Tim Kasher and band at O’Leaver’s, March 21, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

That dim line that divides Tim Kasher’s music projects got a little dimmer last night when the ol’ boy played at O’Leaver’s in front of a packed house with yet another new backing band.

This time Kasher, who spent the night behind electric guitar and microphone (vs. last night’s sold-out acoustic gig at O’Leaver’s) was backed by Sara Bertuldo (Millions of Boys) on bass and backing vocals, drummer Dillon Ryan (who played with Cursive on their last tour) and keyboardist Patrick Newbery (Cursive). Or maybe I should say “multi-keyboardist” as Newbery was surrounded by a tiger cage of no less than four keyboards (Bertuldo provided a fifth keyboard for good measure). More than anyone, Newbery has become Kasher’s creative right-hand man and ever-present collaborator, not only on this music, but in Cursive, and why not? He adds a colorful layer to everything Kasher does, whether on keyboards or trumpet. The two looked like they shared a psychic bond when they played as a duo during last night’s set.

Playing in front of a lot of familiar faces Kasher took the opportunity to roll out a number of new songs, a few he said had only previously been played for an audience of house pets. New songs ranged from garage-flavored psych-pop to New Wave-y rock (powered by Newbery’s wonky, wonderful synths) to the usual slow sad stuff (“This next one’s new, and it’s a bummer.”) to a triumphant, set-ending anthem. The new stuff was fun and hooky, among the more poppy stuff I’ve heard him play (and most varied), right up there with the most-tuneful of Good Life material, and a sharp contrast to his debut solo stuff (which for me, was colored in shades of anxious blue, underscoring its theme). Despite that, there was no stretching toward an obvious pop moment, like on Help Wanted Nights

. Some of that material resembled an artist searching for an infectious hook (“Heartbroke” comes to mind).

So here’s the thing: Kasher’s Monogamy

material was as intimate and personal as you’d expect from a solo outing. The new solo material feels less so. Maybe I’d have a different opinion had I been there Wednesday night when he was solo acoustic. With the band, it sounded like a different incarnation of The Good Life. In fact, they even played a few Good Life songs to make matters more muddled. When Kasher played a Cursive song — a trippy, dissonant solo version of “Sierra” — there was no confusing it with the original. Kasher helped draw a distinction between bands when he called Good Life drummer Roger Lewis to the “stage” to play three or four Good Life songs with him. No doubt his new material would fit more comfortably within The Good Life canon than as Cursive songs, which are more abrasive, sardonic (and apocalyptic) in tone than anything else Kasher does.

Also like past Good Life sets, Kasher was in a chatty mood last night, filling the set with lots o’ funny moments (He barely talked between songs during the last Cursive tour). He said he’s off to the studio next week to record the new material, conceivably in Chicago this time, where he now lives, though we all know he’ll always call Omaha home.

Opening the show were some of his new Chicago pals, the band Brighton MA, which has a distinctively indie rock sound that recalls acts like Wheat, The Walkmen, Spoon, and at times, The Good Life. If you’re into any of that — or just good guitar-fueled indie rock — check out their new album Oh Lost on Fast Plastic Records.

* * *

OK, so what do we have going on tonight and the rest of this weekend? It’s going to be busy. Let’s hope the weather doesn’t muck it up.

Hot show for tonight is the Benefit for the Community Bike Shop at Slowdown Jr. Your $7 cover will go toward building a permenant outdoor repair stand outside the shop, which is located at 525 North 33rd Street. The bands performing: Simon Joyner and the Ghosts, M33n Str33t, No I’m the Pilot and UUVVWWZ. Is there a Joyner song you’ve always wanted to hear performed live? Tonight’s your chance, as Joyner will take requests ahead of time from anyone who contributes $20 or more through the shop’s Paypal link on their website. Details here. Show starts at 9.

Also tonight, Lincoln band Plains is headlining a show at fabulous O’Leaver’s with Small Houses and Howard. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Tomorrow night’s centerpiece show is at the Sweatshop Gallery, which is quickly earning a rep as a new destination for rock shows. The line-up: Filter Kings, Solid Goldberg and Pleasure Adapter. It’s also the closing reception for artist Joe Damon. $5, 21+ (not sure why since it’s a gallery but probably because they’ll be serving booze). More info here.

