The Reader - July 2019

JU LY 2 0 1 9 | volUME 26 | ISSU E 5

ANNUAL

FOOD

ISSUE

Brian O’Malley, Director of Culinary Arts at Metropolitan Community College, Found His Calling After an Unsuccessful Attempt at Architecture PLUS:

Where Omaha’s Culinary Elite Go to Eat

by S ar a Lock e Photo by S table Gray

ART: SQUARING THE CIRCLE BACKBEAT: CAR SEAT HEADREST Dish: A CENTURY OF ORSI’S Film: IN SERVICE OF STREAMING / ‘TOY STORY 4’ ASKS WEIRD QUESTIONS Heartland Healing: FOOD OR NOT FOOD? THAT IS THE QUESTION HooDoo: HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME 25th: ‘FREEDOM AND CREATIVITY’ Theater: THE FRINGE OF IT ALL

Saturday, September 21, 2019 8 AM - 12:30 PM Old Market Farmers Market (10th/11th and Howard St.) Food Day brings us together to celebrate and enjoy real food and to push for improved food policies.

Enjoy interactive booths, kids’ activities, live music, the awards ceremony and more!

Food Day inspires Americans to change their diets and our food policies as we are united by a vision of food that is healthy, affordable, and produced with care for the environment, farm animals, and the people who grow, harvest, and serve it. Food Day is a day to resolve to make changes in our own diets and to take action to solve food-related problems in our communities at the local, state, and national level.

Awards Ceremony from 10:00 -10:30 AM Healthy food and healthy food policy is a growing movement in our community and to recognize the hard work and vision of those organizations and individuals leading the charge locally, we’ve created the Food Day Omaha Awards to celebrate our advocates in 6 areas: Producer of the Year ◆ Restaurant of the Year ◆ Retailer of the Year Nonprofit of the Year ◆ Food Day Champion ◆ Lifetime Achievement * For more information about sponsorship opportunities or reserving a booth, visit www.fooddayomaha.com

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publisher/editor....................John Heaston john@thereader.com graphic designers.....................Ken Guthrie, Sebastian Molina copy chief...................Michael Newgren mike@pioneermedia.me associate publisher.............Sal S. Robles sal@pioneermedia.me

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COVER: The Accidental Chef – Brian O’Malley of MCC

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FOOD ISSUE: Where Omaha’s Culinary Elite Go to Eat

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25th: ‘Freedom and Creativity’ (Frank Zappa & Genghis Khan, Too)

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS healing................Michael Braunstein info@heartlandhealing.com arts/visual.................Mike Krainak mixedmedia@thereader.com eat........................................... Sara Locke crumbs@thereader.com film..................................Ryan Syrek cuttingroom@thereader.com hoodoo..................... B.J. Huchtemann bjhuchtemann@gmail.com music..........................Houston Wiltsey backbeat@thereader.com over the edge...............Tim McMahan tim.mcmahan@gmail.com theater....................... Beaufield Berry coldcream@thereader.com

SALES & MARKETING ............................................Kati Falk kati@pioneermedia.me

DISTRIBUTION/DIGITAL ......................................... Clay Seaman clay@thereader.com

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DISH: A Century of Orsi’s

ART: Squaring the Circle

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PICKS: Cool Things To Do in July

ACCOUNT MANAGER ......................................... Tim Stokes tim@pioneermedia.me

OUR SISTER MEDIA CHANNELS

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THEATER: The Fringe of It All

HOODOO: Hot Fun – From Playing With Fire to ZooFest

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BACKBEAT: Live Music From the Concert Adverse: Car Seat Headrest

OUR DIGITAL MARKETING SERVICES

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Film: In Service of Streaming & ‘Toy Story 4’ Asks Weird Questions JULY 2019

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| THE READER |

heartland healing: Food or Not-Food CONTENTS

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OVER THE EDGE: Year of the Dog Proud to be Carbon Neutral

KIOS 91.5 FM in partnership with Joslyn Art Museum presents

An Evening with

Susan Stamberg Wednesday

September 25, 2019 7:00 p.m.

Joslyn Art Museum,

Witherspoon Concert Hall 2200 Dodge St., Omaha

Photo Credit: 2006 NPR by Antony Nagelmann

Nationally renowned broadcast journalist Susan Stamberg is a special correspondent for NPR. The first woman to anchor a national nightly news program, she has won every major award in broadcasting, and has been inducted into both the Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the Radio Hall of Fame. Stamberg has been on staff since the network began in 1971.

Well known for her conversational style, intelligence, and knack for finding an interesting story. Stamberg is one of the most popular broadcasters in public radio. “The closest thing to an enlightened humanist on the radio.�

E.L. Doctorow

Tickets on sale July 13, 2019 General admission

25

$

VIP Reception

50

$

(limited number available)

Information and tickets at

www.kios.org Celebrating 50 Years of Public Service Broadcasting

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August 15 September 19

October 24 November 14

1pm – 4pm For more info or booth rates contact: ClaySeaman@OmahaJobs.com

7300 Q Street • Ralston, NE

Omaha Jobs: Increase Your Productivity

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here’s a lot to be said for being productive – not just in the workplace, but in life.

Productive people get things done. They’re relied upon to do their fair share.

And if you’re job-hunting, it’s easy to miss great opportunities when you don’t actively produce results. Being productive helps you pursue those best-fitting jobs without hesitation or procrastination.

But if you’re generally unproductive and tend to put things off – or forget to do them altogether! – don’t worry. Here are some fairly painless changes to make you more productive.

And more competitive for those jobs you really want.

Know what must be done Sometimes, knowing what should be on your to-do list is half the battle. The other half, of course, is getting those tasks done.

Keep daily to-do lists clustered so you can view your full week. This lets you look ahead and get a jump on tasks. It also lets you to shuffle chores around if you can’t complete them on the day you planned.

When you complete a task, physically mark it off your list. This is especially gratifying, whether you mark through the task with a pen or click an icon to mark it “done.”

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| THE READER |

Allow yourself this small reward and enjoy watching your to-do list shrink.

Remain who you are Some people are productive early while others are their most productive later or at night.

It doesn’t matter what time of day you’re most effective.

What’s important is to take advantage of that time and don’t squander your natural productivity.

Pick a task, attack it with vigor and see it through to its completion before you start another.

If you simply can’t address one task for very long before you get bored and unproductive, set a timer. Work on your main task for a set time, then briefly switch to another task.

Don’t get so sucked into the second chore that you forget your original task. Put in just enough time to feel refreshed and ready to return to the original.

This period when you feel most productive will dictate what tasks you should complete. You probably won’t do a job interview at 10 p.m., even if that’s when you feel your best. But you can save important tasks for that timeframe.

Just get down to it

If you’re a night owl, spruce up your resume or write the list of people you’ll contact in the morning. Research the employers at an upcoming job fair. Successful job hunting is much more than just an interview.

Often, the task proves easier than you expected. That leaves you to wonder why you didn’t just sit down earlier.

Attack with vigor

If you want to be productive, you make it easier to be productive. As they say, “Fake it till you make it.” Or, in this instance, act productive until you are productive.

Some people are spectacular in their abilities to multi-task. But the average person should instead focus on one task at a time for the best results.

JOBS

Sometimes, you delay a task because you think it’s unpleasant or difficult. Tell yourself, “I will get this done today.” Then do it.

But even if the task drains you, when you mark it “done,” it’s that much more rewarding.

— Get to work!

ProKarma Jobs

ProKarma Jobs

ProKarma, Inc. has multiple openings SAP BW Analysts in Omaha, NE; may also work at various unanticipated locations throughout U.S. Roving position-employee’s worksite & residence may change based on business demands, but daily job duties don’t require travel. Analyze/design/develop/ test Business Intelligence structures & data models to fulfil business requirements for multiple industry verticals, utilizing SAP & other vendors analytic solutions, incl. SAP Business Warehouse (SAP BW), SAP HANA Native & SAP Business Objects (SAP BOBJ); analyze/design/develop the solution/test planning/coordinating system rollouts by using computer skill sets. Requires Master’s in CIS, IT, CS, Eng (any), or related technical/ analytical field + 1 yr. exp. in IT/Computer-related position, OR Bachelor’s in CIS, IT, CS, Eng (any), or related technical/analytical field + 5 yrs. exp. in IT/Computer-related position. To apply, email Resumes via email to: postings@prokarma.com w/Job Ref# SAP.

ProKarma, Inc. has multiple openings for Software Development Engineers in Test in Omaha, NE; may also work at various unanticipated locations throughout U.S. Roving position-employee’s worksite & residence may change based on business demands, but daily job duties don’t require travel.

Develop/modify/evaluate existing Automation & Performance scripts for SW apps; analyze user needs & utilize testing proc.; perform Integration/ Functional/Regression/UAT/End-to-End testing. Requires Master’s in CIS, IT, CS, Eng(any), or related technical/analytical field + 1yr exp. in IT/Computer-related position, OR Bachelor’s in CIS, IT, CS, Eng(any), or related technical/analytical field + 5yrs. exp. in IT/Computer-related position. To apply, email Resumes via email to: postings@prokarma.com w/Job Ref# SDET.

To apply, send resumes to: ProKarma, Attn: Jobs, 222 S 15th St., Ste 505N, Omaha, NE 68102 Or email: postings@prokarma.com

To apply, send resumes to: ProKarma, Attn: Jobs, 222 S 15th St., Ste 505N, Omaha, NE 68102 Or email: postings@prokarma.com

SAP BW Analyst

w/Job Ref# in subject line

Software Development Engineer in Test

w/Job Ref# in subject line

ProKarma Jobs

ProKarma Jobs

ProKarma, Inc. has multiple openings for Sr. Software Engineers in Omaha, NE; may also work at various unanticipated locations throughout U.S. Roving position-employee’s worksite & residence may change based on business demands, but daily job duties don’t require travel. Analyze user needs & modify/develop SW using computer skill sets; modify SW to correct errors/improve performance; develop/direct SW system testing & validation procedures/programming/documentation. Requires Master’s in CIS, IT, CS, Eng(any), or related technical/analytical field + 1yr exp. in IT/ Computer-related position, OR Bachelor’s in CIS, IT, CS, Eng(any), or related technical/analytical field + 5yrs. exp. in IT/Computerrelated position. To apply, email Resumes via email to: postings@ prokarma.com w/Job Ref# Senior Software Engr.

ProKarma, Inc. has multiple openings for Software Engineers in Omaha, NE; may also work at various unanticipated locations throughout U.S. Roving position-employee’s worksite & residence may change based on business demands, but daily job duties don’t require travel. Write/update/maintain computer programs by using various computer skill sets; modify existing SW to correct errors/ improve performance; develop/direct SW system testing & validation procedures/programming/documentation. Requires Bachelor’s degree or equiv. in CIS, IT, Tech. Mgmt., CS, Eng (any), or related technical/analytical field +2 yrs. rel. exp. To apply, email Resumes via email to: postings@prokarma.com w/Job Ref# Software Engr.

To apply, send resumes to: ProKarma, Attn: Jobs, 222 S 15th St., Ste 505N, Omaha, NE 68102 Or email: postings@prokarma.com

To apply, send resumes to: ProKarma, Attn: Jobs, 222 S 15th St., Ste 505N, Omaha, NE 68102 Or email: postings@prokarma.com

Senior Software Engineer

w/Job Ref# in subject line

Software Engineer

w/Job Ref# in subject line

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The Accidental Chef

Brian O’Malley, Director of Culinary Arts at Metropolitan Community College, Found His Calling After an Unsuccessful Attempt at Architecture

by SARA LOCKE | PhotoS by Stable Gray

“Suddenly, I could make decisions about the menu, about the culture ... I started to really see things for what they could be, and I started seeing people who work in kitchens a little differently, too.”

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hef Brian O’Malley’s resume is a virtual timeline of positive impact and service to the culinary community. From establishing the Annual Culinary Awards in 2006, to the recent relaunching of the Open Kitchen Program as director of Culinary Arts at Metropolitan Community College, O’Malley believes in the work of not only educating, but supporting the

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restaurant industry. But unlike many of the minds he melds, his own journey didn’t start in a kitchen.

O’Malley had a clear path, advisors and professors ready to guide him to it, and a family that believed in him every step of the way. He knew

| THE READER |

Cover Story

his future was in building, but after receiving an education in architecture, he found the life he had constructed wasn’t structurally sound.

“I came home to tell my Dad that architecture wasn’t going to happen.

He could have said a lot of things, but all he said was ‘Let’s go get some lunch.’”

Sitting across from his father at Brass Grille, he knew he could very easily be the one being grilled, but that’s not what the lunch was about.

“We ordered corn fritters and we ate. It wasn’t a lecture about his disappointment,” O’Malley said. “He just wanted to take me to lunch. It was kind of exactly what I needed. Just to sit with my dad and have a meal.”

O’Malley Rally

EM(Power)

Since his days in the Boy Scouts, O’Malley understood the value of hard work. Holding down three jobs through his days at Creighton Prep, two simultaneously, he had been instilled with an honorable spirit, and could never be accused of coasting.

“Ultimately, I attended four colleges. I kept thinking I would find my way,” he said. “If I just shifted one more thing, change one more thing and suddenly it would all come together for me. There was just no amount of working harder that was going to make this the right path for me, but I really loved architecture. It didn’t make sense that I could love it and it not be the place for me, but it just wasn’t. It was my one unrequited love. We all get one, right?”

“It was the first time I truly saw the possibilities. The first time I had real agency,” O’Malley said. “As head chef, I could make decisions, and those decisions were affecting so much more than anything I had done up to that point. Before, my whole role was to make sure things are coming out of the kitchen on time, making sure I’m communicating, but most things were largely out of my hands.

“Suddenly, I could make decisions about the menu, about the culture of the place. What kind of energy it would have. I started to really see things for what they could be, and I started seeing people who work in kitchens a little differently, too.”

Having his first taste of leadership was enough to get O’Malley hooked.

Not on the power to control people, but on the power to empower.

“It became kind of a mission to see people excited. I saw how you could really pump people up, and if you pump up the guy working right beside you, he takes that on to the person working beside him. You’ll start to see this energy kind of crawling throughout this place you work. You see it happen with gossip and with negativity, but when you see that it’s just as easy to infect everyone with excitement, that’s the kind of power I can really get into.”

Kitchen Ambition While many students coming out of a rough college experience find themselves falling into bad habits, depression and making mistakes they’ll be recovering from for years, O’Malley found himself falling on the right path.

“I had worked in a couple of restaurants in high school, but never in any way that seemed profound or had me believing I would end up in a kitchen. It hadn’t even occurred to me as a permanent profession, it was just something every kid does. You bus, wait tables, maybe tend bar. Almost part of just the standard hazing ritual of life. But around age 22 I started to really find my way in the field.”

