by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

As many foliks who follow this website know, there were a couple landmark performances that took place over last weekend — the John Prine/Conor Oberst concert at The Orpheum and the Cursive show at The Waiting Room. In days gone by, I would have attended both (if I could afford it) and would have written live reviews.

But life being what it is, I missed both shows due to family stuff and work stuff. As I get older, going to shows is becoming more of a challenge. Yeah, I still go to rock shows and write about them, but fewer than in the old days, when it wasn’t uncommon to hit as many as four shows a week (Who remembers when were four GOOD shows per week in Omaha?).

Add to this the loss of Hear Nebraska‘s concert coverage and you say to yourself, “How am I supposed to keep up with what’s going on in the Omaha music scene?”

Well, here are some brand new resources for local music news and reviews to check out:

— Kevin Coffey has held the mantle of Omaha’s chief music critic since taking over the music reporting chores at the Omaha World-Herald from Niz Proskocil in the fall of 2008 — that’s 10 years for those keeping count. In addition to his news and reviews work at the OWH, Kevin launched a new podcast last week called Guest List. The first episode includes interview excerpts with John Prine as well as the list of his favorite concerts. You can check out Guest List on iTunes or your iPhone’s Podcast app. I’m sure it’s also available somewhere on an Android phone…?

If you don’t know what a podcast is, check out my column in the current issue of The Reader about the Serial podcast. BTW, I tried may hand at the podcasting game way back in the spring of 2015 — Who remembers the Lazy-i podcast? I quickly discovered that all the work involved in recording and editing each episode by myself was too much for a mere 300 or so downloads. You can still check out the SoundCloud version of that old podcast at https://soundcloud.com/timmymac29.

— Omaha music legend Dereck Higgins (R.A.F., InDreama, Chemicals for starters) has been active in the YouTube world for almost a decade  Now he’s launching his own online video show called “Higg’s Corner.” And get this: The test pilot episode is going to be streamed on Adult Swim (www.adultswim.com) this Friday night at 6 p.m. CT. Higgins already has a regular one-minute feature on Adult Swim’s “Stupid Morning Bullshit” program called “Old Music Friday.”

Higgs says Higg’s Coner is a “music and life talk with a call-in line,” and you can check out that pilot episode right now here on YouTube.

— Finally, I know Ed Perini as that guy who goes to all the shows, and I mean ALL the shows — Ed has a much broader musical palette than I’ll ever have.  An “Omaha-based music enthusiast and classically trained singer,” I’ve seen Ed’s concert photos and show reviews over the years in Facebook. Now he’s launched his own Facebook page called “That Omaha Music Guy” located at facebook.com/thatomahamusicguy/. If a show happened last night, chances are pretty good Ed was there. 

I wonder if Ed will be at tonight’s Cannibal Corpse show 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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.