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Home - Lazy I
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First Quarter Report - |
A glance at some recent releases
by Tim McMahan
Whenever people start asking me what I’m listening to, I figure it’s time for another CD reviews round-up. These are not full, detailed reviews, rather they’re impressions after listening to these albums on and off on my stereo and iPhone over the past few weeks/months. All get the Lazy-i seal of approval. |
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Convo with a Cop - |
Jaws talks Cops and Mt. Fuji
by Tim McMahan
This week we’re catching up with Mike Jaworski aka “Jaws” former Omahan, frontman of Seattle rock band The Cops and majordomo of Mt. Fuji Records, a label whose roster includes Little Brazil, Slender Means, and his own band.
Jaworski chatted via cell from the Fort Green Laundromat in Brooklyn the day after The Cops played at Union Pool in Williamsburg. Just down the street at The Vanderbilt Auto Service, the band’s ’96 Econovan was getting a much-needed tune-up its first after well over 200,000 miles of road duty. Jaworski hoped that new plugs not only would fix that rough, chugging sound coming from beneath the hood, but would boost the van’s 12-miles-per-gallon fuel performance. They’ve got a long way to drive before rolling into The Slowdown this Saturday night for a show with Race For Titles, Little Brazil and special guests Criteria (That’s right, Stephen Pedersen and Co. will make their return after a long absence from stage).
For touring bands, life on the road is getting tougher these days, Jaworski said. “We’re not pulling in guarantees like Cursive. We’re a break-even band who gets by on merch sales. How else can you do this when gas is so expensive?” |
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Public Enemy - |
Hate for the right reasons
by Tim McMahan
Last Saturday night, I high-tailed it over to what is believed (in some circles) to be a den of pure evil The Saddle Creek Bar. There, I consorted with The Dark Lord accused of high crimes and misdemeanors to the Omaha music scene, and retrieved my winnings. As I mentioned in last week’s column, I had a bet riding on the outcome of last Tuesday’s Omaha City Council meeting, a bet I won. I played Randolph Duke to Mike Coldewey’s Mortimer Duke, and he paid up: one dollar.
It was then that I realized that these days, people are hating Coldewey for all the wrong reasons.
If there’s a back story to the city council vote that allows minors into bars for all-ages rock shows, it’s the demonization of Coldewey. But the fact is, before this whole thing stirred, few people who I know in the indie music scene liked the owner/operator of The Saddle Creek Bar or his brash, straight-forward approach. |
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No Poles, No Pasties - |
All ages shows become more legal
by Tim McMahan
It’s been about 20 years since I’ve been to an Omaha City Council meeting, and in that time nothing has changed about the council chambers the paneled dιcor, the dirty upholstered chairs, the institutional fluorescent lighting. The place even smells the same, a mixture of dust, mildewed paper, Brylcreem, toilet bowl deodorant and bureaucracy.
Only the players have changed, but really, is Frank Brown that much different then say, Fred Conley? Is Garry Gernandt a big leap from Bernie Simon? No, not really. It certainly didn’t seem that way at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, which felt like stepping into a time machine, complete with all the usual inane discussions, dumb questions and stripper references that I remember from my days at journalism school.
At stake was the future of all-ages shows in Omaha bars. The council was voting on the so-called “music venue” ordinance introduced by Councilman Jim Suttle that would let bars allow minors onto their premises during live music events as long they were properly identified as minors. The first reading of the ordinance was two weeks ago, and afterward no one thought it would pass. Certainly I didn’t. |
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Minor Threat - |
Arguing for all-ages venue
by Tim McMahan
At issue is an ordinance introduced by City Councilman Jim Suttle a couple weeks ago that would create a new category of businesses called “music venues.” The ordinance would allow these designated bars to admit minors as long as the bars followed security measures, including having wristbands for those 21 and older and serving alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks in different glasses.
The ordinance was discussed at a city council meeting two weeks ago. Among those speaking in favor were Matt Oberst (Conor Oberst’s father), David Jacobson (father of Film Stream’s Rachel Jacobson, and an attorney representing Slowdown and The Waiting Room), Jason Kulbel (Saddle Creek Records executive and Slowdown co-owner) and Marc Leibowitz (co-owner of One Percent Productions and The Waiting Room).
Their arguments are obvious to local music fans: Omaha’s world-renowned music scene was created by a bunch of kids who grew up watching bands perform at all-ages shows. To prevent the next generation from seeing these shows because they take place in bars (rather than halls) would be a tragic blow to the continued growth of the local arts and music scene. |
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New York Minuet - |
Searching for sound in the city
by Tim McMahan
I spent last week in New York, and had intended to write a column about the vast, exciting world of music swaddled within the dark nightclubs of a city that never sleeps.
Unfortunately I never made it to any clubs, which kind of puts a damper on the whole column idea. What happened?