Also Saturday night, ’80s indie band Soul Asylum plays at The Waiting Room with local heroes Landing on the Moon. $20/$25 DOS, 9 p.m.

Sunday night, dance band STRFKR (you remember their cover of Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”) play at The Waiting Room with Blackbird Blackbird. $13/$15 DOS 9 p.m.

And finally, also Sunday night, Delicate Steve returns to Slowdown Jr. with Twinsmith and The Dad. $10/$12 DOS. 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

If you’re a regular reader, you’ve seen a couple of these reviews in one format or another already (though they’ve been slightly altered). Bowie got nudged from the top spot on Billboard by Bon Jovi, which is a shame. Whether you like the new Bowie album or not, it’s hard not to root for him. I didn’t mention the new Low because I only got it yesterday. It’s a return to form for the Duluth trio. I’d love to get them back to Omaha somehow. The surprise among the Honorable Mentions is the Hookworms album, which is real steamroller of a record — grinding psychedelic throb rock, entrancing, Find it.

OTE53: The Quarterly Music Roundup, Brought to You in Spotify

Time for the usual roundup of what I’ve been listening to, this time stretching back to the beginning of the year. And for your information, all of it is available right now via Spotify.

Iím not trying to endorse the service, which is systematically fleecing just about everyone involved in the music industry. I’m just letting you know how I’ve come across the music, and it’s a lot different than it was in “the good old days.”

There was a time about five years ago when I received five or six manila envelopes per week in the mail loaded with promotional CDs. Today, I get about one CD a month (and it almost always sucks).

Instead of CDs, record labels now ìserviceî critics electronically. That means sending us emails with super-secret passwords that allow us to download albums from highly secured ìpress onlyî websites. To be honest, I prefer the downloads to cluttering up my office with CDs, even though I canít trade mp3s for store credit at Homer’s.

But lately even those download codes are drying up. Maybe itís because I’m writing less and less about music in these pages, or because record labels now simply streaming full albums via music websites prior to official street release.

Or maybe itís Spotify, where one can find every new album streamed on its release date. Make that “almost every new album,” because not everything is on Spotify, or even available online. Which explains why there’s no review of the new My Bloody Valentine album, titled m b v, below. Not only is it not in Spotify, it’s not on iTunes or available as a free stream anywhere. If you want to hear the new MBV, youíre gonna have to pay for it, kids, just like we all used to do.

Now, onto the reviews:

David Bowie, The Next Day — Some records take time to “sink in,” but how much time do you give? If itís David Bowie, you give it all the time it needs, I suppose. But after listening to this one off and on for about a week, I’m still struggling to find anything that stands out as being “essential,” or for that matter, memorable. Highlights “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” and “(You Will) Set the World on Fire” are as close to straight-up rock as you’re likely to get from the once-Thin White Duke, and are indeed good, if not safe. The foggy, fuzzy, melancholy ballad “Where Are We Now?” is comfortably attractive. The rest of it feels by the numbers, if not slightly dated; functional, but sung well by a voice we all love (and miss). Maybe thatís all weíll ever get from now on, or all we need, or maybe I just haven’t given it enough time.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Push the Sky Away — As with most of his recordings, Cave is perversely dramatic in his singing/speaking, as if telling dark lies at midnight, which by the way, is the best time to listen to this record. The centerpiece, “Jubilee Street,” starts with a quiet repeated guitar line and Cave’s weird story about a street hustler named Bea. It builds slowly over six and a half minutes to a massive crescendo reminiscent of the best moments from the Kadane Brothers — the guys behind classic bands Bedhead and The New Year. But instead of Matt Kadaneís droll, monotone vocal delivery you get Cave at his most urgent. The rest of the record is merely sublime. From the dark rumble of “We Real Cool” (with the winning line, “Wikipedia is heaven when you don’t want to know anymore”) to the nearly 8-minute-long rock eulogy “Higgs Boson Blues” that calls out both Hannah Montana and her real-life counterpart: “Miley Cyrus floats in a swimming pool in Toluca Lake and youíre the best girl I ever had…” Shades of Robbie Robertson’s spoken-word dramas are conjured (“Somewhere Down the Crazy River” comes to mind), but Cave is never as corny, and never less than sincere.

