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Home - Music
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Great Big Story - |
Great Big Sea sets sail
for Slowdown
by Jesse D. Stanek
Perhaps it makes sense that a band from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia would play sea shanties. They come from a hardy stock of sailors and ancestors who made their living plying the frigid northern seas and straits for sustenance. But don’t let where Great Big Sea is from fool you. These guys play an off-kilter brand of upbeat folk, Celtic, sea-shanty and rock that is quite unlike anything you’re likely to hear in the U.S. or anywhere. The band draws primarily from the mandolin, accordion, guitar, bouzouki, bagpipe, fiddle, tin whistle and vocal harmonizing to create its unique hybrid sound. |
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Celtic Chuckles - |
Celtic Cabaret focuses on funny in its third year
by Jill Bruckner Robberts
Jill Anderson knows how to entertain.
From leading roles in productions including The Miracle Worker (for which she won the 2000 Omaha Theater Arts Guild Award for Best Actress) to turns as principal vocalist with the Orlando Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony and Opera Omaha, Anderson is a performer committed to her craft.
This time of year, however, it is her upcoming Celtic Cabaret: The Lighter Side that has the Omaha-based actor/singer anticipating an evening of Irish-themed music and entertainment.
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Glitter Girl - |
Leslie Hall and her
500 gem sweaters
by Kyle Eustice
Exploding on the Internet as satirical rapper Leslie Hall in 2006, with her backup singers, the Lys, the self-proclaimed “Keeper of the Gems” ignited a small cult following. The Ames, Iowa native originally started recording music in her bedroom during high school and posting the videos online. Her early fascination with gem sweaters transformed her into an eccentric character, which took on a life of its own. She now houses over 500 of the sweaters in the RV she bought specifically for that purpose. After sporting a neck brace, pink Goodwill gown and tiara to her homecoming parade, Hall made the front page of the local paper and was surprisingly crowned the homecoming queen.
“I wore my first one in 1998 for my school dance. I was just trying to score some laughs, a hottie, maybe a drink or lose my bra,” Hall joked. “But instead I ended up with my destiny card.” |
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Back Beat - |
Following up on the Evan Dando “situation” detailed in this column a few weeks ago, it seems Dando felt reflective after his onstage meltdown and semi-fight with one of the more annoying patrons I’ve ever seen at a show. Dando posted “Late night Omaha Song” on YouTube. A grizzled Dando, looking like Daniel Johnston on a bad day and still wearing his coat sways and strums the song, which includes lyrics like “I played an hour. I am a power. I am a force of nature. I am a cheese grater.”
The Reader SXSW team is making a point to catch Dando in Austin to see if it’s not us, it’s him, or vice versa. See the video at youtube.com/watch?v=viXTWpBsxBA, before his manager yanks it. |
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Simple Story of Jetpacks - |
Scotland’s We Were Promised Jetpacks are just a band, but a very good one
by Chris Aponick
There’s a disconnect between content and context when it comes to Scotland’s We Were Promised Jetpacks.
Darren Lackie, drummer for the four-piece band, acknowledges there aren’t many exciting morsels about how the band got together, found its name or finally got rolling on from a school band to something more serious.
“All our stories are really boring,” Lackie told The Reader via phone from somewhere outside Tucson, Ariz.
The band name “We had to pick one,” Lackie said. So the band just settled on the least objectionable from a list they created. The origin just a bunch of friends (Lackie, singer/guitarist Adam Thompson, guitarist Michael Palmer and bassist Sean Smith) dating to early adolescence. And how they finally got some attention and gigs their Myspace profile.
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The Wiz Kid - |
Wiz Khalifa’s steady
rise to fame
by Kyle Eustice
Chances are the name Wiz Khalifa is new to you, but after March 16, that should all begin to change. The 22-year-old Pittsburgh-based rapper will appear on the cover of XXL, one of the country’s most recognized urban publications. Khalifa’s newfound notoriety, however, is not a fluke.
“This has been more like a grassroots movement I’ve been working on for a long time,” Khalifa said. “I put out my first mixtape when I was 16. I’ve been on a constant grind and building a real fan base. It’s finally paying off.”
With his mother and father in the military, Khalifa bounced around quite often. Born in North Dakota but raised in Pittsburgh, he has lived all over the world from Germany to Japan. While this did not necessarily influence his musical style, it opened his eyes to other cultures. |
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Back Beat - |
In a couple weeks The Reader’s team of music aficionados will head south to Austin, Tex. to do the dirty work of day-drinkin’ and copious show-going entailed in the famed South By Southwest. As in years past we have a sponsored local band. Our 2010 SXSW pick is local powerhouse It’s True. We can’t wait to witness it when Austin gets a load of these boys. Look for the band’s tour diary in our March 25 issue, along with our annual coverage of the behemoth festival.
