Just placed online a feature/interview with the French-speaking brother-and-sister duo of Eux Autres (read it here). They're both originally from Omaha and still have family here, which makes their gig tomorrow night at The Goofy Foot a homecoming of sorts. Among the things we talked about that didn't make it into the story was perceptions and the indie scene. In this case, prejudicial perceptions that arise from Heather Larimer's past history as a high school cheerleader -- talk about about a no-no in the indie world (at least among some people). "I don't hide it," she said. "It's weird, once you get around music people they don't believe it." She went on to say the whole cheerleading thing was her mother's idea, having told her she'd need some sort of extracurricular activity on her transcripts if she wanted to get into college.

It was here that we talked about how some things are acceptable in the indie world and others are shunned... like success. It's almost uncool to be successful, and certainly bands are almost immediately labeled as "sell outs" if they make the jump to a major label. "I don't think indie rock has a natural suspicion of success," Heather said, "but some people reject the idea of success in a preemptive way."

"That way when someone's not successful it's because they don't want it that way," said brother Nicholas, suggesting I watch the documentary Dig! for a good example of that concept. "I don't think there's anything wrong with success. You shouldn't be embarrassed by what you're doing." If I go tomorrow night (and I plan to) it'll be the first time I've had a chance to check out The Goofy Foot. Look for a review of show and the venue Friday morning.

Tonight, however, is movie night at O'Leaver's, where they'll be hosting a free screening of Urgh! A Music War. You can read more about the movie in last week's column, or check out what movie night host Mike Tulis has to say about it here. I'm told by Mr. Tulis that usually only a handful of people come out for the film, which makes for a laid-back vibe. So come on by around 9, sit back, and watch the Gang of Four, XTC and The Cramps do their thing on the plasma screen. See you there.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

Sorry about not updating yesterday. I was busy writing a piece on Eux Autres, which will be online tomorrow, and finishing this week's column focused on The 49'r, which hits the site on Thursday. At the same time, my e-mail has been getting buried with "reminders" from labels and press agents about the upcoming CMJ festivities as if I could take a week off my job and fly to NYC to cover it for Lazy-i. To be honest, I'd much rather go to CMJ than SXSW, though something tells me the logistics involved in attending CMJ are much more complicated (and expensive). Among the showcases of interest for us Omaha folk:

-- Saddle Creek night at CMJ. According to the Creek's recent e-mailing: "Saddle Creek Night at CMJ will be held at the Bowery Ballroom on Friday, September 16, and feature Orenda Fink, Maria Taylor, Criteria, Two Gallants, and a surprise guest. Tickets will be on sale Aug. 24." Wonder who the "special guests" will be, considering both Conor Oberst and Tim Kasher are now living in New York? To me, the most interesting part of this is the Fink/Taylor showdown that's bound to happen on stage. Cat fight! Just kidding. Actually, I wonder if they'll do a couple songs together. Judging by my interviews with them earlier this year (linked here), the odds of that are almost nil.

-- Team Love Records Showcase at The Knitting Factory, Sept. 17. According to Press Here Publicity: "Team Love is a record label started by Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, who believes music should be free for all to have it. And oh, what music it is." The schedule: Mars Black, 6 p.m.; Neva Dinova, 6:50 p.m.; Willy Mason, 7:35 p.m.; Craig Wedren, 8:25 p.m.; David Dondero, 9:15 p.m.; Tilly and the Wall, 10 p.m. Lots of questions surface with this one. Is Neva Dinova on Team Love now? (Not likely). Is Willy Mason performing music again? He quit touring quite a while ago for personal reasons. He supposedly released a new EP, Hard to Lie Down, on Radiate/Virgin Records Aug. 8. His U.S. website, willymason.com, is no longer functioning. And where's Team Rigge?