Foxygen, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic — One of the most hyped releases so far this year, and worthy of it. Produced by Richard Swift, who worked on the last two Mynabirds albums, track “In the Darkness,” with the line: “Thereís no need to be an asshole / Youíre not in Brooklyn anymore…” is pure ’70s Stones, as Stonesy as you can get without dragging Mick’s saggy old bones into the studio.

Iceage, You’re Nothing — Matador Records may be the only label left (well, along with Sub Pop and Merge, and good ol’ Saddle Creek) where just the announcement of a band’s signing is big news. It means that the label’s brain trust has “discovered” something new, something “breakthrough” that could be as defining as when they signed Liz Phair or Pavement. Unfortunately, the last time that happened at Matador was when they signed Interpol way back in 2002. Still, when word leaked out that Matador signed Iceage it sent people scrambling to the internet to find out what these Danish punks sound like. That answer was only mildly hopeful. Iceage puts a new snarl on post-punk, like a modern version of Husker Du sung by a wasted slacker with a cockney’d scowl and not much to say. Songs like “It Might Hit First” border on hardcore, though there’s something artful beneath the buzz (Maybe itís the guitar solo that cuts in at the 30-second mark?). When they pull back toward the more conventional (“In Haze”) the ice melts revealing something akin to melody, and the road that all good punks head down… eventually.

Honorable Mentions worth seeing out on Spotify, or at your local record store: Suuns, Images du Futur; Foals, Holy Fire; Yo La Tengo, Fade; Big Harp, Chain Letters; Bleeding Rainbow, Yeah Right; Hookworms, Pearl Mystic.

Over The Edge is a weekly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, the media and the arts. Email Tim at tim.mcmahan@gmail.com.

First published in The Reader. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

* * *

Tonight is second night of Tim Kasher’s two-night stand at O’Leaver’s. Last night was the solo acoustic gig. Tonight he’ll have a band of familiar faces backing him (so I’m told). Opening is Brighton MA, who according to Omahype is actually a Chicago band who has played with The Walkmen, Okkervil River and Elvis Perkins, among others. Will this one sell out? Don’t chance it. Buy your tickets now

. $10, 9:30 p.m.

Hey guys, you better have that tournament going on somewhere…

Also tonight, Dirty River Ramblers play at The Sydney with Brad Hoshaw and In Cahoots. And Celtic-style howlers Great Big Sea are at The Waiting Room ($25, 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The act of “leaking” an early track from a upcoming album release is all the rage these days. Everyone from Rolling Stone to NPR to Huffington Post has hosted a leaked track by some famous rock star. Why should Lazy-i.com be any different?

When Touch People (a.k.a. Darren Keen) gave me a sneak peek of his new album, Brain Massage, he also asked if Lazy-i would leak a track. I said “sure,” and picked the album opener, “Amazing Place.” It is, after all, a perfect snapshot of Keen’s new approach to digital soundscaping, as conceptual as it is audibly intriguing. It’s also my favorite track on the album. Check it out below.

Sayeth Keen about Touch People: “I have finally stepped up as both a composer and a producer, while carrying the trademark high energy, unpretentious (and often humorous) dance party antics of my previous projects. Touch People is often compared to Philip Glass, Battles (with whom I’ve played), and Dan Deacon. Combining elements of minimalist composition, prog rock, and dance music, with honest, humorous lyrics.”

So what inspired his new sound? That’s among the questions I have out with Keen, which hopefully he’ll answer for us in the near future. What I do know is that Touch People will be celebrating the release of Brain Massage April 6 at The Waiting Room with m34n str33t (a new project by Adam Haug and Conchance) and the currently touring Killer Blow. Mark it on your calendars.

* * *

Speaking of events, there are a couple doozies going on tonight.

