Beer + Bands = Beer Nebraska. Here’s the list of exclusive-release brews…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The next pseudo music festival is this Saturday at The Slowdown — it’s a benefit for non-profit Rabble Mill, which, if you didn’t know, is the umbrella organization that houses good ol’ Hear Nebraska (Yes, Hear Nebraska still exists. In fact, they have offices in the Slowdown complex in a shared space with Saddle Creek Records and Maha Music Festival personnel).

This benefit concert is a bit different in that it features both bands and beer — specifically five local breweries who have made exclusively released beers inspired by the performing bands. It’s weird and cool. Local brewers are Zipline (who’s co-hosting this even with Hear Nebraska), Brickway, Farnam House, First Street and White Elm.

The inspired beer I’m most looking forward to is Zipline’s Sticky Blossoms, which is “honey plus orange blossom IPA.” Mmm-mmmm.

According to the Facebook invite, beers will be served outside from 5 to 9 p.m. The beer-tasting ticket gets you five samples plus a commemorative glass.

Event pricing :

$25 Advance/$30 Day of Show with Beer Tasting
$15 Advance/$20 Day of Show without
Tix here or at Zipline’s drinking room in the Slowdown complex.

And here are the set times:

7-7:40 – Mesonjixx
8-8:40 – Freakabout 8:00- 8:40
9 to 9:40 – Conny Franko
1- to 10:40 – Icky Blossoms
11 to midnight – Satchel Grande

As mentioned proceeds go to Rabble Mill, which has a lot of exciting programs in the works, including music-related ideas that (hopefully) you’ll be hearing more about in the near future.

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Tonight, Omaha punk band Crease opens for Minneapolis screamo band Sleep Debt at Brothers Lounge. $5, 9 p.m.

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I thought I’d drop in this just-released Ron Gallo track. He’s playing Lincoln Calling in September. Something about the guitar effects reminds me of The Oh Sees…

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The 2018 Good Living Tour, brought to you by Hear Nebraska.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Even though it’s been explained a dozen ways, I continue to run into people who think Hear Nebraska folded when the organization merged with The Bay earlier this year to form Rabble Mill. No matter how many times I tell them that ain’t the case, they don’t listen, probably because the small army of Hear Nebraska photographers no longer are hanging around local shows.

Fact is Hear Nebraska is very much alive and kicking. This morning HN announced the 2018 Good Living Tour. The fourth-annual statewide event combines Nebraska music with skateboarding, and it’s probably the highest profile program HN has put on since the org formed in 2011.

This year’s tour locations are Broken Bow June 9 (featuring See Through Dresses and Matt Cox, among others); Imperial June 23 (with Conny Franko); Red Cloud July 7 and Norfolk July 20 (with Bokr Tov).

Showtimes weren’t given, but these typically are evening shows in public-square-style locations and they’re always free. More info here.

Hear Grand Island 2018

What was a by-product of Hear Nebraska but is no longer affiliated with the org is Hear Grand Island, which announced its 2018 schedule this week. All the shows are on Friday nights from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Railside Plaza in downtown Grand Island. The sched:

June 1: Twinsmith, Taking the Hourglass and Unforsaken Allies
June 8: Universe Contest, Cruz control and Misfire
June 15: Domestic Blend, Field Club and Isaiah Dominguez
June 22: The Fey, Rascal Martinez and UPSET
June 29: Tim Zach & Whiskey Bent, The Belles and Bernardus
July 6: High Up, Sebastian Lane Band and Losing My Charm
July 13: Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal, Evan Bartels & The Stoney Lonesomes and The Lupines
July 20: David Nance, Salt Creek and Alli and I
July 27: FREAKABOUT, The Way Out and From The Arc
Aug. 3: The Midnight Devils, The Wildwoods and High Plains Remedy

Beer Nebraska

Finally, there’s Beer Nebraska, a fundraiser for Rabble Mill — the umbrella org that houses Hear Nebraska. This one pairs local music and local beer and is being held at The Slowdown Aug. 4. And those bands are Satchel Grande, Icky Blossoms, Conny Franko, FREAKABOUT and Mesonjixx.

This one ain’t free:

Beers outside 5pm-9pm, Music in the Main Room 7pm-midnight
$25 Advance/$30 Day of Show with Beer Tasting
$15 Advance/$20 Day of Show without

So, yeah, Hear Nebraska is definitely kicking ass and taking names…

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Pet Shop is hosting a show tonight with Uh, Death Cow, The Natural States and headliner Minneapolis band Dirty Junk. $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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Tennis at The Waiting Room, Nov. 5, 2014. The band returns to tonight.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

One of Hear Nebraska’s last forays into music journalism (for now, anyway) was a video interview with Digital Leather’s Shawn Foree about his just-released LP Pink Thunder. Read it here.

