Column 83 -- Unlikely Underdog
An unbiased look at Happy Hollow

I have been accused -- for good or ill -- of being a "homer" for Saddle Creek Records. And for those of you who don't know the terminology, a homer is someone who always roots for the home team, not a character on The Simpsons.

I have been called everything from "the unofficial public relations arm of Saddle Creek" to a "tool" in service of the label. As part of these claims, I've been accused of turning my weary eyes away from the labels' "dark side," for ignoring its artists' ignoble personal habits. I can live with that accusation. I have little or no interest in what any musician or artist does off-stage or out of the studio with his or her body (or someone else's, for that matter). I've never been one to sniff around for gossip and gooey "insider" tidbits in hopes of "capturing the real person who lives deep down inside."

It's the other accusation that gets my fur up, the ones that goes something like "You can't trust his opinion about Saddle Creek recordings. He wouldn't dare say anything negative for fear of pissing someone off." That, my friends, puts the very essence of my critical powers in question. It's also a load of horse flop. There are artists and recordings on Saddle Creek that don't turn my crank, and I've been more than willing to share my distaste publicly, both in print and/or blogspace. As I've said before, I might have interviewed every artist on the label, I might have given them a nod or chat at shows, I might have even drank beer whilst leaning against the railing at O'Leaver's standing next to them.

But I don't "hang out" with them, dine with them, converse with their parents, attend baseball games or meet them at the mall. I've never been to one of their after parties, birthday parties or "whatever" parties. I've never bailed them out, sobered them up, or hid them from the cops.

I'm sure they're all nice, fun folks, but buddying up to them or any artist/musician would make it difficult to convey criticism about their art (and not because they couldn't handle it, because I might not be able to). Plus there's the whole credibility thing…

All of this came to mind when I sat down to write about Cursive's new CD, Happy Hollow.

Within a week or so after the review copies began floating around the network of those "in the loop," word began to leak that Happy Hollow wasn't so happy. Before long, people were coming up to me at shows, saying "Psst… heard the new one by Cursive? I'm not feeling it. It ain't like their old stuff. They're losing it." And that's some of the nicer comments. Others told me that it just plain sucked. That it marked the end of Cursive. That they turned their backs on their fans. That Tim Kasher no longer had anything to say. That the band was "mailing it in" or "going through the motions."

Didn't sound so promising. I expected the worst when I slipped the CD into my car stereo. I quickly discovered that all those people were full of poo-poo.

Along with Domestica -- the band's career-setting high-water mark -- Happy Hollow is hands down the best thing Cursive has released in their storied career. It is a pop, punk, drunk, funk achievement. An adventure in brash swagger that shines like a gold lamé suit on a street bum pushing a shopping cart full of garbage through the snow. It is (shall I say it?) a dance album. Yes, Cursive has created music that the masses can actually move to without thinking about it.

Add to that Kasher's down-to-earth lyrics. No longer reaching for strange or introspective "I'm a songwriter writing about songwriting" lyrics, Kasher is now content examining questions that are on all our minds. I won't get into the concept here other than to say it involves things like Faith and hope and confusion and uncertainty and anger and Faith. And I'm still not sure I know where he comes down on all of it. I have to listen to it more before I can figure it out.

I already "get" the music part, the swinging "Dorothy at Forty," the bombastic "Big Bang," the strutting "So-So Gigolo" the propulsive "Rise Up! Rise Up!" All worthy of your critical ears. Oh, and did I forget to mention the horns? There are horns, kids. Oh yes, lots of them.

And no, it doesn't sound like any other Cursive album. They've already done that. Why would they do it again? If you miss their angular, jangular edgeworks, go listen to Storms of Early Summer (a disc I never liked) or Domestica. They're still on your iPod.

I say all of this with mind and conscience open and untainted. So to all of you bitter, envious folks who think I'm stroking the boys, trying to get in bed with the artists, hoping to "build bridges" to gain an inside scoop -- go blow it out your blow holes. This one's for the home team, whether you like it or not.

Column 82 -- Living in Fun City
It's all about furniture and cheesecake.

So I was in the park Saturday night to watch Bright Eyes. Were you?

A lot of you were, maybe 10,000, maybe 8,000, maybe 5,000. Depends who you ask. No one really knows for sure. There were a lot of people there. And all of them were wet. Just like me.

A few brief observation about the "event." As expected, it wasn't nearly the size of gathering that 311 was two years ago. Why would it be? Bright Eyes is under the radar, folks. Conor Oberst writes intelligent music that demands an investment from its listeners. It's not head-bobbing groove candy that asks nothing from the brain pan other than the ability to recognize primordial rhythms. Nothing wrong with dance music. It is, as we all know, the mode o' day of the status quo. Bright Eyes, on the other hand, whose music is at times beautiful and always lyrically interesting, ain't exactly the bread-and-butter of Clear Channel-infected commercial radio, keeping it safely under the radar. Which makes Saturday's opening acts Neva Dinova and Gruff Rhys downright underground.

So while you could argue that most of the people in the park on Saturday afternoon were there only to enjoy a free "event" with their families, and that the entertainment could just as well have been three guys and bagpipe, you'd be wrong. The rain proved it. No casual park-goers would have stood their ground from the nexus of that monsoon. It wasn't just raining. It was gushing. Forget about cats and dogs, this was biblical. And throughout the maelstrom, thousands refused to leave, both young and old (though mostly young). Talk about your acid test in the park. Conor Oberst found out who his true fan base was in his hometown. They were standing right in front of him, shivering wet, wanting to hear more.

Which brings us to the Omaha World-Herald and its bizarre declaration of the city's victory over the boredom. Glancing at the cover of the Sunday paper, there on top of the page was a "news story" headlined "Young Omahans hail new Fun City." Yes, folks, in case you were wondering, we now live in Fun City. Evidence of this is the Qwest Center and its endless stream of vintage-rock concerts whose tickets cost more than a typical "young Omahan" brings home in a week at his minimum-wage job. "Fun" also means lots of shopping opportunities, too. As the story boasted, by god, Omaha now has high-end retailers like Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn. And, as everyone knows, once you get a Cheesecake Factory, you've made it. Finally, there was that Bright Eyes concert and the "thousands of mostly young people who packed the grassy bowl of Memorial Park" who "seemed to be finding life here pretty good." (Incidentally, I guess Fun City doesn't have many black citizens. I only saw three in the crowd, and one was performing on stage. Maybe all the black people were busy picking out cookware at Williams-Sonoma).

Who knows why the Omaha World-Herald choose to place this editorial masquerading as a news story on its front page, essentially declaring "Mission Accomplished" like Bush on the deck of a battleship. Nothing much has changed in Omaha over the past decade, unless you view urban sprawl as an accomplishment. Conor Oberst sure doesn't. With his now sadly-defunct punk band, Desaparecidos, he wrote an entire album railing against it and the consumer-driven paradise defined by the Omaha World-Herald and the Chamber of Commerce. A year later, he moved to New York City. Oberst and most of the people who withstood God's wrath Saturday consider that kind of "fun" to represent everything that's wrong with America.

Because when you take away the shopping opportunities and the overpriced concerts at the Qwest Center there ain't much "fun" stuff left to do, especially if you're a youth in this faceless city. Sure, there's the One Percent indie rock shows that draw maybe a thousand kids every weekend to the city's one all-ages venue. There's the College World Series (that strangely, the article forgot to mention). But what else? Why would any youth want to live and die in Omaha? The answer overwhelmingly is the same as it was before the consultants declared war on boredom: Omaha is "a great place to raise a family." Fine, but what's that got to do with Fun City?

It reminds me of a chat I had with a friend of mine in his 20s who recently moved into one of those high-style condos downtown. I asked him what he thought of his "hip" new place, and he looked at me disappointedly and said, "It's designed by someone in their 40s who thinks they know how someone in their 20s wants to live."

Which perfectly sums up what's wrong with Fun City. The city fathers have forgotten who or what "youth" really is. It sure ain't some guy in his 40s pulling down $80k a year. It's that guy's son and daughter, who this weekend will be driving around Dodge Street looking for something to do. And not finding it. Unless, of course the World-Herald is right and today's youth thinks "fun" means aimlessly spending money on furniture and cheesecake. If so, God help us all.

Tonight, The Fiery Furnaces with Kite Pilot down at Sokol Underground for what is sure to be a sell-out, right?. Among the promotion for this show is the Omaha World Herald "Fun City" article referenced above in which Filmstreams organizer Rachel Jacobson was quoted as saying, "There's 30,000 people who go to U2, but there's also 1,000 people excited about seeing the Fiery Furnaces at Sokol Underground." Hmm... maybe One Percent should have moved this show upstairs...