It’s night one of Tim Kasher’s two-night stay at O’Leaver’s (the bar he owns with the rest of the Cursive guys and Chris Mach). Opening is Hers. Surprisingly, $10 tickets are still available. The fun begins at 9:30.

As sort of a preview, here’s another look at Kasher’s Knitting Factory gig last week, this time by Brooklyn Exposed (right here). It’s a bit less complementary than that CMJ review I posted a couple days ago. This makes the KF crowd sound rowdy. Give me a break. Those Brooklyn hipsters wouldn’t last two minutes in O’Leaver’s…

Also tonight, NYC folkies Widowspeak (Captured Tracks Records) headlines a show at Slowdown Jr. with Eli Mardock and I Am the Navigator. $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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Dicey Riley Band at The Dubliner, March 17, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Unbeknownst to me, St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated beer-wise (and otherwise) on Saturday rather than the actual St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday. That very likely explains why the cavernous maw that is The Dubliner was less than packed yesterday at 3 p.m. No lines or nothing. And despite the usual SPD chaos the room was nothing less than festive, but easier to get around and get a Guinness, which I did numerous times while enjoying the traditional music stylings of The Dicey Riley Band (formerly known as The Turfmen). Ah, I never get tired of hearin’ those lads.

* * *

We’ve got Tim Kasher of Cursive (and also now of Chicago, apparently) coming in for shows Wednesday and Thursday night at O’Leaver’s. To get a flavor of what we can expect, check out this CMJ review of Kasher’s show last Thursday at The Knitting Factory in NYC. The conclusion: “The night came to a close with a warming performance of ‘No Harmony,’ with Kasher’s vocals echoing through a mostly silent room. His voice was on point, making the song twice as chilling as usual. Instead of playing an encore after, he calmly climbed off the stage to talk to the crowd, greeting fans like old friends and laughing with whoever wanted to say hello.” Aw. Better get your tix

as these shows could (and likely will) sell out.

* * *

Drastic Plastic announced last week that it’s releasing three more classics as part of its vinyl reissue program: Motorhead’s Motorhead

; A Certain Ratio’s To Each…; and  BFG’s Blue. Each series is hand-numbered and split between 500 LPs in 180 gram vinyl and 500 LPs in collectible color vinyl. They follow in the footsteps of previous DPR releases by The Clash, Agent Orange and The Birthday Party.

* * *

Tonight at Slowdown Jr., Chris Cohen, formerly of Deerhoof, takes the stage with Hers and Touch People (Darren Keen). $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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Here’s your weekend.

Tonight at Slowdown Jr. Killer Blow kicks off a tour that will be taking them to Minneapolis, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Chicago, St Louis, Memphis, and Springfield MO. The duo of Genie Molkentine on drums and vocals and Todd VonStup on electric guitar has a 3 song CD-EP and a 9-song tape recorded on 4-track they’ll be hocking on the road. Check out a track below. Opening are Coaxed, a band that includes members of Sun Settings and Capgun Coup, who will be joining KB on tour. Also playing tonight is Appleton WI band Arms Aloft, and Sister Kisser, a female-fronted punk band with members from Gag Reflex and Places We Slept. $5, 9 p.m. Go!

Also tonight, Matt Cox Band headlines at O’Leaver’s with The River Monks, Field Club and Brad Hoshaw. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Tomorrow night’s big event is the Gary Flanagan Memorial Tribute Show at The Waiting Room. I never met Flanagan but have been told that he was a long-time supporter of local music, which is obvious considering who’s playing this show: The Whipkey Three, Brad Hoshaw, Midwest Dilemma, Scott Severin, Matt Cox, Liz Webb and a special reunion of Sarah Benck and The Robbers. $5, 8 p.m.

Also Saturday night down at The Barley Street Tavern it’s The Ground Tyrants with Custom Catacombs and Mike Saklar and his band. $5, 9:30 p.m.

