Weekend Roundup: Julian Casablancas, Omaha Invasion and tons more

Holy craziness, Batman! This is a helluva weekend for shows around here. If I were going to be in town (I'm not), this is what I would go see:

>> There's a Goo show/dance party tonight at the Waiting Room.

>> Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas plays his solo material at the Waiting Room on Thursday. He recorded much of his record in Omaha at ARC with Mike Mogis. Will he play some Strokes stuff? We shall see.

>> Minus the Bear is also on Thursday, but at Slowdown. I've heard their new record, "Omni," and I like it a lot. It's out May 4 on Dangerbird Records. (Read my interview with Minus the Bear on Thursday at Omaha.com/music)

>> Omaha Invasion in Lincoln on Friday and Saturday. Nearly 30 of Omaha's best bands and DJs are heading 45 minutes southwest to show Lincolnites how it's done. It wouldn't be a bad idea to follow them down there. $6 a night gets you into all venues. If you want to hole up at one place, it's only 3 bucks. Can't beat that price.

>> Thunder Power on Saturday at Barley Street. $5, as usual.

>> Whipkey Zimmerman plays at Stir on Friday night. Tim McMahan says the place isn't ideal, but I'm not surprised. I'm looking forward to actually being in town to catch a show there.

>> Yeasayer kicks out the jams Sunday at the Waiting Room. It's sold out, so if you don't have tickets, find someone who has an extra. (Ready my interview with Yeasayer on Thursday at Omaha.com/music)

>> Pray that you've saved up enough cash over the last few months because it's also big ticket-buying weekend. If I were purchasing tickets, I'd be throwing down cash on Friday for The Hold Steady show on July 6 at Slowdown . On Saturday, I'd be buying tickets for Mates of State with Free Energy on June 25 at Slowdown; Maha Music Festival on July 24 with Spoon, Superchunk, The Faint and Old 97's; and Rush at the Qwest on Aug. 25.

Other big stuff going on sale this weekend (that I'm not as big on, but I'm sure others are) is Motion City Soundtrack on June 4 at Slowdown; Snoop Dogg and comedian Mike Epps on June 5 at Stir Cove; and Adam Lambert on June 10 at Stir Cove.

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As mentioned earlier, I'm headed out of town this weekend. I'll actually be out of the office all week next week, but I'll keep the blog updated with plenty of stuff, including guest blogs, lists, a mailbag column and more. Come back tomorrow to see the schedule of what I'll be delivering while I'm gone next week.