Music for a cause: Oberst, friends unite

Conor Oberst has some pretty talented friends. And those friends were more than willing to help when he made the call.

To fund a lawsuit against a controversial immigration law in Fremont, Oberst rounded up the likes of Cursive, Bright Eyes, Gillian Welch and Envy Corps and others for Saturday's Concert for Equality in downtown Benson.

Oh, and he decided to reunite his popular indie punk band Desaparecidos for the show, which also features a reunited Lullaby for the Working Class.

The concert features talented artists who don't often play together, including Saddle Creek's two biggest groups (Bright Eyes and Cursive), the two reunited groups and an assortment of acclaimed indie artists.

It wasn't hard to assemble the roster for the concert, Oberst said in an interview this week. After releasing an initial lineup, organizers got word from lots of friends who believed in the cause.

“It was really encouraging because I have gotten that many e-mails, phone calls and texts from friends who wanted to be involved, you know?” Oberst said. “A lot of them said, ‘I'd love to play, but I'll also volunteer to do anything to help with the day,' so that made me very happy.”

Many are excited about the Desaparecidos reunion, which has made headlines at Paste Magazine, AOL's Spinner, New York Magazine and many other national publications.

The band broke up in 2002 after a successful release and concert tour so Oberst could concentrate on his ever-more-popular Bright Eyes project. At the time, the band was growing more and more popular and landed opening gigs for Jimmy Eat World, played tour dates across the world and made appearances on MTV before breaking up. Web searches still turn up forlorn fans lamenting the band's breakup.

Since the reunion has been announced, folks in England, Mexico, Norway, New York City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Seattle, Boston, Atlanta, Portland and other locations have chimed in on Facebook asking Desaparecidos to visit their cities.

“The Desaparecidos idea occurred first. We haven't played in eight years, and it seemed like an appropriate time to play again,” Oberst said. “I called them all up and within a half-hour they were on board. That was great. It's going to be fun to just hang out with those guys again.”

The other members of Desaparecidos are Denver Dalley, Matt Baum, Landon Hedges, Ian McElroy and Casey Scott. They all met in Omaha.

Oberst said he doesn't have any plans for more Desaparecidos music, but he won't close the door on it either.

“We're kinda taking it one step at a time. We're really excited about the show, and it will be great to play again. ‘Never say never' has always been my policy with projects and bands,” Oberst said.

In an interview earlier this year, Oberst's Bright Eyes bandmate and producer, Mike Mogis, told The World-Herald that they would be working on a new Bright Eyes album this summer for release later in the year.

Oberst wouldn't say whether Bright Eyes will play any new material on Saturday or speculate on when the new album would be released or what it would be called. He did acknowledge that he and Mogis had been in the studio.

He also wouldn't say whether this would be his last album using the name Bright Eyes — as reported by The World-Herald and picked up by Pitchfork.com, MTV.com and others.

During the interview, Oberst got worked up about the Saturday lineup.

“I'm really excited about the Lullaby for the Working Class performance. They haven't played in 10 or 12 years ... It's nice to have friends like that who will come help you out,” he said

Accessible only to those with “deluxe” tickets, the last portion of the concert is labeled “Hootenanny” and will presumably include Oberst and all those friends he mentioned performing with some rumored special guests.

So who are those super-secret special guests people have been buzzing about?

All Oberst would offer was a smile and another “No comment.”

“It's gonna be a lot of great music, and there's gonna be a lot of educational opportunities, booths there, so that people can learn about (immigration) because it's such a complex issue,” he said.

“It's hopefully going to be a powerful experience for the people that come and also just a lot of great rock 'n' roll, you know?”

Contact the writer:

444-1557, kevin.coffey@owh.com