Working three- to six-month stretches in restaurants gave O’Malley the humility and experience he needed to start to understand the industry. When he was offered a chance to helm Bojo Grill on 13th and Jackson, he couldn’t have known it would be a life-changing experience.

Elbow Greece After developing some of his talents, and an affinity for the high energy of the back of the house, O’Malley saw the perfect opportunity to take his new ambitions on a trip.

For two years, he honed his craft in Greece before heading to Vail and Beaver Creek in Colorado.

He soon enrolled at the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont. The school is famous for turning out another

well-known teacher, Alton Brown.

O’Malley earned his bachelor’s degree before deciding to stay on as a teacher himself.

“Teaching. That was it. It was the culmination of everything I had learned. Architecture wasn’t a mistake or a waste. I had learned so much. And I learned a lot by failing that endeavor, too. It gave me so much perspective that I was able to bring to the students and teachers I worked with.”

Cover Story

Technically Correct While his culinary education taught him the technical tricks to a perfect meal, it was the struggles in architecture that taught him the compassion and patience he needed to help his students build on their strengths, compensate for their doubts, and identify their clearest paths.

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“There is all of this argument about nature versus nurture,” O’Malley said. “It’s a good argument to have.

People should keep having it, but it seems unwise not to consider that it’s probably both. And not only that, but that you can kill nature. You can take it right out of someone. Whether that’s through burnout or discouragement.”

“It’s nature that brings people into this field. It’s this field that crushes them when they aren’t properly nurtured.”

In the culinary industry, burnout is a common factor in the health and longevity of everyone from the executive chef to the hostess.

O’Malley started seeking ways to help restaurant workers learn healthy ways to vent and to circumvent this occupational hazard.

“Customers always blame the person they see if they have a bad experience,” he said. “That’s just human nature. So the hostess gets blamed if the place is too full, the bussers get blamed if tables aren’t turned over fast enough. Wait staff gets blamed if food is cold or comes out wrong. The sous and the line cook, the prep chefs, there are so many moving parts in every plate that gets served, and every step comes with its burdens of blame and frustration.

That’s a perfect recipe for burnout, and it will ripple through a place and tear it apart.”

To Your Health And what does the chef prescribe for those suffering the signs?

“I know self-care has become kind of a catch-all phrase. It might even be cliché right now, but it matters,” O’Malley said. “You have to find some way to manage the intensity of your passion. No matter what that passion is, if you don’t find a way to temper it, it will absolutely become your downfall. You’ll hate it, you’ll resent it, and it will eat you alive.”

He acknowledges the high rates of self-medicating with alcohol, drugs and other forms of destructive behavior.

“It’s not only prevalent at home and in private, it’s just kind of the culture now,” he said. “Coping mechanisms aren’t some dirty little secret. The staff will take shots together during shift break. There’s nothing inherently wrong with taking a shot, but when that becomes the part of the day you’re living for, then it’s a problem. You’ve got people on their feet for 12, 14, sometimes 20 hours at a time. It’s exhausting, and then you add booze.”

Chef, Feed Thyself He stops shy of suggesting an end to shift shots.

“You have to find some way to manage the intensity of your passion.”

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Cover Story

“I mean, some places will have a yoga teacher come in, but honestly the kind of people who can fight through this kind of work environment aren’t the kind of people who can be forced to sit still and meditate. I know a few of them have taken up tai chi. It helps with their breathing, with their movement and balance. That makes a lot of sense … but forced meditation is never going to help anyone.”

O’Malley attributes his patience, gregarious demeanor and fortitude on his ability to stay clear-headed.

“Not getting into it (drugs) when everyone else was gave me a little more insight, I think,” he said. “It ensured that I could see when things were starting to wear me out and I could take a break. I feel like some people were using substances to mask the pain and fatigue and they just don’t feel it coming until it’s too late.”

Fit to Flambé O’Malley also emphasizes the importance of being prepared mentally and physically for the task at hand, and that task will vary wildly from one day to another.

“You may be lugging a side of beef one day, balancing boiling pots and flames for 10 to 12 hours at a time. You get to the end of that shift and you get a call that a party of 30 is coming in tomorrow. You’ll have two choices, turn down a potentially lucrative opportunity or stay up another 24 hours

and get it done. Most of us wouldn’t think twice, until we spend four days recovering from it.

“I’m not saying you have to be Mr. Universe,” he added, “but you have to be in good health, you have to be sleeping fairly regularly, and your heart, mind and body have to be able to withstand a really taxing environment. That just doesn’t happen if you’re not taking care of yourself. If you’re burned out and you do this, you’re setting yourself up for some really permanent issues. There’s too much talent around here, and it breaks my heart to see people set up that way.”

Love Thy Neighbor When O’Malley decided to take a position with Metropolitan Community College’s culinary program, it was an opportunity to address the stress before it broke another spirit.

“I would sit across from these students and just listen,” he said. “I remember sitting across from my own advisors when I was struggling in college, and watching these students puts me right back there. It puts me right back at that table at the Brass Grille, knowing my dad didn’t know what to say to me, but just so grateful he was willing to listen. Sometimes I don’t have an answer. Sometimes all I can say is ‘You know what, that really sucks. I’m listening.’ And a lot of the time, that’s all anyone needs. They need to know that

someone is cheering for them.

Someone wants them to succeed, even if it’s not here. Even if it’s not in this program or in this field.”

O’Malley has since moved on to working with the teachers but understands that the mission remains the same. Feed the teachers. Teachers feed the students. They feed the support staff. Support staff feeds the customers.

“Every single thing we do results in one plate in front of one customer,” he said. “Everything. The conversations I’m having today become the lessons.

Those lessons guide the general manager. The GM supports the chef.

The chef communicates with the front of the house. It all comes together on a plate and is set down in front of one customer. Every single thing we do is on that plate.”

“It all comes together on a plate and is set down in front of one customer. Every single thing we do is on that plate.”

Legacy While the man may not find himself in a kitchen as often as he used to, and rarely works directly with students anymore, the lessons and support he has offered some of Omaha’s most prestigious chefs will continue to cause a shift in how they and we perceive food.

“We have this opportunity to impact cultural change. That means relationships with each other,” O’Malley said. “It means cooperation, communication and looking out for each other, from the farmer to the dishwasher. And with that opportunity comes responsibility. We have a real chance to make a change. We’ve got to take it.”

It’s easy to see why people turn to O’Malley when they’re feeling a little lost. When he is done giving a pep talk, you feel as though you’ve been given an assignment. Take care of yourself.

Take care of those who are counting on you and live a life in which you feel nurtured. And recognizing the chance you’ve been given, you simply reply: Yes, chef.

Cover Story

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July 2019

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Where Omaha’s Culinary Elite

Go to Eat

Chefs, Restaurant Owners Spill the Beans on Their Favorite Places to Dine

by SARA LOCKE | PhotoS by JOSH FOO

W

hen you’re a member of Omaha’s culinary elite, your dining options are endless. That doesn’t mean you don’t pick favorites. This month, The Reader asked a few of our foodie friends where they go for their favorite Omaha dishes. Some of the answers may surprise you.

Kane Adkisson, Chef/Owner of Kano As a member of the dynastic Adkisson family, Kane has high standards for finding fine dining. As such, it may surprise you to learn that given the option, he’ll dig into slightly more humble fare. ”I would say the No. 13 or the No. 22 at Vietnamese and Asian Restaurant.

The chef’s name is Vu. I’ve been going there with my family since we were kids and after all these years, both dishes have remained exactly the same. Pro tip: order fried egg rolls and a Thai tea.

Vietnamese Asian Restaurant 7212 Jones St.

It comes as little surprise that, having taken and elevated the ultimate dude food of burritos and tequila, Baumgart holds a high regard for those who can bring the best out of a burger.

“You can’t go wrong with a slider flight of various Wagyu burgers at Charred.”

July 2019

Nick Bartholomew, Owner of Bartholomew Group of Restaurants, including Over Easy and Olive and Ash Bartholomew keeps his many area eateries as locally sourced and seasonal as possible, so his respect for the in-season game is strong.

“Au Courant, Chovies egg. It’s always a super seasonal play on an egg, but in so many cool ways.”

Au Courant 6064 Maple

Isaiah Renner, Owner/Operator of The Dire Lion

Bryan Baumgart, Owner of Burrito Envy

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Charred 1150 Sterling Ridge Drive

Much like his Fish and Chips food truck, Isaiah Renner’s heart wanders.

“This is probably a cop-out, but this is tough. I don’t know that I have a favorite dish in Omaha. I more have favorite restaurants and enjoy trying whatever the chefs have new each time I go.

“Mix it up, if you will.”

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Brian O’Malley, Director of Culinary Arts at Metropolitan Community College Having dedicated his life to teaching technical perfection and spirited creativity to Omaha’s culinary elite, O’Malley knows there’s room for nostalgia.

“Big Fred’s pepperoni pizza. There are a lot of memories on that pizza.”

Big Fred’s Pizza Garden & Lounge 1101 S 119th St.

Tim Maides, Chef/Founder of TREAM Recently returned from extensive world travels, Maides found a home for his international tastes in the Old Market.

“Tricky, since most places switch up menus a lot, but I think my solid go-to is the meat and cheese plate at La Buvette.”

La Buvette 511 S 11th St.

Joel Mahr, Chef/Owner of Primrose Restaurant After leaving his friends and colleagues behind to pursue his establishment in Corn-

ing, Iowa, chef Mahr turns most trips back home into a tour of exceptional chefs.

“We have a couple places we like to go when we come into town. We miss all of our Omaha friends in the industry, and it’s nice to be able to see them once in a while. It makes it very special to us. The tasting menu at Au Courant ties with any pizza at Virtuoso for an Omaha favorite!”

Virtuoso 6056 Maple

Edward Lazaro, Chef/Owner of Tayo Having become the Omaha authority on sensory dining, community and sharable meals, Lazaro knows how to find an experience anywhere he goes.

“I have to say Umami, the Sushi and Sashimi Lover for two. Probably one of the highest-quality sushi at the best price point.

My wife and I have to get it at least once a week.”

Umami 1504 Galvan Road S

Josh Foo, Omaha Food Photographer Foo’s exposure to Omaha food has included the best that each chef has to offer, as each hopes he’ll capture only the best from the menu. This gives Foo an exclusive view of what can, and has, been done to each dish.

“I’m really torn between so many dishes because Omaha has such an amazing selection of great food choices … from Block 16’s Poutine Burrito, Fauxmaha’s Banh Mi Hot Dog, to Kathmandu Momo Station’s juicy momos, that it’s hard for me to pick just one. But I have to admit there is one dish I always crave and that is the MaPo Tofu (I order without meat) from China Garden.

The mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns and the strong flavors of chili and garlic create an addictive combination while the tofu acts as the perfect vehicle to carry these pungent flavors. Paired with steamed rice, for me, is the perfect comfort food that has me coming back. I would also like to add

that another favorite is the nachos molo at Modern Love...I LOVE them, and they are the best nachos I have ever had.”

Shelley Elson-Roza, Founder/ Co-Owner of MJER Help Girl Power is the recipe for Elson-Roza’s success, and women supporting women is her favorite Omaha flavor.

“I can easily work 12-15 hours a day when we have events in the evening, and I have been known to subsist on the Brown Butter Tosca from Farine + Four that I pick up with our bread orders. We love working with Ellie and supporting other

women-owned small businesses. When we go out to dinner, I try to be mindful about choosing entrées that are both delicious and on the healthier side.”

Farine + Four 3020 Leavenworth

Glenn Wheeler, Executive Chef of Spencer’s for Steaks and Chops For the past nine years, Wheeler has helmed Spencer’s with the deftness and creativity he honed at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu, but nothing can beat the taste of home.

“The Mole Poblano Enchiladas from Rivera’s Restaurant. It reminds me of my mom cooking my childhood favorite.”

Rivera’s 12047 Blondo

Virtuoso Pizza

MODERN LOVE’S BUFFALO WINGS

Mathew Carper, Director of Operations/Co-Owner of Stirnella and Butterfish

“One of my personal favorites is the coalfired, long-stemmed artichokes at Pitch. My wife and I love those and it is always our goto appetizer and sometimes just our meal.

I have tried to replicate them at home, but they never turn out as good.”

Pitch 5021 Underwood Ave.

Durga Jai, Founder of Attack a Taco Truck When Jai opened Attack a Taco, the idea was that if Omaha wasn’t going to come to veganism, the family could put wheels on its ideals and bring veganism to Omaha.

“We love Modern Love’s vegan buffalo wings! Yum!” Modern Love 3157 Farnam We loved learning more about our most admired chefs’ favorite dishes, and we want to hear from you next. Drop us a comment or email Sara@TheReader.Com and tell us your favorite Omaha dish for a chance to appear in The Reader.

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Cover Story

| THE READER |

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‘Freedom and Creativity’ Max Sparber Recalls His Time at The Reader, Including Frank Zappa and Genghis Khan

by Max Sparber

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grew up reading newsweeklies. When I was a teen, in the 1980s, Minneapolis had two of them: City Pages, started by Council Bluffs native Tom Bartel, and The Twin Cities Reader, then edited by future New York Times media columnist David Carr.

The two publications were in a creative rivalry that frequently produced absurdly good work. The work they produced had a profound local focus, gamely attempting to define and explore the character of Minneapolis and St. Paul. These were the publications that helped me understand what it meant to be a Minneapolitan at a very exciting time to explore that, when the Twin Cities had jumped into national attention thanks to its music scene, which then included Prince, The Replacements, and Hüsker Dü.

I spent my early 20s chasing writing opportunities. I wrote for small local zines and did film reviews for small radio stations and made a series of disastrous moves to Los Angeles to try my hand at writing for film. Almost as an afterthought, I wound up in Omaha in 1995. I had come out on the invitation of a young Des Moines woman I liked who said she was planning to move there. She never did, but I stayed.

they were missing a critic. A few days later I got a call from then-managing editor Jon Silver. He said the paper was interested in capsule reviews, could not pay much, but I would get to see movies for free. That sounded like a pretty good deal to me.

I spent about a year reviewing between two and five films every week, occasionally writing feature or cover stories.

I interviewed Peter Fonda after his appearance in “Ulee’s Gold,” which netted him an Oscar nomination; he was delighted to speak about his prankish years in adulthood, where he had gone to high school and college, and where he had started acting. I also wrote a cover story reviewing local haunted houses, a story I finished by fraudulently claiming to have attended an underground haunted house that was a local urban legend. I thought it was obvious that I was joking, but the paper received a number of calls from readers demanding to know the location.

