The Dark Stuff is an online music magazine and podcast that focuses primarily (though not exclusively) on independent artists that perform in Omaha, Nebraska and the Midwest.
This week, I am reviewing the return of the MAHA FESTIVAL. Maha is an indie music festival that takes place every year in Omaha. Except for 2024, when it took the year off to re-organize.
This year, the festival was moved to downtown Omaha, and took place at the Heartland of America Park. The park is situated next to the Missouri River. There was a great crowd, the weather cooperated (for the most part), and every band was spectacular.
This year's line-up:
PIXIES
WAXAHATCHEE
BAND OF HORSES
MAGDALENA BAY
SILVERSUN PICKUPS
LITTLE BRAZIL
I have photos and video of all the bands that played.
The Pixies played their first ever headlining show in Chile last night, and were so inspired by the rescue of the 33 trapped miners that they played a special set. The band did 33 songs in dedication to the 33 miners. It was the band's longest set ever. Pitchfork has the entire set list. The video above shows Black Francis introducing the show in Spanish. He is a fluent Spanish speaker, as anyone who had heard "Surfer Rosa" can attest to.
Former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley kicked of the world tour in support of his newest album, Anomaly, last night at Whiskey Roadhouse in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Naturally, I was there front and (almost) center. Thankfully, I missed most of the openers. I did catch the last few songs from the second band - doing a Pantera cover - and was very glad that I arrived when I did.
After a brief wait, Ace and his band (the same band he was with two years ago) hit the stage and opened the set with the KISS classic "Shout It Out Loud." Ace traded off verses with the drummer, but strangely, it seemed like the drummer knew the lyrics better than Mr. Frehley, who seemed to struggle with them. Ace similarly struggled with lyrics to some of his own songs as well, most notably on "Speeding Back to My Baby" from 1978 KISS solo album.
Despite flubbing the occasional lyric, Ace seemed in good form and good spirits. There were some technical issues at the beginning of the show, and Ace nearly tripped and fell into the crowd during "New York Groove," but opening nights on tour are usually filled with such things.
As far as song selection went, I was surprised that Ace chose to go with some KISS songs that he didn't write ("Love Gun" and "Love Her All I Can") as opposed to ones he did like "Talk To Me" or "Hard Times" or even any of the Frehley's Comet period stuff (87-89). Ace's new record was covered pretty well, as was his 78 solo album, of course.
I probably enjoyed the show two years ago slightly more than I did last night's show; but that may have been due to it being the first time I had seen him in a club. This time, I knew what to expect.
I would assume that as the tour progresses, Ace and band will work out some of the kinks in the show and play around a little more with the song selection. I would still recommend going to the see him if he plays in your town, especially if you are a KISS fan. It's not often that one is able to see a legend like Ace Frehley in a small club setting.
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Also of Note: Set those DVRs for The Tonight Show with Conan tonight to see Pixies perform "Here Comes Your Man." And Saturday night marks the return of Arizona's psychedelic punkers, Meat Puppets. In all my years of seeing bands, I have never seen Meat Puppets in concert, so I am looking forward to tomorrow's show. Opening the show are local boys Little Brazil and Atlanta's Winston Audio. Tickets are $13.
Set those DVRs for this Friday's Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Indie legends the Pixies will be performing "Here Comes Your Man" on the show. The band is in the midst of the US leg of its Doolittle 20th Anniversary Tour, where they perform the entire Doolittle album (and probably something extra for encores, I guess).
Miraculously, I was able to get myself to Slowdown last night in time to catch the last 30 minutes or so of The Breeders show. Seeing opener Times New Viking was out of the question since I was on-air from 9-11, and they were scheduled to start around 9:15. Too bad, because those guys are excellent. Next time.
I had it all set up. I was going to end my radio show with the full version of Sonic Youth's "The Diamond Sea" (all 19:36 of it), blow out of the studio early, haul ass to the club, and hopefully catch most of The Breeders set. I came so close...
Something must have happened at the station recently, because there were signs posted all over the place saying all DJs must call for security to be escorted to their cars before leaving. That delayed my departure a bit. Then, while motoring down the highway, I saw that the exit I needed to take was closed, and I had to take a detour. This took me about five miles in the wrong direction, only to then turn me back around and put me back on my exit, coming from the other direction. Does that make sense? So, I got on the right road, and was just two minutes away when I drove right into the massive crowd of people exiting a nearby Taylor Swift concert. FUCK!! Twenty thousand people in ten thousand cars all in my way!
With some quick maneuvering on my part, I ducked down an alley, and emerged down the block from Slowdown. I parked my car and ran inside. By this time, it was after 11, and the band had started at 10:15. But I was determined to enjoy whatever was left of the show, and I did. Kim and Kelly Deal were in fine form, and seemed to be in a great mood. Attendance was a little light, so I was able to maneuver to the front of the stage pretty easily.
I missed most of the band's best known material (i.e. "Cannonball") but I did catch a great version of "Drivin' On 9" during the encore. I bumped into Jeremiah from the band Box Elders who promised to get me a copy of that band's new record this week. Yay. I guess it wasn't a total loss.
