Column 105: Hanging with the Cool Kids
Adam Weaver wants in.

This column is the result of a reader who took seriously my prodding to send in column ideas. Musician Adam Weaver wants to know:

"What does it mean to locally 'make it' in the Omaha music scene? I'm not talking about a record deal or anything, but at what point can you call a local artist an established and respected local artist? When you play Sokol? When you open for a nationally recognized and respected act? When you play a One Percent (Productions) show? When you're featured in The Reader?

"And further," the letter continued, "how does a band here in Omaha get legitimized without the blessing of One Percent, given that they're pretty much the only show in town? Is it even possible? And if you don't know any of the indie king-makers in town, and they don't return your e-mails, what are your options as far as trying to get yourself heard?"

Good questions -- questions that lots of bands have thought about over the years, but have never had the cojones to vocalize on the record. Weaver obviously feels like he's been locked out of a scene with which he personally identifies, whether anyone else does or not.

A native of Gulf Port, Mississippi, Weaver moved to Omaha three-and-a-half years ago to pursue an internship for his graduate degree in psychology. He planned on moving to Nashville after graduation to connect with some music friends there. Instead, he's still here, trying to land gigs at Sokol Underground and O'Leaver's, with little luck.

I already know what you're thinking: "Maybe, Adam, if you were any good you'd get the attention you deserve." Not this time. After listening to Places We Were, Places We're Not, the new CD by Weaver and his band, The Ghosts, it's obvious that quality isn't the issue. The disc is a collection of well-crafted -- if somewhat somber -- acoustic singer-songwriter stuff. In fact, it may be a bit too well-crafted. Produced over two sessions in a Nashville studio, the recording is slick, and Weaver's voice is quite good. He doesn't have the usual characteristic indie quirks -- he doesn't sing off-key, he doesn't bray, he doesn't shriek as if in pain. Weaver's voice is radio-friendly. In fact, it's downright mainstream. And that's always been an unspoken no-no in the indie world.

Yes, you read that right -- if your music sounds too well-produced or too "smooth," it could very well be discounted by the indie set as being commercial, and hence, uncool. But that's really not what differentiates indie music from what you hear on the radio.

Weaver, who wanted to make perfectly clear his comments aren't sour grapes, clarified his viewpoint over the phone Sunday afternoon. He believes the line of music legitimacy in Omaha is drawn by Marc Leibowitz and Jim Johnson, the duo who book shows at venues around town under the One Percent Productions moniker.

"You can only go so far without getting them involved," Weaver said. "I'm sure they didn't get into this thinking, 'We're the guys that can make or break a band in this town.' They try to promote the music they like. I'm not trying to give them a bad rap, but I can't pretend that they don't exist, either."

Weaver also says that a band's friends, political views and what they wear helps define them as "one of the cool kids."

"Music is way down on the list as to how bands in that scene are identified," he said. "There are bands that aren't 'One Percent bands' that are just as good musically, but don't get the attention or opportunities that those bands get."

This is where Weaver and I part ways. I don't think a dress code or a friendship network defines Omaha's indie scene -- not anymore. And certainly the scene isn't defined by One Percent Productions, who are just as quick to book a teen-angst screamo-metal goon band as a Creek band if it means putting butts in seats. They are businessmen, after all.

There is, however, an indefinable quality that characterizes our indie music scene. I wish I could tell Adam what it is. All's I know is I know it when I see it (or hear it). I'm not sure why Weaver feels that he needs to be part of that scene, anyway. We're living in new times, when an affiliation to Saddle Creek no longer is a prerequisite for local or national success. Just ask Eagle*Seagull or Emphatic or Little Brazil.

"What is indie? Is it a sound or a frame of mind or a business model?" Weaver asked. "To me, a good song writer is a good song writer, whether you're cool or not. If anything, my band has a hard time identifying if we're indie or folk or pop or cool. I guess it doesn't really matter. If you have good songs, you'll always get your foot in the door."

Adam, I think you answered your own question.

Less Humor Per Pound
Danny Pound's brief glance at Vitreous Humor.

You can't blame Danny Pound for not being eager to talk about his old band, Vitreous Humor.

After all, they haven't been around for over a decade, and his new band, aptly called The Danny Pound Band, sounds nothing like them. Still, there's more than a few followers of Omaha's mid-'90s punk-rock golden age that remembers Vitreous Humor and their grungy, post-punk sound heard on the classic 1993 7-inch, Harbor. The three-song single featured a teen-aged Pound warbling the words to "Bu-Dah," the single's catchy B-side that went "In the shithole where we live / Something's living in the cellar / Keeps us all awake at night / Smells like cooking blood." Remember it now? Probably not. Still, the song managed to make it onto a lot of mix tapes from that era.

Pound appreciates the memory, but said few people recall his former band around his hometown of Lawrence, Kansas. "Some younger kids look up to Vitreous Humor as one of the old-timey, classic Lawrence rock bands," he said, "but no one ever comes up and asks about it."

The story of Vitreous Humor is a rather short one. The Harbor single was followed two years later by a 7-song self-titled EP. Posthumous, a collection of unreleased tracks, outtakes and live cuts, was released on Crank! Records in '98, well after the band already had called it quits and moved onto Pound's next project, The Regrets.

A decade later and Pound has left Vitreous Humor's jangle-grunge behind in favor of a more grown-up, sophisticated sound born out of his fondness for mid-20th century folk and blues.

"After The Regrets broke up, I discovered Harry Smith's Smithsonian Folkways recordings, began listening a lot of blues and pulled out The Basement Tapes," Pound said.

The result was The Danny Pound Band's 2005 debut on Lawrence label Remedy Records, Surer Days, a collection of tuneful alt-country rockers that sounded like a cross between Centro-Matic and The Silos.

