August 9 -14 Nebraska Pop Festival various venues $7 per night/show With no official website, no official Facebook and no other official, recently updated online home, Nebraska Pop Festival almost operates behind an anonymous veil. It seems more about the bands playing all around town throughout the event than about the actual event. That said, […]
Posted inMusic
PUJOL signs to Saddle Creek
* Saddle Creek Records’ love of JEFF the Brotherhood is not hard to discern, as you can often spot a label staffer wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the two-piece Nashville band’s name. While Backbeat always assumed that would lead the Creek to signing the fuzzed-out, stripped down Weezer acolytes, that as yet to happen. But […]
Posted inMusic
Speed! Nebraska Riots! 120 Minutes Returns! Tony Bonacci Directs!
Filling in some blanks as we head into two weeks’ of MAHA Music Festival coverage … I mentioned being in beautiful Breckenridge, Colorado, last week enjoying some well-deserved R ‘n’ R (that’s rest and relaxation, not rock ‘n’ roll). Because of that personal holiday, I missed this year’s Speed! Nebraska Soapbox Riot — the third […]
Posted inMusic
Settling In
A case of cheap domestic lager, a sun-baked front porch and a cracked-open front window, so the sounds of a dusty blues record, Eddie Hinton side or Mendocino, could be heard floating from inside to out. And Patrick Sweany avoiding yard work, talking about his 2011 album That Old Southern Drag and how he left Ohio […]
Posted inCulture, Visual Arts
Radio Day
Public radio’s popular Whad’Ya Know?, headlined by creator-producer-host Michael Feldman, comes to the Holland Performing Arts Center for a live, two-hour road show Aug. 13. Produced by Wisconsin Public Radio and distributed by Public Radio International, Whad’Ya Know? calls home base the Monona Terrace in Madison. Eight times a year cast and crew leave the […]
Posted inCulture
(Re) Vision Quest
What does it say about a young college graduate who, rather than attemping to enter the corporate or professional world, pursues a career in the rather esoteric medium of ceramic art? It must say that money, security and “settling down” hold little interest to said artist. What does it then say about this person who […]
Posted inSpecials
News You Can Use
Time again for another installment of News You Can Use, highlights of news around the world and headlines that point out how we might want to consider alternatives to the way we’re doing things, especially in areas affecting our health. First, let’s start off with headlines about why hospitals are exactly the places you want […]
Posted inMovies
In Love & Out
When his 75-year-old father, Hal, suddenly announces “I’m gay,” it’s no coming out party for son Oliver who has identity-commitment issues of his own. The story of Hal (Christopher Plummer) and Oliver (Ewan McGregor) is intertwined in director Mike Mills’ exceptional auto-bio film, Beginners. Ironically, the movie begins with Hal’s death and Oliver being left […]
Posted inCulture, Visual Arts
Mixed Media
Lincoln’s Haydon Art Center closed July 29 after more than 15 years, due to recent cutbacks in art funding. “We appreciate all of the support that everyone in the community has given us over the years,” said Haydon Board President Kate McCown. According to the Galley blog, the directors’ plan to complete the 2011 exhibitions […]
Posted inCulture
Aug.5
The New BLK Gallery, 1213 Jones St. Opening reception 7-11 p.m., Exhibit through August 23, FREE Thenewblk.com, 402.403.5619 Artist Nolan Tredway, co-director of Tugboat Gallery in Lincoln, is infamous for his paintings of dark surreal worlds and fierce creatures. Lost Ends is sure to prove nothing short of his award-winning artistry (Tredway earned the Ida […]