momentum featuring:
ANN REINKING’S IN THE STYLE OF
BOB FOSSE FRANK CHAVES’
HABANERAS THE MUSIC OF CUBA
ERIKA OVERTURFF’S
PARTY ANIMALS At Joslyn Art Museum: Friday, October 11, 7:30 pm www.TicketOmaha.com or call 402-345-0606 Add a post-performance reception with professional dancers in attendance for only $25 per person.
At the Iowa Western Arts Center: Sunday, October 13, 2 pm artscenter.iwcc.edu or call 712-388-7140 t h e
nutcracker TICKETS ON SALE NOW! amballet.org
amballet.org
| THE READER |
October 2019
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publisher/editor....................John Heaston john@thereader.com graphic designers.....................Ken Guthrie, Sebastian Molina copy chief..............................Robyn Murray copy@thereader.com associate publisher.............Sal S. Robles sal@pioneermedia.me
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Cover Illustration by
Tiana Conyers
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healing................Michael Braunstein info@heartlandhealing.com
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COVER STORIES: Activism in Omaha
25th: Reader Memories: Prank Wars and Shag Carpet
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DISH: No More Empty Pots Cares Deliciously
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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THE BUZZ: Navigating The Capitol District
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PICKS: Cool Things To Do in October
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ART: Dodging the Draft with Defiant Line
ACCOUNT MANAGER ......................................... Tim Stokes tim@pioneermedia.me
OUR SISTER MEDIA CHANNELS
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THEATER: New Home for American Midwest Ballet
HOODOO: Plenty of Treats
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BACKBEAT: Whitney is Still Searching
OUR DIGITAL MARKETING SERVICES
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Film: Send in the Subs / Exhausting Piece of It October 2019
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| THE READER |
heartland healing: News You Can Use CONTENTS
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OVER THE EDGE: Cancel Culture Proud to be Carbon Neutral
Breast Cancer is Unacceptable More than 3.8 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with breast cancer. That’s unacceptable. Join us in reducing the current number of breast cancer deaths by half in the U.S. by 2026.
JOIN OUR FIGHT. SAVE LIVES. komengreatplains.org
SAVE THE DATES! Saturday
October 26
& October 27 Sunday
Stop by a participating restaurant and a portion of your bill will be donated to support local breast health programs and research to find the cures. PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS INCLUDE: 11 WORTH | ARBYS | BUTTERFISH | CASCIOS | GORATS | HERBE SAINTE | J COCO | JAMS JIMMY JOHNS | JULIOS | LA MESA | MODE DE VIE | MEATBALL | NOODLES & CO NOSH WINE LOUNGE | RED LION LOUNGE | SPAGHETTI WORKS STIRNELLA | THAI PEPPER | VARSITY PIZZA ROMAN COIN
#DineOutForTheCure For specific locations & details of the event visit our website: KomenGreatPlains.org
| THE READER |
October 2019
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Omaha Jobs: LOVE
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f you’re in a phase where you absolutely hate your job and can’t stand to start the workday because of it, take solace. You’re probably not alone. Of course, switching jobs remains an option, but one with potential hassles that include lost benefits, seniority or even unemployment if you don’t find another job right away.
According to experts, it’s entirely possible to switch your attitude without actually switching your job. There are steps you can take to like – or even love – your job again so you don’t have to find another one.
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work with who make things difficult for you. If yes, seek a change. Perhaps switch teams or telecommute from home where you can do your work without facing stress-creating co-workers. Your request for a change should focus on what enhances your productivity. Don’t blame everyone else for being hard to work with.
It’s not them – it’s you.
Are people the problem?
Maybe the problem isn’t actually your work. Maybe it’s a result of not taking care of you. Before you decide your job needs to go, take a close look at yourself. Inventory how everything is going.
Sure, clients and customers can be a big reason a job seems unbearable. Sometimes, however, the problem is more about the people with whom you work. Gossiping coworkers, tense bosses and unreliable team members can make an otherwise-enjoyable job miserable.
Do you eat right and get enough sleep and exercise? If you’re run down and unhealthy it’s only a matter of time before you try to blame something outside yourself. You might decide outside circumstances, like your job, make you unhappy when it’s actually your own doing.
Look at your surroundings and decide whether it’s the people you
Make some healthy changes to your lifestyle and see if this makes
October 2019
| THE READER |
JOBS
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YOUR JOB
you feel better about your life – and your job.
Climb the to-do mound. It’s no wonder you hate your job if every workday entails a pile of tasks you can’t shrink no matter how hard you try. If “too much work” is caused by too much procrastination, get a grip on your productivity and focus on what’s possible now. But if “too much work” is caused by your boss’ unrealistic expectations, it’s time to have a frank discussion to show your workload is unmanageable. An effective supervisor will respect your concerns and help you delegate or step away from parts of your unmanageable workload. An ineffective supervisor, however, will likely just get mad things don’t get done and toss blame around. If you get no help after you ask for it, the problem’s not your workload – it’s ineffective leadership. Bottom line – get organized however you can to assure you don’t fall too far behind.
Leave work at work. It’s hard to not allow work to permeate your life. People are far more accessible than they used to be. Work calls and emails can pop up regardless of the time of day or night. Telecommuters may find they’re quite literally unable to step away from their work because it’s always there, even at home. Set firm boundaries with your co-workers. For example, don’t answer work emails late at night. Instead, save them for when you’re actually “at work.” To unwind and forget work is an important defense against hating your job. Not vacationing is detrimental to your health and also to how you feel about the way you earn your living. If you’re always on the clock and thinking about work, you’re more likely to resent it and feel unhappy. After all, distance makes the heart grow fonder. If you never distance yourself from the job, how will you ever grow to love it?
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At the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s®, people carry flowers representing their connection to Alzheimer’s — a disease that currently has no cure. But what if one day there was a white flower for Alzheimer’s first survivor? What if there were millions of them? Help make that beautiful day happen by joining us for the world’s largest fundraiser to fight the disease. Omaha Walk to End Alzheimer's Stinson Park in Aksarben September 22, 2019 • Registration at 9am, Walk starts 11am 402-502-4300 I alz.org/walk
| THE READER |
Register today at alz.org/walk
2019 NATIONAL PRESENTING SPONSOR
October 2019
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What Makes Power Super Anyway? ILLUSTRATIONS by Tiana Conyers
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Executive Director, Black and Pink, Inc.
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Dominique Morgan
And I became just that, a human that was just being … being in youth detent i o n centers
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’ v e been a lover of comics for as long as I can remember. One of the few times I was admitted to the emergency room as a child was when I believed that if I went as fast as a speeding bullet (Superman reference) I would be able to drive my big wheel (it was a Mr. T Big Wheel, so this all made sense to my 5-year-old self) up the side of the giant tree in my yard. Spoiler alert: This didn’t work out so well, and 30 stitches later I realized I was just a human being. A Human Being.
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being an adult incarcerated for 8 1/2 years being in solitary confinement for 788,401 minutes On and on … the world told me I was a human that was just going to be … Sunday, February 16, 2009, I walked out of the Nebraska Department of Corrections thinking one day people would say something good about me. Now a decade later … I’m a Georgetown graduate
| THE READER |
Activism in Omaha
I’m one of the youngest National Directors in the country I’m an award-winning artist and activist I’m no longer being. I’m thriving. I’m using my existence to amplify, impact and improve the lived experience of others. Aka an exceptionally skillful or successful person. Aka a superhero. I think it’s a universal desire to want to be superhuman. To read minds like Professor X, to control the weather like Storm or scale a building like The Dark Knight seems like a dream. But what if I said that we all are superheroes? That we all have powers that are unique to us that can change the world around us? Welp, that’s what I’m saying. Each and every person in our community has skills to move our world closer to the community we
envision. No cape necessary. Unless you’re Billy Porter. Or me on a 3rd Tuesday. This issue features incredible people that I know to be superheroes in my eyes but also use their powers to amplify the greatness of others. They use empathy instead of sympathy. Solidarity instead of understanding. Allyship instead of saviorism (yes, that’s a word in activist circles, OK?). My hope is that you will learn about who they are and not only look into the movements they are building but take notes and lean into your own superpowers. What is a skill you have that no one else can wield the way that you can? Are you the best clothes folder in the world? Do you know how to read a paper map in 2019? (NASA should hire you, no lie.) Then you’re a superhero. This issue is your Bat Signal. So meet me on the roof, and let’s go change the world. Tights are optional.
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Movement Building for Change Founder of I Be Black Girl / Young Black Influential Awards
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value and align to the end goal that are most affected. I remember having conversations with my mom about what our roles on this Earth looked like. We would t a l k about M a l c o l m X and h o w he was able to move and influence so many people around the world. She pushed me to think about my space in the world and what legacy I want to leave. She planted seeds for me to be socially aware, conscious and participatory.
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o u n g people coming together, b a s e d on their strengths to create a combined superpower that fights systemic inequities that threaten the existence of humanity?! I AM A PLANETER! Yeah, that’s definitely my group of folks. Captain Planet was one of my favorite cartoons growing up, but I didn’t appreciate the message they were sending at 8 years old like I do at 33. Captain Planet was trying to tell us that we are the future — that we have what it takes to change the world. This lesson is even more applicable in this very moment than ever before. I have spent the last few years creating movements that allow Black folks to recognize, develop and yield their influence or power. This, to me, is the foundation of community and system change. I believe this is where my passion and work lives and hope everyone sees themselves within a movement, if not this one. Movement or power-building is about identifying a larger community need, figuring out what your role is in addressing or elevating that need or opportunity, and who the additional folks are to engage in the need and opportunity that will add
Movement-building ain’t easy — it is actually exhausting and frustrating, but necessary. We cannot create or be the change in this world if we, as a group of people, don’t share a vision of that change and work together to achieve it. Most people think you have to be at the front of the work to be making a difference — and that is furthest from the truth. Ella Baker said strong people do not need strong leaders. The cornerstone of famous movements are the people who figured out their strengths and focused on that within the space. From cooking dinners to marching, caring for the children or writing speeches for the figure heads, the movements continued to have people pouring into them how they knew best. So I challenge you to figure out your superpower and get engaged
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in this work. “The power is yours!”— Captain Planet, circa 1999.