Before the band hits that dusty trail to Austin, It’s True’s Big Ol’ Whoop-Di-Doo, Sunday, March 14, at 8 p.m., at the cozy Barley Street Tavern, will function as a send-off celebration, gathering friends together to fill the band’s coffers (and gas tank) and wish them well. The affair will include a listening party of the band’s upcoming LP (slated to release April 30), screening of footage from an upcoming documentary on the band, a performance and more. Visit itstruemusic.blogspot.com for more details or to purchase tickets. |
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Reignited Flame - |
Laura Veirs’ latest reveals a renewed creative spark
by Chris Aponick
Laura Veirs is getting in every moment of touring behind her latest album, before motherhood becomes part of her life as a touring indie folk artist.
Veirs, in her third trimester of pregnancy, said she didn’t want to drop the ball on supporting her latest album, 2010’s July Flame.
“I feel like I have to do it justice, too,” she said.
She’s coming off four weeks touring in Europe behind the record, released on her own label, Raven Marching Band. After she wraps up the four weeks back in the States, she’ll take a month off before she gives birth. Veirs will have been on the road for four of the nine months of her pregnancy, she told The Reader during a Friday evening phone interview. |
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Feeling Flamenco - |
The spirited, sensual dance steps into Omaha
by Jill Bruckner Robberts
Passion is alive and well (and coming to Omaha) in Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, the renowned dance company heralded by The Washington Post as “a rampage of pheromones and pounding footwork.”
The show is characterized by evocative, meticulously choreographed Spanish dance and flamenco performances.
“These performances are challenging and exciting, featuring four musicians and five dancers,” said artistic director Carlota Santana, who founded the troupe in 1983 with Roberto Lorca. |
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Monster Pop - |
The cool world
of Talking Mountain
by Tim McMahan
Talking Mountain’s Jason Meyer-Cusack explained why he had to change one of my favorite songs for the band’s new 12-inch, The Nature of Magic and the Magic of Nature.
The song, “The Abominable Abdominal Snowman,” originally told the touching story of a group of children who built a snowman that magically comes to life, but instead of wanting to go sledding or make snow angles, the snowman only wants to work out.
“And now he’s working his abs / And now he’s working his triceps / And now he’s working his biceps / Oh my god.” |
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Back Beat - |
Opening for alt-rockers Vago, Thursday, Feb. 25, is a promising, new, local super-group. The Last Mustangs features Matt Whipkey, Josh Dunwoody, Scott “Zip” Zimmerman, Travis Sing and Corey Weber. According to Whipkey, Dunwoody had a gig lined up for the night and “wanted to put something together with his pals.” Whipkey added the project came together in just a few weeks, and the band is currently performing original songs by himself, Sing and Dunwoody.
“We definitely exist on the twangier side of the road,” he said, “but that’s not a bad place to be.” Agreed, and it’s a great band name to boot.
Evan Dando is a phenomenal songwriter, but that was eclipsed by poor behavior on his part and by some of his audience last Sunday at the Waiting Room. |
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Banjo Dojo - |
Bela Fleck and Bassekou Kouyate play the Holland
by Brent Crampton
In a world of ever-changing style tips and trends, somewhere along the recent way, African music became hip. Hip as in hipsters flipping their iPhone screens over to vintage Highlife tunes while they do the Williamsburg walk. Hip as in the Billboard charts putting Vampire Weekend, who’ve been described as “Afro-poppers,” at the #1 slot the week their new album debuted. Hip as in the story of the polygamous Nigerian inventor of Afro-beat, Fela Kuti, being in a Broadway production.
But to lifelong musicians like Bela Fleck and Bassekou Kouyate, it comes up as chatter in the background as they pluck their ancient instruments connected through countless generations and bound by continents separated by many miles of ocean. These two masterminds of the strings are just too damn talented to be seen as in-the-moment accessories. |
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Wildsmith, Lost and Found - |
Local singer-songwriter Tim Wildsmith put a few new spins on his sound
by Chris Aponick
Tim Wildsmith is willing to leave some of his lyrics open to interpretation, because at times, he’s still figuring them out.
