A couple of good shows

Finally made it up to the Waiting Room this week, twice in fact. Tuesday saw my rookie excursion for some Man Man and I didn't really know what to expect except for maybe mayhem. And that's pretty much what I got. When the band hit the stage the wore all white and there were instruments absolutely everywhere! All of the band's members played several instruments throughout the night performing music that was described to me as The Decemberists on crack and I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment. At one point the singer, who goes by Honus Honus, poured some water into a small metal bowl and threw a spoon into the bowl for the desired sound. The crowd of maybe 100-150 people ate it up. Everyone was jumping around and surprisingly more than a few people knew the words to the songs. Very impressive.

Thursday was another fun night. After a rollicking good, if not at some points scary, time at the Bemis Center's annual Slide Jam I made my way down to The Waiting Room for some Eagle*Seagull action. They just got back from a pretty extensive European tour and man are they tight! They were missing some equipment prior to the set so I hope they found it, but they didn't play anything from the album that has been released, but they did play three songs I had never before heard performed live.

I grabbed a set list from Eli (vocals) after the show and what the sound of that band has become is going to take them places for sure. Tim McMahan of the Omaha Reader had this to say about the band's performance:



"Just returning from a lengthy European tour, Eagle*Seagull was road-hardened last night, and maybe a bit road weary. I think I've mentioned before that they seem to be evolving into a Franz Ferdinand-style dance band. That certainly wasn't evident during the first couple songs, which bore the same piano-driven ensemble feel that can be heard on their debut. But as the night wore on, the back-beat dance grooves kicked in. There were at least three songs that could -- and should -- be career-defining club hits (and that will likely be on their new album), including a simple dance number with the line "We came to dance" that will eventually find itself onto a lot of mix tapes (if that new record is ever released). Their other highlight was the set-closer, a love-song anthem with a killer chorus that was angelic."

I don't think I'll make it to any shows this week but Antibalas is playing Knickerbocker's Friday if anyone is interested.

I need to stop liking so much music. Or at least cheap, live music. I went to The Balance last night because I hate to miss what they might pull out of the hat. It was Jake, the guitarists b-day, so the show had a special kind of feel to it. My roommate decided it would be a good night to have a party so I had to decide between the two events.

As per usual, The Balance won the battle, at least until the show was over. Jake wooed me into staying by showing me the set list prior to the show. Little Brazil opened, they rocked, and were not too off put by my heckling from the stands. The Balance ripped it up as usual, did a great rendition of my favorite song "Hesitation" as well as a few spot on covers. First up was Bruce Springsteen's "Dancin' in the Dark" and the band's bassist Sam Larson might've found a song that fits his vocal style well. Next up was The Police's "Message in a Bottle" and I've gotta say that that was some of the best drumming I've heard by Brett to date. The night ended with a doubling up of Pink Floyd, first with Nate Green on solo keys from "Nobody Home" which segued into a great "Comfortably Numb."

This week Man Man on Tuesday at the Waiting Room (my first visit) and again on Thursday for Eagle*Seagull. I might go to another show on Friday, we'll see how my pocketbook and ears are feeling. In other news it's almost 12:30 a.m. on Sunday and I have about nine pages of a ten page paper to write before noon tomorrow. Gotta go.

The events that occurred somewhere between last week and today…

Friday, 4.30.07

Many of them are kind of blurry, through a haze of boulevard keg beer from the kegerator, Jager Bombs after each successive gambling victory and a band called Jackyl you’d think my weekend was complete. But Tuesday came and still I felt the remnants of what could be called a pretty good time.

I can’t remember Thursday night amounting to much, a lot of the same ‘ol same ‘ol. But Friday night was a little crazier, Saturday was insane and Sunday, we’ll just call Sunday overkill.

Friday night Lawrence had to work overnight and seeing as he’s my usual weekend partner in “rippin’ it up” I had to find other things to attend to. Bodega’s was pretty much status quo, but Eugene was calling me every ten minutes from Wayne, Neb. Wanting to talk about something and I told him I’d call him at one. Closing time rolls around and I call him back and he asks if I’ll be awake in two hours if he comes to Lincoln. In true party fashion I said I’d be ready to start doing some serious partying and I regrouped myself for a much longer night than I had anticipated. After a pit stop at an after hours over by 27^th and Holdredge where one of the night’s themes was throwing saltines at a ceiling fan, I made it to Gilbert’s where we were all supposed to meet up.

Eugene is all about the gambling, but he’s also about taking his damn time and he didn’t even show up until close to 4. We tried to drink until Lawrence got off work, but 6 was just too far away from 8 to make it. In hindsight it was a good idea since Saturday was where the real action was waiting.

Dialogue

Paul: Who would you rather have sex with? A dolphin or a sheep?

(time to ponder)

Me: A dolphin. Seems like there would be more lubrication.

A couple minutes later...

Paul: Hey Mark, who would you rather have sex with, a sheep or a dolphin?


(without pause)

Mark: A dolphin. I've heard they know how to have a good time. (Or something relatively close to that).

Nothing about tonight was too outlandish. Weekdays are difficult for getting amped to be outlandish, we all have class or some kind of responsibility to attend to. Instead we played trivia trying to name off players from sports teams of years past. I hadn't heard the name Mickey Morandini in a long time.

