The Reader 10/14/10

Oct. 14 - 20, 2010 VOL.17

News 7

Breaking Bread and Barriers

dish 18

Soup Du Jour

art 23

Every Drop Counts

home grown Music 31

Prophetic Rock

OMAHA JOBS PG. 2

Emerging Terrain’s Stored Potential project is food for thought

COVEr story by Sarah Baker Hansen and Lainey Seyler - Page 13

Weird PG. 42

MOjo PG. 46

FUNNIES PG. 49

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FULL-TIME

FULL-TIME

USA PARKING SYSTEM Valet Attendants jmeyer@ parking.com See OmahaJobs.com for more details.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS Pulmonary/Critical Care Specialists These are fulltime academic positions with rank dependent upon qualifications.

Board certification/eligibility in critical care medicine is required; dual boarding in pulmonary and critical care medicine is preferred.

See OmahaJobs.com for more details.

TMP WORLDWIDE Sales Consultants citero@tmp.com OmahaJobs.com more details.

Retail chris.

See for

BENSON MACHINE WORKS Welder/Fabricator dan@ bensonmachine.com See OmahaJobs.com for more details.

GTM SPORTSWEAR Account Manager recruiting@ igtm.com See OmahaJobs.com for more details.

JOHNSON CONTROLS HVAC Service Project Manager Jannet.nguyen@jci.com See Omahajobs.com for more details.

CRANE HOSPITALITY Lori@ cranecoffeeomaha.com

See Omahajobs.com more details.

for

WEB DESIGNER Excellent working environment, pay commensurate with experience, an attractive benefits package, and the opportunity to enhance our environmental impact.

For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

HVAC SERVICE PROJECT MANAGER Responsible for following consistent and repeatable project management standardized procedures and processes, and achieving financial results on assigned projects. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

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ACCOUNT MANAGER Responsibilities include but are not limited to: working with the local community, helping walk-in customers and dealing with corporate accounts; building relationships with existing clientele by servicing incoming calls regarding existing orders, artwork approval, facilitating payment, product recommendations and/or order status.

See OmahaJobs.com for more details.

ACCOUNTING CLERK Applicants must be outgoing and self motivated. Attention to detail is a must.

General knowledge of Microsoft Office a plus. Duties include filing, data entry, correspondence, and other tasks as assigned by the accountant.

For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

FULL-TIME

FULL-TIME

FULL-TIME

FULL-TIME

FULL-TIME

FULL-TIME

SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE ENGINEER To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

VALET ATTENDANTS Do you have what it takes to deliver 5 Star/Diamond Service CONSISTENTLY? Do you have a positive winning attitude that isn’t being recognized? Then come and shine with us! BRAND NEW OPENING!!

We are currently hiring IMMEDIATELY for Full Time and Part Time positions.

ALL SHIFTS! See OmahaJobs.com for more details.

RN CASE MANAGER Candidates must be licensed as a Registered Nurse in the State of Nebraska (or eligible to obtain a Nebraska license) without restrictions. BSN preferred.

For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

RN CASE MANAGER A minimum of 5 years acute healthcare clinical experience is preferred.

One year of case management experience is preferred. Candidates must have at least moderate computer skills, and the ability to utilize verbal and written communication effectively.

For more information visit OmahaJobs.com

ORTHOPEDIC HAND SURGEON We offer an outstanding opportunity for full-time faculty member(s). Academic rank is contingent upon experience. Excellent facilities for basic and clinical research are available.

The practice plan provides financial, as well as academic incentives. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

PHARMACEUTICAL RESPIRATORY SALES REP The purpose of the Pharmaceutical Respiratory Sales Representative is to generate product sales by successfully interacting with physicians and other healthcare professionals.

For more information visit OmahaJobs.com

TERRITORY MANAGER The Territory Manager is a field-based sales position and is responsible for selling company products to school districts within the assigned territory. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

LEAD CODER This position will require the to code as well as ocassional audit the coders work. We offer benefits and health insurance as well as great pay. See OmahaJobs.com for more details.

TRAVELING CODING SPECIALIST We offer an excellent salary, benefits and paid time off. Reimbursement for continuing education and AHIMA dues. Laptop with encoder and coding references. Retirement plan with company contribution.

For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

W E L D E R / F A B R I C AT O R Most be able to read and work from prints. Most have tools, and basic understand of welding procedures, and set ups. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

SR. DIR. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES If you are looking for leadership role within a software professional services organization and fulfill the requirements listed below, we’d love to hear from you.

The hire can live anywhere in the US and compensation is very competitive.

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Now offering DNA testing and Professional Drug Screens

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GIFT PLANNING MANAGER The Gift Planning Manager will respond to inquiries related to bequests, charitable annuities, and major gifts by members of the Foundation and work to cultivate relationships with such members.

For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

ANESTHESIOLOGIST Responsibilities include clinical anesthesia as well as resident and medical student education and supervision. Faculty rank will be dependent on qualifications, with competitive salary commensurate with experience. Excellent fringe benefit package available.

See OmahaJobs.com for more details.

ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION Web Designer/Gift Planning Manager chorner@arbordayfarm. org See Omahajobs.com for more details

CALL TODAY TO FIND CURRENT STUDIES {Compensation for time and travel may be available}

Working for Quality Medical Care for the Future

After years of smoking, does walking up a flight of stairs leave you breathless?

We are conducting a clinical research study for men and women who have been diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

You may be eligible to participate in this study if you: • Are 40 years of age or older • Have a diagnosis of COPD • Have a smoking history or are a current smoker .

Study staff will review additional criteria with you to find out if you are eligible.

In addition to receiving study-related physical exams at no charge, participants will receive study medication and will be monitored by a medical team, including the study physician.

Ask your doctor if this study is right for you.

SR. COPYWRITER Develops message and concept for various Marketing and Public Relations initiatives. Writes and edits multiple internal and external pieces designed for our end consumers, including the Field Force, Fraternal Division, Human Resources Division, members, prospective members and Home Office associates. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

OCT. 14 - 20 , 2010

RETAIL SALES OPPORTUNITES We now have the following opportunities available at our Omaha and Papillion Retail Stores. Bilingual Retail Sales Consultants Retail Store Manager Full-Time Sales Support Representative PartTime Retail Sales Consultant For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

10040 Regency Circle Suite 375 Omaha NE 68114 402-934-0044 Fax 402-934-0048 www.QCRomaha.com classifieds

For more information, please contact:

Pulmonary Research Coordinator 402-449-4533 Or 402-449-4526 pulmresearch@creighton.edu

Fontenelle Forest Nature Center Friday, October 29 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 30 5:45 - 8:30 p.m.

Join us for our annual spooktacular celebration! Magical critters will guide your family on a forest search for the famous Great Pumpkin. At your journey’s end, you’ll find a party with music, treats and more.

This event is geared towards children ages 3-10 and their families.

Space is limited! Reserve your spot today at www.fontenelleforest.org/halloween or 731-3140 ext. 226 $5 per FNA Member / $10 per Non-member

Sponsored by Oriental Trading

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OCT. 14 - 20 , 2010

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OCT. 14 - 20 , 2010

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Emerging Terrain’s Stored Potential project is food for thought. Plus: Inner-city team plants healthier neighborhoods. ~ Page 13

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Breaking Bread and Barriers

by Brandon Vogel

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The Table Talk format hasn’t changed: 8 to 10 people gather at a host’s home to trade stories over dinner, while a trained facilitator guides conversation. Byndon says the gatekeeper keeps the dialogue civil.

But this year, people willing to leave their comfort zone can choose between the standard talk and a more challenging discussion, which features tougher questions from the facilitator.

“We’re digging deeper,” Byndon says.” We’ll ask about slavery and immigration. People say,

eople don’t physically break bread any more, but that’s OK — it’s the idea that matters, says A’Jamal Byndon, director of Omaha Table Talk. Coming together and opening up remain the defining characteristics behind the organization, which hosts its seventh-annual series of dinner table A’Jamal Byndon discussions about race and culture Oct. 21.

“When you’re having dinner with each other, people are on their best behavior,” Byndon says. “What is powerful about [Table Talk] is that you get to sit around with folks who are strangers, and that doesn’t happen often enough in Omaha.”

Black, white, Latino, Asian — north, west, east, south. In 2004 Byndon saw a city too neatly divided. “Let’s just say I knew how to get away from the police,” he says, referring to the city’s stark economic and cultural divisions.

Then working for Catholic Charities of Omaha, he heard of a successful dinner party series in Dallas that brought together people of all backgrounds for an open conversation on race. With ‘Let’s just forget about it.’ Forget nothing, Jack. the help of some colleagues, Byndon brought the We should be talking about this.”

Shereen Bingham, communications profesidea of a Table Talk to Omaha, drawing 96 people in January 2004.The event grew fast, and orga- sor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and nizers created a non-profit called Omaha Table chair of the Table Talk facilitator committee, beTalk to help run it. Last year’s series drew 500 at- lieves physically sharing dinner with strangers is critical to making the talks work. tendees at more than 50 sites.

Chance that a U.S. worker plans to change jobs when the recession ends: 1 in 3 Date that United Farm Workers began “Take Our Jobs,” a campaign asking legal U.S. residents to work as farm laborers: 6/24/10 Number so far who have been willing to do so: 14

State again providing services for 43 percent of child welfare cases

“It helps people build a relationship, and they see each other as individuals,” she says. “The situation just invites it.”

Bingham hopes some of her qualitative research students will draw their own conclusions about the success of the series after conducting first-hand research on the discussions.

“Qualitative research is a really valuable way to approach this,” Bingham says. “[It] values the opinions of the participants. You really want to have a relationship with your subject.”

Students will research how Table Talk is perceived from different ethnic and political perspectives, the effectiveness of its marketing strategy and other elements. There’s more than just a grade in it for them — the group will present findings to the Table Talk board of directors.

Byndon believes this willingness to examine the process will allow Table Talk to keep growing.

He hopes to attract 1,000 people to future talks.

“Some of us go through this journey and want to leave it better than we found it — we have a sense of allegiance to humanity,” he says.

“Breaking bread and checking in once a year — that is what has kept us energized.” , Omaha Table Talk runs Oct. 21 at various locations throughout Omaha. For more information visit omahatabletalk.com.

harper’sindex Job Opportunities:

UPFRONT

brandon vogel

Omaha Table Talk digs deeper on race

n o r m a n

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hen Boys and Girls Home of Nebraska announced a few weeks ago that it would terminate services beginning on Friday, child welfare privatization in Nebraska began to look a lot less private.

The reform process was designed to leave the government responsible only for providing case managers. Five contracted private agencies were to handle all other services, both in and out of the home, for an estimated 10,000 children statewide, according to December 2009 statistics from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

One year later, the state is again providing those services for about 2,700 (about 43 percent) of an estimated 6,347 state wards. Eighteen-hundred of those kids came from Boys and Girls Home, and another 900 from Visinet, whose contract ended in April when it declared bankruptcy, according to HHS Public Information Officer Jeanne Atkinson.

Critics say they expected as much.

“Our biggest point on this is that it’s concerning, but it wasn’t a surprise, and we wish the state would have stepped in to prevent this from happening,” says Sarah Helvey, staff attorney and director of the child welfare program for Nebraska Appleseed. “And now that it’s happening, [the state needs] to take a real look at the reform process.”

Boys and Girl Home was the main contractor for three of the state’s five child welfare regions, including much of rural Nebraska.

When Visinet and CEDARS ended their contracts in the spring, their cases were split among the state and remaining providers, including the Nebraska Families Cooperative, KVC-Nebraska and Boys and Girls Home.

KVC took on 2,000 more children in July, and Executive Director Sandra Gasca-Gonzalez says the company simply can’t take anymore at this point.

Gasca-Gonzalez, who worked for KVC-Kansas during that state’s privatization process, says while one provider in Kansas dropped out and another filed bankruptcy, the state started with more contractors than did Nebraska.

Atkinson says the department will search for a new provider soon.

“Right now, the priority is making smooth transition for families from Boys and Girls Home,” she says. “Then, we’ll move on to finding a replacement lead contractor.”

KVC has no plans to back out of its contract, GascaGonzalez says, despite a projected loss of $5.5 million for the year.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re continuing to move forward in the reform,” she says. “We’re just going to continue to forge ahead.”

— Hilary Stohs-Krause

theysaidit “The worst thing we could do at this point would be to continue to force this idea down Nebraska’s throat. We need to stop continued privatization without input from the Legislature and the people.” — Gubernatorial candidate Mike Meister in a statement to the press on Nebraska’s attempt to privatize child welfare services. Since April, three of five care providers have terminated contracts with the state citing funding shortfalls.

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Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

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thenewshound

P O L I TiC O | law and order | B usiness and D e v elopmen t

Pipeline contributions may have violated federal law Gov. Dave Heineman has been hands-off when it comes to the Keystone XL pipeline, claiming it’s a federal issue. That didn’t stop him from getting involved in the Republican-led effort to repeal federal health care reform. But there may be something to the federal issue, after all.

Sierra Club Nebraska asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office last week to investigate whether campaign contributions to Heineman and Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning from TransCanada — the Canadian company fighting to build the pipeline through the Nebraska Sandhills — violated federal law.

The Nebraska Republicans each returned $2,500 contributions from the company last week, after they said they learned accepting foreign contributions was illegal.

The Federal Election Campaign Act, enacted in 1974, prohibits foreign corporations from contributing funds to U.S. election campaigns. Heineman and Bruning could face fines up to $11,000 if the Federal Election Commission determines they knowingly accepted the contributions. The act defines “knowingly” as a person who is “aware of facts that would lead a reasonable person to inquire whether the source of the funds solicited, accepted or received is a foreign national.”

Sierra Club Nebraska lobbyist Ken Wilson feels that much was evident.

“Canada is in their name,” Wilson says. “It’s not the TransAmerica pipeline, it’s the TransCanada pipeline. It certainly raises some questions.”

The FEC requires a formal complaint to investigate campaign contributions. Wilson says Sierra Club Nebraska has been approached by numerous groups interested in filing one.

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The proposed pipeline would transport a halfmillion barrels of oil a day across Nebraska, including over the ecologically delicate Ogallala Aquifer.

Report: Immigration detention system still needs work A group of more than 50 Midwest human rights organizations say human rights violations, limited legal counsel and inadequate medical care still plague immigrant detention facilities one year after President Barack Obama pledged to improve the system.

In a report released Oct. 6, the coalition graded Obama’s administration below average on facility oversight, development of detention alternatives and reporting practices.

“As we hear about increasing immigration enforcement, we have many clear indications that this is a system that no longer lives up to our values,” says Darcy Tromanhauser, director of Nebraska Appleseed’s Immigrant Integration and Civic Participation Program.

According to the report, about 32,000 immigrants are detained each day in the U.S.

Suburbs hope to put the brakes on wheel tax A group of Sarpy County leaders asked Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning last week to help them investigate the legality of Omaha’s new commuter wheel tax. Bellevue City Council president Carol Blood says there are state and federal laws that could prohibit the fee.

The city is asking employers to collect the annual $50 fee from employees commuting to Omaha, but Blood believes Nebraska law prohibits employers from deducting wages without a state

numberscruncher Cash and Campaign: Campaign cash on hand for Gov. Dave Heineman as of Oct. 5: $1.7 million Campaign cash on hand for challenger Mike Meister: $16,000 Amount Heineman spent for tickets to Republican Party fundraisers last month: $18,500 Heineman’s chance of winning the seat: 99.9 percent

Source: Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Committee, New York Times

or federal court order. Iowa commuters could be protected under the Interstate Commerce Act. The Attorney General’s office is still reviewing the issue. The city says the tax would generate $2.8 million dollars annually for street repair.

Eight robberies in 13 hours Police say John Passarelli, 26, went on a 13-hour robbery spree though midtown Omaha Saturday, holding up eight different stores before being arrested near 27th and Hamilton Sunday morning.

Passarelli was booked on seven counts of robbery and two counts of attempted robbery. Police recovered no money at the time of arrest.

Suttle supporters asked to open their checkbooks Mayor Jim Suttle blew the dust off his campaign website last week, adding a link for supporters to contribute money to fight a recall effort. Earlier this month, Suttle called the efforts of the Mayor Suttle Recall Committee “expensive, divisive, and reckless” in a statement that will appear on recall petitions.

The Committee announced it would begin collecting on Oct. 21 the nearly 27,000 signatures needed to force a revote. Suttle says a recall election would cost the city up to $900,000.

Shooting Rounds Investigators found a mound of shell casings and some bullet-ridden cars and homes, but no suspects near 16th and Laird on Oct. 7 after neighbors reported hearing nearly 50 shots fired.

Jaron Grayer, 24, was later treated for a gunshot wound at Creighton University Medical Center.

Police have made no arrests.

Police arrested three teens Saturday morning after a shooting outside Cubby’s Convenience Store, 601 S. 13th St. Cody Johns, 19, was booked on suspicion of felony assault and gun-related charges. Katie Weithoner, 19, and another 17-yearold male were arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting a felony. Police reported no injuries.

— Brandon Vogel

metrov te.com Terry and White on immigration policy MetroVote.com and the League of Women Voters of Omaha hosted an online question and answer session with Congressional candidates Lee Terry and Tom White on Sept. 15. Each week leading up to the November election, we’ll excerpt a question and the candidates’ answers here.

Question: What is your stance on current immigration policy at the national level, and what must be done to make it more effective?

Terry: Securing our nation’s borders must be the first step in any immigration reform effort. Congress has enacted and amended the Immigration and Nationality Act, which is a comprehensive set of rules for legal immigration, naturalization, deportation, and enforcement. It is time for Congress to reassert its Constitutional power and update the INA to reflect the realities of our world today.

White: We must crack down on unscrupulous companies that profit off of a broken system and get rid of the economic incentives to hire illegal workers at low wages. I introduced legislation to make companies pick up the tab for the healthcare and educational services provided to illegal immigrants lured here by the companies, and voted for increased use of E-Verify [a government program to confirm employment eligibility).

For the complete Q&A visit MetroVote.com.

Pumpkins Visit Our Pumpkin Patch through October 31 Front Lawn 11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.

You’re invited to join us for worship on Sundays at 8:30 & 10:50 a.m.

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Heartland Healing examines various alternative

forms of healing. It is provided as a source of information, not as medical advice. It is not an endorsement of any particular therapy, either by the writer or The Reader.

Access past columns at HeartlandHealing.com

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Blitzing for Bruno Gröning Visiting European doctors bring spiritual healing

by Michael Braunstein

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oda called it the Force. The Kalahari ¡Kung call it num. The Chinese term for it is chi.

Continentals and readers of Nobel Laureate Henri Bergson would call it élan vital. In Japanese, it’s ki; Sanskrit, prana; in Hawaiian, mana.

Einstein could have called it the unified field. And in his lectures, Bruno Gröning called it “the Heilstrom.”

No matter the name, the concept is the same: a singular, all-encompassing energy force that animates and imbues all things with life. Of course conventional Western medicine has no name for it. Not to worry.

Sadly, trusting in spirit and acknowledging a Higher Force is outside the normal frame of reference for most Americans. We talk the talk when we are pushed into our church/faith/religion corner but we don’t walk the walk when it comes to everyday activity. Get a sniffle and the first thing we do is run to the doctor or the druggist. Our faith in natural or spiritual healing is too weak. Ask any conventional doctor and even they will tell you that almost every complaint we seek them for is a self-limiting illness. A couple of days, maybe a week, and the body heals itself.

