Huh?

I am borderline deaf after the High On Fire concert last night at Waiting Room (note the crappy cell phone pic). Brutal, brutal show. Great, but brutal.

Last night kicked off my three-night stand of weeknight concerts. For me, this is a big deal as I am rapidly becoming an old man. Tonight, it's the comedy stylings of Neil Hamburger at Waiting Room. I saw Mr. Hamburger a little over a year ago when he performed at O'Leavers. Great show -- totally hysterical. I am anticipating another night of awkward silences, bad timing, bizarre jokes, and general strangeness. I can't wait.

High On Fire - TONIGHT

Tonight I will be giving my ears some serious punishment. I will be seeing one of the loudest bands currently playing, High On Fire. I have never seen this band, though I have been a fan of its guitarist since the early 90s. He was a member of the pioneering stoner metal band Sleep.

HOF is a lot different stylistically from Sleep, but that guitar playing is instantly recognizable. I'm packing an extra set of ear plugs tonight!

High On Fire is playing tonight at The Waiting Room along with Back When and Oxes Vs Thunderbirds.

Podcast #15 Available Now

Make sure you check out my newest podcast, #15. It's a doozy. Lots of great new music and a few classics thrown in for good measure. Starting with this podcast, I will be creating a corresponding iMix (see below) so that you can pick up the songs featured in the show - if you are so inclined.

Listen to the show here.

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Keepin' It Real At the Omaha Rap Show

Had a rather eventful evening last night. I worked the door at a rap show down at Sokol Underground. It was some type of showcase with 12 or 13 artists scheduled to appear -- all of them local. I've worked the door enough times to know to expect the unexpected. And though I may be accused of some type of racism, I have to say that rap shows are always the most...volatile, let's say. Last night was no exception.

The show's organizers were nice enough guys, and they handled themselves well considering the circumstances. Apparently, there was a great deal of miscommunication regarding exactly who would be performing, and at what time. Everyone in attendance seemed to be there just to see one act; and nearly everyone tried to claim some association to an artist so they could get in for free. Because there were so many freakin' artists, it became a constant struggle keeping track of who was who. I finally had to lay down the law and say that any artist was two people, and everyone else had to pay. This did not go over well.

Once the show got going, the line-up was constantly changing, as was the order. Things were going okay until one of the acts was told that her set would be shorter than she had expected because she showed up late. She threw a tantrum, as did the 15 or so people she brought with her -- most of whom had paid the $7 cover. They started rushing up to me demanding their money back. I refused. Fuck them. 1) It was only $7 and 2) they had been there for a while AND their artist was going to perform. Tempers started to flare and all of a sudden one of the angry "friends" jumped on stage and started trashing stuff. I told him he had to leave and he threatened to kill me. It was about this time that I decided we might have a problem.

I ran to the back of the club, grabbed my laptop and the cash drawer and locked them in the back room. The sound guy cut the music and turned on the lights, but no one was leaving. The 15 angry people became a much larger number by this point. I came back out to see what was happening when my co-worker told me to stay in the back because the crowd associated me with the money, and they wouldn't leave as long as they could still see me. After a minute or so in the back room not knowing what was happening, I peeked outside and saw what looked like a potential riot. The sound guy told me to call the cops, so I did. Four patrol cars full of Omaha's finest showed up and dispersed the crowd. Whew.

Maybe we didn't need the cops, but it was hard to tell for sure. I'd rather be safe than sorry, I guess. All that hassle over seven measly dollars. Suffice to say, I am not doing another rap show without a security guard. That is just a burden that has to accompany rap shows.

Tonight I am working a metal show at the same venue. Let's hope there are no near riots tonight.

Two Paragraphs on Built To Spill in Omaha

Brief comment on the Built To Spill show from last Wednesday night. It was amazing - best I've ever seen them. The knock on their last show was that the band jammed too long and played a bunch of tunes that no one had heard yet (this was a month or so before the last album, You In Reverse, had been released). This was definitely NOT the case this time. They ran through most of their best songs from the albums since 94's There's Nothing Wrong With Love.

I was in the primo spot at Slowdown -- on the far left of the balcony. I had a totally unobstructed view and it sounded great up there. The show was sold out, but it was not oversold. I liked that. Omaha now seems to be on the shortlist of cities that Built To Spill hits on every tour. I am assuming they'll be back next year when the new album is released.

Podcast #14 Available Now

BREAKING NEWS!! Podcast #14 is ready for download!

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Ace Frehley in Dunkin Donuts Ad

Built To Spill TONIGHT

One of my favorite bands of all time, Built To Spill, is playing in Omaha tonight. I am so excited. I need a good concert more than almost anything. It has been a really shitty week. BTS is playing tonight at The Slowdown (14th & Cuming). Tickets are still available, but not for long.

