This column rides out a riff that I began a week or so ago when I reviewed Brad Hoshaw's solo set at Lauritzen Gardens. It got me thinking about cover songs and what goes into an artist's decision to cover a specific song, and how ultimately stupid it is for anyone other than the artist him/herself to suggest a cover song for him/her to perform.

Column 187: Skipping Boston
When choosing a cover, choose wisely.

The scene was an early evening outdoor concert held in a lovely cove at Lauritzen Gardens featuring headliner Orenda Fink and opener Brad Hoshaw.

We sat in the moist grass surrounded by families and older couples (as well as a few well-coifed hipsters) trying to eek out as much warmth and sunlight as we could in the waning days of summer. For most people there, the concert was a last hurrah before football season and the return of school days. Hoshaw, standing like a bearded griz hunter with a guitar strapped over his shoulder, rifled though his usual set of homemade songs about love, death, booze, drugs and regrets with the conviction of a man making his last confession before being led off to the gas chamber. Hoshaw is one of city's best singer-songwriter, a true craftsman who takes song writing very seriously, and it shows in every heart-felt chorus and verse.

About three-quarters of the way through his hour-plus set, Hoshaw introduced a song by The Twilight Singers -- Greg Dulli's post-Afghan Whigs band. Hoshaw took the typically dark rock song with lyrics about Christ and sex (titled "Last Temptation") and turned it into a somber, introspective, dread lullaby that in no way resembled the original. He made it a Hoshaw song, not that anyone in the thirty-something, forty-something (fifty-something, sixty-something) crowd would know the difference since they very likely hadn't heard the original before.

"It's from one of my top-10 favorite albums of all time," Hoshaw said from a cabin in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. "While watching a live video of them performing it, it hit me that the melody and lyrics were something I'd write. It fits my personality and seemed like a song that I could put myself into. The only way I do covers is to somehow make them my own."

I'm a firm believer that every original band needs to do at least one cover song during their set. It gives the crowd a glimpse into their personal psyche, a clue as to where the songwriter is coming from and where he's headed.

But playing a cover can be risky. Just ask Mike Tulis, bassist for The Third Men, The Monroes and a handful of other great bands throughout the years. The Third Men always manages to work a cover or two into their set without letting them overshadow their own catchy material. Among the favorites, Paul McCartney's smash "Jet," Richard and Linda Thomspon's "Wall of Death," and, of course, Nick Gilder's "Hot Child in the City," featuring Tulis on lead vocals. It was the Gilder song that threatened to eclipse everything. I first saw them play it at The Waiting Room to a frenzied crowd, and then for the next few gigs thereafter, the buzz was whether they were going to play it again.

"That's the risk of doing a cover song," Tulis said. "It can certainly throw a spotlight on the band's own songs. Are they as well-written or well put together? Sometimes that's why bands kind of shy away from doing a cover or they don't do it that often. It can become the song everyone's waiting to hear. Some people sort of take the attitude that I'd rather play our song than someone else's, you know?"

He recalled what Third Men frontman Pat White said about covers. "Pat's attitude is that you're asking an audience for quite a bit to come in and listen to songs they may have never heard before. You've put them through the paces of hearing everything you wrote. There's nothing wrong with playing a song they know. As long as it doesn't become the song you're known for. That can become a problem."

No band wants to be known as "the guys who do that great (fill-in-the-blank-with-your-favorite-band) cover." But maybe I was over-thinking the whole thing. "It's not like a brand you have to carry around with you for the rest of existence," Tulis said. "I don't know if it sums up your whole band; it can if you let it, but I don't think most bands do that. Most bands try a song because they love it."

While listening to Hoshaw that evening, Teresa leaned over and whispered, "He's got the perfect voice for 'Please Come to Boston.'" She was dead right. Anyone who grew up as I did forced to listen to KFAB remembers the classic Dave Loggins hit that starts, "Please come to Boston for the springtime / I'm stayin' here with some friends and they've got lots of room." Remember it now? Had Hoshaw played that song instead of that Twilight Singers tune, the sleepy older crowd would have hoisted him on their shoulders and paraded him around the water lily pond. But I told Teresa there was no way he would ever cover something so completely unhip.

It turned out that Hoshaw had never even heard the song before, and had to look it up on the Internet. The problem with the tune had nothing to do with its cool factor, he said. "The status of a song being cool or not doesn't cross my mind. I've covered Toad the Wet Sprocket before, and that's not cool. I just pick songs I like and then work with them. A lot of them I scrap because I'm not adding anything unique."

After working with the song for an hour, Hoshaw said he finally gave up. And maybe that's for the best. After all, I'm the guy who picked the song, not Brad. Its selection said more about me and Teresa's cheesy taste than Brad's songwriting voice. And after all, who wants to be known as the guy who does "Please Come to Boston"?

Still, someday, maybe? Come on, Brad.

As you read this I'm sitting in a jet flying to NYC for the weekend where I'll be enjoying the U.S. Open, The Yankees, maybe something on Broadway, maybe a show on the Lower East Side. You'll be here, enjoying a fine 3-day weekend of music. Here's what's going on:

Thursday night (tonight!) Fromanhole plays at The Barley St. with The Lepers. It's probably free, so you can't beat the price. Start off your weekend a day early.

Friday night's marquee show is, of course, UUVVWWZ (read about 'em here) with The Show Is the Rainbow and Stolen Kisses at Slowdown Jr. The only thing I regret about this NYC trip is missing this show. It starts at 9 and costs $7.