But even that style was short-lived. Since its release, Pound and his band -- bassist Jeremy Sidener (ex-Zoom -- another classic '90s Lawrence band), guitarist David Swenson, and drummer Ken Pingleton (who replaced former drummer Dan Benson, who also was in Vitreous Humor) -- have moved in a whole different direction, creating music that recalls '70s-era So Cal groove rock. The band's as-yet-unnamed follow-up to Surer Days was recorded at Black Lodge Studios in Eudora, Kansas, and is slated for release on Remedy Records sometime in the near future.

"You couldn't call our new record rootsy. It's more of an electric rock record," Pound said. "I get bored quickly. I'm always trying to find new things to do."

As for Vitreous Humor, Pound said he doesn't understand why the memory of that band continues to live on in places like Omaha and Milwaukee -- another city with more than its share of that band's fans. "It must be a Midwest thing," he said. "We never toured very much. I don't think we even played in Omaha as Vitreous Humor."

While he acknowledges that the band could have influenced someone, Pound is hardly proud of those early recordings. "I'm not offended by that era, but it doesn't give me great pleasure to listen to that music," he said before immediately correcting himself. "I take that back. Some of it was interesting, if a bit too earnest. I know there are those who liked it, and there's nothing wrong with that."

Column 104: They're Still The Who
And why they're still cool after all these years…

This is an actual conversation had, oh, a few months ago down at Sokol Underground while waiting for bands between sets, leaning on the bar, killing time. Use whatever nasal inflection you feel is appropriate to voice me or the "Pretentious Troll." Perhaps try to act this out with a friend while you wait for your coffee at The Blue Line.

Me: Well I got my tickets to The Who concert Dec. 7. I'm pretty psyched. The Pretenders are opening, too.

Pretentious Troll: Are you fucking stupid? You're going to The Who? Talk about lame. It's not even the real Who.

Me: Well, it's Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey, right? (I fumble for my receipt to make sure I haven't been duped into buying tickets to a tribute band called The What or The How).

Pretentious Troll: Man, I saw The Who when Entwhistle was still alive, and even then it wasn't the real Who. The real Who died with Keith. I wouldn't go if it was free. Those guys shouldn't be allowed to perform -- they're too old! As an indie music fan, I'm surprised you're even going -- The Who are sell outs!

I didn't have an answer for the little putz. He may have even been right, but it didn't matter.

I want to see The Who. They've been on my list, along with Yo La Tengo (who I saw at Sokol in October), Silkworm (who I'll never get a chance to see now) and Red House Painters for as long as I could remember.

The Who was my first punk-rock band. They were the ultimate outsiders that were allowed inside simply on the strength of their music. The Beatles might be the good-guy geniuses, the Rolling Stones the bad-boy working men, but the Who, well, they never seemed to fit into any category, even after their music was embraced by the masses.

To me, they were weird and different. Even at their height, when Tommy came out (in the theaters of course, I wasn't old enough to remember when the record was released) The Who were like some sort of super-intelligent alien wunderkind. They were the smartest kids in class who dressed funny and came up with all the interesting ideas that no one "got," then everyone copied. Their music told a story beyond the same old girlfriend-boyfriend-car-drugs-booze rock drama. They wrote about rebellion years before the snarky Sex Pistols came along and made fun of them.

And as saccharine-flavored as this sounds, some of my fondest memories are of listening to "Won't Get Fooled Again," "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Baba O'Riley" on my Spark-o-matic tape deck while roaring along Fort Calhoun's dirt roads in my rusty piece o' shit VW. It was years before those same songs became bastardized in car commercials and TV shows like CSI. Back when The Who were still cool.

They're still cool today. Their new album, Endless Wire, is a serious head-trip. It's a stereophonic thrill ride that isn't afraid to take chances. Some of them work. Some of them don't (yet). But it's never boring, and sonically, it's a quantum leap above the usual low-fi made-it-myself indie jangle-pap that I've been listening to for the past 20 years. There's a sense of real craftsmanship to Endless Wire that demands that you listen to it on a proper stereo or with a decent set of headphones and not -- god forbid -- on your computer.

I don't know what else to say. The Troll is right. Half the band is dead. But half the band is alive, too. And judging from what I've seen and heard, they still know how to pull off an arena concert. And they're coming to Omaha -- something I never thought I'd see or hear. So excited was I when the show was announced, I threw down some cash and joined The Who Fan Club just to get in on the ticket pre-sale. Now it turns out that I probably wasted my money since, as of this writing, the concert is unlikely to sell out.

Maybe that isn't such a bad thing. Maybe all those people who usually go to arena shows -- the ones who boo when the band plays a new song instead of one of their golden chestnuts, the ones who don't even like music and are merely trying to relive some unfortunate moment from their youth -- will stay home and leave the Qwest Center to the rest of us.

And for all you Pretentious Trolls who are reading this -- and laughing -- remember that all your cherished indie bands got their ideas somewhere. The more adventurous ones were inspired by bands like The Who, bands that will be here long after the current fads fade away.

Column 103 -- Two Years (and counting)
A look back on the second anniversary

The end of the year for music fans means endless retrospectives of the past 12 months written with great pomposity, and lists upon lists upon lists upon lists of "the best blah-blah-blah of '06." We complain, but we love looking back if only to say "I told you so," conveniently forgetting the blind missteps, and hoping you forgot them, too. That said, let this be the first of those retrospectives for '06, as we celebrate the second year of Lazy-i in The Reader and look back with great aplomb to update the past year's columns.

Presto! Change-o! (2/1/06) -- A description of the new Presto! Studios in Omaha, gleaned from an issue of Tape Op Magazine. Saddle Creek Records executive Jason Kulbel tells me that the building that housed the Lincoln Presto! Studios now sits empty following tracking last fall for the upcoming Bright Eyes record. The new studios, located near 69th and Dodge Sts., are coming to life. As I type this, the facility's "B Room" is being used for the final mixing of said Bright Eyes CD. By the way, the name Presto! apparently will die along with the Lincoln studio.

Scars for All to Hear (2/16/06) -- A profile of Outlaw Con Bandana's Brendan Hagberg. The band currently is recording its fifth release, Faeries and Rewards, with producer Ted Stevens between Cursive world tours. "We are also attempting an EP by hook or crook during the down time," Hagberg says on his myspace page. Look for both records in early '07.