There are dozens and dozens of music venues in New York. The best ones all seem to be located in the once-seedy area called the Lower East Side (LES), just a handful of subway stops below the Empire State Building. When I visited New York a few years ago (on the exact day of the infamous Eastern seaboard blackout) I took the 6 train from the glimmering clean streets north of Times Square and south of Central Park down to LES in search of a club called Sin-ι.
I emerged from the urine-scented subway surrounded by high-rise housing projects and people angrily pushing shopping carts loaded with empty aluminum cans. The cart pushers glared at me with suspicion as I unfolded a subway map, vainly trying to locate Attorney Street, their heads encrusted in dried sweat under wool stocking caps, out of place in the August heat.
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More Punk Than You - |
Omaha’s original punk legends gather again
by Tim McMahan
The idea of the Omaha ‘My Generation’ Punk Rock Reunion Show (this Saturday night at The Waiting Room) began with a couple former neighbors talking about the good ol’ days.
Those neighbors were Tim Cox, drummer for ’80s-era punk rock band R.A.F., and the girls that lived next door, Dee Shelton and Meghan Smith. They lived in an apartment building that came to be known as The Farnam House, a place notorious for its ad hoc punk rock shows.
Here’s the funny part The Farnam House was located right across the street from The Brothers at 38th and Farnam, a building that today is known as Hotel Frank, home of the best house shows in town hosting bands like Capgun Coup and Baby Walrus. |
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Boss Hogged - |
Goodbye, Qwest Center
by Tim McMahan
As I drove aimlessly through the cluster-f***ed streets looking for a place to park, I took solace in the fact that this, the third concert I’ve attended at The Qwest Center, would also be my last.
I now must assume that it’s impossible to get good seats at Qwest. For Fleetwood Mac, we sat lower bowl center, straight back from the stage and couldn’t see shit. For The Who, I joined a Who fan club just to try to get good seats. We got first tier, but too close to the floor and too far back on the side, so we couldn’t see shit. Like every other dumbass who thought Springsteen would sell out in two minutes, I was online right when the tickets were made available and was surprised that I even got through. Hence, I took the first “best seats” offered, figuring if I didn’t take them, I’d never make it through the queue and would lose any chance of getting tickets. When I looked at the seating chart online, I thought they were pretty good section 223 Row N. Heck, second tier, right off the stage I’ll be looking right down at The Boss’ bad haircut!
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British Bird Nests - |
Alessi makes Omaha her second home
by Tim McMahan
This is the story of a girl named Alessi, a stranger from a strange land called London, cast away in a distant world called Omaha to be embraced by natives carrying guitars and glockenspiel. She quickly learned the language, thanks to tribe leader Mike Mogis. And now, after spending only a few months here eating Tom Kha Gai soup and quesadillas, shopping at the temple of Target and hanging out with fried-chicken eating musicians, she’s gone. Back to London. Leaving behind her extended family to pursue a career fueled by global music powerhouse EMI Records, fondly remembering time spent with new friends that she won’t see again for a long, long time.
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A Year of Waiting - |
Omaha club celebrates first birthday
by Tim McMahan
A year ago, on the eve of opening what would become a center point of the Omaha music scene, Jim Johnson wasn’t sure The Waiting Room was going to work.
He and business partner Marc Leibowitz didn’t know if the 250-capacity club nestled in the heart of downtown Benson would even be around a year later.
“You don’t know. How would you know?” Johnson said from his office located a flight above the club’s main floor. “I truly think if anyone could have made it work, we could, but we didn’t know if a music club would work anywhere in Omaha, let alone in Benson.”
But it did work, even better than they had hoped. A year after a March 9 opening that featured Art in Manila, The 4th of July and Black Squirrels, The Waiting Room remains one of the city’s prime music venues. The club has hosted more than 250 shows including sold-out gigs by local heroes The Faint, Bright Eyes and Cursive as well as national acts such as Okkervil River, The Black Lips and Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers (their biggest bar show yet).
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Dirty Little Secrets - |
The dream lies beneath the masks
by Tim McMahan
If you’re an indie music fan, last Saturday night was another bonanza of choice found only here in the epicenter. Decisions, decisions. Do I go down to Slowdown for Neva Dinova’s last performance before they hit the road in support of You May Already Be Dreaming, the new full-length slated for release by the mothership known as Saddle Creek Records on April 8? Or do I schlep over to The Waiting Room for songstress Basia Bulat and members of Coyote Bones and Eagle*Seagull? |
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Fresh Ears - |
More Doug Van Sloun
by Tim McMahan
More with Doug Van Sloun of Focus Mastering. If you haven’t already, turn to page 36 and catch up. We’ll wait for you.
Van Sloun’s been busy mastering the first batch of music in the Focus pipeline. It includes new recordings by Alessi, Beep Beep, Tilly and the Wall, M. Ward, Stephanie Drootin, Midwest Dilemma, Tokyo Police Club, Akita Ken (formerly Your Face), Montana Christian band Sky Collide, Jerusalem rockers Man Alive and Son, Ambulance.