St. Patrick’s Day is Sunday, which is a bummer for everyone because it’s Sunday and we all have to go to work the next morning. That said, there’s a plethora of shows Sunday night including G. Love and Special Sauce at The Slowdown with John Fullbright. $22/$25 DOS, 8:30 p.m. The English Beat plays the Waiting Room with The Bishops. $22, 8 p.m. But the place to be might be The Barley Street Tavern, which is hosting a special St. Patrick’s Day bash featuring music from Edge of Arbor, Tara Vaughan Band, Valleytown (Dover, OH), The Decatures, No Triangles, Guilty is the Bear, and more. Their website says it runs 2 to 9 p.m. and costs $5.

As for me, I’ll be drinking my St. Paddy’s pint of Guinness at The Dubliner. See you there.

* * *

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

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Push the Sky Away (Bad Seed Ltd.)

I was glancing at Chris Aponick’s activities at SXSW, and it looks like he was trying to hit all the shows I would have tried to hit last night: Iggy and The Stooges, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and most of all, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

I came to Cave’s new album, Push the Sky Away, a few months after its January release. I listened to it right after it came out, but just wasn’t feeling it.

Which reminds me of something wizened Domestica frontman Jon Taylor told me way back when his band was called Mercy Rule. As we were driving in his van on the way to a gig in Des Moines (I was along writing a feature for The Note) Jon talked about how music reviews were inherently skewed based on whatever mood the reviewer was in at the time s/he listened to the record.

“If the guy’s in a crappy mood, he’s going to give the record a crappy review.” I’m paraphrasing here. It’s been almost 20 years. Still, truth never ages, and Jon’s comments were spot on. If you’re in a shitty mood, you’re less likely to give some as-yet-unheard music a fair shot. The same thing’s true if you’re distracted or simply not paying attention.

That’s kind of what happened with this new Nick Cave album. I first listened to it on Spotify while doing something else — maybe I was running or writing — whatever it was, I wasn’t able to really absorb the album.

And then last week I listened to it again while making dinner — specifically a chicken florentine dish that takes about an hour of mindless focus — when suddenly the album came to life as the best thing I’ve heard so far this year. I turned around an listened to it three more times on repeat, mesmerized.

As with most of his recordings, Cave is almost perversely dramatic in his singing/speaking, as if telling dark lies at midnight, which btw, is  the best time to listen to this record. The centerpiece is a track called “Jubilee Street,” that starts out with a quiet repeated guitar line and Cave’s storytelling, slowing building to a massive crescendo over six and a half minutes. Its style and sound is exactly like something written by the Kadane Brothers, the sparks behind classic bands Bedhead the The New Year. But instead of Matt Kadane’s droll vocal delivery you get Cave at his most urgent and most triumphant. Huge.

The rest of Push the Sky Away is just as cool. From the dark rumble of “We Real Cool” (with the classic line “Wikipedia is heaven when you don’t want to know anymore,” to the nearly 8-minute-long rock eulogy “Higgs Boson Blues” that calls out both Hannah Montana and her real counterpart: “Miley Cyrus floats in a swimming pool in Toluca Lake and you’re the best girl I ever had…

”

There are moments when I’m reminded of Robbie Robertson’s forays into spoken word drama — his “Somewhere Down the Crazy River” comes to mind — but Cave is never nearly as corny and never less than sincere.

Let me join Aponick’s chorus in saying that a certain music festival (or promoter) could do much worse than getting Cave or Iggy onto an Omaha stage.

* * *

In this week’s column, a look at the futility of boycotts featuring Facebook, Hy-Vee, Rush Limbaugh, CVS and The 49’r. You can read it in this week’s issue of The Reader or online right here.

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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.

South by Southwest 2013

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Ah SXSW, how I miss you so. The food, the frolic, those amazing days and nights of music music music, stumbling from one club to the next, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of tomorrow’s stars or yesterday’s has-beens, the constant search for a urinal or just a place to sit down, the endless lines, the long trek from one end of 6th St. to the other, the long treks to and from the hotel on the other side of Red River, the odd celebrity sightings, the late night bacchanal when 6th Street turns into a noise-orgy of drunks, drugged and angry young townies weaving through the crowds on single-gear dirt bikes.

Not this year. No money. No time. Goddamn you, American Dream.

Instead, like most of you, I’m stuck at home reading reports by the handful of friends who made the long journey to Austin. The biggest contingency of reporters comes from our very own Hear Nebraska reporters team. You can follow along at hearnebraska.org, though as of noon, we’re still waiting for their first report.

