Ty Segall at Sokol Underground, Feb. 10, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Digital Leather frontman Shawn Foree confirmed the band’s line-up change about a week ago. I’d heard about it from someone who knows the guys in the band who e-mailed me simply to say that Todd Fink of The Faint had been practicing with DL in what would likely be a return of synthesizers to an act that had dropped them from their live performances years ago. Foree in the past has explained that his synth-driven recordings are a different animal than DL’s stage performances, which for the last few years has been a guitar-driven power trio.

Digital Leather, with Todd Fink behind the keyboards, Feb. 10, 2013.

Anyway, Foree confirmed the rumor, but said he wanted to keep it on the down low at least until this show. Sure enough, last night on stage this new version of Digital Leather was unveiled with Fink behind a keyboard. And the result was, to say the least, satisfying, but not a night-and-day difference from what we’ve been hearing from these guys for the past few years. DL is still fueled by the rhythm section of bassist Johnny Vrendenburg and drummer Jeff Lambelet — the best bass & drum duo in Omaha — as well as Foree’s voice and guitar (and his spleen-bleeding songs), but Fink’s keyboards add that element that’s been missing for a lot of the band’s fans — a sinister, other-worldly quality that underlies the neo-futuristic nature of DL music. They also sound pretty cool. Fink’s backing vocals were an added bonus.

So what’s this addition mean for future Digital Leather set lists? Well, for the most part, last night’s set wasn’t much different from the Nov. 28 set, when DL opened for King Khan at Slowdown. Both included a rousing version of fan favorite “Studs in Love” (well, at least it’s one of my favorites). That said, I don’t remember DL playing “Styrofoam” last November, a song in which the synths take the anthem to a whole ‘nother level.

Will DL now dig back to other early material where synths play a central role? Will we finally get to hear songs like “Modern Castles” and “Gold Hearts” (both from Warm Brother)?  I doubt it. It also will be interesting to hear if Fink will add anything to future DL recordings — a process that Foree has always commanded by himself. And what’s the lifespan for this collaboration now that The Faint are back together? Does it matter? Just enjoy it while you can, and that includes March 8, when Digital Leather is slated to return to one of their favorite stomping grounds — fabulous O’Leaver’s.

OK, what about the rest of the show? Opener, Memphis band Ex-Cult (formerly Sex Cult) was bad ass, a five piece that played a refined, aggressive indie garage punk that had a few kids in front of the stage shoving each other.

But the night’s centerpoint was Ty Segall and his band — a well-honed noise machine, easily the loudest thing I’ve heard on a stage in a few years. Playing songs off a number of his albums, including Twins and Slaughterhouse, Segall blazed through one monster rocker after another, leaving a wake of bleeding ears in front of the stacks. I stood on a chair along the wall and watched the crowd writhe in ecstasy to the knuckle-bleeding music.

You got a sense that you were seeing this guy at the height of his power, still flying under the radar, ready to explode. Something tells me in the next few years Segall could blow up to become as big as Jack White. If it happens, we’ll look back at this show and say “I saw him back when he played Sokol Underground.”

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Ladyfinger at The Waiting Room, Feb. 1, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

After last Friday night, it’s high time that I dig out whatever parking maps may be available for the Benson area that identifies public parking. Big shows + First Friday = ol’ reliable parking places won’t be available. That certainly was the case last weekend, as I drove around and ’round looking for somewhere to park my ’96 POS Tracker, finally finding a parking lot east of PS Collective’s back parking area. There were no “No Parking” signs anywhere, so I figured I was safe (and was). I’m guessing there’s plenty of parking in Benson — if you know where it is — and even more importantly, where it isn’t. No one wants to go back to their car after a show and find it gone, which is a distinct possibility if you park in a private lot owned by an asshole who loves to tow cars.

But I digress…

I got to Ladyfinger’s album release show Friday night at The Waiting Room around 10:15 in time to see The Seen, who also was celebrating the release of a new record. I’d describe the 5-piece band’s sound as “alternative” in a ’90s connotation, a sort of post-grunge alternative, the kind of music that 89.7 The River plays between its usual spate of grunt/cookie monster goon bands.

Their recipe is big guitar riffs beneath frontman Buck Blanc’s breathy Counting Crows/Adam Duritz-style vocals.  I had one guy tell me his voice reminded him of Conor, but all I heard was Duritz, though The Seen’s music in no way resembled the Crows’. The band was tight, the music well-played, but just not my cup of tea. And no doubt their commercial style of rock would/could attract a much larger audience than the usual indie stuff that I listen to.

I was a tad bit concerned that there could be a drop-off in the crowd after The Seen. The fans pushed up against the stage during their set was way younger than who I’ve seen at past Ladyfinger shows — they looked like regular listerners of The River (which (I’m told) The Seen has been played on). And while the crowd’s demographics did indeed change between sets, the room was no less full when Ladyfinger hit the stage for what was easily the loudest set I’ve heard them play.

The band played mostly songs off their fantastic new Saddle Creek release, Errant Forms, as well as a few older numbers including “Smuggler” from their first record. The giant sound was a good test of The Waiting Room’s new sound system, which was impressive — huge, but with great separation. If there was a nit to pick it was (probably) with the mix. Cursive’s Patrick Newbery joined the band on keyboards for a handful of songs, but I couldn’t hear him above the roar… that is until I went to take a leak, when all the sudden, there were the keyboards coming straight out of the urinal! But once I got back out to the floor, they were gone, lost in the melee.

Errant Forms

officially comes out tomorrow. Order your copy of the cool, clear, limited-edition (of 500) vinyl at the Creek store while you can…

* * *

The Postal Service announced today via its press agent (Nasty Little Man) that the project, which centers around Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello, will play its first headlining gigs in 10 years. And get this, joining them as part of the backing band will be The Mynabirds’ Laura Burhenn.