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

The Fiery Furnaces' sibling rivalry; VCR, Life After Laserdisque tonight... – June 21, 2006 –

This week's feature interview with The Fiery Furnaces is now online (read it here). Female furnace Eleanor Friedberger talks about how the band creates its quirky music, the advantages of a sibling relationship, Sebadoh and softball. Among the stuff that didn't make it into the story is an explanation why their new CD, Bitter Tea, was released on Fat Possum instead of Rough Trade. "It's complicated," Eleanor said. "Rough Trade in the U.S. is released on Sanctuary Records, and they stopped putting out records in US We needed a release date and they couldn't give it to us, so we licensed the recording to Fat Possum in the US and it came out on Rough Trade in Europe." What's in store for their Omaha set? "We're going to play a lot of songs from Bitter Tea. In the past we did it medley style -- 50 minutes without stopping. Now we're back to a more traditional style and will play whole songs." And what's up next for the band? "We're going to record another record in the winter, this time with live humans. We're going to have to recruit some people. But for now, we're going to be on tour most of the rest of the summer." I mention in the story that they're the darlings of the NPR set, and as a matter of fact they just did a new interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross that aired Tuesday. You can listen to it here. It should be great show, especially when you add the fact that it'll be opening act Kite Pilot's last show with guitarist/vocalist Austin Britton.

And speaking of bands with personnel changes, tonight at O'Leaver's it's SideOneDummy Records band VCR with Omaha's own Life After Laserdisque featuring their new line-up sans lead singer. Who'll be handling the vocals now? Show up at 9:30 with five bucks and find out.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Briefly... O'Leaver's show tonight... – June 20, 2006 –

Not much to report today, other than a couple Bonnaroo reviews that fell into my inbox here and here. There's a show at O'Leaver's tonight featuring a couple glamrock bands I've never heard of. Find out more here. Look for my interview with The Fiery Furnaces online tomorrow, and the last word on Conorfest in the Thursday column.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Live Review: Bright Eyes' soaker in Memorial Park... – June 18, 2006 –

We made it all the way to "Lover I Don't Have to Love." Then we'd had enough. We hadn't counted on the rain. Judging by the condition of everyone else in the crowd, they hadn't either. But there's a funny thing about rain. Once you're wet, you're wet. Then you're just cold.

It started to rain before Bright Eyes started. Someone made an announcement from stage, a warning that there's a good chance that there would be lightning, and rain. But that the show would go on. Once the rain became steady, we made our way down toward the stage and hid beneath a tree along with a half-dozen other people, including some poor guy with a broken leg who had been stretched out in a lounger, a piece of plastic covering his cast.

Neva Dinova on stage

The perspective was better from down there. Up on stage in his black longsleeve hoodie thing was Conor saying something like "I'm going to play as long as you want me to or as long as they let me." And with that, he lit into a new song, or a song I didn't recognize. Within a few minutes, the rain began to subside and slowly, stop. But I knew better. I could see the storm clouds circling. I knew this was the calm before the storm.

I brought a moleskin with me and wrote down some observations after we arrived at around 6 p.m. right before Neva Dinova started their set. There was, what, maybe 3,000 people there? It just didn't look like very many. About the size of crowd that you'd see at Shakespeare on the Green on a Saturday night. The weather had been cooperating, it was nice and humid.

From where we were, toward the back of the bowl, no one was really paying attention to Jake and his band of merry men. I had no idea who all those people were -- since when is Neva Dinova an 8-piece with a violin? I did recognize, however, Roger Lewis, set up on stage right wearing a red-and-white striped hat. Neva's hippy blues seemed to fit in with the Midwestern love-in vibe… sort of. This wasn't a real hippie crowd. Hippies don't wear Puma gear or Abercrombie shirts.

Next to us was a covey of O! kids -- volunteers wearing red O! shirts that had been charged with handing out cheesy O! beach balls, supposedly for a photo shoot. "We're asking people to not blow them up and throw them around until Bright Eyes gets on stage." There was talk of some sort of choreographed moment when everyone was supposed to throw their beachball into the air, a moment that would never happen.

"I'm surprised that they allow people to put chairs so close to the stage," said O! guy. "All those emo kids are going to stampede when Bright Eyes gets up there." I nodded.

Bellows, from stage: "Do they have funnel cakes here?" He repeated the question and then someone yelled "No!" A joke... but everyone thought he was serious. Jake is funnier when he's drunk on stage. Neva finished their set with a cover of "Here Comes the Sun," ironic, considering that the storm clouds were just beginning to loom in the north.

There was about a half-hour break before Gruff Rhys came on. Some random observations:

-- Standing about 10 yards in front of us was a kid wearing a homemade T-shirt that said "Conor Oberst is my hero." Ironic? Maybe not.

-- Overhead, a helicopter flew over the crowd in circles -- chomp-chomp-chomp.

-- Hacky Sack and the geeks that play it are the most annoying people in the world. No matter where they set up their "hacky" circle, they are always in the way, and inevitably, run into someone.

-- We searched for the most "emo" kid in the crowd, and found him only a few feet in front of us -- a boy in his late teens, sitting alone wearing a brown polo shirt and blue ball cap. Emo kids aren't fashionable, they're lonely.

-- Lots of goth kids. More Goth kids than black people. We counted only two black people in the crowd, while there seemed to be an endless parade of Goth kids with their multi-zippered oversized pants, black hair, striped shirts and socks, and Lydia-from-Beetlejuice makeup. One guy looked like a Goth mime.

-- In spite of all the hype about the cops, we never noticed them after we got inside the park (the perimeter outside the park, however, looked like a pre-riot staging area). We weren't searched when we passed a couple cops on the way in, and easily could have snuck in a bottle of wine, though I assume there were "spotters" hidden somewhere (maybe in the trees?) who would have swooped down the instant we raised a bottle.

Gruff Rhys on stage. Getting more crowded...

Next up came Gruff Rhys, barely visible seated on stage with an acoustic guitar, a beat-box/Casio device next to him. He does have a great voice, kind of like the guy from Seals and Crofts. Again, from our vantage point, no one was listening, maybe because the music was being sung in Welsh and was somewhat boring, helped along occasionally by the Casio and Rhys sense of humor.

Meanwhile, all through his set, people kept arriving. By 7:30 the crowd looked to be around 5,000, but there was still plenty of room to find a spot, lay down a blanket and relax.

Let's get this out of the way. It makes no sense to compare this concert with the 311 concert from two years ago. Bright Eyes will never be as popular as 311. He'll never sell as many records, he'll never draw the kind of crowds 311 draws. 311 is a commercial pop band, heard regularly on Clear Channel radio stations, and will do whatever it takes to move units. Bright Eyes is not heard on the radio and will not compromise his art for sales or popularity. He shuns commerciality, even though there were gigantic US Cellular banners hung on either side of that stage.

What was the attendance right before Bright Eyes went on? Probably 10,000. Before the rain, from on top of the hill, there looked like fewer than 10k, and closer to 5k. Nothing like the 311 show two years ago, when you couldn't get near the bowl if you got there after it started -- in fact most of the south hillside had been filled as well (The estimate for that show had been 30,000 and that seems somewhat light).

So about 5 minutes after the rain announcement came from stage, it began to spit. Nothing horrible, sprinkles. Then slow, steady rain. That's when we folded up the lawn chairs and got up to leave. Huddled under the tree while listening to the first couple Bright Eyes songs, we thought maybe the rain would stop, after all, the sun had come out and was blazing on the crowd right where we had been sitting.

Oberst never sounded better, with a strong, professional band backing him. The crowd, now standing, was into it. Introducing one song, Oberst made a pitch for starting a mass transit system in Omaha, just like they have in NYC, "where he lives now," he said. Driving around in your car listening to music is fun, he said, but sometimes it's good to get out of your bubble and talk to someone you don't know. And it's good for mother earth, who's about to cry all over you.

Crowd from trees stage right. Miserable.

About five minutes later, the sky opened up. And it poured. Our little tree provided little shelter. Mr. Broken Leg was pulled closer beneath the branches, but he was soaked. As was the thousands who were still there listening to their savior. We moved to a bigger tree and leaned against its thick, dry trunk for warmth. But it was obvious the rain wasn't going to let up.

We made it to "Lover I Don't Have to Love," and then gave up. One observation: It's hard to walk in flip-flops when they're soaking wet. I looked up at the stage as we left and could see some of the earlier bands and VIPs, along with Conor and his friends, warm and dry under the stage tarp, watching while all the world turned into a puddle of human rain.

Though it was pouring, there was no reason to run. We were already wet, and had five blocks until we'd get home. Two little girls ran by us on the bike path, their hair stuck to their T-shirts. They were followed a moment later by their little sister, yelling, "What are you running from? What are you running from? What are you running from?..."

