I have an article on the lovely and talented musician Alessi Laurent-Marke in the current issue of Venus Zine available this week at news stands and book stores. It’s a great issue; the article is part of the “25 under 25″ series, highlighting women under the age of 25 who are doing productive/creative/interesting things.

An article/interview I wrote on English singer/songwriter Alessi was published this week in the Omaha City Weekly. It was a really fun interview to do, and she is a really talented musician and just a really nice person. I’m a fan, if you couldn’t tell from the interview.

Note: I had Johnathan Rice spelled right, and they edited/changed it to the incorrect spelling of “Jonathan.” Just wanted to make that clear.

I saw Jake Bellows and Alessi last night at the Goofy Foot Lodge. It was a great show. Alessi is this singer-songwriter from London who spends quite a good amount of time in Omaha — she’s great. She’s kind of freak-folk with less emphasis on the freak part, plus she’s pretty endearing live and really nice and she’s got a great voice. Jake Bellows from Neva Dinova also sang some back up with her, and their voices play really well off each other.

Well, there are a ton of possible shows to go to this weekend and into the next week. It’s a little overwhelming. My tentative schedule looks like this:

Tonight: Honeybee, Talking Mountain and The Lisps @ PS Collective
Saturday: Thunder Power!!! and Tilly and the Wall @ The Waiting Room
Sunday: Flowers Forever and more @ The Waiting Room or Orenda Fink @ O’Leavers
Monday: Times New Viking and more @ The Waiting Room
Tuesday: UUVVWWZ and more @ Brothers

That’s 5 straight days. I don’t think I can make it. I’m not quite feeling 100% and I don’t want to push it and then get more sick. Also, I should aim to try to keep at least some of my hearing for my 50s and beyond. I’m going to aim for 3 out of the 5. I think that’s do-able.

I have been very busy as of lately, so I haven’t had a lot of time to post. I did go to a great show this past Saturday night though and I feel the need to promote some music that you may not have heard. The show was held at the Bemis Underground, the basement of the contemporary arts museum the Bemis Center. The Bemis also has a great artist in residency program here in Omaha. You live and work there and they provide one of their brick lofts, large gallery workspace and some materials. They support artists from all different mediums including music. Some of the past residents include Tilly & the Wall, Orenda Fink, and Gillian Welch. David Matysiak from Coyote Bones is currently there.

Anyway, the show included music from Alessi, Thunder Power!!! and Baby Walrus — all really great musical acts. If you haven’t heard any of these musicians/bands, you should check them out when you get a chance. Alessi is from England, but was here in Omaha for a spell recording, and Thunder Power!!! and Baby Walrus are Omaha-based.

And here is a link to CoCo Art, where you can download some songs from some other Omaha bands that are making some interesting music.

There is a lot of great music coming out of Omaha right now.

Other than listening to music, I have been busy with teaching, writing and shooting. More details to come in the near future.

And, in other news, it is winter here.