Band of Brothers (2/23/06) -- A profile of them thar Thornton boys -- Bob and Will -- and their band Past Punchy and the Present. Since the column, Past Punchy has become rather dormant. Instead, Bob's new band, Now Archimedes!, has established itself as the hottest new punk band in town.

Not for The Faint of Heart (3/22/06) -- Wherein your fearless columnist reported about the possibility of The Faint leaving Saddle Creek Records for American Recordings, a rumor that Creek label chief Robb Nansel confirmed. Since then, The Faint has begun working on the long-awaited follow-up to 2004's Wet from Birth in their new studio. Asked if the record will come out on Saddle Creek, Kulbel gave a two-word answer: "No comment."

Living in Fun City (6/22/06) -- The Omaha World-Herald took umbrage to my attack on their declaration -- made after this summer's Bright Eyes concert in Memorial Park -- that Omaha is "Fun City." An OWH editorial, cleverly titled "The Quest for Coolness," referred to "a local blogger" who is "beside himself that anyone could possibly consider Omaha a Fun City." Pity they didn't have the stones to either mention The Reader (where the column also appeared) or my website's address. But like I said last week, The OWH doesn't acknowledge non-OWH-controlled local media sources in print. As for their editorial: If the paper and the Chamber of Commerce think the answer to Omaha's "quest for coolness" is to bring in more national-chain retail outlets like Cheesecake Factory and Williams-Sonoma instead of supporting home-grown businesses, then they clearly have no idea what "cool" is.

Unlikely Underdog (6/29/06) -- Amid a cloud of negative buzz, the column was an early defense of Cursive's new release, Happy Hollow. The record, which I still consider to be the band's best effort in their storied career -- continues to split fans down the middle between those who love it and those who don't. Regardless, the album sold 9,700 copies in its first week of release, enough to place it at No. 96 in the Billboard top 100. To date, Happy Hollow has sold more than 27,000 copies, according to Kulbel.

Urban Legend (7/6/06) -- A profile of local rock band An Iris Pattern's quirky, mysterious frontman, Greg Loftis. Since the column, Loftis reports that An Iris Pattern has been asked by world-renowned fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger to be the first band on his new record label. Stay tuned.

Flyover Country (6/1/06) -- The premise: Top-drawer national indie bands are beginning to pass by Omaha because cheapskate concert-goers won't pay more than $10 for tickets. In fact, '06 will be remembered as one of the better years for stellar acts hitting our stages, including such bands as Yo La Tengo, Joanna Newsom, M Ward and Gillian Welch. Lately, however the crowds are staying home. One Percent Productions' Marc Leibowitz, who along with partner Jim Johnson is responsible for most of Omaha's indie shows, says ticket prices alone aren't to blame. "It's more likely the combination of higher ticket prices and over-saturation of shows," he said. "There are a ton of shows that are all slightly overpriced. But when we talked about ticket prices (in June) it was just for Omaha, and this downturn in attendance is happening in a lot of other cities as well."

The Kids Aren't All Right (8/3/06) -- Wherein I ask the question: Where have all the new indie bands gone? Leibowitz says they're right here, you just have to look for them. Among them: Coyote Bones, Bear Country, Spring Gun, Domestica, Art Bell and Hyannis.

And so on… Thanks to everyone who provided their insight, inspiration, information -- and most of all, ideas. These are the things that keep Lazy-I going. Now onto year three…

Column 102 -- For 'Biggest Oversight' by an awards show…
The nominees are…

Before I get into this, I must tell you that I'm one of those hallowed few who have been asked to be a member of "The Academy" for the Live Music portion of the Omaha Entertainment Awards. And I also must explain that The Reader is one of OEAs' media partners, if not one of its chief organizers. So one could yell "Bias!" at these words, but one would be incorrect, as I hold no allegiance to the organization and have just as many gripes as you about the Nominees list published last week. Instead of griping for gripe's sake, however, I wanted explanations.

So I picked up the phone and called Tony Lange, the guy responsible for how the OEAs are being conducted. Lange comes to Omaha from Cincinnati, where the CEAs are in their 8th year. He said they were the boilerplate for the OEAs, right down to how bands were nominated. Anyone (as in you) could have submitted a nominating ballot, and Lange said around 2,000 of you did -- not bad for the first year. A five-person committee (of which Lange is a member) developed the categories with the help of a few others who were brought in to "broaden the knowledge base."

That brings us to the nominees and my list of gripes, first and foremost being the inclusion of South Dakota blues act Indigenous under the category of "Traditional / Indigenous" music. Anyone who's ever heard a lick of the band's Stevie Ray Vaughan blues-hammer aping knows that they don't belong in this category, and that South Dakota ain't Omaha (or Nebraska).

Clarification No. 1: Any performer from a 75-mile radius of The Holland Center was eligible for nomination, which explains why all those Lincoln bands are on the list (but doesn't explain why the awards aren't called the NEAs (N as in Nebraska instead of O as in Omaha)).

Lange admitted that, yes, Indigenous isn't from Nebraska, and no, they don't play indigenous music, and yes, the whole thing was a mistake. "That's one that slipped by us," he said. "We'll take the blame. It's a result of me not growing up here. It should have been caught."

Some of the categories, however, were tougher to explain. Why, for example, group "hard rock" and "metal" together? Everyone knows they're different genres. Apparently not everyone. "I know there's death metal and speed metal and hate metal," Lange said. "Next year we may consider separating the categories."

"Next year" also applies to including a "Singer/Songwriter" category, an omission that is the awards' biggest oversight, as Omaha is known nationally as a singer/songwriter town. Lange had no real explanation for this, other than to say he wanted to include the category but that other committee members preferred naming it "Adult Contemporary." This, of course, makes no sense, but "that's what you get when you deal with a committee."