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Winter Round-up - |
So what have you been listening to?
by Tim McMahan
The most common question I hear at the bar: So what have you been listening to? Often I come up blank and wonder, “Hmmm … what have I been listening to?” and then refer to my iPhone for the list, making a mental note to delete albums that suck. Below is what I’ve been listening to (along with what I’ve deleted). |
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Daniel Johnston and The Rayguns - |
Local boys back troubled genius
by Tim McMahan
I wasn’t planning to see Daniel Johnston at Slowdown on Saturday.
Sure, like you, I loved the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. I rooted for the poor bastard as he battled through mental illness and a broken heart to write a lifetime’s worth of ballads to the unrequited love of his life, Laurie; songs that would be covered by some of music’s biggest stars including Yo La Tengo, The Reivers, Beck, Tom Waits, The Flaming Lips and our own Bright Eyes.
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Better than the Beatles - |
A legendary band’s long lost recordings resurface.
by Tim McMahan
It dawned on me as I listened to its mechanical, dead-voiced interpretation of “Can’t Buy Me Love” reinventing a free-wheeling love ballad into a robotic, bleating nightmare that there will never be another Better Beatles.
Thrust into the global consciousness for a few moments in the early 1980s, The Better Beatles is one of the most colorful footnotes in Omaha’s music history, remembered by only the tiny handful who were there. Like most of you, I’m now learning of the band’s existence, 26 years after its brief shining moment.
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The Quiet Revolution - |
A community gets a broadcast voice
by Tim McMahan
When word starts gets around about a new radio station that will actually focus on the community and its artists, people get excited. Very excited. Maybe too excited.
The rumor started a week ago about KIND FM a new radio station that would operate out of Benson and play local music (yes, local music), as well as other locally produced programming. For a community of musicians and artists that has been starving for such a broadcast voice for as long as I can remember, it seemed too good to be true.
And like all rumors, the story only got bigger and bigger. Before long, I was hearing that KIND would have a broadcast range of 50 miles. My god, you’d be able to pick it up in Lincoln! But wait a minute … that could only happen if one of the large commercial stations was to change format, and doesn’t it seem unlikely that a money-generating FM station would switch to a non-profit community-based format?
The truth, while not nearly as big and bold, is still exciting. |
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Enter the Fray - |
Better than a letter?
by Tim McMahan
And now a peek into the ol’ mailbag … sort of.
Actually I rarely get letters these days via the U.S. Post in care of The Reader. Most of the feedback from this column and other articles I write for the paper comes by way of a webboard linked from lazy-i.com the online repository (some might say, dustbin) for all my music writing (The Reader also has a website where my columns are posted).
Webboards have been around in one form or another for as long as there’s been an internet (and even before: Who remembers BBS?). They’re the modern equivalent to the town square, where anyone in the world can read and react with whatever is on their minds, anonymously or otherwise. |
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Preconceived Notion - |
What are we missing?
by Tim McMahan
As Saturday night rolled around, I saw Lincoln Dickison was doing a rare solo acoustic show at Mick’s Music & Bar. Dickison is renowned locally for his guitar playing in The Monroes, and, within the last year, as the Bombardment Society bassist, not to mention his work a few years back as frontman for the chaotic noise-punk trio Putrescine, which sadly no longer exists.
I’d heard about the show from members of The Black Squirrels a week earlier while backstage at the first Omaha Entertainment Awards show at The Scottish Rite Hall. The Squirrels also were on that Mick’s bill, and I made a mental note to clear my calendar for Saturday night. |
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Lazy-i Sees - |
Predictions for indie-rock in 2008
by Tim McMahan
Before we get to 2008, let’s review my record in prognostications for 2007. It was undoubtedly my worst year batch of predictions since I began doing these almost 10 years ago.
Last Year Prediction: It won’t be disco, but something very close will emerge as the dominant sound on the radio and in clubs. A dance craze will sweep the nation as horny singles tire of staring at the internet and return to the sweaty, Brut-soaked dance floors.
Reality: Though a few dance songs emerged, there was no national dance craze (unless you count “Dancing with the Stars”). However, a significant dance-related trend did emerge in Omaha last year with DJ-fueled, theme-inspired dance parties like loom held at Espaρa and Goo at The Slowdown. Goo has become this generation’s Sprite Night (and if you “get” that reference, you’re too old to be reading this) where the city’s youth convenes to get down, both on the dance floor and on Slowdown’s big stage. As much as I love dance music, I’ve never gone to loom or Goo because, well, going to a dance party and not dancing is like going to a nude beach with your clothes on you’re either part of the loving mob or you’re the freak with binoculars standing along the periphery. No one wants to be that guy. |
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The Year in Music 2007 - |
The things that shaped the end of one era, and the beginning of the next
by Tim McMahan
I struggled with this article last year. I struggled to come up with anything that represented the blank space that was 2006. Nothing had happened of any consequence in the Omaha music scene. I was left wondering if anything would ever happen again.
This year was much easier. |
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