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Mark Burgess CANCELED; Joyner/Stevens/Bellows tonight; who in the hell is Ladyfinger (ne)?... – June 16, 2006 –

Let's get this out of the way: Mark Burgess' show at Mick's tonight has been canceled. Burgess played in Atlanta Wednesday night, but flew back to Hamburg today due to a family emergency. There's an outside chance that he'll pass through Omaha in September when he's in the country for a band-supported performance in NYC.

The cancellation will now allow me to attend the Graphic Noise Rock Poster show down at Jackson Artworks, featuring Simon Joyner, Ted Stevens and Jake Bellows -- all three for only $5. Unfortunately, galleries are lousy places to see performances. Go for the posters, dude, then afterward go see Skull Fight! (a.k.a. The Cuterthans) at O'Leaver's for another $5.

So the burning question about Saturday is: What to do after the Bright Eyes concert? (Incidentally, now there's a chance for thunderstorms Saturday afternoon. Uh-oh.). A lot of people will be strolling over to The 49r to see Ladyfinger (ne). No, the (ne) after Ladyfinger isn't a mistake -- that's the band's new name, according to the fine folks at Saddle Creek Records. You've heard this story before: Seems there's a band in California that already owns the rights to the name Ladyfinger, so our Ladyfinger (the real Ladyfinger) had to add something to the name or change it entirely. They liked the name so much, they decided to add the (ne, which I guess stands for Nebraska? Hmmm... maybe they could have just added an "s" at the end (Ladyfingers?). Anyway, Ladyfinger (ne) (something tells me that name's not going to work) and Lincoln's Ideal Cleaners are playing at The Niner Saturday after Bright Eyes, which will probably finish up at around 10.

I was going to suggest that if the Niner doesn't trip your trigger, there's always the goony-summer-goodtime rock of Dressy Bessy at O'Leaver's -- but according to the Dressy Bessy's myspace page, the show has been canceled "through no fault of our own." Meanwhile, O'Leaver's main page still shows it scheduled as does www.dressybessy.com. I suggest you contact O'Leaver's before making the trip.

Look for some reviews here over the weekend.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Get ready for Saturday: Bright Eyes concert review round-up; The Black Angels tonight... – June 15, 2006 –

With the Bright Eyes concert around the corner, I thought I'd share a handful of reviews of his Canadian swing that's taking place as you read this. The tone of the reviews is rather subdued, though there's a couple spooge-fests along with a few hurled rocks. Sounds like Oberst and Co. played mostly mid-size venues -- 1,000 capacity or smaller. You can read the full reviews by clicking on the headline in front of each capsule.

Concert Reviews -- Straight.com Vancouver -- Malkin Bowl on Sunday, June 4 -- Maybe the best of the bunch. Inspirational quote: "Three vaguely embarrassed-looking security guards would march a teenage girl out of the venue not long after Oberst and his Bright Eyes band began—she presumably had a bomb or something—but it was an otherwise peaceful gathering of mostly young, female mall hippies. Of the men who were there, many were baffled dads, though there was also a healthy complement of clean-living young men, dressed like they wanted to be English schoolboys when they grow up." Nice.

Band emotes punk -- Goldstream News Gazette -- June 9 -- Probably the worst of the group, this one will activate the ol' gag reflex. Get ready to lean over the toilet: "For me, it struck during 'Lua,' the fourth song of the evening that he performed alone under the spotlight with his acoustic guitar. On the brink of tears, I heard a little voice deep within me whisper, 'I love you too.'" One's gorge doth rise...

Oberst's brilliance brightens concert -- Ottawa Sun -- Bronson Centre, Ottawa - June 12, 2006 -- This one starts off like it's going to be a bag full o' razors with this quote: "I can't tell you how many times Conor Oberst, the sulky singer and songwriter better known as Bright Eyes, was on the verge of storming offstage in a temper tantrum or breaking down into tears at Monday night's Bronson Centre gig." Turns out to be a yawner.

'Saviour of literate rock' fails to live up to the hype -- The Ottawa Citizen, June 14, 2006. Lynn seemed upset that Oberst's set was only 80 minutes. "But experience doesn't always guarantee charisma, and having loads of material doesn't always mean one is going to play for hours. Oberst gave a decent, 80-minute performance Monday at Bronson Centre but never seemed entirely comfortable in the spotlight. For those who were hoping for superlatives, it was a bit disappointing." Still, it winds up being fairly even keeled.

London Free Press -- Centennial Hall, London, Ont. - June 13, 2006 -- Conor talks about loving Labatt's from stage. "At one point, the Blue seemed to take its own revenge. 'I've got to relieve myself. I'll be back in 25 seconds,' Oberst said around the 50-minute mark before actually leaving the stage."

Concert Review: Bright Eyes, June 10, Winnipeg, Canada -- Blah. "Conor Oberst's vocals wouldn't have won him a spot on American Idol; with his somewhat husky, shaky style, however, he excels at conveying emotions and telling stories."

Bright Eyes surprise -- June 11 -- Hah. "Oberst's stage schtick has always trended towards preciousness -- his distinctive tremulous bleat, in particular -- and he found ample opportunity yesterday to do his willow-in-the-wind bit on the slower numbers."

Sounds like the set list will consist mostly of stuff from from Wide Awake, a new song, and no "When President Talks to God." All in all, a timid outing that will likely set well with the Memorial Park crowd but won't win him any new fans. So how many will show up? First, reread my take on what will happen, written back in April. The weather report looks pretty good, which will help, as will the fact that no Nebraska team made it into the College World Series. I still say the numbers will be far less than the 311 concert a couple years ago...

Tonight, retro stoner meets psychedelic rock band The Black Angels (check out their myspace page) are at Sokol Underground with Hopewells and Omaha's own Virgasound. $8, 9 p.m.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Column 81 -- The Chameleon speaks; Head Like a Kite, An Iris Pattern tonight... – June 14, 2006 –

You're getting the full, unabridged version of my interview with Chameleons' frontman Mark Burgess. I wrote a condensed version for my column that will appear in the paper today, but I figured I might as well include it in its entirety at Lazy-i (Questions marked with an asterisk (*) are bonus material found only online here!). The 2003 Burgess show made that year's "best of" list and I have little doubt that Friday night's show at Mick's will make the list at the end of this year. There's additional info about the show here, and if you want more information about Burgess, check out my 2003 Burgess feature written in support of that Healing Arts show.

Column 81: Catching Up with a Chameleon
Mark Burgess returns to Omaha.

The Chameleons is one of those bands that changed peoples' lives.

No, they didn't change my life. I only discovered the influential '80s band a few years ago when I interviewed Chameleons frontman Mark Burgess for an article written in support of a solo show at the Healing Arts Center. There were a lot of people there that night, many who told me afterward that The Chameleons dreamy, floating music inspired them in some way, sort of how the band clearly inspired acts like The Psychedelic Furs, The Church, The Cure and Lincoln's own For Against. All of those bands sport the same, hollow, ghost-eyed style of gothic ambient rock.

So when it was announced that Burgess was coming through Omaha again -- this time at Mick's on June 16 -- I e-mailed him a few questions to see what he's been up to since that first show way back in '03. Here's the bulk of our little internet-based Q&A (including emoticons!). See you at Mick's Friday ($12, 9 p.m.).

What do you remember about the last time you performed in Omaha?

Quite a lot actually. The beautiful room, which was more like a kind of New Age temple than a venue, the hushed attention of the audience, which I recall was a bit unnerving 'cause I wasn't used to that level of respect at acoustic shows :) I remember strolling the streets with Stephen (Sheehan, the show's promoter) watching all the buskers that were around in glorious sunshine, one guy played the theme from 2001 on partially filled wine glasses. That was something. * And Dereck (Higgins, who accompanied on bass) of course, whom I'd never met before the sound check, how quickly he grasped the arrangements and dynamics and then later he introduced me to his amazing record collection, which included practically every record I ever grew up with. And one guy at the show who shyly made me a present of a guardian angel talisman, which I've carried around with me ever since.

* You're only doing three U.S. shows this time 'round, and once again you're including Omaha. Why?

Well, one of the reasons is to preview the up and coming live Chameleons DVD and promote that. It won't be distributed traditionally, rather it's only available via mail order directly from the band. So the manager thought it would be a good idea to preview it and make a few personal appearances. I was invited to come to Atlanta and to Omaha when Stephen heard about it; and the SF thing is a good opportunity to hang out with one of my closest friends, James Oakes of The Bellows. I'm hoping very much to bring my band out here before the end of the year and play more widely. I'm trying to drum up support for a new recording of fresh material.

* I believe when we last spoke, you were living in Hamburg. Are you still there and, if so, what keeps you there? Is it particularly conducive to the artist's lifestyle?

Yeah I'm still in Hamburg. I think it's one of the most beautiful and energetic cities in northern Europe, that's not to take anything away from other great cities, like Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen etc. But for me Hamburg has a very special ambiance, it was a love affair that began a very long time ago during the early days of The Chameleons. My wife is from there so it seemed logical to settle there. We spent some months living in Manchester, but it didn't really suit us. We both love going back to Manchester and have a lot of friends there, and family of course, but Hamburg is a bit more relaxed generally.