Diane Good Collins
Education for Change Director of RAP 180,Metropolitan Community College
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enrolled in my first college class through Metropolitan Community College (MCC) while incarcerated. I realized to change the trajectory of my life, I had to place myself on a level playing field with others who did not have a criminal history, and that process began with education. When transitioning, my tribe paid for continued studies at MCC. This deepened the desire to change. When released in 2003, I was on my way to achieving my academic goals; however, there were barriers to negotiate: housing, parole, employment, rebuilding relations h i p s a n d maintaining sobriety. I realized the deficiencies I had and worked to find supports. There were few.
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ceed, it was my duty to help the next person. I continued to help others with a criminal history to get into GED classes or pursue higher education at MCC. Because I was on parole, I could have been rearrested for assisting others with a criminal history; yet, it was worth the risk to help others. If one person chose to invest in themselves and complete their GED or pursue higher education, it may allow that person to live differently and not return to prison. By 2005, I was volunteering regularly inside the Nebraska prisons with my husband, Steve Collins, who served 13 years in California and Nebraska prisons. We have provided worship services and spiritual guidance at Nebraska prisons with Release Ministry since.
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Barely out of prison and on parole, Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) requested I mentor incarcerated women. Honestly, I did not want to go back into the prison; however, I knew how difficult it was to transition into the community without support. If there was any chance to help others sucActivism in Omaha
In 2015, MCC formalized the 180 Reentry Assistance Program ( 1 8 0 RAP). As Re-entry Program Director, I lead a 12-member team to connect the incarcerated and re-entry populations to education, training and employment, which increases their success when transitioning into the community. 180 RAP has provided focused service and support to over 4,400 individuals since 2015. In addition, we have created the largest on-campus re-entry center on a college campus in the United States.
| THE READER |
OCTOBER 2019
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I work diligently to destigmatize who people believe the re-entry population to be. I participate in structured re-entry initiative workgroups and reside on the American Correctional Association Professional Education Council. But this is not my job. This is my life purpose. Education positioned me to have a different life when I was released from prison. If it could help me, it can help others.
Sherie Thomas
Breaking Stereotypes for Change Lieutenant, Omaha Police Department
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been a part of the system has given me a unique understanding.
desire to continue to rise through the ranks.
I believe it’s important for people in law enforcement to C.A.R.E. (Community minded, Advocate, Relationships, Educate). Establishing connections in the community and building relationships is very important in law enforcement. I am able to understand where people are coming from and why they are doing certain things, and this gives me a different perspective based on my personal life experience. I have the ability to connect with a variety of people in a genuine way, which allows me to speak from the heart.
As an African-American female working in law enforcement, I try to encourage minorities to consider a career in law enforcement, especially African-American young women. I believe if they can see it — they will believe they can be it. We all have opportunities to inspire, impact and influence others. I challenge people to think about the difference they can make. How can they be an agent of change?
ERRIE H S
became a police officer because I wanted to make a difference in my community. My heart’s desire was to advocate for the voiceless, educate the uninformed and hold people accountable if they broke the law. It was important to me to serve in the community that helped mold me into the woman I am today.
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During my 2 1 - ye a r law enforcem e n t career, I have b e e n able to patrol the neighborhoods I grew up in and mentor young people. I was also able to use my experience as a teenager in an abusive relationship when I worked in domestic violence as a detective. I had no idea at the time that I would be able to use that experience to impact someone else’s life for the better. I have organized community service events to include clothing and phone drives that were donated to the Women’s Center for Advancement for domestic violence victims. After working in the domestic violence unit for six years, I was promoted to sergeant. I am currently a lieutenant with the
| THE READER |
Activism in Omaha
Being a police officer is a part of who I am. I am also a daughter, mother and wife.
Nicole Tamayo
Legacy for Change Director of Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition SOMS / Indigenous Educator
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Since 1986, the NUIHC has played a critical role in elevating Omaha and Lincoln’s urban American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Omaha is home to the largest urban AI/AN community in Nebraska. Approximately one-third of Nebraska’s AI/AN population resides in Douglas and Lancaster counties. AI/AN have the highest rates of suicide of any racial/ethnic group in the United States, and more than one-third of the suicides occur in youths aged 10-24. The SOMS Program is meeting a critical gap in addressing the suicide disparities facing urban AI/AN youth. Culturally competent youth services encourage youth to build self-esteem and reduce high-risk behaviors, through community engagement, goal setting and cultural connectedness. SOMS has established a safe space for AI/AN adolescents and their peers to reach their full potential mentally, e m o tionally, physic a l l y a n d spiritually. We strive to provide adolescent support services through culturally appropriate education, programming and outreach.
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am a Sicangu Lakota woman, mot her of five and an advocate for our Native American families in the Omaha metro area. For the past five years, I have worked at Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition (NUIHC), four of them as the Soaring Over Meth and Suicide (SOMS) Program Director. I have worked directly with Native American youth for approximately 17 years. I have dedicated myself to being a positive, supportive, trusted adult for our community.
I strongly believe that in order to have best practices in prevention efforts for Native youth and their communities that culture must be included. Those practices should include ceremonies, traditional roles and teachings, participation in community gatherings, support-system
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building, trauma-informed care and mental health support services. Commitment is vital to achieving any change for the betterment of our communities. Understanding that there are many traumas that Native Americans have endured in their lifetimes, from ancestors, elders and down to our young ones, it is our duty as leaders within our communities to speak up about our community needs. We have to help heal ourselves; we are the ones who know the lives that we live, the identities that we carry and all that comes along with it. As an advocate for our community, we have to commit to bringing their voices to the table each and every time that there are discussions being held. If we don’t then we are failing as workers, leaders and community members. I believe that we can assist in bettering the lives of our families when we are learning from the past, living in the present and building for the future.
Amariyon Green Organizing for Change Sophomore at Creighton Prep
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in my line of faith I see a future that is bright for everyone. I joke that I really don’t belong in this generation. I’ve been told that my soul is old, and I would agree. But I know that I was put on this earth for a purpose. What is that purpose? I never knew until I finally started to get over myself. Over the struggles of pain that I’ve endured from my childhood, I started to ignore the disadvantages and embrace the gift of being a black man in America. I look at my community, and I see potential in everyone in it, but I have to ask myself, “Do they see that potential in themselves? Does this little boy really understand that he truly can become anything he wants to be?” I live in this world where it’s acceptable for children to give up, due to the lack of support, education, love, and confidence; in my book, it’s unacceptable. We’re going to schools where some teachers are there to gain a paycheck rather than to educate us, not only in academic curriculum, but in the preparation for life. We can sit and complain, or we can fill the shoes —whether big or small — of the absentee.
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I love to work with the youth because I want them to understand that life has a million and one choices, and the most important one is your own. I want them to know that their voice matters, that they’re
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y superpower is that my feet can become as big or small as humanly p o s sible to fill the shoes t h a t need to be filled. I believe in the adage, “Faith without work is dead,” and
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| THE READER |
402.345.0606 OCTOBER 2019
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JA N 31 - F E B 16 , 2020
BACK HOWIE n theDAY I
Book, Music and Lyrics by Tor Hyams, Lisa St. Lou, and Howard Dorough
A Rose Theater Special Event
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w w w. r o s e t h e a te r. o r g 10
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| THE READER |
Activism in Omaha
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not alone in the battles they fight, and they’ll always have someone to talk to. To me, I’m simply me, but to them I am their best friend, leader, advocate, teacher, voice and brother. These shoes are big ones to fill, but it’s a challenge I’m willing to take to ensure that the future generation grows rather than dies. “Success is a ladder that cannot be climbed with your hands in your pockets,” was said by an unknown author, but it is a quote that I use to guide my work. There’s no time to give up, and there’s no time to not love one another, and that’s why I use my time wisely. But not only is this time mine but my brothers’ and sisters’ who will one day rule the world, again.
Ann Smolsky
Systems for Change Enabling Services Director of Charles Drew Health Center
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them; and when it was time for me to advance in my career, I wanted to feel like I’d left things better than I’d found them. Also, to be honest, I love to take time off and realized it is easier to ask someone to fill in for you when there is a clear plan. All of this pointed me toward systems. The challenge was many existing systems were either out of date or, more often, designed to only benefit a small group of people. As someone often part of this privileged group, my time in direct service was often spent helping someone navigate their way through and, as needed, leveraging my privilege if they got stuck. This approach was not always successful or sustainable. Most importantly, it wasn’t addressing the inequities at the root of it all. My initial thought was to just create new systems or processes. Thankfully, I learned this wasn’t always necessary or appropriate. While I might have a vision for a new framewor k or an approach to formalizing practices, this wasn’t really about me. I also knew it wouldn’t be successful if I did this alone. As someone who has always loved to be in control, I now needed to learn how to step back. How to present my ideas in a way that engaged others. To listen to other perspectives, be patient with the process and, probably one of the most difficult lessons, realiz-
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y passion for a systemic a p proach t o chang e was part of an evolution throughout my time in the nonprofit sector. For anyone who has not provided direct service to individuals, know that it is as hard as it is rewarding. I loved the opportunity but recognized two things: the folx I worked with mostly just needed someone to help them navigate a system that wasn’t designed for
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ing my siblings had been correct, to accept I wasn’t always right. This focus on personal growth was in part prompted by the realization I can’t be all things to everyone, reinforcing the idea of the need for systems. This is also when I began using a systemic approach to change as a form of my self-care. More than a decade later, I am proud of the contributions I’ve made and eager for the work ahead. The most fulfilling part of this journey has been learning from others, seeing our impact and watching a collective vision take an initial idea to a place I could have never anticipated. Well, and now I shut off my email on vacation.