But we place our faith in pills and potions. Just a few moments in front of American television and it’s easy to see we are taught illness and disease

1976

are inevitable. For someone to actually preach that health is our natural state flies in the face of our economy’s fiscal fortunes. We spend a huge percentage of our GDP fighting what the pharmaceutical companies have convinced us is our natural state: diseased.

Naturally it makes sense that we’ve lost touch with the true source of healing in our culture.

Nearly everything we read, see or hear in mainstream media tells us and sells us what we should rely on for healing. And it will cost us a bundle.

That’s why it’s refreshing to learn about a group of doctors from Europe who are leading a blitzkrieg of informative lectures across America this fall. They present the information of a little-known German faith healer named Bruno Gröning and they are carrying the message free of charge, though donations are accepted.

The physicians’ group is called the Medical Science Group and claims to have several thousand member doctors. It is part of a larger group called the Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends. This group was formed in 1979 to further the teachings of Gröning, who died in 1959.

Just another carpenter Gröning was born in Danzig, Germany in 1906 and worked as a trade laborer most of his life; bruno-groening.org describes a childhood in which his parents learned early that their son was extraordinary. He was drafted into service, captured and interned by Russia until 1945.

Shortly after World War II he began to lecture throughout Germany on faith healing. Accord-

ing to his biographers, he never promised cures and took no credit for healing, only recognizing that healing is due everyone by spiritual intercession. In the German-produced docudrama about his life, Gröning says, “People who receive healing should thank God for it. I am nothing. God is everything.” A fascinating 12-minute trailer for the film is viewable at gh-film.de.

Gröning continued his healing sessions, reaching thousands across post-war Europe. By the 1950s, he had become somewhat of a cause célèbre. Controversy began to dog him, especially after ties to management that promised to help him found healing centers through Europe but instead tried to capitalize on him as a phenomenon. A series of legal issues arose but he was exonerated. He always insisted that he did not promote himself as the source of healing.

What’s up doc?

Gröning died in Paris in 1959, leaving behind a number of people who had attended his healing sessions. Grete Häusler met Gröning in 1950.

She was healed of three chronic illnesses. In 1979, Häusler committed herself to keeping the teachings of Bruno Gröning alive. She formed the Circle of Friends of Bruno Gröning. Groups associated with the Circle of Friends number in the hundreds. There is an active Gröning circle in the Omaha area.

The Gröning Circle of Friends is not affiliated with any religion or church. There are no financial obligations. There is never a charge for any of the work they perform, which is as Gröning did

it. All of the work is funded by voluntary donations.

In 1984, a doctor from Hamburg, Matthias Kamp, learned of Gröning’s work. Kamp, a man of science, was skeptical at first. After looking at some of the case histories of healings associated with Gröning, Kamp recognized a need to scientifically document the events. He formed a group of physicians and scientists who recorded facts surrounding the methods taught by Gröning’s followers. Impressed, this group, the Medical Scientific Group (MWF) began lecturing and teaching about Gröning’s method. The group travels the world giving free lectures and demonstrating the technique. Kamp’s group has documented hundreds of spontaneous healings. These spontaneous healings also include animals.

Members Gabriel and Ingeborg Machacek along with Dr. P. Mayersbach will be visiting Omaha Monday, Oct. 18, presenting at Creighton University Harper Room 2066, 602 N. 20th St., as part of a series of free lectures across America. Complete flyer and more information are at HeartlandHealing.com/bruno. The Oct. 18 talk is at 7 p.m. with a follow-up meeting at the Doubletree Hotel, 1616 Dodge St., Oct. 23, at 3 p.m.

The purpose of the lectures is simple: to share the potential of this spiritual healing. Attendees have an opportunity to practice the technique and experience the healing force. Gröning believed that the healing force, the Heilstrom, is available to all. Add his term to the lexicon of Yoda and the others. No one has a corner on healing.

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| THE READER |

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| THE READER |

coverstory Emerging Terrain’s Stored Potential project is food for thought

by Sarah Baker Hansen and Lainey Seyler

brycebridges.com

O

n an autumnal Oct. 3 Sunday afternoon, 500 people converged under the shadow of empty grain elevators to break bread in a sort of celebration of past, present and future.

The grain elevators on 40th and Vinton (near I80) are among several monolithic eyesores that line the Interstate system in east Omaha.

The enterprising duo of Rick Brock and Ron Safarik bought the silos and are transforming the dilapidated structures into a rock-climbing/ adventure area called SILO Extreme Outdoor Adventure. They were approached earlier this year by landscape architect Anne Trumble, who founded the organization Emerging Terrain, to put an art installation on the side of the silos to start a conversation about land use.

From more than 150 submissions, a jury chose the final 13 murals that are now draped across the grain elevator in an installation called Stored Potential. The jury looked for content and visual composition; the final series of images tackle a number of timely topics: food consumption and production, the environment, seasonal eating, energy and the legacy of the Nebraska family farm.

Trumble and her team assembled a group of talented area chefs and farmers to put on a harvest dinner to kick off the installation, and to draw a connection between the past and the present, and the field and the table.

“The grain elevator is a canvas and what this structure represents is feeding people,” says Trumble.

Everything served at the meal was locally sourced, except the olive oil, salt and pepper. Elle Lien of Daily Grub served a first course of roasted squash and beets with sweet potato gravy on polenta. Clayton Chapman of the forthcoming Grey Plume and Tim Shew of La Buvette teamed to serve chicken roulade with a butternut squash puree. Kevin Shinn of Lincoln’s bread & cup partnered with The Boiler Room’s Paul Kulik to break down and serve two entire pigs seven ways with roasted apples and braised kale. Chefs Matthew Taylor of Nebraska City’s Arbor Day Lied Lodge and Brian O’Malley of the Metropolitan Community College Institute for Culinary Arts served bison as a pot roast and sausage as a ba-

home grown

con with a Champagne and cider glaze. Jacqui Caniglia of La Charlotte-Caniglia Pastries and Brigitte McQueen served a dessert of apple crisp with cool honey ice cream and carrot cake with honey-flavored icing.

The chefs were asked to participate in the project because of their commitment to serving locally sourced food in their restaurants. These chefs have relationships with many of the farmers who brought food to the event, though many acknowledged they had no idea how much food they could get locally.

“From a chef ’s eye, this is spot-on food. The depth is incredible,” chef Taylor says of the food provided by the growers. Chef Kulik agrees, “It’s awesome to invest the passion, the quality, the effort. Everybody delivered.”

The two banners closest to the Interstate — Matt Rezac’s “Cultivator” and Matthew Farley’s “Oglala” — feel both gritty and urban though in both cases the subject matter is decidedly rural.

The color schemes play off one another; hues of grey and violet in “Cultivator” meld with “Oglala’s” bluish-green, repeating pattern of centerpivot irrigation circles.

Farley’s piece is a visual reference to the Ogallala Aquifer, which he calls “the ultimate stored potential.” The blue color palette makes reference to water; and the high-resolution satellite images of center pivots do it blatantly. Nebraska faces much controversy when it comes to water, and though the images on the banner aren’t real — Farley juxtaposed many images to create this one — they seem so.

cover story

Rezac’s piece recalls his childhood home, Bennington, and the hand-pushed cultivator. He returned to his family home to take photographs for the work, which is a simple drawing of the cultivator he remembers.

“My art is an attempt to pass forward the best of my rural inheritance,” he says. “If I don’t know where I came from I couldn’t know where I am.”

That knowing and reverence for a place was the unifying factor for the event.

Attendee David Shreffler, who works on Black Sheep Farm, says, “[The silos] are part of our hidden horizon. That’s kind of what we’re celebrating, this thing we see every day, it’s everpresent.” He was speaking of the Omaha hori-

| THE READER |

continued on page 14 y

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

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| THE READER |

cover story

y continued from page 13

zon and its industrial landscape of grain silos, passed so often on a morning commute they are forgotten. But his analogy extends beyond, to the entire state with a horizon of sky and fields.

Many people talked about the importance of knowing where food comes from for as many reasons as there were attendees.

Chef O’Malley of the Culinary Institute says, “From an instructor’s perspective, the reverence for food that a student can get meeting the lady who brings in the produce is so important. I would say there’s a truthfulness to eating local food that lets vegans eat bison (in this case, Chef Lien, a vegan, was raving about the bison). She (Lien) knows where it came from, she knows its heart, she knows what it’s here for.”

The next four banners: 10-year-old Tinca Joyner’s “Tomatoes,” Mary Day’s “Corn Cob,” the sea of green hexagons that make up Adelina Castro and Bill Watson’s “Speak up for Small Farms,” and Jeremy Reding’s “Corn as Commodity,” a rendering of corn as a bar code, succinctly represent farm-to-table. Food, dirt and commerce are key here, and the hues of green and red against black and white literally bump into the lush blue of the sky and the crumbly dirt below.

Day says when she started to work on her banner, “Corn Cob,” a simple line drawing of corn that she created after scanning an actual cob of the vegetable. She wanted to take something simple and familiar and give it new dimension.

“Corn Cob” is a huge rendering of the kernels Nebraskans are so familiar with. Day calls the piece a “cliché.” It harkens to the original purpose of the grain elevator, but also elevates it to iconic stature. The lines that make up each

kernel represent the rows of corn in the field and the greater Nebraska landscape.

“To be in Nebraska is to be surrounded by corn, literally and figuratively,” she says.

Graffiti dots the bases of the silos below the banners, and while you can’t see it from the Interstate, it reminds the viewer that though these are silos — a decidedly rural structure at its strongest — they’re set in what’s undeniably an urban setting: Semis whine by, car tires roll on hot pavement and the sound of leaves rustling through the torn-up trees create a constant background noise.

A faintly sweet smell from a nearby rendering plant (where discarded animals from farms or slaughterhouses are processed into commercial products) is a reminder that not everything is as good as this moment. Strangers came together to dine on the best food the area has to offer manipulated by the area’s masters of the culinary trade.

The chefs let the food do the persuading. Vegetables were simple pairings of subtly sweet butternut squash with sweet pink beets, or roasted and salted leeks that almost melted upon contact alongside sweet apples and sour pickled radishes all served with pork sausage.

The chicken was beyond tender with a crisp skin served on a blanket of butternut squash puree. Sweet cabbage choucroute came with the savory bison. The dessert was gone once it hit the table. Apple crisp spoke of the season while honey ice cream brought back summer.

“I don’t think people think of food as art,” says Chef Lien. “But everyone of us invested in this project is an artist. They approach food as a craft not just as a job. None of us would be here or would have done this if it wasn’t.” lainey seyler

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energy in the grain elevator and that of a traditional battery, and his piece was born.

Bob Trempe’s “Hourglass Figure” is memorable, but mostly because of its simplicity and clever optical illusion: his silo appears to be shaped like an hourglass thanks to a pattern of repeating black dots.

M. Brady Clark’s banner, “Bacon,” is aptly titled: it’s a pop art inspired-rendering of the piggy meat with the word “Amen” at the base. It’s almost cartoon-like when juxtaposed with the other banners, all of which seem rather serious; and the tongue-in-cheek nature of the work handles what may otherwise be a touchy subject.

The piece is much more a comment on culture than it is on actual production.

Trumble says she chose the grain elevator as a canvas because it’s a Midwest icon. She hopes even people driving past the piece on the Inter-

state get something from it. She also plans future free events on the site so the city and community can get involved.

The banners will eventually travel to other communities; Trumble says the exact locations are still being determined. She also said future activities on the site are yet to be arranged but that conversations and planning have started.

“Omaha really wants to keep these banners,” Trumble says. “But even after they’re gone, this space will be transformed.”

Indeed, by now the food has been long gone, the murals will stay for a few more months, the grain elevator, perhaps centuries more.

But the ideas could be the thing that lasts. , brycebridges.com

The next two banners — Geoff DeOld and Emily Andersen’s “Aerial Production and Brian Kelly’s “Concre(A)te Synergies” — show us what’s become of the first six. Urban ideas and construction have taken over what were once pristine Nebraska cornfields.

Kelly used a photo montage to turn his silo into what looks like the fire escapes that dot the side of an old apartment building.

Architects DeOld and Anderson juxtaposed three images for “Aerial Production,” productive farmland, former farmland being re-formed into suburban tract development and a completed residential development. The image is abstracted and literal at once; and seeing it on the side of a grain elevator heightens the metaphor.

The final set of five silos play with color and scale. Shaun Smakal’s “Battery of Energy” eyecatchingly delves into the matter of energy use and is the only banner that explores the issue.

It’s so singular in its concept; the rainbow colors and the arrangement of the shapes make it hard to forget. During his research, he learned that the grain silo is the exact proportion of an AA battery. He began to think about the stored

For more information on Stored Potential, visit emergingterrain.org/storedpotential.

cover story

| THE READER |

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

15

cover story Inner-city team plants healthier neighborhoods

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“My interest is in people. What we are here to do is to help educate,” Louis says. “One volunteer was fresh off the streets. He’d gone straight from gangs to gardening.”

Even with ongoing support and education,

by Amy Kucera the garden still endures the occasional casualty.

“Last year it was the mustard greens,” head h no, Jumoke! Not the azuki!” gardener Sheryl Fratt says. A volunteer since the It was early in the growing garden’s inauguration in 1995, Fratt’s freckles season and Jeannie Dickes’ reevidence her years of dedication to this form of action to her City Sprouts co-director Jumoke urban revitalization.

Omojola came after discovering that the beans This season, Louis instructed a new volunwere accidentally pulled from a plot by a fresh teer to eliminate the weeds in an area plot. crop of would-be gardeners.

“He grabbed a rake “I have to learn to let and was doing a great it go,” Dickes said with a job,” Lewis says. But laugh. afterwards they discovThe budding garered he had plowed up deners more than made the rhubarb plants. up for the accidental up“The garden is very roots. Organized as the forgiving,” says Omojola.

Grown in North Omaha “It’s only a plant, another project, seven more garone will grow.” dens were added in the Though each person North Omaha community has a different role in this year alone. building successful sus“People need to go tainable urban agriculture back to the land,” Dickes in the area, they can all says. She describes herself agree that volunteer inas “rooted in” the neighvolvement is key. borhood, as one of five “I would like to see generations of family that’s more participation, especalled the area home. cially from people in the “Everybody is differOrchard Hill neighborent. Everybody has a gift,” hood,” Omojola says. she says. “It takes a vilDuring growing lage.” season the public is inThis “village” is convited to weekly “work centrated in North Omaha parties,” Wednesday and includes cooperation nights from 5 p.m. from area organizations to dusk and Saturday such as Orchard Hill mornings from 9 a.m.

Neighborhood Asso- Left to Right: Leo Louis, Dominique Brown, DeJuane Griffin and Dallas Brunner to noon. Organizers ciation, Grown in North sessions at Metropolitan Community College’s also encourage children to become involved Omaha and The Big Garden. in after-school programs.

Culinary Institute, Sept.

23-24, followed by a Funded primarily through grants and do“We are sowing a seed and it is growing,” nations, City Sprouts also garners income from local harvest dinner, prepared by MCC entirely Omojola says. “Slowly, but surely.” the Florence farmer’s market, an annual plant from locally grown products.

“We all eat,” Hicks says. “And since you eat, And perhaps the best, most nourishing harsale and gala fundraiser events. In 2005, a large house neighboring the half-acre City Sprouts you are involved in agriculture. I hope to see vest is the continuation of generous giving and community plot at 40th and Franklin teetered more families and communities sharing food sharing of all involved. , on the brink of occupation by a slumlord, when a and breaking bread.”

“I’d like to see people grow while growing Hicks encourages people to apply for grants at sare. generous donor gifted the two-story home to the food,” says Leo Louis, project coordinator for org. Visit citysprouts.org for more information on organization. It’s now host to educational classes on topics such as nutrition, cooking, home crafts Grown in North Omaha. He got involved in City the organization. Full Disclosure: Publisher/Editor Sprouts in 2007, after a small support group he John Heaston has been involved with the Grown in and healthy living.

Though the organization is gaining strength, volunteered for expanded into gang interven- North Omaha program through CitySprouts, even though he doesn’t always eat his vegetables. challenges still arise. Stolen produce, lack of tion and outreach.

“O

| THE READER |

financial support and low volunteer interest attack the gardening community like weeds.

“The way traditional agriculture was 100 years ago, people had to work together, they had a vested interest,” says Edgar Hicks, agribusiness regional representative of the national Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) organization.

Funded by the USDA, the SARE program promotes sustainable farming and ranching, offering competitive grants and educational opportunities for those interested in exploring sustainable agriculture. SARE held its first listening

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| THE READER |

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

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Soup Revolution prowls Omaha serving creative bowls

by Lainey Seyler

Attic Bar & Grill Great food and great drinks with live music.

3231 Harney St. • 932.5387 atticbarandgrill.com

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| THE READER |

dish

m u c h

m o r e

n Trader Joe’s, a California-based grocer, plans to open its first Omaha store Nov. 12, at One Pacific Place. The grocery chain made a name for itself with its extensive wine selection and for selling organic food at a reasonable price. For more information, visit traderjoes.com. n In other grocer news, Thursday, Sept. 30, Wohlner’s opened its second store at the Midtown Crossing development on the corner of 33rd and Dodge. The store has the meat and deli counter its patrons have grown to love. The locally owned grocery moved from its store at 52nd and Leavenworth two years ago to the shiny Aksarben Crossing development. It has also opened a sandwich cart at the University of Nebraska at Omaha with limited hours of service.

The grocery store’s website is being revamped, but information is available at wohlners.com.

— Lainey Seyler

“I make a different soup everyday,” says DeMars Cerasoli. “I don’t know what I’m making until the night before when I look at what I’ve got.”

Soup Revolution serves four or five soups per day, always including at least one vegetarian and sometimes a vegan soup plus something with chicken and another with meat. DeMars Cerasoli says there’s always a variety. She also serves small side salads and biscuits. Soups sell for $3 for a small, $4 for a medium and $5 for a large. A combination of a biscuit, salad and small soup is $8.

She also has a limited selection of Jones Sodas.

’d heard about the soup truck for months, and with the leaves changing and the smell of backyard campfires in the air, it was finally time for some hot soup. I checked the location online at soup-revolution.com.

The truck was supposed to sARA DeMARS CERASOLi be at the MUD building, so I headed downtown. At the corner of 17th and Harney, I saw several white trucks — all servicemen. But just northeast of the MUD headquarters, a short line formed in front of a small, white van.

Sara DeMars Cerasoli started her roving soup truck, called Soup Revolution, in the heat of summer, bringing lunch to hungry working folks. She DeMars Cerasoli grew up in Omaha but changes locations as often as she changes soups — daily — serving carrot curry, dill tomato, started her culinary career at a Northern Italian baked potato and cheddar and chicken noodle restaurant in Breckenridge, Colo. After working one day at Mutual of Omaha; then chorizo and as a sous chef in that restaurant for a couple years, black bean, French onion, Tuscan white bean and she attended the French Culinary Institute in New chicken and lime tortilla at the University of Ne- York City. She worked 12 years in New York, in restaurants, as a private caterer and at gourmet braska Medical Center the next.

Soup lovers can follow the truck online at food stores. She returned to Omaha three years soup-revolution.com, on Facebook or Twitter, ago after having a baby.

“When I came back to Omaha it was a whole catching it when it’s nearby. DeMars Cerasoli new city,” she says. “For the last three years, I says she’s planning a monthly calendar to go on the website that will show where companies have wanted to see the (culinary) scene. I did private requested her to bring the truck. Sometimes or- events and taught at Sur la Table. That’s when I ganizations and companies ask her to stake out started my business plan for the mobile truck.

“I think mobile came before soup,” she cona space in their parking lot for fundraisers or emtinues. “I could wrap my head around the business ployee appreciation purposes.

