With impresario Gordon Cantiello’s new tribute show The Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash at The Waiting Room, it’s only natural to consider what makes the singer-songwriter of the title so enduring. The king of hard-scrabble, honky-tonk infused with gospel, country, folk, blues and rock, became a living legend with his Man in […]
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Playing Favorites: The 2Q 2014 Album Reviews Roundup
These days I’m introduced to most new music via streaming services. Yes, I still receive the occasional download from an artist’s label and/or promotion company (or from the artist him/herself), but when something new breaks on a given Tuesday, it’s first heard online via NPR First Listen or that destroyer of the music industry, Spotify. […]
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Music Year in Review 2014: Survival
The one word that comes to mind when looking back at the past year in music: Survival. Or, more accurately, the question: How will musicians survive? It finally started to dawn on people about halfway through the year that Spotify is really f***ing things up. I don’t know how independent musicians are going to make […]
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Something Old, Something New
Not many artists have approached the challenges and contradictions of making art quite as astutely as Colin Smith. There is experimentation with materials and process and he creates his art taking into account space and form. Through a multilayered application of paint, pigments and resin Smith is able to create a consciousness within his pieces […]
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Trout Recovering, More Outdoor Music
Internationally recognized blues guitarist Walter Trout received a life-saving liver transplant at UNMC’s Lied Transplant Center on Memorial Day. Trout’s recovery has been going well. See waltertrout.com for a post-surgery update. Trout’s wife Marie’s updates are posted regularly on her Facebook page and at Trout’s youcaring.com page. Summer Arts Fest Music Summer Arts Fest offers […]
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Slouchers of the World, Unite!
Before I begin talking about this new, high-tech invention called the Lumo Lift, I must explain my affliction — an affliction that has haunted me most of my adult life, one that I’ve never been able to escape. I’m a chronic sloucher. I don’t know how it happened, I don’t know how I got this […]
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The Return of Cellophane Ceiling, Ritual Device and Main Vein Productions
An obvious problem when booking a show that includes two bands that haven’t played in years — whose heyday was nearly two decades ago — is there’s a very good chance no one will remember who they are. At least no one who still goes to rock shows. Let me set the stage, because this […]
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Encore
Brandon Miller of the Kris Lager Band (KLB) does infinitely more than just play bass in the group. As founder of the annual Hullabaloo Music and Camping Festival, he’s in charge of booking the bands, arranging space for camping, creating a tunnel/forest, setting up a Frisbee golf course, and a slew of other summertime activities. […]
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New American Cinema auteurs-colleagues David O. Russell and Alexander Payne to gab in Omaha
Alexander Payne is in a position to ask any world class film figure to be his guest of honor at the Film Streams Feature event, the art cinema’s annual big fundraiser. Laura Dern, Debra Winger, Steven Soderbergh, Jane Fonda and the principal cast of Nebraska have all come at his invitation to appear on stage […]
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The Return of Little Brazil, V. 2.0
Landon Hedges had been hounding me for weeks. His rock band, Little Brazil, is playing a sort of “relaunch” show this Saturday, July 19, at The Waiting Room, and Landon wanted some ink to get butts in seats. “What am I supposed to write about, Landon? I haven’t even heard this new version of your […]