Built To Spill has a new 12" single available at their shows. The two new songs are reggae influenced. You did not read that wrong, I said reggae. They are really good. Listen to the new single, "They Got Away" here.

Are You Cool Enough For the Omaha Music Scene?

For the record, I am not a Saddle Creek hater. I like a good amount of the bands that the label has released: Bright Eyes, Cursive, The Faint, Two Gallants, Azure Ray, Ladyfinger (ne), and a few others. But sometimes I do think they take themselves a little too seriously, and think they are just a little bit too cool. The former Omaha band Drakes Hotel (who just relocated to Portland) had this hysterical quote on the current state of the Omaha "scene" -- "Three cheers to Saddle Creek Records for building an impenetrable wall around themselves. How indie are you really when you build a shrine to yourselves with the blessing of the city and only book your friends and bands from your ultra cool record collections? Good luck with that."

There is a certain amount of truth to that quote, but it could also be chalked up to envy. There is a lot of backbiting among indie music people.

Son Of Hip-Hop Legend KRS-One Dies

This is some sad news, as I've always been a fan of and respected KRS-One.

(AP) The son of hip-hop legend KRS-One was found dead in his apartment in an apparent suicide, authorities said Tuesday.

Randy Hubbard Parker, 23, died of a gunshot wound to the head and the death was classified as a suicide, said Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office investigator Mark Guilbeau.

Parker had suffered a long battle with depression, his mother, Simone G. Parker, said in a statement on Tuesday. He was found on Friday.

Parker was a graphic designer and fashion entrepreneur seeking employment in Atlanta. His family said a private memorial service will be held on July 18, which would have been Parker's 24th birthday.

A memorial service in New York, where Parker was born, is scheduled for August.

KRS-One is a rap pioneer whose hits include "Criminal Minded," "Black Cop," and "The Bridge is Over."

Me and the Pumpkins

It's weird. I've always wanted to be a Smashing Pumpkins fanatic.
I love the band's name, I love Billy Corgan's attitude and I love
how he plays "alternative" hard rock. But up till now, I
couldn't say that much of their stuff really satisfied me outside
of "Tonight,tonight" and "1979".

However, I think the drought is over. Their new cd is really
fine from beginning to end. Corgan still sings like a cat
stuck on top of a hot radiator but the guitar playing and
songwriting totally make up for it. And some of the songs
are even vaguely political!

FYI, it's not really what most people would consider a reunion.
It's just Billy and the group's drummer. Apparently, putting
the name Smashing Pumpkins on the cover is just better for
business.

Original Superdrag Line Up Reunites for Brief Tour

Easily one of the best band of the 1990s, Tennessee's Superdrag are reuniting for a small series of shows. The band had one mainstream hit, "Sucked Out," but all five of their releases (plus a brand new compilation called Changing Tires On the Road To Ruin) are excellent and worth owning. They took the best elements of 80s Midwest indie music (i.e. Replacements, Husker Du) and mixed it with a 60s-style power-pop sensibility. The band's high-water mark for me is the 1998 album, Head Trip In Every Key.

Superdrag's original line-up ended in '99 when the bassist and lead guitarist both quit. The band soldiered on for two more albums and tours before breaking up in 2003. This reunion will feature all of the original members. As of right now, there are only six dates:

10.05.07 City Hall Nashville TN
10.13.07 Metro Chicago IL
10.20.07 Barley’s Tap Room Knoxville TN
11.02.07 The Fillmore @ Irving Plaza New York NY
11.03.07 Paradise Rock Club Boston MA
11.08.07 Nightclub 9:30 Washington DC

Read A Book! Read A Book!

Supposedly this was produced for BET.

TiVo Alert: Interpol and Spoon on Letterman

This week is a pretty good one for indie rock on television. Tonight (Tuesday) Interpol will play on Letterman in their first promotional appearance in support of their new album, Our Love To Admire, which was just released today. Tomorrow night on the same show, Spoon will appear to promote their just-released new album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Pretty great week for bands on TV!

Member of Metallica Confused with Member of the Taliban

(Gigwise) Metallica frontman James Hetfield was denied entry into Luton airport yesterday, when security officials pulled him over.

The rocker was prevented from leaving the airport terminal once he got off the plane because of his ‘Taliban-like beard’, The Times reports.

After a brief interrogation in which Hetfield explained he was in a world-famous rock band, officials apparently let him go.

Hetfield and Metallica are in the country for their two day sting at Wembley Stadium. They play Live Earth on Saturday and headline the national stadium on Sunday with support from Machine Head, HIM, Bullet For My Valentine and Mastodon.

UPDATE 7/11/07: According to US Weekly, this story is a hoax.