When Silver left the paper, I took over as managing editor, initially writing a short-

Omaha then had a very young version of The Reader, and, since I was an inveterate newsweekly reader, I reached for it every week when it came out. The paper then had a short-lived film critic named Bix, and one day I noticed he wasn’t writing for the paper anymore. This seemed like an opportunity to me.

JULY 2019

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The Reader had assembled a memorably eccentric collection of writers, some of them, like the towering bluesman-slashhoroscope author Mojo, now gone. I had just started as an editor when Michael Braunstein, a hypnotherapist who still writes a column called Heartland Healing, told me he thought Frank Zappa would really have liked me. I thanked him and told

him I thought Genghis Khan would really have gotten a kick out of him, and then Braunstein explained that he had known Zappa; he had been his recording engineer on a series of albums in the 1970s.

All told, I had worked for The Reader for about four years in one capacity or another, and it has been a publication I have found myself back at again and again. I moved back to Omaha in 2003 and spent a year doing editorial and design for the publication, and during that time I created a rather baffling masked psychic character, Dr. Mysterian. The column started as filler, plugging holes in the paper now and then.

But I continued writing as Dr. Mysterian long after I had left Omaha again. I wrote the column for 15 years, finally running out of steam last year.

The paper was my first professional writing job. I have gone on to work as a writer for my entire subsequent professional career, often writing about arts, as I did at The Reader. It was a publication that allowed me an enormous amount of freedom and creativity, which I likely took too much advantage of. But I have discovered that sort of opportunity is quite rare in publishing and should be jumped at when it presents itself.

I went to a small, now-forgotten art house heist film called Palookaville and typed a page-long review with a cover letter explaining that I had recently moved to Omaha from Los Angeles, I had some experience in the world of film, and I noticed

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lived crime column and then taking over the arts coverage, which was a better match for my interests, especially because I was then in a productive relationship with the Bluebarn Theatre that would lead to me writing several shows for the theater. I spent about a year editing the paper, briefly working as the editor in chief, and then moved back to Minneapolis to work as a theater critic for City Pages.

25th anniversary

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A Century of Orsi’s Historic Italian Bakery & Pizzeria Celebrates 100th Birthday

by Leo Adam Biga

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im Hall appreciates what a touchtone Little Italy landmark he owns in Orsi’s Italian Bakery & Pizzeria. Though not Italian, the 60-year-old is a paisan in every other sense. He started there when he was 8 years old, helping to make deliveries, and became a close friend and trusted worker of the namesake Orsi clan.

Marking 100 years in 2019, Orsi’s is a last vestige of a neighborhood whose gentrification trades on rich ethnic history. With all but one traditional Little Italy restaurant gone and no Italian market nearby, Orsi’s enjoys the sweet spot as purveyor of authentic, old-world fare.

“People come from all over to buy it.

People that grew up around here and now live far away make the drive down because it’s something special they can’t get anywhere else. The same with the pizza, the garlic bread and the garlic cheese bread.”

Dave Lassek makes the pilgrimage from 168th and Blondo. “Their pizza and bread dough is the best,” said Lassek, who stopped to get dough for a home-

“We’re the only one left. We’re Omaha’s original Italian bakery,” Hall said.

The city’s other major Italian bakery, Rotella’s, long competed with Orsi’s for patronage. Folks grew up loyal to one brand or the other. Since Rotella’s left Little Italy for the suburbs and went commercial mass-production, Orsi’s has had the local artisan field to itself “Ours is an all handmade (tossed) product,” said Hall.

“Some people don’t look at quality as much as price, but there are always stalwarts who want the quality.”

That quality is all in the dough. The ingredients are simple enough: yeast, salt, water and high-gluten wheat flour. But it’s the small batch, time-tested care and craft that give the classic Italian twist its signature chew.

“I know the bread’s an outstanding bread,” Hall said.

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made pizza his wife was making for Father’s Day. Pat Smith’s been a devoted customer since the 1950s.

Why? “Because they’ve got the best bread in town.”

“The bread’s like our calling card,” Hall said, “but more and more people are

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finding out about the pizza. Pizza pays the bills.”

Orsi’s is No.1 on Trip Advisor for pizza places in Omaha. Small wonder given its distinctive Romano-Mozzarella cheese mix and slow-cooked, homemade Sicilian sauce thick with tomato paste, olive oil and fresh garlic.

Unlike some fresh foods with a long history, Orsi’s has remained constant despite ownership changes.

“The quality stays the same,” said Smith.

“They still use the original recipes,” fan Mary Thompson said.

The familiar smell, taste, texture provide instant sensory triggers for legacy customers and artisans alike.

“It takes you home,” said lifetime Little Italy resident Nancy D’Agosta Calinger.

“It’s the same ingredients we used when I was a kid back in the 1960s when I learned how to make it,” Hall said. “There’s no change in it. No preservatives. Preservatives will give you longer shelf life but will change the flavor and the texture – and what people want is that texture.

It’s crispy, crunchy on the outside and soft inside. It’s why it comes out so good for toast.”

The dough contains no sugar or milk either. That purity is why Orsi’s can’t be found in stores. Since its products don’t turn over fast enough to retain freshness, stores get credited for unsold loaves.

There’s no margin in niche-supplying, farflung grocers. Thus, pilgrims must come to mecca for their fix.

Fresh, sometimes still warm bread from the oven guarantees the unmistakable texture and aroma you can only get at Orsi’s.

Between Hall and his mates, the bakers have hundreds of years on the line.

“Some of us have worked together since we were kids,” Hall said. “We all take pride in what we’re making because we want it to come out the way we remember.”

Hall learned the trade from co-founder Alfonso Orsi’s sons Claudio and Olivio Orsi and from Claudio’s son Bobby Orsi Sr. “I wasn’t the fastest, but I was good at everything I did because I made sure I learned it the right way,” Hall said. “I was taught it’s more about being consistent than fast because fast doesn’t always mean good.”

Hall cultivates customer stories that tell of Sunday mornings when folks come after church for fresh bread to go with their Sunday pasta dinner. There’s nothing like dipping a piece into nanna’s sauce. Some loaves don’t even make it home.

“People come down for a hot loaf of bread in the winter, stuff it up under their shirt, bring butter and a knife, pull it apart, butter it up, and eat it on the way home,” Hall said.

Until well into the 1970s, Orsi’s didn’t offer a sliced loaf. You can still get a whole by request.

Hall savors the memories and traditions.

“I try to be a good steward and keep the tradition going – and make it even better. That’s why I took it over (in 2010) continued on page 16 y

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All located at 10th & Howard | THE READER |

JULY 2019

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Pizzeria Bakery & n ia l a It -3438 Orsi’s | 402-345 .m. t e e tr S ic 8p 621 Pacif :30 a.m. to

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Ferd’s – let us use their production areas when they were in day, 8 rs u h .

-T .m their down time so we could ay p d Tues a.m. to 8:30 .m. p Friday, 8:30 8 to bake our products, still fill the . :30 a.m days Saturday, 7 Closed Mon | . .m p 6 grocery shelves and have rev0 a.m. to Sunday, 7:3 enue coming in,” Hall recalled. because “The fire happened in February and we I didn’t want to see it end were back in August (in a new, updated, before the hundred years. Just in my expanded structure).” time here, three to four generations have Area resident Mary Thompson wasn’t come through. I might not know all their surprised the community “rallied names, but I know a lot of the faces.” around” the bakery.

The lobby features photos that speak to the history.

“A lot of them are from guys that worked at the bakery as kids or that grew up with the Orisis or went to St. Frances Cabrini or St. Anne’s. This is where they can see themselves. It’s another thing they can count on that’s still here.”

It could have all ended in 1997 when fire gutted the place, but the community pitched in to bring it back.

“There were fundraisers. Some local, smaller bakeries – Olsen’s, Emminger’s,

“They’re good neighbors,” said Thompson, adding that current owner Jim Hall is known for his generosity.

She and others say the bakery couldn’t have fallen to a better caretaker.

“Yeah, I hear it a lot from people,” Hall acknowledged.

As an entrepreneur, he’s boosted the pizzeria side and added value with a deli of imported meats, cheeses, homemade Italian sausage and gourmet olive oils and pastas. It’s filled the gap since Marino’s grocery closed.

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Pat Smith echoes others in saying Orsi’s is “the best place to get Italian specialties.”

Long-in-the-works plans for a permanent dining section may finally come to fruition this fall.

“It will definitely help enhance things,” said Hall.

A makeshift option exists now with card tables and folding chairs.

Hall, whose wife Kathy does all the books, is an ever-present fixture at Orsi’s.

“I do it all. I usually I average between 80 and 90 hours a week. It’s a lot of love, hard work and long hours.”

Even when employed at UPS and OPPD, he worked evenings and weekends at Orsi’s. He and Bob Orsi Jr. had it together before he bought out his shares.

“I’ve been here my whole life. Basically, the only time I was out was when I broke my knee in a car accident and I broke my neck in a fall.”

Even while wearing a halo drilled into his skull, he worked 70 to 75 hours a week.

Finding good help is tough.

“It gets frustrating because the work ethic and desire is not as much with younger people today.”

It’s why he surrounds himself with trusted old cronies.

Hall’s seen a surge in business from the area’s redevelopment boom.

“It’s just introducing more and more people to Orsi’s.

“Once they taste it, they come back.”

No, the German-Austrian Hall isn’t Italian by blood, but if anyone’s earned honorary Italian status, he has.

“Yeah. I’ve earned it a lot. Over and over.”

Visit orsibakery.com.

Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.

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Squaring the Circle ‘Biennial 2,’ G1516’s Latest Venture to Frame a Portrait of Nebraska Art

by Michael J. Krainak the talent and scope of our state’s artists and provide a stage from which they may achieve greater recognition.”

Best Ceramics That commitment climaxes every two John Dennison, “Adagio Black” years with the venue’s Nebraska Artist Biennial, its second edition, which opened last month (The full version of this story can be and continues through Aug. 4. Artists in eight found online at thereader.com.) categories were awarded $500 each in this juried invitational along with a Best in Show prize of $2,500. In addition, Artists’ Choice and Peoespite their diversity, what do virtually ple’s Choice awards of $500 each will all of Omaha’s public and pribe announced at a closing revately owned art galception, Sunday, Aug. 4. leries have in common?

Collectively, what do The Biennial, they create that is which G1516 resgreater than the urrected in 2017 sum of their parts? after it folded at Simply put, they the Joslyn Art Muare devoted alseum in 1988, is most exclusively open to any living to Nebraska artartist from Nebrasists and their work, ka whether currently Gabriella Quiroz, a composite of which living/working here or “Acceptance” might just give an avid panot or anyone who lived tron an accurate portrait of art and worked in the state past or in this region. present and living elsewhere. It’s a wide net, but Drickey is pleased with the event’s growth, No venue in the Metro appears more certainly in quantity and value, especially for committed to this goal than Gallery 1516, the artists who enjoy a three-month exhibition whose avowed objective is to “change the diaand sale opportunity priced without commislogue about our community’s artists,” Patrick sion fees.

Drickey, founder and director, said in a recent interview. “They aren’t local artists but Ne“In 2017 we had 64 pieces on view and braska artists. It is our mission to showcase sold 27, I believe,” Drickey said. “This year we have 99 pieces and have already sold 16 so far and have sales pending for four more. An Omaha-based corporation purchased five to add to their collection of Nebraska artists work.”

Drickey said he is also pleased with Biennial 2’s quality, a conclusion that the panel of four judges -- curator Anne Pagel; Linda Rajcevich, former deputy director of Joslyn Art Museum; Russ Erpelding, ARTreach curator for the Museum of Nebraska Art; and John Thein, artist and former Creighton University art professor -- would no doubt agree with.

Yet, is Biennial 2 a complete or even accurate portrait of Nebraska artists past or present work, representing not only themselves but the current “state” of art being created? Has the Biennial squared the circle, as it were, and given us a picture of the best and brightest NeBest Mixed Media braska has to offer?

Mark Hartman, “Symmetria”

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Best Printmaking - Watie White, “Holy Island: The Nokken” In a word, “almost,” or if you prefer its more positive, less pejorative synonym, “virtually.” But the Biennial is a work in progress for such an undertaking, and B2 has already made a huge improvement with its inclusion of 3D work to the mix. In fact, as fine as the exhibit’s painting, drawing and photography are, with a few exceptions, the mix of sculpture and ceramics dominates this time around.

And while B2 has grown in numbers and quality, it can be argued that the variety or balance of aesthetic, genre and style has not.

The exhibition leans heavily toward the figurative and the representational, landscapes and portraits, realism and the traditional. There is fine work here once again, but there is a dearth of abstraction, surrealism, conceptualism or provocation. Few if any pieces can be called avant-garde or experimental, and there is little evidence of work with socio-political themes.

Despite the homogenous nature of B2, credit G1516 for requiring that work be viewed and judged blindly to avoid favoritism or preferences, at least for artists, if not types of art.

And it would be a mistake to assume that qualified judges such as these are unable to judge superior artwork of any type. To riff on the axiom, you play (judge) the cards you’re dealt.

It’s in the hands of the non-traditional artists to change the dynamic. You can’t add to, let alone finish the portrait, if you don’t participate.

More than 630 pieces were submitted and nearly 100 made the cut. Overall, the show is inviting and will reward multiple visits. There

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Best Student Work Mark Sabaliauskas, “Untitled 2019” is no way an event of this size and potential can be grasped in one viewing. That said, the judges singled out nine pieces as Best in Category and then further spread the good tidings in the show catalogue with runners-up and honorable mentions. The following may not have been yours or my choices or favorites, but their recognition was earned: Best Student Work: Mark Sabaliauskas.

Somewhat reminiscent of early work by Omaha artist Jeff King and the less-controlled work of Kim Darling, this more gestural abstraction —

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Best Drawing (tie) Joseph Broghammer, “Elke House” Best Painting - Daniel Bruggeman, “The Prairies Dreaming Sod”

cessfully captures the spectacle of a billowing plains rainstorm as it looms heavily over the titular figure, presumably a lone rail car, one of only a few in this exhibit — hot, not cool perhaps filled with coal. One wishes that the variety, appears to be more spontaneous, as if railcar didn’t split his composition in half, but created in the moment. Favoring a dark rich “Alone’s” worm’s-eye view further enhances palette of reds, oranges and purples, perhaps the vulnerability and inevitable outcome of this Sabaliauskas was inspired by a jar or canister of narrative. One is tempted to view this ominous overflowing paint utensils and oil in this pleasscenario as Mother Nature rising to revenge ing, not-so-still life. itself against “clean” coal, but is Scholz really Best Printmaking: Watie White. Bringthat didactic or political? Instead, enjoy this iming his well-deserved reputation in this region age for its power and beauty alone. as one of the premier artists in several mediBest Mixed Media: Mark Hartman. The ums — printmaking arguably his best — White title “Symmetria” foretells it all with its mix of impresses with his precision and detail of this paint, print and text dominated by its key figwork, “Holy Island: The Nokien.” This piece ure, a print portrait of Albert Einstein. Carefully is among his most abstract as even the most chosen words such as “complete,” “unity” and obvious figure, a heron or crane, is nearly lost even a lower-case “god” are but a prelude to in the dense imagery of this wetlands scene Hartman’s didactic collage best summed up with lily pads overlapping with other flora risin the just discernible listing of “intellectual, ing to a shoreline of mangrove and thicket, all physical, emotional, spiritual.” This is the stuff in hypnotic black and white. White may have of enlightenment and perhaps Humanism, but more interesting narratives and subjects in his is it great art? “Symmetria” lives up to its premoeuvre, but there is no denying his mastery of ise, but once grasped, its message may linger the woodcut. longer than its tasteful composition.