Based on the attendance, I doubt the Breeders will be back in the short term, but I'd like to see them again some day. I realized last night, that it had been since the 94 or 95 Lollapalooza that I had seen the band. Of course, they did take eight years between albums, and then Kim went back with the Pixies...
Man, it has been a while since I last posted. Yeah...sorry about that. I've been keeping busy, but just didn't feel like posting on it. So, while I have a few spare minutes, I figured I'd get caught up. It was a little light for shows the last couple of weeks, but I did manage to catch the Black Francis (Frank Black) show at Slowdown last Thursday night. He was great, but in typical BF fashion he ignored most of his prior work and focused exclusively on his two newest releases. Those are great, but would it have killed him to do a few Frank Black classics? I knew he wouldn't play Pixies songs, but come on...
Beyond that, I am looking forward to seeing Film School on Monday the 14th at Slowdown. Mondays are really tough for me due to being out so late on Sunday night for my show, but I'll just have to down a Red Bull or two to keep going. I can rest up the remainder of the week as there are no shows I want to see until the WEEN show on the 20th (tickets). One of my good friends is coming in town for the show, so it should be an especially good time.
With all of the downtime from seeing bands (I did stop by the Maria Taylor show for a spell, but just to say hi to some people), I've been seeing lots of movies. Unfortunately, not too many good ones. I finally saw Napoleon Dynamite - hated it. Total waste of film. Oceans 13 - better than 12, but not as good as 11. Super High Me - I thought this would have been funnier than it was. If I were Roger Ebert, I'd give it a thumbs down. What I have been enjoying is Trailer Park Boys. It's a Canadian mock-u-mentary that follows the lives of two lowlifes living in a rundown trailer park. At first, I didn't "get it," but after a while, I started to see the genius in it. I'm still early in the series. I did spot a 10 year old Ellen Page as one of the little trailer park rugrats running around, and that was pretty funny. Didn't know she did anything else besides Juno.
I really wish I had more to report, but I really don't. Lots of great new music is coming out. I heard the new singles from The Verve (typical Brit-pop, nothing special), Dandy Warhols (decent tune), Conor Oberst (good song, still sounds like Bright Eyes to me) and The Faint (awesome!). You can listen to that Faint song here (see the nifty little player below), and the Conor song can be streamed at his website: ConorOberst.com. Interesting that neither of the Omaha rockstars are releasing their new records on Saddle Creek. Hmmm....
So, that's about it for now. I'll post more when I have more. See ya.
Well, now we know why Kim Deal was not interested in making a new Pixies album -- she was busy making a new Breeders one instead. Gigwise is reporting that The Breeders have booked a European tour for Spring 2008. The tour will coincide with the release of the band's newest CD, Mountain Battles, on April 7. This will be the follow-up to Title T/K from 2002. After that album did poorly, the band was dropped from Warner Bros. in the US. No word yet on who will distribute the new album stateside.
Legendary Pixies frontman Frank Black is releasing his first-ever compilation of his solo material called Frank Black 93-03. The disc is chronologically arranged and features his stuff from all of the labels he worked with in that time frame.
Personally, I think Frank Black's solo material is underrated. His first two solo album were especially good and seemed to continue where the Pixies left off. To get a tiny taste of the man's music, I am offering a 100% free and legal download of the song "Robert Onion" for your enjoyment. Click on the link below for more information on the album.
If you are a Pixies fan, but never gave much of a chance to the solo material from the band's frontman Frank Black, you might want to check out a new compilation called Frank Black 93-03. The compilation will be released June 12. It is a two-disc set that also features a disc of live recordings.
In addition, the collection will feature one brand new song from the forthcoming Black Francis (the name Black used during his time in Pixies) album. The European, Japanese, and US versions will all feature slightly different track listing on the live disc.
Sounds like a winner to me. I have always liked Black's solo stuff. It's a diverse mix of styles and themes. It's not the Pixies, and once you get past that, it is a lot easier to enjoy.
(Gigwise)Rumours have been rife since the band reformed in 2004 that they were readying a comeback long player but Frank Black seems to have put that on the backburner now.
He told Billboard that he had been writing new songs for the last six months "in an attempt to convince one of the Pixies to make a Pixies record again. I can't say who she is." Erm, we wonder?
However, he added that in the end none of the tracks quite worked even though he "liked how a few of (the songs) came out."
He continued: "I tried to find my Pixies muse and write a so-called Pixies number," he says, "but they just weren't any good. They sounded a little contrived or something.”
“That's the problem with trying to repeat something you did a long time ago; if you go 'Okay, I'm gonna try to recreate something, tap into some mood I used years ago,' even if it's the same songwriter, it's kind of fakey."
"What can I say? Sometimes I wish I could just spit out some Pixies-esque songs, but it doesn't really work that way," he continues. "You write the songs and they come out the way they come out. They might sound like the Pixies, but these days mostly ... not." --------------------------------------------------------------- Well, Frank Black can't find his Pixies muse, but that sure doesn't keep him from creating new music. He has just released a two-CD set called Fast Man Raider Man, and will be doing an acoustic tour this Summer. He will be in Omaha August 26 at Sokol Underground.