Lange is not apologetic about the "Cover Band" category. "Cover bands are the core meat of the local entertainment business," he said. "Their art is just the same as anyone else's. Remember, this award is based on entertainment."

Complaints about who got nominated falls squarely on you, the voter, and your favorite bands' inability to "get out the vote." Lange admits that there always will be acts that simply aren't comfortable lobbying for themselves. That may explain why local jazz legend Luigi Waites was overlooked under the "Jazz" category or why Breathless wasn't nominated under "Hip-Hop/Rap." It also explains why there are no punk bands under the "Punk" category. Would a real punk band lobby for votes? Go ask Johnny Rotten.

For the first go-'round, the list of nominees isn't horrible, especially under categories "Alternative Indie" (rightfully dominated by Saddle Creek Records acts), "Folk Americana Roots," "Hard Rock" (I'm leaving metal out of it) and "Live Music Event." The full list is available online at oeawards.net. Yes, there are omissions, but hey, give them a break, it's the first year.

The most glaring omission is in how the local media have covered the event. Yes, The Reader is a sponsor, right along with NRG Media on the radio side. That shouldn't preclude the great, gray Omaha World-Herald from covering an event that has the full support of the Chamber of Commerce and a plethora of important local arts organizations.

The fact is, the OWH has historically put its own needs in front of its readers when it comes to covering anything that's sponsored by rival media, whether it be an alt-weekly newspaper, radio or local TV station. They need to let the paranoia go and realize what everyone else already knows: They don't have any competition. No one's going to steal away any of their potential advertisers and/or readers, certainly not The Reader. Acknowledgement of the OEAs by the OWH and other media is critical if this thing is ever really going to get off the ground. But I'm afraid that the polarizing, Citizen Kane mentality of local media will never let that happen, even for an event that's designed not to make money (OEA is a 501c3, nonprofit organization) but to celebrate this city's talent. Let's do this, before all that talent finds a more grateful place to play.

Column 101 -- And Now a Song from our Sponsor
Commercials go indie…

I'll let you in on a little secret: I dig watching sports on TV. Football, baseball, basketball, you name it. I know it isn't cool from an indie perspective to admit to such a steak-and-egger sort of past-time, but at any given moment during the season I generally know where the Yankees stand in the AL, and I cry right along with everyone else in the Big Apple when the Knicks inevitably skid to the bottom of the Eastern Division (Damn you, Isiah!).

The problem with watching televised sports, however, is having to put up with all the commercials, and Sunday Night Football is easily the worst. Why? Because during every time-out, you're force-fed John Mellencamp's ode to America in the form of a Chevy truck commercial. Once upon a time, Little Johnny Cougar wrote real songs -- stuff like "Jack and Diane," and "Pink Houses." Not anymore.

Artists whoring their music to Madison Avenue is nothing new. Even such upstanding, well-respected musicians as U2 have gleefully traded in their flesh-and-blood to sell a few iPods. If Reverend Bono does it, it must be okay, right? Certainly it's a no-brainer for someone like Mellencamp, whose flat-lined career was in the same place as Bob Seger's when Seger let Chevy turn "Like a Rock" into a commercial.

But these days, it isn't just the county fair circuit that's grabbing the cash. Earlier this year I heard Spoon's "I Turn My Camera On" used to sell Jaguar XKE's. And it wasn't just incidental background music -- the commercial was produced like a rock video prominently featuring the song along with tight, quick cuts of a shiny new Jag. When they replayed the spot about five minutes later, I immediately thought, 'Well, there goes that song."

Then last night the whoring reached a new low. On screen was a commercial for Outback Steakhouse. Amidst the weird buzzing didgeridoo noise was the melody from Of Montreal's "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)." But instead of Kevin Barnes singing "Let's pretend we don't exist / Let's pretend we're in Antarctica," some poor schmuck sang "Let's go Outback tonight / Life will still be there tomorrow" while animated cave drawings danced gleefully around a steak.

My first thought: "Those idiots! Don't they know that Barnes will sue their asses off when he finds out that they so blatantly ripped off his song?" Then I went online and found out that Barnes was in on the whole thing. Pitchfork reported that Barnes had given Outback's ad agency permission not only to use the song, but to rerecord it with new lyrics.

"We thought it would be totally amusing to hear their take on one of our songs as a jingle," he told Pitchfork. In this case, "totally amusing" means receiving a check worth a few thousand bloomin' onions.

Can you blame them for selling out their music? Fact is, in the case of both Of Montreal and Spoon, more people heard those songs on those commercials than will ever hear them on the radio. What price can you put on that kind of exposure?

When you live in a town like Omaha -- a city with no real college radio station -- TV commercials may be the only way to hear new music over the airwaves. And I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't admit that I've searched out a song used in an ad.

Case in point: The latest commercials for Geico featuring that loveable caveman that gets no respect. He first appeared on TV having lunch with a high-powered ad exec who apologized for the insensitivity of the company's "so easy a caveman can do it" commercials. "I didn't know you guys were still around." Caveman's response: "Maybe you should do some research." Classic.

In the new ad, our caveman (Who I'm sure is now headed for a sitcom career) stands on a moving walkway headed toward his departure gate in an airport when he passes yet another insensitive Geico airport display ad with the same catchphrase. Meanwhile, in the background plays a cool, simple, Casio-powered song that is, quite frankly, absolutely infectious.

Two seconds after entering "Geico Caveman Commercial" in Google, I discovered the song was "Remind Me" by Norwegian Euro-dance duo Röyksopp -- an act I'd never heard of, and likely wouldn't have without this commercial. Like Trio's "Da Da Da" song -- which went unnoticed for 15 years until it was used in VW commercials in the mid-'90s -- "Remind Me" also is destined to become an international smash that never would have been discovered if not for some savvy ad exec picking the song out of the ether and placing it in the commercial.

Like it or not, the same can probably be said for the new Mellencamp song. Without its Chevy connection, it never would have made it out of the blocks. Now it's fueling his next world tour.

Column 100 -- Metal Machine Music
The Terminals turn up the noise.

