As I type this I’m watching the Save Our Stages Fest (#SOSFest) on Oct. 21, a few weeks before the election. Indie phenom Phoebe Bridgers and her band are dressed in skeleton costumes playing alone in the West Hollywood bar where Elton John, Joni Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt paid their dues. Singer/songwriter pals Conor Oberst […]
Sept. 19, 2020 — This is the last column and last issue of The Reader before the election. Yes, there will be a November issue, but there is no way/no how it’s going to be in your hands by Nov. 3. So this is that time, like four years ago, when I look into my […]
Conor, where are you? Are you here? “Yeah, I’m here.” “Here” is Omaha, where singer/songwriter and Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst has been holed up in his midtown home since July to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic, surrounded (though no doubt socially distanced) by friends, family and the two dogs he shares joint custody of […]
Prior to the interview for this column, the last time I spoke with Shawn Foree, the mastermind behind the musical project Digital Leather, was a couple years ago. It was late in the evening standing outside the patio door at mid-town punk club O’Leaver’s, no doubt killing time between live sets from a couple local […]
June 22, 2020 – Planning for the July issue of The Reader started with the protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd at the beginning of June. The issue’s topic: Inequity, though that seemed too narrow. Why not broaden it to the real issue — social justice, or the state of race relations in […]
OMAHA, May 19, 2020 — When this COVID-19 thing first started, the notion of wearing a mask in public seemed weird, like something only a paranoid or a hypochondriac would do. In fact, if I remember correctly, the people in charge originally told us to NOT wear masks because healthcare professionals needed them and unless […]
OMAHA, April 20, 2020 — Who remembers the opening sequence to the 1971 science fiction thriller Omega Man? It’s a late afternoon in downtown Los Angeles. Charlton Heston drives through the empty streets in a bright red Cadillac convertible, the wind whipping through his hair as the sun glares off his aviator shades. He pushes […]
This column turned 15 last December. The first installment was published Dec. 2, 2004, and featured an interview with musician Willy Mason, who had just been discovered by Conor Oberst and signed to a record deal with Oberst’s then just-launched label, Team Love Records. Hundreds of columns followed, covering music, culture, society and politics. Throughout […]
It is the morning of Jan. 19, 2020, as I write this. The world is reeling as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, have given up their royal titles and become mere mortals. Tomorrow, the U.S. Senate is scheduled to begin the impeachment trial […]
I’ve been making music predictions for 20 years; never have I missed the boat more than last year’s. 2019 Prediction: Next year, crazed music aficionados will take it one step further as we see the first album released on reel-to-reel tape. Reality: While online store The Tape Project does offer a handful of reissued classics […]
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