What is the current state of The Chameleons? When we last spoke, guitarist Reg Smithies' son had just been born, putting a damper on any upcoming reunion tours.

Yeah, and they're now expecting their second child, a girl I believe so that's pretty much that :-D We're all kind of scattered to the four winds and you know with the passing of time we've become very different people, different priorities. I think we took it as far as we could really.

Are you more interested in pursuing a career as a solo artist than keeping The Chameleons active?

Yeah, I think so. I mean I try and get involved with different types of people in terms of collaborations and I like re-exploring past musical relationships, I think with Chameleons we're too anchored in the past really from an audience's point of view. Having said that, I still enjoy playing a lot of that stuff, especially songs that we didn't play for one reason or another, like "Looking Inwardly" for example. It is very difficult, though, because Chameleons is what people are mainly interested in, it's hard to get them to put that aside and be open for other people I play alongside. Some do though, so I still have an audience :)

* Tell me about the Ascension DVD. How did you put it together. What were you trying to accomplish with it?

A film maker contacted me prior to the US reunion tour and asked if he could come to the Californian shows and film them. The understanding was that if we had something we were happy with we could come to some kind of arrangement about putting it out. It was too good an opportunity to miss, really, and I think it's the best footage of the band I've ever seen. That was the point really, to document the band at a time, which we all felt it was better than ever.

Do you keep current with what's going on with today's music? If so, what's your take on the current status of American music? To me, it's been in a rut for the past two or three years!

I think generally it has. One reason is because from the point of view of genre, it's become very, very fragmented. There hasn't been one scene that kind of unifies a ground swell of attitude or thought. I don't keep as current as I used to, I tend to rely on friends or whatever pointing interesting things out to me. Currently I'm still playing the Arcade Fire pretty much non-stop.

I think part of the reason for America's artistic malaise is its current political climate. What's your take on US foreign policy and how do you think it's impacted your life and your music? (I remember you throwing out some interesting jabs at Tony Blair during your '03 Omaha performance).

Well obviously all our lives have changed with what's been going on with US foreign policy. I understand that politically America has been forced to react to the forces that have been raging. I've lost what little faith I had that power politics will ever change the world for the better. I have contrary opinions to a great many issues that potentially may offend. I find it almost impossible to trust information that I'm given by the major media and think that in many instances, such as 9/11 for example, they fail us by failing to address very important questions. My cynicism toward Blair, though, predates all of that to a large degree. I feel that he got his party elected by betraying every ideal that the party was founded on. It was clever politics, forcing the Tories even further to the right and occupying the middle ground, but it was a betrayal in my view and it made me very sad.

What can we expect from your upcoming Omaha performance?

I honestly don't know. I never really know how it will go or exactly what I'll play. Hopefully the people who come will hear something or feel something that will stay with them for a long time. And at the very least it will be an honest performance.

* What's in the works for Mark Burgess for the rest of '06 and beyond?

Hard to say. I do hope I can take the band out and develop the new songs I've been working on. I have an autobiography coming out in December. Beyond that, I don't know. I have to think long and hard about whether I should continue as I have been doing or go into something else. I just don't know.

Column 80: Special Delivery
A peek inside the ol' mailbag.

Believe it or not, The Reader does get letters. They just don't print them. I have no idea why. I'm sure they have their reasons that involve "ad space" or "page count" or some inconvenience involving the phases of the moon. That said, in these days of the interweb, the fact that someone has gone to the trouble to sit down and compose a comment in response to something published in your paper deserves not only acknowledgment but proper presentation in those pages. It's called giving your readers a voice.

Readers like a local celebrity of old, responding to the May 11 column about how "vintage" music has taken over the airwaves:

… As someone maybe 10 years older than you, let me assure you that Styx, Foreigner and the 70s incarnation of Steve Miller sucked then, suck now, and will still suck 30 years from now. Boston -- not so bad.

Meanwhile, I agree completely with your premise. Let me add this for your consideration: Radio is ruining memory, sucking the sweetness out of nostalgia. In c. 1979, if I heard "Windy" by the Association, it took me back to high school, reminded me of the friends I hung out with at the pool that summer, put me in a specific place and time. And it was bittersweet because it took me directly from age 30 to age 17, skipping the intervening years in a sort of "time travel for the emotions." But now when I hear Windy, it reminds me merely of when I heard it last week. Or maybe the week before, or the week before that, or ...

Come to think of it, maybe you can't share my regret at this turn of events, since there never was a temporal gap between spins of "More Than A Feeling" and the like -- it's been played every week since its release.

Your points about the fragmentation of today's music audience are also true. Do you know that the fragmentation was deliberate, brought about by consultants, radio stations and (of course) advertisers? Anyway, one upshot is that these kids will never have the bittersweet experience of a shared nostalgic moment.

Not the most pressing problem in the world, I know. Just kind of a little sweetener that isn't available any more.

Signed: D.D. Doomey

"DD" as in Diver Dan as in half of the team of Otis XII and Diver Dan Doomey that owned local morning radio on Z-92 when I was a tot growing up in Omaha (and later, Ft. Calhoun). I won't wax nostalgic about Space Commander Wack (and Stupid Larry) or Lance Stallion Radio Detective other than to say Otis and Diver's unbridled creativity hasn't been heard on local radio since they left it sometime in the '90s, unless you consider misinformed, opinionated blather and fart jokes "creativity." Some do. Actually, most do, judging by the Arbitron numbers.

Reader Robin Tills also wrote in about radio's nostalgia boom: "I am not a musician, but I wonder since there are only so many musical notes to write from, and a lot of great songs have already been written and sung from groups like Journey, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Boston, John Cougar, Cheap Trick, Survivor, and on and on, it's gotta be hard to come up with something new. … I don't know if today's musicians really make an honest commitment to create great music…"

The problem isn't that today's music isn't as good, the problem is that the good music isn't getting heard. Tooling 'round town the other day with my iPod, Low's "California," Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins' "Rise Up with Fists!!" and Sufjan Stevens' "Jacksonville" came up on the shuffle back-to-back-to-back and I thought to myself all of these songs could be hits as big as any hit from the '70s or '80s if they only got picked up by Clear Channel or whatever music conglomerate owns the radio waves, because, folks, we certainly don't own them anymore. Judging from D.D.'s comments, maybe we never did.

Omahan Ed Perini commented on the May 25 column about wearing hearing protection at rock shows: "…I agree that the myth that wearing earplugs 'ruins the experience' is ridiculous. In fact, I have found that wearing them cuts out a lot of the distortion, and eliminates some of the background noise - like, say, people who insist on talking loudly while a band is playing."

They also protect from people who insist on talking -- or rather screaming -- at you during the set. Conversations like: "WANT ANOTHER BEER?" "WHAT?" "I SAID DO. YOU. WANT. ANOTHER. BEER?" "WHAT?"… Full throttle, directly into the ol' ear canal. Much more damaging than that guitar solo you just missed. And completely unintelligible unless you're wearing ear plugs. Just sayin', do yourself a favor.

Keep those cards and letters coming, folks.

"Sometimes you just wake up and say, 'What are we doing playing in a sports bar?'"

It's a good question coming from a band that has played in such regal locations as a 500-year-old Buddhist temple in Osaka, a 19th century synagogue on the lower east side of New York City and countless historic venues throughout the United States, Europe and the world.

One can only wonder what Warn Defever, the mastermind behind His Name Is Alive, will think of the beer-stenched confines of O'Leaver's Pub. Weeks into the band's first headlining U.S. tour in 10 years, he's already devised his own, personal ritual for exorcising demons from less-than-hallowed performance spaces.

