Relax, Harrah's, I keed. In fact, Avett Bros. is a definite maybe. I think it might even sell out. And there's a very good chance that I'll end up getting loaded at Heart. Let it ride, baby...

If you haven't seen Mardock in a while, he's now sporting a full backing band, which I've been told is rather impressive.

Another weekend without a national touring show. But as info, I just glanced at the last issue of Time Out New York and they didn’t have too many touring shows this first week of the year, either. So things are tough all over, as they say.

Because many of you (most of you) center your lives around my annual music predictions (and why wouldn’t you?) I’m starting the process early this year by scoring last year’s predictions. Look, if I haven’t got it right yet, I’m not going to in the next two weeks (Hang in there, Courtney).

What we do know: A number of notable local bands did break up or went into hiding last year, their official whereabouts unknown, including It's True, UUVVWWZ, Box Elders, Beep Beep, Son Ambulance and The Faint. Both It's True and UU are returning with new line-ups. And filling in the gaps was the arrival of The Mynabirds, Conduits and So-So Sailors -- all three potential breakout national acts.

ust a few minutes ago, the all new Omahype.com went live. Go check it out. Congratulations to the cyber team at Secret Penguin, along with Laura Burhenn and Will Simons. Better yet, congratulate them in person at tonight's "soft launch" party at Slowdown.

Starcityblog.com is a temporary home for Andy's blog until his music website, hearnebraska.org, launches sometime next month. Organized as a non-profit entity (he's going all 501c3 up in there), the site is being designed to communicate all things music in Nebraska -- not just Lincoln, not just Omaha. It'll do this via a conglomeration of blogs, feeds, video, streams, and of course, social media. The hearnebraska Facebook page and Twitter feed have been live for weeks now.

It’s time again to look back and reflect. What were we listening to one year ago? Listen to the August 2009 Mix to find out… Downloadables: You’re A Target (mp3) by No Age Dreamsucker (mp3) by Grooms Bone Jam (mp3) by Jeff The Brotherhood Stats And Demographics (mp3) by Huak Truth Is (mp3) by The Sky Drops Jap Dad (mp3) by UUVVWWZ My [...]

Odd, quirky, adventurous and never boring, Deerhoof's sound melds rock, jazz, classical and noise to create a hybrid that's as disturbing and unusual as it is catchy and beautiful. The band has been cited as aninfluence by an army of today's most creative musicians, including Sleigh Bells, Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, Of Montreal, The Flaming Lips, Fiery Furnaces, Sufjan Stevens and Vincent">St. Vincent. Locally, Deerhoof's influence can be heard shining through on UUVVWWZ's debut album. It's the San Francisco band's habit of taking a melody in the most unpredictable directions that has ...

The Show Is the Rainbow mastermind Darren Keen e-mailed me a link to a soundcloud page where he's hosting demos recorded of his new band, High Art. The page is here. High Art is Keen on guitar/vocals, Jim Schroeder (UUVVWWZ) on drums/vocals, Saber Blazek on bass (Machete Archive -- yes, that guy) and Josh Miller, keyboards, vocals (Columbia Vs. Challenger).

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com Darren Keen, the mastermind behind The Show Is the Rainbow, says TSITR is going on hiatus indefinitely. “We went on tour as a full band, and now we decided to keep doing that,” he said. That band is called High Art, and features drummer Jim Schroeder from UUVVWWZ, [...]

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's sparsely attended solo performance at Maggie Mae's Gibson room Thursday night could be an indication of where the artist is headed: to points unknown. The set was stripped down and peppered with covers, starting off with Big Star's “I'm in Love with a Girl,” in honor of Alex Chilton, who died March 18 of an apparent heart attack and who artists everywhere at SXSW have been memorializing in their own way. Robinson delivered covers of Tom Petty's “Wildflowers” and Hall and Oates' “Rich Girl” in simliar fashion, with layered synth effects ...

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's sparsely attended solo performance at Maggie Mae's Gibson room Thursday night could be an indication of where the artist is headed: to points unknown. The set was stripped down and peppered with covers, starting off with Big Star's “I'm in Love with a Girl,” in honor of Alex Chilton, who died March 18 of an apparent heart attack and who artists everywhere at SXSW have been memorializing in their own way. Robinson delivered covers of Tom Petty's “Wildflowers” and Hall and Oates' “Rich Girl” in simliar fashion, with layered synth effects ...

Whether you're at SXSW this year or just want to listen to what you're missing, check out our massive list of bands to see this Thursday 3/18 . We've created a playlist for each day during the music festival portion of SXSW. Check back tomorrow for our Friday Mix. Also, be sure to download the fun, new iPhone app we've been involved with - soundtrckr . It's essentially web/iPhone Internet radio with geo and social features. Download the app here: http://www.itunes.com/apps/soundtrckr All the songs in this playlist can be downloaded while ...

Filed under: Concerts and Tours Nebraska quartet UUVVWWZ (pronounced duhb-uhl-yoo-duhb-uhl-vee-duhb-uhl-duhb-uhl-yoo-zee) describe themselves as a rare bird. With a tongue twister of a name and a hard-to-pin-down sound, the experimental and blues (ish) band has been compared to Deerhoof , Captain Beefheart and Lydia Lunch . Spinner spoke with guitarist Jim Schroeder and lead singer Teal Gardner on how their moniker spontaneously originated, fellow alphabet band comrades, and what's in store for them at this year's SXSW . Describe your sound in your own words. Jim: It is kind of like experimental and blues rock, but it's hard to put a ...