Luper Akough Entrepreneurship for Change Founder of Clout Logistics
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he belonged. He had a passion for helping others who wanted to help themselves. Luper pivoted to a new industry and has spent the past 10 years working for a few of the top property and casualty companies in the nation and has truly found a home at Farm Bureau Financial Services. Luper was able to grow his agency to more than 600 households in seven short years with word-of-mouth advertising. Over the years, Luper developed an interest in real estate, so he started another company in which he bought, sold, and held real estate property. His most recent venture is a logistics company that has 70 employees running 35 trucks daily. He was recently a fellow participant with Leadership Omaha, he is a 2016 New Leaders Council of Nebraska alumnus, and he serves as the Commercial 101 instructor for the Reach Program through t h e Greater Omaha Chamber of C o m merce. He currently serves on the following boards: Aksarben Floor Committee, American National Bank of Omaha Millennial Advisory Board and the Mayor’s Millennial Advisory Committee.
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uper A k ough, firstgenera t i o n Nigerian American, is the co-founder of Clout Enterprises, principal agent at Akough & Associates and owner of Refined Properties. He started his entrepreneurial adventure at 12 with Dope Lawn Care Services. He then expanded his business by helping friends make money alongside him and growing his lawn contracts. When Luper came of age, he knew entrepreneurship was where
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Luper’s successful career has enabled him to help people in his community and to discover his own superpower: making change through the power of entrepreneurship. Activism in Omaha
| THE READER |
OCTOBER 2019
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Prank Wars & Shag Carpet by JIM MINGE
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But my fondest Reader memories don’t lie in the editorial we produced during 2000 and 2001. And though the radio studio office and its shagadelic appeal were cool, it really was the people. We were kicking off the new That probably sounds cliché, but it’s true. millennium, early 2000, and The Reader I made lifelong friendships with was housed at the old, now-defunct people like Ryan Heimes, Dave Stutsman KESY-FM radio station on the south side and Jared Cvetes, three of the most of 47th and Dodge streets. My office was talented creatives I’ve ever known. They an old recording studio, hence the sound- made the layouts look pretty. I called proofing carpet. There was still one of them the great puzzle masters, and I loved those “ON AIR” signs outside the door. watching them piece our newspaper Loved that. together each week. all-to-wall shag carpet in my office. That’s what first pops into my head when I think back to my brief, two-year stint as the editor-in-chief of The Reader.
We produced some great reads during my two years at the helm. We didn’t change the world, but we might have altered perspectives as an alternative voice to happenings in the city. And that was satisfying.
I worked with amazing editors and writers, too – from Amy Goldyn and Summer Miller, to Leslie Prisbell Jeffries and Timothy Schaffert. They were so sharp, so witty, and their savvy writing skills far eclipsed anything I ever mustered.
If you asked any of them to reflect on t h e i r d ay s a t The Reader, they would no doubt have deep insights on some of the i nve s t i g a t i ve pieces we published or covering every inch of Ryan’s office. Ahh, perhaps recall a spread previewing a good times, good times. coming election or a groundbreaking I also remember the time we lit that theatrical production. guy on fire in the front parking lot. Relax, Me, I remember the prank wars he was a professional. I have no idea why — the offices stuffed floor-to-ceiling with we did that, and I can’t recall the subject colorful balloons; the water-filled Dixie of that particular story. But I do remember cups lining my office floor (that took an that the fiery image looked hour to empty!); the 500,000 Post-it notes dazzling on that week’s cover.
CLAIRE M. HUBBARD FOUNDATION SUSTAINABILITY SPEAKER SERIES
Sustainable Solutions
for Food Waste Thursday, Oct. 17 · 4:30-6:30 p.m. will be available throughout the event. MCC at Do Space · Free and open to the public.
a Community Sustainability showcase
FEATURED SPEAKERS
Gary Oppenheimer founder/executive director, ampleharvest.org Beth Ostdiek Smith founder/CEO/president, Saving Grace Perishable Food Rescue
Metropolitan Community College affirms a policy of equal education, employment opportunities and nondiscrimination in providing services to the public. To read our full policy statement, visit mccneb.edu/nondiscrimination.
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Omaha’s Food Hub Deliciously Cares for the Community Story and PHOTOS by Vera Lynn Petersen
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n the historic Florence neighborhood sits No More Empty Pots, a strategic nonprofit food hub focused on bringing positivity to the community through job and workforce training, reducing food waste, creating accessible healthy foods and promoting entrepreneurs through business development programs. The Reader spoke with Talia McGill, director of strategic communications at NMEP, about
the nonprofit’s work within the community, its multiple programs for creating opportunities for food security and what Omahans can do to help further the mission.
Coffee to Change What You Can, Flexibility to Work with What You Can’t NMEP functions as an umbrella organization with five main programs: a culinary workforce training program, a food entrepreneur program, community education, food distribution and Cups Café. Cups Café consists of two neighborhood cafés: one at the main headquarters in Florence and the other in Little Italy. Recently, the café in Little Italy was repurposed as an event center for the community, as McGill said an event space was found to be more useful than another coffee house. “This could always change in the future,” she added. “No More Empty Pots is following the current need. But just because it is one way now, it won’t necessarily be that way forever.”
A rich latte from No More Empty Cups satisfies the soul and warms the heart.
Cups Café’s location in Florence is open Tuesday through Saturday and is often staffed by students participating in the culinary workforce training program. McGill said this gives them a chance to work on their skills in an encouraging environment. They serve specialty coffee drinks and seasonal food items created in-house or by the food entrepreneurs renting kitchen space. The café seats 14-16 people and offers complimentary Wi-Fi, along with plenty of electrical outlets for guests needing to charge their phones and laptops. It also offers a conference room that can be booked online. The café menu lists many drink options, including house-made sugar cane horchata, Italian cream sodas, Frankly Juiced specialty juices and specialty lattes. The pastry case is filled with house-made shortbreads, Crum Cakes Bakery’s muffins, Carter & Rye’s hand pies and hot-menu items, such as Pan y Leche’s empanadas and house-made brioche breakfast sandwiches featuring O’tillie Pork & Pantry’s sausage.
Pan y Leche’s beef and onion empanada is a savory way to change your day.
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The lattes are poured hot and hold a firm jiggle, indicating comforting richness to come. The lemon rosemary shortbread appears simple but shares a delicate balance of sweet lemon
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and savory rosemary. Pan y Leche’s beef and onion empanadas have a hearty crust and a belly-warming savory filling, which pairs well with the accompanying simple greens. The greens are dressed with a flavorful, house-made Dijon vinaigrette that should be sold in stores everywhere. The most alluring menu items are the Carter & Rye hot pockets. In particular, the Cubano hot pocket. Tender, shredded pork with the perfect balance of pickles and mustard, all stuffed into buttery, hot pocket dough. The edges are crisp and flaky, leaving evidence of your meal all over your plate, shirt and lap. It is Midwestern comfort food perfection, once available only during Sunday farmers’ markets but now ready to be devoured Tuesday through Saturday (as long as you get there before they’re sold out).
Prepared for Success NEMP’s culinary workforce training The rooftop patio offers a spot to people program consists of a 15-week course on watch and enjoy the fall weather. preparing individuals for the workforce. each member to receive sufficient attention. Once complete, students receive help finding careers within the food industry. Each Training begins with 10 weeks focused on training group usually comprises 6-8 individuals, learning skills, such as public speaking, creating which helps keep the cohort small enough for resumes and, of course, cooking. Students
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continue their last few weeks of training at an affiliated internship site. Upon completion of the program, students are awarded a ServSafe certificate, a chef’s coat and a knife roll set. McGill said with these gifts and the earned certificate, there should be nothing to hold students back from beginning their new careers. The food entrepreneur program focuses on helping future restaurateurs and caterers by providing them with mentorship and community, along with affordable commercial kitchen space for rent. There are currently 15 food businesses sharing the kitchen space. Food entrepreneurs may also sell their products at a sponsored farmers’ market booth. Another large part of this program matches mentors with food entrepreneurs to help them develop business plans and participate in the Wells Fargo Entrepreneurship Invitational, a pitch competition in which they can earn seed money for their businesses. As part of its community education program, No More Empty Pots provides culinary and gardening education for the public. Culinary education may include visiting the kitchen to learn how to cook or seeing a demonstration within the community. For gardening education, the focus is on learning where food comes from, how to take care of plants and ways to harvest and use produce grown in gardens. This conveniently feeds back into the culinary education program. McGill said community education has mostly focused on youth in the past but will grow to include more services for adults and seniors, too. The focus of the food distribution program is to provide healthy produce, prepared meals and food education to the community. This is done through two distribution programs: community market basket distribution, which is a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscription, and community harvest distribution, which is a prepared-meals program for food-insecure youth, seniors and families. McGill said these programs have evolved and
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will provide more to the community as the organization grows. McGill and the No More Empty Pots staff are currently developing their seasonal calendar to share with the community. This will give residents opportunities to become more involved by participating in classes or volunteering to teach workshops for the public. McGill said for one future training, No More Empty Pots will partner with Facebook and focus on helping people develop their Facebook business skills while learning how to grow a successful following online.