"Some bars have a vibe that comes from people drinking there for years. Just the smell of the place, it's not the most spiritual of environments," Defever said via cell on the road somewhere between San Francisco and Seattle. "We used to play a song at the beginning of our set to cleanse the room of evil spirits and get everyone on the right page. Then last night I realized -- where did those bad spirits go? They went to the next bar down the street." (continued)

Column 79 -- Omaha, where the music is easy... – June 1, 2006 –

You have to admit, seeing live music really is a bargain in this town. We do have it good here. And it's not only pricing, it's the variety of shows, the sheer number of shows throughout the year. A few years ago, I was contemplating moving to Austin, figuring the weather was nicer and they had a better music scene. After a few extended vacations there, I changed my mind. It was too expensive. It would cost me three times as much to buy a house there like the one I have now. The bars on 6th St. were always overcrowded. And other than Emo's and one or two other places, the music was mostly alligator blues or C&W... icch! I quickly realized that a lot of the bands that I liked that played in Austin eventually made it to Omaha, anyway. There were exceptions, though (there are always exceptions). A few bands that I've always wanted to see perform live -- Silkworm, Yo La Tengo, Lloyd Cole, Morrissey, to name a few -- just don't make sense to local promoters when you consider the Cost/Draw Ratio -- that's the cost it would take to get the band to play here vs. the band's drawing power in this city. For example, Silkworm, though hugely popular in Chicago and on the East Coast, would never draw enough people here to even come close to breaking even (that's probably not a good example as Silkworm are no longer playing live after the tragic death of their drummer, Michael Dahlquist, in 2005). Anyway, I guess that's what road trips are for. The message: get out and see see some live shows. It's cheap, it's easy, and when you show up and buy a CD or T-shirt, you're helping a band that you love do what they love to do. It's a better use of your money than dropping $20 to see The Da Vinci Code... Take advantage of what you've got here... before it's gone.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Interview: Tilly and the Wall; I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Rogers Sisters tonight – May 31, 2006 –

Getting back to the regular schedule with this week's interview/feature with Nick White of Tilly and the Wall (read it here). When Tilly first appeared on the scene three or four years ago, I thought they were a unique and very cute addition to the scene. When Conor Oberst took them under his wing by making Wild Like Children the Team Love debut release, I thought it was smart, not only for Tilly but for Oberst. By that time, the band already had a national buzz going. But to be honest, I never thought the band would survive past the debut. Where could they go next? Well, years later and here they are with their follow-up and it looks like the only place they're headed is up. While they've plowed the soil of their fanbase through touring, they haven't really had the big national exposure -- i.e., television, MTV -- that will turn them into superstars. And believe me, they're going to get it. Considering who they're targeting with their music -- a distinctively younger audience -- Tilly is perfect fodder for the Conans and Lettermans and Lenos of the world, not to mention TRL. Should that happen, the sky's the limit.

In the story, Nick and I cover the nature of the novelty, the tap dancing, the new record, their audience and their songs' central message. Here's some of the interview that didn't make it into the piece due to space limitations:

And so on. Funny thing about the interview -- I was given Nick's cell number figuring I'd be reach him on the road. Turns out he was doing the interview from Caffeine Dreams!

Tonight at Sokol Underground, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness along with The Rogers Sisters and local phenoms Race for Titles. All for a mere $8 -- an incredible bargain. Actually, a bargain you likely won't find anywhere else but in Omaha, but I'll talk more about that in this week's column, which goes online tomorrow.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Live Review: An Iris Pattern, The Monroes, The Stock Market Crash – May 27, 2006 –

One of the most enjoyable nights I've had at O'Leaver's in a long time, could you ask for a more diverse bill? Isn't this what all shows should be like? Probably. Maybe. Definitely.

First up was An Iris Pattern fronted by Omaha's own man of mystery and intrigue Greg Loftis looking like the spitting image of Jeff Tweedy, surrounding himself with some of the better talent in the city, judging from what I heard. James McMann on bass is no slouch, whether you like GTO or not, you cannot deny that this guy has some amazing chops. I don't know who the other guys were, but all were solid, especially the band's lead guitarist, who clearly understands the right way to play an arena-style rock guitar solo. Iris Pattern is just that -- an arena-rock band that would have felt right at home at the Civic Auditorium in the '70s. The guy next to me compared them to Billy Thorpe, and in fact, Loftis' voice has a similar timbre. Another guy was reminded of early Gram Parsons. I couldn't put my finger on who they sounded like, but can tell you that live they're much harder than what can be heard on the recordings posted at their myspace site. The sound mix was uneven and disappointing, mainly because these guys seem engineered for a larger stage (though the headliners, who have a similar trait, sounded perfect). Someone get them down to Sokol Underground.

Though it's been almost a year since they played live, The Monroes have not lost an ounce of their rural-fied energy. Classic heartland tractor-punk at it's finest. If you've never heard them before, their rural punk sound is driven mercilessly by Lincoln Dickison's guitar, which sounds like a chainsaw cutting a Hot Rod Lincoln in half. Keeping Dickison from going completely unhinged is the rhythm section of drummer Jesse Render and bassist Mike Tulis. Render's drums are rat-a-tat-tatty, understated and subtle. I tried to imagine what Render and these guys would sound like behind a big, throaty, hammering drum set and realized it would throw everything out of whack. Translated: leave it alone, it's just right. Tulis' role is just as important as it is understated. Listen closely and you realize he's the guy driving the tractor. Then there's frontman Gary Dean Davis, who looks exactly like he did more than a decade ago when he was fronting Frontier Trust, the band that The Monroes most resemble. Gary's hog-calling, atonal yell -- barking out lines about Impalas and the hook-and-ladder formation -- speaks for the everyman in every Nebraskan whose ever navigated the state's washboard-ladden dirt roads. Highlight of their set was a new yet-to-be-recorded tune that shows Render at his rat-a-tat-tattiest. If you missed them last night, The Monroes are playing a Speed! Nebraska Records showcase down at Sokol Underground June 30 with Ideal Cleaners and Diplomats of Solid Sound.

Finally, taking the stage in all their theatrical glory were Oklahoma City's The Stock Market Crash. People who'd seen them before warned me that I should have worn sunglasses because these guys like to shoot flood lights into the crowd a la The Faint and a dozen other dance bands. Frontman Matthew Bacon looked like he just walked out of a late '80s Duran Duran video with a get-up that included a Russian sailor's shirt, jacket, Clockwork Orange bowler, tight slacks and eyeliner. The style didn't stop with the costume, Bacon had all the moves you'd expect from any British pop band that you remember from the early days of MTV's 120 Minutes (who remember ABC?). The whole thing would be a joke if the band wasn't so damn good. They were as close to authentic as you're going to find, emulating bands like Psychedelic Furs and Morrissey, though at the end of the day, Bacon reminded me of an energetic Jarvis Cocker from Pulp channeling Bowie and Julian Cope. Yes, there were flood lights, as well as stage smoke and strobes, lighting up Bacon as he darted into the crowd and leaned into frightened, confused patrons. Fun!

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

The Monroes, Two Gallants tonight, free root beer Saturday, and the rest of the weekend… – May 26, 2006 –

Briefly, here's what's happening this weekend show-wise:

At the top of the order are The Monroes with Stockmarket Crash and An Iris Pattern at O'Leaver's. This is a comeback of sorts for The Monroes, who haven't played live in quite a while. $5, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Two Gallants are doing a one-of-a-kind acoustic set at Mick's in Benson. It may be the only time you'll get to see the duo take this approach to their usually blazing sea-shanty ballads. That said, playing unplugged should be an easy transition for these folky guys. With Drakkar Sauna. $8, 9 p.m.

Saturday night at Sokol Underground boasts the return of The Cuterthans after a four-year absence. Did I say Cuterthans? I guess they're actually going by the name Skull Fight!, which is less interesting than the original name. "The Cuterthans (err.. Skull Fight!, as the audience will find out that night) have got pieces of the Carsinogents, Viagrasound (Virgasound) , The Fonzies, and Roarbot all balled up into one," said cuter than a skull fighter Jason Steady, who also promises that the band will be offering free root beer at the show. How can you beat that? Also on the bill are Straight Outta Junior High, Treaty of Paris and VKS, a band that Steady says is "a bunch of high school-aged kids playing ska. That's right, SKA. Just when you thought it was long gone, here come the youngsters." $7, 8 p.m.

Sunday night is a busy one, what with everyone having the next day off and all. Down at O'Leaver's it's The Third Men opening for Oakley Hall, a band that Conor Oberst name-checked in his interview in this week's issue of The City Weekly, which should guarantee the place will be crawling with slackerly indie kids. $5, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, downtown at Sokol Underground, Rhymesayers member DJ Abilities will be on the turntable and the mic. $10, 9 p.m.

And if you're in Lincoln, you'll want to check out Saddle Creek Records artist Ladyfinger with Them Vs. Them and the incomparable Virgasound at Duffy's. $5, 9:30 p.m.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Column 78 -- Heard, not felt; High Violets tonight… – May 25, 2006 –

OK, consider this week's column a public service announcement. I listen to a lot of music, both in live settings and with a variety of headphones. Within the last few months there has been a ton of press about the dangers of iPods to your hearing. In some articles, that fear bleached over to concern about wearing headphones in general. So I packed up my iPod along with my iPod earbuds, my Etymotic ER*6 earphones and my Ultrasone HFI-700 headphones and dropped in on earguy extraodinare Dr. Britt Thedinger, who's name I got from commercials heard every morning on NPR affiliate KIOS 91.5 FM. We spent about five minutes talking about iPods and headphones and spent the rest of our two hours together talking about rock shows and earplugs. An area of focus that didn't make it into the column was concerns faced specifically by musicians who are bombarded by loud music every night. He said being behind the stack protects them somewhat -- it's louder in front of the speakers. But that ultimately there are risks for rock stars. Just look at Pete Townshend, who has become a spokesperson for hearing loss. "The point is, musicians are realizing that they're at risk," Thedinger said, "Old rock stars saying, 'You young people, this will happen to you.'" Thedinger recommends making an appointment and getting fitted for "musicians earplugs" which cost around $150 but are effective in blocking out only dangerous frequencies and not all frequencies -- like my trusty yellow earplugs do. It's a small price to pay to be able to rock when your 65.