-- My pick for CMJ if I was going? The Merge Records Showcase at Rotko Sept. 16, featuring Richard Buckner, Tenement Halls, Annie Hayden, Portastic, Crooked Fingers and The Rosebuds. The night before, you could catch The Arcade Fire at the Central Park Summer Stage. Oops... it's already sold out.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

I had read on one of the sites that The Places were supposed to play, but the name didn't appear on the O'Leaver's site. Guess that's because O'Leaver's didn't know they were playing, either. The Places is essentially singer-songwriter Amy Annelle, and for this evening, a guy in a long-sleeved Miller High Life dress shirt accompanying on guitar. (Looking through my online archives, turns out I wrote about The Places back in October 2001, which is further evidence of my growing senility. The story was a preview for a gig at The Junction with Dropless, The Storied Northwest, Fromanhole. I don't think I went that night). Standing back by the door I tried to catch as much of her set as I could and dug just about everything I heard, which was acoustic indie-folk and her cutting voice singing stories that I only caught in bits and pieces. I should have been playing closer attention. At one point, she added a tape recording of weird sounds to the accompaniment. Someone needs to bring her back again.

Kite Pilot was good, but seemed a little nervous. Turns out they haven't been able to practice much because they don't currently have a viable practice space. Maybe this works into their favor as there was a raw, loose quality to their set. New drummer Jeremy Stanosheck seems to be getting more and more into a groove. He has some big shoes to fill replacing Corey Broman -- one of the more minimalist-yet-muscular drummers on the scene. Especially considering that Broman plays on Kite Pilot's just-completed full-length. Stanosheck will do just fine, though I wish he'd hit those drums harder. I almost wish he'd take a "scream therapy" approach and lock himself in a room with his drum kit and try like hell to break the drumheads just to get over the hump. A few of the new Kite Pilot songs are damn intricate and complicated, with numerous time changes and shifts that threw the band a couple times. Stanosheck helped keep it all together admirably. The highlight was their last song, "Far From You, or Light from the Far Unknown," which also happens to be the last song on the new album. It showcases Erica Petersen's bouncing, funky bass and Austin Britton's trippy guitar (especially on the floating mid-song interlude). One more note about their set: Kite Pilot took an inevitable step by not playing the "hit" from their debut EP, "Tree Caught the Kite." Seems like they've moved on, sort of, even though a few people I spoke with afterward were disappointed that they didn't get to hear it. I was one of them.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

I'm looking at the calendars, folks, and other than tonight, there ain't much happening musicwise this weekend.

That means there's no excuse for missing Kite Pilot tonight at O'Leaver's, with The Trembling and The Atlas. As I type this, I'm listening to Kite Pilot's yet-to-be-released debut full-length, Mercy Will Close Its Doors, and I'm liking it. I don't want to get deep into a review right now because it only showed up in my mailbox yesterday, but I will say that it indeed rocks. The Trembling is a girl-voiced garage-tinged indie band from Motor City (hear for yourself). $5, 9:30.

And, uh, that's looking like about all there is this weekend. The Terminals are rumored to be playing at Shea Riley's Saturday night (but they're not listed on the SLAM calendar, so buyer beware).

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

Engine Down's farewell tour pulls into Sokol Underground tonight with Bella Lea. According to enginedown.com: "After a long and prosperous run as a band the four friends have decided to leave Engine Down for the history books. With a good taste in the mouth we decide to enjoy our last tour with friends and family." Bella Lea is Maura Davis, formerly of Denali, backed by members of Pinebender and Euphone. Both Engine Down's and Bella Lea's websites say that Des Ark also is on tonight's bill, though they're not listed on the One Percent site. $10, 9 p.m.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

Column 39 -- Urgh! O'Leaver's Music War
Updated venue screens classic '80s music film.

Sometime around 1980, a handful of eager documentary film makers took up cameras and marched around the globe but not to capture important world events, cataclysmic natural wonders, historic sports daring-do or gripping human drama. Instead, they took a snapshot of a music scene going unnoticed by the unwashed masses too busy rockin' the paradise and looking for a juke box hero.

The product of their hard work was the documentary Urgh! A Music War, a film that captured the '80s best New Wave and punk bands flying deep under the musical radar. Combining live performances with documentary-style footage of leather-bound scenesters, the film shows us where today's post-punk bands got their chops. Included are rare performances by seminal underground heroes Gang of Four, Echo and the Bunnymen, Dead Kennedys, Pere Ubu, X, The Cramps, and Wall of Voodoo alongside FM acts such as The Police, The Go Go's, Devo, Gary Numan, UB40 and Joan Jett. And finally, there are the forgotten obscurities, such as Au Pairs, Toyah Wilcox, Orchestral Manoeuvres, Oingo Boingo, Chelsea, Klaus Nomi, Steel Pulse, Magazine, Surf Punks, 999, Skafish and Fleshtones. Urgh! captures a total of 34 bands on stages in London, Los Angles, Frejus, San Diego, Portsmouth and New York City.