Also Friday night, a loaded bill at The Waiting Room featuring Techlepathy, Ladyfinger, The Stay Awake, Perry H. Matthews and Private Dancer -- amazing line-up. $7, 9 p.m. Over at PS Collective, Panang featuring Orenda Fink plays with Outlaw Con Bandana, $5, 10 p.m. O'Leaver's has The Dinks, Imperial Battlesnake and Droids Attack, $5, 9:30 p.m. (be sure you check out Workers, now open, with a tasty Italian Beef sandwich and damn fine hotdogs (get 'em early, they ran out last Saturday night before they closed). One last show worth mentioning: Over at The Saddle Creek Bar (and Grill) New York band Your 33 Black Angels is playing with The Clincher and a third band. $5, 9 p.m.

Saturday, the Saddle Creek Bar (and Grill) is hosting Laborpalooza featuring 15 bands playing outdoors (2 to 10 p.m.) and indoors (9 to 1 a.m.) Cover is $7 for the whole day. Saturday night it's Fortnight at O'Leaver's with Landing on the Moon and The Dark Circles, $5, 9:30 p.m. Meanwhile, down at Slowdown, it's a battle of the tribute/cover bands featuring The Song Remains the Same and Secret Weapon. $8, 9 p.m.

Sunday afternoon, Eagle*Seagull performs at Heartland of America Park as part of the 2008 Walk for Inclusion. Registration and other event information is available here. E*S performs at 3:45.

Check back over the next few days. There may be an update from the road. Maybe. Maybe not.

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Just posted, an interview with UUVVWWZ's Teal Gardner (read it here). The band's new album is my favorite local release so far this year (and that includes Saddle Creek and all its affiliated bands). Too bad I can't buy a copy (I have digital files) because Antiquarium and Drastic are both out of stock and have been for awhile. I'm told that they'll be restocked Friday. And you'll also be able to buy this vinyl-only treasure at the UUVVWWZ show Friday night at Slowdown, which I highly recommend you attend.

I'd be there, but I’m leaving town tomorrow for Manhattan, where I'll be cooling my heels through the weekend (just like when I went out there in April, if any of you have any restaurant / record store / fun-things-to-do suggestions while I'm in NYC, email them to me. You really came through last time.).

Anyway, go read the UUVVWWZ story, where Teal reflects romantically about the band's recent tour that included a brush with a narc squad, a naked drummer, NYC hipsters and projectile vomit. After Slowdown, the band is headed to Minneapolis and Des Moines for a couple shows with The Show Is the Rainbow (who's also playing at Slowdown Friday). Their next local gigs won't be until Sept. 19 (Box Awesome for Lincoln Calling) and Sept. 24 (Knickerbockers with Helios Creed). Don't miss them.

Tonight at The Waiting Room it's the return of Girl Drink Drunk -- Omaha's own version of shithook karaoke. The TWR and the band really are trying to get this thing off the ground, but they can't do it without your help. The show starts at 9 and is absolutely free. What else do you have to do tonight other than watch Bill's speech at the DNC convention?

Look for this week's column online here sometime tomorrow, though I'm not sure when (Does the Minneapolis airport have free wi-fi? I doubt it.). There also may be site updates from NYC (if something happens music-related). Keep watching.

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Interesting story in the OWH this morning about the perceived decline of Saddle Creek Records (read it here). The story is a reaction to Oberst going to Merge and The Faint self-releasing Faciinatiion, with the premise: "Without a strong Saddle Creek and its nationally lauded stable of groups, Omaha's musical skyline could look just like any midsized Midwest city."

Really? The last time I checked, The Faint still had a studio near downtown Omaha and Oberst still owned a mansion in Fairacres. The bands haven't gone anywhere. The only member of Creek's big three to head for the hills (as in Beverly Hills) is Cursive's Tim Kasher, and I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up right back here. Creek is an important part of the Omaha music scene, but it certainly doesn't define it. Not when there are so many good, successful bands around here that aren't on that label.

The key here is defining what "success" means. For whatever reason, the story didn't provide any sales numbers, which are an absolute must to give OWH readers some sort of perspective. Most people who are only familiar with pop FM radio music (i.e., the vast majority of OWH readers) assume "success" means a million-selling album. That's what they see on E! and Entertainment Tonight and MTV Cribs. Imagine how surprised they'd be if they realized that Saddle Creek has never produced a gold record. Not one. Not yet. Still, in the eyes of the indie music world, Creek is remarkably successful. I've said it a million times, I'm saying it again -- you could take every record that Saddle Creek ever sold and it wouldn't equal the sales of one Eminem album. Eminem (when he was still performing) sold out arenas. Most indie bands (and almost all local bands) live in a world where a successful show is selling out a 300- to 500-seat venue. A huge success is selling out the 1,400-capacity Sokol Auditorium. And the biggest success of all is being able to quit your day job and do music full-time.

I have to believe technology has and will continue to have a bigger impact on Saddle Creek's financials than the loss of The Faint. It comes down to cash flow. How much money has Saddle Creek and every other record label lost due to downloading over the past five years? Forget about iTunes, I'm talking about stealing music right off the net. I continue to run into teen-agers and 20-somethings who tell me they don't buy CDs. They don't have to. Stealing music from the web has become common-place for a large segment of the next generation music "consumers."

As for Omaha's reputation "waning a bit," no one expected the "New Seattle" designation to last forever or even this long. By the way, name the city that's taken Omaha's place on the New Seattle throne. Is there one? (And what about those recent SPIN and NYT articles lauding the city?)

Finally, there's Creek's recent signings. Tokyo Police Club could replace The Faint as a member of the label's Big Three, especially on the heels of the Weezer tour (though Weezer has seen better days). Beyond TPC, well, I have no idea. Before Creek signed them, I never heard of Land of Talk or Sebastien Grainger (though I'd heard of Death from Above 1979). Time will tell if they can break through. Does Creek really expect these or any of their second-level acts to ever get as big as Bright Eyes? Yeah, it would be nice, but those days are probably gone.