Best Sculpture: Chad Fonfara. Hands Best Drawing: Tie between Joseph Brogdown one of the most creative and accomhammer and Gabriella Quiroz. Once one plished works in this exhibit, Fonfara’s mesgets over the irony that both artists have drawn merizing wall sculpture, essentially the same “Fault Lines III,” features figure, an owl, one can three blackbirds, part appreciate the considerMother Goose, more so ably different aesthetic Beatles. Made of sculpted of each drawing and why glass and bronze, these the judges decided to virtual museum pieces of award each rather than lightness and dark, grace compare “apples and and menace, “were only oranges.” Broghammer waiting for this moment offers “Elke House,” in to be free” even if their chalk pastel and pencil, flights of fancy were “into figuratively one of his the light of a dark black signature birds from his night.” Such is the paraotherwise known “flock dox of Fonfara’s imaginaof Joe.” That phrase is tion. particularly apt here as Best Photography: this may be the closest James Scholz. Though thing to a self-portrait in the word “spectacular” is his aviary. often over-used, Scholz’s No longer surroundBest Sculpture large bronze-tinged ed by his iconography Chad Fonfara, “Fault Lines III” landscape, “Alone,” suc-

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Best Photography - James Scholz, “Alone” seen normally as an accessory or accomplice to the portrait, this owl is bent over by the weight of what he has to bear in life, flight out of the question: 10 iconic houses embedded in a pale orange bubble that wear heavy on his back and brow, both his burden and perhaps his muse.

Comparisons may not be fair, but unlike Broghammer’s freer style and lighter touch in tone and point of view, the judges must have been impressed with Quiroz for her precise mark-making and uncanny attention to detail with a color pencil. For a start. Closer look reveals a darker narrative as her owl is nestled quite comfortably against the skull of a toothy predator with a paper wasp nest in its mouth and another smaller skull at its feet. “Acceptance” is a wonderfully macabre still life and death, exquisitely rendered and aptly titled.

Best Painting: Daniel Bruggeman. There are any number of landscapes in this exhibit – Roberta Barnes’ impressionistic “Autumn Mist,” the expressionism of Shelly Bartek’s “After the Storm” and the more effective photo-realism of Jennifer Homan’s “Violet Canyon Skies.”

But Bruggeman’s watercolor and gouache “The Prairie’s Dreaming Sod” was a pleasant surprise and well worth some extended face time. Impressive technique aside, take notice of his deliberate placement of horizon that splits his canvas in two, the fallen bridge sec-

tion to the left, the distinct distortion of his vignette framing at the bottom of the frame and the preternatural yellow and whitish palette. Not to mention the title’s operative word, “Dreaming.” All of which contributes to the work’s disturbing, yet captivating surrealism.

Best Ceramics: John Dennison. He is known throughout the region for his expressionistic, multi-layered ceramic masks and his functional pottery. “Adagio Black” is a departure. Not that this large circular plate or platter couldn’t be used as such, but it would obscure Dennison’s lesson in minimalist graphic design highlighted by its levels of texture, finish and palette: black, eggshell and white tile gloss geometrics served on an elegant tawny leather matte. Understated elegance, it belongs on a wall.

Best of Show: Jennifer Homan. Photo?

Painting? Impossible to tell at any distance, but that alone is not enough to qualify “Violet Canyon Skies” as the best of the best. There is much more to this oil pastel than its photo-realism or technique. All the “best” must exhibit some mastery of their medium and process. It’s de rigueur. It’s the results that matter. And what matters most is the purple mountain majesty of this singular landscape on a rainy afternoon.

This year, simplicity wins out. So humble is this work, despite its title, one could easily pass it by. Stop, spend just a minute in front of it, and you will be lost in that brief moment it so artfully captures.

Can a single exhibition ever claim to paint Nebraska’s masterpiece, will “someday, everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody?” An unfinished one perhaps, yet, hopefully, Biennial 2 will always be a work in progress. For that reason alone, it deserves recognition every two years by artists and patrons alike.

Biennial 2 continues until Aug. 4 at Gallery 1516 at 1516 Leavenworth St., Omaha. For details and gallery hours, go to gallery1516.org or call (402) 305-1510.

Best in Show Jennifer Homan, “Violet Canyon Skies”

July 2-7 Nebraska Shakespeare on the Green Presents

‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ and ‘Hamlet’ Shakespeare Park (South side of Elmwood Park)

Trinity Lutheran Church (South Entrance)

Juno’s Swans, Nebraska Shakespeare’s all-female performance program, will dive into a world of mistruths, betrayal and deceit, born of one woman’s obsessive love.

This production will explore Shakespeare’s characters and text through the feminine experience and perspective, posing the question: “Is All Well That Ends Well?”

In “Hamlet,” a young man returns home from school abroad to attend the funeral of his father. Too soon after, he finds himself at the wedding of his mother and his uncle. A ghost. A struggle with destiny. A cry of players. A sparrow. A lost love. Shakespeare’s most popular tragedy journeys through a deep and painful inspection of humanity, ambition, and mortality; an electrifying tale laced with deception and terror.

“All’s Well” -- July 5 & 7 at 8 p.m.

“Hamlet” -- July 2, 3 & 6 at 8 p.m. The July 3 performance of “Hamlet” will be a special late-night, after-dark event. Free Admission.

Shakespeare On the Green is in Shakespeare Park, accessible from the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus.

-- Beaufield Berry

July 3-31

NOSA Women’s Writing Workshop Series

Various aspects of writing, the writer’s life and being published are discussed in this free, weekly series for emerging and aspiring writers. Lead facilitator Kim Louise is a best-selling romance novelist who guides participants in finding their inner writer’s voice. Guest facilitators include writers from various disciplines.

Writing exercises and readings are part of the series. Writing supplies provided.

An anthology of participants’ work has been published and a second anthology is in progress. Presented by North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA).

A writer’s retreat also happens. No registration necessary. Classes are 6-8 p.m. A 5:50 p.m. dinner precedes each class. For details, call 402-502-4669 or email pamelajoh100@gmail.com.

-- Leo Adam Biga

July 5

and weather, from roughly the same spot, since 2011.

This exhibit features the results from his outings to the fire-damaged areas (April 2018) south of the Veterans M e m o r i a l Bridge. Much of the vegetation in the area between the bridge and the Western Historic Trails Center was killed by river flooding several years ago. The recent ravages of fire drew the photographer to the area. As he explains, “What began as a foolhardy exercise in curiosity became a study of smoke, light, lines and destruction.”

Born in Canada and raised in New Guinea, Betni Kalk is inspired by man-made objects and nature, wresting both realism and expression through her colorful and layered landscapes and abstracts. From a simple walk along a riverbank, or an urban hike, she adapts a variety of materials and imagery to shapes and scenes that draw from her training in graphic design just as naturally as from her upbringing among the indigenous peoples of the Pacific.

She uses any of a multitude of mediums, including encaustic, ink and graphite and watercolor.

Kalk is known for her organic, patternfocused abstracts and ephemeral realism.

Buck Christensen & Betni Kalk Michael Phipps Gallery Omaha Public Library

She often combines transparent layers of paint and drawing, mixing textured pattern with cryptic map-like imagery.

This exhibit features new work that draws on her myriad source materials to produce digitized patterns for laser-cutting into wood.

The show opens with a reception July 5 from 4-6 p.m. The Michael Phipps Gallery is on the first floor of the downtown branch of the Omaha Public Library. An informal artist dialogue with the public is planned for 5 p.m. Further information can be found at omaha.bibliocommons.com/ events.

-- Kent Behrens

The Michael Phipps Gallery presents the work of Buck Christensen and Betni Kalk in a dual solo exhibit in July and August.

Though their inspirations emanate from nature and landscape, their styles differ.

Buck Christensen, a photographic artist working in the Council Bluffs and Omaha areas, is well known for his color landscape shots of misty lakes, crisp blue skies, weathered barns and dramatic rural scenes. A signature project is his photo documentation of a piece of land at Lake Manawa, known as Boy Scout Island, which he has been shooting under differing light

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“Break” will have its opening reception July 5 from 6-11 p.m.

Exploration of the beauty in everyday objects is what “Break” aims to do.

Schiltmeijer creates work that celebrates joy. His paintings are often a reflection of “American heroes, movie stars and musicians.” With this show he hopes to encourage the finding of beautification that is in everyday objects.

Schiltmeijer was born in Haarlem, Holland, grew up in Amsterdam and lives in New York. He specialized and worked in art direction for two years before making the decision to work as a full-time painter.

“Break” open July 5 and is up through July 30 at the B Side of Benson Theatre, 6058 Maple St. and is free to the public. For more information, go to bensontheatre. org.

-- Hugo Zamorano

July 5

July 5-August 30

Camille Metoyer Elixir Vitae 2.0 Moten Petshop Gallery with Chad Stoner, David Murphy & Mark Haar

Elixir Vitae 2.0 is an exhibition by interdisciplinary artist Rosana Ybarra, who works in sculpture, painting, performance and fantasy to reflect on social-political absurdities. Observation of these “quasianimate objects” that require “distilling human feeling” is needed for them to produce Elixir Vitae 2.0.

Ybarra notes that humans have a spiritual and emotional relationship to objects that is “as foundational to survival” as they are to other humans. She received her MFA in Studio Art from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The artist is a recipient of a Kimmel Nelson Harding Artist Residency Award, Dan and Barbara Howard Creative Achievement Award and the Latinx Artist Visibility Award.

Elixir Vitae 2.0 opens July 5 runs through August 30 at Petshop Gallery, 2725 N 62nd St. For more information, contact info@ bensonfirstfriday.com.

-- Hugo Zamorano

July 10

Deerhunter Slowdown

The Jewell Omaha’s first lady of song, Camille Metoyer Moten, marries her wide vocal range, deep repertoire and winning stage presence with some of this town’s finest instrumentalists: Chad Stoner on sax, David Murphy on keyboards, Mark Haar on bass and David Hawkins on drums.

These are artists made to order for the sophisticated but not stuffy Jewell supper club in the Capitol District, where Omaha’s slamming music past and present intersect.

This Camille-led ensemble exudes class, baby, class with just enough earthy charm to keep things soulful.

Shows are at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Tickets at jewellomaha.com.

-- Leo Adam Biga

July 5-30

‘Break’

B Side of Benson Theatre Taking a break to notice and take interest in everyday objects is something that can easily be taken for granted, but artist Jan Schiltmeijer has it down to an art.

The B Side of Benson Theatre will exhibit “Break,” with works by Schiltmeijer.

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July 2019

Have you ever experienced devices that create life’s magic potions?

Join the Petshop Gallery in Benson July 5 for the opening of Elixir Vitae 2.0 from 7-10 p.m. to see art’s prototype devices for developing solutions for what ails you.

| THE READER |

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There was a time when it looked like Deerhunter was primed for a breakthrough.

The group released Halycon Digest in 2010 to rave reviews and a string of latenight appearances. It was the album on which frontman Bradford Cox peeled back the layers of reverb and fuzz to reveal the pop songwriting prowess that he always possessed. Two-and-a-half years later, the band released Monomania, a heap of noisy, garage-rock brilliance, and flung itself back into the indie underworld.

For its new record -- Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? -Deerhunter is once again pushing in a new direction. Baroque flourishes and singspoken, modulated vocals intermingle with stadium shoegaze and Cox’s streamof-consciousness lyrics. It’s an intoxicating mix and further proof that Deerhunter has

one of the most varied and interesting catalogs of any band working today.

-- Houston Wiltsey

July 11-14

The Blues of Knowing Why Union for Contemporary Art

After a reset to allow the incendiary context of this real-life play to be vetted by family members, this Great Plains Theatre Conference show originally scheduled for June is back in July.

This year marks the anniversaries of two blights on Omaha history that speak to how little has changed. The 1919 mob lynching of William Brown is 100 years old and the 1969 police killing of Vivian Strong is 50 years old. But the circumstances that led to each travesty of justice are rooted in the same racism and inequity that operates today. The Strong story is the context for this new theater piece by award-winning Lincoln public schools educator and playwright Christopher Maly.

In researching the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi, he discovered 14-year-old Vivian Strong’s violent death here. He interviewed people who knew her or were close to the event that took her life.

“My objective was simple: listen and gain an understanding of these events and historical contexts and why these narratives remain outside of mainstream dialogues,” Maly said. “For the past four years I have utilized five of the narratives to construct a telling of Vivian’s life. Like Emmett Till, her short life resides in mystery. My hope is the dialogue would describe a young Nebraskan and solidify what family and friends remember. I wanted to use dramatic spaces as a means for audiences to listen to the conversations I heard about humanity and the loss of a child. The play, itself, required a community to construct.”

Omaha playwrights Peggy Jones and Denise Chapman collaborated with Maly in developing a dramatic narrative. Chapman directs.

“This play is curated to serve and educate. It is assembled, not for profit or entertainment, but to reflect the emotions and loss Vivian Strong’s absence has created.” Maly said. “She is not a speaking character in the play. So Vivian Strong’s silence, like Emmett Till’s, is for us to absorb and determine how we, collectively, will understand and resolve to end violence disproportionately predicated on one’s ethnicity.”

The Union for Contemporary Art is at 2423 North 24th St. Free (reservations at Eventbrite).

-- Leo Adam Biga

July 11–August 24

‘Angela Drakeford: Homecoming’ U-CA -- Wanda D. Ewing Gallery The Union for Contemporary Art presents a new solo exhibit, Angela Drakeford: Homecoming, opening July 11.

Installation artist and sculptor Drakeford examines the healing power of plants and the home garden as a sanctuary of healing and comfort.

Building on personal memories, and a palette of real and artificial plants, period furniture, textiles and other domestic ephemera, Drakeford provides a psychological oasis, enhancing the setting with digital media to create an immersive sensory experience.