Onward and Upward Other ideas for the future, according to McGill, include opening up the rooftop garden space to the public for extra café seating, creating their own branded jams and mustards to sell and letting their space be used as a tastetesting center to give feedback to their food entrepreneurs. McGill shared three ways Omahans can support No More Empty Pots and give back to their community. “First, come visit the space and share it with your friends,” she said. “Eating at Cups Café helps support local farmers and food entrepreneurs. Second, engage and gather in the community of North Omaha…Third, recommend lowincome individuals and families to receive CSA and prepared meals so they can be supported by the community.” McGill said No More Empty Pots has been successful because it does not provide charity, it teaches the community “how to fish.” “We help share skills, resources and opportunity,” she said. She encourages people to put No More Empty Pots’ mission into action, “by gardening at home, eating more fruits and vegetables from local farmers, and eat a better diet. This all creates a better community.”
FALL FESTIVAL share the season with friends and family treats for kids fall market scavenger hunt Sunday Funday photo booth
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27 STARTING AT 11 AM
OldMarket.com/fall Rosemary lemon shortbread offers a sophisticated twist on a humble treat.
The Cubano hand pie from Carter & Rye is a handy meal.
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Navigating The Capitol District by Salvador S. Robles | PHOTOS BY Stephen Driscoll
A Jumbotron screen that shows Nebraska games and other major sporting events bookends the CAPITOL district. The final phase of Omaha’s first entertainment district is set to be completed mid-2020.
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ack in 2010, between 10th and 12th on Capitol Street existed a very useful parking lot. And besides Omaha Fashion Week being held there once, its main purpose was to help with overflow parking since it was right next to what was then known as the Qwest Center...RIP. (Now Century Link. Oh, sorry, CHI Health Center.) Fast forward to 2019, and the flat-surface parking lot has given rise to a new set of buildings called The Capitol District. While the name may have a familiar ring to Hunger Games fans, it has been dubbed Omaha’s first entertainment district. But what is an entertainment district? Part of Omaha’s ongoing urban renewal that has been in the works for several years, the new entertainment district’s goal is to link the Old Market to the convention center and ballpark.
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Add in a scattering of bars and restaurants, sprinkle in a little retail and a plaza filled with congregating Omahans, and BOOM! You have yourself Omaha’s first entertainment district. Kansas City has one, and so do a bunch of other major cities, so why not Omaha? (Lincoln even had one before us.)
What sets entertainment districts apart from other areas that have bars and restaurants is the ability for people to carry an open container of alcohol from bar to bar. The Capitol District first opened in March 2018, but because it is still not complete, there’s some grey area with the open container rule for patrons. Don’t get me wrong — it has gotten better since its inception; and as it nears completion, now hoped for mid-2020, the open container rules might be down to a science. Playing to its strengths, Capitol District has made use of its open air plaza for special events: St. Patrick’s Day, The Young Professionals Summit, the holiday ice rink and a variety of tailgate-like sporting events, which are facilitated by a Jumbotron screen at one end of the plaza. I have visited The Railyard, Lincoln’s version of Capitol District on Husker game day,
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and never been disappointed. But because my idea of building a highspeed rail system from Omaha to Lincoln has yet to be implemented (you heard it first here), I was excited to see and experience a Husker game day a la Capitol District. For this particular field trip, I decided to bring one of my good friends, who is an expert in gameday festivities.
Epoca Cantina serves drinks and has a full-service kitchen dishing up street-style tacos and other appetizers and entrees.
While Capitol District is home to several restaurants and bars, I think four bars stand out and add to the district’s ‘party’ atmosphere: Annie’s Irish Pub, Epoca Cantina, Beer Can Alley and The Exchange. Because Annie’s is the closest bar to the main entrance, people usually wander in there first to grab a drink. It’s also a nice bar. With a cozy pub sort of feel but bigger and more open, Annie’s usually draws in a larger crowd; the dance floor helps. The Irish pub does offer some drink specials, but guests will spend roughly $7-$10 on average per drink. Annie’s also has a covered patio that leads into the plaza. But before we could get there, we were required to pour our drinks into a Capitol District plastic glass. We did this so we could
watch the Nebraska game, which was being shown on the plaza’s big screen, but I found this to be somewhat tacky and inconvenient. At past events, The Capitol District has had ID stations around each entrance so guests could easily walk in and out of bars to the plaza, but these sorts of logistics will hopefully be ironed out once the district is completed. There was a decent number of people in the plaza — in fact, it was hard to find a place to sit. But the atmosphere lacked the game-day excitement I was hoping for. That, however, may have had more to do with the blow-out on the scoreboard than the crowd. But it just didn’t have that Lincoln GBR thrill. So, we moved on to the next bar: Epoca Cantina, which is located right off the plaza and
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The Capitol District plaza has a covered tent allowing patrons to sit comfortably in most weather. next to Annie’s. Epoca not only serves drinks, but it has a full-service kitchen dishing up street-style tacos and several appetizers and entrees. To our dismay, the kitchen had just closed, so tequila shots with lime and salt had to make do as our appetizer (Nebraska was winning after all). Epoca has beautiful, Mexican-style art and a lot of weekly drink specials. I highly recommend checking out their margarita cocktail menu because Epoca offers a variety of spiced-up, unique flavors. Who knew you could make a matcha margarita? Before The Capitol District opened, when the tenants were announced, I had a completely different idea of what Beer Can Alley was going to be. I pictured a bowling alley with beer cans. But Beer Can Alley is nothing short of a country fan’s dream. I’m reminded of Kesha’s song “Timber” every time I walk in there. (Beer Can Alley and The Exchange are on the second level in Capitol District, so you might want to limit those tequila shots and margaritas at Epoca before you attempt the stairs.)
sets The Exchange apart in Capitol District is its unique ticker tape marquee. Drink prices fluctuate based on demand. For example: If Jameson shots are being requested a lot, the price goes up, and the new price is displayed on the ticker display. If demand sinks, you might score a deal. I thoroughly enjoyed this concept, not only for the cheaper drinks, but because it’s so fun and different from any bar in Omaha.
Bottoms Up: My game-day experience a la Capitol District was not what I expected. I think you have to actually be in Lincoln to feel that GBR camaraderie, but what Omaha’s entertainment district provides is a diverse set of bars and restaurants showcasing our city’s fun and experimental side. We are a burgeoning city after all, and our soon-to-be-completed entertainment district will help put us on the map. Remember to have fun, drink responsibly and tip your bartenders. Tweet us bar suggestions and follow The Buzz at TheReader.com.
BCA has a lot of room with a huge dance floor, stage and bar. The bar has moderately priced drinks and gets the gold medal for quickest service. The hallway that connects Beer Can Alley to The Exchange is useful and convenient. It allows you to walk back and forth easily without dumping your drink into a plastic glass. And our $10 cover to get into Beer Can Alley got us into The Exchange, too. The Exchange is a Wall Street-themed bar with booths and tables and a large dance floor giving it more of a “club” atmosphere. What
The Capitol District’s three major tenants — The Exchange, Beer Can Alley and Annie’s Pub — add to the district’s ‘party’ atmosphere.
