* Saddle Creek Records‘ latest hit maker PUJOL unveiled a new video for “Mayday”, which is the first track off of his EP, Nasty, Brutish & Short. The video premiered on RollingStone.com and was directed by Jo McCaughey.
* That’s not the Creek’s biggest news lately, because one of the label’s flagship bands, Cursive, just announced news of their new album, I Am Gemini. Tim Kasher and company will release their seventh studio album next year on February 21st. Tour dates start February 12th in Denver with a March 3rd homecoming show scheduled at the Slowdown, 729 North 14th St. According to Saddle Creek, the band recorded the album this summer and fall with producer Matt Bayles at Omaha’s ARC Studio and mixed in Seattle at Red Room Studios. It’s also a return to the band’s love for concept albums, this time unravelling the story of a set of twins separated at birth, one good and one evil.
* Local actress/singer Jill Anderson will host a holiday cabaret show, Songs for a Winter Night, at Joslyn Castle, 3902 Davenport St., Sunday, December 11th at 6 p.m. Subsequent performances are set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, December 13th and Wednesday, December 14th. The show features guest vocalist Bailey Carlson and comedy from Matt Kurtz. Anderson bills the event as mixing traditional and irreverent holiday fun and is for mature audiences only.
* Local arts-and-music web site Omahype.com will play host to it’s one Christmas spectacular, hosting its 2nd annual Holiday Throwdown at the Slowdown, Sunday, December 11th. The event starts at 5 p.m. and is $5. Performances include sets by Honeybee & Hers, The Mynabird’s Laura Burhenn, McCarthy Trenching, Brad Hoshaw and All Young Girls Are Machine Guns, as well as live comedy from OK Party Comedy. The event also marks the first anniversary of the website itself.
* Two Old Market music retailers will open early for special Record Store Day-sponsored Black Friday exclusives. Drastic Plastic, 1209 Howard St., and Homer’s Music, 1210 Howard St., will both open at 9 a.m. Friday, November 25th, as they unveil exclusive and limited edition releases by 50 artists, including the Beatles, the Black Keys, Grateful Dead, Nirvana and the Rolling Stones.