From the press release:

Gibbard and Tamborello will be reuniting on the road with a band fleshed out by Jenny Lewis (Jenny & Johnny, Rilo Kiley) and Laura Burhenn (Mynabirds, Bright Eyes) to celebrate the 10th anniversary and deluxe edition reissue of The Postal Service’s universally acclaimed release, Give Up.  The Give Up Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition out April 9 on Sub Pop, includes the original 10-track album along with 15 bonus tracks–including the brand new songs “Turn Around” and “A Tattered Line of String,” a previously unreleased live recording, and every other official recording the band has ever released-as well as cover versions of Postal Service classics by The Shins and Iron & Wine.

Both the tour and Give Up Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition find Lewis reuniting with The Postal Service: She appeared on the original album and played with the band on its handful of 2003 tour dates. Lewis also sings on the two new songs on the Give Up Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition. Give Up was certified platinum last year just shy of 10 years from its original Feb. 9, 2003, release. Led by the single “Such Great Heights,” the landmark album is the second-biggest selling album in Sub Pop’s nearly 25-year history after Nirvana’s Bleach.

The first tour dates announced were on the West Coast, Europe and NYC. No Omaha dates have been announced… yet. Who remembers when the Postal Service last came through town? Here’s a hint…

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Gordon at The Side Door Lounge, Jan. 26, 2013

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I figured the easiest way to finally catch a set by Gordon was to drop in at their show at The Side Door Lounge Friday night. It’d also be a chance to see what the club, located on Leavenworth just a couple blocks from my old apartment (The St. Regis), was all about. The Side Door has become a sort of go-to spot for singer songwriters, at least it appears to be based on the number of shows they book, acts I’ve never heard nor seen before that rarely play at the usual indie music clubs. So there was that… and the fact that the show was free — I had nothing to lose.

I was surprised when I was able to park my shit-car in the club’s adjacent parking lot. I’m not sure where I would have parked otherwise. The neighborhood has a seedy reputation these days, just like it did back when I lived there twenty-some years ago. Once inside the long, narrow, concrete box of a building I almost turned around and left. The place was belly-to-butt. Every table was filled and people were crowded all the way to the bar.

I’ll say this up front: It’s a helluva nice place, well designed, clean, a giant leap from the dinge-holes I’m used to. In fact, it was downright romantic, warmly lit with dim track lighting pointed at tasteful black-and-white art photos along one wall and large ironic pastel drawings of cars along the other. I made a mental note to come back sometime just to drink.

But as a music venue, The Side Door has its share of challenges, mostly due to the layout. The room is filled with short tables that crowd right up to the “stage” in the back. An exit off stage right leads to the beer garden, but forget about going outside to burn one — you’ll never make it through the maze of tables, at least on this night. With no space in front of the stage there’s nowhere for people to stand and watch the band, and if they did, they’d block out everyone sitting down since there’s no stage riser. This likely isn’t a problem during one of club’s many open-mic nights, but for a punk show…

Gordon had posted on Facebook that they would play at “10 sharp,” but it was well past 10:30 before the opener — a duo called I Am the Navigator — finally packed up and left. Then it took another 20 minutes before members of Gordon began skulking out of the back room with their instrument cases and pieces of drum set.

With nowhere to sit, I found the least conspicuous place to stand against the far wall and aimlessly flipped through my iPhone to kill time. The crowd of young hipsters gave me more than my share of ‘who-the-fuck-are-you’ looks.

Finally at around 11:30, the Men of Gordon assembled in the cramped spot it the back of the room between a couple pair of speakers that make up the club’s PA. Before they started, the frontman — a tall drink of water with a big ol’ head of hair — asked the sound guy to turn off all the lights except for the bar lights, which he quickly did, leaving the room lit only by the tiny electric candles on the tables and the penlight attached to lead singer’s microphone, which didn’t last long.

Gordon’s music was as grinding and abrasive as what you’ll hear on their Soundcloud page — a slop-mire of drums and guitar and lead guy’s slurred vocals made raw by a cheap condenser microphone. The sound is pure slacker, a bastard child of Pavement and Galaxy 500 and whatever dark-light indie rock band you can remember from the ’90, which is probably why I like it so much.

The frontman’s mic light still burned brightly as he introduced the first cover of the night. “This next song’s by Nirvana,” he said. “Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994. Good riddance.” And with that the band launched into a scuzzy cover of “Territorial Pissing” recognizable by the guitar chords rather than his screeching.

Between songs a short, weathered-looking woman wearing layers of coats pushed through the crowd right up to the stage. “Hello pretty lady,” said the frontman as she shuffled right past him and into the back room, only to emerge halfway through the next song carrying a couple loaded plastic bags.

At about that time, the microphone broke — along with the penlight and the breaker that powered the left side of the stage. Frontguy stood shirtless in the dark asking the audience to touch his nipples as the band tore into a wasted version of their own “No Masters, No War.” By the end of the set he was laying flat on his back barking out a cover of The Smiths’ “This Charming Man” plagued by the backup mic’s drop outs.

It was a lovely train wreck the likes of which I haven’t seen since The Shanks farewell two-night stand at O’Leaver’s a year or so ago. In a lot of ways Gordon reminds me of The Shanks, albeit a cute furry animal version without the blood and gore. Just like them, Gordon contains unmeasurable raw talent that has a habit of spinning gloriously out of control on stage, or at least it did last Saturday night…

* * *

By the way, Gordon has been named to open for powerhouse Brooklyn post-hardcore band The Men when they play at Slowdown April 27. If you can’t wait that long, you catch them Feb. 7 at the Grant Curtz Benefit show at Slowdown with Video Ranger and Brigadiers.

* * *

Speaking of The Shanks, top Shank Todd VonStup wrote to say that The Shanks “Complete Discography” is available from their Bandcamp page

as a free download, at least for the next week. After that, the download will cost you 7 bones. Run on over there and get it while it’s hot.

* * *

Finally, word leaked out Sunday that Morrissey has been diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer, which will sideline him for the next couple weeks including the Feb. 6 Lincoln/Rococo show, which has been postponed (and not cancelled) again. Hold on to your tickets folks and stand by for the rescheduled date, which (if it happens) won’t be at least until mid-March…

* * *

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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

LVC Underground at The Waiting Room, Jan. 22, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

What to say about The Waiting Room’s recent upgrades? Well, the LED-powered stage lighting looked brighter. The stage and the floor in front of it seemed bigger with the addition of new walls that led backstage and the elimination of those huge black drapes. The sound was as good as ever — I didn’t notice a change, but then again, my focus last night was on a three-piece folk band and not a full blown rock show.

