It’s the final week of 2008 and a time for best-of lists and a summary of the year that has passed. I gave up on lists a long time ago, and I can’t think of any major changes from last year to now.
The most noticeable trend this year was the emergence of longtime songwriters taking on full bands and finding a much larger audience because of that. There was also an emergence of a lot of new up-and-coming indie rock acts with unique and varying sounds that have made live shows a lot more fun.

Unfortunately, 2009 will start off with the closing of one of Omaha’s full-time music venues. Mick’s Music Bar in Benson will hold its final show on New Year’s Eve and sometime early in the year it will re-open under new ownership as a neighborhood bar reportedly without music. There are many people wondering if the closing is a sign of a lack of interest in music in Omaha or if it’s the economy. The bottom line is owner Michael Campbell has had the business for sale for a while now and I think he just wanted to move onto some new ventures. There have been some great crowds out recently and if anything I think we are on an upswing.

The last week of the year finds a ton of shows happening around town with the post-Christmas weekend and New Year’s Eve waiting to be celebrated. If you need some entertainment on Christmas Eve or Christmas night, head to your local neighborhood bar and create it yourself, as I don’t see any bands playing on those nights. There will be DJs at Barfly on Christmas Eve with W.E.R.D. and at the Waiting Room on Christmas night with DJ Kobrakyle. Friday at the Waiting Room will see the return of 138, a local tribute to punk rock legends the Misfits. Also on the bill will be Social Distortion tribute act the Lude Boys and reformed local punk band Cordial Spew. It is rumored that a surprise reunion from a past Omaha band may also take place on stage that night as well.

Sokol Underground will have one of their bigger shows in a while with popular touring band the Dirty Little Rabbits playing along with Chicago’s Swizzle Tree and homegrown talents Malpais and the Jes Winter Band. The Saddle Creek Bar has the Shidiots, Officially Terminated and Bomb’s Blast on Friday night. Also on Friday Hector Anchondo will play a solo show at Mick’s.

Saturday will see Thousand Houses along with Brad Hoshaw playing the final weekend night at Mick’s. Expect the Waiting Room to be jam-packed on Saturday as Omaha’s most popular hard rock band Emphatic will take the stage there. The show will also feature Dirtfed, the Matador and Sudden Gone.
Saturday may also be the last chance to catch Neva Dinova for quite some time as the band is said to be going on hiatus afterwards. Also on this show will be Ladyfinger, the 1989 Chicago Cubs and McCarthy Trenching.

Sokol Underground has a six-band show with Fate Of Angels, Rock Paper Dynamite, Those Guys, Dummy Head Torpedo, and the Super Colliders.

Not much local original music happening on New Year’s Eve, although at the Hideout (formerly Shea Riley’s) Beta Minus, Furiosity, Rival Element and Random will be playing. Every year former Omaha resident Joe Budenholzer returns to town to do an album tribute show at Mick’s with his Omaha musician friends. Budenholzer will be doing the album “Faith” by the Cure this year with friends Dereck Higgins, Gary Foster and Bill Eustice. This will also be the final show ever at Mick’s. The Waiting Room has hair-metal/80s tribute band Secret Weapon on New Year’s Eve and over at Burke’s Pub a rare show is happening with local rock cover band the Negatives.