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Here's an update on Mariofest being held today at Mario's in Dundee (part of Dundee Day): The music starts at 6 p.m. with Outlaw Con Bandana, followed by sax-and-drum duo Kotchian & Pike. At 8 it's Shiver Shiver, followed by Satchel Grande at 9. Still no clue on what it'll cost to get in. Also, a reliable source told me yesterday that The Box Elders have been added to tonight's Faint show at Sokol Auditorium. Sounds like I'll be going after all.

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The crowd was only so-so last night at TWR, maybe 100 people? The biggest problem -- few if any were in the stage room during the performances. Most hung out in the back by the bar, which is a real drag, especially for this kind of music. Five or six women were grooving on the dance floor during the Filter Kings' set. The band's new music seems to skew even more toward country / rock-a-billy than I remember. Even so, I don't think you'll be seeing them at Bushwacker's anytime soon, though I'd love to see these two bands perform there. Maybe it was because they were stone sober or the fact that it was a benefit, but the Kings didn't seem as break-neck buck-wild burn-the-place-down as I remember them at earlier shows. I know bands don't appreciate this, but I like shows where there's a tension coming off the stage that fuels the unexpected. When it comes to the Filter Kings, that means sheer exuberant energy bordering on bar-room brawl. Broken beer bottles. Women dancing on tables. The Bob's Country Bunker scene from The Blues Brothers. That's hard for any band to pull off, especially when you're staring at an empty dance floor. I guess I should have helped things along by buying the band shots.

That same languid crowd energy seeped into FortyTwenty's set. It was the first time I've seen these guys. They are unbelievably talented. They could go either way -- straight-up country or straight-up country rock. Terrific musicians with terrific voices. I tried to imagine how they'd sound in a packed, drunken, steaming-hot room. Maybe next time.

* * *

Here are the Week Two numbers for Oberst/Faint, provided once again by Homer's frontman Mike Fratt. Conor Oberst's solo album moved another 11,077 copies last week, good enough for No. 40 on the Billboard charts. Of those, 3,813 were digital downloads. The Faint sold 3,618 copies of Fasciinatiion, moving the album to No. 172 on Billboard. Digital downloads of Fasciinatiion weren't enough to chart, which means there were fewer than 1,300. Watch these numbers jump as the band continues to hit the road, including this Saturday at Sokol Auditorium. Anyone got a spare ticket?

* * *

Which brings us to the weekend.

Tonight at The Waiting Room it's The Flobots with People Under the Stairs. This one sold out quite a while ago. 9 p.m.

Also, Cloven Path and The Shanks are playing at The 49'r tonight.

Saturday is Dundee Day. There will be the usual main stage set up across from the Dundee Dell featuring a slew of lame bands. Close your eyes and ears, walk past that noise, and go over to Dario's where Dariofest will be happening once again. I'm told the line-up will be Shiver Shiver, Outlaw Con Bandana, Satchel Grande and a fourth TBA band. Sure, it'll cost you something to get in, but both the music and the beer will be well worth it (and better than you're going to get a few paces away). I'm not sure when this gets off the ground. If I find out, I'll update this page.

Saturday night is, of course, The Faint at Sokol Auditorium. Opening is Matador band Jaguar Love and Gengis Tron. Starts at 8. If I can get on the list, I'll give you a full report.

For those of us without tickets, there's always O'Leaver's, where The Lepers are playing with Actors & Actresses, Bazooka Shootout and Giants. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Indie band Fortnight (Ex-Park Ave member Jenn Bernard's band) is playing at hole-in-the-wall-in-the-basement Benson club Incognito, 7024 Maple St. (under the One Lounge, check out their myspace page). 9 p.m. and absolutely free.

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A friend of mine read this and said 'Dude, you're getting old,' missing the whole point of the column. Oh well...

Column 186 -- In Any Language
World Music is cooler than you think.

I spent last weekend driving through the sun-baked streets of Southern France. Sure, it was all in my mind, but from time to time, as I motored down Underwood Ave. and across the slippery, snaky back of Turner Blvd., I also was cruising along a cobblestone street in Dordogne on my way to Sarlat, dodging crepe vendors and an array of French poodles. The fantasy -- or at least its soundtrack -- came courtesy of a record label called Putumayo.

Putumayo recently transported me to Quebec, Africa, Latin America and the discos of Europe via its ongoing series of World Music compilations.

Stop. Did he just say "World Music"? This guy is supposed to be telling us about indie music -- local or otherwise -- and now he's going off on a World Music label? Things must be mighty slow at Saddle Creek these days. Isn't World Music for old people, New Age health-food hippies and bearded, slouching, sadly dressed literature professors?

Yeah, that's what I used to think, too. World Music = New Age = Boring. But there was a time in the late '80s early '90s when World Music emerged as something cool, thanks to ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and his Luaka Bop label. Byrne broke through the New Age preconceptions of World Music by uncovering hip sounds by the likes of Tom Zé, Os Mutantes, Zap Mama, but more specifically (in my case) by releasing compilations like Brazil Classics 1: Beleza Tropical; Brazil Classis 2: O Samba, and Cuba Classics 2: Dancing with the Enemy. Luaka Bop provided a sound and beat that was a million miles away from the Ritual Device, Replacements and Husker Du albums that had been clogging up my CD player. The label was hot for a number of years, then David Byrne left, and it sort of faded from memory, and that old perception of World Music quickly returned.

Now along comes Putumayo World Music. Actually, the label's been around for 15 years, starting up shortly after Luaka Bop, but I'd never heard of it until just recently, when out of the blue Putumayo compilations began showing up in my mailbox.

Kaveh Sarfehjooy, marketing executive at Putumayo in New York, thinks the dated stigma behind the term "World Music" is fading. "Part of selling anything is giving it a certain label," he said. "World Music to me is music from different parts of the world that isn't normally heard. It's a nebulous term. People should make their own definition."