That band was LVC Underground — the trio of Greg Loftis, Bret Vovk and Nick Carl with a fourth person filling in on guitar (who would lose his guitar after one of the amps blew halfway through the set). The focus was on the three balladeers seated across the stage, passing an electric guitar between them as they shared leads during the six-song set — each one singing lead on two songs while the other two provided some fine, fine harmonies.

The style shifted from lead to lead. Vovk’s songs had the same lilt heard on his solo work. Carl’s songs were the twangiest of the bunch and the most low-key (and most romantic), while Loftis provided the rock flair, which was heaviest on the set closer. As a whole, their laid-back style recalled CSNY, Will Johnson, very early Eagles and/or Jackson Browne and a touch of Wilco. Every song had something going for it, and the trio sounded like old pros rather than a band of friends who have playing together only for a short time.

Credit the songwriting, which was simple, straight-forward but with dense layers of harmony and sparse accompaniment that at times included Vovk on tom drum and tambourine. Carl and Vovk are among the most under-appreciated talents in the Omaha scene, flying under the radar (Carl has no recordings that I know of) whether by choice or by circumstance, while Loftis continues to nurture his urban legend status. Hopefully this trio will finish a record before Loftis takes flight once again, to points unknown.

* * *

The Waiting Room’s $3 showcases continue tonight, this time sponsored by New Belgium Brewing and featuring blues man Kris Lager covering the Beastie Boys. Opening is Touch People (a.k.a. Darren Keen, formerly of The Show Is the Rainbow). Keen recently made all three Touch People albums available for free download on Soundcloud. It’s some weird, groovy shit. Check it out here. Show starts at 9.

* * *

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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Lee Meyerpeter and Josh Dunwoody at Take Cover Omaha, Vol. 2, at The Sydney, Jan. 18, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Nearly 300 people paid $5 to attend a Take Cover show this past weekend. Omaha drew the best crowd, with nearly 200 paid at The Sydney Friday night, and if you were there, you could feel it. Crush mob. I showed up about halfway through the evening’s line-up, just in time to catch the Lee Meyerpeter & Josh Dunwoody (of The Filter Kings) and Landon Hedges (of Little Brazil) do their one original/one cover. The Filter Kings’ dudes covered a Killigans’ tune, while Landon took on a Lullaby for the Working Class song. The crowd dug them both and so did I, but by the end of Landon’s song I was feeling pretty claustrophobic…

The final tally was nearly $2,000 raised for Hear Nebraska to help support their mission, which is pretty simple: To make the state a globally recognized cultural destination. Hear Nebraska’s only job is to support Nebraska music. That’s it. If you’re in a local band, or just love local music, get your ass behind the HN cause. If you didn’t get a chance to drop in at either showcase, you can still donate $5 (or more) by going to the Hear Nebraska donation page and making a donation. You can even do it using PayPal — just designate the payment to Hear Nebraska, Inc. How simple is that?

Or if you’d rather get a tchotchke in return for your donation, go to the Hear Nebraska store and buy one of their fancy new T-shirts or a koozy. Do it.

* * *

The only thing else to report on this quiet MLK Day is that everyone’s favorite band of degenerates, Peace of Shit, has decided to change its name to something I guess they think is much less offensive: Dumb Beach.

Dumb Beach frontman Austin Ulmer confirmed that the name change is no joke. He said they may play a few remaining smaller shows under the old Peace of Shit moniker, but after that, look for Dumb Beach on the gig calendars. I’m trying to talk him into playing one final show as Peace of Shit — a heart-rending farewell performance that would rival The Last Waltz. Why not? It worked for Sun Settings…

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I went to fewer shows this year than the past, what, 15 years? I typically go to 1.5 shows a week, which rounds out to around 75 shows a year. But this year I only went to around 50. One reason for my attendance decline was my busy schedule; another was my decision to quit seeing bands that I’ve already seen in the past six months. But the biggest reason was that there seemed to be fewer high-quality indie acts coming through town this year.

Still, there was plenty to see and hear in 2012. Here were my favorites:

Feb. 17, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at Slowdown

— Live vs. recording, the Pavement frontman took short songs like “Tigers” and “Senators” and “Baby C’Mon” and stretched them into longer jams that leaned heavy on his own slinky guitar solo prowess.

March 1, Bleeding Rainbow at Slowdown Jr. — The set-up was simple: two guitars, drums and bass, with male/female vocalists creating flat-toned harmonies on songs that were jet-fueled by loud-as-fuck guitar riffs.

March 9, Icky Blossoms at The Waiting Room — The more I see them, the more they remind me of The B-52s and Public Image Ltd (PiL), with Derek Pressnall split between Fred Schneider and John Lydon.

April 27, Lambchop at Slowdown Jr. — Their sound was warm and subtle like sipping a glass of fine old scotch. Really beautiful stuff.

May 14, St. Vincent at Slowdown — Though her stage presence recalled Prince, her music had more in common with arch New Wave composers such as Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson and Talking Heads, while her voice was Joni and Aimee and Souxsie Sioux. But it was nothing compared to those hot-bitch guitar licks that could rattle your teeth with its staccato fists or pull you under the covers with waves of luscious, tonal phrasing.

Aug. 3, Simon Joyner and The Ghosts at The Sydney — Joyner’s seven-member drone-folk orchestra kept the vibe in a noisy haze throughout the night, filling every inch of dense space with waves of feedback, pedal steel, violin and cello, with two percussionists keeping beat for the tribe.

Aug. 12, The Maha Music Festival, Stinson Park — Despite the on-again off-again rain, the festival drew an impressive 4,300 for one of the most diverse line-ups that Omaha has ever seen. Can they top it in ’13?