THE BUZZ
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Now thru October 20
Bernhardt/ Hamlet
Brigit Saint Brigit Theatre Mark Twain wrote: “There are five kinds of actresses: bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses — and then there is Sarah Bernhardt.” Theresa Rebeck’s Midwest-premiered, Tony-nominated dramedy, Bernhardt/Hamlet, fresh off the Broadway stage is now premiering in Omaha at Brigit Saint Brigit Theatre. Bernhardt/Hamlet tells the somewhat-true story of actress Sarah Bernhardt as she takes on the role of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which could ultimately make or break her career. Filled with high comedy and roiling drama, the 1897set play has been billed as one of Rebeck’s best. Watch Bernhardt face harsh critics and reign victorious of the indignant patriarchs of the time with grace and brash vocabulary. Starring Patty Delaney Driscoll as the unstoppable Sarah Bernhardt and directed by Cathy Kurz, Bernhardt/ Hamlet is a great way to kick off BSB’s 27th season. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $30 general admission and $25 for students, seniors and military. —Beaufield Berry
Now thru October 20
Red Summer Bluebarn Theatre
The Bluebarn Theatre presents the premiere of Beaufield Berry’s Red Summer, a moving account of one of Omaha’s darkest hours, which took place 100 years ago — the lynching and desecration of Will Brown. Brown, who was falsely accused of attacking a white woman, was a migrant from the South fleeing Jim Crow laws and searching for a better life. In the midst of political upheaval, Brown became a symbol of the violent legacy of racism that exists even north of the Mason-Dixon line. The play takes on some of the political aspects of the time but is driven by the narrative of Southern black migration. Special panels and talk backs will be scheduled throughout the run. For more information and tickets, visit bluebarn.org. —Reader staff
October 2
Titus Andronicus
with Control Top The Waiting Room Lounge
The most impressive thing about An Obelisk, the latest release from New Jersey rockers Titus Andronicus, might be the length. As a band known for making sprawling opuses that mix the noisy punk with a Springsteenian, gut-spilling candor, the 38-minute runtime appears to be a typo the first time you come across it. But after the forgettable A Productive Cough and hourand-a-half rock opera The Most Lamentable Tragedy, the group needed a change of pace(ing). Enter Bob Mould. As the leader of Hüsker Du and Sugar, the Minnesota native broke ground by distilling ‘80s hardcore with FM rock staples into a unique product, and he’s helped Titus Andronicus do the same. Almost every song on the album sounds like an angrier version of your favorite ‘70s artist. Musically, “Just Like a Ringing Bell” is the New York Dolls minus the glam. Lead single “Troubleman Unlimited” makes The Boss seem positively tame. Even “Tumult Around the World” makes the Clash ... all right, no one was angrier than the Clash, but you get the idea. —Houston Wiltsey
October 3
The Australian Pink Floyd Show Stir Concert Cove
Four million tickets sold. Thirtyfive countries. Scores of fans around the world. Not too bad for a cover band, right? The Australian Pink Floyd Show is one of the most in-demand tourpickS
ing entities currently operating. The group — formed in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1988 — gives fans of the seminal psych-rock band a chance to see their favorite songs come to life. They play a career-spanning set complete with the same over-the-top level of production (laser lights, floating pigs, etc.) that made the original so popular. —Houston Wiltsey
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October 4
Mac DeMarco
(Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa) Sokol Auditorium
During the first half of the decade, Mac DeMarco was the class clown of the indie world, writing ridiculously catchy jangle-pop songs and pairing them with impishly funny videos that had him doing everything from rocking a powdered wig while jamming out in a sewer pipe to running naked through a neo-lit carnival. Now, staring down 30, the singer/guitarist’s most recent releases would have you believe he’s finally starting to slow down. Both This Old Dog and Here Comes the Cowboy were languid affairs that found DeMarco starting to come to grips with his mortality. The tracks from those releases should provide some nice moments of reflection in what will otherwise be a joyous romp. Those attending can also look forward to a few hilarious covers, ranging from Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” to Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “Taking Care of Business.” Show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $41.49 in advance and $43.99 at the door. —Houston Wiltsey
Dust off your old pelvic thrust, Rocky Horror is back and freakier than ever. You know the story by now: Brad and Janet seek refuge from a storm in a mysterious mansion that just happens to belong to Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a cross-dressing, mad scientist with libido to spare. Their stormy night gives way to full-on wild as eccentric characters show up performing rock songs and killer dance moves — leading Brad and Janet to question themselves, their relationship and their very sexuality. Directed by Kaitlyn McClincy and choreographed by Courtney Jo Stein, the play features a cast ready to put their inhibitions to rest. Performances run through November 10, Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Midnight showings are October 19 and 26 and November 2. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased by phone at 402-553-0800 or at TicketOmaha. com. —Beaufield Berry
October 5
Nick Moss Band and Anson Funderburgh
The Jewell
October 4
The Rocky Horror Show Howard Drew Theatre Omaha Community Playhouse
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Blues guitar virtuoso and winner of the Blues Music Award for “Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year” in 2019, Nick Moss will bring his band | THE READER |
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to The Jewell, along with a special guest, guitarist Anson Funderburgh. Moss has credited Funderburgh with influencing numerous blues artists, including Christoffer Lund Andersen, Mike Welch, Doug Deming, Joel Paterson and Mike Keller. Show starts at 7 p.m. See jewellomaha.com/shows for final details. For more blues shows in October, read Hoodoo on page 32. —Reader staff
October 5-6
Omaha North Hills Pottery Tour
Omaha and Herman, Neb. Organized by potters for potters, this event offers the unique hospitality of each stop, including homemade soup, wine tasting, local musicians and wood-fired pizza. Learn more about the artists and the tour route at www. onhpt.com. —Mike Krainak
October 5
Paul Anthony Smith Riley CAP Gallery, Joslyn
Five Tour Stops, Omaha to Herman, Neb.
Twenty-two nationally recognized clay artists will display their ceramic art at potters’ homes, an historic grain mill and a wine tasting venue in the annual Omaha North Hills Pottery Tour. The pottery tour adds a new stop at Crescent Moon, where owner and fellow ceramicist Will Galusha will add local artists Kathryn Schroeder, Peter Scherr and John Cohorst to this year’s autumn harvest on display. Established tour stops, Big Table Studios, Dennison Pottery, Too Far North Wine Tasting and The Florence Mill, will feature myriad clay works — from miniature pitchers and vases, plates, mugs and bowls for the table to life-sized outdoor sculptures, contemporary ceramic masks and assemblages for the wall. This free, self-guided tour October 5 and 6 (Saturday 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.) winds along Hwy 75 for a 30-mile drive between
Paul Anthony Smith’s mixed-media art is inspired by the concept of a hybrid identity, particularly by those who have migrated across borders. With a focus on the African and Caribbean diasporas, the artist also brings this hybrid identity to his picotages, named for a pattern-printing technique that entails pressing textured blocks onto fabric. The realism of photography paired with the abstraction of patterns creates nuance, divergence and depth to his subjects. Much like the cultural traditions Smith references, the indelible marks made by cutting and pressing left on the surface retrace the story of these people and their traditions as they evolve into a new hybrid identity. The layering of image and pattern highlights the aspects of identity that may be obscured or guarded as well as those that are heightened because of the intervention. Paul Anthony Smith opens October 5 at Joslyn Art Museum’s Riley CAP Gallery and is on view October 5 through January 19. Smith will join Joslyn’s Phil Willson Curator of Con-
temporary Art, Karin Campbell, in conversation on October 10 at 6 p.m. in the Abbott Lecture Hall. For more information, visit paulanthonysmith. net or joslyn.org. —Melinda Kozel
October 10
Descendents Bourbon Theatre
October 6
3rd Annual
Porchfest OMA Gifford Park Neighborhood 33rd and California
Music festivals come in all shapes and sizes. Porchfest is a free, intimate neighborhood event one level up from house concerts. Front stoops become stages, yards become venues, and radical generosity and goodwill rule the day. Ithaca, New York, is credited with birthing this grassroots model in 2007. Local versions have spread across the U.S. and Canada. The Gifford Park neighborhood puts its area spin on it with Porchfest Omaha. This vibe-friendly 1 to 6 p.m. Giffordstock features a big lineup of roots music artists, including The Prairie Gators, The Wildwoods, Robo Dojo, Jaguar James, Matt Cox, Root Marm Chicken Farm Jug Band, Lucas Kellison, Jason Birnstihl, The Bedrock, Daniel & The Deliverance, Soul Tree and Matt Cronin. Omaha singer/ songwriter Aly Peeler hosts an open mic stage. Gifford Park’s historic urban digs and green spaces offer killer aesthetics for this hipster happening/ music love-in. For more information, visit porchfestoma.tumblr.com. —Leo Adam Biga
The Descendents might be bigger now than they’ve ever been. The punk band launched in the late ‘70s and released the classic LP Milo Goes To College in 1982, but that record became one of those records that grows more important as the years go by. The Ramones and the Buzzcocks touched on it, but the Descendents created the pop-punk gold standard with Milo and influenced The Offspring, Green Day, Blink-182, etc., in the process. Over time, the Descendents have proven to be a timeless band, too — the kids who grew up shouting the anti-authority lyrics to “Parents” now have children who relate just as much. The band’s latest record and only their second of this millennium, Hypercaffium Spazzinate, is another shot in the arm of blistering punk with Milo Aukerman’s infectious hooks. Trademark Descendents. The band comes to Lincoln this month with Joyce Manor (a band of Descendents disciples) and Night Birds. Tickets start at $35, and more information is available at bourbontheatre.com. —Sam Crisler
October 11
Artificial Landscapes Fred Simon Gallery
Ever dream up virtual landscapes after watching a sci-fi movie thinking that one day they might be real? Check out Artificial Landscapes, an exhibit opening at the Fred Simon Gallery October 11 from 5 to 7 p.m. and see what environments artist Reagan Pufall has brought to life with his very fertile imagination. Artificial Landscapes is an exhibition t h a t p h o t o g r a p h s t e r r a f o r m e d landscapes of places that exist only in the restless imagination of the artist. Terraforming, meaning “Earth-shaping,” is the hypothetical process of intentional modification of a planet to make it similar to Earth’s environment. While growing up in North Dakota and spending long, cold winters trapped indoors, Pufall made a habit of reading books that allowed him to view different worlds and cultures. Starting his career in photography of still life and landscapes, he quickly realized that Earth’s terrain had been explored plenty. So he decided to make the worlds he encountered in the stories of his youth. Artificial Landscapes opens October 11 and runs through December 6 at the Fred Simon Gallery located in the plaza level of the Nebraska Arts Council office, 1004 Farnam. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, visit artscouncil.nebraska.gov. —Hugo Zamarona