At a time when the entire industry seems to be in an endless downward spiral, Sarfehjooy said Putumayo's sales have remained steady, apparently immune to the forces killing everyone else. He pointed to the label's network of non-traditional outlets that includes book stores, coffee shops, health food markets like Whole Foods as well as the traditional independent record stores like Homer's.

He said Putumayo, a small indie label which has sold more than 20 million CDs, is constantly searching for music that people haven't heard before, and includes both classic and contemporary songs by leading singer-songwriters.

The soon-to-be released Acoustic France compilation (the CD that transported me to Dordogne) is a good example. The 12-song sampler is one of the best indie albums I've heard this year, even though I didn't understand a thing anyone was singing. The collection includes a number of songs that you'd expect to hear on a soundtrack to a European indie film or a France-based Woody Allen flick. The acoustic guitar basso nova whistler "Assidic" by Les Escrocs is pure striped shirt, pencil mustache and beret, and also was a big hit in France back in '94 (according to the liner notes). You'll also expect to hear stuff like the swing guitar rambler "J'Suis Pas d'lci" by Thomas Dutronic and the lilting guitar waltz "Romane" by Passion, dripping with the same atmospheric intrigue found in a French spy novel.

What you won't be expecting is stuff like the trip-hop-inflected "Clash Dans Le Tempo" by Constance Amiot, Sadrine Kiberlain's chugging "Le Quotidiem" and back-beat shuffler "Sombre Con," by Rose, all of which would be right at home on any American indie album if they were sung in English (and believe me, there's plenty of American indie music that would be greatly improved if it were sung in a foreign tongue).

Part of what makes this music so endearing is that I don't have a clue what they're singing about. It's that same quality that makes Putumayo CDs perfect for background music at events like art shows, though relegating it to such a fate would be a mistake -- I found myself listening to this CD over and over last weekend without getting bored.

Sarfehjooy said Putumayo targets "cultural creatives" who are more likely to approach music with an open mind. "They're people who are interested in other cultures," he said. "When we started, our demographic may have skewed older, but with the introduction of our Groove and Lounge series, we're naturally attracting a younger audience."

And that includes followers of traditional indie music. "A lot of scenes, like indie rock, punk and electronica are marginalized and consist of people whose tastes aren't dictated by mainstream tastes," Sarfehjooy said. "We're getting more and more interest from hip-hop DJ's who feel the international flavor of the music naturally fits into their sets. It doesn't matter what you're into if the music's good.

"With the Internet, there are just more outlets to be exposed to good music, whether it's from Greece, Iran, Egypt, Tahiti or Thailand, it's all more readily available on line," Sarfehjooy said. "The world is getting smaller."

Tonight there's a worthy benefit show at The Waiting Room featuring superstar acts Forty Twenty, The Filter Kings and Black Squirrels. The $10 at the door will go toward covering bartender Dave Syslo's medical bills for recent cancer surgery. We all understand how important it is to keep Omaha's best bartenders healthy and on their feet, which means I'll be seeing you at the show. 9 p.m. Wear scrubs.

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

It was a warm, perfect summer evening at Lauritzen Gardens last night. Their makeshift stage is a patio behind the main building where a two-peaked white tent sheltered Brad Hoshaw from the setting sun. Brad looked like a grizz hunter with a guitar, playing solo acoustic in front of 300 or do picnic-ers sitting in the grass eating grapes and cheese, wine and PBR. The PA sounded remarkably good; so did Hoshaw though his set was back-loaded with a few too many slow, somber numbers, which Brad is known for but tell that to the nearby 2-year-old twins who were getting restless. After 45 minutes, I began to regret not bringing a picnic basket -- the smell of nearby grub was killing us.

Fink came out to sing a duet that Hoshaw said he wrote for her a couple years ago. It was a pretty song that falls nicely within the Hoshaw canon, with a chorus that went "That was so long ago/Now we're growing old/The kids are stealing our rock and roll." Brad played for at least an hour and included covers by both Kyle Harvey (the one he always plays) and Twilight Singers (something I hadn't heard before and though I like Twilight Singers, if you don't have the initials GD it's going to be a real rollercoaster ride). We contemplated what song we'd like to hear Hoshaw cover, and it was my cohort who came up with the perfect tune -- "Please Come to Boston" by Dave Loggins, a song that we both love but that were sure Hoshaw would never sing because he'd think that it's "not cool enough." Ah, but he'd be wrong.

The evening turned out to be more of a Hoshaw showcase than Orenda showcase due to timing. At 7:15 the organizers were still fiddledicking around with sound and staging, and I knew we weren't going to make it through even half of her set. Finally, Orenda came on at 7:25 (the concert, which started at 6, was scheduled to end at 8), accompanied by Art in Manila bandmate Adrianne Verhoeven. We made it through three songs before hunger got the best of us. By then about a third of the crowd had left, including a few that were probably headed to CB for My Morning Jacket at Stir Cove. Overall, a nice night, though we should have brought food along...

* * *

I told you the Reader was going to launch their CD reviews this week, and here they are -- with the first batch written by me. The plan is to have all of the Reader Music All Stars contribute reviews in the coming weeks (I'm told they'll run monthly until the Reader gets its scheduling act together, and then they'll run more frequently). Unlike Lazy-i reviews, these will be rated on a five-star system vs. the usual yes/no rating, which seemed too draconian for The Reader. That said, all five of these albums would get "yes" ratings.

Albums are rated on the usual five-star scale, where you're suggested to avoid those with one star and deify those with five.