Aug. 18, The Faint at Slowdown — Top of mind (at least to me) was how they would sound without Faint ex-pat Joel Petersen on bass. I doubt any of the bouncing sold-out crowd that turned the Slowdown’s dance floor into a giant trampoline noticed a difference.

Sept. 8, Twin Shadow at The Waiting Room — The crowd did the classic ’80s shoulder-shrug dance while frontman George Lewis pounded out chords on guitar. There was a macho drama to everything he did, more intense than fun, but fun nevertheless.

Sept. 14, Wild Nothing / DIIV at Sokol Underground — They reminded me of ’90s champions The Church and The Cure with bigger guitar riffs and vocals that you could actually understand.

Oct. 18, Judgement Day at O’Leaver’s — Driving, pounding, throbbing rock as intense as metal but without the pain. The Pantzer brothers played souring mini-orchestrations blending violin and cello atop a bed of drums.

Oct. 28, Cursive at Slowdown — When I Am Gemini came out at the beginning of the year, we all had our doubhts that it would fit in with the rest of the Cursive oeuvre. Those doubts were erased on stage that night…

Nov. 12, A Place to Bury Strangers at The Waiting Room — Standing next to the stage was like sitting at the foot of an airport runway watching jets fly overhead.

Nov. 21, Titus Andronicus at Sokol Underground — Patrick Stickles and company came on in a meat-and-potatoes fashion and barreled through a set that included the best off the new album.

Nov. 28, Digital Leather at Slowdown — Shawn Foree and Co. threw out a golden nugget I thought I’d never hear them play again — “Studs In Love,” the homo anthem from Blow Machine re-engineered from an electronic hump fable to a roaring, spitting metallic confession.

And then, last night at The Waiting Room, four bands to close out the year…

Little Brazil at The Waiting Room, Dec. 27, 2012

John Klemmensen is a big guy with a blue guitar, a golden voice and a broken heart who can capture more yearning with a single line than most bands can with an entire album. Mainly because you believe him; mainly because it’s (probably) all true and he doesn’t care who knows it. With his back-up band, The Party, he infuses his confessions with hooks that camouflage either anger or bitterness or just plain loneliness with lines that you would scoff at as self-flagellating BS if they came from anyone else but the guy standing/singing/rocking right in front of you. His only recordings are homemade. It’s time someone gets him into a formal studio and gets it all down on tape.

The Brigadiers debut was a cause celeb thanks to some heavy hitting vets not the least of which included drummer Clint Schnase of Cursive fame. On this project, Schnase rides the kit with a distinctively lighter touch backing songs that are folk rock bordering on Americana bordering on pure tunesmith-ing. I was reminded of Big Star. The guy next to me was thinking T. Rex, and if you can pull off those kinds of comparisons on your debut, you’re onto something.

The Sons of The Waiting Room (better known as The Sons of O’Leaver’s but recently known as The Sons of The Slowdown) saw their numbers grow by 33 percent with the addition of The Brothers Weber on pedal steel / electric guitar and keyboards. As one onlooker put it “Shit, they’ve got three of the best guitarists in Nebraska on that stage.” Indeed. The additional fire power did its job filling out their sound and (on some songs) adding a bit of southern twang. It felt more laid back than an O’Leaver’s set because it was. I prefer the harder stuff, like set-closing classic “We Need the Night” that any god fearing Replacements fan would love.

And then came Little Brazil. The line-up change mentioned a few weeks ago was done with little fanfare, and maybe that was for the best, though there wasn’t a fan in the crowd who wasn’t curious how the band would sound with beefy Matt Baum replacing the kinetic/frenetic Oliver Morgan behind the kit. The diff for me: Ollie loves his cymbals while Baum prefers his throaty toms. More lower end gave frontman Landon (a Bobby Brady alto) more room to roam on vocals, or so it seemed to me. Others said they didn’t notice a difference, and that may be true considering the a typical Little Brazil set is like sitting in a field adjacent to Cape Canaveral during a shuttle launch. Pow-ful stuff. Baum was introduced as “helping us out tonight.” So does that mean they’re still looking for a permanent drummer? With he and Landon headed to Europe and then the East Coast for a Desaparecidos tour, who knows where this lineup is headed…

* * *

The holiday action continues with a four-friggin’-band bill tonight at the Sweatshop Gallery, located just south of The Barley Street Tavern. The line-up: Capgun Coup, Yuppies, Adult Films and Brooklyn band Parquet Courts, who’s song “Borrowed Time” was named a Pitchfork “Best New Track” this past November (take a listen here). $5, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night, popular local ’90s ska band Jimmy Skaffa has a full-blown reunion at The Waiting Room. The Stick Figures open at 9 p.m., $7.

Meanwhile down the street at The Barley Street Tavern Saturday night, Kite Pilot headlines a show with High & Tight and Above the State. $5, 9 p.m.

* * *

And don’t forget to enter the drawing for a copy of the Lazy-i Best of 2012 Sampler. The full track listing is here (scroll to the bottom of the entry). To enter, send your name and mailing address to tim.mcmahan@gmail.com. Hurry! Deadline is Jan. 15.

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i Best of 2012 Sampler

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

This was the hardest year that I can remember for pulling together a year-end top-10 list. Don’t get me wrong there was plenty of good music last year, but not very many good end-to-end albums. Case in point: It was much easier for me to pull together favorite tracks for the Lazy-i Best of 2012 compilation CD than it was choosing complete albums for the top-10 list. Is that a symptom of an era where people are buying more individual tracks than full albums? I don’t know. I don’t think so.

But interestingly, when I think about the most “complete” thematic albums from this past year, the ones that come to mind don’t have any individual tracks that stand out or that would make sense to include on a sampler. I’m talking about albums like Swans’ The Seer or Godspeed! You Black Emperor’s Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, Scott Walker’s Bish Bosch or even Cursive’s I Am Gemini. These are challenging, sit-down records where each track depends on the others to maintain the overall atmosphere.