Tonight at O'Leaver's, the gorgeous sounds of Portland's High Violets. The four-piece, led by vocalist Kaitlyn ni Donovan, has been compared to every lush, '90s ambient band you can think of, from My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive to Jesus and Mary Chain and, well, Lush. Strangely, their website says they're in Lawrence tonight at the Jackpot and that the Omaha show isn't until June 16, but both the One Percent and O'Leaver's sites say this show is tonight, with Landing on the Moon opening. $5, 9:30.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Eric Bachmann on Saddle Creek; Cursive tour dates; Oberst on SNL… – May 24, 2006 –

Catching up on some assorted old news from the web on a sleepy Wednesday…

-- Looks like Crooked Fingers frontman Eric Bachmann will have his next solo album, To the Races, released on Saddle Creek Records Aug 22, according to this item at aversion.com. This is a great add to the Creek roster -- i.e., I dig Bachmann's Crooked Fingers records.

-- Also, on Aug. 22, Cursive will release their next full-length, Happy Hollow. Punknews.org has the track list here, while, Cursive's summer tour dates just went up on CMJ here, including an Aug. 4 Lollapalooza gig in Grant Park, Chicago.

-- My annual predictions article just seems to get more and more on target. Remember I said that this was the year Bright Eyes a.k.a. Conor Oberst would appear on Saturday Night Live? Well, apparently it happened last Saturday night... sort of. According to tvsquad.com (because who else stays home and watches SNL these days?), host Kevin Spacey did a skit toward the end of the program where he dressed up as Neil Young promoting his new album I Do Not Agree With Many Of This Administration's Policies. Among those helping out with the performance, Adam Samberg (famous for the "Lazy Sunday" vid) dressed up as and introduced as Conor Oberst. If anyone sees this online somewhere, pass on the link, I'd love to see it.

-- Personal critic/writing guru Robert Christgau has a new Consumer Guide entry at the Village Voice (here) He loves the new one by The Streets and gives the new Springsteen album the "dud of the month" award.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Live Review: The Terminals; Minus the Bear, Criteria tonight – May 23, 2006 –

I turn to the soundguy three or four minutes into The Terminals set at O'Leaver's last night and tell him I can't hear the guitar at all. It's somewhat overpowered, he replies, by the keyboards, which have to pull double-duty as both keyboards and bass. It's the first time I've heard The Terminals since John Ziegler left the band a year or so ago. As a trio, they've lived on with Dave Goldberg playing the role of the band's energizer bunny, while Liz and Brooks Hitt provide the necessary punk moxie. While those two are married in real life, it's Dave and Liz who are the Fred and Ethel of the combo, playing off each other like bickering teen parents in a kitschy '50s B-movie. Make that '50s horror B-movie, as that also sums up their sound, which has evolved from a trash '60s garage band a la Them and Pretty Things a year ago to something more closely resembling The Cramps, propelled early in the set by Goldberg's carnival-ride organ, the same one you remember from his Carsinogents days. Goldberg has been on the leading tip of the area's psychobilly revival sound since his days in Full Blown, and if anything, that revival is picking up steam, judging by the popularity of this band and Brimstone Howl, who played after them.

Goldberg's organ pulled back and the guitars came forward as the set wore on, and garage punk ensued -- less retro, more angry. I like Liz Hitt's guitar solos almost as much as I like her girl-next-door-on-the-verge-of-a-homicide vocals. She didn't look like she was having fun until she switched to keyboards (and once, to drums), her face turning heat-seeker red while pounding on that organ, while cross stage Goldberg was making his guitar bark. There was one song (I don't know its name) where the two trade lines back and forth and it was the best moment of the evening.

Brimstone was up next, but I had to head home (some of us have to work at the crack of dawn). Opening last night was a trio called The Shanks playing quick, punchy borderline hardcore songs. Lots of yelling. A couple "Oy's" here and there. Remarkably sloppy. Was this their first gig, I asked the promoter. Maybe, probably, he said. You never know where these things will go. They could wind up being the next Nirvana. "Now you can say you saw The Shanks first show," I said to the guy across the table. "Yeah," he said, "and maybe their last."

* * *

Tonight is a mammoth show down at Sokol Underground -- Minus the Bear, Criteria, Russian Circles and The Lovekill. Minus the Bear is touring in support of Menos el Oso, the best record of their storied career. Criteria plays a home gig after months of touring the U.S. Welcome them back. Russian Circles' 6-song Flameshovel debut clocks in at over 43 minutes -- long, droning songs that build, you know the routine. Cleveland's The Lovekill play jangular punk. 9 p.m., $12.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Live Review: Now, Archimedes!, Past Punchy; Terminals at O'Leaver's tonight... – May 22, 2006 –

Time only for some brief comments about last night's packed show at O'Leaver's. And it was packed. I was pushed to a far-off table and could barely see what was going on on stage. That said, I could hear just fine, and the highlight of the evening was opening band Now, Archimedes! Fronted by Bob Thornton, who also fronts Past Punchy, N,A! is a trio that includes former members of Fischer, Solid Jackson and Raymond Nothing. Their style is pure mid-'90s buzzsaw punk that reminded me of Thornton's old band Culture Fire. Raw, frenzied, with great-big-ol' riffs and lots of yelling, it's something that's been missing from the scene for too long. As the guy who was standing next to me put it, they sounded like every band that ever played at The Cog Factory. Past Punchy and The Present sounded like the lighter, more rural side of Omaha's mid-'90s scene -- sort of a Neil Young version of Frontier Trust. The capacity crowd ate it up, and I dug it to, but I would have liked to have heard more Archimedes...

Another solid night of punk at O'Leaver's tonight with The Terminals, Brimstone Howl and Rat Traps. $5, 9 p.m. Be there.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

A healing weekend... of rock! – May 19, 2006 –

Glancing at the calendar, not a good time to be sick as a dog (though my cold appears to be subsiding) . Strange weekend of shows. Let's take a look:

Tonight, maybe the strangest gig of all: Cloud Cult at O'Leaver's. It's the Minneapolis band's so-called "Eco-Friendly" Tour. These six hippies travel around in a solar-powered van playing indie rock that's been compared to Modest Mouse. Instrumentation includes cello, drums, bass, random electronics, keyboard and guitar. With them on stage (according to their one-sheet) will be live painters and back-screen video projection (better start tearing a hole in the back of the stage, Sean). How all this stuff will fit inside O'Leaver's, no one can say. Maybe the painters can do their thing down in the basement? I've been told by someone at the bar that they've been informed that "a busload of people will be arriving to attend the show." This has all the makings of a classic episode of my new hit half-hour sitcom about the Omaha scene that I should be writing for HBO. Opening is The Amateurs. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Your best bet may be to head to Mike's in CB and see Members of the Press with Bullets for Baby and LouderThanLove, all for only $3. MotP is Randy Cotton's band, and is the last bastion of angst/noise/punk left over from the old Ritual Device days now that Saklar is playing pretty guitar solos and Moss is missing in action somewhere in a cloud of San Francisco stoner rock. 162 W. Broadway.

Tomorrow (Saturday): Bloodcow and Life After Laserdisque at O'Leaver's -- talk about a strange combination, but LAL prides itself on playing with any style of music (remember that hip-hop show just a few weeks ago?). $5, 9 p.m.

And lest we forget, The Third Men and Pendrakes are playing at the The 49'r Saturday night as well.

That brings us to Sunday, and the return of Past Punchy and the Present at O'Leaver's along with Le Beat and possibly a surprise third band. Mr. Thornton ain't saying exactly what he has up his sleeve, but it could get interesting. This will be the last time that Omahans will be hearing from Past Punchy's Alex McManus for awhile as he heads out of town on travels that I'm told includes some touring with one of his many former bands. $5, 9 p.m.

And as extra credit, I want to give an early shout-out to a show next Monday at O'Leaver's (jeeze, you'd think I work there or something). The Omaha/Lincoln band The Terminals featuring the legendary Dave Goldberg takes the stage along with The Rat Traps. This show could make me painfully late for work on Tuesday.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Column 77: Girls Vs. Boys; Simon Joyner tonight... – May 18, 2006 –

The column hopefully speaks for itself. This piece marks the first time I've interviewed Sarah Benck, who has been targeted by every guy in scene as "the girl most likely to succeed." Is a major record label contract in her future? We'll see. I think she'd be happy to sign to any respectable indie label (Bloodshot, are you listening?). I'm told her voice may also be heard on the new Cursive album. Erica Hanton was a last-minute addition to the story, and a good one at that. Her band Kite Pilot hits the road today through Saturday, playing Ames, Osh Kosh and Milwaukee. Meanwhile, Megan Morgan's Landing on the Moon is hitting the road this August with Billing's 1090 Club on a tour that'll take them from the Midwest to the East Coast and back. Landing... also will have a track on the upcoming Copper Press compilation.