The Faint, Faciinatiion (blank .wav) -- It's no wonder that the album's best song, "The Geeks Were Right," also is the most straightforward and least dependent on technology to "make it sound different." You see, I like frontman Todd Fink's voice just the way it is. And with all of the electronic bleep-blooping going on elsewhere, Dapose's opening guitar riff feels downright organic. But a straight-up rock band is not what the throngs of stylish, sweaty youth are looking for. Give them the robot-voiced dance machine with its dense bass and thump-thump-thump rhythms. They want to bounce, not think. What are they singing about? Who cares as long as there's a thick-ass beat and plenty of strobes. Which makes me wonder what would happen if these guys stepped away from the synths, vocoders and effects pedals and picked up traditional instruments once again. They could be that great rock band we've all been waiting for, if they wanted to be. But they never will, not now, not when they don't have to. With a slew of classics already in their quiver, it makes you wonder why they even bother making new CDs in the first place. Rating: 3 stars.

Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst (Merge) -- It differs from Bright Eyes in its more minimal production, though it's far from stripped down (just Mogis-less). Song wise, it's not a stretch at all, though Oberst does seem more relaxed, even resolved to his stricken condition of being ordained the rambling "voice of his generation." Call him that if you want to; he's not listening. Unlike Lifted or Wide Awake, there's no need to block off your afternoon or give it your undivided attention to enjoy it. Like he says on album opener "Cape Canaveral": "There's no worries, who's got time?" No one, Conor, no one. And while there's nothing as striking as, say, "Lua" or "Waste of Paint" or "I Must Belong Somewhere," it has its moments of absolute clarity, including country stomper "I Don't Want to Die (in the Hospital)" and rock anthem "Souled Out!!!" Oberst is too smart to do either. Rating: 4 stars.

Shiver Shiver, Soulless Sex Appeal (self-release) -- I liken their band-nerd music to a warm, soothing embrace by someone you just met -- it's inviting but at the same time, awkward and a little unnerving. Certainly you want to hold onto their sound -- keyboard and drums that have more in common with funk 'n' jazz than rock 'n' roll. Frontman Jordan Elsberry is an Omaha version of Joe Jackson but without Joe's interesting stories. Jordan's voice is soothing, even sexy in a geeky sort of way, but you won't remember a single secret that he whispered in your ear once you've left the dance floor. The honest album title couldn't be more accurate. Rating 3 stars.

Silver Jews, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea (Drag City) -- The album can be summed up in one perfect song: "San Francisco B.C.," where drawling frontman David Berman croons a story of a break-up with a "local martyr in the vegan press," a crime story that finds our hero "in the possession of burglary tools" only to confront the bad-haired murderer who orphaned his true love. Along the way there's plenty of "fist cuisine" and "insignificant shit" and other tossed-out genius that makes this one song better than Tarantino's last three films. Musically, it's laid-back, rolling, countrified slacker rock, with Berman sounding like the second coming of Johnny Cash, and wife, Cassie, providing the June Carter harmonies. Rating: 4.5 stars.

Randy Newman, Harps and Angels (Nonesuch) -- At age 64, Newman's voice is starting to wind down, not because he can't sing, but because he's too damn lazy to. By the time he gets to center-point songs like the slice-of-life testimonial "Potholes," he's merely speaking the lyrics Kentucky colonel-style over the usual, lilting rag-time arrangements. Even then, he's a better singer than most of the folks you'll hear on the radio. Besides, songs like the snarky, dead-on "A few Words in Defense of Our Country," with the lines "You know, a president once said / 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself' / Now it seems like we're supposed to be afraid / It's patriotic, in fact / Color-coded" don't exactly invite listeners to sing along as much nod knowingly. Rating: 3.5 stars.

Hey local bands, want your records reviewed? Send your CDs and vinyl to The Reader c/o "Reviews," P.O. Box 7360, Omaha, NE 68107. While submissions will be considered, space limitations prevent all from being reviewed..

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O'Leaver's beer garden is deceptively large compared to how it looks from the parking lot. You can easily get 30 or 40 people out there if you stand them up and lean them against the railing. It's so inviting that there were more people outside drinking and smoking than were inside Saturday night while the bands played. Opening was The Third Men, sounding solid despite having not performed in months.� Domestica were their usual amazing selves, playing all the hits including songs off their new Mommyhead 7-inch (pressed on luscious orange vinyl, available from Speed! Nebraska Records). There's not much more to say about their performance other than Jon Taylor could have turned his amps up louder (He finally did at the end of the set). I don't remember seeing the old Mercy Rule floor-floodlights the last time they played. It's good to see them back, illuminating Jon, Heidi and Boz like a trio of rock 'n' roll ghosts.�

In other O'Leaver's news, I'm told that Worker's, Chris Machmuller's new sandwich shop located right next door to the bar, is slated to open today. I'm also told the weekend hours could be as late as 2 a.m., meaning that I'll no longer have to drive through Taco Johns for grub after the bar closes.

***

Tomorrow night (Tuesday) at Lauritzen Gardens, it's a special 6 p.m. outdoor concert featuring Orenda Fink and Brad Hoshaw. Concert-goers are encouraged to bring their own chairs, blankets, food and blankets (and booze, which is permitted). The $7 charge also gets you into the gardens, which are open for roaming until 8:30.

Also Tuesday night, it's Reagan Roeder, Tomato a Day and Tina Sparkle at O'Leaver's. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And yes, I didn't forget, My Morning Jacket plays Tuesday night at Stir Concert Cove. 7:30, $26. I doubt the show will exceed their performance at Sokol Underground in May 2004. Still, this has all the makings of being one of the best shows of the year.