So why haven't you heard of this landmark documentary? Probably because it never saw national big-screen release. Urgh! was only briefly available on VHS and was never released on DVD. And although the Sundance Channel aired an abbreviated version a few years ago, Urgh! has been all but forgotten in the annuls of rock history.

Until now.

O'Leaver's Pub is hosting a screening of the rare, uncut, unavailable in the U.S., 2-hour-plus version of Urgh! A Music War as part of its monthly music movie night Aug. 31. After watching it, you'll know exactly where modern-day bands like Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes and local acts like Beep Beep and The Faint got some of their best ideas. At the very least, it's worth it to see where today's indie hairstyles originated.

It's also a good a reason to check out all the recent additions at O'Leaver's, including their new A/V system complete with a 42-inch plasma TV, satellite receiver and an ear-busting PA.

O'Leaver's owner Sean Conway said the improvements were long overdue. Since he and business partner, Chris Mello, bought the neighborhood bar three years ago, O'Leaver's has turned into one of city's most important live music venues, hosting some of the best local bands as well as undiscovered national touring acts. "Undiscovered" because O'Leaver's has become a sort-of a way station for last-minute gigs by bands that are just passing through. Its size (capacity around 100) makes it too small for the big shows, but a perfect place for below-the-radar acts. It's also an ideal proving ground for local bands that are just getting started. O'Leaver's has hosted some of the best shows so far this year, including performances by nationals The Silos, Matson Jones and The Willowz and locals Tim Kasher, Simon Joyner and Ladyfinger.

Despite putting three or four live shows per week (They'll be celebrating their 300th show this November), the venue still has time to squeeze in movie night. The idea was spawned by O'Leaver's patron Mike Tulis, a local rock music authority and one of the city's busiest bass players (The Monroes, The Third Men, Simon Joyner and the Wind-up Birds). Tulis has a large video collection of his own and enjoys getting together with friends to watch the classics. "It's easier to get people to O'Leaver's to see a movie than have them come over to my living room," he said. "Plus you don't have to stop the film to run out and get more beer."

Since the series began, O'Leaver's has screened Rock and Roll Circus, The T.A.M.I. Show, Let It Be, Devo night, Rock and Roll High School and The Girl Can't Help It. "The nice thing about it is, as we continue doing this, others are pulling out movies that they have and bringing them in," Tulis said. He said the next step is finding videotapes of local bands from Omaha's mid-'90s Golden Age to feature as trailers before the movies. Perhaps someone should produce an Omaha version of Urgh! featuring Mousetrap, Mercy Rule, Frontier Trust and Digital Sex?

O'Leaver's free screening of Urgh! A Music War starts at 9:30 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 31.

Today is D-Day at Saddle Creek Records. The label is dropping three releases simultaneously -- Orenda Fink's Invisible Ones, Criteria's When We Break and Broken Spindles' Inside/Absent. You can read reviews of all three here. Meanwhile, Plexifilms is releasing the Spend An Evening with Saddle Creek DVD today. Methinks the phone will be a-ringing at Creek's office park address.

A few publications have chimed in already on the new Cursive CD, The Difference Between Houses and Homes (Lost Songs and Loose Ends 1995-2001), which was released a couple weeks ago. Richmond.com like it (see here). Mammoth Press gave it 5 out of 10 (read here). Philly.com gives it a B (here). Punknews.org gives it 2 1/2 stars (at this review). And Pitchfork gave it a 6.3 (right here). I'm still forming an opinion, though I've had it in my car for a couple weeks.

Meanwhile, there's a new Q&A with Criteria at The Springfield News-Leader. One funny exchange: Q: You'll be here the day (When We Break) comes out, so that's good timing for us. A: Yeah, there's maybe four or five people in Springfield who are stoked, I'm sure. (Laughs). Read the whole thing here. Punknews.org gave When We Break 3 1/2 stars, by the way (here), while Mammoth Press gave it a, yikes, 10 out of 10 (here).

