as far as cities i've lived in go, omaha's pretty far up there these days. let me explain.
to borrow from bowie, my heart was in the basement, my weekend was at an all time low when a flashcard corrupted on me on deadline on friday. many thanks to world-herald shooter buzz beiermann, who helped me find a program (i went through four. FOUR) that finally worked to recover the football game images in time.
well, midway through this lousy, stress-filled and deadlined friday, i find out from my friend jeremy that there's a secret/surprise broken social scene concert downtown. i had the pleasure of seeing broken social scene almost exactly one year earlier on november 1 in fort lauderdale, fla. i knew from that show that this show was not to be missed.
apparently, by a number of rather lucky circumstances, the band was in omaha between shows. i've heard several versions of how it came together, but the important part is that it came together, and i made it to the bar just before it reached capacity.
in my head, i have a running list of all-time favorite shows i've attended.
perhaps the extenuating circumstances and the stress of almost missing a deadline for the first time in my life made the show feel much more monumental, but i can remember very few shows where the musicians were playing for the sake of playing. the show was free and the sing-a-long of "when it begins," which rounded up the evening, was epic.
needless to say, i'm still floating kinda high from this show. thanks to everyone who made this happen, whoever you are. thanks to the slowdown for hosting it.