Icky Blossoms at Earth Day in Elmwood Park, April 22, 2017.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Another Record Store Day in the books. I only had time to visit one store, Almost Music in Blackstone, where I caught a few minutes of Montee Men playing in the bookstore — brutality among the children’s titles, big crowd, lots of smiling faces (RSD brings out the kid in all of us).

Montee Men at Almost Music, RSD2017, April 22, 2017.

I only picked up three things, though: The new O+S, a promo pressing of U2’s War and a T-shirt. That Spoon vinyl had already sold. Oh well. RSD is one of the smartest retail promotions — designating one day as a tribute to consumerism, collecting and music. Well, two days if you count RSD Black Friday, and I’m sure the independent record stores do.

After Almost Music I headed to Elmwood Park for Earth Day festivities. The good weather brought out every stoner, hippie and yuppie parent in Omaha. It was a day shot in Technicolor and sunshine.

Icky Blossoms had the legendary Dereck Higgins playing bass for this show (temporary or permanent member?), which was performed with its usual dance-vibe bombast but suffered from poor PA/audio. Everything sounded a but fuzzy and blown out, but what are ya gonna do? It’s an Earth Day concert. And the lousy sound didn’t stop the the gaggle of freaks from dancing in front of the stage. Gotta love it.

Last I heard Icky Blossoms was working on new material, though I didn’t hear any Saturday afternoon. Where will they go next? We’re all waiting for the next record…

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Umm, the duo of Stef Drootin and Chris Senseney (a.k.a. Big Harp), released their first new music online last week. Check out the Majestic Litter Soundcloud files below…

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Finally, the folks at the Holland Performing Arts Center announced last week another show at their 1200 Club. This time it’s High Up and McCarthy Trenching as the featured acts May 6 (tornado day). Tix are $15 Adv./$20 DOS.

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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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Icky Blossoms at Earth Day in Elmwood Park, April 21, 2012. The band returns to the Earth Day stage this Saturday.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s another frickin’ Record Store Day tomorrow. The key players are Homer’s, Almost Music and Drastic Plastic, though I’m sure there are others out there under my radar.

Mike Fratt at Homer’s in the Old Market said folks standing in line prior to the 10 a.m. opening will be showered with donuts, coffee and breakfast burritos.

“Again this year, we are raising money for Project Harmony,” Fratt said. “Last year we had a couple dozen test pressings and the profits from those went to PH. This year we have a couple dozen items, autographed stuff, special edition items, some test pressings, etc. Again, the profits go to PH. We are one of 50 stores in the U.S. to get one of the Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross/Mogwai autographed Before the Flood soundtracks. That is included in the PH promotion.”

Homer’s will give free T-shirts with $100 purchase. “Also, the first couple hundred will get a bag of some goodies, coupons, samplers, stickers, etc.,” Fratt said.

Down the street at Drastic Plastic Records, 1209 Howard St., Jeff Runnings and his crew have coffee and pastries for earlier risers. “(We have) discounts on past years RSD titleds and I’ve priced almost the entire 2017 RSD haul below MSRP,” Runnings said.

Finally, Almost Music, 3925 Farnam St. in the Blackstone District is hosting an all-day music festival. The doors open at 10 a.m. Music begins at 11. Here’s the line-up:

Erin Mitchell, 11 a.m.

Mark Patrick, noon

Loud Minority, 1 p.m.

Church of Gravitron, 2 p.m.

Montee Men, 3 p.m.

Ridgelines, 4 p.m.

Lodgings, 5 p.m.

Screaming Plastic, 6 p.m.

Dilute, 7 p.m.

The Lazy Wranglers, 8 p.m.

Almost Music always serves coffee (a nod toward Dave, Tom and the Antiquarium days?) but also will be selling B&G Tasty Foods starting at noon.

What about the RSD offerings? The list is available online right here. Each store gets a different allocation, so you don’t know what you’ll find. Choose your startling point wisely, though it’s unlikely anyone will have a bigger selection than Homer’s. I don’t need to tell you to get in line before 10 if you want first dibs on the rare stuff. What’s on my list? I wouldn’t mind picking up that Spoon Hot Thoughts RSD exclusive or the new O+S album…

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RSD is the highlight of the weekend, along with the Earth Day concert in Elmwood Park.

First, tonight, UK band Zeta plays at Milk Run  (I’ve decided to drop the whole “New Milk Run” thing. It’s been a couple weeks. If you don’t know by now that they moved to Midtown Art Supply than you’re probably not interested in this show anyway). Zeta “fuses the retro, synth heavy decade of the ’80s with futuristic imagery, bringing past and future together in a Cyberpunk-esque package.” Hmm… Bokr Tov and No Getter open. $5, 9 p.m.

Saturday is Omaha’s Earth Day celebration in Elmwood Park. It’ll be the usual collection of hippie-meets-sustainability culture. Expect to see someone belly dancing next to a guy talking about the joys of worm composting.

There’s also a live music stage, and this year’s offering is pretty impressive. Closeness (the new project by Todd and Orenda Fink) plays at 2 p.m.; Clarence Tilton’s at 3 p.m. and Icky Blossoms is at 4 p.m. The full schedule is here.

Tomorrow nigh (Saturday) The Brothers Lounge hosts skatepunk band The Z.G.’s along with Lockjaw, The Frumps and Omaha’s The New Rosenbergs. $5, 9 p.m.

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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.