I was driving west on I-80 headed to Lincoln doing close to 90 because everyone else was and you either keep up or get run right off the road. No one told me about all the construction, the constant "Stay In Your Lane" warning signs that flipped past as the road jerked indiscriminately in odd directions, the left lane mere inches from large concrete barriers designed to keep semis and large SUVs from jumping into oncoming traffic. Lord only knows what hitting those could do to something like my Mini Cooper, which has a wheelbase akin to a rollerskate and the suspension of a go-kart. Every time my tiny tires found a piece of grooved pavement, it jerked the Mini in the wrong direction, either toward the deadly barriers or the adjacent lane crowded by a fleet of Voyagers, Caravans and Ram-tough Dodge SUVs that towered over me, blocking my view.

Meanwhile, blaring on my car stereo was the new CD by The Terminals, the band I was headed to Lincoln to interview. I'd seen them a number of times at O'Leaver's and The 49'r, playing hep-cat cool retro garage punk spiked by Dave Goldberg's gospel-infused organ twirls, frontwoman Liz Hitt's snarling, jagged guitar riffs and Brooks Hitt's beefy stick work. Fun stuff.

The CD, however, sounds nothing like that. Instead, most of the songs sound like a room filled with industrial power tools -- jack hammers, grinders, band-saws -- tearing through a concrete wall while an angry monkey pounds on a metal slab with a stone hammer. The recording is blown-out and raw. By the time I arrived at the Hitts' Lincoln home, my back was as tight as an iron rod and I could already feel the tension-pain in my neck that would haunt me the following day.

To say that The Terminals are not entirely thrilled with their Dead Beat Records debut, Forget About Never, would be an understatement.

"The first time I heard it I was furious," Goldberg said. "I called Liz with a list of complaints and got to No. 1 before she hung up. There are parts of the record that border on migraine-inducing industrial noise."

The story behind the recording began when Liz sent a handful of 7-inch records to Tom Spencer, the label chief at Dead Beat Records, hoping to get him interested in Brimstone Howl, another band on Hitts' and Goldberg's Boom Chick label. She also threw in some Terminals recordings just for kicks. "They were quite impressive," Spencer said of the Terminals. "So I told the band that I was interested in doing their debut album. After deciding on the track list, we got Andy Caffrey from The Horrors to record the album, and it turned out great."

Caffrey, Liz said, is "hot shit, and we accidentally made the mistake of telling Tom we knew him."

The band recorded the album live at The Zoo Bar when it was closed. Amps were placed in the bathrooms while the drum set was on stage. "(Caffrey) ran everything into this fucking box of noise and what came out the other side became the record," Liz said. "Getting Caffrey to record it was Tom's way of getting us credibility with these (types of) bands."

"With Andy, you take the good with the bad," Brooks said of Caffrey. "He has a weird view of things. He's the most over-the-top guy doing this kind of recording."

"The aesthetic is similar to other stuff you hear on Dead Beat," Goldberg explained. "The audience they're catering to are total speed freaks that enjoy that type of thing because they're always in that state of mind."

"Uh, I don't know if trashing our record during the interview is the way to go," Brooks added sheepishly. The fact is, the band actually likes the record, and so do I. The recording is almost artsy in its brazen, abrasive approach. The wall of static punk rock is aggressive and unnerving, and ultimately, very cool.

Goldberg said it took a few spins before his hatred for the recording turned into admiration. "Some of it is awesome. I'm pretty sure that people in Europe that are fans of this style of recording will go ape-shit over it. Most bands wouldn't put it out, and that aspect of it I enjoy. It is, dare I say, controversial."

He is concerned, however, that the stark contrast between the record and their usual live sound could result in some confusion, if not disappointment. "I'm afraid that people who are into the record will see us live and say 'What's this shit?' and by that same token, people who like us live will buy this record and say 'What's this shit?'"

Replicating the record's sound, however, is out of the question. "It would take a lot of expensive or broken equipment for us to sound like that on stage, Goldberg said. "Perhaps we should start poking holes in our PA speakers."

Omaha fans will get a chance to check it out Friday, Nov. 10, when The Terminals celebrates the official release of Forget About Never at The 49'r with Now, Archimedes! and Boom Chick artist The Shanks, which also will be celebrating the release of their "Cut Me" 7-inch single. For those of you driving down from Lincoln for the show, you may want to wait until you get home to listen to the CD, for your nerves' sake. Drive safely.

VOTE! today; Whipkey on Injured Reserved; Bright Eyes info; Starlight Desperation, Tokyo Police Club tonight... – Nov. 7, 2006 –

Before we get to the news, just a quick reminder that it's election day, which means you need to get your lazy ass to the polls and vote. I can't remember the last time an election was more important. Check out the Douglas Co. Election Commission website to find your poling place and to see a sample ballot. Do it, people.

Onward...

Anonymous American frontman Matt Whipkey is on the mend after injuring himself Oct. 20 in a bizarre scissors accident in his bedroom. "It's hard to explain what happened," Whipkey said. Apparently he was using a pair of scissors to cut plastic zip ties that were holding together a bundle of guitar cables. "I got to the second to last tie and was holding it with my left hand and cutting with my right hand," he said. "The scissors slipped and stabbed into my left index finger on the palm side underneath the knuckle. It severed the tendon in that finger."

As a result of the injury, Whipkey couldn't bend his finger at the knuckle. "For a professional guitar player, it's as big a nightmare as it gets, right up there with losing your hand," he said. Whipkey went under the knife right before Halloween to have the flexor tendon repaired and now has a huge scar on his finger beneath a cast that he'll wear for the next month. Rehab is ongoing and it will take several months before the finger is easy to move. He has plenty of motivation to get back in playing shape with a 30-day solo tour scheduled to begin Jan. 10 and a CD release show slated for Dec. 30 at Sokol Underground.

Although the prognosis is good, Whipkey's doctor tells him he'll never play exactly like he did before. Time will tell. "It's difficult to watch people play guitar now, especially at shows. It's maddening," he said. "I gained massive perspective on life as a result of the injury."