Upcoming shows I'm interested in:


It would be nice to make it to the Waiting Room in Omaha tonight for Dirty On Purpose/Besnard Lakes/Spring Gun but it's not going to happen. I'm making it to Omaha less and less anymore and I think a big part of that is not being motivated to find road tripping partners. Gas sucks too.

But there are shows later this week, this weekend and beyond worth mentioning.

On Thursday, 3.29.07, Mew will perform at Knickerbockers. The Danish band is making waves on alternative radio and has been compared by Allmusic.com to the likes of Radiohead, Coldplay and Malajube. Not a bad bunch of bands to be lumped in with. Tickets are a bit steep at $15, so I'm still iffy on this one. 9 p.m. start time, 18+.

Friday gives blues fans a chance to check out the Blues Messengers at Meadowlark Coffee for a free evening show.

Saturday, 3.31.07, has a couple different shows to offer. Moonshine Still will be at Knickerbockers doing their southern indie rock jamtronic fusion, whatever that means. Speakeasy is opening the show. Tickets are $8 for this 18+ show and are available through Rad Kadillac's Web site.

Over at the Chatterbox local rock legends Ideal Cleaners have a show with New Zealand's Die, Die, Die and Omaha's Latitude, Longitude. Tickets for this 9 p.m. show are probably five bucks.

The show I'm most tempted to see has more to do with my curiousity of how much alcohol a group of friends can consume during a single concert. Jackyl, a 1980s mainstay on the mainstream rock charts with songs like "Down on Me," is playing up at Coyote Willy's. Legend has it the band often used a chainsaw on stage as an instrument that made certain chainsaw-like sounds. One part 1980s hair band, one part guys who love to drink equals, well, I'll have to tell you about it on Sunday or Monday. But it should be a good time. Tickets for this one are $15. Ouch.


Expect another update early next week with some more upcoming shows.

Show Review: Tim Reynolds, Knickerbockers, 3.27.06

I'm not sure how I'm going to go about writing these reviews, but I think for now I'll go with general impressions. I wasn't overly excited about going to see Tim Reynolds last night because of a long day at school, but a friend convinced me to go and I can say I'm a better person for it.

I missed the local opener, Tsumi, which is too bad, because I'd like to get my hands around as much local music as possible. I don't think I've seen Tsumi yet, which is too bad because the band has been kind about asking for some of my attention. It's sometimes difficult to commit myself to seeing three bands when I don't know much about any of them, and Tsumi lost the battle this round.

Ferrick was at the peak of her set when we arrived. Alone on stage with just her guitar she seemed pretty taken in by the crowd's appreciation for her efforts. I was also impressed. It was a smallish crowd, but one that seemed enraptured by her music and let it be known in between songs. Her music was described by my show companion "sounding like Sheryl Crow but it doesn't suck," though he added that her wasn't sure that meant he liked it. I thought it was fun, maybe a little too Lillith Fair in style for my liking, but not bad by any means.

I'd interviewed Tim Reynolds prior to the set for a preview in the Omaha City Weekly. Show previews are something I'm quite familiar with writing and sometimes they all seem to blend together with the same questions and answers. Sometimes though, the musician being interviewed will come up with something I know has to make it into print. In Reynolds case that sentence was: "I didn’t see any of George Bush’s sphincteral way of thinking and a media that doesn’t sell news just to get ratings," in response to a question about his recent tour experiences in Europe. Sphincteral isn't exactly a real word, but I love it nevertheless.

For his set, he too performed alone. Two guitars graced the stage, both acoustic, one a six-string the other with twelve. All I really knew about Tim Reynolds before doing research for the article was the "Live at Luther College" album he collaborated with Dave Matthews on. What I didn't know is that he is incredibly serious about his technique on the guitar. He used a variety of loops and sound effects to create songs I never would've thought could come from a guitar. At other times his finger speed was so tremendously quick I found myself wondering what kind of practice has to be put in to master such a skill.

The songs themselves weren't overly catchy or mainstream in the slightest. But to witness his skill is something I'm glad I got around to at least once. I don't think I'd go out of my way to see a repeat performance anytime soon. But if I was a guitar player it would probably be a much more rewarding experience.

As for the crowd during the show, it seemed to thin out about half way through Reynolds set, probably because of the early in the week date and time of night. Some of the people that stayed forgot how to not be obnoxious. Granted, sometimes I'm that guy so maybe I don't have the right to bitch. But Reynolds' music seemed the type that requires a good deal of concentration so to yell random shit out mid song seemed like it'd be considered tacky. Still though, yells of "You're a God!" and "Timmy!" (a la South Park) were still heard from time to time. This probably isn't casual knowledge, but I read in an interview that Reynolds HATES it when people yell out "Timmy!" at shows. I suppose his more dedicated fans know that.

After his set Reynolds walked into the bar area and into the Knickerbockers kitchen I think in preparation for shouts for an encore. But the sound guy turned on the house music and I think everyone figured they were good to go. He stayed in the kitchen for awhile before coming out to talk to fans, I wonder if there were any leftover George's tacos in there.