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Blue Scholars is playing tonight at The Waiting Room. I bring it up only because they're one of my favorite touring indie hip-hop acts. I'm painfully discerning when it comes to hip-hop. There are only a handful of hip-hop recordings that I have in my collection. Beyond the usual staples (NWA, Public Enemy, Beasties) there's Danger Mouse, Evil Tambourines and a slew of Blue Scholars CDs. I know nothing about the rest of the bill, which includes headliner Hieroglyphics, Musab, Tonya Morgan and Knowbody. 9 p.m. $15. Also tonight, classic '90s Omaha punk band Cordial Spew opens for Red City Radio and Bent Left at The Saddle Creek Bar. 9 p.m., free.

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So how did Conor Oberst and The Faint do in their first week's sales of their new albums? Here's the skinny by way of Homer's General Manager Mike Fratt:

Conor Oberst's self-titled album sold 28,546 copies last week, plus 354 copies prior to street date for a total of 28,918 copies. That's good enough for the album to chart at No. 15 on Billboard. Conor Oberst also was the No. 3 best-selling download on iTunes, moving 9,941 digital units.

The Faint's Fasciinatiion sold 11,333 last week, plus 222 copies before street date for a total of 11,584 copies -- good enough to claim the No. 45 position on the Billboard charts. Fasciinatiion also was the No. 15 best-selling download on iTunes, moving 3,250 digital units.

FYI, digital downloads are included in the overall total sales number. Thanks again to Mr. Fratt for the data. Overall, an impressive first week by both artists. I think you could see both albums continue to climb the charts, but especially Fasciinatiion, which has had less pre-release media attention, and is only now getting the notice it deserves.

This week's column combined info about The Reader's introduction of CD reviews next week with Monday's blog-entry review of the Shiver Shiver show. Here's the stuff you haven’t seen yet.

Column 185: Comparatively Speaking
Reviews return…

We're starting up CD reviews again next week at The Reader. It's something that's been talked about for, well, as long as there's been a Reader. But for whatever reason, it just never happened. The last time we tried it, the editor-in-charge passed along a handful of some of the worst local recordings ever made and told the writers to "have at 'em." Not surprisingly, no one wanted the arduous task of subjecting themselves to an hour's worth of the city's most derivative second-rate drivel and then try to glean something meaningful out of it. The music scene has come a long way since then, or so we'll see next week.

Here's a little secret about music journalism -- it's harder to write a concise 100-word CD review than it is to write a 1,000-word band profile. Much harder. Yes, for profiles it does take time to schedule and interview a (hopefully lucid, coherent) band, then listen to their music and come up with a hook to make it all worth reading. But you've got quotes and one-sheets (industry speak for a band's press release) to help piece it together. The hardest part is describing the band's sound without stringing together a list of comparisons, such as "The opening track sounds like up-tempo Pixies meets low-fi Pavement with howling vocals by The Kinks…" It's sloppy, lazy journalism that I'm as guilty of doing as anyone. No good band ever wants to be compared to anyone else, especially if the comparison is dead accurate.

But have you ever tried to sit down and describe music without using comparisons? Think about it. It's like trying to make a sculpture out of mist -- all the tangible elements are all in your head, and when you try to mold them into something concrete, they blur and become unrecognizable. That's how dumb-ass, meaningless descriptions like "angular guitar work," "powerful riff" and "yearning vocals" get created. Clichés become addictive, and fatal. The best critics in the world, like personal writing mentor Robert Christgau (formerly of the Village Voice, now contributing to Blender, Rolling Stone and MSN Music) in the fewest words can make you clearly understand exactly what he thinks about a band's music. For example, his take on the new Death Cab for Cutie album: "Unfailingly melodic, surprisingly dynamic, somewhat overextended love problems, and if he's so smart why doesn't he shelve music and solve them?"

Christgau gave that album an "honorable mention." I have no idea if we'll be using a rating system (I hope so). Our focus will be mostly on local releases, but there also will be reviews of notable national releases thrown into the mix. I write this as an incentive to the editors to actually follow through this time. Think it'll work?

Tonight at Slowdown Jr. Washington/Brooklyn indie-rockers Deleted Scenes plays with local walking muppets Talkin' Mountain, Hyannis and White Elephant Gift Exchange. What I've heard on the DS myspace is mighty good. $6, 9 p.m.

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I've commented to a few people who hang out at Slowdown that the venue's small stage -- a.k.a. Slowdown Jr. -- has all the makings of the perfect jazz club. Actually, Slowdown's bar vibe -- all black tile and shiny surfaces, exposed ceiling and dark, ambient lighting -- doesn't feel so much like punk/indie as much as urban hip (as in an NYC club). Maybe it’s the tables with the glass votive candleholders or the intimate stage with its glimmering, pristine sound. I don't know. I also don’t know if Omaha even has a viable jazz scene these days. I know its history (I've interviewed the late Preston Love a few times), but other than the antiseptic Jazz on the Green muzak festival, I'm not aware of anything going on around town.

I say all this as a lead-up to last Saturday night's Shiver Shiver CD release show at Slowdown Jr. SS, to me, isn't so much a rock band as a hybrid of pop and smooth jazz, not so much Steely Dan as Bob James with Squeeze, Ben Folds and Todd Rundgren thrown in. As I said last week, I'd heard the band perform twice -- at O'Leaver's and at "Dario-fest" -- and neither performance captured the essence of their recordings. Last Saturday night's show did, thanks to Slowdown's jazzy vibe and state-of-the-art sound system. The two-piece of Jordan Elsberry and Chase Thornburg glided through a set of songs off their new album, Soulless Sex Appeal, with the casualness of seasoned road veterans playing yet another gig. Drummer Thornburg is a jazzy Max Weinberg, just an amazing guy on the skins. But it's Elsberry who plays the role of frontman. Looking like a bespectacled Adam Samberg standing behind a pair of keyboards in faux Armani (actually, both wore suits), he got the crowd of 100 or so grooving with his bouncing keys and swarthy vocals. As one member of one of the city's more popular Creek-related bands said from the side of the stage, no one around town is doing anything like this. They've got the market to themselves playing a style of music that has a universal appeal (certainly more so than Slowdown's usual bands). Now we'll see if they do anything with it, as in hit the road and make a name for themselves outside of Nebraska. They certainly have the chops to do it…

