By Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The big deal going on this weekend is, of course, Lincoln Calling. I’ll get to that in a sec. First, the reason why I won’t be at LC this weekend….

Tonight is the first Friday of May, which means it’s Benson First Friday (#BFF). That’s the day of the month when venues and art galleries up and down Maple Street open their doors to local artists and their wares.

And that includes Ming Toy Gallery, where tonight we have an opening for Marvel comics artist and Lincoln native Bob Hall. Throughout his career, Hall drew some of the most iconic superheroes of the ’70s, ‘80s and ’90s, including The Avengers, Spider-man, The Champions, Dr. Doom, as well DC hero Batman and many more. We’re featuring Hall’s comic art – including many original, full-page comic book panels. The opening tonight runs from 6 to 9 p.m. at Ming Toy Gallery, 6066 Maple St. Come by, say hi, see some heroes and have a beer.  

BTW, you can read all about Bob in my first-ever story for Flatwater Free Press, published this past Wednesday. Click here and give it a read.  T

And in case you didn’t know, Saturday is Free Comic Book Day. Joining in the celebration is Legend Comics and Coffee, located right next door to Ming Toy, where Bob Hall will be on hand doing drawings and signing stuff. Ming Toy will be open all day tomorrow, too, in support of Free Comic Book Day. 

Back to the music…

As part of BFF, The Sydney in Benson is hosting a show that features the return of progressive jazz ensemble Chemicals, whose members include bassist Dereck Higgins. Joining them tonight is Agronómo and Heavier Than Air. $10, 9 p.m. 

Now, onto Lincoln Calling. You can read my recap about this year’s LC line-up here. The festival’s full schedule, as well as ticket info, is available at Lincolncalling.com. So if I did go to LC tonight, I’d be checking out Cherry Glazerr, The Dirts, David Nance and Mowed Sound and PROBLEMS. Lincoln Calling’s Saturday highlights (to me, anyway) are Friko, Water from Your Eyes, Dip Tet, Bad Bad Men and Ritual Device.

By the way, if you missed it, here’s my review of last night’s Ritual Device show at Reverb. If you can’t make it down to Lincoln this weekend, you’ll have another chance to see Ritual Device tonight at Reverb Lounge with Bad Bad Men and Gerald Lee Jr. 

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend!

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.