Drakeford sees her exhibition as an “act of resistance,” and a “mental health

practice,” providing a healing respite from the current “hyper-policed” traumas of racial prejudice.

The installation is promoted as an immersive exhibit, and visitors are invited to

take advantage of the setting, to relax and, as Drakeford says: “I want the exhibition to be a gift, a place for lingering and taking up space . . . I think of the exhibition as an invitation to be in your body.”

Homecoming is curated by Nicole J. Caruth and organized in conjunction with Native Omaha Days (July 29–August 5), a biennial homecoming event celebrating the memories, culture and community spirit of North Omaha.

The opening reception will be July 11 from 6-8 pm. Coordinated creative writing and community yoga events are scheduled during the exhibition run. Check the website at u-ca.org for dates and times.

-- Kent Behrens

p.m. and Thursday 11 a.m.-9 p.m. For more information, check out bemiscenter.org.

-- Jeff King

July 12

‘OOOze’

Generator Space on Vinton Street

July 11

‘Inner Ear Vision: Sound as Medium’ Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts

Inner Ear Vision: Sound as Medium is an exhibition opening at The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts July 11. The show seeks to challenge people in their perception of what sound and art are, or what music and experimentation tend to mean, as well as their intersection.

The show is curated by Raven Chacon, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe and Maria Elena Buzek and is part of the inaugural events surrounding the Sound Art+Experimental Music Program. The exhibition offers a rift on traditional musical instruments by a number of artists.

There are also immersive installations and objects based on experimentation with sound. A free performance by exhibiting artist Benvenuto Chavajay is included in the artistic festivities.

Inner Ear Vision: Sound as Medium, opens July 11 and continues until Sept.

14. The Bemis Center is at 724 S. 12th St. Gallery hours are Wednesday-Friday 1-5

“I want to be plastic.” — Andy Warhol OOOze, an exhibition curated by Angie Seykora opens at Generator Space on Vinton Street on July 12. The subject of the work is, at least roughly, plastic and how ingesting it affects the body.

Artists Barber, Adam Roberts and Seykora interpret this through their paintings, 2-D multi-media and sculpture, respectively. The idea behind this work is

how plastic becomes part of us through ingesting it and subsequently becoming affected by its presence.

For example, Seykora’s sculpture references tumors or abnormal cell growth using primarily industrial materials. Barber’s paintings are multi-layered creations, with the layers revealing more of themselves to the viewer.

Roberts has made pieces consisting of plastic laminate and with globs of paint trapped beneath. All of these in an effort to describe the language of things unintended.

OOOze opens July 12 and runs till Aug. 23 at Generator Space Gallery at 1804 Vinton St. Gallery hours are Thursday and Friday noon-5 p.m. For more details, go to amplifyarts.org.

-- Jeff King

July 12

Public Investigation

Squirrel Cage Jail Council Bluffs Calling all fans of paranormal reality TV for a gathering of what goes bump in the night at the Squirrel Cage Jail.

Members of Paronormania will opine about their ghoul-snooping methodologies and experiences and will lead participants on an investigation of the jail’s haunted halls. Three sessions: 6-8:30 p.m., 9-11:30 p.m. and midnight-2:30 a.m. Open to ages 13 and up (minors must be accompanied by an adult). Wanna bet that believers will find proof of paranormal activity and skeptics will be unmoved? The jail is at 225 Pearl St. in Council Bluffs. Tickets: $15 (reservations required).

-- Leo Adam Biga

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July 2019

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July 12-14 & 18-20 Papillion La Vista Community Theatre Presents

‘Into the Woods’ SumTur Amphitheater

learn his lesson soon, he and his household will be doomed for eternity.

Friday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at 2 p.m.

Adults $20, students and seniors $18, groups larger than 10 $15 each. Contact www.ralstoncommunitytheatre.org or 402-898-3545.

-- Beaufield Berry

July 18

July 19

Kaneko

Stir Cove Amphitheater at Harrah’s

Jennifer Egan Book Reading

Earth, Wind, and Fire

July 13

James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim take everyone’s favorite storybook characters and bring them together for a timeless, yet relevant, piece … and a rare modern classic. The Tony Award-winning book and score are enchanting and touching.

The story follows a baker and his wife who wish to have a child; Cinderella, who wishes to attend the King’s Festival; and Jack, who wishes his cow would give milk.

When the baker and his wife learn that they cannot have a child because of a witch’s curse, the two set off on a journey to break the curse. Everyone’s wish is granted, but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them with disastrous results.

Shows are at 8 p.m. Tickets: $18 VIP, $14 reserved, $10 general admission. For tickets, call 402-597-2041 -- Beaufield Berry

July 12-28 Ralston Community Theatre Presents

‘Beauty and the Beast’

The classic story tells of Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, a young prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end, and he will be transformed into his former self. But time is running out. If the Beast does not

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July 2019

Playing With Fire Turner Park at Midtown Crossing

Promoter Jeff Davis brings a 16th year of free blues music to Omaha with the first of two summer concerts at Turner Park at Midtown Crossing. Saturday, July 13, the focus is on international artists Davis has discovered in traveling to festivals.

Headlining the show is Thorbjørn Risager & the Black Tornado from Copenhagen, Denmark. BluesWax magazine describes their hard-driving sound centered on Risager’s vocals as “one-part Ray Charles, one-part Bob Seger, and one-part Joe Cocker.” They have played across Europe and performed at Asia’s biggest blues festival, Mahindra Blues in Mumbai. Davis presents the band in its U.S. debut.

Also appearing, from Paris, is Gunwood, a rock-folk-blues trio that has opened for Santana and played at France’s largest festivals. Their PWF set also marks their first U.S. appearance. Opening the show is Omaha’s own Grace Giebler, a recent competitor on “American Idol” and an alum of the Blues Society’s BluesEd youth performance project. Gates open at 3:30 p.m., music begins at 4:30 p.m.

See playingwithfireomaha.net for more information.

Free.

-- B.J. Huchtemann

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Jennifer Egan, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award for A Visit from The Goon Squad, will read from her latest novel, Manhattan Beach, as part of the next installment of Passages, the new literary series at Kaneko.

Egan’s appearance is presented by the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing -- a low-residency graduate creative writing degree offered by the Writer’s Workshop in the College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media -- and the Omaha Public Library.

-- Houston Wiltsey

July 19

Though Maurice White is no longer with us, Earth, Wind, and Fire are, and we should certainly be thankful for that. The Grammywinning, album-shifting megastars have not released an album since Holiday in 2014, which is good because it means the group will be playing nothing but classics. Expect “September,” “Boogie Wonderland,” “Sing a Song,” “Fantasy,” “Shining Star” and “Let’s Groove.”

-- Houston Wiltsey

July 19-20

Chris Stapleton ZooFest CHI Health Center Lincoln

Fresh off his Game of Thrones cameo and a cover of Randy Newman’s “The Ballad Of The Lonesome Cowboy” for the Toy Story 4 soundtrack, country music superstar Chris Stapleton is bringing his All American Roadshow tour to Omaha. The ongoing tour, which began in 2017, features Stapleton performing with a diverse lineup of special guests. For his show at the CHI Health Arena, the three-time 2019 Grammy nominee is bringing along Margo Price and the Marcus Kind Band to open.

-- Houston Wiltsey

Lincoln’s historic Zoo Bar continues its recent focus on bringing big-name roots artists to the street in front of the club during its anniversary celebration. This year the spotlight is on Mavis Staples, a musical force of nature whose soulful and fiery mix of blues, R&B and gospel is as good as it gets. Her new album We Get By was produced by Ben Harper, garnering the veteran Staples late-night TV slots and plenty of praise. She’s been performing since her days as part of her family’s group

the Staple Singers. Staples plays the 9 p.m. set on Saturday, July 20, with her band that includes California roots guitarist Rick Holmstrom. She plays with a truth, soul and joy that is not to be missed.

The rest of the ZooFest lineup goes like this. Friday, July 19: rockabilly kings The Paladins (5 p.m.), Austin’s country guitar star Junior Brown (7 p.m.), blues-rocker Mike Zito (9 p.m.) and Satchel Grande (11 p.m.). Saturday, July 20, BluesEd bands are showcased (1 p.m.), followed by The Bottle tops (3 p.m.), keyboard wizard Bruce Katz and his band (5 p.m.), legendary blues band leader, songwriter, vocalist and harmonica player James Harman (7 p.m.), Mavis Staples (9 p.m.). North Carolina’s funky band The Empire Strikes Brass closes the night (11 p.m.) with its New Orleansrooted, brass-band-fueled sound. See zoobar.com. Advance tickets are $30 for Friday only, $50 for Saturday only or $65 for both days and are available at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar and at etix.com.

-- B.J. Huchtemann

July 20

AfroCon

immerse in nerd culture and discover tools for K-12 educational achievement.

Exhibitor tables will feature the work of ethnically diverse independent artists and businesses. Enjoy live music, food trucks and a cosplay showcase. Late Show with Seth Meyers writer-performer Amber Ruffin is moderating panels. The Omaha native said, “The House of Afros, Capes and Curls is one of my favorite organizations and every event they put on is beyond fun.

Creating spaces for the black community to connect and celebrate one another is very important. Few things are as fun as they are important, but this is one of them.” Chicago POC Cosplayers founder Christopher “Papa Bear” English is conducting a workshop.

Music performances from Brooklyn-based, Omaha-native EM artist Conrad Clifton and local artists Edem Garro, Elliott Ness, Wakanda and Purchase are on the bill.

The event is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Metro Community College Fort Omaha Campus, Center for Advanced-Emerging Technologies Building.

Tickets and questions: info@afrocon. org. Follow on Facebook @afrconomaha.

-- Leo Adam Biga

Omaha 2019

July 20

Amber Ruffin

Stir Cove Amphitheater at Harrah’s

with guest moderator Metro Community College Fort Omaha Campus

Diana Ross

through sheer magnetism and leaves people mesmerized. Bring your own chairs and blankets. Concerts are rain or shine.

Show is at 8 p.m. Tickets are $45-$68 via Ticketmaster.

-- Leo Adam Biga

July 20-21 & 25-28, Aug 1-4 The Lofte Community Theatre Presents

Gilbert & Sullivan’s

‘The Pirates of Penzance’

July 23-27

Manley, Nebraska

Set sail with this hilarious farce of sentimental pirates, bumbling policemen, dim-witted young lovers and an eccentric major general. The hopeful story follows young Frederic, an orphan who has mistakenly been apprenticed to a raucous band of pirates. He disavows the pirates’ way and tries to win over the heart of Maj. Gen. Stanley’s songbird daughter, Mabel.

Complications arise that may prevent the budding romance and lead to the death of ‘’The very model of a modern major general.’’

Thursday – Saturday 7 p.m. Sunday 2 p.m. The Sunday, Aug. 4, show will have Audio Descriptions for the visually impaired. Reserved seating $22. Box office 402-234-2553 or purchase tickets at Etix. com.

-- Beaufield Berry

July 21

AfroCon is a community building event with panels and workshops of curated conversations about representation, consumerism and economic development of the black dollar. It is presented by House of Afros, Capes & Curls, which connects people from diverse backgrounds over a shared love of science fiction, fantasy, gaming and Afro Futurism. The goal is to inspire conversation and mobilization,

The pop music, Hollywood and black culture diva will raise the grace and elegance factor of Council Bluffs by her mere presence.

More than any one-name superstar, Diana embodies old-school class. She long ago earned entertainment royalty status for her Motown classics and Hollywood successes. With the passing years she’s moved comfortably into the roles of matriarch and goddess with her charity work, duets, solo releases and reunions. After leaving The Supremes to go on her own, Ross became that rare music artist who never had to reinvent herself. Her posh blend of ethereal beauty yet earthy accessibility combined with a romantic, life-affirming sensibility never grows old. There are better singers and stage performers but none more captivating or alluring. She commands an audience

Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson Westfair Amphitheater

The self-proclaimed “Twins of Evil” are headed to Council Bluffs on the Hell Never

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Dies tour. This is the third time both musicians have gone on the road together. The duo first teamed in 2012 before reuniting in July 2018 for the Twins of Evil: The Second Coming Tour.

Manson released his most recent album, Heaven Upside Down, in October 2017. Zombie, meanwhile, released his last LP, The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration, in 2016, while his next full-length is scheduled to arrive this year.

The musician is also prepping a new horror film, Three From Hell, which is expected to be released in 2019 as well.

-- Houston Wiltsey

Ilene Martinez Multiple Omaha Venues

The former Omaha resident has been singing and writing her own compositions for decades, but only after moving to France did she begin performing publicly.

She’s since toured widely, including gigs at SxSW in Austin, Texas, and the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi. She enjoys a fruitful collaboration with mentor Jacquelyn Hughes Mooney in New Orleans.

Drawing on her transcontinental, crosscultural experiences, Martinez tells her life stories in a fusion of blues and French jazz savoir-faire.

More information at www.ilenemartinez.com.

July 23: 5-8 p.m. Bayou Blue Radio listening party at Hi-Fi House featuring her new album “Reasons” and the latest in Parisian and world jazz.

July 24 Master Class with Thierry Clémensat. Get details at www.ilenemartinez.com/shows July 26: 7 p.m. “Reasons” album showcase at the B-Side of Benson Theater July 27: 9-9:45 p.m. Benson Days concert featuring Martinez jamming live with local musicians.

-- Leo Adam Biga

| THE READER |

July 2019

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July 24-27

Omaha Fringe Festival UNO Weber Fine Arts Building (Dodge Street campus)

createnew,meaningfulmaterialwhilefighting the darkness closing in on him. The piece breaks the normal boundaries of the stage and shifts between time and place without the structures of breaks to form a stream of consciousness storytelling. The cast is led

by Jeremy Kendall, Theresa Sindelar and Kit Gough.

July 27-28

Benson Days Benson Business District

Proceeds will be invested in South Omaha neighborhoods through SONA grants.

Event is 5:30-8:30 p.m., 2234 South 13th St. Tickets via Eventbrite: $50 general admission, $35 for South Omaha Neighborhood Associations members.

-- Leo Adam Biga

August 3

The inaugural Omaha Fringe Festival will feature four days of theater from the outer edges – all created, produced, directed and performed by area artists. The lineup consists of 10 productions performing multiple times throughout the festival.

The event will include a performance of a Shakespearean adaptation, a tribute to Robin Williams, a stand-up comic, improv art and a devised theater production that will travel to Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland in August. Come out and support local artists brazen enough to let their freak flags fly. As the Fringe tag line says, “experience Omaha theater unfettered.”

Fringe is happening in partnership with Omaha Under the Radar.