Then there's the Pitch Weekly bash of the new Broken Spindles CD (this one). Here's a tip to the reviewer: If you're going to bash the record, you should at least get the name of the person performing the music correct. Who's Josh Peterson?

Tonight at O'Leaver's: St. Louis indie rock Riddle of Steel w/ Bill Latham. $5.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

This is what's on my radar for this weekend:

Tonight, cover band 57 Chevy plays three sets at O'Leaver's. Among their members is Ladyfinger frontman Chris Machmuller's dad. Will Chris take the stage and join the hi-jinx during a set? $5, 9:30.

Tomorrow night: Criteria, The Stay Awake and Facing New York at Sokol Underground. This is the official When We Break CD release show, and I suspect it'll be somewhat packed despite the 4.8 (out of 10) review that the CD received on Pitchfork, which has quietly become one of the most important indie music news/criticism outlets in the biz, rivaling Magnet. The writer categorizes Criteria as "emo" and goes out of his way to say 'let's not debate it, and oh, by the way, post-hardcore is emo.' Of course he's wrong on both counts, but to use that reasoning to discount the CD's value is weak anyway. If he doesn't like it, he should just say so instead of labeling it something that it clearly isn't. Oh well. Amazingly only $5, 9 p.m.

Then Sunday night it's The Terminals and The Dollyrots at O'Leaver's. The Dollyrots are a Warped Tour power-pop band who, if they don't pay attention, could get eaten alive by The Terminals, who will be unveiling a three-piece line-up.

Also Sunday night, the screening of the film Spend an Evening with Saddle Creek at the Dundee Theater (see yesterday's blog entry). 7 and 9 p.m. showings. I assume it'll be the usual $8 ticket price.

Column 38 -- My, Look How the Kids have Grown
'Scrapbook' Movie Documents Growth of a Label

First-time filmmakers Jason Kulbel and Rob Walters never said they were trying to create the "Great American Documentary" when they were making the DVD Spend an Evening With Saddle Creek.

On the contrary, they know their 90-minute telling of how Saddle Creek Records emerged from being a tiny tape-centric label called Lumberjack in '93 to one of the leading indie rock labels of today is more a labor of love than a concrete examination of the trials and ruminations of the record industry. And that's fine with them.

"It's probably better viewed as a scrapbook," said Kulbel before Monday night's sold-out Faint concert at Sokol Auditorium, where he, Walters and a small team of cameramen were filming the show for an upcoming live Faint DVD. "It's not the great documentary that will appeal to everyone across genres, like a movie about penguins."

"It's a fans' movie," Walters said, "made for people that already like the music. I think it's going to be hard for my parents' neighbors to sit down and watch and get something out of. A huge question that everyone asked was, 'Why is anyone going to care about this?' I don't know if I have an answer for that. From our perspective, we're huge fans of the music and that's what we wanted to show."

And from that perspective, Spend an Evening with Saddle Creek succeeds. Through interviews conducted over the winter holidays of 2003-2004 and live footage provided by the bands and their fans, we see it all unfold before our eyes, starting with Conor Oberst's brother, Justin, releasing the first cassette -- Conor Oberst's Water -- to the label's "100k party" held at the Henry Doorly Zoo celebrating the sale of the 100,000th copy of Bright Eyes' Lifted or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground.

The film primarily focuses on the label's "Big Three" -- Bright Eyes, Cursive and The Faint -- but the most telling parts are about the bands that preceded those acts -- Slowdown Virginia, Commander Venus and Lullaby for the Working Class. It's here that we see footage of a geeky Conor Oberst, dwarfed behind a flailing guitar, and wide-eyed behind wire-rimmed glasses. The image is juxtaposed by current-day interview footage of a suave Oberst wrapped in a knitted shawl smoking cigarettes. Even without the glasses, if you look closely you can still see the lovable geek hiding deep inside.

But beyond baby Conor, fans will learn just how important Tim Kasher and Ted Stevens were in creating the modern-day Creek scene, as somehow all paths start from their doors. "No one knows about those early bands," said Walters, whose connection to Creek spans from the days pal-ing around Lincoln with Stevens when he was still in Polecat. "I really wanted to show what Lullaby for the Working class was all about, and to let people hear Polecat music that you can't find anywhere. Someone from New York who's a huge Bright Eyes fan might not care about that."