“I don’t want to be too structured,” she says. concept. It’s less of an emotional commitment “It’s the same way that my cooking goes. I cook than a brick and mortar kitchen. We (DeMars what I want. The week before, I want to post Cerasoli and her husband) had been going to taco trucks in Spanish Harlem before the mobile truck where I’m going to be.”

Spontaneity is part of the beauty of a mobile thing was big. We loved it. It was part of the big city that I thought I could bring here.” kitchen. It can be anywhere at any time.

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Good news for monster lovers: General Mills’ iconic trio of monster cereals — Frankenberry, Boo Berry and Count Chocula — are back on store shelves.

The bad news — they’ll disappear after Halloween.

— Kyle Tonniges

Soup Du Jour

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r e s ta u r a n t s ,

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n All four HuHot Mongolian Grill locations in Omaha and Council Bluffs will host a food drive for Food Bank of the Heartland throughout October, and they’re giving their customers a healthy discount for participating. All customers who bring in five non-perishable items will receive 50 percent off their grill meal. The chain will also donate 10 percent of sales for the Helping Hands Benefits held Tuesday, Oct. 12, and Monday, Oct. 25. n If you’ve ever found yourself pressed for brevity when trying to send a message on Twitter, try posting a recipe. Amateur cook Maureen Evans became good at it. So good that Artisan books has just released “Eat Tweet,” a collection of more than 1,000 (!) recipes Evans has Tweeted from her @cookbook account on the social networking site. And she’s still Tweeting! Here’s a recent recipe: “Roasted Tomato Sauce: Chop,mix3lb tom/onion/sprgoreg/⅓c olvoil&whlgarlc/s+p.

Partly cvr in bkgdish~h@375F. Sieve(opt); +3T tompaste. Yld~2c.”

— Kyle Tonniges Comments? Questions? Want more? Check out our Booked blog online at thereader.com. Or email us at booked@thereader.com.

She says going with soup developed naturally out of her plan for the truck, figuring all she had to do was keep the soup hot and it would travel well. , Soup Revolution can be found online at soup-revolution.com, Facebook and at twitter.com/souprevolution. Call 881.7593 for more information.

| THE READER |

OCT. 14 - 20 , 2010

19

8

t h e rea d er ’ s entertainment picks oct . 1 4 - 2 0 , 2 0 1 0

FRIDAY15

days Oct. 14-Dec. 3

Mentor Exhibition

Kent Bellows Studio and Center for Visual Arts 3303 Leavenworth St. Reception Oct. 14, 6-9 p.m.

Open Tues.-Fri. 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

505.7161, kentbellows.org

Kent Bellows Studio and Center for Visual Arts is open at the site of the late Bellows’ studio with this exhibit featuring artists from the Bellows mentor program. The program provides reciprocal inspiration between area youth and established adult artists. “Working with the students of the Kent Bellows Studio reminded me of why I chose to be an artist,” says artist mentor Wanda Ewing at kentbellows.org.

The facility will serve as a community arts center and continuance of the creativity and artistry Bellows was known for, thus furthering his vision for a healthy artistic community in Omaha. Pair a visit to this exhibit with a trip to Joslyn Art Museum’s Bellows retrospective for an even richer experience.

— Sarah Wengert

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Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

Oct. 15

Boston Brass and Imani Winds Holland Performing Arts Center 1200 Douglas St. 8 p.m., $19-$49, 345.0606 omahaperformingarts.org

These classical ensembles join forces for a Friday night of exploring the magnificent Miles Davis and Gil Evans collaboration Sketches of Spain. The Boston Brass brings a quarter-century of experience to the stage with the New York-based Imani Winds claiming a history a little more than half that long. It’s a dream pairing of two groups who have long admired each other. This is wind chamber music at its finest. You’ll want to tell your friends and your children you were there.

— Andy Roberts

SATURDAY16

Oct. 16

9500 Liberty

Oct. 15 and 17

Oct. 16

Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St. Fri. 7:30 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. $19-79, 345.0606, operaomaha.org

Bedouin Star Studio, 800A Fort Crook Rd. 7 p.m., FREE, bedouinstar.com

Film Streams, 1340 Mike Fahey St. Noon, Q & A w/co-director Eric Byler follows $9, $7 seniors/students 933.0259, filmstreams.org

Forget lions, tigers and bears — the second installment of Cirque de Gothique is underway. Isis Prentice, owner of Bellevue’s Bedouin Star Studio, is gearing up to host a talent show featuring everything from hula-hoopers and ninjas to magicians and comedians. Dubbed “An Evening of Avant Garde Entertainment,” the free event promises the strange and unique area talents. “I’m a professional dancer,” Prentice says. “Although I love dance, I grew tired of seeing nothing but dance at events I was attending. I decided to organize a show and seek as much variety as possible.” Prentice hopes for a larger audience this year to expose those gifted individuals who can swallow swords and light themselves on fire. Who knew?

Nebraskans must have some crazy hidden talents bubbling under their Husker t-shirts. It’s time for those stereotypes to be broken and the Cirque de Gothique is an ideal place to start.

— Kyle Eustice

When filmmakers Eric Byler and Annabel Park noted the place where they live, Prince William County, Virginia, turning into ground zero for anti-immigration forces, they knew a good story when they saw it. As the drama unfolded, they captured events with their digital cameras, posting video clips on YouTube as they went. Their 9500 Liberty project invited viewers to share comments in an online interactive forum. The couple became new media citizen journalists, watchdogs, documentarians, indemand witnesses and participants, and leaders in a movement for renewed civic-political engagement. Their advocacy project morphed into a feature-length documentary; they’re traveling the nation with it to promote open dialogue. Byler will join in a post-screening Q & A at Film Streams.

— Leo Adam Biga

Opera for the Cure

Cancer is the bogeyman of diseases. While a night or afternoon of music cannot truly ward off the terror, it can do the next best thing by raising money for research to find a cure. That’s the backdrop for a concert whose score and libretto tell the story of one woman’s journey with breast cancer, from frightening diagnosis to the rigors of treatment to the relief of healing, ending on a note of hope. The Opera Omaha Chorus and Valmont Voices in Residence are joined by the Omaha Symphony, narrators and dancers for an empowering concert. Dramatic lighting and projected video images on multiple screens key off the music, words, emotions and meanings. Richard Buckley conducts. Helena Binder directs. Five dollars of each purchased ticket benefits the Nebraska Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

— Leo Adam Biga

| THE READER |

picks

Cirque de Gothique

t h e

r e a d e r ’ s

e n t e rta i n m e n t

SUNDAY17

WEDNESDAY20

Oct. 17

Oct. 20

Qwest Center, 455 N. 10th St. 7:30 p.m., $35.50-$55.50 qwestcenteromaha.com

Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St. 8 p.m., $10, onepercentproductions.com

Carrie Underwood w/ Billy Currington and Sons of Sylvia

Maybe it’s because I grew up listening to the Rebas of 1980s country music on the radio of my mom’s beatup, blue Mustang, but I have a soft spot for Carrie Underwood. Originally I negatively snap-judged Underwood, after she flew up the fame ladder winning season four of “American Idol.” But when she singsnarled about digging her keys into the side of her cheatin’ man’s ride, f***ing up his leather seats and famously wielding that Louisville slugger in “Before He Cheats,” all of the sudden I “got” her. She’s the type of strong, complex woman I love; she’ll shoot whiskey and pool with you at a dive bar, but make no mistake, she’s loaded with the class to balance all that sass.

— Sarah Wengert

Druha Trava w/ Southpaw Bluegrass Band

Druha Trava made a splash in the international bluegrass community in 1999 when the band released the gorgeously poignant New Freedom

p i c k s

o c t.

Bell with Peter Rowan. The attention got this Czech Republic-based five-piece spots at several U.S. festivals and they have played the states consistently since then. With a newgrass sound carried by strong vocal harmonies and pushed with fantastic Dobro playing on the part of Lubos Novotny. Based around an acoustic bluegrass line-up of instruments, Druha Trava its sonic stew with Gaelic flourishes and other varied elements. Omaha’s own Southpaw Bluegrass Band will open the show with their blistering brand of Nebraska-grass.

— Jesse D. Stanek

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POLYESTER GALLERY

DRUHA TRAVA

Through May 31

If These Walls Could Talk, Architecture in General Is Pretentious and Static Resolution: Between the Actual

MONDAY18

Polyester Gallery, 1618 Harney St. 345.0231, polyestergallery.com

Oct. 18

Booze, Bands and BBQ

Downtown’s Polyester Gallery continues bringing contemporary artists to Omaha with If These Walls Could Talk, a photography show featuring three leading female artists. Seattle artist Holly Andres shows photography from her series Sparrow Lane; San Francisco-based photographer Beth Yarnell Edwards shows images of domestic daily life (some of which are in the SF MoMA’s collection); and Atlanta’s Dorothy O’Connor exhibits photos recognized for their staged scenes that land somewhere between reality and fantasy. In addition to that exhibit, New York artist Jeremy Parker has some mixed media images from his series Architecture in General Is Pretentious in Polyester’s Annex.

Omaha artists Matt Orand’s and Matt Walker’s video installation, Static Resolution: Between the Actual, is in a new upstairs gallery.

— Sarah Baker Hansen

Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St. 7 p.m., $15, fsmomaha.com There’s nothing quite like the spicy glaze of a slowcooked, pulled-pork sandwich, shredded and packed onto an oversized bun. Throw on some tangy coleslaw and you have yourself some sweet fixins, which is exactly what regional BBQ’ers are offering tonight at the Waiting Room. The cover includes all you can eat BBQ from vendors such as Swine Dining, Boxer BBQ, Chef Mike’s, Harkert’s Bar-B-Q, Hartland BBQ, Ozark Smoked Meat Co., Uncle Eerine’s BBQ, Hog Stop,and This Little Piggy BBQ. Lucky Bucket will also be on hand, with beer specials to wash it down. After eating all that tasty grub, stick around for live music from Matt Cox, 24 Hour Carlock and The Willards — as well as a mystery special guest.

— Jarrett Fontaine

picks

| THE READER |

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

21

So Much To See And Do...

www.oldmarket.com 12th & Jackson Old Market 341-5827

Ice Cream made the Old-Fashioned way using Rock Salt & Ice

22

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

| THE READER |

old market

402.342.2885

bigbrainomaha.com

l i f e s t

y l e ,

a r t ,

t h e a t e r ,

culture

b o o k s ,

f a s h i o n

Every Drop Counts

Installation at Creighton warns of our greatest resource Watered Down

by Michael J. Krainak

A

rtist Matthew Dehaemers may not be the first to show “green art” in this area, but his current installation, Watered Down, at Creighton University’s Lied Art Gallery, is one of this year’s most interesting exhibits in Omaha regardless of theme or subject.

Each accurately describes Watered Down as, despite its self-effacing title, a comprehensive and successful attempt “to bring attention to our most valued and finite resource: water” according to the show’s statement. Unlike Dehaemers’ (402)DisConnect/ReConnect, whose reach at times exceeded its grasp in its efforts to “hook-up” Omaha viewers with its community and its past, this overall installation is remarkably united and focused. It is also a pleasure to behold.

Watered Down is composed of seven smaller installations and sculptures that for the most part achieve their goals individually and collectively. In spite of rather academic intent, Dehaemers demonstrates the whimsy and creativity most people begin to express in kindergarten, but which are soon relegated and finally eliminated

Sculptor Jess Benjamin and painter/paper artist Susan Knight have long dealt with ecological issues, especially water sources, art by matthew dehaemers in a particularly striking yin/yang manner. Benjamin’s earthy, elemental jackstones reference the infrastructure of the Kinsley Dam and the fluctuating levels of Lake McConaughy, and Knight’s abstract “cuttings” and sculptures embody the beauty as well as the delicate balance in ecosystems from the Great Lakes to the Papio watershed.

Yet Dehaemers adds something else to the equation as he takes a more hands-on, didactic approach to his socio-environmental concerns, thus placing more conceptual and physical demands on his viewer, long a trademark of this Kansas City-based artist.

“I like people to work at it. I don’t think of art as by the end of formal education. Watered Down resonates something easy,” he says of his last show in Omaha because it makes its case with both left-brain (research — the complex, interactive installation, (402)DisCon- and evidence) and right brain (imagination).

He wastes no time initiating his audience into this nect/ReConnect at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in 2009. This time he is content to have viewers cosmic conflict with “Where Does It All Come From?”, interact with each work with the aid of his enlightened more than 100 feet of PVC tubing that snakes from the pamphlet in which he says, “Very rarely do we do the lobby’s water fountain into the main gallery. By exposresearch to find out exactly (where) our water, much like ing water’s infrastructure, something we take for granted as much as our own systems of veins and arteries, he our food, comes from and whether it is safe.”

Dehaemers, a Creighton alumnus, has made a ca- comments effectively on the impact this diminished, at reer of pubic art projects and artistic service, including risk resource has on our own precious bodily fluids.

This first installation is “The Ogallala: The Eternal a recent commission by the Missouri Department of Transportation and current ones for L.A. County and Spring?” It is a structure made of wood, plastic bags, wathe Kansas City Area Transit Authority. Though his ter, cast resin and polycarbonate, which the artist says work consistently reflects a social conscience, his stron- he modeled after an above ground swimming pool. But gest pieces have an arresting aesthetic based upon his this complex structure sports a fountain of plastic water, imaginative and intelligent eye for design, composition, corn stalks and gasoline nozzles gushing from its aquifer below. The work comments on, among other things, color and scope.

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mixedmedia that it takes three gallons of water to create one gallon of corn-bred ethanol.

One gets the irony of “The Eternal Spring?,” but does one also appreciate the near ethereal beauty of much of Dehaemers’ structures, a quality he shares with the best area sculptors and installation artists such as Catherine Ferguson and Leslie Iwai? This quality continues with his imposing, satirical “Raise a Glass to Atrazine,” a wall sculpture illustrating the herbicide’s industrial strength and chemical formula plus containers in 3D. It’s made of papier-mâché balls, brown craft paper, plastic foam and wood. It is so visually striking one is almost distracted from its destructive impact on the environment, and the blind stupidity that has made it “the cheapest, most effective and most widely used herbicide in the United States” despite being banned in Europe. Because Atrazine does not go inert or dissolve in water, it continues to be investigated as it leeches into water supplies in Nebraska and the Midwest.

Two additional works, one auditory, one visual, go from the sublime to the ridiculous in contrasting the impact water has on, and in, everyday life. The first, “Every Drop of Life Counts,” is the sound of a drop of water resonating in the venue every 20 seconds; it is to remind us that in the same time a child dies from water-related illness. Conversely, “Water into Wine: What’s It Worth to You?” is a replica of the Baby Bling H20 Bottle, the original which is made by Bling encrusted with Swarovski crystals and sells for $2,600.

Also effective is the brilliant in palette and concept, “Ahhh … Matter of Convenience,” a wall installation featuring 3,300 filled water bottles diluted with colored ink. This work speaks for itself about America’s wasteful, spendthrift lifestyle. For good measure, Dehaemers throws in an image of an attractive woman selling this unholy mix of oil and water for the sake of convenience.

Stare at the image long enough, in what may be this exhibit’s signature piece and its most stunning commentary, and the Jennifer Aniston look-a-like smiling back at us mirrors Ronald McDonald promoting another “happy meal” for the benefit of our life-in-thefast-lane, throwaway culture. , Watered Down continues through this Friday, Oct. 15 at Creighton University’s Lied Art Gallery, 2500 California Plaza. Visit Creighton.edu/liedgallery.

art)

n Kent Bellows Studio officially opened its doors at the late artist’s studio on 33rd and Leavenworth.

The studio was reborn as a community arts center with space for classrooms, artist studios, galleries and archives celebrating and documenting Bellows’ work and his contribution to the Omaha arts community.

A new parking lot is available on the west side of the VFW building across the street from the center. The first mentor exhibition in the new space opens Oct. 14, at 6 p.m. For more information visit kentbellows.org n Niagara Foundation and Creighton University are giving high school students the chance to exhibit at the Joslyn Art Museum. Particpants will each create a piece with the theme “intercultural friendship.” The top five pieces will be installed at Joslyn during the Peace and Dialogue Banquet Oct. 20, and the top 25 pieces will make up a show at the Artists Cooperative Gallery, to open Oct. 23. Kim Swanger, an art teacher at Lewis Central in Council Bluffs and coordinator of the event, says students have expressed the idea of intercultural friendship in a variety of ways. She hopes the contest becomes an annual tradition. For more information visit nfon.org/artcontest/default.aspx. n Though Halloween and Thanksgiving are yet to be upon us, it’s truly the holiday season at the Joslyn.

The museum recently opened a show of Currier and Ives Holiday Prints that are part of the ConAgra Foods Collection. The festive images embrace traditions of the fall and winter months, rural and urban landscapes and Americana at its best. The show continues through Jan. 23, and a number of programming events will be paired with the exhibition. A Family Fun Day Sunday, Oct. 24, 1-4 p.m. will include art activities, a harmonica workshop and performance, folk music and dancing. Visit joslyn.org. n Nebraska Arts Council has two new members and two new officers. Lynn Roper, of Lincoln, will represent the first congressional district; and Mark Laughlin, of Omaha, will represent the second district.

Gov. Dave Heineman appointed Julie Jacobson, of North Platte, as the new chairwoman of the Nebraska Arts Council. Lincoln attorney Robert Nefsky has been appointed vice-chairman. Nebraska Arts Council members serve a three-year term, and are eligible to be reappointed to a second three-year term. n Artists Cooperative Gallery recently welcomed 10 new members: multimedia artist Terri Allen, sculptor Travis Apel, glassblower Frank Daharsh, painter Ken Heimbuch, painter Judith Anthony Johnston, painter Katrina Methot-Swanson, multimedia artist Glenda Larson Musilek, ceramacist Tom Quest, sculptor Tom Sitzman and painter J.K. Thorsen.

— Sarah Baker Hansen Mixed Media is a column about art. Get local art updates at weekfiftytwo. com. Send ideas to mixedmedia@thereader.com.

| THE READER |

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

23

theater p r o f i l e s ,

r e v i e w s ,

p r e v i e w s ,

o p e n i n g s

Swimming With Sharks West Side Story opens Tuesday at Orpheum

by Warren Francke

W

est Side Story’s Sharks are killers, says Arthur Laurents, who wrote the original book and directed the latest revival of Leonard Bernstein’s classic musical. That means German Santiago, as Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks, plays one tough Puerto Rican.

Born in Mexico City and raised in Houston, playing a killer Shark wasn’t what his mother had in mind when she called him “my little artist.” And audiences aren’t likely to think of him as momma’s boy when he rumbles with the Jets at the Orpheum Theater, Oct. 19-24.

But he has his mother to thank for the language skills required by this bilingual version of the Bernstein-Sondheim-Laurents creation.

And he thanks Laurents, now 93, for what Santiago calls “the blessing” of this production with its new, hard-nosed gangs.

If the story isn’t fresh in your mind, recall that Bernardo is also the brother of Maria who falls in love with Tony, a former Jet. His girlfriend is Anita — think Chita Rivera in the movie singing “America.”

Yes, Bernardo speaks some Spanish, but it’s 88 percent English and when he talks Puerto Rican (different than his Mexico City Español) to Anita, she responds in English. When Maria sings, “I Feel Pretty,” in Spanish, she repeats it in English. But most audiences can follow Bernardo when he says, “Bueno, bueno, verdad” before Anita sings, “Okay by me in America.”