Tickets at www.eventbrite.com.

-- Leo Adam Biga

In the Market for Blues

July 24 – 8:30 p.m. July 25 – 10 p.m. July 27 – 7:30 p.m. Tickets at www.eventbrite. com.

-- Leo Adam Biga

July 26

Baroness The Waiting Room

July 24-25 & July 27

August 1

Hummingbird –

2019 South Omaha Banquet

A Theatrical Tribute to Robin Williams Omaha Fringe Festival UNO Weber Fine Arts Building (Dodge Street campus)

Playwright Jason Levering directs his own script in this love letter to Robin Williams. In this fictionalized account of the last days of the comic’s life, we see the broken psyche of a brilliant but grown-stale artist seeking to

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July 2019

This family friendly summer festival celebrates Benson’s creative culture.

Saturday activities include a pancake breakfast from 8-10:30 a.m. and a parade at 10 a.m. A daytime (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) street festival will feature dozens of vendors, including food trucks, along with art, live music and children’s activities. A beer garden with live music runs from noon to 7 p.m. and is restricted to 21 and older from 7 p.m. to midnight. Sunday activities kickoff with the Indie 10K/5K race at 8 a.m. (sign-in is from 7 to 7:30). A post-race party follows at the 1912 venue (62nd and Maple). For youth wanting to cool off in the water. the Gallagher Park Pool will open at noon and the first 150 kids (ages 3 to 17) get free admission.

-- Leo Adam Biga

For more than a minute “Seasons,” the second track released from Baroness’ fifth studio album, Grey & Gold, doesn’t even sound like metal. The song’s skittery drums and sparse piano combine to form something that wouldn’t feel out of place at a ‘90s rave. Around the 80-second mark, the percussion changes from playful to punchy as lead singer John Baizley bellows “We fall!” The craziest part? It doesn’t feel out of place.

The Atlanta band has made its name as one of the most forward-thinking metal groups the genre has to offer, becoming a favorite of both blog browsers and headbangers alike. Fresh off its tour with contemporaries Deafheaven, the band is embarking on a cross-country tour along with new guitarist Gina Gleason.

-- Houston Wiltsey

| THE READER |

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Sokol Auditorium and Underground

The good works and neighbors helping to strengthen community have their day in the sun at this celebratory fundraiser for South Omaha neighborhoods. The South Omaha Neighborhood Alliance (SONA) recognizes the accomplishments of South Omaha community leaders and organizations. Expect awards presentations, updates from elected officials, raffles and networking opportunities. There will be a catered dinner with dessert and a cash bar.

Old Market & Capitol District

Hector Anchondo’s In the Market for Blues has grown exponentially each year with assistance from E3 Music Management and support from the Blues Society of Omaha and other sponsors. This year is the event’s fifth anniversary, and the multi-band, multivenue event has exploded with 11 venues in the Old Market and The Capitol District plus an outdoor stage in the Holland Performing Arts Center’s Mammal Courtyard. More than 40 bands are scheduled to perform, including national and international acts such as The Blues Beatles, Shaw Davis & The Black Ties, Mick Kolassa & the Taylor Made Blues Band and Shawn Holt & The Teardrops.

Other notable national acts in the lineup include the Taylor Scott Band, the Jeremiah Johnson Band, Hurricane Ruth, Polly O’Keary & The Rhythm Method, Heather Newman Band, Laurie Morvan Band, Patrick Recob & The Perpetual Luau All Stars, Sebastian Lane Band, Eric Jerardi, David Zollo and more. Kris Lager Band and Matt Cox are among the local acts being showcased. All this music for a mere $10 in advance. Admission on the day of the show is $15 or $5 at each venue.

Under 21 permitted with an adult until 9 p.m. Details at inthemarketforblues.com.

-- B.J. Huchtemann

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by Leo Adam Biga | Photo By Debra Kaplan If fringe occupies the outer edge of things, then expect a grab bag of eclectic stage work during the first Omaha Fringe Festival, July 24-27, at UNO.

to the artists, who receive 75 percent of box-office receipts. Neumann sees the event as a platform for encouraging and monetizing new work.

Omaha Fringe founder Tamar Neumann’s inspiration for her openaccess, unbound event is the Minnesota Fringe Festival. She got hooked on it working in Minneapolis as a theater critic and Chameleon Theatre Circle administrator.

“I noticed there were a lot of works being created here by a lot of really great playwrights, but there wasn’t always a lot of room for people to get paid for their work.

She developed the event as part of her thesis work for her UNO Master of Arts in Theatre degree.

Neumann, who teaches writing, is a former playwright. She’s recently transitioned into being a dramaturge.

Upon moving to Omaha in 2016 she was bummed to discover no fringe fest here and determined to start one.

“I really like fringe festivals,” she said.

“I think they’re exciting and fun. They have a way of bringing all these people together that other theater festivals don’t. I think it’s because you don’t have that adjudication piece, so kind of anything goes. It’s kind of wild.”

Her fledgling Omaha fest netted 25 applications from area individuals and ensembles. Ten productions were chosen by lottery. The work ranges from performance art shows to narrative stage productions. There are no costs

It’s a community with a lot of volunteers and not a lot of professionals.”

Naturally, her start-up is a fraction of the large, years-in-the-making Minnesota Fringe she’s modeled hers on.

“Theirs is smashing. It’s two weeks long with over 200 productions. It takes over the city (Minneapolis). It’s crazy, it’s huge, it’s super fun.”

The nearest fringe to Omaha is Kansas City. it turns out, fringe is a real thing around the U.S. and the world that started in Edinburgh, Scotland, after World War II and spread. Creighton University professor of theater Amy Lane has made a study of the scene and gives a run-down of what to expect.

“Fringe is like a choose-your-ownadventure experience for the audience with several shows playing at the same time – and the options are always adventurous,” Lane said. “Fringe artists

embrace the new, the experimental, the weird, the avant-garde, the cutting edge.

It’s like a cultural sampler platter. And it’s fun. Theatre can have a reputation of being elitist, stodgy, inaccessible, but fringe is the opposite. Fringe is a carnival where you get to decide which rides you’d like to try.”

“The thing I love about fringe festivals is how diverse they can be,” Neumann said. “You have a wide range of theater and performance styles and I feel like we really got that. We’ve got full plays, short plays, a standup comic, dancers, oneman shows. I feel like we’ve got a really good mix of artists and themes.”

It’s these qualities Neumann’s strived to present here.

Each Omaha Fringe work will be performed multiple times over the

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T A high-energy concoction of rock ‘n’ roll mega hits with a big band twist!

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four-day fest, with shows running from morning through evening.

An established outside-the-box arts organization, Omaha Under the Radar, has taken Fringe under its wing, sharing marketing and other resources with its young partner in edginess. Radar’s own fest runs concurrent with Omaha Fringe, only at different sites.

Neumann enlisted Radar’s Amanda DeBoer Bartlett and stalwart metro theater figures Amy Lane, Cindy Melby Phaneuf and Lara Marsh to learn the festival ropes.

When Neumann broached the idea with Phaneuf, who teaches at UNO, she was encouraged “to go for it.”

Bartlett saw it as an opportunity to pay forward the support her own organization has received. “It’s so scary and exhausting to go out on a limb and build an event from scratch, and I admire Tamar for taking this on with such tireless sincerity. Her heart and mind are in the right place. She wants to make something beautiful and positive for Omaha – so really I couldn’t say no to helping her out.”

Aug. 2 – 18, 2019

Besides, Bartlett said, her group and Fringe share the same “zeitgeist” and “crossover appeal” as showcases for “creative risks” and “independent thought” and in “uplifting the voices of local artists.”

Get Tickets Now! Featuring Billy McGuigan Music Director Steve Gomez ©2007 by Rave On Productions

Featuring:

6915 Cass St. | (402) 553-0800 | OmahaPlayhouse.com presenting sponsor:

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“UNO Theatre sees it as part of its mission to connect with the community,” Phaneuf said.

In addition to mentoring from arts veterans and support by the host University of Nebraska at Omaha Theatre Program, Neumann credits operations manager Aaron David Wrigley for making it a reality.

“He joined me in the middle of our Kickstarter campaign and I literally would not be running this festival without him. He does all the technical and logistics stuff. We’re a team of two in the trenches.”

The process of organizing the event, Neumann said, has rekindled a passion for theater that had waned.

“In high school I discovered in theater a group of people who welcomed me and understood me. I enjoyed the community theater created and the freedom inhabiting another role created.

As I grew older and became more of an audience member than a creator, I found joy in theater because of its immediacy.

“Fringe has reinvigorated me.

When I first moved down here I didn’t go to much theater, but in this past year I’ve seen so much and I’ve been able to embrace it again. I feel like I’ve reinvented myself by finding something I’m truly passionate about. I’ve always loved theater, but it kind of disappeared

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for a time, and creating this festival has helped me find that passion again.”

in motion through space and time lead to interesting possibilities.

Along the way, she said, “I’ve learned so much about the Omaha theater community. I connected with so many people. It’s really empowering to know that I created this – that this is happening.”

TBA: Tired, Barren and Alone

She intends to make Fringe “an annual thing.” That depends, she acknowledged, on “the community supporting and embracing it.” After this first fest wraps, she said, “I’ll take a step back and evaluate what worked and what didn’t work and how I want to move forward/”

The Lineup: Improv Art by Big Canvas Artists will create original pieces of art inspired by the antics of Big Canvas improv comedians and audience members’ own creativity. This in-themoment, interactive art experience will culminate in an unveiling.

Celebration: A Belly Dance Show Della Bynum and the ladies from her Chrysalis Studio will perform this ancient midriff dance that celebrates the feminine and the cycles of life. Onlookers may be invited to join in as the rhythm moves them.

Hummingbird – A Theatrical Tribute to Robin Williams Playwright Jason Levering directs his own script in this love letter to Robin Williams that imagines the comic’s last hours of existential angst. This Crook Factor Productions show has a free form befitting its subject.

Secondhand Love Standup comic Andrew Morton riffs on some of his life journeys – of the physical, hiking variety and of the mental health what-is-fantasy-versus-reality variety.

Jean-Paul Zuhur performs this one-man show he’s written that is a contemporary take on Dante’s Inferno.

Get Tickets!

20 Questions Doug Hayko pushes the limits of discourse and vulnerability in this exploration of the moments right before and after his HIV-positive diagnosis and coming out. The conceptual piece lives in the intense emotions between theater and reality. For mature audiences only.

Carnival Tim Barr’s one-man show from his own Jungle Productions 2 revolves around deep research he’s done into the life of carneys and the subculture of carnivals. It’s Carousel meets Nightmare Alley.

Darkness Like a Dream Anna Jordan and her new Found Ensemble present this full production retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream set in the forest of ancient Athens. Lovers run from persecution and tyranny. The gods rage. Tragedians rehearse an illfated play. Monsters are born and mortals are magicked. A sinister thread weaves everyone’s stories together – revealing a darkness in the forest and in themselves.

Little Wars The festival’s star entry may be this UNO Studio Theatre production from Jeremy Stoll and fellow grad students that addresses homo sapiens’ hard-wired desire to make war. From armed warfare to schoolyard beefs, this work of devised physical theatre explores the nature of human conflict by imagining it as ritual.

The play has toured Nebraska. Its cast and production team will next bring Little Wars to the mother of all fringe festivals – Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.

Aug. 16 – Sept. 15, 2019

on sale July 16

Written by Lynn Nottage

Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, Sweat is a head-first dive into working class America. A three-time Tony Award® nominee, Sweat follows a group of steelworkers whose steady march toward the American dream is uprooted by economic change. As their sense of security slowly unravels, jobs and relationships are left in the wake. Punctuated with lively humor, Sweat goes to the heart of what it means to be human — both good and bad — when fear and uncertainty take hold.

Disclaimer: Contains adult language and violence.

Fringe unfurls at UNO’s Weber Fine Arts Building (Dodge Street campus).

MOABIRTHC

For Fringe schedule and tickets, visit www.facebook.com/omahafringefest.

Playwright and actress Colleen O’Doherty is joined by other performers in her celebration of physicality in theater, comedic and otherwise. Bodies

Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.

6915 Cass St. | (402) 553-0800 | OmahaPlayhouse.com

THEATER

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Hot Fun

From Playing With Fire to ZooFest, Outdoor Festivals Are on Tap for Summer

by B.J. huChteMAnn

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ocal promoter Jeff Davis presents two Playing With Fire free, family friendly concerts at Turner Park at Midtown Crossing this summer. The dates are Saturday, July 13, and Saturday, Aug. 24. For the July 13 date, Davis brings two internationally acclaimed blues-roots acts to town that are making their U.S. debut in Omaha.

Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado of Copenhagen, Denmark, headline the show with their soul-funkrock sound built around Risager’s distinctive vocals. They’ve played big festivals all over Europe, Canada and even India.

From Paris, Gunwood is a trio that mixes folk, blues and rock with an emphasis on vocal harmonies. Gunwood has played some of France’s largest festivals, rocking out for more than 100,000 fans at the Rock en Seine. They band has also toured extensively across Europe. Opening the show is Omaha’s own Grace Giebler Project. Find out more about all the artists, hear clips and get details on the event at playingwithfireomaha.net.

Playing With Fire is celebrating its 16th year of presenting world-class blues and roots music for free. Gates open at 3:30 p.m. and Giebler’s band kicks things off at 4:30 p.m.

ZooVersary Lincoln’s historic Zoo Bar continues its annual ZooFest street fair, taking the music to an outdoor stage in front of the bar Friday and Saturday, July 19 and 20.

This year’s biggest name in the weekend lineup is the great Mavis Staples, an undeniable musical force of nature who brings equal parts soul and joy to her stage shows. She’s never sounded better and her new album We Get By (ANTIRecords) was produced by Ben Harper.

Her bandleader and guitarist for more

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than 10 years has been Californian Rick Holmstrom, a former solo artist in his own right.

The balance of the outdoor ZooFest lineup includes some longtime Zoo Bar audience favorites. Friday, July 19: SoCal rockabilly kings The Paladins (5 p.m.), Austin’s country guitar star Junior Brown (7 p.m.), blues-rocker Mike Zito (9 p.m.) and Satchel Grande (11 p.m.) Saturday, July 20: BluesEd bands are showcased (1 p.m.), followed by The Bottle Tops (3 p.m.), keyboard wizard Bruce Katz and his band (5 p.m.), legendary blues band leader, songwriter, vocalist and harmonica player James Harman (7 p.m.), Mavis Staples (9 p.m.). North Carolina’s funky band The Empire Strikes Brass closes the night (11 p.m.) with a sound rooted in the New Orleans brass band traditions. Advance tickets are $30 for Friday, $50 for Saturday or $65 for both days and are available at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar and etix.com.