But the folks at Plexifilm thought otherwise, enough to make Spend an Evening... their 23rd DVD release after such films as the Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart and Five Films about Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

With a budget of $10,000, Kulbel and Walters sifted through more than 40 hours of interviews and 250 hours of archival footage, including more than 100 tapes of Faint performances.

In the end, I would have preferred more performances and fewer interviews. I would have spent more time explaining how a place like Omaha could spawn an internationally known music scene. I would have liked an outsider's perspective rather than all-Creek interviews. But that's quibbling. Like I said -- and like they said -- this ain't a documentary and was never meant to be one. As a scrapbook glance at times gone by, it does just fine.

You'll get a chance to see it on the big screen Sunday, Aug. 21, at The Dundee Theater, when Spend an Evening... will have 7 and 9 p.m. screenings. If you miss them, you'll have to pick up a copy of the DVD when Plexifilm releases it Aug. 23.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

A few things to remember the next time you go to a Faint show:

-- Don't go if you have a splitting headache.
-- Get there early. On Monday night, Ladyfinger didn't hit the stage until around a quarter to 9. Knowing this, I figured I could get down to Sokol at around 9:30 and catch the second act, Orenda Fink (No diss to The Mariannes, I just saw them a week ago). Wrong. Last night's show started at the stroke of 8, so I got there just after Orenda left the stage and just in time to see 30 minutes of tech guys walking around with flashlights adjusting things.
-- Be prepared for the heat and stink. That was one of the hottest shows temperature-wise I've experienced at Sokol. Everyone in the capacity crowd (I assume it was a sell-out or damn close) was slathered in sweat before The Faint even started. Combine cigarette smoke with overwhelming body odor and you got yourself some serious stink.
-- Wear hearing protection. I always do and did. I don't know how you could stand it if you didn't. The sound in Sokol Auditorium varies more dramatically by location than just about any venue I've been in. For example, if you were standing under the stage-right-side balcony all you could hear was the bass and kick drum, so loud that your body shook from the vibration. Dapose's guitar and Todd's vocals were barely audible. The preponderance of bass was almost as bad directly in front of the stage among the squirming crowd. Walk behind the soundboard in the back and the sound becomes more tinty. The best mix was heard from the room adjacent to the ballroom (the gymnasium). "You think this is loud?" one guy yelled to me over by the merch table. "You should have been here last night."
-- Dance, if you want to. If you don't, get the hell out of the way.
-- Don't go if you have a splitting headache. It's worth repeating.

All in all, it was a typical Faint show. Their staging and lighting have reached beyond state-of-the-art. Extremely well-choreographed spots along with the usual big-screen presentation and smoke made for a light show as good as any arena show I've seen since, say, Kansas rocked the Civic Auditorium in the '70s. But other than the lights, the cameramen filming for the DVD and the huge crowd, nothing about last night stood out over, say, The Faint's Mid-America show earlier this year. I left before the encore. The mantra I heard from everyone I spoke to: You should have seen them last night. Apparently Monday night's show was a landmark performance many notches above the usual Faint show in energy and enthusiasm both from the band and the crowd.

Column 37 -- One Hundred and 1 Percent

The next time you're struggling to get it together the morning after a long night at a rock show, think about poor Marc Leibowitz and Jim Johnson. They're living your morning-after nightmare almost every day.

When the duo first launched their live music promotion company -- One Percent Productions -- way back in October '97, they were lucky if they could book 10 shows a year down at Sokol Underground. These days, they're averaging about 20 to 25 shows a month booked at a variety of clubs including Sokol, O'Leaver's, Mick's, Knickerbocker's in Lincoln, as well as more austere venues such as the Scottish Rite Hall on 20th and Douglas, The Rose, Joslyn's Witherspoon Hall, The Mid-America Center, they even have a secret show slated for The Orpheum in November that I can't talk about.

I noticed the effects of all those late nights at the Maria Taylor show a couple weeks ago. The usually bright-eyed and acerbic Johnson instead was slouched over like a 90-year-old man in his pleather high chair. His eyes glassy slits behind his thick-rimmed glasses, Johnson's scowl made him look like he was ready to lunge over the counter and bite the next greasy-haired indie kid who asked for a hand stamp.