Growing up in Houston from age 6, “Spanish was my first language, so they put me back in first grade when I was supposed to be in second. But I learned to be fluent in English in three months and then skipped a grade.

He credits his mother for his being bilingual. “She always spoke Spanish at home and I always spoke English in school.”

Santiago agrees with Laurents who says having the Puerto Rican characters sometimes sing and speak in Spanish “not only gives them more authenticity, but reflects the sounds of New York City today.”

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Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

| THE READER |

theater

Laurents and David Saint, his associate director on Broadway and now director on tour, insist on the tougher gang image from the beginning prologue which features brief violent encounters between the Sharks and Jets protecting their territory. “They emphasized the back story,” Santiago says, “especially the idea that they were very protective of even a small piece of their territory.”

And he agrees they all have “the potential to be killers.” Bernardo is in the middle of the most violent moments of this modern tragedy.

“It’s definitely a very physical role,” and averaging eight shows a week means Santiago can keep in shape without working out.

“But I’m always hungry,” even with a big meal before the show and snacks after. “The dance at the gym is a huge number.” That’s when they yell, “Mambo, mambo,” and Bernardo is showcased in the aggressively competitive dancing by both gangs.

His rival leader, Joseph Simeone as Riff, is described in the show’s bio sketches as “a seasoned concert dancer” with a Juilliard background. Santiago, who studied musical theater at Sam Houston State, considers himself an actor with dance and vocal experience.

He played the title role in Disney’s Aladdin, a Music Spectacular.

But he views this as more than just another role. “It’s a dream come true to be Bernardo in one of the best musicals of all time and to be able to work with the man (Laurents) who started it all. I don’t know how I’ll be able to top this one.”

Maybe that will happen in January. Then his family, the “Mi familia” he thanks in program notes, his mother and two older brothers, “will see us in Houston.”

They won’t see him looking pretty, but cut, bruised and roughed up. The gangs are no Mr. Nice Guys these days. , West Side Story runs Oct. 19-24, Tues.-Wed. 7:30 p.m., Thurs. 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m. and Sat.-Sun. 2 p.m. at the Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St. Tickets, starting at $25, are available at the Holland Performing Arts Center, at TicketOmaha.com or 345.0606.

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coldcream n I’m going to call 444.1000 and ask the daily’s circulation department to send me a different edition of the World-Herald. Mine didn’t carry any reviews of the three theater openings last weekend.

I saw Eurydice on preview night at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and hoped somebody would explain Sarah Ruhl’s postmodern treatment to me. It doesn’t help that too much thinking about anything being “postmodern” risks a severe headache.

Saw Unwrap Your Candy at the downtown digs of SkullDuggery Theatre Friday and hoped to read that I wasn’t the only one captivated by biggest hairy baby I’ve ever seen, thanks to a diapered Eric Green in Doug Wright’s Baby Talk.

The candy-titled opening one-act wasn’t as much fun as the other four, and Green had great help from Angie Friedman as the baby’s mother and Chris Fowler as a narrator-doctor whose manner reminded of some early Michael Richards before he became Cosmo Kramer. Denise Chevalier was great in several roles.

If you’ve never found the SkullDuggery niche on 19th Street, suffice it to say you don’t have to feed the parking meters in the evening and there’s always a nearby spot open. Check it out by Oct. 24, when Andrew McGreevy will move again.

Getting back to Eurydice at UNO, the fact that it would take a semester-long seminar to understand everything Ruhl intended doesn’t mean it isn’t fascinating theater with appealing performances by Sarah Liken in the title role Joe Fogarty as her father. And Chad Cunningham makes a devilishly delightful Lord of the Underworld. I raved in advance about the Robbie Jones design but you’ll love the elevator to the nether region and the rain and the costumes worn by the talking stones.

And maybe I wasn’t the only one who missed Shelterskelter XV on its opening weekend of original spooky stuff. n You can read about West Side Story elsewhere in this Reader, and catch up with A Thousand Clowns here before it opens the following weekend at the Omaha Community Playhouse.

Meanwhile, if you have the urge to pick up a few bucks performing, we promise more details later on an offer from Manya Nogg and associates with Theater to Go. They’ve been doing mystery theater at Rick’s on the river, but this involves their “edutainment” plan to present humorous speakers for many occasions. If you’ve got a talk that blends laughs and entertainment, stay tuned.

— Warren Francke Cold Cream looks at theater in the metro area. Email information to coldcream@thereader.com.

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OCT. 14 - 20 , 2010

29

art

OpeningS

COUNCIL BLUFFS PUBLIC LIBRARY, 400 Willow Ave., Council Bluffs IA., 712.323.7553, cbpl.lib.ia.us. GRANT WOOD’S EPPLEY HOTEL MURALS: Greg Narber presents lecture on artist Grand Wood, opens Oct. 20, 7 p.m.

INTERNATIONAL QUILT STUDY CENTER AND MUSEUM, 1523 N. 33rd St., Lincoln, 472.7232, quiltstudy.org. WORKSHOP: American Girls Discover Childhood Treasures and South Asia, opens Oct. 16, 2 p.m.

KENT BELLOWS STUDIO, 3303 Leavenworth St., 505.7161, kentbellows.org. MENTOR EXHIBITION: Opens Oct. 14-Dec. 4, reception Oct. 14, 6 p.m.

METRO COMMUNITY COLLEGE, Elkhorn Valley Campus, 204th & Dodge, Gallery of Art & Design. MOTHERS, MERCHANTS AND MAMBOS: Hatian art, opens Oct. 19-Nov. 9, gallery talk Oct. 28.

OMAHA CLAY WORKS, 1114 Jones St., omahaclayworks.com.

THROWN AND ALTERED: Ceramic workshop with Julie Kinkade, opens Oct. 15-16, for information/registration call 346.0560.

RNG GALLERY, 1915 Leavenworth St., 214.3061. THE TATOOIST’S ART: Dominic Helms. FALL REFLECTIONS: Shelly Bartek.

Both shows open Oct. 16-Nov. 14, reception Oct. 16, 7 p.m.

UNL HILLESTAD TEXTILES GALLERY, 35th and Holdrege, 2nd Floor, Home Economics Bldg., Lincoln. textilegallery.unl.edu.

CELEBRATION OF YOUTH XVII: ON THE MOVE: Opens Oct. 2829, reception Oct. 30, 5:30 p.m.

W. DALE CLARK LIBRARY, 215 S. 15th St., 444.4800. NEW WORK: Connie Christian, through Oct. 30, reception Oct. 22, 4 p.m.

ONGOING

9 MUSES STUDIO, 2713 N 48th St., Lincoln. NEW WORK Comic book artist Justin Lewis, through Oct. 31.

A TO Z PRINTING, 8320 Cody Dr., Lincoln, 477.0815, atozprint. com. TIS THE GIFT TO BE SIMPLE, TIS THE GIFT TO BE FREE: Colleen Eubanks, through Oct. 31.

ARTISTS’ COOPERATIVE GALLERY, 405 S. 11th St., artistscoopgallery.com. NEW WORK: Group show, through Oct. 31.

BEMIS CENTER, 724 S. 12th St., 341.7130, bemiscenter.org.

12TH ANNUAL ART AUCTION & EXHIBITIONS: Through Nov. 8.

BENSON GRIND, 6107 Maple St., octopusesgarden.org. HALLOWEEN II: Group show, through Oct. 31.

BLUE POMEGRANATE GALLERY, 6570 Maple St., 502.9901, bluepom.com. ARTISTS HELPING ARTISTS PRESENTS BALANCE: Group show, through Oct. 31.

BURKHOLDER PROJECT, 719 P St., Lincoln, 477.3305, burkholderproject.com. NEBRASKA RIVERS... CONTINUED: New work

by Anne Burkholder. NEBRASKA LANDSCAPES REVISTED: New work by Alan R. Smith. FIBONACCI-STRIPES & BEYOND: Group show. DOWNSTREAM: New work by Robert Hillestad. NEW WORK: Photography by Sam Swartz & Matt Elwood. All shows through Oct. 30.

CAFEINO’S BAKERY CAFE, 3424 W Broadway, Council Bluffs, 712.256.9888. NEW WORK: Virginia Ocken, through Oct. 31.

CATHEDRAL CULTURAL CENTER, 3900 Webster St., 551.4888, cathedralartsproject.org. FISHES AND MEN: New work by Leslie Bruning, through Nov. 19.

THE CENTER, 714 S. Main St., Council Bluffs, 712.309.0085., thecbcenter.org. NEW WORK: Bluffs Arts Council Photo Contest, through Oct. 31.

CREIGHTON LIED ART GALLERY, 2500 California St., 280.2392, finearts.creighton.edu. WATERED DOWN: New work by Matthew Dehaemers, through Oct. 15.

DUNDEE GALLERY, 4916 Underwood Ave., 505.8333, dundeegallery.com. FRESH PAINT, TOO: New work by Karen Schnepf, through Oct. 17.

DURHAM WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM, 801 S. 10th St., 444.5071, durhammuseum.org. 100 YARDS OF GLORY: Omaha’s football history, through Jan. 2, 2011. DIG IT! THE SECRETS OF SOIL: Through Dec. 26.

EISENTRAGER-HOWARD GALLERY, Richards Hall, Stadium Drive and T, Lincoln, 472.5025, unl.edu/art/facilities_eisentrager-howard.shtml. BINARY FICTION: Digital weaving in 2010, through Oct. 29.

EL MUSEO LATINO, 4701 S. 25th St., elmuseolatino.org. BITTERSWEET HARVEST: THE BRACERO PROGRAM 1942-1964: Through Oct. 31. BI-CENTENNIAL OF THE IDEPENDENCE OF MEXICO AND THE CENTENNIAL OF THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION: Through Nov. 30.

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Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

ELDER GALLERY, 51st and Huntington, Nebraska Wesleyan University, nebrwesleyan.edu. AMERICAN TAPESTRY BIENNIAL: Through Nov. 15.

FLORENCE MILL ARTLOFT, 9102 N. 30th St., 551.1233, historicflorence.org/home.php. WATER WORKS: New work by Matthew Farley, Through Oct. 31.

FRED SIMON GALLERY, Burlington Building, 1004 Farnam St., nebraskaartscouncil.org. NEW WORK: Christina Narwicz, through Nov. 5.

GALLERY 9, 124 S 9th St., Lincoln, 477.2822, gallerynine.com.

UNRAVELING: New work by Rachel Smith. NEW WORK: Stephen Beal. Both shows through Oct. 31.

GRAND MANSE GALLERY, 129 N. 10th St., Lincoln, grandmanse.com. LARGER THAN LIFE: New work by Mark Marcuson, through Oct. 31.

GREAT PLAINS ART MUSEUM, 1155 Q St., Hewit Plc., Lincoln, 472.0599, unl.edu/plains/gallery/gallery.shtml. PLAINS ARTISTS JURIED EXHIBIT: Through Nov. 28.

HAYDON CENTER, 335 N. 8th St., Lincoln, 475.5421, haydonartcenter.org. STITCH: Curated by Jennifer Graham and Tina Koeppe, through Nov. 13, reception Nov. 5, 6 p.m.

HOT SHOPS ARTS CENTER, 1301 Nicholas St., 342.6452, hotshopsartcenter.com. TEXTILES, GLASS, CLAY, WOOD AND METAL: THE INTERFACE: Curated by Jay Rich. DR. KELLEY’S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES: Group Show. FOOT AND BEVERAGE: Sara Sumnick-Wamsat and Kalle Wamsat. All shows through Oct. 30.

INTERNATIONAL QUILT STUDY CENTER AND MUSEUM, 1523 N. 33rd St., Lincoln, 472.7232, quiltstudy.org. SOUTH ASIAN SEAMS: Quilts from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, through Nov. 7. CHILDHOOD TREASURES: Doll quilts from the Ghormley Collection, through Dec. 12. THE QUILTED CONSCIENCE: DREAMS AND MEMORIES: A story quilt made by sixteen Sudanese-American girls, through Oct. 17.

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, 333 S. 132nd St., 572.8486, jccomaha.org. GROUP SHOW: Yachad group, through Oct. 31, reception Oct. 31, 11 a.m.

JOSLYN ART MUSEUM, 2200 Dodge St., 342.3300, joslyn.org.

SPACE SILENCE SPIRIT: Maynard Dixon’s west, through Oct. 17. BEYOND REALISM: THE WORKS OF KENT BELLOWS 19702005: Through Jan. 16. SEASONS OF JOY: Currier and Ives Holiday Prints from the ConAgra Collection, through Jan. 23.

KANEKO, 1111 Jones St., 341.3800, thekaneko.org. FOLDED SQUARE ALPHABETS & NUMERICALS: Sculpture exhibit by Fletcher Benton, through Nov. 19.

KIECHEL FINE ART, 5733 S. 34th St., Lincoln, 420.9553, kiechelart.com. SCENES FROM AN AMERICAN LIFE: John Steuart Curry, through Nov. 15.

LAURITZEN GARDENS, 100 Bancroft St., omahabotanicalgardens.org. FALL CHRYSANTEMUM SHOW: Through Nov. 21.

THE LICHEN, 2810 N. 48th St., Lincoln, thelichen.com. FORCED PORGRESS: New work by Samuel B. Rapien, through Oct. 31.

LUX CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 48th and Baldwin, Lincoln, 434.2787, luxcenter.org. A PRESSING NEED TO CREATE: An exhibition of women’s prints, through Nov. 2. UNSETTLED: New work by Xia Gao, through Oct. 30. SECRETS FROM THE STOCKYARD: Pottery by Bernadette Curran, through Nov. 27.

MODERN ARTS MIDWEST, 800 P St., Lincoln, 477.2828, modernartsmidwest.com. TRANSFORMED TRADITIONS IN IKAT: Group show. NEW WORK: Michael James. Through Oct. 20.

MORRILL HALL, 307 Morrill Hall, Lincoln 472.3779, museum. unl.edu. MISS MIE: Historic Japanese friendship doll, through Oct. 31. WILDLIFE AND NATURE AMATEUR PHOTO EXHIBIT: Through Dec. 1.

MOVING GALLERY, Garden of the Zodiac, Passageway, 1042 Howard St. NEW WORK: Joseph Broghammer, through Oct. 14.

MUSEUM OF NEBRASKA ART (MONA), 2401 Central Ave., Kearney, 308.865.8559, monet.unk.edu/mona. POSTMASTER INTERACTIVE GALLERY: Group show, through Jan. 10, 2011.

NEBRASKA’S HERITAGE: Group show, through Nov. 14. THE ANIMAL KINGDOM: Through Jun. 5, 2011. MCKENNEY AND HALL’S HISTORY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA: Lithographs, through Dec. 5. SATURDAY EVENING POST: Holiday images, through Jan. 10. SOUTHERN ICE: Experiencing Antarctica through Photography, Narration and Music, opens Oct. 13. NEBRASKA NOW: Renee A. Ledesma, through Jan. 2.

THE NEW BLK, 1213 Jones St., 403.5619, thenewblk.com. RESPECTACLE: Group show, through Oct. 31.

| THE READER | art/theater listings

UNWRAP YOUR CANDY, Skullduggery Productions, 222 S. 19th St., 317.7893. Through Oct. 24, Thu.-Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sun., 6 p.m., $15.

poetry/comedy thursday 14

check event listings online!

NOYES GALLERY, 119 S. 9th St., Lincoln, 486.3866, noyesartgallery.com. NEW WORK: Group show. NEW WORK: Giv Neal, Julia Noyes, Tina Mileriel. Both shows through Oct. 31.

OLD MARKET ARTISTS, 1034 Howard St., Lower Level of Old Market Passageway, oldmarketartists.com. ROCK & ROLL: New work by Frank Costanzo, through Oct. 31.

PASSAGEWAY GALLERY, 417 South 11th St, passagewaygallery.com. NEW WORK: Dan Waltz, through Oct. 31.

POLYESTER GALLERY, 1618 Harney St., 345.0231, polyestergallery.com. IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK: Jeremy Parker.

ARCHITECTURE IN GENERAL IS PRETENTIOUS: New work

by Jeremy Parker. STATIC RESOLUTION: BETWEEN THE ACTUAL: Video installation by Matt Orand & Matt Walker. All shows through May 31.

PROJECT ROOM, 1416 O St., #8, Lincoln, 617.8365, projectroom.us. DAWN TO DUSK: Ann Von Mertens, through Oct. 31.

SCREEN INK, 416 S. 16th St., Lincoln, screenink.com. THE RABBIT HEARTED GIRL: Meghan Stratman, through Oct. 31.

SHELDON ART GALLERY, 12th and R, UNL, Lincoln, sheldonartgallery.org. PARALLEL STARTS: OUTSIDER ART INSIDE COLLECTIONS: Work from the permanent collection, through Oct. 17. BETTER HALF, BETTER TWELFTH: Women artists in the collection, through Apr. 1, 2011. ORLAN & MIND OVER MATTER: Through Jan. 30, lecture and demonstration by ORLAN Nov. 2, 5:30 p.m. NEW MATERIAL WORD: RETHREADING TECHNOLOGY: Through Jan. 2.

UNL COOPER GALLERY, 14th & U, Lincoln. A TURNING POINT; NAVAJO WEAVING IN THE LATE 20TH CENTURY: Explores changing artistic perceptions held by weavers, collectors and others, through Nov. 30.

UNO ART GALLERY, Weber Fine Arts Bldg., 6001 Dodge St., 554.2796. CARVED BOARD CLAMP RESIST: Curated by Jay Rich. SEQUENCED FIBERS: Curated by Bonnie O’Connell. Both through Oct. 28.

UNO CRISS GALLERY, 6001 Dodge St., 554.2640, library. unomaha.edu. A SELECTION FROM COMICS, HEROES AND AMERICAN VISUAL CULTURE: Through Oct. 21.

WORKSPACE GALLERY, Sawmill Building, 440 N. 8th St., Lincoln, sites.google.com/site/workspacegallery. STILL FLIGHT: New work by Christa Kreeger Bowden, through Nov. 4.

theater opening

UNNECESSARY FARCE, Lofte Community Theatre, 15841 Manley Road, Manley, 402.234.2553, lofte.com. Opens Oct. 15-31, Thurs.-Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m., $16.

WEST SIDE STORY, Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St., 345.0606, omahaperformingarts.org. Opens Oct. 19-24, Tue.-Wed., 7:30 p.m., Thu., 11 a.m. & 7:30 p.m., Fri., 8 p.m., Sat., 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m., $30-$80.

ongoing

FENCES, John Beasley Theater, 3010 R St., Omaha, johnbeasleytheater.org. Through Oct. 17, Thu.-Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sun., 3 p.m., $27, $22/students and seniors.

FICTION/ANTIFICTION: AN EXPLORATION OF CREATION IN THREE ACTS, Blue Barn at The Downtown Space, 614 S. 11th St., 345.1576, bluebarn.org. Through Oct. 16, Fri.-Sat., 11 p.m., $10.

FOOTLOOSE, Omaha Community Playhouse, 6915 Cass St., 553.0800, omahaplayhouse.com. Through Oct. 17, Wed.-Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m. & 6:30 p.m., $40, $24/students.

SHELTERSKELTER XV, Shelterbelt Theatre, 3225 California St, 341.2757, shelterbelt.org. Through Oct. 31, Thu.Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 6 p.m., $15, $12/students & seniors.

TALK RADIO, Blue Barn at The Downtown Space, 614 S. 11th St., 345.1576, bluebarn.org. Through Oct. 16, Thu.Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sun., 6 p.m., $25, $20/students/seniors.

AARDBAARK, The Bookworm, 87th and Pacific, 6 p.m., 392.2877, bookwormomaha.com. Amiable adult readers discussing books almost always read by kids. (2nd Thursday.)