It’s a straight-up interview by HN’s Lauren Farris, and when I look back at what HN did in terms of music reporting, this was the kind of stuff I liked best. Because there simply isn’t anyone interviewing local bands anymore in a way that HN approached these interviews — in depth, professional, with the writer staying out of the copy and out of the frame.

It makes me miss what I used to do at The Reader back when it was a weekly and I was hustling an interview a week (plus a column). HN’s recent departure brings up the question of  music journalism’s relevance to the general local music audience. I personally think it’s important; that it still needs to be done. We just need to find a place to do it (in addition to in ol’ Lazy-i).

Wouldn’t it be awesome if someone started a music weekly with interviews, album reviews, live reviews, photos and a gig calendar?? I’d subscribe.

Anyway, I finally got my chance to interview Foree a couple years ago when Digital Leather released All Faded. He’s an interesting dude and one of the most talented musicians and songwriters in Nebraska. It’s appropriate that HN went out by interviewing him. Check it out and check out Pink Thunder, which you can order online here and, I believe, is available in its vinyl incarnation at Almost Music.

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Two shows going on tonight…

At The Waiting Room it’s the return of Tennis, who just played here this past summer when they headlined Farnam Fest. New York electro-pop duo Overcoats (Arts & Crafts Records) opens at 8 p.m. $18.

Also tonight, Pageturners’ Winter Concert Series continues with Nathan Ma and the Psychic Readers. This one is free and starts at 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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lincoln’s old Royal Grove sign…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I told you to expect changes at Hear Nebraska. Yesterday HN’s Andrew Stellmon announced that the organization’s website no longer will be covering music news, at least on a daily basis.

The site has provided daily local music news updates for the past few years. Now with the merger of Hear Nebraska and Lincoln’s The Bay to form Rabble Mill, HN is slightly altering its mission.

“Under Rabble Mill, we will still work to highlight and build-up Nebraska’s culture, and that most certainly includes music as well as art, skateboarding and other creative endeavors,” Stellmon wrote. “This time, everything will focus on youth, from those executing coverage and learning valuable skills to the stories they tell.

“What does that mean for Hear Nebraska dot org? Aside from a couple more pieces this week and two Good Living Tour stories early next year, the site will stop publishing for a time.”

I’ve had people ask me if this marks the end of Hear Nebraska. I think it might mark the end of HN as we knew it. Time will tell what the organization looks like in the future beyond not reporting music news daily. I don’t know if HN will continue to maintain its online gig calendar or cover rock shows via photography, though I’ve asked. I’ll let you know when I know.

I’m going to miss seeing all those bright, shiny Hear Nebraska faces at gigs with their cameras. HN was a good place to promote upcoming shows; the calendar (if it is, indeed, gone) will be missed. As for their show coverage, there’s a limit to what can be done creatively with gig photos — after awhile they all began to look the same. And HN writers kind of had their hands tied when it came to reporting shows for fear of offending a performer. HN — like SLAM Omaha before it — is all about supporting local music, not critiquing it.

In this Facebook era we live in, do we really need a website that provides daily local music news? Maybe, maybe not. Regardless, Lazy-i will continue to cover local and national indie music, be it on a daily basis or otherwise…

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More news yesterday…

Lincoln music venue Vega announced via its Facebook page that it’s closing for good after its New Year’s Eve show. The Mardocks — Eli and Carrie — are instead redirecting their efforts to the old Royal Grove property, which has been around since the 1930s. The new Royal Grove’s grand opening is Jan. 25, featuring a performance by DJ Darude. With a capacity of around 1,000, will Royal Grove also book some of the larger touring indie bands? Time will tell…

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Lazy-i Best of 2017

Speaking of news, did you miss the announcement about the Lazy-i Best of 2017 Comp CD?

The collection includes my favorite indie tunes I’ve come across throughout last year as part of my tireless work as a music critic for Lazy-i. Among those represented: SUSTO, David Nance, King Krule, Sheer Mag, Alvvays, LCS Soundsystem, Beck, Lupines, Uranium Club and lots more. The full track listing is here, or take a listen if you have Spotify.

So the big news is you, too, could win a copy of the CD. To enter, either: 1. Send an email with your mailing address to tim.mcmahan@gmail.com, or 2) Write a comment on one of my Lazy-i related posts in Facebook, or 3) Retweet a Lazy-i tweet. You also can enter by sending me a direct message in Facebook or Twitter. Hurry, contest deadline is midnight Jan. 5.