We all know about the rebirth of vinyl as a re-energized music format. If it really took off, then we’d see more of these thematic “whole” albums. But something tells me if vinyl sales haven’t peaked yet, they soon will. Part of the reason is the price. Those of us who were around before CDs remember paying between $6.99 and $8.99 for new single LPs — a bargain. Today, most new single LPs sell for between $18 and $22. That’s just too much for vinyl to become a truly viable option for anyone except collectors and audiophiles when kids can download the same albums for half as much or as little as $5 on Amazon (when they decide to pay for them at all).

But maybe even more disturbing than format or price is that attention spans have dwindled in this shuffle-mode world. Is it realistic to think that this generation — with all of its media distractions — has the time and patience to sit down and absorb an album like The Seer? I don’t know.

Anyway, with all that in mind, I did manage to pull together my top-10 favorite albums of 2012. Again, these are not the best albums of 2012, rather the ones that I’ve enjoyed the most and will continue to enjoy beyond this year. Here they are:

Icky Blossoms, self titled (Saddle Creek) — When word got out that they were running out to El Lay to record with TV on the Radio’s David Sitek we all knew something was up. The result was a sexy, sassy dance album that rivals The Faint’s finest moments.

Cat Power, Sun (Matador) — Chan Marshall put aside afternoon-light fragment pop for something more upbeat, trippy, tuneful and almost happy, until you listen to the words.

The Intelligence, Everybody’s Got It Easy But Me (In the Red) — The best under-the-radar indie rock collection that’s worth the effort of finding. Not so much garage as refined garage, with a nod toward yesteryear.

Twin Shadow, Confess (4AD) — A dizzying trip back to ’80s electro-pop with a sound that recalls everything from General Public to Fine Young Cannibals to New Order to Peter Gabriel. If you’re gonna steal a style, this is how to do it.

Bob Mould, Silver Age (Merge) — Of all the ’90s heritage acts that released material in ’12 (including Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh), Mould’s was the most well thought out, and the most satisfying.

Tilly and the Wall, Heavy Mood (Team Love) — After you get past the B-52′s-flavored opening tracks, it’s as good an (adult) indie rock album as you’re likely to find, with harmony-rich tracks like “Hey Rainbow” and “I Believe in You” that give Azure Ray a run for its money. Looks like our Tilly finally grew up.

PUJOL, Unites States of Being (Saddle Creek) — Proof that Saddle Creek still has a nose for finding new talent (even though Jack White found it first). All his earlier recordings have been leading up to this. Not anthemic, but epic nonetheless.

Simon Joyner, Ghosts (Sing! Eunuchs) — Four sides of pure prairie ennui. It’s not so much a collection of eulogies as much as elegies to his own life and the lives of friends now gone. Stark, dark and the best thing Joyner’s released since 2006’s Skeleton Blues.

Digital Leather, Modern Problems (FDH Record) — I could have just as easily listed DL’s Yes Please, Thank You (Southpaw Records) or Purple Fire, the self-released album by Shawn Foree’s other project, Mere Mortals, since all three came out in 2012, and all have the same electro-dread pop sensibility. Omaha’s best kept secret.

Paul Banks, Banks (Matador) – This solo outing from Interpol’s frontman buries his main gig’s last couple icy-cold albums because it sounds so… human.

Where are those aforementioned albums by Swans, Walker and Godspeed? Yeah, they’re good, but for me, they’re something I’ll likely only experience once and will never revisit, maybe ever again. Maybe they’re the best, but they’re not my favorites.

Now lets get to my favorite tracks that I’ve stumbled across during my tenure this year as music critic for The Reader and Lazy-i.com. As per usual, they’re included in my annual Best of 2012 Lazy-i sampler CD. Here’s the track listing:

1) Tame Impala, “Be Above It” (from the album Lonerism)
2) Ty Segall Band, “Tell Me What’s Inside Your Heart ” (from the album Slaughterhouse)
3) Pujol, “Made of Money” (from the album United States of Being)
4) Cat Power, “Manhattan” (from the album Sun)
5) Violens, “Sariza Springs” (from the album True)
6) First Aid Kit, “Emmylou” (from the album The Lion’s Roar)
7) Paul Banks, “The Base” (from the album Banks)
8) Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, “Only In My Dreams” (from the album Mature Themes)
9) McCarthy Trenching, “2:47, July 18, 2011” (from the album Plays Piano)
10) Desaparecidos, “Backsell” (from the single “Marikkkopa b/w “Backsell”)
11) Mere Mortals, “B12” (from the album Purple Fire)
12) Icky Blossoms, “Chicas” (from the single “Babes” b/w “Chicas”)
13) Ember Schrag, “Your Words” (from the album The Sewing Room)
14) Millions of Boys, “Dudcats” (from the album Competing for Your Love)
15) Twin Shadow, “Run My Heart” (from the album Confess)
16) The Faint, “Take Me to the Hospital” (from the album Danse Macabre (Deluxe Edition))
17) The Intelligence, “Little Town Flirt” (from the album Everybody’s Got It Easy But Me)
18) Simon Joyner, “If I Left Tomorrow” (from the album Ghosts)
19) Gordon, “Anti-Romantic (Drunk Dialed)” (an unreleased demo)
20) Ladyfinger, “Galactic” (from the album Errant Forms)
21) Nicky Da B, “Xmas In the Room” (from the album Chopped and Scrooged)

At this point you’re thinking, “Tim, I’m not your brother, nephew or niece, nor an industry ‘insider’ nor a member of the Saddle Creek/O’Leaver’s Mafia. How can I possibly get a copy of this fantastic, highly collectable compilation?”

Ah well, it’s simple really. All you have to do is send me an email (to tim.mcmahan@gmail.com) with your name and mailing address (where I can send it, duh) and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a copy! Hurry, drawing deadline is Jan. 15!

* * *

Tonight is one of the biggest shows of the holiday season. Little Brazil returns to The Waiting Room stage with Sons of The Waiting Room and the debut of The Brigadiers (Drummer Clint Schnase (ex-Cursive), guitarist/vocalist Shane Lamson, guitarist/vocalist Mark Weber (ex-Box), and bassist/vocalist Vic Padios (ex-Calico, ex-Gymnastics)). Opening is John Klemmensen and The Party. $7, 9 p.m. This could be huge.

