Conor Oberst and Phil Schaffart play a secret show in Omaha

Conor Oberst (Credit: Alyssa Schukar/The World-Herald)

"Phil and Conor are playing at Krug Park tonight. Don't tell too many people..."

That was the text I got at about 6 p.m. last night. The "Conor and Phil" in the text were, of course, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes and Phil Schaffart, a member of Bright Eyes' road crew and frontman of Omaha band Con Dios.

They were playing a secret show at 9 p.m. in Omaha.

Cool.

Secret shows are a somewhat regular occurrence in locales such as New York where there are enough "name" bands to be able to fill small clubs and bars at a moment's notice.

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Live Candy: Several great shows this week

A lot of good live shows are coming this week in Omaha, starting tonight.

Portland, Ore., indie punks The Thermals play tonight at The Waiting Room with Kentucky band Morning Teleportation and local favorites (now with keyboards!) Little Brazil. Should be a fun show. $12.

Thursday brings a local show with Mitch Gettman, Moscow Mule (the solo project from talented Omaha multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bailie) and Tara Vaughan at Slowdown. You can get tickets to the front room show for $8 at etix.com or the venue.

Big show of the week comes Saturday with Bright Eyes taking the stage at Westfair Amphitheater in CB. They play with Jenny & Johnny (interview here), David Bazan and locals Con Dios. The show starts at 5:30 p.m. and make sure you can get there early and see Con Dios, which I loved when I saw them at O'Leaver's as part of the band's residency.

Sunday brings a sold-out show to Slowdown with Iron & Wine playing with one of my favorite bands from SXSW, The Head And The Heart. Watch a video of TH&TH performing "Lost In My Mind" live in Austin below.

Notes: Con Dios residency at O'Leaver's, New Day Rising on 89.7 and a new GO page

Matt Maginn from Cursive and Team Love Records e-mailed me the other day to tell me about his other project: Con Dios.

It's something of a local supergroup that includes Ladyfinger's Pat Oakes, McCarthy Trenching/Mynabirds' Dan McCarthy and Phil Schaffart, a guy you probably recognize as a tech and tour manager for Bright Eyes.

Anyway, Maginn informed me that Con Dios will be in-residence at O'Leaver's for three consecutive Thursdays.

Here's the schedule:

Jan. 6 - Con Dios with McCarthy Trenching
Jan. 13 - Con Dios with Bear Country
Jan. 20 - Con Dios with So So Sailors

Great opening acts. I plan on hitting up at least one of these.

Check out some of Con Dios' music at the band's Facebook page.

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If you're curious where to listen to some good music on local radio, I have to recommend New Day Rising. It's a indie/college rock show hosted by David Leibowitz and has been going strong for the last six years and sometimes features local artists.

The show is now changing time slots and expanding. Starting Sunday, Jan. 9, listen to the show from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays over at 89.7 the River.

I also recommend you listen to NPR's All Songs Considered, which airs on the same station at 2 p.m. Sundays.

I think it's a better time slot and the expansion is also great for the show. I hope New Day Rising keeps kicking butt.

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I've been slightly absent from the blog for a tiny bit, mostly because of the new GO page on Omaha.com.

Find it at Omaha.com/go.

All of our entertainment content can be found there from dining and movie reviews to music previews.

We also have a curated calendar. (Be sure to click the dropdown that says "today" to see future events.)