including “Honey Won’t You Open the Door” by Ricky Skaggs and “Good Girl Gone Bad” by Tammy Wynette.

Oberst said unlike playing in one of his other bands, this band has access to an unlimited musical catalog. “I never realized all the virtues of being in a cover band,” he said. “We’re never going to run out of good songs.”

It’s unlikely this band will ever enter a recording studio. “It sounds like a joke, but I feel like we’re a good band for parties and weddings and funerals and all that kind of stuff,” Oberst said. “It would seem weird to record covers, and I don’t know if we’d ever have originals, definitely not for this show.”

La Lupa, who sat next to Oberst during the interview, said the band may be “just for fun,” but that it takes the music seriously. “Someone wrote a review after our first show and said it sounds like we didn’t practice or something, and we were all kind of bummed,” La Lupa said. “We practice more for this band than any other band we play with. We’ll be practicing a lot over the next week.”

The band’s name, The Standby Club, grew out of a phrase used by a friend of Oberst’s who does film editing of live sporting events. “He always says ‘standby,’ and began using the phrase in everyday life,” Oberst said. “The Standby Club — I thought it would sound dope.”

As for Figueroa’s musical nom de plume, Oberst said she was afraid about going on stage. “I suggested putting on a persona, like a Superman cape,” he said. “Dolores Diaz is a Spanglish version of Doris Day and has an old Hollywood sound to it.”

“And it works out because the name ‘Dolores’ signifies heartbreak,” La Lupa said, adding that the name means “sorrow” in English, a fact that surprised Oberst, who quickly added, “We’re going to have some nice T-shirts made.”

Dolores Diaz & the Standby Club plays with Carl Miller & The Thrillers Saturday, May 21, at The Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St. Tickets are $10; showtime is 9 p.m. For more information, go to onepercentproductions.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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.