E.N. THOMPSON FORUM, Lied Center, 301 N. 12th St., Lincoln, enthompson.unl.edu, 7:30 p.m. Christine Todd Whitman.

GIUSEPPE D’ALESSANDRO, Metro Community College, Fort Omaha Campus, Building 10, 20th & Fort St., mccneb.edu.

10:30 a.m. Lecture.

J. MEDICINE HAT, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7:30 p.m.

fridAY 15

J. MEDICINE HAT, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7:30 p.m., 9:45 p.m.

saturday 16

PATRICIA POLACCO, The Bookworm, 87th and Pacific, 392.2877, bookwormomaha.com, 2 p.m.

PECHA KUCHA NIGHT VOL. 9, Blue Sushi, 416 S. 12th St., daoma.org, 8:20 p.m.

SKULLPROV!, Skullduggery Productions, 1904 Farnham St., Suite 320, 317.7893, $10, 10 p.m. Improv comedy. (1st and 3rd Sat.) TIM SELDIN, Field Club of Omaha, 3615 Woolworth Ave., 9 a.m. Renowned Montessorian and author.

J. MEDICINE HAT, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7 p.m, 9:30 p.m.

sunday 17

GREG KOSMICKI AND MARJORIE SAISER, The Bookworm, 87th and Pacific, 392.2877, bookwormomaha.com, 2 p.m.

JOHN H. AMES READING SERIES, Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors, Bennett Martin Public Library, 136 South 14th St., Lincoln, 2 p.m. Featuring Glenna Luschei.

POETRY ACROSS THE GENERATIONS, Milo Bail Student Center, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6001 Dodge St., unomaha.edu, 1 p.m. Winners recognition ceremony and readings.

POETRY NIGHT, 357 Club, 2404 Ames Ave., 6 p.m., poetry, prose, real-to-life, skits and interpretive dance. (Every Sun.) J. MEDICINE HAT, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7 p.m.

monday 18

DUFFY’S COMEDY WORKSHOP, 1412 O St., Lincoln, 474.3543, myspace.com/duffystavern, 9 p.m.

PATRICIA POLACCO, Omaha Public Library, Millard Branch, 13214 Westwood Ln., patriciapolacco.com, 7 p.m.

POETRY AT THE MOON, Crescent Moon Coffee, SE Corner of 8th & P St., Lower Level, Lincoln, crescentmoon@inebraska. com, 7 p.m. Open mic (every Mon.)

tuesday 19

88 IMPROV, PS Collective, 6056 Maple St., 556.9090, pscollective.com, 8 p.m., $5.

POETRY ACROSS THE GENERATIONS SLAM, Milo Bail Student Center, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6001 Dodge St., unomaha.edu, 1 p.m.

SHOOT YOUR MOUTH OFF, The Hideout, 320 S. 72nd St., 9 p.m. sign-up, 9:30 start, 504.4434, myspace.com/shootyourmouthoff, spoken word, comedy, (every Tues.)

T.J. STYLES, Nebraska Union Auditorium, 14th & R St., Lincoln, 7:30 p.m. National Book Award winner.

Wednesday 20

ACOUSTIC OPEN MIC FOR MUSICIANS & POETS, Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso, 1624 S. St., Lincoln, 8 p.m., 477.2007. Hosted by Spencer. (every Wed.) MIDWEST POETRY VIBE, KENO Kings/Royal Crown Lounge, 6553 Ames Ave., 9 p.m., poetry, (Every Wed.) MISSOURI VALLEY READING SERIES, Milo Bail Student Center, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6001 Dodge St., unomaha.edu, 7:30 p.m. Lydia Peelle.

PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL: 9500 LIBERTY, McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Farnam, 7 p.m., FREE. POET SHOW IT, 1122 D St., Lincoln, 8 p.m. Local writers come and read. (1st & 3rd Wed.)

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Prophetic Rock Chuck Prophet plays Sunday Roadhouse series, Thursday night at Waiting Room

by Jesse D. Stanek

A

t 18 Chuck Prophet left his native Whittier, Calif. for San Francisco, where he almost immediately became a major part of cow-punk legends Green On Red. Prophet spent eight years with the band and in the process of touring and recording developed more than a few self-destructive tendencies (heavy drinking, chuck prophet crack cocaine). His stories are the stuff of rock ‘n’ roll legend: one night Prophet tried to jump from one rooftop to the next to impress a girl and fell three stories through a glass skylight and onto a concrete mechanic’s floor. As the years progressed he found himself fine-tuning his six-string skills, mellowing his demons and becoming a relevant and successful solo artist.

“I didn’t really think I’d still be doing this,” Prophet told me, with a small chuckle. “When I was younger I didn’t know anybody who had done it that long. I learned a lot from that early punk ethos in San Francisco, the whole do-it-yourself thing. But then I guess as I got older I became a little more of a craftsman with my playing. It was the songs that carried me through. I feel lucky to still be doing this. At some point I just had to question my faith and it was the music, the songs that always kept me interested in doing this.”

Dating to 1990 debut Brother Aldo, Prophet has quietly made some of the most sincere and

grittiest rock ‘n’ roll around. With blues guitar flourishes complimenting his unique, laidback lyrical style, his songs have been covered by the likes of Heart, Alejandro Escovedo and the late Solomon Burke. He may very well be the consummate musician’s musician, an artist teeming with musical skill and not afraid to follow his artistic vision at the possible expense of limiting his exposure and record sales. In the early part of this decade he released two stunningly gorgeous records on New West, No Other Love and Age of Miracles which brought him a flurry of critical and peer praise but didn’t result in the kind of sales expected from such thoroughly engaging albums.

For his 11th record, Prophet wrote a batch of songs while the nation’s economy tanked.

And while the record is not overtly political, the emotions and despair of the times definitely influenced the tone of the record. Let Freedom Ring! (Yep Roc) is Prophet’s most accessible work, a sprawling musical manifesto of worry, tension, dreams gone awry, misunderstood cultural villains and a sly sense of redemption wrapping it all together. He enlisted producer Greg Leisz (Wilco, Beck, Emmylou Harris), found an outdated studio in the bustling heart of Mexico City and went to work.

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backbeat “There [were] a number of reasons I recorded down there,” he says. “One is that making records for me has never been about the money. I never thought I’d buy my parents a yacht or anything like that. For me it’s mostly about the adventure.

The money you spend but the experience you put in the bank. I’ve been saying this album is full of political songs for non-political people. I was writing most of the songs during the worst part of the financial meltdown and I had my windows open and that kind of creeped in. There was a certain amount of angst and tension for sure.

I went to Mexico City to visit a friend and it really gave me perspective on my own country. It was also inspiring in a lot of ways. So I found a state of the art studio down there, and by state of the art I mean state of the art at one time. It was perfect.

“Being down there definitely affected the recording,” Prophet adds. “There’s something theatrical about the material. It’s more of a guitar record, where the last few were more layered.

I realized that was what I wanted when I was writing the songs and [I] framed the album in a raw way.”

Prophet’s encyclopedic knowledge of American music deeply informs his writing and playing. And while he’s no stranger to rock, blues and Americana, he professes a somewhat surprising love of Bob Dylan’s often-maligned work from the 1980s. “I’m one of those people that think Dylan is incapable of being uninteresting. There’s a devil may care spirit to some of those ’80s records that I really like. There’s some great stuff in there and taking the ride with Dylan, that’s the fun of it.” , Chuck Prophet plays Sunday Roadhouse Presents at The Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St., Thursday, Oct. 14. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $ADV, $15 DOS. Visit onepercentproductions.com.

music

n Mad Ave, an all-ages, drug and alcohol free venue opens in Lincoln next week. The club at 2800 N. 48th St. has a capacity of 200 and plans to host “live music of any genre, art showings, book/poetry readings, film premieres/showings, social events, dance parties and any other form of artistic media imaginable,” says Brock Stephens. He’s opening the venue with partners Matt Vicars, Cody Hurd and Lindsay Thompson. The foursome hosted shows at Ghost House since Aug. 2007. “All-ages venues are vital to keeping a music scene alive and thriving,” says Stephens. True dat. Much like the youth who frequent them, all-ages venues are where thriving music scenes incubate.

“These young kids are the next generation of people starting bands, putting out records, opening venues and helping touring bands,” says Stephens.

“If we didn’t allow them to come to shows they would in turn not do all of the above-mentioned things and the scene would die faster than you can imagine.”

There will be a two-night grand opening, Oct. 21, featuring Hercules, Agress, Discourse and Vandal Eyes, and Oct. 22, with Wastoid, Violator X, Acid Mouth and Moustache. Both shows start at 7:30 p.m. and cost $5. Contact the DIY club owners via madavene@hotmail.com or 718.5218 for booking info. n The sweet, mellow sound of the ukulele finally gets its due this week. Omaha Creative Institute will host Ukulele Hoopla, Oct. 15, at the Joslyn Castle, 3902 Davenport St. Events run 6-8:30 p.m., with two workshops (beginner and advanced) from 6-7 p.m. and a concert at 7:30 p.m. If you don’t have a uke but still want to attend the beginner lesson, taught by Mark Gutierrez, there will be some on hand to borrow. More advanced players will want to take the class from folk-rocker Lil’ Rev, of whom Gutierrez says, “In the ukulele world, he can kind of be considered a rock star.” Cost is $20 for workshops and $15 for the concert featuring Gutierrez’s band 4 Strings of Swing and Lil’ Rev. OCI hopes to make this an annual event. n Save the date for Bands for Cans, Oct. 29, 9 p.m. at Sokol Underground. The benefit for Food Bank of the Heartland hosted by DJ E. Babbs will feature live music from Galvanized Tron, The Whiskey Pistols, El Dopa and Liz Graham.

Admission is four food donations (think canned chicken or tuna, mac ‘n’ cheese, peanut butter, green beans, pancake mix, spaghetti … ) or $5.

— Sarah Wengert Backbeat takes you behind the scenes of the local music scene.

Send tips, comments and questions to backbeat@thereader.com.

| THE READER |

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

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2234 South 13th Street Omaha, NE 68108 346 - 9802 www.sokolundground.com

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sAT 10/16/2010

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fri 10/22/2010

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Tue 10/26/2010

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Walkmenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest crackles with revived spark, thanks to new approach

by Chris Aponick

N

ew Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Walkmen are, according to the summation of guitarist Paul Maroon, much like a cranky old family grown accustomed to each other.

The New York indie band isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t going to change lineups or do any drastic changes. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the same five guys from the start or itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll walkmen be nothing, Maroon says.

Maroon has played with Matt Barrick and Walter Martin for 26-some years, dating back to former major label signees Jonathan Fire*Eater and singer Hamilton Leithauser and Peter Bauer, since forming the Walkmen 10 years ago. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every single relationship Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had in my life has been like that,â&#x20AC;?

Maroon says.

But despite the seemingly longlived and long lived-in relationships among the musicians, the Walkmen just released a vibrantly fresh new album, Lisbon, the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fifth original studio record.

Maroon says the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fortunes continued to improve as their years together progressed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are doing better than we were eight yeas ago, which is a little unusual,â&#x20AC;? he says.

Maroon says the band stuck to indie labels, avoiding the major label pitfalls that befell Jonathan Fire*Eater. The lessons of that band havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come to bear on the Walkmen, because the sort of deal that Jonathan Fire*Eater was offered just arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t given out by whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s left of the major labels anymore. Not that the three Walkmen members that were

| THE READER |

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in Jonathan Fire*Eater would have had good recall, Maroon jokes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t very good learners to be honest with you,â&#x20AC;? he says.

The band put out Lisbon through Fat Possum, basically after realizing it wanted someone to finance the record. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably the biggest label weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve worked with in awhile,â&#x20AC;? Maroon says.

The Portuguese capital namesake colors some of the lyrics on the record, but it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a guiding influence. But at the end of the process, it just felt like the name of the city fit a lot of the recordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s themes, Maroon says.

The songs were mostly the product of the Walkmen challenging the nature of its songwriting process. Instead of discarding song ideas that werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t working, the band followed each song until it was completed and recorded, eventually recording around 30 songs, before settling on 11 for the album.

With songs that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quite work, the band looked for new parts to add that made it come together. Maroon says heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inspired to look for those little pieces after hearing a version of Fats Dominoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Natural Born Loverâ&#x20AC;? backed by an orchestra. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It changes everything, just adding one element,â&#x20AC;? he says.

Maroon says the music often comes first, before he sends it to Martin and Leithauser to work out some lyrics. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sort of an assembly line, is the best way to describe it,â&#x20AC;? he says.

While Maroon says it can be anxious waiting to see what happens to a piece of music he feels really invested in, getting back songs with vocals added still thrills him. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s generally the only part of the process I like,â&#x20AC;? he says.

The band once again worked with Chris Zane, who produced its previous effort You & Me, as well as John Congleton in his Dallas, Tex. studio.

The louder numbers were Congletonproduced, while Zane produced the sessions for some of the more introspective tracks, Maroon says.

Maroon is on the look out for a different way to tackle the next batch of Walkmen songs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I hope we can think of a new way to write a record next time to keep it fresh,â&#x20AC;? he says. , The Walkmen play w/ Japandroids and Tennis at the Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St., Saturday, Oct. 16, at 9 p.m.

Tickets are $13. Visit onepercentproductions.com.

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Memphis Road Warriors Lucero spreads gospel of the modern bar band

by Chris Aponick

D

iscovering a band several albums into its career gives you layers to peel back.

That’s how it’s been for me with Lucero, after 2009’s excellent 1372 Overton Park.

Since then, it’s been a lucero trek into the songwriting of Ben Nichols and the seven other releases he’s issued under the Lucero name.

Anchored by Nichols’ rough bar band howl, Lucero has put out records that jump from fullyacoustic affairs to electrified, boozy Replacements-influenced punk ‘n’ roll.

Nichols never had to work to acquire his distinctive gravelly vocal delivery which is one of Lucero’s signifiers. It’s just been that way since he was 19, he says.

Life on the road in Memphis’ best countryrock bar band has only helped add grit to his voice, says Nichols, who acknowledges Tom Waits and the Pogues’ Shane MacGowan among his favorite singers.

“The whiskey and the cigarettes didn’t help it,” Nichols says. “I’ve got to be careful with it or it’ll go away.”

For now, that means an attempt to stop smoking, Nichols says.

Meanwhile, Lucero is about to step out on a nine-week tour, most of which will be in support of Social Distortion.

“We’re gone forever,” Nichols says. “It’s going to be Christmastime when we get home.”

He says he’s excited about the six weeks with Mike Ness and company, as he’s listened to Social D since he was 14.

“It was a big compliment just getting offered that tour,” Nichols says.

Long tours are nothing new for Lucero, as the band’s averaged 100-plus shows yearly over most of its decade of existence. Nichols says he misses home when he’s out on the road, but when he returns to Memphis, the itch to get on the road quickly returns.

While the road keeps a tight hold on Lucero,

the band has planted roots deep in Memphis.

Between the history of Sun Records, Jim Dickinson, Big Star and garage rockers Oblivians, Lucero found its own messy, boozy rock vibe.

“Lucero has always kind of existed in between the lines of all that stuff,” Nichols says.

Memphis also served as an anchor for 1372 Overton Park. The address was home to several band members, including Nichols, for nearly a decade. Around the time the recording process wrapped up, the band had mostly packed up and moved in with girlfriends, Nichols says.

“It was definitely our home,” he says.

The album also was the band’s lone bow on Universal Records, after which Lucero and the major label parted ways. Nichols says it wasn’t

a terrible experience, but one that didn’t quite work.

“We gave it a shot. I don’t think it was a very good fit for Lucero,” he says.

There was also no compromise with the label when it came to making the album, which prominently features horn contributions. The band is in line to obtain rights to the record for re-release through their Liberty and Lament reprint.

“They let us do exactly what we wanted to do,” Nichols says. “I don’t think they cared too much, to tell you the truth.”

Nichols is writing and recording demos for a new record, considering what the next chapter might be.

While he says the next record might be mostly acoustic, he isn’t certain.

“One of the things I like about the band is we’re not tied down to any one direction,” Nichols says.

He says he’s tried to make each new Lucero record more of a cohesive, coherent statement.

Nichols’ songs are based on personal experiences, tales of nights out and trying to seize those fleeting moments in the small hours of morning.

“I think because it happened, it rings more true,” Nichols says. “Making shit up … I’m not good at it.”

Lucero lives the life of some of those songs live, cranking out high-energy rock that belongs in the barroom. Nichols says while it’s not a conscious movement, it seems like there are guys in bands as different as the Hold Steady and the Drive-By Truckers, who are of an age where playing no-frills rock ‘n’ roll makes perfect sense.

“I think we’re looking to all the classic stuff for inspiration,” Nichols says. ,

Hair Couture b y

Secrets to Healthy Hair

A

By Sarah Zito, LEAD/stylist

ny beauty routine starts in the shower with cleansing and conditioning. Shampooing daily for many can create dryness by stripping the hair of it’s natural oils; shampooing is meant to remove oil from the scalp, not the hair fiber itself. Use moisture rich products such as Bumble and bumble’s Crème de Coco, Gentle and Super Rich, Alojoba (with certified organic ingredients making it a nutirent-rich smoothie for the hair), or Quenching shampoos and conditioners to help maintain the balance of the hair’s natural oils. Using a conditioner is essential in the cleansing process as hairs are delicate fibers that require continual nourishment… even on days when you skip shampooing.

A once-a-week masque such as Bb’s Quenching Masque for the “terribly thirsty” or the Mending Masque for the “truly damaged” nourishes the hair with vitamins to prevent breakage and keep strands strong. Also, Crème de Coco Masque and the Deeep Masque help with moisture and enhance the strength of your perfect coif.

Styling is crucial to a composed, feminine look.

Over-styling can, at times, do more damage than good.

Ripping through tangled ends and pulling on strands with excess tension can cause breakage and split-ends.

Moderate tension when brushing and styling is the key to lustrous locks. Additionally, Bumble’s Prep and Tonic are great foundation products designed to enrich the hair with vitamins and minerals and detangle without leaving residue with a lighter-than-water formula. These are perfect products to start the foundation of a fantastic style.

Hot tools are a necessity; when used properly they create an ease in achieving shine and control. Excessive heat or applying a hot tool to wet, damp, or almost dry hair can “fry” the cuticle of the hair causing immediate breakage, frizz, and undermine the strength of the hair strand. To prevent this damage, first ensure that your hair is completely dry by using an ionic dryer such as the Solano 3500 Lite. Before flat ironing or curling, it is imperative to use a product to protect your hair from the damage of heat such as Bb’s Holding Spray or Does it All spray. Applied evenly from roots to ends, it will help prevent damage while giving light hold to your evolving style. The perfect flat iron includes uniformly heated ceramic plates which “float” helping defy excess tension. The Solono Sleek Heat 450 is the perfect example of the ideal flat iron.

The Bumble and bumble line is designed to nourish and protect hair from the start, (foundation products such as Prep and Tonic Lotion) through styling, (with structure products such as Styling Lotion,Thickening Hairspray, and Styling Crème) to the ultimate finish with texture and hold products such as Brilliantine, Styling Wax, and Spray de Mode hairspray… just to name a few. Bb’s line up of products, exclusively provided by the hairdressing experts at BUNGALOW/eight, can be cocktailed to include a variety of shampoos and conditioners, treatment products, and styling and texture products individually customized for each client’s specific hair needs.

Visit BUNGALOW/eight for your perfect hair prescription to maintain the lustrous, healthy locks essential to an inspired and stylish YOU!