***

The first news about Bright Eyes' forthcoming LP is finally hitting the interweb. NME reports (from something they read in Spin) that the follow-up to I'm Wide Awake/Digital Ash will be a rather dark and stormy affair. "The apocalypse is a prevalent theme in my new songs," Oberst said. "There's a feeling in the world right now like everything is unravelling, but maybe that's not a bad thing. I'm not convinced that the human race is good for this planet anyway." Sounds like there will be some tsunami and hurricane-flavored country psychedelic folk rockers in the batch, along with songs about "telepathy" (unless Oberst was pulling Spin's chain). Read the full NME item here. Omahans will likely get a sneak preview of the new material at the Dec. 15 Bright Eyes/Simon Joyner/Bruces benefit concert at Sokol Auditorium. Tickets went on sale last Saturday, so if you wanna go, you better click on this here One Percent Productions link and buy some tix before it sells out.

***

It's a busy Tuesday night musicwise, with two very hot shows going on around town. The Saddle Creek Bar will be hosting Starlight Desperation, Virgasound and This Blush ($7, 9 p.m.), while a few blocks away Ontario band Tokyo Police Club and Bombardment Society will be playing a rare Tuesday night show at The 49'r (No idea on the price for this one, though it'll probably be around $5 and will start around 10).

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Live Review: Hyannis/Tomato a Day; Joanna Newsom tonight... – Nov. 6, 2006 –

I got a chance to catch most of the Hyannis set at O'Leaver's Saturday night, and it was pretty durn good. Nothing like their record, the boys decided to break out the electric guitars and rock the house instead. These guys (and one lady) could definitely make a mark if they stay together longer than their former band, the promising One Mummy Case, which was around just long enough for me to take notice of them. Saturday night was also the first time I've had a chance to catch A Tomato a Day. I was expecting a noisefest based on the fact that frontman Brian Poloncic was a founding member of noise ensemble Naturaliste. Instead, the trio played a set of bluesy indie rock reminiscent of Sebadoh and (vocally anyway, to me) J. Mascis. Very nice stuff. I should have stuck around and got a copy of their demo.

Tonight, it's Joanna Newsom at Scottish Rite Hall with Bobby Birdman. Here's a brief preview written for The Reader:

Tickets are still available for $15, and the show starts at 8 p.m. It'll be interesting to see how well this one does. Newsom may be hot stuff on the coasts, but I don't know how well-known she is around here.

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Live Review: Anathallo; FortyTwenty tonight; Saddle Creek Bar online... – Nov. 3, 2006 –

You've got to love the ambition of a band like Anathallo. The 7-piece outfit performed choreographed interpretive dance moves, foot stomps, snaps, hand claps, played a variety of percussion instruments (including marching-band bass drum), flugelhorn, trombone, two tinkling xylophone things, as well as the usual bass/keyboards/drums, constantly shifting from instrument to instrument like an indie Blue Man Group, each member also singing pretty harmony vocals. It was lovely, like listening to a Sufjan Stevens Christmas album. Unfortunately, the lead vocalist doesn't have Stevens' vocal chops, and the songs, though appropriately lilting, lacked in substance. And you can't help but ask yourself: Do they just sound like Sufjan Stevens or are they trying to rip him off? The resemblance is too keen to be a coincidence, though I'm sure no malice was intended. And while Stevens drew a near-capacity crowd when he and his band played here last year, only 50 showed up at Sokol Underground last night. But it was a devoted 50. Two girls standing next to me annoyingly sang along to every weird lyric Dashboard Confessional-style. I had to move.

Tonight's hot ticket is tractor-punk band FortyTwenty and The Filter Kings, which features Lee Meyerpeter of Bad Luck Charm, at The Saddle Creek Bar, 1410 N. Saddle Creek Rd. The Saddle Creek has a number of good shows lined up for November, all listed at their new website (at www.saddlecreekbar.com), which features a handy gig calendar. Tomorrow night at the SCB Adam Weaver and The Ghosts play with Jon Hardy and the Public and Spring Gun. Next Tuesday is Starlight Desperation with Virgasound and The Blush. And then Coyote Bones, Eagle*Seagull and Jake Bellows are lined up for Nov. 11, while Ladyfinger plays there Nov. 18 and Drakes Hotel Nov. 24. Not bad, not bad. As I've said before, I like SCB. It's close to my house, you can usually find a place to park nearby, the PA is first class, the beer is cheap, and there's plenty of places to sit or stand and watch the bands. I'm even told that food is served there, too, though I've never seen a menu. Yes, I'd like this place to join O'Leaver's and The 49'r and Mick's as important mid-town music venues. But for that to happen, SCB will have to continue to book decent shows every weekend, and make it even harder for people like me to choose between all those venues. Tonight's Filter Kings/FortyTwenty show is $7, so is that Starlight Desperation show Tuesday. The rest are just $5. All shows start at 9 p.m.

A quick rundown of the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow night, Hyannis plays at O'Leaver's for their first "bar gig" ever. Could be an achievement or a train wreck. Playing with Hyannis is Tomato a Day and Nicholas Hugg. $5, 9:30 p.m. And then, Sunday, the weekend's biggest show, Sean Na Na at O'Leaver's. I'm hearing that the bar is closing sometime after the dinner hour, when it'll be cleared out for a sound check, then reopened around 8 or 8:30. The show is slated to start at 9:30 and last I heard there was no opening band. Will Sean Na Na draw as well as Har Mar Superstar did the last time he played at O'Leaver's? The jury is still out on that one, but I think it probably will even if only Tillmann's friends show up (He has lots of them around here). So, if you're interested, you better get there early.

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Column 99: Local Heroes; Brimstone Howl to sign to Alive Records; Anathallo tonight... – Nov. 2, 2006 –

Another CD reviews column, and one of the last (you'll see why below). The advent of CD reviews at The Reader will actually mean that I'll be reviewing even more CDs here in Lazy-i in the future. The Shelter Belt CD was the biggest surprise, and will probably end up on a lot of "best of" lists if they can get it in front of the critics by the end of the year.