I couldn't let the evening get away without dropping by The Saddle Creek Bar for the Big Al 1-year anniversary show. I only caught the last few minutes of the Filter King's roaring set before they packed up and headed off to The Niner for yet another show. Big Al and Metal Barbie ripped into the same set of home-made metal standards (with the volume turned to 11) that they played a year ago. including "Oregano," "It's War You Die" "Cold Hard Steel" and all the rest, along with a second helping of "Oregano" just before 1 a.m. Now it's onto year two, which one hopes will bring with it some new material…

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Billboard reports that Conor Oberst's self-titled solo CD debuted at No. 37 on the UK album charts, where it's competing with the likes of Coldplay, Abba and Rihanna. So how well did it do on the U.S. charts? We'll have to wait and see. For what it's worth, the album currently stands at No. 6 on the iTunes download chart, fueled in part by a massive feature in last Friday's New York Times by Jon Pareles (here). An interesting scheduling comment at the end of the piece: Pareles said Oberst had a year of work lined up outside of Bright Eyes, what with a solo tour that will last well into next year and a new record with M. Ward and Jim James (There's no word what label that'll be released on). If that's the case, don't expect another Bright Eyes album until 2010, maybe longer...

In other Saddle Creek news, DCist reported last week (here) that Georgie James, one of the Creek's more recent signings (May 2007) called it quits. Look for solo efforts by both members in the near future.

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Chatting with one of the security guys at the Tilly and the Wall show last night, we talked about why they didn't just have the show at Slowdown -- a natural size-step up from TWR, where they last played. I figured the reason had something to do with the city's new all-ages policy, which wouldn't apply to Sokol. But this guy pointed out that there weren't that many in the crowd under 18, which reminded me that Tilly has been around for seven years, under-age listeners who followed the band from way back when would be well over 18 years old by now. In the end, the Sokol decision probably was based on crowd-size expectations, and as per usual the promoter (and the band) were right. The draw was around 700, according to the promoter -- a nice-sized crowd, but far from the 1,400 needed for a sell out. To help fill the main ballroom, the balcony was closed (though a few people still got up there somehow).

I arrived right at the end of The Ruby Suns and just in time for the painfully loud and distorted between-set "dance music." I moved as far away from the stage as possible, seeking shelter from the bone-rattling bass-noise. Twenty minutes later, someone threw a hundred or so balloons into the audience. Ten minutes after that, the band went on.

The distorto-bass remained a problem for the first three songs. Hats off to the sound guy for getting things adjusted early in the set. You could argue that the biggest change in the band's sound is the addition of bass and drums, though it's really the bass that had the biggest impact last night and not necessarily in a good way. In fact, the whole set got off to a rocky start with a ho-hum version of cuss-fest "Too Excited," as well as some of the band's more droll songs featuring Kianna and Neely singing the same melody lines -- i.e., no harmonies. What's the point of that?

They didn't hit their stride until after a rather flaccid rendition of "Falling Without Knowing" that sounded like the girls were singing the chorus an octave lower than on the recording, sucking the life out of one of my favorite songs on the new CD. Things got rolling after that, though. I continue to be convinced that Tilly's future lies in the style of dance music heard on their single, "Beat Control," which got the crowd dancing (sort of). The remainder of the set was the best I've ever heard Tilly perform, and included "Dust Me Off," "Jumbler," the acoustic ballad "Tall Tall Grass" and B52's-flavored single "Pot Kettle Black."
Staging wise, Tilly has added computer-controlled spots to the usual confetti, balloons and smoke. At the center of it all, of course, is Jamie Pressnall standing like a ballerina atop a three-foot-high tap-dance box. With her gittering wrist bands, it's impossible to ignore her throughout the set. She is the stage centerpiece, even though Tilly clearly has begun to step away from its reliance on tap to provide rhythm.

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A very brief look at the weekend:

Tonight Team Love performing artist Mars Black has a CD release show at Sokol Underground. Guests include Surreal the MC, Articulate and Richie Daggers. $7, 7 p.m.

Tomorrow night Shiver Shiver has its CD release show at Slowdown Jr. with Tim Wildsmith and Brent Crampton. The SS disc, Soulless Sex Appeal, reminds me of a cross between Todd Rundgren and Squeeze -- it's smooth, well produced keyboard-driven rock. I've seen SS twice live and neither time did their sound resemble what's heard on their recordings. Could the Slowdown stage make the CD come to life? Find out tomorrow. $10 w/CD; $5 otherwise. 9 p.m.

Also Saturday night, Big Al is back at the Saddle Creek Bar for a return engagement that also includes The Filter Kings, The Upsets and Dylan Davis. $5, 9 p.m.

And Sunday, The Bodeans return to Omaha, this time to Slowdown. With Ha Ha Tonka, $17, 9 p.m.

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Tonight at Sokol Auditorium it's Tilly and the Wall with The Ruby Suns and Go Motion. 8 p.m., $13. This morning I was discussing whether this show will sell out. One guy said he thought it was a sure bet. I'm doubtful. The last time Tilly played in Omaha was at The Waiting Room in March. I can't remember if that sold out or not. Other than that, they did a show last year at Sokol Underground, as well as a shows opening for The Faint, Rilo Kiley and Bright Eyes at Sokol Auditorium over the past couple years. There's no question that Tilly's popularity continues to grow (Their new album is No. 16 on the CMJ radio charts, right under Conor Oberst's), but selling out the 1,400-capacity Sokol Aud? Hmmm... We'll see tonight.