Lucero plays w/ the Killigans and Brad Hoshaw Sunday, Oct. 17, at the Bourbon Theatre, 1415 O St. in Lincoln at 9 p.m. The 18+ show is $15 ADV/$17 DOS. Visit onepercentproductions.com.

music

B U N G A L O W / e i g h t

| THE READER |

1120 S. 105th St. (402) 934-8727 bungalow8omaha.com Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

33

music lazy-i

Lazy-i is a weekly column by long-time Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on the Omaha music scene. Check out Tim’s daily music news updates at his website, lazy-i.com, or email him at lazy-i@ thereader.com.

profiles, music news, lazy-i, hoodoo & more ... profiles, music news, lazy-i, hoodoo & more

Rock of Ages

by Tim McMahan

I

gibson ~ emg ~ dimarzio ~ zildian crate ~ epiphone red bear ~ hamer

50% oFF

shure 58

with stand

onlY $99

www.RainbowMusicOmaha.com

34

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

| THE READER |

music - lazy i

’ve never bought the idea that age has anything to do with enjoying rock music, and I still don’t, but the question did come up last weekend.

I waded into the crowd of suburban youth Friday night at The Waiting Room too late to see either of the opening bands, thanks to the Yankees.

I considered skipping the show because it was already 11 p.m., but I was on the list and I figured ‘Why not?’ While I’d heard of headliner Ra Ra Riot the band had always slipped under my radar.

I knew that RRR was in the College Music Journal top-20 shortly after its Barsuk release hit the streets. I’d read the band’s description at allmusic. com, where the style was described as “chamber pop,” probably because the band employs a violinist and cello player, both young women.

Upon entering the club, there they were, like a pair of gorgeous bookends on opposite sides of the crowded stage, divided by RRR’s shaggy frontman who leaned forward on the microphone in front of a mob scene. The show wasn’t a sellout, but it was handsomely attended, by more women than men, a familiar trend for indie shows these days.

So I stood back by the soundboard with my Rolling Rock and tried to lock in, but couldn’t.

Other than those strings, the six-piece didn’t sound much different than any of the crop of hot indie pop bands burning up the CMJ charts — Vampire Weekend, Tokyo Police Club, Yeasayer, even Local Natives, a band who played a sold-out show at TWR a week earlier.

Outside the venue on the sidewalk along Maple Street a fan tried to convince me that Ra Ra Riot was different from the others, that something special in their melodies set them apart from the herd.

I listened quietly, and then told him that as much as I respected his opinion, he was wrong. I said RRR was just another kick-drum-fueled open-chord pop act trying to skirt the border between indie rock and dorm-room dance music, and while that was perfectly fine, nothing stood out about the band’s music, no lyric or melody was memorable, and that I was getting tired of hearing the same old song from all these bands for the past two years.

Then the question arose: Was I turning into one of those “back in my day” old guys who couldn’t get with the latest sound?

In my dismay, I mentioned this to one of the 20-something regulars at O’Leaver’s the follow-

ing night. “Yes, you’re getting old,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean that Ra Ra Riot doesn’t suck.”

He then admonished me for not being at The 49’r Friday to hear the band I was about to hear.

O’Leaver’s is a tiny club compared to TWR, and when it’s packed, it feels even tinier. Saturday night the drunken throng pushed out the door into the concrete beer garden, there to see the reunion of The Sons of O’Leaver’s (the night before they were The Sons of The 49’r), a local band that made its mark in the early part of the last decade. The band features some of the city’s most notable musicians: Frontman Kelly Maxwell and drummer Mike Loftus, who was in 60-Watt Saloon, Shovelhead and Hong Hyn Corp, a band which included guitarist/vocalist Matt Rutledge, who was in Compost, Miss Lonely Hearts, Holiday and The Great Disma, which included bass player Mike Tulis, known for his work in Full Blown, The Monroes and The Third Men. In other words, The Sons of … is a veterans’ club made even more venerable that night by the addition of Omaha ex-patriot Mike Jaworski (Hello from Waveland, The Cops), who was in town from Seattle. Dressed to the nines in formal suits and ties, the band took to the area that O’Leaver’s calls a stage and ripped through an hour of gritty rock bordering on punk. It was just what I’d been thirsting for after weeks of indie rock pabulum.

But didn’t this underscore the whole “old guy” argument? The Sons of … music clearly is a reflection of a bygone era, a sort of homage to ’90s “college rock” (the phrase used before the term “indie” came into vogue) played by a bunch of guys in their 30s.

I stood back by the soundboard with my Rolling Rock and looked over a crowd that was as locked in as I was, a crowd whose age spanned 21-50+. After the smoke cleared, Little Brazil took the stage, a band as modern as any you’ll hear on Sirius XM, but with a sound not far removed from the band I just heard.

I realized that I knew the answer. Some new stuff will never jive with me. On the other hand, I’ve been digging the new CDs by Pete Yorn, Land of Talk and Deerhunter. While Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Ke$ha will always be greasy kid stuff.

Rock music isn’t always universal; it doesn’t always span the ages, but in the end, the only person who can tell you if you’re too old to listen to it is you. ,

music hoodoo

Hoodoo is a weekly column focusing on blues, roots, Americana and occasional other music styles with an emphasis on live music performances. Hoodoo columnist B.J. Huchtemann is a Reader senior contributing writer and veteran music journalist who has covered the local music scene for nearly 20 years.

Dave Barger Benefit

by B.J. Huchtemann

F

riends of guitarist Dave Barger will host a benefit this Sunday, Oct. 17, at New Lift Lounge to help the veteran Omaha musician. Among the popular musicians returning to assist Barger are California guitarist John Lawton, New Orleans sax man Joe Cabral Jr. and Boston bassist Ken Fallon.

Barger has been the “go to” blues guitarist on the Omaha scene for over 20 years. In recent years he has battled declining health. Buck Weyerman, friend and former bandmate, says via email that in addition to Barger’s health, Barger has been robbed of personal possessions while “confined to a rehabilitation center in Atlantic, Iowa … Due to his immobility and confinement, most of David’s personal possessions have disappeared. He still has his guitar and amplifier, but everything else is mostly gone.”

In the 1980s when the Old Market had lots of live music nightly at blues-oriented venue The Howard Street Tavern, Barger was at the center of popular bands like The Loose Brothers, Risky Shift, Oasis and Big Thumbs.

Barger will make a rare public appearance for the event, joining his friends onstage.

The Risky Shift reunion is sure to be a fan-pleaser with the return of Lawton, Cabral and Fallon plus Weyerman on drums joining Barger for the performance.

Also reuniting are members of Oasis including Kevin and Tim Swisher, who’ll be joined by Fallon, Weyerman and Barger.

The Blues Society of Omaha All-Stars is also scheduled to perform including Neil Johnsen, Craig Balderston and Ringo Maguire, along with other veterans of the Omaha music scene including Brad Cordle, Jerry Steinke and Tim Koehn. BSO AllStars play at 2 p.m., followed by Oasis at 3:30 p.m. and the highly anticipated Risky Shift reunion at 5 p.m.

A “super jam” with all the musicians will close the evening. Admission is a minimum $5 donation at the door. There will be a raffle for donated prizes.

A potluck dinner will be available. Weyerman says donations to the potluck dinner are appreciated.

Kris Lager Band Homecoming Blues-rockers the Kris Lager Band return from a several-weeks tour that took them through New Mexico, Arizona and California. The band gets home to play a two-night-stand at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar Friday and Saturday, Oct. 15 and 16, after 9 p.m. The hard-hitting band returned to working as a fourpiece earlier this year, with Lager on guitar, Jeremiah Weir on keyboards, John Fairchild on drums and Brandon Miller on bass. Their high-energy shows

combine excellent original music with passionate performances that get fan comparisons to indie bands like the Black Keys.

Friday, Oct. 15, the Lil’ Slim Blues Band performs for happy hour, 5-7 p.m. Lil’ Slim is Shawn Holt, son of Magic Slim, and he’s following in his father’s footsteps, playing blistering Chicago guitar blues.

Guitar Star Michael Burks Arkansas guitarist Michael Burks is a master of high-octane, stinging electric guitar. Burks has two upcoming metro gigs. The Alligator Records artist plays Wednesday, Oct. 20, at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar, 6 p.m.-9 p.m., and Thursday, Oct. 21, at The New Lift Lounge, 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. The Chicago Sun-Times raved that Burks is “a fierce, flame-thrower guitar slinger and an exciting, soulful singer. His music has phenomenal power.”

Alligator Records says “Burks’ powerful presence, inventive and riveting guitar work and soulshaking vocals make him the torchbearer of electric blues guitar heroes.” His debut disc for Alligator, Make it Rain, was named one of the Top 200 greatest guitar recordings by Guitar One magazine. Burks is a multiple Blues Music Award nominee.

Magness Coming Up at the Zoo Soulful Southern California vocalist Janiva Magness brings her award-winning music to the Zoo Bar on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 6 p.m.-9 p.m. In 2009, Magness took home the prestigious B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award presented by the Blues Music Awards. She is only the second woman to receive this honor; the first female artist to be recognized was the late Koko Taylor. Magness is a three-time winner of the Blues Music Award for Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year. She does not have an Omaha show on this tour so mark your calendars for this Zoo Bar gig.

Hot Notes Americana pioneer Chuck Prophet plays a Sunday Roadhouse show at the Waiting Room Thursday, Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m. See the profile of the artist on page 31.

Jam-band bluegrass group Cornmeal performs at the Bourbon Theatre Friday, Oct. 15.

Make a note about the November return of Josh Garrett & The Bottomline. The Nashvillebased band combines fine music and a big, fun approach, including a high-energy horn section. The band makes its Zoo Bar debut Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m., and hits The New Lift Lounge Thursday, Nov. 4, at 5:30 p.m. Check the band out online at joshgarrettmusic.com. ,

music

| THE READER |

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

35

live music calendar

SEND CALENDAR INFORMATION — including addresses, dates, times, costs and phone numbers — to The Reader’s calendar editor. Mail to or drop off information at P.O. Box 7360 Omaha, NE 68107; email to listings@thereader.com; fax to (402) 341.6967.

Deadline is 5 p.m. the Thursday prior to issue date.

thursday 14

DOWNTOWN SOUND, (DJ) 9 p.m., 415, FREE. MARK MANDEVILLE, RAIANNE RICHARDS, (singer songwriter) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern, $5.

112 NORTH DUCK, (blues/rock) 8 p.m., Beer & Loathing In

Dundee, FREE. SNAKE RATTLE RATTLE SNAKE, HUSBANDS, THE

VINGINS, (rock) 9 p.m., Bourbon, $5, $7/under 21.

NEW MOON SONGWRITERS NIGHT, (acoustic) 7 p.m.,

Crescent Moon Coffee, FREE. OPEN JAM, 9 p.m., Chrome Lounge.

SHITHOOK, (karaoke) 9 p.m., Duffy’s, FREE. BIG SCOTT, (rock) 8 p.m., Firewater Grille.

NOVAK & HAAR, (jazz) 6 p.m., Jazz Louisiana Kitchen.

STRAP ON HALO, CHANT, (rock) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers.

ERYA, (acoustic/jazz) 9 p.m., Myth, FREE. BIG BOI, MACKLEMORE, RYAN LEWIS, (hip-hop) 8 p.m.,

Nebraska City Union Green Space, FREE. NIGHTHAWKS, (blues) 5:30 p.m., New Lift Lounge, $10.

GEORGE WALKER, (blues/jazz) 6:30 p.m., Ozone, FREE. TRAVIS O’MALLEY, JOE CHAMPION, (singer-songwriter) 7

p.m., Pizza Shoppe Collective, $5.

SWAMPJAM, (blues) 8 p.m., Pour House, FREE. GARFAN, HEADSTRONG, MALNACK, (rock) 9 p.m.,

Slowdown, $5.

SWITCHFOOT, THE ALMOST, (rock) 8 p.m., Sokol

Auditorium, $25.

JR HOSS, (acoustic) 9 p.m., Two Fine Irishmen, FREE. JAZZ AT VENUE, 7 p.m., Venue.

+FSSZ 8BMUSJQ 5IF 4MBOHT 4IVS 5IJOH "VEJUJPO /JHIU 3IZUIN +BDLT %PXO UP )FSF

READER RECOMMENDS

%PXO UP )FSF )FBETUSPOH )BMMPXFFO 1FBSM +BN -FE ;FQQFMJO 5SJCVUFT %FTQFSBUF #BOEXJWFT 0GG UIF (SJE "VEJUJPO /JHIU

FOLLOW US

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

FRIDAY 15

THE JAZZ EXPLOSION, (jazz) 9 p.m., 1020, FREE. WIZZO, (DJ) 9 p.m., 415, $5.

DOWNTOWN HIP-HOP REVIVAL: EPISODE VII W/ TANG,

BREATHLESS, ST. MIC, J-ROCK, EL GENIUS,

IMPERIAL, J-KEYS AKA MR. NAWF, B.P.,

KAMOFLAGE, OUTLAW, YSHALL DAVIS, BEAST

MODE, LEJUANE CHISM, EKCO, BABY B.O.W. AND

PRIDE FAM, RECE BEAST, CROWD ROCKA DJ, (hip-

hop) 8 p.m., 415, $2.

LEMON FRESH DAY, (cover) 9 p.m., Arena, $5.

OLD SCHOOL HIP-HOP AND R&B W/ DJ PHREEZE, 8 p.m.,

Arthur’s, $5/before 10 p.m., $10/after 10 p.m.

PEACE OF SHIT, THE DADS, WATCHING THE TRAIN

WRECK, (rock) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern, $5.

MUZIK AMBIENCE BY JACQUES, (piano) 4-7 p.m., Big

Mama’s Kitchen.

READER RECOMMENDS

Must be 21 years or older to gamble. Know When to Stop Before You Start®. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-BETS-OFF(Iowa) or 1-800-522-4700(National). ©2010 Harrah's License Company, LLC.

36

SUNDAY ROADHOUSE PRESENTS: CHUCK PROPHET,

(country) 7:30 p.m., Waiting Room, $12/adv, $15/dos.

GUNK’S MONSTER BALL W/ KOBRAKYLE, $PENCELOVE,

(DJ) 10 p.m., Waiting Room, $5, FREE/ 21 and over,

before 11 p.m.

JERRY WALTRIP, (singer-songwriter) 8 p.m., Whiskey

Roadhouse, FREE. PIANO HAPPY HOUR, 5 p.m., Zoo Bar, FREE. LIL’ SLIM BLUES BAND, (blues) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar, $5.

NEXUS ELECTRONICS MUSIC AND ART FESTIVAL W/

SOMASPHERE, FRESH2DEATH, BASSTHOVEN,

AUDITORY ELEMENTS, $PENCELOVE, LUCKY LUDO,

(electronic/DJ) 9 p.m., Bourbon, $10.

ELLIS ISLAND, (celtic) Brazen Head.

CONSPIRACY THEORY, (cover) 9:30 p.m., Chrome, $5.

JAZZ AT THE MOON, 7 p.m., Crescent Moon Coffee, $5.

CHICKEN LITTLE, I AM THE NAVIGATOR, (rock) 8 p.m.,

Cultiva Cafe, FREE.

| THE READER |

music listings

JITTERBUGS’ NIGHT OUT, (jazz/dixieland) 9 p.m., Eagles

Lodge, $10.

CAPTAIN JOSH, (rock) 9 p.m., Firewater Grille.

SHURTHING!, (cover) 9:30 p.m., Gator O’Malley’s, $5.

BOSTON BRASS AND IMANI WINDS, (jazz) 8 p.m., Holland

Center, $19.

GEORGE WALKER, (blues/jazz) 7:30 p.m., Indulgence,

FREE. STREET RAILWAY COMPANY DIXIELAND QUARTET, (jazz)

7 p.m., Jazz Louisiana Kitchen.

THE HEAT MACHINE, (ska) 6 p.m., Knickerbockers.

THE HEAT MACHINE, BOTTLEROCKET, LAST SLICE, (ska/

punk) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers.

NEBRASKA JAZZ ORCHESTRA W/ WAYNE BERGERON,

(jazz) 7:30 p.m., Lied Center.

PURE VINYL, 9 p.m., LiT Lounge.

HI-FI HANGOVER, (cover) 9 p.m., Loose Moose, FREE. RABBIT STEW, (rock) 6:30 p.m., Louis.

SWAMPBOY BLUES BAND, (blues) 9 p.m., The Mile Away.

TECHLEPATHY, SELF-EVIDENT, TRAINLODGE, +1, (rock/

metal) 9:30 p.m., O’Leaver’s, $5.

OPERA FOR THE CURE, 7:30 p.m., Orpheum Theater, $19-

$79.

FINEST HOUR, (rock) 9 p.m., Ozone, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS EDIE CAREY, ROSE COUSINS, (pop/folk) 8 p.m., Pizza

Shoppe Collective, $15.

CACTUS HILL, (cover) 9 p.m., red9.

GRAND THEFT GIRLFRIEND, (cover) 9:30 p.m., The Reef,

FREE. PHARMACY SPIRITS, TALKING MOUNTAIN, THE POWER,

FLESH EATING SKIN DISEASE, (rock) 9 p.m.,

Slowdown, FREE. MARK IRVIN, (acoustic) 7-9:20 p.m., Soaring Wings, FREE. GARFAN, MALNACK, (rock) 9 p.m., Stir Live, $5.

SOUL DAWG, (cover) 9 p.m., Tropics, FREE. THE PERSONICS, (cover) 9:30 p.m., Two Fine Irishmen,

FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS DIM LIGHT, CONDUITS, OLD CANES, THE BLACK

ATLANTIC, (rock) 9 p.m., Waiting Room, $7.

THE SLANGS, (cover) Whiskey Roadhouse, FREE. LIL SLIM, (blues) 5 p.m., Zoo Bar. KRIS LAGER, (blues/rock) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar, $6.

SATURDAY 16

ANNA VOGELZANG, DAVID PAULSEN, (singer-songwriter)

8 p.m., 13th St. Coffee, FREE. GREG K, ROB BEATZ, (DJ) 9 p.m., 415, $5.

LEMON FRESH DAY, (cover) 9 p.m., Arena, $5.

LEGACY, (cover) 9 p.m., The Attic, $5.

READER RECOMMENDS ROCK PAPER DYNAMITE, SFS, CASS BROSTAD, (rock) 9

p.m., Barley St. Tavern, $5.

VITAL SIGNS, (cover) 9:30 p.m., Billy Froggs South, FREE. ELLIS ISLAND, (celtic) Brazen Head.

HARD ATTACK, (cover) 9:30 p.m., Chrome, FREE. PRANXTER, (cover) 9 p.m., The Corner Bar. BRENT CRAMPTON, (DJ) 9 p.m., Crave.

ACOUSTIC MUSIC CONCERT SERIES, 8 p.m., Crescent

Moon Coffee.

MARK MANDEVILLE, RAIANNE RICHARDS, (singer songwriter) 8 p.m., Cultiva Cafe, $5.

NIGHT SHAKERS TRIO, (jazz) 7 p.m., Jazz Louisiana

Kitchen.

HI-FI HANGOVER, (cover) 9 p.m., Loose Moose, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS AFRICAN SHOW W/ AFRICAN CULTURE CONNECTION, AFRICAN BANDS, (world/culture) 2 p.m., Milo Bail UNO, $15.

CONSPIRACY THEORY, (cover) 8:30 p.m., Ozone, FREE. EDIE CAREY, (singer-songwriter) 8 p.m., Pizza Shoppe

Collective, $15.