While there are plenty of great bookings all month, the Zoo continues the long-standing tradition of booking multiple bands each night of the week leading to the outdoor festival. Boogie piano virtuoso Jason D. Williams takes the stage for a 5 p.m. show Sunday, July 14.

Williams carries on the wild-man-at-thekeyboards tradition of Jerry Lee Lewis, who may or may not be Williams’ biological father. See rockinjasondwilliams.com.

Tuesday, July 16, Mezcal Brothers heat things up followed by Jazzocracy and DJ Relic. Wednesday, July 17, David Basse performs as well as guitarist James Armstrong and Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal. Thursday, July 18, James Harman and Mike Zito & The Wheel are up. All weeknight music starts at 6 p.m.

See zoobar.com for more information, as well as all shows for July, includ-

| THE READER |

HOODOO

ing Mezcal Brothers for a special early July 4 show, 6-9 p.m.

Heather Newman Band celebrates its just-released second CD, Rise From the Flames (VizzTone), with a show Friday, July 5, 9 p.m. Monday, July 8, New Orleans-based, roots-celebration band The Iguanas play 6-9 p.m.

BSO Presents at Chrome There is no 6 p.m. early show on Thursday, July 4. The rest of the month features Selwyn Birchwood on Thursday, July 11. Bridget Kelly Band plays Thursday, July 25. Polly O’Keary & The Rhythm Method are featured Thursday, Aug. 1. See OmahaBlues.com.

The extraordinary Mavis Staples is still making powerful and relevant music.

She headlines Lincoln’s Zoo Bar’s 46th Anniversary ZooFest Saturday, July 20, 9 p.m.

Hot Notes Tab Benoit plugs in at Waiting Room on Thursday, July 7, 8 p.m. Eric Johanson, an artist on Benoit’s Whiskey Bayou Records label, opens. Rising Austin guitar stars The Peterson Brothers play Lincoln’s Bourbon Theater on Wednesday, July 10, 7 p.m. The Iguanas play The Jewell on Thursday, July 11, 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Sunday Roadhouse hosts Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express at Waiting Room on Sunday, July 14, 5 p.m. Blues-rock guitarist Walter Trout and his band plug in at Waiting Room on Tuesday, July 15, 8 p.m. Nick Scheneblen Band opens. The Corner Bar In Fremont celebrates its 36th anniversary Saturday, July 27, with Eva & B, 7 p.m., and Taylor Scott Band, 9 p.m.

photo Mavis Staples courtesy of MavisStaples.com

The 2nd Annual Summer Propane Benefit and Poker Run for Pine Ridge hosted by the Toy Drive for Pine Ridge happens Sunday, July 21,at Chrome Lounge, music 4-9 p.m. See details on the Poker Run and the music performances at Facebook.com/Toydriveforpineridge.

Mark your calendars for the expanded fifth annual In the Market for Blues on Saturday, Aug. 3, in the Old Market and the Capitol District. Find out more about the multi-band, multi-venue event started by Hector Anchondo and E3 Music Management at InTheMarketForBlues.com.

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Live Music From the Concert Adverse Singer Will Toledo on Performing, Bandcamp and Car Seat Headrest’s New Live Album

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nitially, Will Toledo was not a fan of concerts.

“I felt like the album was the supreme way of making and hearing music, and playing those songs live, you were just compromising your vision to try and sell it,” he writes in an email. Fast forward a couple of years and the 26-year-old singer and creative force behind Car Seat Headrest is set to release a live album recorded over the span of an extremely well-received tour. So what changed?

“It took seeing some really special things live to change my mind about that,” Toledo says. “I saw Swans live, and that changed how I thought about it. I saw James Brown videos, and that changed me even more. I realized that it wasn’t just about putting the songs onstage. It was a whole different experience that you couldn’t replicate or put on an album ... We’ve taken the task seriously, which would help distinguish us from bands who don’t really care about the live aspect.”

Below, the prolific frontman talks about the process of making a live record for the first time, the music hype cycle, and how he spends his free time.

You just announced a new live album called Commit Yourself Completely. Can you tell me why you thought it was the right time to release a live record?

We’re just about to go on tour and it’s going to be our last tour with Naked Giants, who have been playing in our band as well as opening for us since we started touring for Twin Fantasy. They’ve been touring full time for over a year, doing their own shows when they weren’t on the road with us, and now they’re going to take some time for whatever they want to do next, which is the right choice. We’ve had a great run together and I’m glad it lasted as long as it did. We were able to accomplish a lot as a seven-piece that would have been impossible otherwise. After this tour we’re going to go back to just being Car Seat Headrest and see where that takes us. It made sense to release a record of what we’ve been doing for the past year before we move on to the next thing.

The press release for this record said you picked the songs based on the fun you had performing them versus the best performances. Do you think the folks listening can tell when a band is really enjoying itself?

When you get good at doing shows, you can kind of fake it and make people think you’re having fun when really it’s a drag onstage. And faking it is its own sort of fun, so if you’re good at it, no one

by Houston Wiltsey will worry about whether you’re enjoying yourself. I think that kind of worry can really bring down a show if people feel oppressed from having fun because they don’t think the band is into it, and the band is waiting for the audience to stop being so reserved. You have to learn that a lot of performing really is about trying to create that carefree energy without forcing it. The shows that are the most fun are the ones where everyone starts out on that page to begin with, band and audience.

You just walk onstage and it’s good right off the bat. It’s impossible to predict that or engineer it; it just happens. That’s what these shows were like.

Actually, a lot of times those kinds of shows end up sounding worse when you listen to them later, because you were having too much fun and you stopped focusing on the music. But these shows didn’t turn out like that, luckily.

Are there any live records that you listened to for inspiration when putting the album together?

I listened to a lot because I really didn’t know what it should sound like. I’ve never been in the crowd for one of our own shows, so I couldn’t recreate that experience, and that wasn’t what I was interested in anyway. I was interested in taking the recordings we had and trying to retain their energy in the final mix. I listened a lot to Nirvana’s From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah when I was younger, and I checked out Cheap Trick’s At Budokan during the mixing process. I really liked the energy of those albums, but the sound was very washed out, more focused on the live atmosphere than on the performances of the individual members. I felt like the instrumental work on the recordings we’d made were a large part of what made them special, so I didn’t want to diminish that with a muddier mix. I actually got pretty dispirited from working on it for a while, because I couldn’t figure out how I wanted it to sound. But then I listened to some live records from different genres and got inspired again. I put on Miles Davis’ Live-Evil for the first time, and I thought it was the best-sounding record I’d ever heard. Of course, on jazz records, everything is presented just the way the musicians played it, very clean, so you can hear the interplay. I thought that was great because it brought the energy of the

show into the room -- you weren’t imagining you were there, you were there, wherever that music was being created, because it was the same exact sounds. So I listened to a lot of live jazz while I was finishing the record, and a lot of James Brown performances -- anything that was straightforward, clean mixes.

As someone who is considered to be a very prolific songwriter, there’s been a three-year gap since your last full release of new material.

In today’s musical landscape that can feel like an eternity. Do you ever worry about falling out of the collective consciousness?

People need to forget bands before they can remember them again, so it seems like everything is going OK. I can’t keep up with the hype, and I needed to feel like a normal person for a while, so we just toured a reasonable amount for Twin Fantasy and didn’t do much of any press around it. Now I feel like it’s been long enough that I can get back into it, so we’re gearing up for a real-deal album cycle once we’re finished recording the new album, which is happening now. I operated for five years outside the modern musical landscape when I was releasing Car Seat Headrest records independently. I’m still pretty noncommittal about the way a lot of things are done inside the music industry, although I’ll try anything once.

As someone who rose to prominence on Bandcamp, do you miss the days of being able to create something and post it without a second thought?

Yeah, but I don’t miss waiting for days for a single response from anyone after finishing what I think is my best work ever and immediately posting it. Actually, that happened after I finished this live record. I marathoned my way through the last two

BACKBEAT

weeks of mixing and finally got it done and sent it out to five or six friends to try and get reactions. I got one vote of approval from my best friend, and nobody else cared. So that was a nice blast from the past. I miss the idea of immediate gratification, but that wasn’t something that ever actually happened, so I’d rather just have real gratification, which comes from having people listen to your music. I’d like to make that happen however I can.

Besides touring and re-recording Twin Fantasy, what have you been doing with your time?

I’ve been getting sick a lot. Somebody always comes down with something during a tour, and it goes around and usually gets to me right at the end of the tour, so I go home sick. We played one show in May and me and Andrew both got sick for like 10 days afterward. I went to his house at the end of it to work on the live record, and I was coughing and blowing my nose, and he was like “Oh yeah, I’ve been in bed for a week.” But when I’m home and I’m not sick, I’m always working on something.

Right now, I’m trying to finish up producing a friend’s record, and working on material for our own record.

What’s the last album you formed a real relationship with?

I guess it’d still be Blonde. There have been good records since then, but none that have hit that hard. It was something where I listened and went, “This is cool. There is something not normal about this record. I’m going to have to listen to it more to figure out what’s going on.” And I kept listening and it completely caught me up in its world, which I still haven’t really figured out, but it’s so deep and expansive that I never got tired of it. It was crafted in a way that most albums these days are not crafted.

There are the songs, but there’s also the way it’s built out of a thousand little pieces, assembled in a way that no one else could ever replicate or envision. Albums are like places to me; they have to invite you in, and they have to have something inside that is navigable and unique. There aren’t enough albums you can really walk around in, but Blonde is one of them.

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Band to Watch: Australia’s Chase Atlantic

by Houston Wiltsey

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ne Direction. The Wanted. Justin Bieber. These artists sound nothing like Chase Atlantic, the dark, druggy three-piece from Cairns, Australia. Initially, though, these were the artists that lead singer Mitchel Cave and guitarist Christian Anthony bonded over.

The pair were part of a boy band called What About Tonight that auditioned on Season 4 of the Australian version of “The X Factor.” After getting eliminated in week two of the competition, they teamed with Mitchel’s brother Clinton and started developing a new sound. After catching

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the ear of Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte with their initial pair of EPs, the band began traveling to Los Angeles to work and record.

“When we moved to America, we started broadening the music we were listening to and started listening to artists like The Weeknd and Travis Scott,” says Anthony. “We fell in love with the drum and bass sounds they were using and infused that with our already evolving sound.”

Beyond those mainstream hip hop and R&B touchstones, the group has noted

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MUSIC

David Bowie and Prince as major influences on its sophomore album, PHASES. “Genres are slowly fading away; people make music they like, and people are more inclined to listen to new music despite what their usual taste in music may be,” he tells me. “It’s a beautiful way to listen to muic and have no prejudice based on genres.”

They even throw in a little classical as well. “Clinton was a classically trained saxophone player and Mitchel was in a choir,” says Anthony. All of it makes for an

intoxicating mix that sounds dangerous, lovelorn, and yet surprisingly heartfelt.

“STUCKINMYBRAIN” handles something that all the members are familiar with. “It’s our ode to our personal struggle with mental health, and how we dealt with our internal battles with drugs and alcohol,” he says. “We always try to be as raw and honest with our music as we can be.”

For him, the best part is “just being on stage with your best mates doing what you love every night, and people being a part of that and singing along.”

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In Service of Streaming

A Roundup of the Latest Digital Offerings

by Ryan Syrek

“W

the best nameless character in history as irresistible as we do.

What You Should Stream Next

I’ve read all the lamentations about the latest installments of everyone’s favorite “Smartphones Be Cray-Cray” anthology, including from The Reader’s own Judas, Mason Shumaker. Y’all are wrong! When considered with Bandersnatch, the interactive Black Mirror Netflix movie that was originally included as part of this season, this year’s offerings have an admirable narrative approach. Whereas previous episodes seemed almost abusively didactic and transparently in contempt of various modern technology use, this batch is intentionally vague.

hat are you binging?” is the new “How’s it going?” Except people actually want to hear your answer, if only so they can tell you what they’re watching. I used to get asked “Seen any good movies lately?” all the time. Now it’s pretty much “What should I stream next?” and “Can you stop with all the rhetorical questions?” I can at least satisfactorily answer one of those.

Fleabag (Season 2) Amazon Prime

As close as we’re likely to get to a new work from William Shakespeare, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s heartbreakingly hilarious exploration of one woman’s relationship foibles is absolutely perfect.

I didn’t say good. I said perfect. Even if you’re not someone who gets your crumpet in a doily about British television, Fleabag is a divine blend of mundanity and profundity.

Following the tragic revelation at the end of Season 1, our heroine is drawn into a seemingly inevitably doomed romance that will tractor-beam you to your couch, forcing you to fly through all six half-hour episodes in one sitting. Supposedly, this is the series’ swan song, but I remain prayerful that Waller-Bridge finds the siren call from

Black Mirror (Season 5) Netflix

“Striking Vipers” asks and refuses to answer various questions about sexual identity filtered through videogame avatars. “Smithereens” doesn’t so much hold Twitter’s feet to the fire as it suggests the users and creators of social platforms have worked together to muddle morality. “Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too” interrogates overly demanding fans as much as overly narcissistic celebrities. None is among the best episodes, but each is on the right side of good. And, yeah, they may be a bit long, but there’s a pause or fastforward button right there.

Doom Patrol (Season 1) DC Universe Maybe the best “freak of the week” show in ages, Doom Patrol is a heavenly fried slice of bonkers.

A motley crew of mostly grotesque quasi-superheroes grapple with their faltering mental health while engaging in varying plot nonsense. Said nonsense includes a farting donkey that contains a dimensional wormhole, a sentient street, a fourth-wall-breaking villain played by Alan Tudyk, and a very large cockroach that makes out with a very large rat.

Doom Patrol is as intentionally weird a mainstream show as I’ve ever seen. It is also more of a thoughtful character study than any comparable superhero TV series. The adventures in the first season are bound together by a meaningful quest for self that is frequently legitimately moving. How they managed to do that and introduce a character who tracks people by eating their beard hair is beyond me. You kind of have to see this…

When They See Us (4-part Mini) Netflix Wowza. You know your dramatic retelling of events is good when it gets real-life people fired from their jobs. Ava DuVernay’s masterful examination of

Do Electric Sheep Dream of Androids?

‘Toy Story 4’ Asks Some Weird Questions

by Ryan Syrek

They’ve gone too far.

The Toy Story franchise has always flirted with borderline horrific implications about the sentience of supposedly inanimate objects. The aging of Andy proves that puberty still happens in that reality, which means those toys have been through some stuff. However, Forky (Tony Hale), who is introduced in Toy Story 4, kicks that nightmare into overdrive.