The big show tonight at The Goofy Foot, 10th & Pacific, is Mal Madrigal, Outlaw Con Bandana and Simon Joyner and the Wind-Up Birds. Don't get no better than that, people.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Neva Dinova added to the Memorial Park concert... – May 17, 2006 –

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday. Things are just getting back to normal with Lazy-i's server. The archived Blogger entries are now available again. And just as the weather finally becomes spring-like, I come down with a chest cold. Life sucks!

Anyway, according to the One Percent Productions website, the line-up for the June 17 Memorial Park Bright Eyes Concert appears to be in place. The openers are Welshman Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals -- apparently a friend of Oberst's -- and Neva Dinova, who recently signed to Saddle Creek Records. This came as something of a surprise as some of the organizers had said they didn't want the concert to be a "Saddle Creek showcase." A number of non-Creek Omaha bands had been rumored to be in contention for the opening slots. In the end, the decision was likely Oberst's and Oberst's alone. Certainly Mayor Mike Fahey isn't a fan of Rhys' 2005 solo debut Yr Atal Genhedlaeth. In fact, no one around here has even heard it before, except Oberst. Regardless, just imagine the crowd singing along to "Rhagluniaeth Ysgafn" or "Y Gwybodusion" or the infectious "Chwarae'n Troi'n Chwerw." Does it get any better than that?

Then there's Neva Dinova, a band that to this day would be hard-pressed to sell out Sokol Underground. Ah, but they're on Creek now, certainly that'll make the difference to the thousands of Omahans who are on the fence deciding whether or not they should go to the free show. Fact is -- and Oberst and the organizers know this -- it never mattered who opened the concert since anyone who shows up will be there to see Bright Eyes anyway. If you're Oberst and Creek, why not put your most recent signing on the bill? And though Rhys debut was released on a subsidiary of Rough Trade, I wouldn't be surprised if his next one comes out on Oberst's Team Love label. Industrious? You bet. Now go back and read my Acid Test in the Park column and think about how many people will show up for the concert. Better yet, ask yourself how many Omahans will be there, because certainly the biggest draw now will come from rabid Bright Eyes fans from across the country who will be making a pilgrimage to see their beloved savior at his only non-festival appearance this year in the United States. It's only one month away...

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Catching up; Live Review: Gomez; "Omaha's booming music scene" in the LJS; Islands tonight... – May 15, 2006 –

Amazing how far you can get behind in just a few days. The site is still not fully "there." Some pages still look askew. This will be fixed shortly. Also, there's a good chance that this update will disappear if the host service replaces the current version of the site with a backup. Your patience is appreciated.

First, The Lincoln Journal Star published a piece about "Omaha's booming music scene" late last week that included some quotes from me. You can read it here. My only comment is that I never called Mercy Rule "Mercy Kills" -- but you know that already. It's a long read. I wish the author would have interviewed an Omaha musician for the article (Mike Fratt is in a band, but he's representing Homer's in this story and his role in Goodbye Sunday wasn't explained). The central theme of the story was supposed to be "Is Omaha the next Seattle?" I was asked the question along with everyone else, and my answer was "no." There is no band from Omaha that has made a national impact in the way Nirvana, Pearl Jam or Soundgarden did. Omaha is what it is, which is all it needs to be.

Saturday night's Gomez concert was a nice surprise. I'm not a big fan of the band's middle-of-the-road made-for-VH1 style music, but I have to admit they sounded rather huge on stage, and the crowd (of about 250?) was going crazy for them. If you went to the front, you got the feeling that you were at an arena show except for the line of beer bottles that littered the edge of the stage. Plus, they played for almost two hours, just like a real rock concert. There was only one time during their set that I felt I was listening to a British band -- when they ripped into a throbbing, psychedelic number that had shades of '90s Manchester showing through the usual plastic exterior. I wanted more of that, but didn't get it.

Tonight, the wonky keyboard-driven spectacle that is Islands. Their music is fun-pop indie sunshine as light as a feather. Opening is Busdriver and Cadence Weapon (what, no local band?). 9 p.m., $8.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Major Outage -- We're back, sort of... – May 14, 2006 –

Well, our server crashed on Friday which is why Lazy-i has been off the Interweb all weekend. It's back now, but there's still plenty of weirdness. Hopefully it'll be fully functional tomorrow. Look for an update with a Gomez review then. Thanks for your patience...

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Gomez Saturday; System & Station Sunday... – May 12, 2006 –

Those of you who may be wondering, yes, the server that hosts my website was down this morning. We're you worried? I didn't think so...

Looking at the various and sundry calendars, I don't see much going on tonight -- looks like another long night at The Brothers!

Tomorrow night (Saturday), Gomez with David Ford at Sokol Underground. I've been told that David Ford is very Damien Rice-like -- this, for me, is not a selling point, as I consider Rice's "The Blower's Daughter" to be one of the cheesier songs of the past few years. One listen to Ford's myspace confirmed the description. With only two bands on the bill, you'll want to get there relatively early if you want to catch the entire Gomez set. $15, 9 p.m. Meanwhile, down at O'Leaver's, it's a 4-band bill with The Photo Atlas, 1090 Club, Lifeafter Laserdisque, and Prospect Avenue, all for a mere $5.

One Percent is putting on two shows Sunday night. Down at Sokol Underground Kind of Like Spitting plays with Lemuria. $8, 9 p.m., while O'Leaver's hosts System & Station, Fromanhole and Landing on the Moon.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Column 76 -- More than a feeling... – May 11, 2006 –

Let me just add that part of the reason why there seems to be no permanence to today's music is because the days of three or four radio stations playing the same songs (other than retro songs, of course) are over. Today's national hit radio station is the television. TV commercials are the equivalent of yesterday's "heavy rotation." Why do you think the horribly cheesy "Vertigo" by U2 got to be a hit? Because you couldn't escape their awful iPod commercials when you turned on your TV. If you play any song to anyone enough times it'll become a "hit" no matter how bad it is...

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Gomez returns; Live Review: Cordero... – May 10, 2006 –

First off, I apologize for screwing up reporting the time when An Iris Pattern went on stage. Last night's show began at 8 p.m., not 9. So anyone who showed up at 9 sharp missed their entire set. Luckily, no one reads my site, so no one was disappointed... but me. I'm told they played very well, but it looks like I'll have to wait until May 26 when they play O'Leaver's to find out for myself. Incidentally, show promoter Marc Leibowitz pointed out that more and more, booking agents are pressuring for shows to start at 8 p.m., especially hardcore, metal and punk-pop shows that draw a younger audience. Do the right thing and check the 1 Percent website for the most accurate start times for their respective shows.

Despite my disappointment, I hung around and watched Bloodshot Records band Cordero play their brand of Latin-influenced rock -- think of them as a sort of fusion of Los Lobos with 10,000 Maniacs, but with lots of trumpet and heavier guitars. As hard as they pleaded with the tiny audience, they couldn't get anyone to dance, though their music definitely came with plenty of swing. A pleasant surprise. Headliner Koufax was next, and I stuck around for a couple of their songs. Someone told me before their set that they reminded him of Elvis Costello. I didn't hear it. Instead, they reminded me of Spoon, but maybe the set got Elvis-ier as the night went on.

* * *

Back to business as usual: This week's "special feature" is an interview with Gomez bassist/guitarist Paul Blackburn. He talks about the band's departure from Hut/Virgin, their strange acceptance into the jam band community, their new label and new record, How We Operate. Here's the lead to wet your appetite:

The story continues here. Go read it! Almost everything made it into the piece, except for Blackburn's comments about New Orleans after the hurricane -- mainly because he didn't have anything to say. Yes, they'd played there before the storm, and this was their first time back, but he hadn't driven into the city yet (their cab pulled up during the interview) and hadn't really seen any devastation. How would the band acknowledge the city's tragedy from stage? He hadn't thought about it. He was more stoked to be playing in New Orleans on Cinco de Mayo. "I'm not sure what state we'll be in." Nice.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

An Iris Pattern tonight w/Koufax – May 9, 2006 –

Tonight, after voting (Get out there, people!), I intend to drag myself down to Sokol Underground to see Omaha band An Iris Pattern when they open for headliner Koufax, along with Drag the River and Cordero.