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Hear Nebraska and The Bay will now be part of Rabble Mill.

I guess it’s official, Hear Nebraska is joining forces with Lincoln non-profit The Bay as part of a new umbrella organization called Rabble Mill.

From rabblemill.org: “That’s right: After collaborating since both organizations’ founding in 2010, we officially merge on Jan. 1, 2018, as programs under a new 501(c)(3) umbrella, called Rabble Mill. (A nod to our underdog communities.)”

Rabble Mill’s vision statement: “We end generational poverty, one young person at a time, by enabling kids to discover their passion and build valuable life and professional skills. We make communities talent magnets by connecting and strengthening creative industries.”

Among Rabble Mills’ offerings will be:

• — Job Training for as-risk youth in the areas of music, tech, journalism and coffee;
• — A print magazine produced by kids aimed at exposing Nebraska high schoolers to compelling statewide arts and culture;
• — Professional development aimed to help musicians reach their next level;
• — The Find Your Grind collective, a digital art and design space focused on closing our community’s technology gap through skills creation.

I’m told the boards of both organizations will be combined and that Hear Nebraska will continue to have a presence in Omaha (The Bay is located in Lincoln).

What exactly is The Bay? It’s a non-profit “creative space,” skate park and coffee shop founded by startup entrepreneur and motivational speaker Mike Smith.

So how will this merger will impact HN’s mission, which is basically to support, nurture and promote Nebraska music and musicians? Time will tell, though no doubt there will be some changes. Stay tuned…

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Smart Went Crazy, Con Art (2017, Ernest Jenning)

One of the snarkiest bands of the ‘90s, Smart Went Crazy, is getting the reissue treatment for its 1997 double LP Con Art, via Ernest Jenning.

Says Chad Clark, now with Beauty Pill, “‘Con Art’ was SWC’s second and final album, released in 1997. It was rapturously received by the press (Pitchfork included it in their Best Albums Of The 90s list) and its stature increased with time. It is now regarded as an underground classic. Unfortunately, the band did not survive to enjoy this esteem. SWC broke up shortly after its release.”

Preorder your copy here.

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I just noticed that Minneapolis Uranium Club has been booked to play Pet Shop Gallery (the old Sweatshop) Dec. 9. This band’s album, All of Them Naturals (2017, Static Shock/Fashionable Idiots), made my list of faves in 2017 (which will be published in the December issue of The Reader). Added bonus, Sucettes and Dilute are opening.

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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.

Those Far Out Arrows at Reverb Lounge, April 14, 2017. The band opens for Cool Ghouls tonight at Brothers Lounge.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Apologies for my lack of updates the last couple of days. I’ve been working on a massive 5,000-word article for The Reader‘s Music Issue, which comes out next month. These deadlines, they’re killing me…

Today is the day when the city’s non-profit organizations take hat in hand and ask for your support. Of course I’m talking about Omaha Gives, the annual city-wide non-profit fund drive.

Among the local non-profit music organizations I’ll be donating to (which means you should donate to them as well) are:

Hear Nebraska — As a former HN Board member I know what good the organization does. As a music fan, musician or music-related business, you should know that Executive Director Andrew Norman and his team tirelessly do everything possible to promote Nebraska music. Among their primary projects are The Good Life Tour, Lincoln Calling and assorted programs that support the scene. They’ve got some massive plans in the works this year (and next) so get in on the ground floor by making your tax-deductible donation. If you want to find out more, swing by Omaha Bicycle Club in Benson, where the Hear Nebraska team will be camped out throughout the day coordinating their Omaha Gives efforts. Make your donation here.

Omaha Girls Rock! — The organization that’s all about empowering the area youth is still going strong. Help put a guitar or set of drumsticks in a young girl’s hands. Donate here.

Maha Music Festival — The state’s primary music festival has its best line-up ever for this year’s concert. But they still need cash to pull it off. Give here.

Geeze, this is one of my most expensive days of the year for me. Here are a few other organizations you should consider giving to:

• Benson Theatre
• WhyArts
• Benson First Friday
• Restoration Exchange Omaha
• Mode Shift Omaha
• Film Streams

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NPR’s All Songs Considered did a nice little write-up on David Nance’s upcoming album Negative Boogie (Ba Da Bing Records), calling it “spastic dance music for rock ‘n’ roll deviants, a jabbing pointer finger at the soullessness of the pixelated present, blown out and blown up like a basement tape.” The record comes out in July. Check out a track below.