Also tonight, Jake Bellows (of Neva Dinova fame) and his band plays at The Slowdown with Mal Madrigal and Our Fox. $8, 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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’m scattering the annual year in review coverage over the next few days, beginning with this column, which also appears in this week’s issue of The Reader, which I think is on the streets now (though I’m not entirely sure as my internal calendar is discombobulated).

Over the Edge #43: The Year in Review 2012 (or 1969?)

Every year at about this time for more than a decade, I’ve written a “Year In Review” article for The Reader that looks back at the events of the past 365 days and outlines the trends and direction of the coming year in popular music. This year, Music Editor Chris Aponick is handling those duties, but if I was writing a YIR article, the main message would be this:

Imagine that it’s 1969.

A major catastrophe has struck the eastern United States. President Nixon and a congress headed by Senator Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn) and John William McCormack (D-Mass) are doing what they can to pull together resources to help our fellow citizens in this time of need, but it’s just not enough. In a stroke of genius, an enterprising young person comes up with an idea to host a massive concert at the just-opened Madison Square Garden to generate funds to rebuild communities devastated by this unnamed disaster.

For the concert to succeed, only the most popular acts of the day would be invited to perform — a list that anyone in America could name off the top of their heads: Al Jolson, Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Whisperin’ Jack Smith, the Kentucky Serenaders, George Olson and Jelly Roll Morton. You know, the music that everyone was listening to in 1969 at the height of the Viet Nam War.

Wait a minute, doofus, that’s not the music of 1969. Yeah, I know. In this Bizarro World, instead of inviting the current rock acts of the day, concert organizers invited the hottest acts from 43 years earlier, from 1926. Sounds crazy. An effort doomed to fail. And yet, it was a no-brainer, just like what happened two weeks ago.

When it came time for organizers to pull together a lineup for the 12-12-12 relief concert for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, the short list of top-name performers was obvious: Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, The Who, Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones, acts whose heyday was 40+ years ago. Sure, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin and Kanye were there, but no one came to see them. They came to see the dinosaurs along with a few “more current” faves like Billy Joel (“Piano Man,” 1973), Bon Jovi (“Wanted Dead or Alive,” 1986), and Michael Stipe (“The One I Love,” 1987).

This is a reflection of the current state of pop music in this country. There are no new superstars making groundbreaking music anymore; and there hasn’t been in decades. The last universally recognized game-changing rock band was probably U2 in the ‘80s. Radiohead came close. Arcade Fire was important, but their music is far from known by the Great Wad.

Everything else is manufactured. Look at the charts. Bieber, Kelly Clarkson, PSY, Rihanna, Ke$ha, Taylor Swift, all diversionary fluff that no one would mistake for important game-changing music. And sure, there was plenty of fluff in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but there always was something that people could point to as timeless, embraced by a nation instead of a tiny sliver of indie music nerds who “know better” about what’s good.

Despite all the technology, there’s no longer a method for elevating talent, there’s no way for the cream to rise to the top. Because, believe me, the talent is still out there. There was some great music in 2012. You simply didn’t hear it because it wasn’t on your radio. When radio became irrelevant as a way to identify and escalate talent, we lost our national music identity.

What about television? Look, these people that emerge from American Idol or The Voice are performers; they’re not songwriters, they’re not musicians. In many ways, we’ve gone back to the pre-Beatles days of Pat Boone and Bobby Darin empty haircuts. What made The Beatles important was that they wrote and performed their own music.

But even more discouraging is that somewhere over the past few years, it has become painfully obvious that the dream of “making it” in rock ‘n’ roll is now and forever gone. There was a time not so long ago when a group of musicians could get together, write some great songs, practice, perform and record some demos that they would shop around to mid-level independent labels in hopes that maybe — just maybe — someone would spot their talent, sign them to a “deal” and put out a record whose sales would generate enough money so they could quit their day jobs.

Sure, bands still dream of getting signed, but they know better than to think that they’ll ever make a living selling records in this Spotify era when $10 a month gives a listener access to (nearly) everything. When Spotify launched a couple years ago, no one really understood how artists would get paid. Now we know — they get paid, but at a rate of around 0.004611 cents per play, according to an article on pitchfork.com. That equates to around $46 per 10,000 plays (before the split with their record label). Good luck with that.

Ironically, among the few bands who would actually make decent money off Spotify are those dinosaur acts like the ones who played at the Garden a couple weeks ago (though some of them, such as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, have the wisdom to keep their music off the service).

I don’t know, maybe the music back then really was that good, that timeless. Maybe it will never be matched. But for the sake of future generations, I hope I’m wrong, or else in 43 years — in 2055 — when the next disaster occurs and a benefit concert is organized, the last great rock stars will be long gone.

* * *

Sound hopeless? Maybe. Maybe not. This Spotify/streaming audio model is just beginning to fuck things up for everyone. We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg, as non-music fans are just now beginning to discover it. It could pile on the already-catastrophic damage that downloading had done to CD sales…

Anyway, as I said above, there was some damn fine music produced in 2012, you just had to look really frickin’ hard to find it. Tomorrow: The Year in Review 2012, Pt. 2 — The top-10 of 2012, and the Lazy-i Best of 2012 Sampler track list and give-away — get ready to enter the drawing!

* * *

Ladyfinger at Slowdown Jr. Dec, 21, 2012.

A bit of catch-up on some pre-holiday bric-a-brac: Ladyfinger at Slowdown Jr. last Friday was like being introduced to a different (i.e., new) band, as it was the first time I’ve really noticed the impact of Dan Brennan since he took over for Ethan Jones in 2010. One might assume “it’s just a bassist” and one would be wrong, as the entire rhythm section sounded different (in a good way). Actually, the entire band sounded more polished, more focused, more tuneful. Or maybe it was just the new songs. I’m not entirely sure.

Ladyfinger used to be a hazy noise rock band that was more about dirty, dark energy than music. There was a smear or recklessness to everything they did, and amidst the smoky sturm und drang the words didn’t matter. This new version is cleaner in every way, and that more cohesive sound is reflected on their upcoming album — the best collection of songs they’ve recorded in their career.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t think that elements of So-So Sailors’ anthem rock were beginning to seep into this band. The similarities are obvious, and other than the vocalist’s grainy style, are not two-way — So-So has never resembled Ladyfinger. Whether that’s good or bad depends on what you liked most and least about Ladyfinger before the shakeup.