It's not so bad for Leibowitz. He works at home and doesn't have to sign-on until 9 a.m. Johnson, on the other hand, has to drag his badly beaten carcass to work by 7:30 on mornings after leaving the Sokol stench-hole only six hours earlier.

How does he do it? "We just make it work," groaned Johnson while band Planes Mistaken for Stars was loading in for the night's show -- one that he thankfully didn't have to work. Leibowitz was covering it solo.

The answer for both of them, of course, is to ditch their day jobs and become promoters full-time. For Leibowitz, the switch seems inevitable. "I've already been informed by my employer that I'm being laid off in December," he said from the steps of Sokol Auditorium, while Johnson leaned against a nearby wall. "My job is being off-shored to India, and I'm not getting another IT job."

The lay-off could be a blessing in disguise. Leibowitz said that for One Percent to keep up or increase its current pace, he has to be able to answer phone calls, return e-mail, and run errands throughout the day. "In all likelihood, one of us will be fulltime next year."

But booking shows full-time wasn't the original plan. Leibowitz and Johnson had always wanted to get a club of their own so they could soak up all that booze money along with a portion of the door. "The more we've done this the more we realize that we couldn't afford to invest a ton of money into a building," Leibowitz said. "We're not going to open a venue when all these people with more money than us are doing it."

Specifically, the $10 million Saddle Creek Records music hall / movie theater / offices / condominiums project and a rumored downtown venue to be run by the former operator of The Ranch Bowl. Leibowitz said One Percent will add Saddle Creek's Slowdown club to their list of venues. "We'll be booking Sokol Thursday through Saturday and Slowdown whenever we can," he said. "That means more and more frequently we'll be doing two shows a night, and sometimes three."

At that rate, they'll be carting Johnson out of the Sokol on a stretcher.

Despite the additional clubs, Leibowitz and Johnson said that making a living solely off One Percent depends on being able to book the really big shows at Sokol Auditorium and larger facilities. And that means competing with Clear Channel. "That's our rival now," Leibowitz said. "Shows like Disturbed, 311 and Slipknot are where the big money is. No one's competing for O'Leaver's business."

Yeah, but wasn't the original idea to put on shows with bands that you loved that no one else would touch? "If we want this to be our job, we have to branch out," Johnson said. "If we booked only bands we wanted to see, we'd only be doing one show a week."

"We still stand by what we said when we first started," Leibowitz said. "We just don't want to lose money on the shows we book. And if we work hard to promote them, we'll make money and pay our bills."

Maybe, but something tells me they won't be catching up on their sleep anytime soon.

The Orenda Fink profile just went online (read it here). The interview naturally followed along the same lines as the Maria Taylor interview from a few weeks earlier, and their answers were pretty much in sync. Fink said an official statement concerning Azure Ray's hiatus has never been issued. "A lot of Azure Ray fans don't even know yet," she said. "A lot more people will know now that the records are coming out. We're kind of ambiguous about the whole thing. We don't want to announce anything." In other words, no real decisions have been made concerning Azure Ray's future.

Other comments that didn't make it into the story: Fink was in the process of packing while she spoke to me on her cell. She and husband Todd were moving from their old 40th & Hamilton place to a new home on the Country Club side of Dundee. It sounds like Orenda is still adjusting to Omaha. "Anyone who knows me knows that I'm just a southern girl at heart," she said. "I'm used to a different climate and lifestyle. I'm starting to develop my own world here." The biggest adjustment is to the brutal winters. "I can't stand cold weather. And my dog... I had to buy shoes for him. He's a Jack Russell/ Chihuahua mix." Another adjustment is performing solo. Like Taylor, Fink had some initial fear of walking on stage alone. "I'm over most of it," she said. "There were times when I work up in a cold sweat because I didn't know what I was doing. For the Faint shows, I had no clue who the band would be and panicked. I feel better now since I know who the bands are. I can do this record live, but I"m still very nervous about it."

If you've got a ticket, you can see just how nervous tonight at Sokol Auditorium. Get there early and get in line so you can get inside in time to catch Ladyfinger's big stage debut. Incidentally, both tonight's and tomorrow's Faint shows are being filmed for a live DVD.