Somewhere out there in the middle of 6th Street is The Reader

‘s Music Editor Chris Aponick, who is updating thereader.com daily with his SXSW updates. Here’s his first report.

The Omaha World-Herald‘s Kevin Coffey began his coverage yesterday. You can follow his exploits at his Rock Candy blog.

Want a perspective from outside of Omaha? Sure you do. Your best bet is austin360.com, who posted the best list of critics’ picks I’ve seen online, right here. Hopefully they’ll do this again next year when I return.

Strangely, if you go to pitchfork.com, you’ll see nary a word about SXSW. I guess they figure it competes with their own Pitchfork fest? Who knows.

So will the austin360 team head to The Parish tonight for Saddle Creek Record’s showcase. If I was going, I’d get that coverage out of the way on day one. While it’s interesting to see what kind of reaction Omaha bands get in Austin, there’s nothing more meaningless than traveling cross country to see the same bands perform who play here all the time. Check out the full schedule of Saddle Creek band SXSW performances right here.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Omaha, the only show going on tonight is yet another tribute / cover band at The Waiting Room. It’s understandable that there are no indie bands booked this week in town, this being SXSW week, but I can’t remember a longer stretch of time that Omaha has been without a decent touring indie show. Is One Percent / The Waiting Room losing interest in indie? The only indie show on their calendar this month (other than the two-night Tim Kasher gig at O’Leaver’s) is Wavves March 28. The kids at Slowburn are doing their best to pick up the slack. Things will (slowly) turn around in April…

* * *

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.

Pro-Magnum at O’Leaver’s, March 9, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The bulk of my evenings this weekend were spent at O’Leaver’s.

Friday night was Digital Leather and a crowd bigger than the one that showed at O’Leaver’s for Criteria the prior weekend, or so it seemed. A real crush-mob. I guess word is getting out about Todd Fink of The Faint joining the band. Or maybe folks are just beginning to “get” what Digital Leather is all about.

Needless to say, the crowd was too big to get close enough for a photo. No matter. You’ve seen these guys before, but you probably haven’t heard them quite like this. The weird, dark, sweaty nature of the evening helped it eclipse the new lineup’s debut a few weeks ago opening for Ty Segall at Sokol Underground. But then again, DL always plays better at O’Leaver’s, where they’re surrounded by friends and booze confessors.

While I have five or six DL albums and tapes, I’m not an expert on the band’s complete discography. That said, I’d never heard the second song played during their set, one in which Fink and frontman Shawn Foree traded vocals. I’m told that they’re writing new material, but I have no idea what role Fink is playing in it. As I’ve said before, Fink adds the synth element that’s been missing in Digital Leather for years, even stretching back to when Foree and others played keys on stage but were barely heard. There’s no missing Fink in the mix. Intense fun. As was the pseudo-encore of “Studs in Love” which is once again becoming a staple in the band’s set (as it should). If you missed it, DL’s next stop is opening for White Lung April 2 at The Slowdown.

Speaking of openers, I got to the club early enough Friday night to catch the last half of Plack Blague’s twisted, bass-heavy, goth-techno-bondage set. The bass was so loud it caused ripples in people’s voices when they spoke. Creepy weird.

So for the past two week’s I’ve gone to the new, improved O’Leaver’s where I saw bigger crowds than I’ve ever seen at this hole-in-the-wall music venue. I’m more used to seeing a casual 40 or 50 people leaning on the railing watching the show, and that’s exactly what I got Saturday night for the debut of Pro-Magnum (They spell their name with all caps, but I’m not doing it. Sorry guys. Just like I won’t add an exclamation point to a band’s name (Snake Island, Thunder Power, take note).https://lazy-i.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

Consisting of Pat Oakes, Paul Hansen and frontman/bassist Johnny Vredenburg, the power trio sounds like they’ve been spending their off hours listening to ’80s metal and prog rock. Heavy, heavy shit with strong riffs on anthems that are more punk than metal and are anything but run-of-the-mill. Halfway through the second song, Vredenburg broke into a super-intricate bass riff that was proggy and powerful and very cool. His vocals are mainly of the shriek/scream variety, but what else would you want from power/metal/rock? For a debut, pretty awesome; they definitely left the crowd wanting more.