Too cerebral? Never. The point: Ladyfinger is emerging as more of a straight-up rock band than the grizzled noise-punkers we’d grown accustomed to, and a big part is driven by the new approach to songwriting, especially in the rhythm section. While the guitars are nice, it’s Brennan and Pat Oakes driving the show these days — a pounding, pulsing freight train that pushes Chris Machmuller’s vocals as far as his brassy croon will go.

In fact, the only criticism I have is pointed directly at Machmuller, whose vocals sounded way too restrained and mumbling on stage. Part of the precision and appeal of the new record is being able to understand exactly what Mach is singing (another So-So overlap?). That quality was gone Friday as he casually rushed the vocals. So all the fun of “Galactic” was lost because you couldn’t understand his star soldier declarations; while the soul-searching of “Dark Horse” was merely a heart-ache mumble. We may never get those qualities live, which I guess makes the records that much more valuable.

* * *

Holy Hannah!, it’s a garage rock blow-out tonight at Slowdown Jr. with Dads, Yuppies and Places We Slept all for a measly $5. Show starts at 9.

Also tonight, former Omahan and current legend Kyle Harvey returns to The Waiting Room’s stage opening for singer/songwriters Tara Vaughan and Jessica Errett. $7, 9 p.m.

So what if it’s one below zero outside? Get yourself to the clubs, people. The year ain’t over yet.

* * *

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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The Millions at The Bourbon Theatre, 12/1/12.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It felt like a reunion whether they want to call it one or not. The Millions (or The Millions NE as the lawyers would prefer) took the stage at The Bourbon Theatre Saturday night to a crowd that one person estimated exceeded 400.

The revamped movie house (formerly The State Theater) was filled to the brim with people crowded into the stadium risers and crushed in the aisles and on the floor. The audience looked the part of a crowd that came to see a band whose heyday was over a decade ago — more gray hair than hipster swoops, more pant suits and dresses than colored tights and blue jeans. You could have mistaken it for a wedding reception except the audience looked like it actually wanted to be there (unlike most receptions I’ve attended), and were downright bubbly despite the fact that their local football team was being pounded into oblivion on the flat-panels above the bar.

The band strolled on stage without fanfare at around a quarter to 10 and jumped right into their set as if they just walked off a stage in 1995, albeit older and wiser but with no less enthusiasm. If they were as good as they were back then, I cannot say as I never saw them play live “back in the day” (Who knows why, as I’m told they played in Omaha as much as they played in Lincoln). Compared to their recordings, including the just released Poison Fish, I can say they still have their chops. And needless to say, the crowd still adores them.

But there are still some nits to be picked. The sound mix was ass for the first of two sets — dreadfully muddy with too much bass and not enough guitar. Someone figured it out during the break because they sounded spot on during the second set. Also of note was the absence of drummer Greg Hill. No question that young’n Brandon McKenzie did a yeoman’s job behind the kit, but he still didn’t have the dynamism or drive that Hill brought to those recordings, and to be honest, I didn’t expect him to. The fact that he was there to help facilitate the reunion deserves plaudits on its own, and over time, I have no doubt that McKenzie would find his own groove to these rather well-worn songs if he got the chance. The question, of course, is will he get that chance.

There have been no official announcements regarding any future Millions shows, though I have to believe based on the turnout Saturday night that an Omaha promoter would be wise to book a gig either at Slowdown or The Waiting Room if the band is willing or interested.  And then there’s the rest of the region. No doubt during their heyday The Millions did their share of touring in the KC/Lawrence/Des Moines/Columbia market. With that new rarities album now available, it would behoove them to retrace their past conquests. And after that, who knows?

* * *

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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

King Khan and BBQ Show at The Slowdown, Nov. 28, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I never got my free booze at last night’s King Khan and BBQ Show concert at The Slowdown, but it’s not Sailor Jerry’s fault. The booze maker, who sponsored the event, had a converted Streamliner camper parked on the curb outside the club with blinking lights and signs and such. I didn’t bother to climb inside, and found out later that’s where they were distributing drink tokens. Kind of a weird deal, but there’s probably some sort of law that prevented them from setting up a table right inside Slowdown. Or something. I didn’t want to go back outside so I skipped it. I’d already bought my Rolling Rock anyway.

The “free” element was an ongoing riff played on by the KKBBQ duo, who kept prodding the rather large crowd about the freebies. “How’s your free booze?” said a smirking Mark Sultan sitting behind his two-piece drum kit, almost accusatory. Odd. Sultan, playing drums, guitar and singing (simultaneously), and King Khan on guitar and vocals were dressed in Mardi Gras-quality royal attire, complete with capes and feathered chapeaus. Glittery and cool. So was their music, a combination of garage, punk and sock-hop doo-wap, Chubby Checker meets Elvis meets Jack White meets the cast of Treme. They prodded the crowd to dance, and got a few to do a half-assed Frug.

Digital Leather at The Slowdown, Nov. 28, 2012.

Digital Leather opened the show with their usual grinding garage attack. I’ve seen these guys a hundred times and they never fail to bring it, but were especially on point last night. As I was sitting there wondering how many times I’d heard this set (or a slight variation), Shawn Foree and Co. threw out a golden nugget I thought I’d never hear them play again — “Studs In Love,” the homo anthem from Blow Machine re-engineered from an electronic hump fable to a roaring, spitting metallic confession. Foree launched it with a full-on riff attack aimed directly at the rhythm section of bassist Johnny Vrendenburg and drummer Jeff Lambelet (the best bass & drum duo in Omaha) settling into a tense, unrecognizable grind before barking out the line “I’m a man’s man / I don’t need no bitch.” F*** yes! They closed out their set with another classic — “Styrofoam,” from 2008 album Sorcerer.