October 11
ration of the growing Latino population into the political, economic and social life of the region. The term “LatinX” generally refers to a gender-neutral alternative to Latino or Latina. According to the Huffington Post, it’s part of a “linguistic revolution that aims to move beyond gender binaries.” In addition, LatinX crosses all racial backgrounds and includes trans, queer, agender, non-binary, gender non-conforming or gender fluid. Voice of Our Roots brings together LatinX artists from all over Nebraska, including: Belinda Acosta, Gary Brunzo, Daniel Casteneda, Linda Garcia, Hose Hernandez, Katherine Hernandez-Mayorga, Guadalupe Lopez, Lucia Marquez, Slovenka Murray, Stepanie Niverson, Hugo Zamorano, Aaron Olivo, Ilaamen Pelshaw, Daffnie Realpe, Ricardo Trejo, Karmen Valadez, Anella Fernández, Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez, Yarisa ColónTorres and Bart Vargas. For more details, go to elmuseolatino.org. —Mike Krainak
Arte LatinX
October 12
El Museo Latino will host a closing reception October 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. for Voice of Our Roots, the featured exhibition of the month-long, multidisciplinary biennial celebration, Arte LatinX. Arte LatinX is a collaboration of the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) in conjunction with many sites and resources, including El Museo Latino. Composed of UNO faculty, staff and students, as well as the metro community in general, OLLAS is committed to the incorpo-
Brothers Lounge
El Museo Latino
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Lodgings
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Omaha band Lodgings has only been around for a few years at this point, but they’ve already risen to the top of the Omaha indie scene. Led by frontman Bryce Hotz (of Noah’s Ark Was A Spaceship and Omaha studio Archetype Recordings), the band’s latest LP, Water Works, is as instrumentally sporadic as it is emotional. Track six, “Heathens,” is a prime example — at one point, Hotz somberly intros the song with a haunting couplet proclaiming he’s given up on love (“When you feel all alone/Can’t bother with love aching your bones”). Then the song broodingly builds into a deafening wall of guitar squelches and Megan Siebe’s ominous cello. It’s like Hotz aims to give the songs meaning through spoken word, then later through sonic mood-creation. The songwriting is certainly there, but when you factor in production from Steve Albini (yes, that Steve Albini), Water Works becomes a twoheaded monster of a record. It’s being released on vinyl this month with an accompanying show at Brothers Lounge. Tickets are $5. The Sun-Less Trio and The Sunks open the show. Find more information on Facebook. —Sam Crisler
October 12
Skate Art Music Fest The Bay, Lincoln
year’s event features music curated by local rappers HAKIM, Conny Franko and Ria Gold, live mural painting, art exhibits, skate competitions and an appearance from famous skater Ryan Sheckler. Find more information for the festival by checking out the event page on Facebook. Action kicks off at 2 p.m. —Sam Crisler
October 12
Dark Sense: An Evening of Mystery The Apollon
The Apollon continues its niche of intimate, interactive theatrical experiences with the one-man show Dark Sense. Fred Kracke performs this mysterious show with just the help of an assistant and your own imagination. Dark Sense challenges its audience to test their perceptions of reality. Billed as an “excursion into the potential manifestations of psychic phenomena,” Dark Sense is in step with The Apollon’s “dark and mysterious” theme for October, which also manifests as an in-house gallery show featuring many of Omaha’s local artists. The show runs through October 26. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Purchase tickets at apollonomaha.com. —Beaufield Berry
James Beard Foundation Award for Investigative Journalism for his work in The New Republic covering smalltown environmental activism and racist attacks against Somali workers in a Kansas meatpacking plant. His highly praised book, This Blessed Earth, follows a year in the life of a Nebraska farm family and delineates their many challenges. Genoways has previously examined the ills of the nation’s food ecosystem, including unsafe working conditions and unhealthy operating practices at meatpacking plants. His wife photographs his projects. At the 3 to 5 p.m. Durham event, Genoways will speak about This Blessed Earth, which is the Omaha Public Library’s 2019 “Omaha Reads” and the “One Book One Nebraska” picks. A Q&A and book signing will follow. For more information, visit omahalibrary. org/omaha-reads. —Leo Adam Biga
October 15
Starcrawler Reverb Lounge
October 13 Since launching earlier this decade, Lincoln’s The Bay has earned a reputation as one of the most community-driven and coolest places in the state. Equal parts skate park, music venue and coffee shop, The Bay provides a safe space for “misfits” to discover passions and to meet other young thinkers. The Bay and its parent nonprofit, Rabble Mill, throw their biggest fundraiser of the year each fall, the Skate Art Music Festival. And it’s just what it sounds like. This
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This Blessed Earth Durham Museum
Author Ted Genoways of Lincoln, Nebraska, follows in the line of such American literary and journalistic predecessors as muckraker Sinclair Lewis and novelist John Steinbeck. Genoways won the 2018
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Formed in 2015, Starcrawler is an L.A.-borne rock band that blends 1970s glam with confrontational rock performances, which include fake-blood-spitting, straitjackets and other wild antics. In an article titled “Starcrawler wants to freak you out,” Vulture wrote “Starcrawler embraces a scuzzy glam sound that evokes the teensploitation films of the 1970s and
that decade’s street-level Hollywood depravity.” The group consists of four young, hardcore rockers, including two teens, who have released two full-length studio albums and nine singles. The quartet has made a name for themselves by staying true to their grungy L.A. roots and their shockand-awe live shows. Experience Starcrawler at the Reverb Lounge in Benson on October 15 with special guest opener Poppy Jean Crawford kicking off the show at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12. —Reader Staff
October 15
Guns N’ Roses Pinnacle Bank Arena
It’s been eight years since Guns N’ Roses performed in Nebraska (and 26 years since Slash and Axl Rose have done so on the same stage). Now, fans of the (mostly) original lineup of the group are in for a treat. Slash, Rose and bassist Duff McKagan are all back, along with a rock-solid lineup of touring musicians that Rose collected after years of touring under the GNR moniker himself. What’s even more amazing is that throughout the cheekily-named “Not in This Lifetime Tour” all the members appear to be acting like professionals. Who knew that showing up on time and playing a three-hour set full of Appetite for Destruction hits would win over a crowd? Go figure. —Houston Wiltsey
October 16
Coco Montoya
The Waiting Room Lounge
Coco Montoya brings his soulful blues sound to The Waiting Room October 16. An award-winning vocalist and electric blues guitarist from California, Montoya’s career has spanned four decades. His latest album, Coming in Hot, is his 10th solo record and presents his “fiery licks, power chords, white-hot jams, edgy lyrics, provocative and passionate ballads, and soulful, emotional vocals” (The Blade). Montoya is not as well-known as perhaps he should be. As Billboard writes, “In a world of blues guitar pretenders, Coco Montoya is the real McCoy.” Be sure to get your tickets and bring friends and family to the show for a soulful Wednesday evening. —Reader staff
town when one, Eddie, meets Rose. He enlists Rose to win a heartless bet with his fellow recruits. When Eddie has second thoughts, it’s too late to change his mind, and he ends up learning a lesson instead — one of love, compassion and why you shouldn’t be an asshole. For tickets, visit unomaha.edu/unotheatre or call the box office at 402-554-7529. Shows run October 16-27 with performances Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sunday, October 27, at 2:30 p.m. General admission is $20, and UNO students get in free. —Reader staff
Mike Zito’s Big Blues Band Stocks ‘n’ Bonds 8528 Park Drive
October 17
Big K.R.I.T. with
Rapsody and Domani Harris Bourbon Theater
October 16
Dogfight UNO Theater
If you’re finding yourself in need of another great, modern musical after Hamilton leaves town, consider heading over to your local university. UNO and Creighton both boast fantastic theater programs and we, their lucky community, get to reap the rewards. Dogfight is a Pasek and Paul musical (ever heard of The Greatest Showman, Dear Evan Hansen or La La Land? Yeah, those guys) co-written with Peter Duchan and winner of the Lucille Lortel “Best Musical” award. Based on the 1991 film, Dogfight is set in 1963 on the edge of one of America’s many wars. Three young Marines set out for a final night on the
October 17
On “Dreamin,” Mississippi’s Justin Scott Lewis, a.k.a. Big K.R.I.T., raps “I guess the story of a country boy just ain’t compelling.” We respectfully disagree. Big K.R.I.T. is a bit of an outlier in the South’s rap scene at the moment, with a flow more akin to the charismatic swagger of early T.I. and Big Boi than the syrupy, auto-tuned emotion of Future or Young Thug. His production reaches back to the mid-2000s and features a heavy use of old soul samples, boom-bap drums and just a dash of woozy psychedelia — all of which can be heard on masterful mixtapes, including K.R.I.T. Wuz Here and Return of 4Eva. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door and can be purchased at bourbontheatre.com. —Houston Wiltsey
Mike Zito’s Big Blues Band, featuring the B.B. King Horns, headlines the Blues Society of Omaha’s early Thursday show, which is moving 100 feet away from its usual spot at Chrome Lounge to the Park Drive Shopping Center. Zito and his band tore it up at local shows this summer with musically on-point and highly entertaining performances. Mike Zito also performs October 16 at 6 p.m. at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar. For more on this month’s blues scene, read Hoodoo on page 32. —Reader staff
stage presence, this R&B and soul legend not only brings the chops but the bonafides to her concerts. The multiple Grammy Award winner has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. She headlined the vocal group LaBelle, which hit it big with the iconic “Lady Marmalade,” when the group became the first AfricanAmerican artists to grace the cover of Rolling Stone. She’s gone on to a stellar solo career that’s been recognized with her induction in the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Apollo Theater Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone named her to its “100 Greatest Singers” list. She’s also an actress, entrepreneur and humanitarian. But she’s forever the Godmother of Soul, and audience members will leave her 7:30 p.m. Omaha concert knowing why. —Leo Adam Biga
October 19
Whitney
with Lala Lala The Slowdown
October 18
Patti LaBelle Orpheum Theatre
With her dramatic soprano voice, emotional delivery and dynamic pickS
When Whitney rose from the ashes of popular Chicago glam rock group Smith Westerns, they were met with a healthy dose of skepticism. Four years later, Whitney may have eclipsed their forebear in popularity. You could see it when the duo, comprising leadsinging drummer Julien Ehrlich and guitarist Max Kakacek, played to a sold-out Waiting Room crowd the last time they were in town. With the release of their second album, Forever Turned Around, the duo is looking to expand their reach even further. The album finds Ehrlich and Kakacek tackling a broader array of sub-