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San Francisco garage-rock band Cool Ghouls headlines a show tonight at Brothers Lounge. The band has released records and cassettes on Burger, Empty Cellar, Melodic and P-Vine. Our very own Those Far Out Arrows opens the show. $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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Hear Nebraska this week announced it’s headed out west again this year for the Good Living Tour. The third-annual event is headed to Hebron, Auburn, Imperial, Red Cloud, McCook, Norfolk, Lyons and Hastings. Dates are throughout the summer (full schedule here). Bands have yet to be named, but typically each gig includes three Nebraska bands, many of them from the Omaha/Lincoln area. This music outreach program is among HN’s most successful ventures.

In other Hear Nebraska news, last week Lincoln Calling announced pre-sales for their Sept. 28-30 festival begin this Friday. The line-up announcement is slated for May 4. Expect even bigger and better things this year as Lincoln organization The Bay Skatepark joins Hear Nebraska as the festival organizers, with Allo as a sponsor. That kind of money means big-name acts. And if the names I’ve heard kicked around are true, Lincoln Calling will be giving Maha a run for its money.

It’s an impressive start to the year for Hear Nebraska. Now they just need to schedule similar programming in Omaha (where a lot of their donations comes from).

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Shows aplenty for a Wednesday…

Tonight Omaha remembers Mike “Kronch” Kronschnabel at The Waiting Room. The tribute night includes performances by Anonymous American, Brad Hoshaw, Janglepop, Wakanda One, Bill Arab and Michael Campbell. $8 suggested donation goes to a music scholarship in Mike’s name. Come and raise a toast glass to an Omaha original who contributed greatly to the local music scene.

Also tonight, Miwi La Lupa plays songs off his recent release Beginner’s Guide at fabulous O’Leaver’s. Opening is Omaha indie music legend Ted Stevens (Lullaby for the Working Class, Mayday, Cursive) and Annie Dilocker. $7, 9 p.m.

Finally at the new Milk Run located in the basement of Midtown Art Supply, it’s Seattle punk Lisa Prank with Dogbreath and Taylor Sankey. $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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Bloodcow at Reverb Lounge, March 7, 2015. The band opens for Nashville Pussy tonight at Lookout Lounge.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A couple weeks ago Zack Visconti at Hear Nebraska contacted me asking a series of questions about The Waiting Room for a news feature he was writing for the website. Questions like ‘What’s your favorite show there?” and “Fondest TWR memory?” and so on. The story ran March 31 at Hear Nebraska, and you can read it here.

An excerpt:

What was your favorite show there?

Very hard to say since I’ve seen so many. The first one that jumps out is The Faint show held there just a couple days after they opened, March 11, 2007. Other favorites that stood out off the top of my head include St. Vincent, July 25, 2007 — Annie Clark on lead guitar fronting a punk band, she’s never sounded better; Monotonix Oct. 7, 2008 — the band took the show outside when drummer Ran Shimoni banged on a snare while frontman Ami Shalev climbed a traffic signal pole along Maple Street; the first Future Islands show in November 2011 — no one had heard of them and only a handful of people were there, but frontman Sam Herring was at his flamboyant best; and Stephen Malmus & the Jicks Feb. 16, 2014 — where there was a special guest appearance by Bob Nastanovich, making it a mini Pavement reunion.

God, who remembers that Monotonix show? What ever happened to those guys?

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A couple big shows tonight as we begin the holiday weekend…

As mentioned yesterday, Umm headlines tonight at Reverb Lounge. The band consists of Stef Drootin and Chris Senseney of Big Harp. They describe Umm’s sound as “vintage harmonies and shards of fuzz over grounded, primitive rhythms and simple, aching pop melodies.” Nice. Opening are BareBear and Oquoa. $7, 9 p.m.

The other big show tonight is hard rock act Nashville Pussy (SPV, Amphetamine Reptile) at Lookout Lounge. Somebody dubbed their music “sleaze rock” — it’s hard, fast and just right to kick off your Easter weekend. Opening are some of Omaha’s heaviest hitters Bloodcow, Ocean Black and Gallivant. $18, 8 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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Angie and Andrew Norman from last night’s Nebraska Stories broadcast.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I couldn’t pull myself away from the new Slowdive video this morning long enough to watch Josh Hoyer’s losing performance on The Voice last night.

I see no reason to go on a lengthy diatribe about how much I dislike performance competition teevee shows like The Voice. If you’re reading this, you’re (probably) someone who already values art over performance, creativity over mimicry, genuine-ness over shtick. The Voice is what the huddled masses mistake for art; pretty faces and their pretty bleetings mired in the muck desperately reaching for fame.