And speaking of Oberst, he and his Mystic Valley Band played on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night. Oberst and crew came on at the end of the show after Jack Black and the winner of the Pillsbury Bake-Off. I thought they might do "Souled Out!!!" Instead they did a rollicking version of "Get Well Cards" that sounded surprisingly good for a live network broadcast. Overall, a very straight-forward performance. Now when is The Faint going to get on Letterman?

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I just counted and there is something like, what, 1,000 reviews of the new Conor Oberst solo CD, which hit the store shelves today (sort through them all here). Taken as a whole, the average rating has been 3.5 stars or B+. The critics like it, and they like Oberst, who's also done a shit-ton of press in support of this release. My take after listening to it for the past few weeks: It's not dramatically different than what you've heard from Bright Eyes in the past, except for the much-needed stripped down production (and I think Oberst could take it down even further). While there's nothing as striking as, say, "Lua" or "Waste of Paint" or "I Must Belong Somewhere," the record still has its moments, including opener "Cape Canaveral," country stomper "I Don't Want to Die (in the Hospital)" and funky-hooked "Souled Out!!!" As a whole, it holds together as well as Wide Awake, and on a certain level, even better. It's gonna be huge... for Merge.

Conversely, using Google News search, I've found considerably fewer (actually almost no) reviews of the new Faint CD, which also dropped today. I'm not sure why all the crickets, though I speculate on one possible reason in tomorrow's column...

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Looks like all the press paid off. There were more than 100 people at last Friday night's Fromanhole CD release show at Slowdown Jr., enough that every table and booth was filled, with a sizable crowd standing in front of the stage. Fromanhole picked the right time to bring it -- they never sounded better, despite the fact that bassist/vocalist Doug Kiser sliced off a good chuck of his pointer finger on his left hand earlier in the day. This is the second time I've seen Doug play injured (the other was an O'Leaver's show where he again had injured one of his fingers). Maybe he should mutilate himself more often if it's going to result in this kind of bad-ass performance.

The evening's pleasant surprise (for me, anyway) was The Life and Times, a KC band fronted by Shiner's Allen Epley. Prior to the show I had heard nary a note of the LNT's music, though right before they went on one of the local music scholars said, "You're gonna love 'em. They're heavily influenced by Swervedriver." Did they sound like Swervedriver? I don't know since I've never really followed Swervedriver. What we got was a gnashing set of trippy, melodic noise-core that reminded me of My Bloody Valentine -- just grinding, heavy rock that had moments of soaring beauty. Epley's voice is unique in a Cobain sort of way (though he sounds nothing like Cobain), one of those voices that makes you nod your head and think, "This guy is good." For a trio, LNT had an enormous, dense sound. With some luck, they could be the next big thing. They should be.

Little Brazil unveiled a bunch of new material during their headlining set. I initially thought, "These guys really sound poppy these days," but then I listened to Tighten the Noose again over the weekend and rethought it. Drummer Oliver Morgan said after the set, "More poppy? We though we sounded more punky." I don’t think I'd use the term "punk" to describe their sound, however. To me, the new stuff is more melody-focused, with fewer tangents getting in the way. Landon Hedges' voice is amazing, just an amazing range. He's the Freddy Mercury of indie rock. I don't know how he's going to pull off those high notes after a few days on the road. Lots of warming up? Hot toddies? I thought Tighten the Noose was going to be the one to push them to that next level of national indie exposure. But it wasn't to be. If their next album captures the sound I heard Friday night -- and they tour as hard as they have in the past -- there's no reason for them not to emerge at the top of the CMJ charts.

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Well, in last Saturday's edition, the Omaha World-Herald replied to my column from a couple weeks ago where I took them to task for taking The Good Life to task for voicing their support for the Democratic party (read my column here). My point was that the OWH should be encouraging freedom of speech and the First Amendment, not dreaming up ways (including financial penalties) to keep people from voicing a viewpoint that differs from theirs. In their 87-word response that appeared under the "Furthermore…" section of the Editorials page, the OWH said it "understood and contemplated the band's right to say what it wanted. That is free speech." It then went on to say that "critics" misunderstood the difference between free speech and speech free of consequences. "…The city and this newspaper have a right to criticize crudeness and contemplate incentives for better behavior." Incentives? I always thought incentives were benefits beyond basic compensation (a bonus, for example). In the OWH's eyes, compensation for work performed isn't part of an agreement or contract, it's an incentive. Odd way of doing business. Ah well, I have no interest in getting in a pissing war with the OWH. It's surprising that they even read the column in the first place. As is their policy, they didn't reference the source of the criticism (The Reader) or name the band involved. At least they didn't refer to me as a "local blogger " this time.

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New Jersey punkers The Ergs play at O'Leaver's tonight with Hunchback and No Action. $5, 9:30 p.m. Over at The Waiting Room it's The A.K.A.'s with The Frantic. $8, 9 p.m. While over at Slowdown Jr. it's Wild Sweet Orchard with Skypiper and It's True. $8, 9 p.m.

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The boys from Fromanhole scored the triple crown of publicity for their CD release show tonight at Slowdown Jr.: They got a Niz feature in the OWH's Go! section (here), a "meet-the-band" interview conducted by former intern Brendan Walsh in the Omaha City Weekly (here) and, of course, a profile by yours truly in The Reader and Lazy-i.com (here). What more could they do to get people to come to this show? And then, in the end, Fromanhole isn't headlining -- in fact, they're not even playing third. Doug, Daryl and Roach will be playing second, which means they'll be on stage at around 10 p.m. So get down to Slowdown early and see the results of this media frenzy. Also on the bill are Nueva Vulcano (playing first), The Life and Times (Allen Epley of Shiner) and headliner Little Brazil. $7, 9 p.m.

What else is going on this weekend? You tell me on the webboard…

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