I accepted years ago that Foree considers Digital Leather’s garage-rock stage presentation to be a completely different animal than the band’s electronic, proto-New Wave music heard on the recordings. I get it. But I’m beginning to wonder how long it will be until he breaks down and breaks out the Korg on stage once again. Maybe never. And that’s fine as long as he keeps putting out great records. Again, if you’ve only heard Digital Leather on stage over the past couple years, check out their recordings for a whole different take on their music.

* * *

Below, for your reading pleasure, is this week’s column, which also is printed in the current issue of The Reader. I include it here instead of merely providing a link as I usually do because of the topic. Saturday night’s Millions show definitely is worth the trip to Lincoln for any Millions fan, as there’s a good chance you’ll never hear this band play again.

The Millions, circa 2012. Photo by Ted Schlaebitz.

Column: A Million Reasons Why

Marty Amsler, like some of us, lives two lives.

Most know him as the mild-mannered “creative” at Nebraska advertising agency Bailey Lauerman. He’s a Mad Man ad guy who heads a team of Mad Men ad people that do some of the best creative work in the country. I know because I’ve seen it first hand in my “other life” at Union Pacific.

(To this day, I still meet people who think I make a living writing this column for The Reader. These are the same people who watched Sex and the City and thought Carrie Bradshaw could afford her cool Manhattan apartment and countless pair of $300 Manolo Blahnik shoes on what she made writing her weekly column in some faceless newspaper…)

Aside from Bailey Lauerman, there’s Marty’s main gig — his wife, Julia, and their son, Truman.

And then there’s The Millions, the band Amsler started way back in the late ‘80s in Lincoln with guitarist Harry Dingman III that included vocalist Lori Allison and drummer Greg Hill. Over the course of about six years, The Millions lived the rock ‘n’ roll dream. They generated a large following playing local gigs, got signed by Smash Records (a subsidiary of major label Polygram), quit their day jobs and recorded and released their debut album, M Is for Millions in July 1991. They toured, and then released their second album, Raquel, in September 1995. They toured some more. And then broke up and went their separate ways, leaving behind some great music and fond memories.

And now, just like that old rock ‘n’ roll story always seems to go, they’re getting back together again, for one night only — Dec. 1, 8 p.m., at Lincoln’s Bourbon Theatre. Well, at least three of them are, anyway. Greg Hill no longer plays drums and doesn’t want to. Drummer Brandon McKenzie will be sitting behind the drum kit that night. So can you really call this a “Millions reunion”?

“Lori, Harry and I don’t look at this as a ‘reunion’ show,” Amsler said. “Just old friends getting together again to play some songs we wrote a while ago to help some other old friends release a project they’ve worked tirelessly on.”

The Millions, Poison Fish (Randy’s Alternative Music, 2012)

The project is Poison Fish, a collection of lost, unreleased Millions recordings that capture the unbridled spirit of the band before they got signed.

The collection (under the name The Millions NE, because a different band now controls “The Millions” name) is being released by Randy’s Alternative Music, a record label run by Randy LeMasters, a Pittsburgh-based music entrepreneur who said the Millions’ music “turned my world upside down.”

LeMasters has spent nearly a decade working with the band and Millions’ fan Malcom Miles piecing together tracks heard on the new release from remastered cassette tapes, as the original master tapes (apparently) no longer exist.

Despite the frustration of spending years trying to track down those original masters, LeMasters says the release’s timing couldn’t have been better. “The band might not have gotten together for the CD release show in years past due to commitments with family and careers,” he said. “The time is right.”

And the timing may be right for other reasons. There’s a resurgence of interest in the post-punk, pre-Nirvana, “first wave” bands that influenced The Millions, such as REM, Throwing Muses, Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush and The Sundays. Some of the best new music released this past year, from indie darlings like Twin Shadow, Wild Nothing and DIIV, are revising the post-punk new wave sound for a new generation of listeners who may also discover something new in The Millions.

And if you’re wondering, no, LeMasters isn’t doing it for the money. “I’ve never been in the music ‘business’ to make money,” he said. “I do it for the love of the music and for my passion to get music into the ears of other fans. Other than the love one gets from family and friends, I believe there is no greater pleasure than sharing music with willing, eager ears.”

For Amsler, playing with his pals in The Millions again fills a void he didn’t realize he had.

“I have a very fulfilling career in advertising,” he said. “I get to spend my days working with some of the most talented people in the industry. I have great clients and more creative opportunity than I know what to do with.”

And though he gets the same creative fix from working with his B-L team, “I didn’t realize how much I missed just playing a song together – being super ‘cops-show-up (which they did) loud,’ getting in the zone and drowning all else out,” he said. “It’s so powerful, perfect and precarious. I didn’t realize how much I missed that — or them.”

Motivation to strap on his bass again also came from his family. “They see how much I’m enjoying it,” he said. “I get to share a side of me that neither of them knew.”

So I had to ask Amsler, the way the music industry is these days, would he do it all over again?

“That’s something I’ve thought about during the years,” he said. “Looking back, I’d have killed for the internet, e-mail, downloads or a damn cell phone (imagine being on the road for six weeks without one). That certainly would have made our lives easier on many fronts. But there was something about the music scenes when you had to be an active participant (not optional/digital) that was pretty amazing. I also think we were the last generation to get the big ‘quit-your-day-job’ record contract. Obviously, it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, but for a while, recording, touring and playing WAS our day job. That was pretty cool.”

The Millions play this Saturday, Dec. 1, at The Bourbon Theatre, 1415 ‘O’ St., Lincoln. Tickets to the all-ages show are $10 adv.; $12 DOS. Show starts at 9:30 p.m., with no opening bands (so get there on time). For more information and tickets, go to bourbontheatre.com.

First published in The Reader. Copyright © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

* * *

Here’s one that was flying under the radar: Tonight at The Waiting Room is the listening party for this year’s Christmas for Pine Ridge compilation.  The CD includes tracks by So-So Sailors, The Whipkey Three, Gerald Lee Jr. (Filter Kings) and a bunch more. The music starts at 8 p.m. Consider it a warm up for Saturday night’s benefit show, also at The Waiting Room.

* * *

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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.