Rebecca Lowry performs during the Social Resonance Vol. 1 stream March 27.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Technically and artistically, what Ian Aiello and his team pulled off last Friday night at The Sydney will stand as the benchmark by which live streamed performances will be judged, and I don’t mean just local ones.

Multiple cameras, pristine audio and two fine performances in an empty bar in Benson, except for the crew that made it all work, last week’s Social Resonance Vol. 1 represents what can be done with the technology that will be spoon-feeding us live musical performances at least for the next two or three months while COVID does its thing.

You, of course, can see for yourself via this link, which will take you to the performance’s recording hosted in YouTube. Ian said about 250 watched live at any one time and a total of around 450 people viewed the live stream. Since its broadcast, the recording has had just under 1,200 views. Not bad.

Rebecca Lowry with an electric guitar (the last time I saw her perform she held a ukulele) belted out a number of songs a la Bonnie Raitt, while Mike Schlesinger, wearing a John Denver T-shirt, preferred to use an old acoustic guitar for his set of low-slung heart-breakers. Schlesinger is a Nebraska treasure who deserves to be discovered by this great, big COVID-infected world.

The stream defined the phrase “intimate performance.” With multiple cameras and perfect sound, there was utterly nowhere for these two to hide as every breath, every note was stream-ified. Guts. Confidence.

Despite its “Vol. 1” title, Ian said this was a one-shot — there will be no Vol. 2, which is a shame considering Vol. 1’s success. It truly was appointment viewing and gave us all somewhere to meet on a Friday night, even if it was just in front of our computers.

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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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Social Resonance is live streaming tonight at 9:30 from The Sydney.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Think about all the rock shows we had to choose from just a year ago from this week. Phoebe and Conor’s Better Oblivion Community Center was playing a sold out show at The Slowdown; Wild Powwers was playing at O’Leaver’s, Black Moth Super Rainbow was at The Waiting Room as was The Nadas, ADULT. was at Slowdown Jr., and a slew of local bands including Gerald Lee Jr., Minne Lussa, The Natural States and Death Cow were playing clubs all over town.

This weekend all we got is a bunch of live streams and our record collections to keep us going. Look, this COVID thing isn’t going to last forever, right?

Well, one thing to look forward to is happening tonight in your living room. Social Resonance is a live streaming project coming at you tonight at 9:30 from a closed-up Sydney in Benson. Produced by Ian Aeillo with the help of some local technical wiz kid, the show will include performances from singer / songwriters Rebecca Lowry and Mike Schlesinger and probably a few other surprises.

It’s streaming via YouTube from this link: https://youtu.be/xPa5hWnBKkQ If you click on the link in the YouTube app you can send it to your SmartTV, which Ian implores you do for maximum viewing pleasure. If you don’t have a SmartTV (or a TV) just watch it below:

I plan on sitting back with an ice cold Rolling Rock and some of my favorite take-out and enjoying the whole show in my living room. I’d love it if performers and venues were able to do more of these kind of scheduled streamed rock shows, at least until things get back to normal…

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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

By Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Is it right to segregate music by the gender of those who make it? No.

But for better or worse, rock ‘n’ roll has historically been a boys’ club, with “girl groups” too often treated as an offshoot or novelty by ignorant fans who can’t get their minds around the fact that what women say in music is as relevant (or moreso) than anything men say.

Still, it’s hard to feel sorry for “women in rock” when so much of my favorite new music is fronted by — or written by — women. Such as: Courtney Barnett, Hop Along, Natalie Prass, Icky Blossoms, Laura Marling, Speedy Ortiz, Miniature Horse, Domestica, and so on.

That said, is Nebraska lagging behind the rest of the nation when it comes to women-fronted bands? That’s where Rebecca Lowry comes in. The singer/songwriter also known as All Young Girls Are Machine Guns is organizing a DIY festival dedicated to showcasing all the talented women in music in the Omaha/Lincoln community.

She’s calling it Benson First Friday Femme Fest (#BFFFF), and she’s targeting the first Friday of September — Sept. 4 to be exact. Clubs involved in BFFFF so far are The Waiting Room Lounge, Reverb Lounge, Barley Street Tavern, Petshop and Sweatshop, 1912, Burke’s, The Pizza Shoppe Collective and The Sydney. That’s like,  just about every possible venue in Benson.

With so many stages to fill, Lowry and the team that’s helping organize BFFFF are looking for talent. The submission process is now open. To get involved, simply send an email letting them know you want to play and the name of the woman/women in your project. Send your submission to bfffemmefest@gmail.com. Deadline is June 15.