THE SLANGS, D*FUNK, (cover) 9 p.m., red9.

GRAND THEFT GIRLFRIEND, (cover) 9:30 p.m., Reef, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS MIDWEST DILEMMA, NICK JAINA, SARAH BENCK, DOWN

WITH THE SHIP, (indie/folk) 9 p.m., Slowdown, $5.

DIRTFEDD, THE CLINCHER, WRECKING DAY, FURIOUSITY,

MIDNIGHT MASSACRE, (metal) 6 p.m., Sokol

Underground, $11/adv, $15/dos.

PERSONICS, (cover) 9:30 p.m., Two Fine Irishmen, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS THE WALKMEN, JAPANDROIDS, (rock) 9 p.m., Waiting

Room, $13.

SHURTHING!, (cover) 9 p.m., Whiskey Roadhouse, FREE. KRIS LAGER, (blues/rock) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar, $6.

SUNDAY 17

SUNDAY GOLD W/ GREG K, (DJ) 9 p.m., 415, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS LUCERO, THE KILLIGANS, BRAD HOSHAW & THE SEVEN

DEADLIES, (rock) 9 p.m., Bourbon, $15/adv, $17/dos.

STEPHENS GREEN, (celtic) Brazen Head.

SHERIDAN BREAKDOWN, AM REVIVAL, DAMNIT DOLLS,

GLOVES, (pop/punk) 8 p.m., Duffy’s.

AM REVIVAL, DAMNIT DOLLS, GLOVES, LUMINOSO

LASHKAR, (indie/rock) 9 p.m., Duffy’s.

SW IOWA MEN & WOMEN’S CONCERT, 3 p.m., IWCC Arts

Center, FREE. SWAMPJAM, (blues) 3 p.m., Millard VFW, FREE. OPERA FOR THE CURE, 2 p.m., Orpheum Theater, $19-$79.

THE NEBRASKA BRASS, 3 p.m., Our Saviour’s Lutheran.

THE MATT COX BAND, (folk/blues) 9 p.m., Pizza Shoppe

Collective, FREE. CARRIE UNDERWOOD, BILLY CURRINGTON, SONS OF

SYLVIA, (country) 7:30 p.m., Qwest Center, $33.50-

$53.50.

TIM KOEHN, 2-5 p.m., Soaring Wings Vineyd, FREE. AFTON LIVE, (rock) 6:30 p.m., Sokol Underground, $10.

MONDAY 18

SOUP AND SONG W/ KYLE & ANDY, (singer-songwriter) 8

p.m., Barley St. Tavern, FREE. THE EMOTRON, TWO BLACK CATS, MOSE GIGANTICUS,

GREEN TREES, (rock) 7 p.m., Clawfoot House, $5.

MIKE GURCIULLO AND HIS LAS VEGAS LAB BAND, (jazz)

6:30 p.m., Ozone, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS BANDS, BOOZE AND BBQ W/ MATT COX, THE WILLARDS,

24 HOUR CARDLOCK, (blues/rock) 8 p.m., Waiting

Room, $15.

PIANO HAPPY HOUR, 5 p.m., Zoo Bar, FREE. Z-JAM OPEN STAGE, (blues/rock) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar.

TUESDAY 19

VIC NASTY, (DJ) 9 p.m., 415, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS THE MIGRANT, TENDERNESS WILDERNESS, ALL YOUNG GIRLS ARE MACHINE GUNS, CHAD WALLEN, (singer songwriter/rock) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern, $5.

TIM KOEHN ACOUSTIC JAM, (blues) 7 p.m., Louis, FREE. JONATHAN FRIEDMAN, (acoustic) 6:30 p.m., Ozone, FREE. CHRIS SAUB, (acoustic) 8 p.m., The Phoenix, FREE. JAZZOCRACY, (jazz) 6 p.m., Zoo Bar, FREE. TROUBADOUR TUESDAY W/ ANDY BUTLER, PATRICK

BRADLEY, SAS, JAKE GARDNER, (blues) 10 p.m., Zoo

Bar, $4.

Wednesday 20

LUKE KRANCE, BEHRANG, (DJ) 9 p.m., 415, FREE. OTT, EMANCIPATOR, BASSTHOVEN, (electronic/DJ) 8

p.m., Bourbon, $12/adv, $15/dos.

THE TURFMEN, (celtic) 7 p.m., Brazen Head.

GREEN TREES, CARROT CARROT, PROFESSOR PLUM,

(indie/rock/folk) 9 p.m., Duffy’s.

UPCOMING SHOWS

OPEN MIKE NIGHT W/ THE LUTHER JAMES BAND, 6 p.m.,

Gator Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Malleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, FREE. STEVE LOVETT, (blues) 6 p.m., Jazz Louisiana Kitchen.

PEELANDER-Z, (pop/punk) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers.

JOHNNY REEF SHIPWRECK, (blues) 8:30 p.m., Library.

CHRIS SAUB, BOZAK AND MORRISSEY, (variety) 6:30

p.m., Ozone, FREE. WE ARE COUNTRY MICE, ARTILLERY FUNK, HOLIDAY

SHORES, (experimental) 9 p.m., Slowdown, $8.

The Walkmen

READER RECOMMENDS DRUHA TRAVA, SOUTHPAW BLUEGRASS BAND, (acoustic/

bluegrass) 8 p.m., Waiting Room, $10.

MICHAEL BURKS, (blues) 6 p.m., Zoo Bar. GWYNETH AND MONKO, ACOUSTICA, (Americana) 10

p.m., Zoo Bar, $5.

10/15

'ARFAN !.$

-ALNACK

VENUES

Ameristar Casino, 2200 River Rd., Council Bluffs, ameristar.com Arena Bar & Grill, 3809 N. 90th St., 571.2310, arenaomaha.com BarFly, 707 N. 114th St., 504.4811 Barley Street Tavern, 2735 N. 62nd St., 554.5834, barleystreet.com Bourbon Theatre, 1415 O St., Lincoln, 730.5695 Downtown Blues, 1512 Howard St., 345.0180 Duffyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tavern, 1412 O St., Lincoln, 474.3453, myspace.com/duffystavern The Hideout, 302 S. 72nd St. The Hole, 712 S. 16th St., 342.4457 Knickerbockerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, 901 O St., Lincoln, 476.6865, knickerbockers.net LIV Lounge, 2279 S. 67th St., 884.5410, livlounge.com Louis Bar and Grill, 5702 NW Radial Hwy., 551.5993 McKennaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Blues, Booze & BBQ, 7425 Pacific St., 393.7427, mckennasbbq.com New Lift Lounge, 4737 S. 96th St., 339.7170 Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Leaverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pub, 1322 S. Saddle Creek Rd., 556.1238, myspace.com/oleaverspub Ozone Lounge at Anthonyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Steakhouse, 72nd and F, 331.7575, ozoneclubomaha.com.

Pizza Shoppe Collective, 6056 Maple St., 556.9090, pscollective.com Qwest Center, 455 N. 10th St., qwestcenteromaha.com Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St., 345.7569, theslowdown.com Sokol Hall, 2234 S. 13th St., 346.9802, sokolundergound.com The Sydney, 5918 Maple St., 932.9262, thesydneybenson.com Stir, 1 Harrahs Blvd., Council Bluffs, harrahs. com Venue 162, 162 W. Broadway, Council Bluffs, 712.256.7768, myspace.com/venue162 Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St., 884.5353, waitingroomlounge.com Whiskey Roadhouse, Horseshoe Casino, 2701 32nd Ave., Council Bluffs, whiskeyroadhouse.com Zoo Bar, 136 N.14th St., Lincoln, zoobar.com

is a rock band formed in New York in 2000. In the late â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;90s, the guys constructed an analogue recording studio in an abandoned Nash Rambler factory in west Harlem, where they selfrecorded their first album, Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone.

saTurday, 10/16/10 9:00PM @ The WaiTing rooM

THE WALKMEN

SPOtlIGHt SHOW

w/ Japandroids & Tennis

10/16 !# $# 4RIBUTE

10/22 ,UCAS (ITCH "AND

Thursday, 10/14/10 8:00PM @ sokol audiToriuM

SWITCHFOOT w/ The Almost

Thursday, 10/14/10 7:30PM @ The WaiTing rooM

CHUCK PROPHET

Thursday, 10/14/10 10:00PM @ The WaiTing rooM

GUNKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MONSTER BALL w/ Kobrakyle & $pencelove

#OLD 3TEEL

!.$ 10/23 #OLD 3WEAT

2OCK 0APER 10/29 $YNAMITE

3ON OF AND 10/30 THE 7ATCHMEN

Friday, 10/15/10 9:00PM @ The WaiTing rooM

sunday, 10/17/10 9:00PM @ BourBon TheaTer - 18+

w/ Conduits, Old Canes & The Black Atlantic

w/ The Killigans & Brad Hoshaw

LUCERO

BOOZE, BANDS & BBQ

Wednesday, 10/20/10 8:00PM @ The WaiTing rooM

Thursday, 10/21/10 9:00PM @ The WaiTing rooM

Friday, 10/22/10 8:00PM @ sokol audiToriuM

w/ Eli â&#x20AC;&#x153;Paperboyâ&#x20AC;? Reed & The True Loves

w/ White Denim

w/ Janelle Monae

DIM LIGHT

DRUHA TRAVA

#!3( #/6%2 /. !,, 3(/73

\

$//23 !4 0- 3(/73 !4 0-

FOLLOW US -UST BE YEARS OR OLDER TO GAMBLE +NOW 7HEN TO 3TOP "EFORE 9OU 3TARTÂ&#x161; 'AMBLING 0ROBLEM #ALL "%43 /&& )OWA OR .ATIONAL ÂĽ (ARRAHgS ,ICENSE #OMPANY ,,#

Monday, 10/18/10 6:00PM @ The WaiTing rooM

PORTUGAL. THE MAN

10/22/10 THE MATADOR 10/23/10 ZOMBIE WALK & ZOMBIE HOP! 10/23/10 AVI BUFFALO 10/24/10 MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK 10/24/10 CATTLE DECAPITATION 10/25/10 DR. DOG 10/26/10 THE WOOD BROTHERS 10/26/10 WYE OAK 10/26/10 GOOD OLD WAR 10/27/10 AN EVENING WITH GAELIC STORM 10/28/10 SENSES FAIL

OF MONTREAL

10/28/10 BLACK VEIL BRIDES 10/28/10 DEER TICK 10/28/10 SATCHEL GRANDE 10/30/10 SECRET WEAPON 10/30/10 jOAN OF ARC 10/31/10 MAE 11/01/10 DANIELLE ATE THE SANDWICH 11/02/10 DOOMTREE 11/02/10 ALL TIME LOW 11/03/10 AZURE RAY 11/04/10 GHOSTFACE KILLAH

More Information and Tickets Available at

WWW.ONEPERCENTPRODUCTIONS.COM music listings

| THE READER |

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

37

38

OCT. 14 - 20 , 2010

| THE READER |

film

Deanlovestv “Law & Order: Los Angeles” Wednesdays, 9 p.m., NBC. The only reason for “Law & Order” to open up an

L.A. franchise is to leech off La La Land glamour. The series still uses those two clanging eighth notes at transition points to signify high seriousness, but in between we get Lindsay Lohan look-alikes, tawdry stage mothers, bratty socialites, high-end salons, glittering clubs, designer drugs and tiresome name-dropping (Avalon, Chin Chin, etc.).

It’s sad to see the series become less interested in Law & Order than Beverly & Hills..

— Dean Robbins

r e v i e w s ,

p r e v i e w s ,

s c o r e c a r d ,

f i l m

n e w s

Next Stop, Glue Factory Secretariat is a lame horse movie

by Ryan Syrek

A

a subtle and dramatic moment. Laughter probably wasn’t the response director Randall Wallace wanted during that scene and the following funeral, but he’s going to have to get used to disappointment.

Because her father (Scott Glenn) has dementia — again, probably not supposed to be funny, but it is — Penny takes over the family’s farm and horse operation, aided only by kindly caretaker Miss Ham (Margo Martindale) and Eddie Sweat (Nelsan Ellis), who we’re told “can hear horses’ thoughts through his hands.” Yeppers, that’s an actual line of dialogue.

lthough directed at no specific group, Secretariat may represent some form of hate crime. As unintentionally hilarious as The Happening, as hideously filmed as a flip-camera video taken on a roller coaster ride in the dark, as horribly acted as a community theater musical starring meth addicts, any compliment the film is given is a lie told by a lying liar.

If screenwriter Mike Rich hadn’t secretariat already punched his reservation for eternal hellfire and damnation after his last script, besmirching Jesus’ origins with The Nativity Story, Secretariat would have guaranteed him a seat on that southbound train. Such awful things were done to words that someone should make the English language point on a doll to show where the bad man touched it.

The relentless torrent of stupidity begins with an unintelligible and confusing quotation that may have been from the bible, presumably selected because someone noticed it had the word horse in it.

We’re introduced to Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) as she drops a bowl with food in it at the shock of hearing her mother has died because that’s this film’s idea of

Film Streams at the Ruth Sokolof Theater 14th & Mike Fahey Street (formerly Webster Street)

Facebook & Twitter: /filmstreams

m o r e

cuttingroom

Although her husband (Dylan Walsh) and brother (Dylan Baker) want to sell the estate, Penny refuses and hires trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich) immediately after she acquires the titular horse. Then said horse runs really fast and wins a whole lot of stuff while a bunch of humans pat themselves on the back and speak like they live inside a Hallmark card.

Although every character in the movie directly states that Penny is spunky and fiery, as if saying it makes it so, Lane strikes with all the fury of a wet cotton ball, barely raising her butterfly voice and mostly looking constipated. If Lane’s family loves her, they’ll never speak of this performance again.

Malkovich tries hard, seemingly just satisfied he’s not starring in Eragon 2.

Secretariat manages to do nothing right. Absolutely nothing. It does not paint a compelling portrait of the horse or its owner, it fails to provide context for the remarkable achievements, it half-asses the inclusion of social and political movements of the late ’60s and ’70s and it simply shouldn’t exist. If you want to know more about Secretariat, read a book or use the Internet. If you want to savor all the enjoyment of a car crash without the lasting bodily harm, you’ve been appropriately warned. If they euthanize lame racehorses, one can only imagine what they should do with this movie. ,

GRADE: F

n Having raised the roof, or at least shown films on it, over the summer, CinemaOmaha is now sponsoring “The Archives @ Polyester,” which may sound like filing newspaper clippings in your pant pockets but is really a film series. For a $5 donation (which includes popcorn), Friday nights at Polyester Gallery (1618 Harney St.) at 8:15 p.m., the gang will screen some rare flicks, including Kafka on Nov. 6, which is my favorite Steven Soderbergh movie (suck it, Erin Brockovich apologists). For more information, including a list of upcoming films, hit up cinemaomaha.org or, if you’re afraid of the Internet, ask strangers for information until you find one who knows something. n You haven’t lived until you’ve watched Raiders of the Lost Ark in a theater while drinking whiskey. I mean, technically you’ve lived, but you’ve been doing it wrong.

Thankfully, Marcus Midtown Cinema is here to help with their cleverly titled “Film at 11” series. Friday nights at 11 p.m. (a’duh) from now until Nov. 5, the theater will show such classics as the aforementioned whip enthusiast movie, Napoleon Dynamite, Ghostbusters and Back to the Future. Admission is just $1.94, and late night food and drink specials are also involved. I would love to make those specials tie in to the movies, like “Marty-tinis” for Back to the Future. What? I thought that was clever. n It never ends: They’re making a movie of “Family Circus.” That’s right, they’re making an entire film of the single-panel, joyless, laughless comic strip described classically in the movie Go as “just sitting there, waiting to suck.” The only thing Hollywood hasn’t optioned is this doodle I drew on a napkin during a business meeting, but it has a meeting with an agent on Friday.

— Ryan Syrek Cutting Room provides breaking local and national movie news … complete with added sarcasm. Send any relevant information to film@thereader.com. Check out Ryan on the radio on CD 105.9 (Fridays at around 7:30 a.m.), on his blog at Cuttingroomfloor.thereader.com and on Twitter (twitter.com/thereaderfilm).

This Week Jack Goes Boating First-Run (R)

Director Eric Byler In Person

Directed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

9500 Liberty

Friday, October 15 - Thursday, October 28

One show only! Saturday, October 16, 12pm

“Genuinely inspiring.”

—Portland Oregonian

Howl First-Run

More info & showtimes 402.933.0259 · filmstreams.org

a n d

Featuring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg, with John Hamm, Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker, David Strathairn, and Bob Balaban.

Through Thursday, October 21

“A compelling glimpse of a community and, by extension, a country, in the throes of change.” —Dallas Morning News

The Adventures of Prince Achmed 1926

Coming Soon

Farewell (L’affaire Farewell) Directed by Christian Carion.

Friday, October 22 - Thursday, October 28

“An extraordinary but little-known episode in international espionage...

Like any good thriller, this is the story of deceptions within deceptions. It’s juicy, fascinating stuff.” —Todd McCarthy, Variety

Oct 16 - 28 (Saturdays, Sundays, Thursdays)

“A rapturous animated kaleidoscope!”

—San Francisco Examiner

film

| THE READER |

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

39

film

MONEY MAKERS

COURTESY BOXOFFICEMOJO.COM

TOP FIVE HIGHEST-GROSSING MOVIES OF THE WEEKEND (Oct. 8-10) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

The Social Netowrk

$15,500,000

Life as We Know It $14,635,000 Secretariat

$12, 600,000 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole $ 7,015,000 My Soul to Take

$ 6,919,000

reportcard

THE Human centipede

FILM

READER RATING

Easy A

A-

Emma Stone more than makes the grade … she makes me swoon.

Iron Man 2

B

Not quite equal to the platinum-plated original, but I’ll settle for silver.

Legend of the Guardians

C+

Hey kids, want to fear death by bird?

Let Me In

B

A horror remake with class? Now that’s scary.

READER RECOMMENDS

The Social Network

B+

No one can deny the brilliance of Sorkin’s script … well, maybe Mark Zuckerberg can.

The Town

A

Ben Affleck proves he’s got directorial game to go with that butt chin.

ATM Deposit The Human Centipede banks on people loving gross stuff

by Ben Coffman

I

t’s 2010, which means everyone with a modem has stumbled across a video they wish they hadn’t seen, a movie depicting an act so vile that we thought they were urban legend; we couldn’t believe people actually did that — until we watched it. Our collective innocence fled sometime between the viral videos “Two Girls One Cup” and “Man Beaten to Death With Hammer.” Horror movie plotting is almost impossible when your audience has seen it all, and that’s how we find ourselves watching movies like The Human Centipede, a film based on a concept that would’ve grossed out serial killer Ed Gein.

The film begins with the twisted Dr. Heiter (played by the awesomely named Dieter Laser) hunting for his next victim. Dr. Heiter is a worldrenowned German surgeon who specialized in separating conjoined twins before retiring to follow his ironic dreams. Unfortunately for everyone within arm’s reach, Pompano Beach and

40

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

| THE READER |

film

crossword puzzles were too passé for Dr. Heiter, who instead prefers to spend his golden years sewing animals together, in an anus-to-mouth (ATM) fashion, to create a centipede-like creature that shares a single digestive tract. Opportunity came a’ knocking one evening when generic American tourists Lindsay (Ashley C. Williams) and Jenny (Ashlynn Yennie) get lost in the woods in their rental car and suffer a flat tire.