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

It went pretty much as expected -- almost no one showed up for The Willowz show at O'Leaver's. Expected because of the Neva Dinova/Mayday show going on down at Sokol and a Terminals show at 906, also known as Pete's Place. The show's promoter was somewhat bummed at the low attendance, and I think any other night his show would have done well, if not much better. Or maybe not. No one knows who The Willowz are around here, which is a pity because their garage-rock style injected with heaping doses of Stooges attitude would have made some new fans among those who instead went to 906 or The Brothers last night. The Willowz guys didn't seemed phased by the low turnout. Talking to them outside of O'Leaver's, the band takes everything in stride. They weren't too thrilled at their gig the night before at Chicago's Double Door, where a blues act opened for them. Not their usual crowd. But something tells me that they put on as good a show as last night's, tearing into their set with the same abandon as if 300 had turned up instead of 30. Or maybe it was the fact that it was bass player Jessica Raynova's 22nd birthday. "Jess, didn't you say there's no place you'd rather be than in Nebraska on your birthday?" asked long-haired frontman Richie Follin to a smattering of applause. It was somewhat surreal to see R Kelly's long-play video for "Trapped in the Closet" play on O'Leaver's new big-screen plasma TV behind them while large stuffed versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse sat at the table directly in front of the band. It was one of those kinds of gigs. Their set was comprised mostly of songs off their new CD We Walk in Circles, which sounded a lot better live. I do like this band, even moreso after seeing them live.

There is another show at O'Leaver's tonight: The all-girl DC-based politically charged punk-rock combo Partyline. Tomorrow morning, check out my interview with Orenda Fink, just in time her two-day stint opening for hubby's band The Faint. I'll be at one of those shows, though I don't know which one yet. Maybe both?

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

Well I'm back from my journeys -- Cape Cod, to be exact -- and have little to show for it but my tan and about a half-dozen new CD reviews that'll be going online on a daily basis starting Monday. Before I left, I wrote a handful of features, none of which I had time to put online (though all are supposed to be in The Reader, I haven't had a chance to pick one up yet). The first one that I'm unveiling is a mega-brief interview with The Willowz (read it here). Lead singer Richie Follin didn't have much to say, and I could only make out about half of what he did say because of the poor cell connection. Cell phones have been a blessing and a curse for music journalists -- a blessing in that it makes artists available like never before since they can call from the van en route to the next gig; a curse in that the connection quality is almost always poor (or the cells are unreachable altogether). I heard about every third word Richie said, but gleaned enough from our brief chat to put this micro-story together, for what it's worth.

The Willowz play at O'Leaver's tonight with The Upsets, starting at around 9:30 (only $5). It'll be interesting to see what kind of draw this show attracts since Neva Dinova, Mayday and Doris Henson are playing at Sokol Underground tonight for just $7.

Tomorrow, in a vane effort to get this stuff online, look for an interview with the One Percent boys, unless it gets pre-empted by a Willowz review (which is very likely).

--Got comments? Post 'em here.--

That's right, folks, Lazy-i is going on hiatus yet again for a few days of R&R. The only show I really hate to miss is The Killers on Wednesday at Sokol Aud (if it doesn't get canceled again). I'll be back in time for the weekend, when I'll be dumping a few new stories online including interviews with Orenda Fink, The Willowz, and those guys who run One Percent Productions. If you can't wait, they'll all be in Thursday's issue of The Reader. Have a fun week.

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Anymore, it's getting to be a habit that the best shows are during the week. The fine folks at One Percent Productions are taking the entire weekend off -- a well-deserved break. But they're not the only game in town. The double-dose attack of The Terminals and Brimstone Howl (formerly The Zyklon Bees) are hitting the stage at O'Leaver's tonight. The last time I saw The Terminals it was a drunken farewell show for guitarist Johnny Ziegler, which makes one assume that they'll be sporting a new line-up tonight -- but you know what happens when you "assume." Someday Never says this will be a warm-up gig for Brimstone Howl's "tour of America." Meanwhile at Sokol Auditorium it's The Nadas, which the All Music Guide describes as "heartland rock." Who are these guys? 9 p.m., $10. Tomorrow night, O'Leaver's is hosting another Bloodcow event with Jealous Lovers, $5, 10:30 p.m.; while Matt Whipkey and Sarah Benck take on Mick's, $5, 9 p.m. And Saturday night is also the annual Ft. Calhoun Street Dance featuring The Lava Rockets -- it used to be held at the Jaycee Hall but I have no idea where they do it now. Just follow the line of Ford pick-ups at around 8:30 p.m.