Why did Hoyer bother going on The Voice? As he implied in his audition video, he had nothing else to lose. He’s tired of scraping for tips to support his family while he struggles to get his music career on a sustainable trajectory. A show like The Voice puts him in front of millions of people who otherwise never would have heard him. If even a fraction of a fraction of that audience decided to go to the internet and find out more about Josh, well then, it was worth the effort (right?).

I’ve heard various stories about what the producers of these kinds of talent shows make participants sign away prior to letting them go on stage (and even more the further they go). If those stories are true, then losing last night may have been the best thing to happen to Hoyer. His talent lies as a bandleader, a songwriter, a musician, and yes, as a vocalist, but it’s the combination that sets him apart.

Regardless, now is the time to fan the ember lit by last night’s national exposure, and maybe, just maybe, a flame will arise. So, congratulations on the effort, Josh, now back to work, which won’t be too hard considering he’s playing tonight in Kufstein, Austria, on a European tour that winds down in Brussels April 1 (a tour he presumably booked well before The Voice aired).

* * *

Can you imagine how an undiscovered Bob Dylan or Chrissie Hynde or Neil Young or Conor Oberst would fare on The Voice?

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Speaking of quality television, last night NET public television broadcast a report about Hear Nebraska on “Nebraska Stories” (right after Antique Roadshow). Titled “Hear Nebraska’s Music Man” the 8-minute clip captures a day in the life of last year’s Good Living Tour along with our intrepid hero, Andy Norman (i.e., the Music Man) and Hear Nebraska co-founder Angie Norman while they hustle (along with a sizable crew) to make everything work in remote locales like Imperial and Lyons.

It’s a great piece. Check out the clip below.

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Maha is getting ready for the big reveal Thursday night. The media already has been informed (and told to embargo until the official announcement). It’s an impressive line-up and a bit of a change in direction from last year’s festival…

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Tonight Philly rock band Creepoid (Graveface Records), whose sound has been described as “somewhere between Blonde Redhead, Sonic Youth and Asobi Seksu,” headlines at fabulous O’Leaver’s. Psych-rock band Ecstatic Vision (Relapse Records) opens along with our very own David Nance. $7, 9 p.m.

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Here’s that Slowdive video I mentioned… enjoy.

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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.

Song Syndrome at The Waiting Room as part of Take Cover VI, Jan. 28, 2017.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’ve criticized Hear Nebraska in the past for the format behind its Take Cover events, or as I jokingly used to describe them: “Bands you don’t know covering songs by bands you don’t know.”

Well, if Saturday night’s crowd is any indication, Andy Norman (HN’s executive director) and team should keep things just the way they are. By the time I left the festivities a little after 10 p.m., The Waiting Room was comfortably packed with the biggest crowd I’ve seen at one of these events.

I caught only the first 90 minutes or so of Take Cover performers. Two acts stood out:

Song Syndrome used to be a band called Anthems (thanks for the data, Mr. Manner). It’s a red-hot rock outfit with Social Distortion overtones and an in-your-face frontman who looks like someone you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. They bit off a little more than they could chew when the tried covering an Elliott Smith song, and inasmuch admitted it from stage. Still, their own material was head on, brutal. Why they would change their name from Anthems to Song Syndrome is a mystery, but I suggest they either change it back or come up with a better name, because unfortunately, in this age when there are a zillion new bands starting up every day, your band name actually matters.

The other standout was local phenom Jocelyn, who has been tearing up the stages like the Side Door Lounge for awhile now, developing a rather sizable following for her brand of acoustic pop. Her style and energy are undeniably infectious, and her voice could make her a finalist on The Voice. Jocelyn covered an Ally Peeler song and one other, and then did an original that got the crowd to explode.

What stood out as much as her voice and energy was her youth. Jocelyn looked like a teenager but performed like a seasoned veteran. I was reminded of one of my all-time favorites, Tracy Chapman, except for the fact that Chapman’s music (specifically her debut album) is layered with deep, painful emotions on songs about survival and redemption. Jocelyn’s songs, on the other hand, are as shiny and upbeat as you might expect from someone her age. In her defense, Chapman was 23 when she recorded her Grammy-winning debut. Jocelyn still has some living to do, but maybe she’s better off never going to those dark places…

Mr. Norman tells me this was the most successful Take Cover weekend in the organization’s history, pulling in thousands in donations from the 300 or so on hand at The Waiting Room and the nearly as many who went to the Bourbon edition Friday night in Lincoln.

For years I’ve always tried to convince Andy to focus on only one artist for the covers portion of the show; host something like “Take Cover: Elliott Smith” or “Take Cover: Tim Kasher,” wherein all the participants select one song to cover by the featured Nebraska artist. But why fiddle with an already winning formula?

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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.