Around Hear

Just when the mournful moans about the Lazer's change of format finally seemed to have died down, along came Spirit Fest to resurrect the lamentations. In years past, the station hosted a modern-rock stage that drew cutting-edge acts, such as Moby, while allowing local bands to perform in front of the sizable crowds those artists attracted. By contrast, Spirit Fest 2000 separated the local acts into a balmy tent, which at least sported the glamorous-sounding title of "Modern Rock Pavilion." But David George of Moaning Lisa had played on the Lazer stage with Engine, an early incarnation of his current group, and though he gives the pavilion passing marks, he admits to fond memories of the previous format.

"I was a little disappointed after years of seeing it move from local to regional to national bands on the stage to be playing in a cafeteria mess-hall tent with the lights on," he says. "But I enjoyed it, especially being up against Night Ranger and Rick Springfield. We had one of the biggest crowds on the local stage. We had fun, sold CDs, and had a good show. We have a large, young female following right now, and they were rocking out. Then there were a couple of young guys with baggy pants hanging around their asses and backwards baseball caps, who didn't look like our usual kind of fan, but they were digging it. I think there were a few people there who didn't know who we were, who just happened to be walking by on their way to see Night Ranger, but we gave it everything we could, and I think we acquired a few more fans."

Playing on a summer night at 8 is one thing, but playing at 4 p.m. is quite another. Ask The Hillary Step, who scored that unforgiving slot on Saturday. "It was really, really hot," singer/guitarist Brad Hodgson emphasizes repeatedly. "I kept pouring cups of water over my head. I almost fainted. It was ridiculous." Perhaps the heat scared away fans, because Hodgson reports playing in front of a scant crowd. Not surprisingly, he longs for the Spirit Fest of yesteryear.

"I'm anxious for the stage to come back and for a radio station to support it," he says. "It's like Christmas when you're older and you find out there's no Santa Claus. Before, everything was so advertised and exciting, but now there wasn't any radio station to get behind it, and you didn't hear much about it at all."

Faring better on Saturday night was the jazzy rap/rock sextet Shudderbug, luring in a sizable crowd whose members mostly were too young to be nostalgic for the commercial rap of the early '90s or for the ordinary stylings of jaded former Eagle Joe Walsh. The band also benefited from cooler temperatures, breaking only a mild sweat despite accentuating each of its raucous choruses with plenty of jumping.

"Honestly, it's hotter in clubs, with all the stage lights beating down on you," says Adam 'AC' Schlicht, one of the group's vocalists. "And at least there was a breeze. There were a good 150 people there, and we sold about 15 CDs, so we were actually incredibly happy with it. It was one of our better shows. Hopefully, they'll have us back next year, and they'll have the rock stage."

Sunday's overcast skies offered welcome respite to the evening's openers, The Daybirds, whose breezy Beatles-esque concoctions entertained about 50 scattered onlookers. Meanwhile, one area group took advantage of an opportunity to perform on one of the big stages, with the added bonus of a hip crowd that rushed to the front to secure positions for headliners Guided By Voices and Kottonmouth Kings.

"They gave us the choice between closing the local stage Saturday night and having the first slot on the main stage on Sunday, and we wanted to play on the real stage, although we didn't think there would be a lot of people," says Pomeroy's Matt Marron. "It was cool, man. There were actually quite a few people, and the band that was supposed to play after us canceled, so we got to play even longer."

After representing Manhattan (and now Omaha, its current hometown) from 5 to 6:30, Pomeroy took to the road to play a show in Omaha at 10:30, making it an extreme night for even these road warriors. The group will travel to Salina, Omaha, Colorado Springs, Denver, Manhattan, and Hays, Kansas, in the next few weeks, with Friday night's stop at The Bottleneck giving local fans another chance to catch the ensemble in action. Following this string of dates, Pomeroy will start recording a new album on September 25. Marron de-scribes the record as an eclectic affair, with everything from "old-school Stevie-Wonder-type stuff" to such unorthodox instruments as Hammond organ and clavinet. A cover of the country chestnut "Devil Went Down to Georgia" is even scheduled to make an appearance, and "Roboflow," the infectious single from the band's debut release, will show up again in altered form, with plenty of keyboards added to the mix.

As for the rest of the Spirit-ed acts, Moaning Lisa joins Pomeroy at The Bottleneck on Friday night before playing Mike's Tavern on Saturday. The Day-birds, whose Spirit Fest gig was one of five shows in six nights, will take a short break before heading out to Portland, Oregon, to perform at the North by Northwest conference. Shudderbug, also at work on a new release, has no gigs booked, but a recent concert at The Granada with Moaning Lisa is available in streaming-video format at www.digitalclubnetwork.com. After several lineup changes, which saw Haloshifter's John Ferguson and former Believe It Or Notter Greg Franklin serving brief stints in the band, The Hillary Step is again a trio and is again providing more of its intricate, beautiful songs with those sudden and stirring twists and turns. Hodgson and company will showcase some of their new material at El Torreon on Friday night, with Traindodge and Jade Raven sharing the bill.