by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Tonight’s Cat Piss show at Reverb Lounge – easily the biggest show of the weekend – is also a vinyl release show for the band’s latest album, Cat Piss Rides Again, which was actually released way back in June, a time that seems like forever ago, when we all wore T-shirts outside and complained about the humidity. You won’t be doing that tonight. 

That it takes more than six months to get vinyl pressed should be no surprise to anyone who’s followed the Great Post-Covid Vinyl Shortage. As I said back in June at the original album release show: “Cat Piss is releasing their debut album, Cat Piss Rides Again, on Boise, Idaho label Mishap Records, and the two singles I’ve heard are like an homage to the ‘90s Nebraska punk sound (i.e., bands like Mousetrap, Cellophane Ceiling and Sideshow come to mind). Cat Piss is Casey Plucinski on guitar/vocals, Nathan Wolf on drums/vocals and Sam Lipsett on bass/vocals. The new album was recorded by Ben Brodin and mastered by Carl Saff. Get ready for this one.”

And if you were going to buy it, there is no better way to do it than at tonight’s show, but if you can’t make it for some reason, today is also Bandcamp Friday, which means Bandcamp will wave its fees and send all the money from sales directly to the bands. 

Tonight’s opening act, Bad Bad Men, yesterday released a brand-spanking new song on Bandcamp. The bruising, gut-punch called “Wrist Action” is but a taste of what’s to come from the power-trio of Wolf/Siebken/Hug, but oh, what a taste it is. Recorded this past October at ARC Studio by Adam Robert, the track will have you slapping on the pink handcuffs and succumbing to a necessary rock interrogation. Buy it today at “The Right Price” of one crisp dollar.

This one starts at 9 and is $10. Be there or be square.

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And it’s also Benson First Friday! Tonight’s a special BFF because my wife’s new art gallery, Ming Toy Gallery, opens at 6066 Maple (right next door to my favorite restaurant, Au Courant). The gallery is named in honor of my grandparents’ restaurant, Ming Toy Cafe, which once resided at 45th and Military Ave. It’s a group show that features non-traditional artists, and in some ways, a soft opening, as the first solo art show (by Denise Levy) is next month. Still, stop by and check out the new place, have a beer and say hello. 

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Also tonight, right down the street at The Waiting Room, Satchel Grande headlines a show with Josh Hoyer and the Soul Colossal. $10, 8 p.m. 

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Finally, hardcore band Nowhere headlines a show Saturday night at The Sydney with Hussies and Local Ponzi Scheme. 9 p.m., $10.

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 © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Welcome to the weekend. Busy Friday, not so busy Saturday…

Dross headlines a show tonight at The Sydney with Oklahoma City indie band Foxburrows (check ’em out below) and my favorite DJ Tyrone Storm. $5, 10 p.m.

BTW, it’s #BFF — Benson First Friday. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by The Little Gallery at 5901 Maple (the east bay of the Masonic Lodge Building) and check out the opening for Shawnequa Linder. Her show is called “Remixing: An Experimental Portrait Series,” and it’s a head trip… literally. We’re there from 6 to 9 p.m. Come by, say hi.

Over at fabulous O’Leaver’s, Omaha punk rockers No Thanks headlines. The four-piece is heading out on tour and will not be taking any prisoners. Hussies open at 10 p.m. $5.

Also tonight, The Brothers is hosting a post-hardcore show headlined by Minneapolis act Scaphe. Also on the bill are Houma, Adult Whisperer and the incomparable Solid Goldberg. $5, 9 p.m.

It’s looking mighty thin on Saturday…

O’Leaver’s has a hardcore show with Come Out Fighting, Red Kate, Bitch Dust and Scab Ghouls. $7, 9 p.m.

Sunday Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit are playing on Military Ave. in Benson as part of the Waiting Room Outdoors series. John Moreland opens at 7 p.m. $40.

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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

So they’re saying 3 to 5 inches of snow tonight. That’s not near enough to keep you inside, is it?

Top of tonight’s list is Oquoa at The Sydney in Benson. The band has been working on new material. Let’s see what they’ve been up to. Hussies, who just released a new album (Fast), open at 10 p.m. $5.

Meanwhile, over at fabulous O’Leaver’s, Omaha sludge-rock stoners Ocean Black open for ’80s-style rockers Jump the Tiger. Flux Amuck kicks things off at 9:30. $5.

Earlier in the evening at Hi-Fi House, free improvisation ensemble Screaming Plastic is having a listening party for its debut album. “The album’s seven tracks are selected from a three-hour batch of improvisations recorded at Omaha’s ARC Studios.” The spinning starts at 7 p.m. and it’s free.