Podcast #13 Available Now

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Har Mar Superstar Tonight at Slowdown

The always entertaining Har Mar Superstar will be performing tonight (Thurs) at Slowdown as part of its dance night called Goo. No word on whether this means HMS will merely be spinning records or if he will be performing. Find out tonight at 9 PM. Entry is $5.

Ted Nugent Is a Washed-Up, Borderline Talentless Loser

Nice headline, right? Well, I speak the truth people. If you take away the songs "Stranglehold" (about killing your girlfriend), "Cat Scratch Fever" (about screwing anything that moves), and "Free-For-All" (a song about partying for the sake of partying), Ted Nugent has accomplished very little for being in the music business since the late 1960s. This has not stopped him from criticizing far more talented and accomplished people, and attacking them for not "working" as hard as he does, or for not sharing the same far-right, extremist philosophies and values that he does.

Someone at the Wall St. Journal thought it would be a good idea to give "The Nuge" a platform in their paper and offer him an op-ed. The article is here (subscription required). Rolling Stone offers a summary here.

I won't go point-by-point and refute all of the nonsense that this aging wash-out has written, as that would be giving him far more of my time than he deserves. But I just thought I'd take on this one comment that really demanded a response from someone. Please note: I am no fan of hippies, especially the rich, college kids who pretend to be hippies for a 4 or 5 year period and then resume their lives as future bankers or CPAs or whatever. However, the "originals" from the 60s deserve more than to be dismissed as drugged out, anti-American, cowards.

“Turned off by the work ethic and productive American Dream values of their parents, hippies instead opted for a cowardly, irresponsible lifestyle of random sex, life-destroying drugs and mostly soulless rock music that flourished in San Francisco.”

Ted, hippies were not turned off by the "work ethic" of their parents, they were turned off by being consistently lied to by their government and forced to fight in a war that they viewed as unjust and unnecessary (Vietnam, where Ted did not serve). They were further "turned off" by the right-wing's refusal to accept civil rights, and their continued resistance to allowing blacks to realize the American Dream that they had been denied for hundreds of years prior. As far as the "cowardly, irresponsible lifestyle of random sex..." thing goes, aren't you calling the kettle black, Mr. Pot? How many children have you had out of wedlock, Ted? How many times have you been married? 3, 4, 5? How many groupies whose names you never learned did you screw in the 70s? or 80s? How many times have you been treated for STDs? Unless, you are liar, Ted, I see this as a highly hypocritical comment coming from you.

The drugs? Well, I know "The Nuge" has always been sober and that is admirable. But maybe if he weren't, his music would be more listenable. Soulless rock music?! As opposed to what, "Little Miss Dangerous" by Ted "I am actually quite black" Nugent?! You are the king of soulless rock music, my friend.

I won't even get into Ted's indefensible worship of George W. Bush and his bloodlust for killing animals. Those are topics for another day. But, when Ted Nugent becomes an authority on music and cultural history, I feel a need to contribute to that dialog.

Great New Music From An Old Band

If you're ever in the mood to hear a great folk-rock-trance-
electronica-psychedelic band I recommend you check out
Sky Cries Mary. Their new cd "Small Town" is gorgeous.
They've been around for a while (I think they got their
start in Seattle). I'm definitely going to search out
some of their older stuff too.

The Van Halen Reunion - Back On?

Though no one has said anything officially, MelodicRock.com is reporting that the Van Halen tour with David Lee Roth is back on. Bassist Michael Anthony is still not a part of the reunion, and his spot will still be filled by Eddie's son, Wolfgang Van Halen. Dates are being "penciled in" for September.

I'll believe this when I am actually sitting at the concert. Oh, yeah, and after I pick up my copy of Guns N Roses' Chinese Democracy.

Page France / Scissors For Lefty TONIGHT

Real quick note to let you know about a potentially very cool show happening tonight at The Waiting Room. Though Page France is the headliner, I am more excited about openers Scissors For Lefty.

SFL is a new-ish band from San Francisco that plays some solid indie pop music. Their new CD, Underhanded Romance, is excellent. Lazy-i compared them to Eagle*Seagull which I don't really see. However, I am at a loss as to who to compare them to, so I guess I don't have a better suggestion. Page France gets a lot of comparisons to Sufjan Stevens and Bright Eyes. I can see the Sufjan thing for sure.

Anyway, the show is tonight, and it's only $8. Locals Bear Country are also on the bill. I put SFL on my most recent podcast, but if you haven't listened to it yet, here is an mp3 from their new CD called "Got Your Moments." (file will be removed in 48 hours). See you there!

Podcast #12 -- I'm Back!!

Admit it. You thought I'd flake and never do another podcast again. Oh, ye of little faith! I am proving the naysayers wrong as I return strongly with Podcast #12. Please give me approximately 35 minutes of your time.

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