Anchor Inn closing. What does it mean for Omaha music?

[UPDATE:] Here's the full news story from the OWH's Roseann Moring, who has all of the details concerning the city planning director and Omaha's zoning laws (which state the Anchor inn can't be rebuilt).

And the land lesees responded with a statement saying they think they're not violating zoning laws.

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So, the city is telling the Anchor Inn that it can't rebuild and re-open. The nitty-gritty details have a lot to do with FEMA money, flooding, city land leases and all that.

But the short story is that the bar (and occasional concert venue) won't be re-opening even though they've started rebuilding the property.

I dropped a line to Marc Leibowitz at 1% Productions to ask him what he thought of it.

Marc told me that 1%'s lone 2011 booking at the bar's riverside stage - Yonder Mountain String Band - had to be moved because of flooding problems.

Leibowitz wasn't planning on booking anything at the Anchor Inn this summer.

"There's no reputable agent that would book a venue that doesn't exist," he said. "It (currently) has no stage and it hasn't been open so it doesn't exist as a venue."

Anchor Inn had been used in the past primarliy because promoters couldn't find a similarly-sized venue. Other outdoor locations such as Westfair Amphitheatre east of Council Bluffs are cost-prohibitive for small concerts. ("You can't put 1,000 people at Westfair," Leibowitz said.)

Leibowitz said 1% is looking at places including Sumtur Amphitheater in Papillion for outdoor shows. Lewis & Clark Landing in Omaha (where Maha Music Festival debuted) is another option, but Leibowitz said it's booked just about every weekend.

What do you think about the closure? Do you have any epic Anchor Inn memories?

Bright Eyes: Omaha-area date added to the tour

Today, Bright Eyes announced a whole bunch of extra tour dates in the Midwest and West, including one that puts them close to home.

The band plays June 4  at Westfair Amphitheater in Council Bluffs. I'm also excited about the opening band, Jenny & Johnny.

This show has to be the biggest the band has ever played in town, maybe with the exception of the Mid-America Center show with the Faint in the "Digital Ash In A Digital Urn" era.

Should be a fun time in the sun. (Can't wait for that. Can you?)

Anyway, get your tickets starting Saturday at 1% Productions. Only $25.

All the added tour dates are below:

5/27-5/30 Sasquatch Festival
6/01 Boise, ID Knitting Factory
6/03 Denver, CO Filmore Theater
6/04 Council Bluffs, IA Westfair Amphitheater
6/06 St. Louis, MO The Pageant

Desaparecidos are back for Bright Eyes, Cursive, Lullaby show to fight Fremont immigration law

This morning, I saw a tweet from One Percent that I knew was on its way:
 

DESAPARECIDOS with CURSIVE, BRIGHT EYES and LULLABY FOR THE WORKING CLASS!!! SATURDAY JULY 31ST in DOWNTOWN BENSON!!

I guess it's official, now. Benson was buzzing about it last week when I was at the Waiting Room and Jake's, but no one would give the official word until now.

Called the Concert For Equality, this is going to be a big show on a host of levels. First, Desaparecidos are back. Seems like people have been clamoring for this ever since they got back from a tour and Conor Oberst decided not to make any more records. My question: Will it be the original lineup? Will folks like Landon Hedges and Matt Baum be back in the band? We'll see.

[Update: Landon Hedges told me that he and Matt Baum will be playing the show. Oberst is obviously in and so is Denver Dalley, according to the newly-launched Desaparecidos Facebook page. So, it will be a true reunion.]

Second, this can and will easily attract national attention. These bands are coming together for a show probably for the first time ever, if not for many years. And they're fighting an issue that Oberst has had some national press on already.

Oberst has recently been at the forefront of musicians fighting against a similar law in Arizona. He joined Sound Strike, a non-profit group that includes artists boycotting performances in Arizona.
Just last week, Oberst penned an open letter to Arizona concert promoter Charlie Levy, who has argued that bands should make other efforts and not boycott performances in the state. In the letter, Oberst mentioned his distaste for the Fremont law.

“I was outraged, saddened and embarrassed for their town and my state,” Oberst wrote. “This way of thinking and legislating is so dangerous, and such a threat to our basic ideals as Americans and humans, that we cannot stand by and do nothing.  We cannot play on as if nothing is wrong.”

The show will take place on Maple Street and Military Road in downtown Benson, which will be blocked off for the event. Marc Leibowitz from One Percent Productions estimates that the area will hold at least 1,000 people.

Tickets to the show are $20 and will go on sale Saturday at One Percent. Deluxe tickets will be available that will give you access to an additional show inside the Waiting Room after the main show has wrapped up.

All proceeds will go to the ACLU to help fight the law in Fremont.

Desaparecidos photo courtesy of Saddle Creek Records.

Trio of Concert Announcements: She & Him, Titus Andronicus/Free Energy, Jenny and Johnny

Man, what a day for concert announcements. Looks like August/September is going to be a fun one. In addition to Tokyo Police Club, The Black Keys, The Watson Twins and more, One Percent is doing a helluva job bringing some good stuff in late summer. Kudos to them.