“Graves” is the leadoff track on Wildsmith’s new album Little Armor, and it’s among the songs Wildsmith is still deciphering. It began as Wildsmith’s attempt at a song for his friend Brad Hoshaw but quickly morphed into a one that brings together a new-found alt-country swing to familiar themes of faith and finding one’s self. |
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Squeeze of Lemon - |
Omaha will go under the covers with Evan Dando
by Jesse D. Stanek
Most folks recognize Evan Dando’s sultry, sexy and clear vocals from his work as the frontman and primary songwriter for iconic indie act The Lemonheads. The Boston-based band formed in 1986 and played mostly punk, heavily influenced by the likes of Hόsker Dό and The Replacements before mellowing its sound and releasing some of the most provocative albums of the late 1980s/early 1990s. In 1992 the band put out the epic It’s A Shame About Ray, an album that proved Dando to be not only the pin-up, loveable goofball but also a serious songwriter capable of reaching deep into himself and penning heartbreaking and reflective numbers like the album’s title cut and “Drug Buddy.” The Lemonheads have influenced scores of bands through the years. |
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Back Beat - |
I’ve been having a series of daydreams where I become a travel writer, or a masseuse, or work in a greenhouse things I’ve always wanted to do, but just haven’t; less stressful antidotes to the hair-tearing pressures of my current gig managing the content for this fine paper.
Another of my reoccurring daydream wishes is to play the ukulele. Local musician Rebecca Lowry is living my daydream.
Curious about her act, billed All Young Girls Are Machine Guns, I contacted Lowry for the 411 on the u-k-e.
“My act, as it were, is me and a ukulele,” she said. “I’ve been playing for a little over a year, writing songs for just under a year. |
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Shaking Your Ground - |
Like the band, Once a Pawn’s new album is a deeply personal rocker
by Andrew Norman
The queer chick sits high, kicking, beating and crashing the hell out of her drums while screaming pleading editorials into a headset mic. The straight guy stomps, kicks and spins, channeling Fugazi riffs on his guitar before slamming a measure of power chords and gyrating across the stage on his toes as one rings out.
If you’re here watching Lincoln band Once a Pawn, you ran into Catherine Balta or Eric Scrivens while they were sticking flyers onto light poles. Or maybe you saw Balta playing in C-Style, her drag group. However it happened, one of them invited you to the show, and they’ll both thank you for coming when it’s finished. |
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Duo Dynamics - |
Chicago Underground Duo plays the Bemis
by Jesse D. Stanek
The Chicago Underground Collective was born of The Windy City in the early 1990s and was part of a scene comprised of musicians who prize improvisation and skewed vision over steady form. Along with hometown Thrill Jockey labelmates Tortoise, The Sea and Cake and guitarist Jeffrey Parker (who plays with the collective when it is a quartet), the Collective, in all its permutations, whether it be as a duo, trio or quartet, makes music to get lost in. The Duo’s latest release Boca Negra is some of the most adventurous music released in recent memory. The New York Times said Boca was “the rare jazz album that gets deep into the possibilities.” |
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Forecast Calls for Rock - |
Weatherbox to storm O’Leaver’s
by Tim McMahan
You can blame Weatherbox frontman Brian Warren for luring away one of indie Omaha’s more colorful characters Little Brazil’s Landon Hedges.
Weatherbox and Little Brazil briefly toured together last year, when Hedges decided to join Warren’s band.
“Once Landon heard that (my bandmates) were leaving, he jumped at the opportunity,” Warren said, adding that he’s followed Hedges’ career since his Desaparecidos days. “He wanted out of Omaha to get to San Diego. He’s a cool guy, I’m glad to have him around.”
Hedges moved to San Diego late last year and despite joining Weatherbox remains a member of Little Brazil. |
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Back Beat: Music News - |
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In honor of Chinese New Year’s and Mojo’s Blue Valentine, this Saturday, Feb. 13, at the 49’r, here’s my best rhyme at this time: The cat on the cover, is doing a show for sad lovers. It’s Valentine’s Day Eve with the blues, but don’t forget to wear your red shoes. Just $3 at the door, and so much is in store; Mojo plays at nine, then at ten it’s Blue Valentine. The lineup includes Seth Ondracek, Mark Nelson, James Cuato, Barry Clark, and Andrew Bailie; pay $13 total and you also get a CD. Dig? |
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Piano Man - |
John Tesh is that
and so much more
by Jesse D. Stanek
John Tesh wears many hats. Many of us remember him as co-host of “Entertainment Tonight” from 1986 to 1996. Prior to that he was a sportscaster and an anchorman. His music career landed him two Grammy nominations (not to mention he has sold over seven million albums). Tesh now hosts a nationally syndicated radio show “Intelligence For Your Life” (airing locally on KGOR 99.9 FM Monday through Friday, 5-10 p.m.).
“‘Great’ is not hyperbole when speaking of the opportunities I’ve had,” Tesh said by phone recently after wrapping up his radio work for the day. “We all want to have a voice; we all have something valuable to say
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