As for the rest of Saturday night, touring band Buildings played the kind of driving, dark music you’d expect to hear while beating someone to death with a ball-peen hammer. Closing band, the charmingly named Flesh Eating Disease, played one- to two-minute noise explosions keyed with hyper-active yell vocals, the kind of thing you can imagine being played to break down Gitmo prisoners just before the water-boarding begins.

* * *

Tonight at Slowdown Jr. it’s Seattle mutant garage band The Spits on what I’m told could be their last tour ever. Opening is Coaxed and The Dad. $12, 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

And now it’s time for the weekend round-up…

Icky Blossoms and UUVVWWZ are headed to Austin for South By Southwest next week and need some cash to pay off the cops when they get busted doing nude shit on 6th St. It’s the same old story. Anyway, both bands are playing tonight at The Slowdown, along with two other bands that should be going to SXSW but aren’t: Lincoln’s Life is Cool and Omaha up-and-comers Pleasure Adapter. $7, 9 p.m. in the big room.

Meanwhile, across town at fabulous O’Leaver’s, Digital Leather (with newest member Todd Fink of The Faint) takes the stage tonight along with Lincoln leather-hood degenerate Plack Blague and DJ Butterhips, whose mantra is WWBRD — What Would Burt Reynolds Do? $5, 9:30 p.m. Don’t forget to get yourself a Monkey La La in the new tiki room.

Also tonight, Satchel Grande — who also is headed to SXSW — is playing at The Waiting Room. $7, 9 p.m., and Millions of Boys plays at The Barley Street Tavern with St. Louis band Dsoedean and headliner Calling Cody. $5, 9 p.m.

And then comes Saturday night and the stage debut of Pro-Magnum at O’Leavers. The band consists of Paul Hansen (Perry H. Mathews, The Fucking Party) on guitar, Pat Oakes (Ladyfinger) on drums and Johnny Vredenburg on bass and vocals. Also on the bill are Flesh Eating Disease and Minneapolis band Buildings. $5, 9:30 p .m. Get there early.

Also Saturday night, Blue Bird plays The Barley Street with Lonely Estates and Dead Leaves. $5, 9 p.m.

Sunday night Kevin Seconds, founder of influential ’80s hardcore band 7 Seconds, will be presenting a special solo acoustic performance at The Sydney with Filter Kings’ frontman Gerald Lee, Jr. No posted price but these shows usually run about $5 and start at 9 p.m.

Also Sunday night, Doomtree artist Dessa returns to The Waiting Room with Aby Wolf & Purveyors of the Conscious Sound. $10, 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The Women Who Rock exhibition is at the Durham Museum through May 5.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The following column also appears in this week’s issue of The Reader, and online at The Reader website, right here.

Before we get started, a caveat: I’m not a huge fan of museums.

I know, what’s not to like about majestic limestone-carved capsules of history? How could you not want to spend hours studying the miracles and wonders of our great civilization’s past?

There’s just something about museums that bore the piss out of me.

Maybe it’s the static nature of it all, like staring at a bug encased forever in amber, wondering what could have been had it just moved a little bit faster across the surface of that leaf, avoiding the brown ooze that would capture its languid pace forever so that someone like me could stare at its mistake a million years later. I’m less interested in the bug than in how the bug could have been stupid enough to get one of its shoes stuck in the goo.

Or maybe it’s all the dim lighting. Or the smell. As soon as I step into a museum, a wave of fatigue washes over me like a fuzzy blanket. My feet — perfectly fine before I stepped inside the time mausoleum — suddenly, strangely become sore as I search among the glass display cases for a place to sit down.

Don’t get me wrong — I like the idea of museums, but most times I’d rather be somewhere else, capturing a moment myself rather than staring at someone else’s captured moments.