This is probably old news for some of you, but I just found out yesterday that Brimstone Howl will sign to Alive Records. Label owner Patrick Boissel confirmed the story yesterday via e-mail. "Yes, it's true, although we still need to finalize the paperwork," he said. "Dan (Auerbach) from the Black Keys wants to produce the album, and the plan is to release it this spring. I'll post the info on the site as soon as it's final. I'm quite excited about it, they're the best new garage band I have heard in quite a while." Alive has put out records by some of the country's best garage bands, including The Black Keys, Two Gallants (now on Saddle Creek), The Bloody Hollies, Trainwreck Riders and Bufallo Killers, to name a few. After I found all this out, I discovered that the folks at Boom Chick posted the news on their site two weeks ago! Congrats to Brimstone. Catch them live Nov. 11 down at Sokol Underground.

Speaking of Sokol, there's an interesting show there tonight featuring Anathallo, a kinda cool indie band from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, that boasts eight members and a style that reminds me of Sufjan Stevens or Polyphonic Spree. Big sound. Lots of instruments. And the fact that Pitchfork absolutely hates them is just icing on the cake. Opening the show is Page France and local boys Life After Laserdisque. $10, 9 p.m.

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Live Review: Guster; three minutes with Sean Na Na...– Nov. 1, 2006 –

I have been known to get shit for liking Guster. In fact, I've gotten shit about it from certain members of the local music scene literally for years. But the fact is, I've always liked the band and respected what they do and how they do it. Guster easily could have been absorbed into the hippie jam-band circuit and spent the next 20 years mailing it in for a bunch of stoners who travel around to gigs in shitty VW vans looking for an excuse to get loaded every night. Instead, Guster has consistently tried to further their sound, working with producers like Roger Moutenot (known for his work with Yo La Tengo, among others). They've also always tried their best to entertain their fans, and achieved it every time, including last night, even with one of their core members almost down for the count.

Actually, I wasn't really in the mood to go to Guster last night. I was still kind of whipped from Monday night's Twilight Singers show (I don't know how the One Percent guys do it every night). But three or four songs into their set and I was happy I made the cold drive down to Sokol Auditorium. Guster's injured player was singer/guitarist Adam Gardner, who (as co-frontman Ryan Miller announced from the stage) has been suffering from pneumonia. Miller said the band had talked about canceling the entire week of shows, but Adam insisted on playing Omaha. The effects of his illness were obvious. Gardner was off pitch most of the evening and could barely carry his few vocal lines. This put Miller further into the spotlight, and he handled the duties with panache, singing better than I remember him ever singing.

The first half of the set was weighed down with songs from the new album. I'd like to tell you that they carried as well as the usual chestnuts, but they didn't, and it wasn't just a case of the crowd not being familiar with the material. Ganging Up on the Sun is probably the weakest Guster album in terms of straight-out, unforgettable hooks. No single song has that great-out-of-the-box quality of the best tracks from the last two records (There is no "Fa Fa" or "Barrel of a Gun" or "Amsterdam" or "Careful" in the bunch).

It was interesting to see where new guy Joe Pisapia fell into the line-up. He's billed as the "multi-instrumentalist," when in fact he spent most of the evening on bass, and to be honest with you, I prefer Guster without that added low end. The few times Pisapia strapped on an electric guitar were impressive - the band rearranged a number of songs to make room for him to spread out on solos, and he shredded every one of them. The other nitpick is how much time percussionist Brian Rosenworcel spent behind a full drum kit vs. his usual bongo set up. Most of the new songs appear to be written for the drum kit. I can't say that I blame him for shifting to sticks knowing how he bludgeons his hands every night, but for me, that bongo sound is part of what defines Guster, and I hate to see it go. Combine the added bass with the drum set, and Guster's usual buoyant sound becomes weighed down in low-end, especially in a hall like Sokol that's somewhat boomy to begin with.

That's a lot of complaining, when in fact, last night's set was a lot of fun. Miller is a true entertainer. His combination of wit and a new short haircut makes him come off as a cross between Timothy Busfield and Andy Dick. When it came to the end of the evening, he asked the crowd if they wanted the band to leave the stage for the obligatory "good night, Omaha" pause or to simply stay on stage and go right into the encore, which everyone knew was coming anyway. The crowd of around 700 opted for them to stay, so at the end of the set he said, "Good night, Omaha!" followed moments later with "Thanks for sticking around for the encore."

* * *

I don't own a cell phone so I don't have a clue how the billing works. Sean Tillmann owns a cell phone. And apparently his "plan" charges him mucho dinero for calls to and from Canada, which explains my rather short feature on Sean Na Na. In retrospect, I don't know what more we could have talked about anyway. I'd heard he'd was burned out with doing the Har Mar Superstar schtick, but that apparently ain't the case. He also has a new album in the wings, but no real date has been set for release, at least no date he was willing to tell me. I can tell you that this show will be madhouse packed. Everyone in Omaha loves Sean Tillmann, but few love him more than the guys that run O'Leaver's, who are running this show Nov. 5. Want in? Get there early. You've been warned.

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Live Review: The Twilight Singers; Guster, Now It's Overhead on Halloween night... – Oct. 31, 2006 –

It's impossible to not be entertained by Greg Dulli and his band, the Twilight Singers. He is the consummate entertainer. Like the last time he was here back in '03, Dulli came on stage dressed all in black, along with the rest of his band. He looked like a cocky middle-aged John Belushi, guitar over his shoulder, cigarette in hand (In fact, the entire band smoked throughout the set, making Sokol Underground smell like the old days that were only a few weeks ago). But despite having the same swagger, Dulli seemed a little off last night. Maybe it's the fact that Omaha is one of only two cities that didn't sell out on this tour (drawing only around 200 last night -- what happened, people?). Or maybe Dulli is just getting older. If he was on fire three years ago, last night he was only smoldering. His voice had that same Afghan Whigs snarl, but lacked that little bit of oomph needed to hit the high notes.