Although Centipede sounds like it should be the cinematic equivalent of a G.G. Allin concert, the film shows some restraint. Director Tom Six spares us most of the gore and scat, leaving out the grossest parts of his film in an attempt to elevate torture porn to new, surgical, levels. But let’s not kid ourselves, this film is loaded with enough muffled screams to remind us that no matter the aesthetic intent, we’re still watching torture porn.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

C+

Greed is good, but apparently not great. .

The Human Centipede’s best parts are its germ of an idea (which may not have been imagined to its full horror potential) and its villain, who looks like an evil, rail-thin version of either Statler or Waldorf, the elderly heckling Muppets. He was such a fantastic character that I wouldn’t mind seeing more of him, maybe cast in a reality show or traveling the world filming a travel documentary.

Laser’s frothing and hand-flapping performance, which gets more amusing with multiple viewings, adds a surprising black comedy element to The Human Centipede. His “victory dance” (found in one of the DVD’s deleted scenes) is required viewing — all of the other DVD extras (including Six’s vapid commentary) can be skipped.

Whereas Hostel may have made viewers concerned about budget European housing, Centipede is too wacky, too far out to allow someone to be legitimately scared about being sewn ATM with their best friend. If you choose to rent this 21st century version of Frankenstein, remember two things: Netflix was made so that you can avoid the thinly veiled disgust of a Blockbuster employee during in-person rentals. And plan your viewing day accordingly: don’t bother loading the slow cooker with chili that morning. ,

GRADE: B-

sports area college athletic team news and profiles and other sporting information with the jump

Messin’ With Texas

by Mike Babcock

O

nce upon a time (actually, not all that long ago), the Nebraska football team enjoyed such respect.

Season after season, the Cornhuskers were in the national title conversation.

They’re back in that conversation following a 48-13 victory at Kansas State, televised nationally last Thursday night by ESPN, and coupled with South Carolina’s 35-21 Saturday upset of Alabama; the latter was the defending national champion and ranked No. 1 in both major polls.

Nebraska moved up to No. 5 in this week’s Associated Press media poll and No. 4 in the coaches’ poll, where it even received two first place votes. The last time the Cornhuskers were ranked as high as fourth was prior to the 2002 Rose Bowl game against No. 1-ranked Miami.

They lost that game 37-14 and continued a slide from national prominence.

In any case, they’re again title contenders in coach Bo Pelini’s third season.

“I don’t put much stock in where we’re ranked,” Pelini says. “It’s pretty irrelevant to me because I also understand we have a lot to fix right now. We’ve got a lot of things we need to do to get better as a football team. If that continues, I think we’ll like the results.

“If it doesn’t, you can get humbled really quick in this game.”

The Huskers are well positioned, though, right?

“You know, I don’t really know,” says Pelini. “There’s a lot of undefeated teams. There’s a lot of things going on.

Like I said, I really don’t even pay attention to all that stuff, that stuff that’s out of our control. If we win a lot of football games, a lot of things will happen for us.”

thejump n Aside from a reliable supplier of detachable collars, Nucky Thompson’s got nothing on me when it comes to swaying the vote.

How else to explain the fact my three choices for the new Omaha Royals team name are among the nine finalists still in the running? Simple luck? Probably.

Judging by some of the online comments, people are really pulling for the Royals after seeing the list of alternatives. I’ll admit there are some bad ones in there. Anything that’s not plural (Force, Hail Storm) should be avoided at all costs, but I still maintain that history and regional specificity are our best guides.

Initially my vote went like this: Cattlemen, Sodbusters, Omahogs. Sodbusters is my new top choice. A Twitter colleague called it laughable but, other than being on opposite ends of the harvest spectrum, I fail to see the difference between Sodbusters and Cornhuskers. People seem to like the latter. I can already picture the awesome ox-drawn plow logo in my head.

You know what to do readers. Go to oroyals.com, vote early and vote often. I can’t ply you with cartons of cigarettes and bathtubs full of gin or make your enemies disappear, but I will be grateful. A vote for Sodbusters is a vote for Nebraska.

A victory in the next game would solidify Nebraska’s position. The opponent is Texas, and though the Longhorns, who lost to Alabama in last season’s BCS title game, dropped out of the rankings because of back-to-back losses, they’ll provide a formidable challenge.

They’ll also test Taylor Martinez, the Huskers’ redshirt freshman quarterback. Martinez has had a onceupon-a-time season to this point as well. His ability as a runner is reminiscent of Husker quarterbacks such as Tommie Frazier, Scott Frost and Eric Crouch.

Athletic Director Tom Osborne, who recruited those three, was asked the day after the Kansas State game if Martinez reminded him of any of them, or others.

“Everyone’s a little different, you know,” the Hall of Fame coach says. “I think Taylor and Crouch are similar in speed. But Taylor hits full speed probably faster than anybody I’ve ever seen. I think in three steps, he’s going full speed. And the thing that’s kind of amazing is that he clears the line of scrimmage and guys who would normally be tackled, he’s one step past that point.”

Oh yes, the Kansas State game also vaulted Martinez into Heisman Trophy candidacy, though no freshman, redshirt or not, has ever won college football’s most prestigious individual award.

“He’s pretty unique,” says Osborne. “But every game’s a new experiment, and every team’s going to try to stop him in different ways. And it’s not always going to be quite like it was last night.”

Texas is next up, and the Longhorns represent a less pleasant once-upon-a-time moment. Once upon a time as Big 12 rivals, Nebraska defeated Texas. But only once.

Since 1996, Nebraska’s record against the Longhorns is 1-8. , n It’ll be interesting to see where the Creighton men’s soccer team fits into the national rankings this week. The Jays beat fifth-ranked Tulsa Tuesday but fell to unranked Indiana 3-2 on Saturday. Given the Hoosiers reputation as a national powerhouse and the fact that Creighton played with 10 men for 55 minutes following a first half red card to star Jose Gomez, I’d be surprised if they fell from their previous ranking of 11th in the country. This season is starting to feel special. n Speaking of special, it’s too early after only two games to apply that label to UNO hockey but that’s exactly what they looked like while steamrolling to their fourth consecutive Mutual of Omaha Maverick Stampede title over the weekend.

The Mavs came from behind to beat the 18th-ranked Rochester Institute of Technology 5-3 Saturday. That win followed an 8-0 trouncing of Clarkson College Friday, who then went on to thoroughly dominate fourth-ranked St. Cloud State in their second game.

Beware WCHA. Dean Blais is coming back.

— Brandon Vogel The Jump takes you behind the local headlines. Email jump@thereader.com and look for daily updates at twitter.com/brandonlvogel.

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| THE READER |

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

51

news

of the

t h e w o r l d g o n e f r e a k y w i t h i l l u s t r a t i o n s

weird b y c h u c k b y t o m

s h e p h e r d b r i s c o e

Dirty Dining E dible “dirt” has recently appeared on the menus of several of the world’s most renowned restaurants (e.g., the top-rated Noma in Copenhagen, Shakuf in Tel Aviv, Gilt in New York City). “People are really wowed to see dirt on their plates,” said Gilt’s head chef.

Actually, the “dirt” only looks and feels like dirt. Each chef creates signature tastes from dried or charred powders with the appearance and consistency of sand, soil or ash — from a base of plants, vegetables, eggs or even dried beer.

Says a reviewer, “These chefs are reminding people where food actually comes from.”

Can’t Possibly Be True

Until August, Nettleton Middle School near Tupelo, Miss., had a strict policy for election of class officers for 6th-, 7th- and 8th-graders: Only white students could be president, and only black students could be vice president. Other officers were segregated by race, as well. Officials explained that it was one way to assure black representation even though three-fourths of the students are white. A school memo was leaked to The Smoking Gun website in August, and a day later the school district rescinded the policy.

— After two Mexican fishermen were dragged from their boats and “chewed so badly that their bodies could not be identified by

Thanks for Listening!

Chicago Symphony Orchestra • Mondays 8 PM Live at the Concertgebouw • Tuesdays 8 PM Modern Classics • Fridays 6pm Chamber Music at Lincoln Center • Saturdays 7 AM KVNO NEWS Classical Guitar Alive Monday through Friday • Sundays 10 AM 6, 7, 8am, 4, 5pm Composer Spotlight Arts @ 8:30am • Sundays 11 AM Going Beyond Words • Sundays Noon 10/15, 7:07pm From The Top UNO Hockey at Minnesota • Sundays 5 PM 10/16, 1pm New York Philharmonic UNO Football vs. Fort Hayes • Sundays 6 PM

WWW.KVNO.ORG

WWW.UNOMAVRADIO.COM

42

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

| THE READER |

news of the weird

their own families,” according to a Daily Express review of an August British TV documentary, warnings were issued along the Pacific coast about the northern migration of Humboldt squid. They grow to 8-feet-long, weigh up to 100 pounds, travel up to 15 mph, have eight swim/hold tentacles and two “attack” tentacles that are studded with 40,000 or more razor-sharp “teeth”-like nubs that help each devour almost seven tons of fish a year. Furthermore, female Humboldts are capable of laying 30 million eggs.

It’s Good to Be a British Criminal (continued)

Briton Tania Doherty believed in 2008 that she was finally rid of ex-boyfriend Kawa ali Azad, who stalked and assaulted her (once beating her unconscious) after she ended their affair in 2006. Azad had been arrested and ordered deported to his native Iraq, but when Iraq refused to take him, he applied to stay in Britain and, pending an immigration decision, was released by a judge sensitive to the “human rights” of someone seeking international “asylum.” Azad immediately resumed harassing Doherty.

— Notorious killer Jon Venables, convicted in 1993 at age 11 of the torture-murder of a 2year-old Merseyside boy, was held until age 18 continued on page 44 y

Vitals

The Nest Lounge

2638 S 158th Plaza Omaha, NE 68130 (402) 330-4855 Year Established: 2002 Signature Drink: Absolut Peppar Bloody Mary Seasonal Highlight: Shriner’s car show

I

n west Omaha, where most things are new, it is fairly rare to come across a comfortable neighborhood lounge that has been around for any number of years.

The Nest Lounge, located on 158th and Center, is a rare gem.

The Nest Lounge has been at its current location for approximately 32 years.

Owners, Dave Podany and John Healey, purchased the bar 8 years ago. They have created a fun and welcoming environment that has yielded a loyal clientele, and become a favorite watering hole for many.

The Nest Lounge is small enough to

be considered cozy, yet large enough to accommodate groups and parties.

The lounge chairs and bar stools are exceptionally comfortable, and encourage guests to kick-back, relax, and stay for a while. Regulars of the bar boast that the place has one of the best juke box selections in town. They’ve got dart boards, big screen T.V.’s, NHL Center Ice for hockey fans, and offer a great place to watch Nebraska football games. The outdoor patio offers one of the very best views in town. The front patio overlooks the city to the east, and is a fantastic spot to sit and enjoy a

drink in the warmer months.

The owners and staff at The Nest Lounge like to have a good time, and work hard to ensure that their guests have a positive experience every time they visit. There are a number of specials and events throughout the year, and nightly drink specials as well. Some of the nightly specials include: $1.00 Mondays, $2.00 Tuesdays, $5.00 pitchers on Sundays, and various shot specials on the weekends.

More information about The Nest Lounge can be found on Facebook, or at www. thenestlounge.com.

| THE READER |

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

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news of the weird y continued from page 42

then released on conditions and with a new identity to protect him from harassment. In July 2010, after violating the conditions, Venables was sentenced to two years in jail for possessing and exchanging “violent” child pornography. According to a Daily Telegraph report, the Ministry of Justice has accepted that it will have to supply Venables yet another new identity upon his eventual release, with set-up likely to cost the equivalent of almost $400,000 and security to run the equivalent of an additional $1.6 million a year).

Unclear on the Concept

Police in New Albany, Ind., arrested two alleged counterfeiters in August but believed that a much bigger operation was in play. Subsequently, the Indiana State Police made a public plea for informants, focusing on the people most likely to be cheated by counterfeit money: local drug dealers.

“What we are asking today,” says ISP Sgt. Jerry Goodin, “is we want all the drug dealers to call us.

We want to get all of your information and exactly what happened in (any of your dealings).” Goodin added, “Trust us.”

— In June, Raytown, Mo., farmer David Jungerman mounted a sign on a tractor-trailer denouncing “parasites” who “always have their hand out for whatever the government will give them.” Following news reports about the sign, the Kansas City Star reported that Jungerman himself received more than $1 million in federal crop subsidies since 1995. He later explained that a “parasite” pays no taxes at all yet seeks handouts. By contrast, Jungerman says, he pays taxes.

— The administrative staff for Queen Elizabeth II, running a budget shortfall in 2004 (according to recently released documents), asked the

c o n t i n u e d

governing Labour Party if the royal family’s palaces could qualify for government home-heating subsidies. The documents, obtained by London’s The Independent, indicated that the Labour Party was initially receptive but then rejected the idea.

— Playboy magazine has long published an audio edition, and the Library of Congress produces a text edition in Braille. However, as a Houston Chronicle reporter learned in August, a Texas organization (Taping for the Blind) goes one step further, with volunteer reader Suzi Hanks actually describing the photographs — even the Playmates and other nudes.

“I’d say if she has large breasts or small breasts, piercings or tattoos,” says Hanks.

“I’ll describe her genitalia. I take my time describing the girls. Hey, blind guys like pretty, naked girls, too!”

Update

America’s most prolific litigant may finally have met his match. In September, federal prosecutors asked a judge in Kentucky to supervise Jonathan Lee Riches’ future filings to eliminate the frivolous ones (which likely means all of them). Riches is serving 10 years in prison for stealing credit card numbers and has filed an estimated 3,800 lawsuits from behind bars (more than one for every day of incarceration), alleging wrongs done to him by such people as George W. Bush, Britney Spears, the philosopher Plato, the Dave Matthews Band, Tiger Woods (luggage theft), baseball player Barry Bonds (illegal moonshine) and football player Michael Vick (who allegedly stole Riches’ pit bulls, sold them on eBay, and used the proceeds to buy missiles from Iran). , COPYRIGHT 2010 CHUCK SHEPHERD. Visit Chuck Shepherd daily at NewsoftheWeird.blogspot.com or NewsoftheWeird.com. Send Weird News to WeirdNewsTips@yahoo.com or P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, FL 33679. Illustrations by Tom Briscoe (smallworldcomics.com).

>7FFO >EKH

Mon thru Fri 2-7 try our WorLD FAMouS Bloody Marys 4556 Leavenworth st. • 402-551-4850 44

Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

| THE READER |

news of the weird

CREIGHTON Welcome to Our House!

WOMEN’S SOCCER u Thursday, Oct. 14 @ 7 p.m.

Creighton vs. Drake u Saturday, Oct. 16 @ 1 p.m.

Creighton vs. Cal State Bakersfield

Dress to impress this Halloween season!

Choose from thousands of professionally-crafted, affordable costumes at Rose Costume Rental.

Standard Hours: Mon, Wed, Fri...1-5 pm Halloween Hours (Starting Oct. 23): Sat-Sun ........1-4 pm Mon-Fri...1-8 pm Halloween ...1-4 pm 2001 Farnam Street

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Please enter through the main lobby.

Women’s soccer home games played at Morrison Stadium (19th & California St.)

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Ifmq!ublf!ipnfmftt!ljet! pgg!uif!tusffut!cfgpsf! tpnfuijoh!fmtf!epft Donate to Youth Emergency Services.

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| THE READER |

OCT. 14 - 20 , 2010

45

planetpower w ee k l y

L

h oroscopes

ast week of Libra. Pick your partners and partnerships. Cultivate the passion you’ll need to fuel you through the autumn/winter scene. The full moon in Aries is Friday, Oct. 22, initiating the Night of the Year. Fire up the hearse and start something. The female (full moon in Aries) will be the key. Where’s the lock gonna be? Your turn. There are no mistakes.

Peace and love shall conquer all.

— MOJOPOPlanetPower.com g LIBRA (9.23-10.22) Responsibilities have weighed heavy on your heart and harmony. The antidote is available Friday, Oct. 15, after 9:24 a.m. through early Wednesday, Oct. 20, finalizing with lunar Jupiter/Uranus conjunctions.

Next Thursday, Oct. 21, the moon in Aries opposes Saturn at dawn culminating Friday with the full moon on the last day of Libra at sunset. Watch out for that fiery redheaded comet surprizin’ across your horizon. h SCORPIO (10.23-11.22) First, you’re a week away. Next Wednesday, Oct. 20, at sunset is the precursor to your next two months and beyond. You’ll be reborn on Christmas when the sun conjuncts Pluto at 5 degrees Capricorn. Sounds like a BIG payday under the tree for thee. i SAGITTARIUS (11.2312.21) I know you’re chomping at the bit — and you will be for another month. It’s strange.

You don’t understand. You are lost in a cloud of electric, neon, light blue and there’s no one you can talk to. You are on the cusp of change.

Out there on the range with Dr. Strange. Might as well take the month off and dream. Trust me. j CAPRICORN (12.22-1.20) You’re on a three-month voyage toward the harmony you seek. The foundation has just been set. The design is undeniably there, and you know it.

You’re just so used to someone else telling you what to do. It’s time (Saturn in Libra) to tune up and create your future. Where do you want to be three short months from now? k AQUARIUS (1.21-2.19) The moon enters your sign Friday, Oct. 15, at 9:24 a.m. where it stays through Sunday, Oct. 17, at sunset. Next Tuesday, your luck (Jupiter) stretches all the way through Wednesday, Oct. 20. Please read Sagittarius. You’re joined at the hip/thigh. How does the MOJO know? l PISCES (2.20-3.20) Sunday is your day to give it all away. It starts at 1:49 p.m. Omaha

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Oct. 14 - 20 , 2010

| THE READER |

planet power

b y

mo j opo

time as the moon in Aquarius conjuncts your esoteric ruler, Neptune, with a lunar/Chiron conjunction following an hour later. Time to cry for the good of humanity? The reasons we cry for sadness are the same reasons we cry for joy — once enlightenment softens the blow. a ARIES (3.21-4.20) How does it feel to be in charge? Yeah, power is an aphrodisiac. But time and maturity make voyeurs of us all. You need a vacation around Halloween. In November hit the road, study Socrates, write a book, compose a song, do a good deed for someone you don’t know and try not to eat yourself out of house, home and your jeans. All of November you trick-or-treat yourself into a monthlong Thanksgiving dinner. I prognosticate 4-8 pounds. How does the MOJO know? Grow bigger in your mind rather than in your behind. b TAURUS (4.21-5.20) Venus child running wild … let Venus come between us. Venus puts off more energy than it receives from the sun. How’s that for a definition of love? What comes after love (Libra)? Completion (Scorpio, your opposite).

Recognize it as your passion is reborn. c GEMINI (5.21-6.21) One more week to gear up. Decide whether to or not, define and design your relationship(s).

You need a platform to fuel your passion. Explode (!) after next week when you accept responsibility for your choices. “Cause it feels so good!” d CANCER (6.22-7.22) Next week starts the Night of Year with the full moon in Aries on the last day of Libra. Balance will be achieved. All growth of culture and civilization takes place in the Night. Start something Friday, Oct. 22! Red is your clue. e LEO (7.23-8.22) Your time of diplomacy is over in a week. If you’re not capable of changes during the coming sign of Scorpio, you must engage a Merlin, Beetlejuice, Brujo, Shaman, high-priest of Nature, Gandolf, Magician, counselor or any combination. That way, you can blame it all on people’s susceptibility? It’s Magique time in the King/Queendom. f VIRGO (8.23-9.22) Please read Gemini.

It affects your money, especially economic partners and partnerships. One more week to gamble and get it straight and then it’s time to shift your dependence back on your family — the people you can trust. ,

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| THE READER |

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