So with that caveat firmly behind me, I write about my Sunday afternoon at the Durham Museum and one of its current exhibits: Women Who Rock — Vision Passion Power. According to the handout given to me upon paying my $9 admission, the exhibit — created by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — “highlights the flashpoints, the firsts, the best, the celebrated and sometimes lesser-known women who pushed rock and roll music and the American culture forward.”

Sounds impressive. There’s one problem with the concept, however. No one goes to a rock concert to read about music, just like no one goes to a restaurant to read about food. You go to rock shows to partake, to participate in the experience; not to study it, to consume it. And I say this as someone who has been writing about music for nearly 30 years. I know at the end of the day whatever observations or criticism I level about anyone’s or any band’s music isn’t worth the mark left on a piece of used toilet paper compared to actually listening to the music.

(According to QuoteInvestigator.com it was Martin Mull, not Laurie Anderson or Frank Zappa or Miles Davis, who coined the phrase “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” Garth Gimble, you were so right).

When it comes to rock and roll, once you take the actual music out of the equation, all you’re left with is spent drugs, bad sex, inflated egos and broken dreams… and out-dated fashion.

The lasting impression from seeing this exhibit was that the biggest contribution women made to rock music was wearing costumes designed by someone else. Sure, there were other artifacts on display — glossy B&W publicity photos, hand-written song lyrics and studio schedule entries, early album pressings and beat-up guitars. But the majority of the exhibit was dedicated to stage costumes worn by the stars themselves displayed on headless, fist-clenched mannequins, many (most) bearing the stains of last-eaten meals spilled upon their breasts in a drug and/or booze-induced stupor.

On display: Bob Mackie’s indian costume w/feathered headdress made for Cher for her “Half Breed” tour; the futuristic uniform worn by Janet Jackson in her “Rhythm Nation” video; Cyndi Lauper’s Starry Night-painted shoes; a heavily stained sun dress that once covered Mama Cass, and the creme de la creme: Madonna’s cone-tit costume designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. All standing upright like cast-off skins shed on stages across the country, nay the world.

Comment overheard from a klatch of middle-aged housewives who stared with open-mouth wonder at the Pat Benatar outfit: “These women, they were so tiny.” In fact, after seeing these costumes, you would think the average “women who rocked” were only about three feet tall instead of the giants we grew up believing they were.

Just as deflating were the write-ups that accompanied each display, documenting where they were born, their first record and where it was recorded, and the rest of their mundane music history up until around 2010 or their deaths. Academic. Dry. Tame.

Missing was the struggle, the defiance, the heartbreak, the battles won and lost and how they had to fight to be heard. Example: How do you summarize Tina Turner’s career and not mention the years of abuse suffered at the hand of husband Ike and how she ultimately rose above it? I guess it’s not that kind of exhibit.

Some displays felt oddly off the mark, focusing on the asides rather than the achievements. The Joni Mitchell display, for example, concentrated almost entirely on her forgettable debut album Song of the Seagull while virtually ignoring her landmark Blue album. Was the emphasis made on what the Hall of Fame could acquire rather than the star’s actual legacy? Maybe.

Which brings us to the inevitable list of the missing: Courtney Love, Tracy Chapman, Sinead O’Connor, Nico, Carly Simon, Karen Carpenter, Bjork, The Go Go’s, Annie Lennox, Dusty Springfield, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and on and on. The exhibit acknowledges the exclusions due to space limitations, but how do you include an exhibit on country upstart Taylor Swift and not include Dolly Parton?

Most people won’t notice, or care. After all, exhibitions and museums contain only a slice of history, not the whole of history. And anyway, rock and roll’s real museum is the vinyl and tape and CD and mp3 that’s used to record it for play back again and again. The rest is just bugs stuck in amber.

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Over The Edge is a weekly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, the media and the arts. Email Tim at tim.mcmahan@gmail.com.

First published in The Reader. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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LA indie hip-hop superstar Murs performs tonight at The Waiting Room with Prof, Fashawn, Black Cloud Music, and Kosha Dillz. Get your hip-hop on. $15, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Jeremy Mercy (Travelling Mercies) and Matt Whipkey (The Whipkey Three) open for Chicago singer-songwriter Dan Tedesco. $5, 9 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.