When Bonnie makes Forky out of trash during kindergarten, Woody (Tom Hanks) and the gang are stunned

when he begins communicating with them. This opens only two unholy scenarios: either literally every object in the Toy Story universe is self-aware or the only thing that grants life is becoming a toy. Does this mean the humans in the series are just playthings of unseen Gods or aliens? Are we? Are we nothing more than cosmic trash, the discarded sporks of the universe?

What I’m saying is, Toy Story 4 doesn’t have quite as much going on emotionally as the other films, so you’re free to think about nonsense.

the torture and illegitimate prosecution of the Central Park 5, who are now the Exonerated 5, should be required viewing. As Roots did in its day, this series has the potential to help rewrite long-held, ignorant cultural narratives collectively defended by too many.

Like HBO’s Chernobyl, When They See Us is meticulous in its accuracy but not at the cost of captivating narrative storytelling. This is the most beautiful, haunting, painful work yet from DuVernay; that’s intended to be one hell of a compliment, given her resume. Too often, the inevitability of knowing how things play out sucks the oxygen from historical adaptations. You won’t be able to breathe at times during this one, but not for that reason.

What You Shouldn’t Stream Next Handmaid’s Tale (Season 3) Hulu Typically, you don’t get a lot of thoughtful recommendations for what to skip, as most people don’t bother watching multiple episodes of something they hate. I said most people …

As someone who is planning to take off work and read the entirety of Margret Atwood’s upcoming sequel to the original Handmaid’s Tale novel when

The unnecessary third film in this series justified its existence with a profound pontification on mortality and purpose. Although undoubtedly sweet, funny, and pleasant, this fourth film seems to have a thesis that life is about moving on and not repeating behaviors out of fear. That’s a fine sentiment but is super weird to hear from the fourth movie in a franchise in which every film has had basically the same plot.

This time, it’s Forky who gets lost, as Buzz Lightyear is left mostly on the sidelines, which is nice because nobody of any age needs to hear Tim Allen talk more. Woody stumbles into his one-time sweetheart Bo Peep (Annie Potts) and her sheep at an antique shop, where Forky is abducted by a Chatty Cathy knockoff called Gabby (Christina Hendricks).

She and her legitimately terrifying marionette minions want to steal Woody’s voice box to replace her broken one. With the help of plush carnival prizes Ducky (Keegan-Michael Key) and Bunny (Jordan Peele) and Canadian stuntman Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves), Woody stages a rescue attempt.

There’s also a subplot that suggests humanity is constantly surrounded by an army of unseen, rogue toys who see everything.

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it comes out in September, it pains me greatly that this show has become bad. Worse than that, it has become downright socially irresponsible. If you can get past the mind-numbing boredom that comes from the series pretzeling all human logic to keep our heroine (Elizabeth Moss) in stasis, you still must contend with the fact this is now partly a story about humanizing fascists.

When the show was conceived, it was intended to give an alternate reality as a warning about the brutal mistreatment of women. Since our reality now features exactly that in news headlines every single day, a noble show would have pivoted to celebrate those who resist such cruelty. Instead, the program, which is run by a dude and now largely written/directed by them, is just Sisyphean torture. Those working on it either do not understand how best to proceed or, worse still, would rather keep doing what has been profitable.

I watch each week hoping that the humanity that permeated Atwood’s original vision returns. You should probably just keep it moving. ...

Okay, I’m done. Now you can tell me what to stream.

Aside from the existential dread he sparks, Forky is fantastic. Actually, all the new characters are varying degrees of delightful, most notably the reunited Key and Peele. The kinetic, Rube Goldberg-device energy of the action sequences never seems to get old, even if the cloying platitudes about childhood do. Despite Hanks’ statements in interviews to the contrary, adults can likely leave their tissues at home.

Unless they have kids. Then they should bring them. Because children are just constantly leaking from their faces.

Toy Story 4 benefits from arriving in a summer of so-so sequels. Like those films, this too has no real reason to exist, it is just sufficiently pleasing in its lack of necessity. Here’s hoping the inevitable continuation of the franchise at least stops inadvertently proposing wildly alarming theories of creation.

Synopsis: Although undoubtedly sweet, funny, and pleasant, this fourth film seems to have a thesis that life is about moving on and not repeating behaviors out of fear. That’s a fine sentiment but is super weird to hear from the fourth movie in a franchise in which every film has had basically the same plot.

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by Ryan Syrek

Wild Rose

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Paul Giamatti, who is remembered best (by me) as the bad guy from Shoot ‘Em Up, is reteaming with Alexander Payne. Oh, not for something as pedestrian as Sideways 2: The Ways of the Side. The duo will be reunited for Feature VIII, the annual fundraising event for Film Streams. Tickets are on sale for the event to be held on Sunday, Aug. 25. Come support the most wildly cinematic nonprofit in Omaha while listening to America’s sweetheart, Paul Giamatti, answer questions about his most beloved roles, like Dr. Lawrence Hayes in San Andreas!

Dundee Theater — Starts Friday July 12, 2019

4952 DODGE STREET OMAHA , NE 68132

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If you prefer your Q&As with a bit more gore, head to Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Omaha on Tuesday, July 16, at 7 p.m. for a screening of Night of the Creeps with director Fred Dekker. That’s right, the same guy whose brain birthed Monster Squad will be chatting about his campy, body-horror cult classic. Boy, do I miss the days when “body horror” referred to David Cronenberg movies and not daily news about what’s being done to restrict women’s health.

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This isn’t so much a surprise as it is exceedingly good news: Halloween is coming back. No, I’m not referring to the fact Target is already stocking black pumpkins to court white suburbanites privileged enough to see fear as a fun escape. Writer/director David Gordon Green is allegedly reteaming with Jamie Lee Curtis and Judy Greer for an-

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NEW RELEASES

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other psycho stalker slasher. I could not give less of a crap what conceit they use to resurrect Monsieur Myers, so long as they once more capture the trashy 1980s esthetic while delivering genuine empowerment.

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Speaking of the need for empowerment, a new study found that women in indie film productions hit a historic high!

Now they’re outnumbered by men only 2-to-1 … Hooray? The study from San Diego State University found that the percentage of women directors in indie flicks grew 4 percent last year, writers and executive producers increased 6 percent, and editors edged up 2 percent. So, that’s it! We’ve done it!

We’ve solved sex- and gender-based inequality in filmmaking! Somebody drop the “Mission Accomplished” banner! All jokes aside, it is encouraging to see growth, but the fact that these small increases represent an “all-time high” is as sobering as it is exciting. No need to wait for a study of Hollywood’s representation numbers, as I believe that just looks like a picture of Max Landis.

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 KVNO 90.7 on Wednesdays and follow him on Twitter.

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Food or Not-Food?

That Is the Question

by Michael Braunstein

OK,

let’s keep this simple. Humans need food to survive. We should all know that. But do we all know what “food” is? It appears not because we consume tons of material that is made to look like food, smell like food, even sometimes taste like food. But is it food?

Two recent developments inspired this Heartland Healing column. The first was continued coverage of that abomination known as artificial meat. It comes under a variety of names and even major fast food outlets are hyping the hell out of it. (Note: If a business with an overriding goal of a profitable bottom line is hyping something, you have to figure that product is hyped because it provides a better profit margin. C’mon. Get real.) Whatever you call this stuff, it’s a synthesized version of a food (meat) that humanoids have been eating for millions of years. Operative word here is “synthesized.”

The second news item was an announcement by the National Institutes of Health that research published in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism found conclusively that processed foods are bad for us and lead to illness. (Thank you, Captain Obvious!)

(modified), soy leghemoglobin, salt, soy-protein isolate, mixed tocopherols, zinc gluconate, thiamine hydrochloride, sodium ascorbate, niacin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin. Even to the uneducated, little on that list would seem to be actual food!

Meat? Hardly. On the first front, the topic of faux flesh — fake meat — a cute little study compared what the media called “nutrition” in a fast food meat burger patty against “nutrition” found in a synthetic meat patty. The study listed only calories, fat, cholesterol, carbs, salt and protein. What a joke.

That’s not nutrition.

Look, industrial meat is not a good idea, in so many ways. I avoid it at all costs. But a construct of chemicals and extractions in no way fits my definition of “food.” According to a widely used scientific definition, processed foods are industrial formulations made entirely or mostly from substances extracted from foods … derived from food constituents … synthesized in laboratories … or other organic sources (flavor enhancers, colors, and several food additives used to make the product hyper-palatable).

That’s components. At the most generous they could be called macronutrients.

Want to know what’s in one of the most cited faux meat patties? Here’s the list: water, soyprotein concentrate, coconut oil, sunflower oil, natural(?) flavors, potato protein, methylcellulose, yeast extract, cultured dextrose, food starch

So, to help out, let’s make it graphic.

In my humble opinion:

Eat well. Be well.

Heartland Healing is a metaphysically based polemic describing alternatives to conventional methods of healing the body, mind and planet. It is provided as information and entertainment, certainly not medical advice. Important to remember and pass on to others: for a weekly dose of Heartland Healing, visit HeartlandHealing.com.

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July 2019

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Year of the Dog Winnie Gets a Crash Course in Behavior From the Dog Whisperer to the Stars

by Tim McMahan associated with puppy mills and dog peddlers, there is one indisputable fact -- if the dog is already alive, doesn’t it still need a home? It cannot be unbirthed.

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etting another dog was my idea.

After years of jogging outdoors alone, I wanted a running partner. Our two dogs, Evie and Gilda, were in their double-digit years — it probably wasn’t a good idea to drag them along on my every-other-day 5k jog through Memorial and Elmwood parks. And it had been years since we had three dogs. It should be fun.

I went online to find which dogs were the best running partners and discovered the Australian shepherd, a medium-sized dog developed on ranches in the United States, according to Wikipedia. They sort of look like collies but stand higher, and their coats can resemble confetti, a mottled mix of browns and whites. And, of course, they love to run.

But I hadn’t figured I wouldn’t be able to find one anywhere around here. It took months.

We finally discovered the closest thing — an Aussiedoodle — a cross between an Australian shepherd and a poodle. The literature described them as super-smart working dogs, shed-free and hypoallergenic. The last two items, and maybe the first, were lies.

I won’t tell you where we found her. For rescue-dog purists, I’ve already said too much.

For some, buying a dog instead of taking in a rescue is akin to wearing a mink coat at a PETA convention. While I understand the problems

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When we took her home last July, she was eight weeks old and about the size of a loaf of bread Winnie -- her merle coat a striking combination of browns and grays, her eyes yellow and sharp as daggers. We called her Winifred, or Winnie for short — a girl’s name of Welsh origin meaning “blessed peacemaking.”

I won’t go into detail about potty training.

It had been 25 years since I raised a puppy. I’d forgotten about all the peeing and pooping and barking and crying and peeing. No matter how many times you took her outside, puddles mysteriously appeared on our hardwood floors.

Thankfully, the pooping (for the most part) occurred outside, though her doo-doo was the consistency and color of butterscotch pudding — impossible to pick up without a spoon.

When Winnie turned 1 this May, she weighed a good 30 pounds. Despite having gone through puppy training at the Nebraska Humane Society, we struggled with two problems — insane barking when encountering other dogs on walks and pulling — and by pulling, I mean yanking my wife’s arm out of its socket.

Solutions seemed dire. There are services that take your dog away for a few months and bring it back … changed. We didn’t want that.

I didn’t want to lose that mischievous fire in Winnie’s eyes. People suggested choke collars, shock collars, all kinds of pain-inflicting devices.

Growing up in the country, the most common method for training dogs was simply to kick the

| THE READER |

OVER THE EDGE

shit out of them. As tempting as that sounded at times, that wasn’t going to happen.

It was sheer coincidence that we ran into David Codr in line at Jersey Mike’s. I hadn’t seen him since a night eight years ago when he launched musicpage.com, a digital version of his Music Phone Book that promised to be “an online community for the music industry.” After years working as a concert promoter in Santa Barbara, California, booking acts like Sublime, 311, Jack Johnson and Toad the Wet Sprocket, Codr delivered musicpage.com for a last gasp at making a living in a dying music industry.

That same year, 2011, Codr was out walking his dog in Elmwood Park and came across a woman with two dogs trying to kill everyone.

“They were big dogs,” he said. “I went over and calmed her dogs and gave her a couple tips, and she seemed good to go. I turned to leave and she said, ‘Wait, I want to hire you to train my dogs. I just spent $2,000 on 10 trainers and none of them did what you did in 60 seconds.’ I said thanks, but I don’t train dogs, and she yelled after me, ‘You’re wasting your gift.’”

But after spending a few weeks at a soulsucking job he’d taken to pay the bills, Codr placed an ad on Craigslist, offering his dogtraining services for $50. Someone took him up on it, and that person told someone else who told someone else. Now, eight years and 4,000 dogs later, Codr is a bona fide dog behaviorist. His company, Dog Gone Problems (doggoneproblems.com), has operations in Omaha and Santa Monica, California, where he’s become a sort of dog whisperer to the stars.

dinners, and we’d be fine with it. Not only were they allowed to jump on me when I got home from work, I encouraged it.

“Without rules, the dog thinks it’s a peer,” Codr said, “and then listening to the guardians becomes optional.” Rules must be established.

No sleeping on furniture unless invited, staying at least seven feet away when eating dinner, no more Dino-style jumping on me when I got home.

Then there was “Petting with a Purpose” — a vicious game of playing hard to get. “If a dog nudges your hand, tell it to sit before you pet it.

If it doesn’t sit or lie down, no pet. You need to teach the dog it can’t tell you what to do.”

Passive training involves telling the dog what it’s doing as it does it. If it drinks water, say “agua” or some other symbolic word. If it eats, say “Lasagne.” If it sits in its dog bed, say the made-up word for dog bed, in our case, “Matisse.” Soon the dog will identify the word with the action.

Underlying a lot of this, of course, was treats, because “eating is the most important activity for dogs.” Codr had our dogs practically tap dancing … when treats were involved.

The dozens of lessons we heard over that session all made perfect sense, but the most important rule was for the guardians: None of it matters if you don’t follow through. You have to keep it up, constantly.

So, we booked a one-on-one morning session.

A month later, Winnie was doing … better.

Oh, she still barks at other dogs, she still pulls (which can be advantageous during a run), but at least she knows who’s boss. The rest will come with time, and treats.

For three hours, Codr talked nonstop -- to us and to Winnie and Gilda. Codr’s methods involve positive reinforcement and passive training.

*****

His first question: What rules do we have for our dogs? After a long silence, it was obvious we had no rules. Our dogs are allowed to sleep on our couches and in our bed. If they could, they’d open the refrigerator and make their own

Over The Edge is a monthly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, music, the media and the arts. Email Tim at tim.mcmahan@gmail.com

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