Headlines! Luigi, Cursive and more

Luigi Waites

• There's really no good way to get into it, so I'll just go for it. Omaha music lost a heavy hitter today as Luigi Waites died this morning. He was 82. I spoke to a lot of people today and everyone talked about how great of a person he was and his great smile and laughter. I last saw him at the Dundee Dell over lunch awhile back and he was as personable as ever, talking to old friends and making time to talk to other folks who told him what a great job he was doing. Read up on what people had to say about the man.

• In much more lighthearted news, Cursive did a cover of "We Built This City" by Starship for the Onion's A.V. Club. No surprise here, but it's way better than the original. And, as far as I'm concerned, kind of a hilarious choice. The idea behind the project was that the Onion created a list of songs and an artist gets to choose which one to cover. That song is then crossed off the list. What did Tim Kasher have to say? "I think we picked 'We Built This City' because we saw that that was far and beyond the best song selection of all the songs you sent. We snagged it before anyone else could get it," he said. Tim, I'm not sure other groups would be chomping at the bit for that one, but a good choice nonetheless. Personally, I think they should add it to the live repetoire. It's that awesome.

• The Lollapalooza lineup was revealed today! Who's going to be there? Arcade Fire, the Strokes, Lady Gaga, Green Day, a reunited Soundgarden and Phoenix, of course. Other bands I'm excited for: Black Keys, MGMT, New Pornographers, Frightened Rabbit, Blitzen Trapper, Minus The Bear, Rogue Wave and others. See the full lineup. Anyone else thinking of going? I'll probably be there again.

• Over at NPR's All Songs Considered, The Mynabirds were included in the spring music preview.

• Bob Dylan was barred from entering China. Apparently they don't like his counter-culture status. My question: Does anyone considers him counter-culture anymore?

• Oh, Jack White, you crazy kid. The Internet as a "nuisance?" Who would believe that the Web - where you can share cute cat pictures with your friends and family - could ever be considered annoying?

• One of my favorite bands from SXSW, Codeine Velvet Club, released its debut today. Go have a look-see.

• Another big story today is how bar hours could be extended in Omaha. Will shows around here start later? Or will more local openers fill out the time left open by a later closing time? The latter is what I'd like to see, but we'll have to wait to find out.

• Who wants more Kanye? Anybody? Fret not. The great interrupter will be putting out another record in June.

• Baseball season is upon us and Paste explores the best music about our nation's pastime. (Oh, and something about Rickey Henderson and Centro-matic).

World-Hearld photo