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jects than ever: love, doubt, death and friendship, the latter of which looms larger than all. Both members admit that challenging one another has pushed their once bare-bones soft rock in a wild new direction. Turn to page 34 to find out how. —Houston Wiltsey
October 21
The Japanese House The Waiting Room Lounge
The Slowdown
Terror in the Air Omingbird Aerial Gym 619 South 20th Street
Amber Bain, a.k.a. The Japanese House, released her first-ever teaser LP, Good at Falling, and is now performing live throughout the nation, including at The Waiting Room on October 21 at 8 p.m. Prepare for an existential experience as Bain takes you on a journey through human emotion — specifically, feelings of self-doubt and discovery. Bain opens up more than she ever has in this LP, writing songs about love and heartbreak, falling out of love and into self-discovery and so many things in between. Tickets are $18 advance and $20 at the door. —Brisa Colaizzi
October 23 A team of scantily-clad aerial artists in fright makeup and scary costumes presents a Halloween spectacle of flying creatures of the night. Beware these witches, wraiths, banshees and vampiresses as they dive and spin in the air and then drop right at your feet. This is the performance side of aerial arts, which is otherwise a fitness craze thing. Omingbird is the city’s only dedicated facility for aerial arts, and its production teams draw on dance, theater and acrobatic backgrounds to create themed performance pieces. The 7 to 9 p.m. October piece is a Grand Guignol aerial circus choreographed to shock, scare, titillate and thrill. Tickets are $10-$25. 21-plus show (ID required). For more information, visit www.omingbirdaerialgym.com. —Leo Adam Biga OCTOBER 2019
October 24
Moon Hooch
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Roadhouse brings Legg to the Reverb Lounge October 23 at 7:30 p.m. For more on this month’s blues lineup, read Hoodoo on page 32. —Reader staff
Adrian Legg Reverb Lounge
From subway stations and street corners in New York City to sold-out shows across the country, percussionhorn trio Moon Hooch is one band to watch in 2019. Moon Hooch is composed of three wildly enthusiastic and talented musicians who have given all to their passion. Best put by Moon Hooch horn player Mike Wilbur: “You can change your existence by just going out and doing it, by taking simple actions every day.” And change their existence they did, with their seamless compilation of funk, groove and electronic dance music in their latest album, Red Sky. Come jam, groove and dance the night away October 24 at The Slowdown at 8 p.m. The show opens with Jaw Gems. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. —Brisa Colaizzi
“Protecting Yourself: The Path to Improved Health” is the theme of the 2 2 n d iteration of this annual conference that purposefully f o c u s e s o n health matters from a women’s perspective. Hear guest experts address pertinent topics in women’s health and visit health fair booths. Topic sessions will cover: clutter and hoarding, internet safety, personal safety, skin changes, sleep disorders, social determinants and public health, vaccines, body image and mental health, and worklife balance. The 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. conference closes with a personal story from a Nebraska Medicine patient. Cost is $59 for general registration and $89 for nursing registration. Blood work and flu shots are extra. For more, call the Olson Center for Women’s Health at 402-559-6345 or visit www.nebraskamed.com/womens_conference. —Leo Adam Biga
October 25
MONA2Omaha:
Photo Ark Gallery 1516 1516 Leavenworth
October 25 Incomparable finger-style guitarist Adrian Legg brings his globally acclaimed style to Omaha for a special performance. Legg has been described as “ridiculously talented” and a “guitarist of astonishing virtuosity.” He was also named “Acoustic Guitarist of the Decade” by the U.K.’s Guitarist Magazine. Legg is an entertainer who mixes his music with witty storytelling from his life and travels. Sunday
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Omaha Women’s Health and Wellness Conference LaVista Conference Center 12520 Westport Pkwy
National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore has spent his career documenting the pending tragedy of endangered species extinction,
proving that art and science can make a difference. His work will be exhibited in Gallery 1516’s MONA2Omaha: Photo Ark, a collection that all too clearly illustrates the “important record of each animal’s existence.” The exhibit also records the “world’s diversity” while encouraging the saving and protection of these animals. Photo Ark is an archive of global biodiversity from 40 countries and portraits of more than 9,000 species on a plain black or white background. It is also part of this year’s MONA2Omaha, an annual exhibition that brings artwork from the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney to Omaha’s Gallery 1516. MONA2Omaha: Photo Ark opens on October 25 and runs through January 5, 2020. Gallery hours are Friday, Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit www.gallery1516.org or call 402-305-1510. —Hugo Zamarona
chances to stand still. Halloween costumes are encouraged. Find more information by searching “Jocko/No Thanks/Death Cow/Histrionic at Midtown Art” on Facebook. Tickets are $5. Show starts at 8 p.m. —Sam Crisler
October 25
JPEGMAFIA
The Waiting Room Lounge Back in 2010, early Death Grips records reflected a seismic shift in hip-hop’s underground scene — once
or should be defined as music. To be honest, JPEGMAFIA’s show in Omaha this month is going to be weird. It might not be for you, but Peggy’s music is as “2019” as anything you’ll hear this year. Tickets are $15 and available at waitingroomlounge.com. —Sam Crisler
October 25
Bemis Benefit Auction/ Concert
October 29
Bethlehem Steel
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
O’Leavers
October 25
Jocko, No Thanks, Death Cow, Histrionic Midtown Art 2578 Harney If you’ve lost touch with the Omaha/Nebraska music scene, here’s the show to get you reconnected. It’s four Nebraska punk bands that each has its own diverse crowd, coming together for a late-October, Halloween-themed show at Midtown Art. All four bands offer a different flare to punk: Histrionic is demented surf-punk, Death Cow is like all your favorite heavy ‘90s bands combined in one, No Thanks is goth-punk with some politics and blood thrown in, and Jocko is the unrelenting hardcore you needed at the height of your teenage angst. Alllocal and all-ages shows like this don’t happen often. There won’t be many
tober 11, from 6-8 p.m., and then to the public during gallery hours beginning on October 12. Tickets for the auction, which begins at 5:30 p.m., are $100/person through October 24, and $125/person at the door; concert tickets are $20/person and $30 at the door following the auction. For more information, including participating artists, visit bemiscenter.org/benefit. —Melinda Kozel
dominated by scrappy backpack rappers — to grumpy dudes with Ableton Live who hole up in their bedrooms to watch anime. As music has adapted to the social-media era, hip-hop has arguably progressed faster than any other genre, bravely embracing the internet culture’s memes and attitudes. That’s how today you get artists like JPEGMAFIA, whose latest LP, All My Heroes Are Cornballs, has tracks called “Post Verified Lifestyle” and “Grimy Waifu” — titles that would be best understood by folks who spend more time on 4chan than in public. Context aside, the Baltimore-rapper’s music is off-the-wall insanity that’s equally inspired by Death Grips’ glitchy abrasiveness and other online-birthed genres, like Vaporwave. It’s on the cutting edge of what can
More than 300 works by 200 artists are available for bid at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts’ Benefit Auction and Concert on October 25. The annual event highlights a diverse group of local, regional and national contemporary artists working in a variety of mediums. The benefit offers a tangible connection to the Bemis Center’s mission and role in the presentation and understanding of contemporary art, bridging the community of Omaha to a global discourse surrounding cultural production today. All proceeds are reinvested into the Bemis Center’s artistcentric programs that advance the work of today’s artists year-round. The auction exhibit will begin a two-week preview, first to artists and members with a reception Friday, OcpickS
Borne out of the unbreakable bond of friendship and togetherness in 2012, Bethlehem Steel will steal your heart with their Brooklyn indieband roots. Revel in the power of solidarity and understanding by joining them at O’Leavers on October 29 from 9 p.m. to midnight. Singer/guitarist Rebecca Ryskalczyk, drummer Jonathan Gernhart and bassist Patrick Ronayne’s friendship and partnership is unique, genuine and powerful and certainly shines through in their sophomore album. The self-titled LP is a demonstration of the seamless transition between a trio to a quartet and the maturing and even more thoughtful content that comes from growing up and experiencing life. Be sure to check out the band’s latest release as well as their previous work, Party Naked Forever (2017), which was featured on NPR, The Fader and other outlets. Sean Pratt and Megan Siebe open at 9 p.m. Tickets are $7. —Brisa Colaizzi
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Draft Dodgers
Team MAM Takes Linear Mark-Making Off the Grid in Defiant Line Exhibit by Janet Farber
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ith autumn in the air, banter around town inevitably turns to sports. The offensive line, foul line, goal line, betting line. Seems we move toward measuring things on one side or the other of a stripe. In art, line is a more slippery and amorphous player, a tool that may be formal or personal, straight or snarled, delicate or harsh. The many dimensions of visual expression by artists with a proclivity for linear mark-making are the subject of Defiant Line, the current exhibition at Modern Arts Midtown, which runs through October 25. This is a rangy group show generally composed of artists seen regularly at MAM, including Littleton Alston, Brian Curling,
Catherine Ferguson, Jean Gaudaire-Thor, Thomas Jewell-Vitale, David McLeod, Lana Miller, Gordon Powell, Joe Ruffo, Teresa Schmidt and Michael Tegland. Lean, elegant and sometimes colorful, the show is thoughtfully organized around not so much a conceptual theme as a range of formal counterpoints — how line, edge, marks and shape serve each artist’s aesthetic. And despite expectations that line=draftsmanship=drawings, the exhibition includes a hefty amount of painting, sculpture and collage as well as works on paper. As might be anticipated, the use of line for some of these artists is about control,
Catherine Ferguson, “Janzen,” 2016, woven steel wire
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defining shape and space, and creating balance. Michael Tegland’s carefully inscribed graphite on black chalkboard-painted birch panels are exemplars of linear refinement. In “Cobb County,” each rhythmic repetition limns organic forms that evoke dense and delicate flora — life flourishing magically out of simple line in a deep monochrome. In her “Lithic” series of ink and colored pencil drawings, Lana Miller uses line to outline her vertical, henge-like shapes, as well as create tones and shadings to emulate the physical qualities of rock. “Three” isolates a pair of monoliths against a gray background, linked by a slim rectangle of black ink — a spare rendering
that nonetheless conveys weight, mass and balance. David McLeod prefers using a broad range of drawing materials, among them pencils, graphite sticks, pencil, lithographic crayon and gouache, in works that mediate a space somewhere between drawing and painting. In his compositions on paper, such as “Arrangement with Many Inclusions,” McLeod establishes a ground of precise linear elements, such as a graph-paper grid and orchid drawings, as well as washy rectangles of lightly toned color. This diagrammatic stasis then begins to energize, as he exploits the liquid properties of his media to add counterpoints of movement and density.
