Desaparecidos’ 2001 stage debut at the Holy Name High School fieldhouse.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’m back.

The feature on Desaparecidos in The Reader is on newsstands now and online right here. Denver Dalley (and I) recall the origin of the band, starting in 2000. He talks about its rise, its unannounced hiatus, its return and the band’s new album, Payola. Better go read it. The interview was conducted in support of the band’s concert this Thursday, Sept. 10, at The Waiting Room, which, rumor has it, is close to selling out. And as Dalley says in the story, if you’re on the fence about seeing them this time ’round, “There’s a chance there won’t be a next time.” Better get your tickets now.

One thing that didn’t make it into the story…

I concluded the interview with Denver the way I’ve concluded all the Desa interviews I’ve had with Denver, with this question: When will Team Rigge return?

Named after a building on Creighton’s campus — Dalley said hip-hop act Team Rigge has included Ian McElroy, The Faint’s Clark Baechle, Oberst, former Cursive drummer Clint Schnase, Son Ambulance’s Joe Knapp and Dan Maxwell of Little Brazil, who at the time was a member of Secret Behind Sunday.

Team Rigge tracks have shown up in the strangest places.  The first Team Rigge recording was included as a pretrack on Criteria’s 2003 debut LP. The only way to find it was by dropping the CD in a player and hitting the “rewind” button to discover — voila! — something preceded the first track. McElroy, who has carried on the team’s tradition as Rig 1, said in this 2008 interview that at the time Oberst lived next door to Criteria’s Stephen Pedersen in a small house just north of Dundee. The two shared recording equipment along with a copy of Pro Tools. That first recording featured McElroy, Oberst and Jenny Lewis. Here it is:

“I would love to see an actual Team Rigge reunion,” Dalley said. “Unfortunately, one of the original members, Dave Vederami, passed away recently.”

Still, Dalley said he’d “be curious” to see a reunion of surviving members. “I’d also love to see a Smashmouth reunion,” he said, referencing a band that included Criteria’s Pedersen, bassist Bart Volkmer and drummer Schnase.

“We’ve been trying to get Conor to cover a Commander Venus song,” Dalley added. “We tried back in 2001, but he thought the two bands (Desaparecidos and Commander Venus) sounded too similar.”

Denver said during Desa practices he’ll start to play a Commander Venus song and guitarist Landon Hedges will immediately join in, “but it just fades off. Maybe that will be my ultimate goal — to break him down before Sept. 10 to do one encore song.” Do you think CV guitarist Robb Nansel would join them on stage?

Get a load of baby Conor heard on this classic Commander Venus track:

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Twin Shadow returns to The Waiting Room tonight. Twin Shadow is Dominican-born George Lewis, Jr., whose 2012 album Confess (4AD) was a dizzying trip back to ’80s electro-pop with a sound that recalled everything from General Public to Fine Young Cannibals to New Order. I caught the band this year at SXSW, where they played music from their current release, Eclipse, which isn’t much of a departure from Confess. Opening is electronic trio LANY. $17, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Seattle band La Luz headlines at fabulous O’Leaver’s (where I’m told the new beer garden has finally opened (and must be seen to be believed)). Opening is Will Sprott and the always entertaining Sucettes. $7, 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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The weekly Lazy-i Podcast went online at thereader.com this morning. This episode features an interview with Simon Joyner about what inspired the stories he tells in the songs on his new record, Grass, Branch & Bone (Woodsist, 2015), which came out yesterday. We also talk about the nature of his voice and how he uses it, both on this recording and in the past. Simon celebrates the album release Saturday at Slowdown Jr.

Also in this week’s podcast, a recitation of the live reviews posted Monday backed by audio clips recorded at the performances (Little Brazil, Juan Wauters, Matthew Sweet and So-So Sailors). And the line-up for this weekend’s best shows. Listen below:

I’ve been fiddling with the format of these podcasts, trying to make them shorter, and turned around this week and produced the longest one yet at around 23 minutes. Couldn’t be avoided. No doubt next week’s will be lengthy as well as I’m contemplating doing the 1st Quarter 2015 CD Reviews roundup in podcast form. Yikes.

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I was going to lead with this but it already has spread via social media. Work on Conor Oberst’s so-called “secret project” has finally leaked, and what I thought would never happen happens tonight at O’Leaver’s — a reunion of Commander Venus. We all know the hold-out was never Oberst, but Saddle Creek Records exec Robb Nansel. Well, looks like Nansel’s on board (finally). Why they’re unveiling this at O’Leaver’s is a mystery, as the place will be at capacity by 6 p.m. for a show that won’t get rolling until at least 11 (let’s hope those storms don’t roll in early tonight). More info 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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.