• First off, we have She & Him (pictured above) on Aug. 28 at the Anchor Inn. The duo - M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel - were critical darlings with "Volume 1" a couple years ago and this year's "Volume 2" ain't half bad either. The show I saw at SXSW was pretty good and was about half-half from both albums. If you're expecting M. Ward to play a bunch of songs from his solo catalog, this isn't what that is. He mostly takes a back seat, playing guitar and doing backup vocals. This show is the reason. Tickets available Saturday from One Percent.

Next up is Titus Andronicus with Free Energy. Again, both acts that I saw and loved at SXSW. The way that I've described Titus before is they're like Bright Eyes at the end of "Road To Joy" when they go nuts and Conor yells "Let's fuck it up boys, make some noise!" But, all the freaking time. Basically combine some punk rock energy with good lyricism.

• As for Free Energy, the Philly rockers are channeling Thin Lizzy in the most awesome way. It's happy, bouncy rock and it's excellent. They canceled a date with Mates of State next week and both the band's publicist and Jason Kulbel from Saddle Creek/Slowdown had no idea why. This show is the reason. Tickets available Saturday from One Percent.

• Last, but not least, is Jenny and Johnny, which I wrote about awhile back. Anyway, it's Jenny Lewis and boyfriend Johnathan Rice. They have a record coming out and are on tour. I'm interested in what they'll sound like, especially because they recorded with Mike Mogis at ARC in Omaha. Once again, tickets available Saturday from One Percent.

Maha Music Festival is doing things right

No doubt you've seen the lineup for the Maha Music Festival, which was announced early this morning.

I have to be honest that I was a bit surprised, although very pleasantly so, when I heard about Spoon. And I was even more satisfied when I heard about the rest of the lineup: Superchunk, The Faint and Old 97's.

No offense to the Maha organizers, but last year's lineup left me disappointed. Here it was, Omaha's first real shot at a music festival and we had Dashboard Confessional headlining, a band that didn't have a real hit since "Vindicated." I had a good time at the show and saw some good music, but it didn't really represent what Omaha had to show as a music city. Not nearly.

The best bands, in my opinion, were onstage during the day when no one was there to see them. Appleseed Cast was great, Army Navy kicked ass and the local bands were really the highlight for me. Unfortunately only 50 or so people were there to see those groups and, as far as I could tell, most of us were "industry" people or sponsors that had free tickets, so no one there was being exposed to anything new.

So, what happened in 2009? Basically, a few things happened. The Maha board started trying to organize this fest way too late and they also used a talent buyer that didn't get them very good stuff. Believe me, the Maha guys don't have bad taste in music. If you met any of them, they'll talk to you about the concerts they saw last year or albums they listened to and they're right on. They just had bad timing and an unfortunate choice in who they did business with.

And then what happened in 2010? This year, they started early. It gave them more time to book groups who were looking at playing other festivals, which (along with costs) is the main reason why you'll lose out on booking some great bands. And they got smart and hired Marc Leibowitz and One Percent Productions as their talent buyer, and anyone who knows about Marc is aware that the guy knows his music as well as Omaha as a music market very, very well.

What did we end up with? Well, we got Spoon, for starters. They were on the cover of Spin recently and have been making a name for themselves slowly but surely. Good get. Great band.

Then there's The Faint, who always puts on a fantastic show. Not to mention it's nice to have a sort of salute to some of Omaha's contemporary musical roots. Superchunk is not only a great band, but it barely does shows any more, so that's a helluva snag. And, so I'm told, The Old 97's puts on a great show. (Listen to music from all four bands over at Omaha.com.)

Also consider that Maha says we're going to get a couple more national acts. While I think they're already doing well, they'll really hit a home run if they can book one or two more solid acts. (Like everyone, I have a wish list. We'll see what we see.)

All that for only $33, which is a steal in my opinion.

Really, this feels like year one for me. This is the lineup that I expected the first time around. Call it a do-over if you want.

It's also a lineup that I think people will travel to come see, which I wasn't sure would ever happen, to be honest. And that's huge. A successful festival needs to draw people from places beyond its own city. Do you think Lollapalooza's audience is only Chicagoans? Hell no.

Let's put it this way: "Book it (right) and they will come," if I may paraphrase a certain baseball film.

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A side note: Before the lineup was announced, there was a lot of speculation as to who was going to be playing. Some of the names thrown around included MGMT, Weezer, Bright Eyes, Vampire Weekend, Muse and a bunch of others.

Some of the names floated by fans were pretty good/accurate picks, but others were pretty hilarious. Some of them (Bright Eyes comes to mind) probably wouldn't do it. Other bands (Violent Femmes, someone mentioned) aren't even touring.

Still others are plain ridiculous when looked at from a budgetary perspective (Weezer or Wilco). Maha doesn't have a limitless budget and it's not nearly to Lollapalooza/Coachella/Reading & Leeds territory yet. I see that as a good thing, for now.

You might say, "How is Wilco out of their price range? Capacity at Maha is 6,000 or so, right?"

Basically, bands charge two to three times as much to play at a festival. So, it works out that sometimes you can book a band at the Qwest Center for cheaper than you could at a festival. Why do bands charge that much? First, because they can. Second, because they know corporate sponsorship dollars are paying for these shows, which means there's a lot of money going around and they want their share. And because it's corporate sponsors supplying the cash, the band doesn't know and/or has no control over what banner or logo is floating above its head, so the group wants to make sure it's well-compensated for, effectively, promoting some corporation.