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Yes, I know to day's Lazy-i feature story about the origins of the Film Streams independent movie house project (read it here) isn't technically a music story and that Lazy-I is technically supposed to be focused on music, specifically music of the Omaha and/or indie rock variety, however I still think the subject matter is more than appropriate considering how the theater will be entwined with the Slowdown bar/music hall/offices owned and operated by the fine folks at Saddle Creek Records. And also considering that the two entities are essentially partners. Cut me some slack, will ya? I'm as excited about Film Streams as I am about Slowdown, me being the avid filmgoing that I am -- I probably go out to the movies at least 50 times a year and with Film Streams opening next year, I could see that number easily double.

Tonight's show: Austin's Voxtrot with The Mariannes at O'Leaver's. Listening to "The Start of Something," a tune on Voxtrot's MySpace and all I can say is these guys must listen to a lot of Smiths albums. For The Mariannes, consider this a warm-up gig before they take the big stage Aug. 16 opening for The Faint at Sokol Auditorium.

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Last night was an Orenda Fink show at The Goofy Foot that I didn't attend. Anyone who did, feel free to share your comments about the show. Tonight is Bombardment Society, Gnome Slaughterhouse and Goodbye Spoon at Sokol Underground. 9 p.m., $5. Cheap!

A few headlines from the net:

-- I had mentioned to someone a few months ago that CBGB's in NYC was in financial straits due to rent issues. They didn't believe me. Well, here's a BBC story that talks about fundraising efforts to keep the place open. The story even deciphers what CBGB UMFUG means.
-- NME has a story about Mike Mogis flying to Stockholm to work on the new Concretes album. "While he has worked with non-Saddle Creek bands before, this marks the first time Mogis has left his studio to record in a European studio with a European band." What's the deal with that Omaha studio, Mike?
-- There is talk about an Omaha premiere for the new Saddle Creek DVD "Spend an Evening with Saddle Creek..." Billboard mentioned this in a July 7 article, but I've also heard talk about a premiere showing at the Dundee Theater sometime mid-month. More to come.

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No time this morning to write an update because I was finishing a huge feature on Film Streams, the new indie movie theater that's being built as part of the Slowdown No-Do project. Even though it's not a music story, the piece traces how Film Streams' Rachel Jacobson got involved with Saddle Creek impresario Robb Nansel for the project, so I'll be posting the story as a feature on Lazy-i Wednesday.

I was surprised at the number of people who e-mailed asking if I attended the Maria Taylor show Saturday night. With all the Film Streams stuff and my interview with The Willowz (that's next week) I didn't have time to write a review this weekend (and I figured that no one read the site on weekends anyway... guess I was wrong). There was also the problem that I showed up at are around 11:11 (get it?), in time to catch only the last half of the last song of Maria's set. I've got to hand it to the fine folks at One Percent Productions -- they said they were going to start shows at 9 p.m. sharp starting in 2005 and they've held firmly to their word. Chatting with people during the break, turns out I wasn't the only one who disappointingly missed most of Maria's set. Well, the 30 seconds or so that I did hear sure sounded good.

That being the case, Statistics got the headline position. I have to hand it to Denver Dalley and his band -- when I first saw him play a year or two ago, Denver was one of the most reluctant performers I'd ever seen on stage. Back then he didn't seem to know how to sing into a microphone, his sets were marred with odd keyboard instrumental tangents and there was little if any recognition of the audience both during and between songs. Months and months on the road have turned Mr. Dalley into a confident showman. He now looks comfortable behind the mic, doing as much as he can with his somewhat low-key voice -- he's no screamer. Instead of belting out the songs, he sort of mews them out in a style that's counter to the more bombastic sounds being created by his rhythm section (soundwise, I would have preferred more of his guitar in the mix). Denver seemed to spend more time chatting up the crowd than singing, telling everyone how much he loved being back home (He wore an I heart Omaha T-shirt), pointing out friends, family and supporters, and doing group shots with the audience of around 150 (by my guess). Halfway through the set, Denver asked the crowd to join him on stage and got about 10 takers, who jumped around during one of the songs. It made for an interesting, albeit short, set -- I was home shortly after midnight.

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