He opened with "Teenage Wristband" off the first Twilight Singers full-length, Blackberry Belle, a collection which Dulli drew heavily from last night, and with good reason. While his new one, Powder Burns, has its moments, Dulli could make a living just playing the tracks off Blackberry, which has aged into a modern-day classic. After four or five songs, I began to wonder if Mark Lanegan was still on the tour. Then out of nowhere he appeared, entering from back stage looking like a cross between a straight-haired, goateed Will Ferrell and Frankenstein, striking a pose with one hand on the microphone, the other firmly grasping the mic stand, eyes clamped closed, barely moving. They tore right into their cover of Massive Attack's "Live With Me" and I couldn't take my eyes off Lanegan, who looked like some sort of ghost-zombie-statue, chewing a piece of gum between numbers. After three songs, he exited the stage and didn't reemerge until the encore, when he came back for two more.

Lanegan may have been a highlight, but really, this was Dulli's show, and as the set wore on, he only got better. Unlike the last time, Dulli kept the stage patter to a minimum, telling the crowd to forget it was Monday night. "It's Saturday night at Sokol Underground," he said, lifting a cup of something in a toast (where was that bottle of Maker's Mark he had three years ago?). Like any good showman, he figured out a way to work a Husker reference into his between-song patter. As he went around the stage introducing the band, he introduced himself with, "I'm Lawrence Phillips… and I'm gonna rape you!" Laughter ensued (by me and Dulli, anyway). Another memorable comment came when he introduced "Martin Eden," one of the more frightening drug songs you'll ever hear. "The last time I was here three years ago, I introduced this song talking about Elliott Smith," he said. "After that show, I bought some cocaine from a girl named Kristen. Kristen's not here anymore. Let's sing this one for her."

The set lasted over an hour, and much to chagrin of a few fans, didn't include any Afghan Whigs songs. After the last song of the encore, Dulli lifted up his cup of whatever to salute the crowd, and said in a cautionary tone while looking at his drink, "Be careful." He then stepped off stage and walked directly out of Sokol with a girl on his arm, presumably headed to Council Bluffs… I hung out until well past 1 but never saw Lanegan leave. The show may not have been as good as '03, but it was still one of the better shows of '06.

Sokol is ground-zero tonight for shows both upstairs and underground. The auditorium is reserved for Guster, which starts at 8 p.m. with a rare opening set by Trippin Balls, a surprise act that you may recognize if you can get past their costumes. I promised new Guster guy Joe Pisapia that I wouldn't say anymore. You'll have to find out who they are for yourselves. Tickets are still available for $20.50.

Meanwhile downstairs, it's the return of Now It's Overhead. On their records, NIO is a floating, dreamy, mid-tempo stroll through the trees. All that changes when they step out of the studio and onto the stage. With their atmospheric music stripped down and raw, Andy LeMaster and Co. turn into a rock band, roaring and angry and utterly convincing. Opening band Summerbirds in the Cellar combines dance rhythms with Cure-style drone guitars and intricate, repeated riffs that pull songs out with extended, jammy endings that you don't want to stop. Also on the ticket is Coyote Bones. $8, 9 p.m.

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Little Brazil announces new CD, tour; Coyote Bones news; the return of The Faint; Twilight Singers (Dulli, Lanegan) tonight... – Oct. 30, 2006 –

First off, the Little Brazil news. Guitarist Greg Edds e-mailed to tell me that the band is planning to release its second full-length Tighten The Noose, Feb. 20 on Mt. Fuji Records. "Right now, we're waiting for layout and design work to be finished by local artist Mindy Leahey and Jamie Massey from Ladyfinger/Race For Titles," Edds said. "We have one show left sometime in December before our 3-month tour starts on Feb 1."

Edds also said the band is in talks with SubPop Germany, "which should push a little bit more in our foreign markets. From that point on, we're on a mission to tour non-stop for the rest of 2007 as well as tear apart many stages and after parties. Basically, just do what we do."

Hmm…. New album on Fuji, a European deal and a year's worth of touring? Little Brazil could be on the verge of taking it to the next level.

You'd think that would be enough for Edds, but no. He recently joined Coyote Bones as a guitarist. "We will be leaving for a small two-week tour starting Oct. 31," Edds said. "We'll be doing dates all the way out to the East Coast and back with a two-night stint at CMJ. Coyote Bones also has a record that is fully finished, titled Gentlemen On The Rocks. That should be due out sometime in early 2007 on a label yet to be determined." If you haven't had a chance, you can check out Coyote Bones at a couple upcoming shows. They're opening for Now It's Overhead Halloween night at Sokol Underground. Or wait until their Nov. 11 gig at the Saddle Creek Bar with Eagle*Seagull and Jake Bellows.

Moving on… Saddle Creek Records' monthly update was a bit more newsworthy than usual. The highlights, for those of you who didn't get the memo:

-- The Faint are hitting the road for a few weeks worth of shows. They'll be testing out some new songs and playing some old favorites. The band is currently hard at work in their studio, crafting the follow-up to 2004's Wet From Birth. Among the dates are two Omaha shows: Dec. 16 with Baltimore dance-rock band Celebration, and Dec. 17 with Tilly and the Wall, both at Sokol Auditorium. Tickets to the Omaha shows go on sale Nov. 4 at onepercentproductions.com.

-- Cursive is making the tracks for "Bad Sects" -- one of the stand-outs on their new album, Happy Hollow -- available for anyone and everyone to download and create their own remix. The best effort will be included as the b-side on a future Cursive single. Details are at www.badsects.com.

(Speaking of Robb Nansel, the Saddle Creek label executive sent out an e-mail last night begging people to spread the word about a show he set up for Nov. 7 at The 49'r with Ontario band Tokyo Police Club. Yeah, they do sound pretty cool, judging by their myspace page. Opening the show is the dominating rock onslaught called Bombardment Society).