Lodgings plays tonight at The Sydney in Benson. by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com Last Friday (maybe for Bandcamp Friday?) David Nance released his rendition of The Cure’s seminal 1989 album Disintegration, which he called Shameless Kiss, and which I’m listening to as I type this. As one local music aficionado and singer described it, it sounds like David Nance playing Disintegration. I’m sure there’s an interesting story behind it, and I’ll try to find out what it is before Nance’s upcoming gig with Icky Blossoms Dec. 26 at The Waiting Room… Until then, here’s a highlight: Shameless Kiss by David N ..read more

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com Yesterday Bright Eyes released their version of John Prine’s “Christmas in Prison,” a song Prine originally released on a 1993 Christmas EP. The waltz features Conor singing with a middle interlude where Prine talks about his Christmas’s past.  Says Oberst: “It is strange to get a chance to share a track with a hero of mine who has passed on. Normally not something I would do. I don’t like holograms. But I have so much love and affection for John as a person and his music.” All proceeds generated from the release will go toward four major beneficiaries of John ..read more

Liz Phair plays tonight at the Holland. by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com There are plenty of tickets still available to tonight’s Liz Phair concert at the Holland Performing Arts Center.  The “Guyville Tour” celebrates that album’s 30th anniversary and the band will perform it in its entirety. I’m a big Liz fan and count Exile in Guyville among my all-time favorite albums. And yet, I’m not shelling out for this one because I don’t want to see Phair and her band play a seated show in a performance hall designed for orchestras.  Aren’t shows like this one the reason Omaha Performing Arts bu ..read more

The Astro in La Vista celebrates its grand opening tonight. by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com The long-awaited grand opening of the new Astro Theater music venue in La Vista finally arrives tonight featuring the craptacular Blue October followed by a performance tomorrow night from 67-year-old country rocker Chris Isaak. The Astro was supposed to open weeks ago; the opening was pushed back due to “construction delays.” I’d love to see the inside of this facility, but judging by the kind of acts being booked there, it seems unlikely, at least in the foreseeable future.  Of the 16 shows booked thr ..read more

Teenage Halloween playes tonight at Reverb Lounge. by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com UPDATE: The band order for this show has changed due to Teenage Halloween’s fear of being Omaha’d: Estrogen Projection – 8 to 8:20 Blondo – 8:35 to 9 Teenage Halloween – 9:15 to 9:55 Bug Heaven – 10:10 to end Boatloads of people go to those “emo nights” at The Waiting Room, which are nothing more than someone showing up with an iPhone and a playlist. Tonight at Reverb Lounge, you can see real modern emo played live by living breathing bands (OK, maybe they’re pop-punk bands). Headlining is Asbury Park, New Jersey ba ..read more

Stephen Sheehan with Stigmata Martyr at Reverb Lounge, Nov. 24, 2023. by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com Well, I missed the Criteria/Little Brazil show Saturday. And the Ryan Davis show at Grapefruit last night. The holidays being what they are, it just wasn’t in the cards.  I did catch Stephen Sheehan performing with Stigmata Martyr Friday night at Reverb Lounge. This was the best Sheehan performance I’ve seen since his Digital Sex days, thanks to the energy coming off the stage as the band performed four songs by Joy Division. The setlist: – Warsaw – Day of the Lords – Ceremony – Transmission ..read more

Criteria plays this Saturday night at The Waiting Room with Little Brazil and Healer. by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com This isn’t so much an interview with Criteria as a “catching up with Criteria”-style chat that took place at frontman Stephen Pedersen’s beautiful midtown home while his boys ran around the living room.  The occasion for the discussion is Criteria’s annual holiday concert, which is this Saturday at The Waiting Room. Joining them as they do every year is Little Brazil, and opening the show is Dan Brennan’s band Healer. The Criteria holiday rock show has become an Omaha indie-ro ..read more

Speedy Ortiz at Slowdown, Nov. 17, 2023. by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com We missed opening band UN-T.I.L. Friday night at The Slowdown, which I guess you could call another life lesson for this very young band that is the product of the Omaha Girls Rock program. We had just seen them a couple weeks earlier at that organization’s fundraiser at Benson Theater (they were awsome) and kind of knew we’d miss them Friday as we were running late. The life lesson: The opening slot in a three-band (or even worse, four-band) bill often gets missed by those who don’t want to (or can’t) spend three-plus hours ..read more

M34N STR33T performs tonight at Low End in the Bemis. by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com New first, than the old stuff… Tonight at the cool/fun Low End performance space in the basement of The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha hip-hop duo M34N STR33T performs. M34N STR33T is Haunted Gauntlet The Producer (LEO) & Conny Franko The Rapper (TAURUS). It’s a one-hour set that starts at 8 p.m. and is absolutely free. That said, you can reserve as spot from this website. . 0 0 0 . Now for Throwback Thursday, let’s go back to Nov. 6, 2003 – 20 years ago – when Greg Dulli and The Twilight Singers p ..read more

Speedy Ortiz at O’Leaver’s, Aug. 15, 2015, after playing that day at the Maha Music Festival. The band plays Friday night at The Slowdown. by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com Speedy Ortiz music is a rough-and-tumble ride through indie and punk landscapes, contextualized by strange, unpredictable guitar parts, familiar rhythms and front woman Sadie Dupuis’ intricate, confounded and always clever lyrics about, well, living. Take perhaps Speedy Ortiz’s most popular song, the waltzing anthem “No Below” from the recently reissued 2013 breakthrough album Major Arcana, where Dupuis sings of youth and isolatio ..read more