Young Guv plays Sunday night at Slowdown Jr.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Busy weekend, especially Saturday night, with a fantastic show Sunday. Here we go:

Tonight at The Sydney in Benson, Bob Nastanovich of Pavement fame is doing a DJ set. Joining him are Mike Schlesinger and Minne Lussa. Good times for just $5. Starts at 10 p.m.

Also tonight (Friday) Satchel Grande headlines at The Waiting Room with The Kevin Lloyd Experience. $9, 9 p.m.

Saturday night Matt Whipkey’s poli-punk project Unexplained Death headlines at fabulous O’Leaver’s. Also on the bill are Farewell Transmission and Soul Ghost. $7, 9:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, over at Reverb Lounge, Safari Room headlines. The Nashville band’s frontman, Alex Koukal, is a Bellevue West grad. Joining them are Omaha up-and-comers Garst. $10, 9 p.m.

Also Saturday night, Chicago R&B/blues singer/songwriter Neal Francis headlines at The Waiting Room. Joining him is Omaha’s Virginia Kathryn. $15, 9 p.m.

And then comes Sunday and the main event.

Toronto’s Young Guv is a project of Fucked Up guitarist Ben Cook, who plays power-pop summer-of-love psych rock, gorgeous and catchy. His albums, Guv I and Guv II are summertime staples. The band is playing Slowdown Jr. Sunday night on a loaded bill that includes Jocko and our very own David Nance, all for a mere $10. 8 p.m. start time.

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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Tony Molina at Sweatshop Gallery, July 11, 2015. Molina plays at O’Leaver’s Sunday night.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Crazy weekend backloaded with a very busy Sunday night line-up. We’ll get there.

First, tonight is the annual Memorial Park Concert, this year featuring Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul and Chris Isaak — a step up over the usual thread-bare ’70s heritage acts booked in the past. I’m not a Little Steven fan (the only song I know by him is the cheesy “I’m not gonna play Sun City” MTV song) and I only know two Isaak songs, so like most folks, I’ll be there for the fireworks. Have fun. Stay off my lawn.

Getting out of my neighborhood after the annual fiasco can be a challenge, but if I’m able, there’s a couple shows tonight.

At The Brothers Lounge, No Thanks plays with KC punkers Red Kate and opener The Natural States. $5, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, down at fabulous O’Leaver’s there’s a songwriters’ showcase with Those Far Out Arrow’s Ben Keelan-White, Hussies’ Tom Bartolmei, Andy Holmes and Mark Johnson. $5, 10 p.m.

Saturday night is looking mighty thin from an indie perspective. If you know something, say something.

Then comes Sunday night and four shows/events.

The first is the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony being held at the Ramada Inn at 3321 So. 72nd St. Among the dozen inductees is legendary bassist Dereck Higgins (Digital Sex, R.A.F., a million other projects). Nine inductees will be performing at the program, which starts at 4 p.m. Tickets are $20.

The Sydney in Benson is hosting a couple nationally touring dark-synth acts Sunday night headlined by Columbus, Ohio, act Child of Night and Brooklyn’s Shanghai Beach. Omaha legend Solid Goldberg (Why isn’t Dave in the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame?) and Lowercase Tres also are on the bill. $5, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, O’Leaver’s has a heavy-duty line-up Sunday evening for an early show that starts at 6 p.m. The headliner is Young Guv, the project of Fucked Up guitarist Ben Cook. Cook plays power-pop summer-of-love psych rock, gorgeous and catchy. Also on the bill is Slumberland Records label mate Tony Molina. Add to that Nathan Ma, Dross and opener Putter & Co. and you have a veritable mini-festival for a mere $7.

Finally, with the College World Series finally over, The Slowdown is back hosting rock shows again. Sunday night they have Grapetooth in the front room, a pop project with Chris Bailoni and Twin Peaks’ Clay Frankel. Their 2018 debut was released on Polyvinyl. Also on the bill are James Swanberg and Jessica Hottman’s Sun Cycles. $16, 8 p.m.

And that’s all I got. If I misssed 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.