BTW, the event is not exclusive to women. “Plenty of women in this community hold down male-fronted bands by playing the bass or by bangin’ it out on the drums or in any other number of ways. We will not leave them high and dry,” Lowry said in her press release. All ages and all genres are welcome.

“Also, BFF’s Jamie Hardy is working on filling the usual spots with art from some awesome women,” Lowry said. “If there are any women interested in showing, they can contact Jamie directly at Bensonfirstfriday@gmail.com, making sure to put ‘Femme Fest’ in the subject line.”

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Tonight at The Slowdown Pittsburgh punk rock band Anti-Flag (Fat Wreck Chords, SideOneDummy, RCA) headlines. The band’s progressive political rock goes back to 1988. All proceeds from the digital download of the track below, “Police Story,” are being donated to the Michael Brown Jr. Memorial Fund. Opening is The Homeless Gospel Choir and War on Women. $20, 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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

A screen capture from Sam Martin’s latest video…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s amazing how little is happening musicwise this week (these days). The biggest bit of news is that The Waiting Room is undergoing some sort of transformation, according to their weekly email blast. I’ve reached out to one of the club owner’s asking for details, but got no response, and since they virtually have no shows this week… well, we’ll just have to wait and see. What more could they do to the place?

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A few days ago, Reb Lowry of All Young Girls Are Machine Guns (AYGAMG) emailed saying she launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the pressing of a two-song 7-inch single. She’s trying to raise two grand. You can help her out here.

That is if you’re into “fashion statements,” as Neil Young described vinyl in an interview that is catching fire on social media. I’ve seen the quote a dozen times in a dozen different online publications, always taken out of context. Here’s the full quote, which isn’t nearly as negative as everyone thinks, from the source, The Frame, 89.3 KPCC:

“[There’s been] a little vinyl resurgence — you might point to that. But let’s face it: this is a convenience-oriented society and vinyl is not a convenient thing. It’s a niche and it’s a great niche and it’s a wonderful thing and I hope people continue to enjoy vinyl and it continues to grow because it’s a good thing. However, a lot of people that buy vinyl today don’t realize that they’re listening to CD masters on vinyl, and that’s because the record companies have figured out that people want vinyl. And they’re only making CD masters in digital, so all the new products that come out on vinyl are actually CDs on vinyl, which is really nothing but a fashion statement.”

If vinyl is a “niche” market, what would you call the market for the PonoPlayer, Young’s latest business venture that everyone is saying is a piece of shit? Among the critics, technology hardware reviewers Ars Technica, who called Pono “A tall, refreshing drink of snake oil.”

Among Ars‘ findings in their review: “As most audio-obsessed geeks will tell you, research and tests about high-res audio tend to make Neil Young and his Kool-Aid salesmen sound like fools. In many cases, higher-rate sampling can make audio sound worse. (Go down a real frequency rabbit hole here if you want.) Hell, Mr. Young must know by now that his older, degraded ears are less likely to pick up higher-range frequency audio than any of his potential customers.”

Harsh. Ars concluded: “No amount of testing (with PonoPlayer) made 192kHz/24-bit FLAC audio sound noticeably better than high-quality MP3s.” Plus, Pono doesn’t have a “hold” button? What?

Let the battle rage on. Apple owns this market and will until Spotify begins to produce its own (unnecessary) player, which I have to believe is just around the corner.

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Sam Martin has a new video out called “I Like to Hide” from his new album, A Notion In an Ocean. He shot, edited and directed the whole damn thing. Sam’s music reminds me of Harry Nilsson. I have no idea how Sam will take that comment, but it’s meant as a compliment. And if you don’t know who Nilsson is, Google him. You’re missing out.

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What else.

There might not be shit happening in Omaha this week (month) but there is in Lincoln. Tonight is the kick-off of Lincoln Exposed — three venues tons of Lincoln bands. Tonight’s sched:

Duffy’s Tavern

8:40-9:20 – Domestica
9:40-10:20 – Kerry Eddy and the Current Situation
10:40-11:20 – This Machine Kills Vibes
11:40-12:20 – Life is Cool
12:40-1:20 – Blue Sky Angel Parade

Zoo Bar

8-8:40 – Root Marm Chicken Farm Jug Band
9-9:40 – Omni Arms
10-10:40 – Powers
11-11:40 – Red Cites
12-12:40 – Universe Contest

The Bourbon

8:20-9 – Melon Company
9:20-10 – Floating Opera
10:20-11 – Emily Bass
11:20-12 – I Forgot To Love My Father
12:20-1 – The Dancing Dead

Check out the full festival calendar here: https://www.facebook.com/events/904564312896270/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

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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.