Omaha photographer Steve Loftus will be hosting a benefit show for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund this Sunday at the Waiting Room. The benefit is titled Songs For A Cure and features three of Omaha’s best songwriter based acts, Brad Hoshaw & the Seven Deadlies, It’s True and McCarthy Trenching. The event will also feature Raven Carousel, the new project from longtime Omaha musicians Ben Sieff, Cass Brostad and Jerry Kuhn. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund is set up to help find a cure for children suffering from Type 1 diabetes. Children with this disease endure blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, amputations and much more. This show will have an early 8 p.m. start time and will only run you $5 for admission. The organizers of course will not be turning down any donations above and beyond the admission.

The artist that seems to be playing the most around Omaha and the region right now is Matt Cox. Whether it be with his band or as a solo artist he has been hitting every nook and cranny in the area over the past couple of months promoting his current album, “My Last Dollar.” Cox might have made the biggest impact this past Monday as he and his band opened up for super popular alt-country artists Son Volt at the Slowdown. Cox and his band played the big stage at the Slowdown like they had done it a dozen times before. The band played a perfectly chosen set of some of Cox’s strongest songs, mixing upbeat folk country romps, songs that allowed for some inspired jamming from the rest of the musicians, and many that feature Cox’s signature old-timey vocals and songwriting style. The band looked and sounded like they might have been heading out to play the Austin City Limits stage the next night. Cox has been backing himself with many of Omaha’s heavies for a while now, and they have put on some great sets. But nothing has compared thus far to the punch they packed this past Monday.
There have been some big shows announced in the last couple of weeks. I have been bummed that I haven’t had the time to go to any of the big music festivals around the country this summer, but many of these announcements are making me feel better about not being able to attend as they include some bands that I thought I would only be able to see at those festivals. On Oct. 10 at the Slowdown, indie rock legends Dinosaur Jr. will return to Omaha with Lou Barlow in tow. Dark songwriter David Eugene Edwards, former front man of 16 Horsepower, will play the Waiting Room on Sept. 29 with his current project Wovenhand. French pop band Phoenix, who I never thought would get their due but currently are, will be performing at the Slowdown on Sept. 21. Two days earlier on Sept. 19 will be the big coup for Omaha as the American band with a French name Bon Iver play the big stage at the Slowdown. Bon Iver is one of the most talked about bands amongst indie music fans, and their debut album “For Emma, Forever Ago” was one of the best albums of 2008. The Waiting Room has also recently announced some interesting shows including indie hip-hop act Eydea & Abilities on Aug. 31, America’s funnyman Neil Hamburger on Aug. 28, former Men At Work front man Colin Hay on Aug. 13, and popular indie band Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin on Aug. 11.