I know nothing about the three touring acts. I have heard An Iris Pattern's tracks on their myspace account and loved them, especially the dreamy "Sentenced to Each Other." From what I can glean from their site, the band is driven by Ben Zinn and mysterious frontman Greg Loftis. Who is this Loftis fellow whose name has been whispered on the periphery of the Omaha music scene? Loftis, who has been described as both a genius and a shady character by those who know him. According to their bio, An Iris Pattern's recordigns have involved Tim Kasher, A.J. Mogis, Kyle Harvey, Reagan Roeder, Wade Hacklar, Landon Hedges, Dave Collins, Oliver Morgan and Jenna Morrison, along with James McMann and Lars Gallagher. Quite a line-up. I'm also told An Iris Pattern has performed on stage before, but only as a solo acoustic deal. First I hear the band is the next big thing and that I should check them out, next I'm told it's in Limbo and that Loftis is cooling his heels in Spain or Greece or Amsterdam. Will he be there tonight? Find out. $8, 9 p.m. sharp.

Along with a review of the show (if I go), look for an interview with Gomez, online at Lazy-i tomorrow.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Live Review: Kite Pilot... – May 8, 2006 –

Some thoughts on Saturday night's Kite Pilot CD release show, a few days after the fact… I got there toward the end of Eagle*Seagulls' usual superb set, more evidence that these guys are positioned to take over the world, if they so choose. Frontman Eli Mardock has even taken the drastic step of shaving his once-shaggy head -- an unmistakable fashion statement (unless, of course, spring fleas had something to do with the shearing). I recognized songs from their debut that I've heard two or three other times on stage. They've never sounded so big, but I had to wonder what's next for these guys. They started off as Lincoln's version of The Arcade Fire mixed with Interpol, they morphed into a sublime version of Wolf Parade and now have come out on the other side wholly on their own, with no one left to compare them to.

Next came Kite Pilot featuring two additional trumpet players and Spring Gun guitarist Nate Mickish helping out on a few numbers. Like Eagle*Seagull, the band has never sounded better. I credit the Sokol Underground's sound system and the dozens of family and friends in the crowd lending their support (Among them, two members of The Protoculture, who told me they have an O'Leaver's gig scheduled in the coming weeks).

Things started off with a bang when keyboardist/trumpeter Todd Hanton threw a dozen or so plush teddy bears into the crowd. One got lodged on the lighting equipment, which resulted in some guy putting his bottle of beer on the ground while his buddy hoisted him up to get it. He missed, dropped backward and landed on the bottle, which exploded beneath his feet. Someone else got the teddy, eventually.

The bears were a cute touch, and cuteness is exactly what this band doesn't need any more of, especially with darling frontwoman Erica Hanton sounding more and more like Bjork on songs that are already sweet sweet sweet… but not as sweet as the tunes heard on the band's debut EP. Kite Pilot's new album is something of a tough sell -- a more serious recording that doesn't easily invite dancing. Unlike the EP, which is a pop gem.

One of the night's standouts was drummer Jeremy Stanosheck, who came into his own providing the tightest, strongest performance I've ever seen from him with any band -- an accomplishment, considering the sometimes intricate arrangements on the proggy new songs which made up most of set. The band finished with "a new one" that was the best tune of the night. The sound wasn't a new direction as much as a welcome return to the pop style heard on their EP, complete with some wicked group singing. This new direction -- or return direction -- is where I'd like to hear this band go next. Judging from the crowd response, I'm not alone.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

This weekend -- Kite Pilot, Eagle*Seagull; Cougars Sunday... – May 5, 2006 –

You get two bands in one form or another two nights in a row! What more could you ask for? Tonight at O'Leaver's Kite Pilot's Austin Britton is doing a solo set with Eagle*Seagull's Eli Murdock and Spring Gun's Nate Mickish, who's also playing with Kite Pilot these days. $5, 9:30 p.m. Then tomorrow night at Sokol Underground, it's Kite Pilot's CD release show with Eagle*Seagull and Spring Gun. Weird, in'it? That show is $7, 9 p.m.

Those who read the OWH daily might wonder why I overlooked that little nugget in Niz' Kite Pilot story -- the one about Austin moving to San Diego to attend seminary... Well, they talked about it at our interview, but I was asked to keep it out of the story. I guess the cat's out of the bag now. Will the band survive? Sure, said the Hantons. The line-up will change, but Kite Pilot will go on some way, some how. That said, the band will likely record some new material before Austin heads to Cali, including a new song that will be unveiled Saturday that they say has received the biggest reaction of anything they've played before. Can't wait to hear it.

Also Saturday night, Someday Never is hosting a show at O'Leaver's featuring Lincoln's The Killigans and Super Virgin. I'm told The Killigans do Irish-style punk rock in the vein of Flogging Molly. $5, 9 p.m.

Sunday sports two One Percent shows. Downtown at Sokol Underground it's a death-metal bash featuring A Life Once Lost and Cephalic Carnage. Also on the five-band bill is Omaha's Precious Metal. $8, 9 p.m. Meanwhile, over at O'Leaver's, its Cougars with The Stay Awake. Cougars are often compared to The Jesus Lizard, which is pretty much on the mark, at least from what I've heard off their Go Kart release, Pillow Talk. Big and loud, with the occasional horn part slipped in here and there (according to AMG, they formed out of the remains of a Chicago ska band, a bit of information they should try to keep under their hat).

Column 75 -- The confidence of Kite Pilot... – May 4, 2006 –

As I mentioned yesterday, this column was originally supposed to be a feature story on Kite Pilot in support of their CD release show this Saturday at Sokol Underground. With a word-count limit not to my liking, I moved it into my column space. Funny thing about Kite Pilot -- the band is so comfortable with what they're doing and why they're doing it, you can tell them anything and they won't take offense. For example, Austin's screaming on the new album (and in their live set) -- I find it disturbing and somewhat jarring. Instead of being defensive, Austin simply explains why he does it. He knows some people may not get it. Same goes for their live shows. I mentioned that going to a Kite Pilot show has become an experience not unlike going to a Simon Joyner show -- you never know what you'll get. It'll either be transcendent or painful, but rarely boring. I am not the first person, apparently, to tell Kite Pilot this, and they revel in their inconsistency, unwilling to take out any of the variables that make their set unpredictable. This confidence in vision is why this band will be around for a long time, in one form or another, with different members coming and going in a natural progression.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Live Review Pretty Girls Make Graves, Giant Drag... – May 3, 2006 –

Well, Pretty Girls didn't get Omaha'd. At least not much. Only a handful of the 130 or so on hand at Sokol Underground last night left after Giant Drag finished their set. Giant Drag, by the way, were pretty good. Little frontwoman Annie Hardy came off like a female version of Emo Phillips doing wonky schtick between songs, saying things like "I need more vocals in my monitors," to the soundguy, then "I like more vocals in my monitors just like Micah likes more cocks in his... monitors." She needled drummer Calabrese with these little comments all night. I felt like I was watching a husband and wife act in the Catskills circa 1969. Hardy was a tiny little thing, waifish. She looked like she weighed all of 75 pounds with that big ol' guitar slung over her shoulders. They made the most out of their two-person combo, with Calabrese playing drums and keyboards at the same time -- it was quite a feat. With the tiny keyboard somehow strapped to his drumset, he poked out small but potent counter melodies between swings of his drum stick. Talk about leveraging personnel costs. Hardy's voice was thin as a reed, but enough to push these minimal songs along in a Breeders/Blake Babies/Madder Rose sort of way. Her peep along with her broad guitar tone were enough to fuel a grungy cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game." Nice. When will this parade of two-piece bands come to an end?

Pretty Girls Make Graves came on shortly afterward and only a few people walked out before their set. With their bigger-than-life frontwoman they come off with sort of an arena rock vibe, even though their songs lack whopping-big central hooks. Frontwoman Andrea Zollo is like an indie version of Pat Benatar -- less glamorous but just as pouty. The bass was way high in the mix, and after about three songs, I Omaha'd the set, having to get up early this morning.

* * *

Where's this week's feature? It's been incorporated into this week's column in an effort to give the writer more real estate to work with. Look for it tomorrow, featuring the fine folks in Kite Pilot.

<Got comments? Post 'em here.>

Pretty Girls Make Graves, Giant Drag tonight... – May 2, 2006 –

Pretty Girls Makes Graves tonight at Sokol Underground. I've spent the last week or so listening to the new Giant Drag CD, Hearts and Unicorns, which came out on Kickball last September. A duo consisting of hot-chick frontwoman Annie Hardy and drummer Micah Calabrese, they most-often are compared to My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain, which doesn't quite fit the bill for me. I liken them more to NYC's Madder Rose, a woefully overlooked band who produced some of the more grinding yet introspective music of the early and mid-'90s on Seed/Atlantic (and were amazing live, having played at The Howard St. Tavern during that era). On the slower numbers, Giant Drag sounds like Mazzy Star, with Hardy doing a spot-on