Also tonight, The Waiting Room is hosting Flint Fest, a fundraiser for the Flint Kids Fund. Cult Play tops a bill that includes J. Crum, On 2 Galaxies, Jocko and Motel Martyr. $10, 8 p.m.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) there’s a three-artist bill at O’Leaver’s headlined by Stathi with Cursive’s Megan Siebe (Cursive kicks off a month-long tour next Friday in Denver) and Steady Wells. $5, 10 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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

First, a non-music note: Harlan Ellison passed away yesterday. The best requiem I could give him beyond the photo of my personal Ellison collection at the top of this entry is the following, written for The Reader back in 2013:

Known primarily as the guy who wrote the best episode of Star Trek (“City on the Edge of Forever”) and for penning the material that became the 1976 Don Johnson bomb A Boy and His Dog, I’d read Ellison’s short stories for years before picking up his collection of essays and criticism called Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed in 1984. That was followed a year later by An Edge in My Voice (in fact, this column’s title is a play on that book’s title). It is impossible to read Ellison’s essays and not absorb his rhythm, syntax and style. His is a voice of measured anger bordered by reason, sarcasm, intelligence and wit. I spent a good chunk of my college years emulating Ellison’s writing style before figuring out one of my own.

A day does not go by where I don’t think about Ellison and his writing.

Onward (but with a heavy heart)…

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Tonight’s the annual Memorial Park concert/fireworks display featuring Mickey Thomas’ Starship and Boston/Styx cover band Bostyx. I can’t imagine a worse combination, but the folks going to the concert aren’t there for the music, they’re there for the fireworks.

I assume organizers are aware no one cares about the music and thus book the most benign acts for this show. If they’re going to get 50,000 people in the park regardless of the entertainment, they should consider other options, but I’m sure I’m not the first person to suggest that.

Needless to say, I’ll once again be stationed on my front porch with my trusty over-and-under cradled on my lap telling the passing mob to “Get off my lawn!”

Now for the real music news…

Why haven’t they cleared out the tents from CWS? Because they’ve got a home run derby at the park Saturday night. They shouldn’t get in the way of tonight’s show at Slowdown Jr., where Chicago psych-rock band Post Animal (Polyvinyl Records) headlines. Minneapolis “dream-punk” act Slow Pulp opens. $12, 9 p.m

Tonight Hussies headline at The Brothers Lounge. KC band Red Kate also is on the bill along with Tiananmen Squares. $5, 9 p.m.

Sean Pratt and the Sweats return to fabulous O’Leaver’s Saturday night. They’re bringing with them Brooklyn’s Becca Ryskalczyk (of Bethlehem Steel). Dave Nance opens the evening at 10 p.m. $5.

Dirt House celebrates the release of its debut EP Come Over at Slowdown Jr. Saturday night. Opening is Kait Berreckman and The Jim Schroeder Quintet (Schroeder plays guitar with Dave Nance, among others). $8 adv/$10 DOS, 9 p.m.

Also Saturday night, Centerpiece, a band I just heard about yesterday, is celebrating the release if its debut EP Simple at Reverb Lounge Saturday night. North by North and I Forgot to Love My Father open. $7 adv/$10 DOS. 9 p.m.

Sunday night there’s a 5-band indie-punk show at Reverb headlined by Big Bite. Also on the bill is Supercrush, BiB, Death Cow and Ginger Ale. $8, 9 p.m.

Finally, The Waiting Room is hosting its annual Canada Day showcase — 10 bands playing Canadian covers including Mike Saklar, Korey Anderson and The Electroliners. This is a benefit for the Siena / Francis House with food available and everything. $8, 8 p.m. More info here.

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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’m still catching up on last weekend, specifically last Friday night when Jake Bellows played at The Sydney. I point to the crowd and the overall vibe of the room for what ended up being one of the best Bellows sets I’ve ever witnessed. Jake solo with electric guitar played a selection from his rather extensive oeuvre with the crowd pushed right up to the Sydney’s stage/platform. You can hear a bit of the set in the Facebook Live recording below (I always feel like a dork when I’m shooting these things, but…).

Now that he’s living in LA, every Bellows set in Omaha is like a family reunion, with lots of familiar faces in the crowd come to pay their respects to our lost hero. Jake may be a Californian these days, but he knows he always has a home in Nebraska.

Opening for Jake Friday night was a new line-up for Sun-Less Trio. Usual drummer Marc Phillips was replaced for this gig by someone banging on a tom with mallets. Frontman Mike Saklar played a couple of my favorites from his last couple albums along with a few new ones. The set felt stripped down and bare compared to the usual larger, fuller S-LT sound.

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Two shows tonight…

Over at The Brothers Lounge Hussies headline for Brooklyn’s Cat Tatt. The Natural States also are on the bill. $5, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, alt-country southern-fried rockers Drive-By Truckers headlines at The Waiting Room. Opening is BJ Barham. $30, 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.