David McLeod, “Arrangement with Many Inclusions,” 2014, colored pencil, gouache, graphite and litho crayon on paper
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A Utilizing elements of control to yield the expression of energy, Littleton Alston opts for steel to express his inspiration from the Industrial Age when “gesture and intent could be calibrated and shown in wheel and cog.” His pedestal-top sculptures employ graceful lines of steel that change direction at their intersections with small, cylindrical forms, and with titles such as “Galileo,” “Eclipse” and “Stella Luna,” it is not hard to see them describing the celestial paths of stars or satellites. A similarly scientific feeling is registered by Brian Curling’s flowchart-like “Untitled,” a color reduction woodcut with encaustic on paper. Casual, concentric bullseyes of color are connected with a web of lines. A feeling of buoyancy created by the layering a paper and wax gives the abstract composition an energy at an atomic, aquatic or stellar level. Personal energy is the hallmark of Teresa Schmidt’s work. The line in her abstractions is free, spontaneous and nervous, and her work consists of traditional drawings as well as mixed media panels with both paint and graphite. The edge in works such as “Perspectives No. 2” evokes an underlying energy in nature, in which line that’s especially dense along the bottom third of the piece turns it from a more formal
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organic abstraction into a space thrumming with impulsive power. This same energy informs “Ascension,” in which bits of matter ascend into a blue sky between parted clouds. The title suggests apotheosis, but it might just as easily be read as an image of decay and dissolution. The two colorists in the show could not be more different. Thomas Jewell-Vitale is clearly an artist who prefers pushing paint around. The surfaces of his oil on paper paintings are highly physical, densely layered and heavily scraped. Incised lines only occasionally circumscribe shapes or define spatial transitions. His jewel-colored compositions are prismatic, impressionistic scenes suggesting land- and seascapes. Jean Gaudaire-Thor makes vibrant mixed media collages that are stitched onto canvas or paper. With an eye toward combining splashes of color and pattern, Gaudaire-Thor’s works engage line not only through mark-making but also through cut edges and stitched seams. Joe Ruffo also approaches line as edge and, rather than scribing lines on paper, creates compositions by creasing paper and applying it to wood panels. His mostly white collages are dimensional, allowing the paper ridges to stand up on the surface like rumpled bedsheets. In “Polar Solitude,” Ruffo plays with contrast rather than
Littleton Alston, “Galileo,” 2015, steel and walnut color, adding bits of black handmade paper with thin white ciphers to create a banded edge that makes the abstract composition read a bit like the landscape to which the title refers.
Gordon Powell’s art also reads like collage, but he fashions painting-like wall reliefs from abutted pieces of wood. His forms are intentionally casual — wood shapes are irregularly squared — and he uses dyed glue to join their seams, allowing it to ooze through the cracks and make painterly lines. In “Untitled (with 4 colored squares),” Powell has created a kind of informal but effective geometric abstraction, painting his MDF forms mostly white with pops of red and yellow and enlivening the surface with ellipses and spots of blue-dyed glue and pencil. Primarily a sculptor, Catherine Ferguson has long employed line, silhouette and shadow in service of defining form and space. On view are several of her wire reliefs, in which she knots and weaves thin steel wire into volumetric wall drawings. “Janzen” is a clever hard/soft play on the female form, a favorite theme, as a skirted one-piece bathing suit is suggested by its overall shape. The spirited movement of the filaments’ shadows on the wall enhances both its linear qualities and its whimsicality. In total, Defiant Line underscores the notion that linearity belongs not just to draftsmen, but is one member of a team with which an artist can play. Score!
Teresa Schmidt, “Ascension,” 2019, acrylic and graphite on panel
Gordon Powell, “Untitled (with 4 colored squares),” 2010, MDF, dyed wood glue, paint and pencil
ART
Defiant Line is open at Modern Arts Midtown, 3615 Dodge Street, and runs through October 25. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on First Fridays from 6 to 8 p.m. For further information, contact 402-502-8737 or visit www. modernartsmidtown.com.
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Ann Reinking’s In the Style of Bob Fosse, first seen in 2017, will return for AMB’s 10th season. Photo courtesy: American Midwest Ballet
American Midwest Ballet
adds partners, opens school and readies for new home by Leo Adam Biga
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hen Omaha Theater Ballet (OTB) folded nearly a decade ago, the city lost its lone professional dance company. As the local movement community brooded over the void, Erika Overturff took action. The OTB dancer and resident choreographer, along with colleagues, soon founded Ballet Nebraska, now called American Midwest Ballet (AMB). The new company presented its first season of performances the following fall (2010). “We didn’t skip a beat,” said Overturff, who is now AMB’s artistic director and CEO. “It was just a moment for somebody to step up and say let’s start a company and keep professional dance alive here.” The company’s ballet master, Matthew Lovegood, also came from OTB, and its core of dancers, artistic-administrative staff and volunteers goes back a ways. That stability has been important to solidifying the organization. AMB has also grown its dancer roster, added main-stage shows and landed guest artists and
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community partners. Its annual mixed-dance production, Momentum, takes place October 11 at Joslyn Art Museum and October 13 at the Iowa Western Arts Center. This fall, Overturff’s popular take on The Nutcracker will play in Council Bluffs, Omaha and San Antonio, Texas. “We present historically significant ballets and works by well-known choreographers, and we produce original, new ballets by our own artistic staff,” Overturff said. “We’re keeping that rich tradition of classical ballet and creating new work.” Earlier this year, the company opened its American Midwest Ballet School to offer a full complement of dance classes for youth and adults. In January, AMB will move from makeshift spaces to its new home in the Hoff Family Arts and Culture Center in Council Bluffs.
An architect’s rendering of AMB’s future home, the Hoff Family Arts and Culture Center, which will open in January, 2020. Image courtesy: American Midwest Ballet.
Passion has fueled this rise from plucky start-up to established arts player.
what it took to get a company off the ground,” Overturff said. “We started with a big dream; and as we continued to work toward that, we’ve really grown as an arts organization.”
of Carmen, Cinderella and La Traviata. Overturff choreographed, and company dancers performed a new production of, Peter and the Wolf for an Omaha Symphony concert.
“We started out as a grassroots organization just with a passion for dance and willing to do
AMB has provided dancers and choreography for Opera Omaha productions
In collaboration with Omaha Performing Arts, AMB builds on its mission of engaging
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Excited students experience their first ballet performance at a school matinee presentation of The Nutcracker. Photo courtesy: American Midwest Ballet. youth by presenting Nutcracker student matinees for 6,000 young people at the Orpheum Theater every year. The company also collaborates with Joslyn Art Museum on Momentum. “We usually do a ballet inspired by one of their exhibitions or one of their permanent works of art,” Overturff said. “We bring students in to tour the museum and to see a ballet performance in the same day.” This year’s Momentum features three diverse works. For In the Style of Bob Fosse, Broadway legend and Fosse disciple Ann Reinking has created a special medley showcasing the style and movement of the late dance innovator. Choreographer Frank Chaves, who came to fame with his River North Dance Chicago troupe, is choreographing Habaneras, The Music of Cuba, which Overturff calls “colorful, lively, beautiful.” She said Chaves was in Omaha for three weeks staging the ballet, which keys off Joslyn’s permanent collection works by Latin American artists.
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Erika Overturff coaching dancers during a rehearsal for one of her ballets. Photo courtesy: American Midwest Ballet.
A sure sign of AMB having arrived came when Iowa West Foundation identified it as a good fit for the Hoff Center and asked it to be an anchor tenant. AMB currently rehearses at the former Motion 41 Dance school, whose space was donated, and staff members mainly do their office work at home. When the company relocates to the Hoff Center in 2020, the move will make operations more efficient and strengthen AMB, Overturff said. The new school, which held its first classes in July and will also move to the Hoff Center, reflects AMB’s evolution and offers a range of training for everyone from young children to adults and casual beginners to serious dancers.
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Erika Overturff, standing in AMB’s future home, currently under construction in Council Bluffs, has led the company into its 10th year. Photo credit: Debra S. Kaplan.
Offerings include the Repertory Ensemble, a by-audition youth training ground offering performance opportunities, the Junior Company, which offers students shadowing experiences with professional dancers, and the Solo Program, which presents competitive dance opportunities.
also holds dance workshops in schools, reaching some 800 kids each year, and invites students to watch matinees and hear from the artistic staff.
Exposing people, particularly those who may not otherwise have the opportunity, to dance is a mission of AMB.
Overturff said some students they work with may never go on to dance professionally, but they’ll never forget the experience of performing in Nutcracker before a large audience.
“We want to make dance accessible to as many people as possible,” Overturff said. “Exposing kids to artistic opportunities just opens up their horizons.” Overturff said students learn directly from professional dancers and have roles in some productions, including Nutcracker. The company
She and her dancers see themselves in the students they teach. Overturff is reminded of who first turned her onto dance in her hometown of Dubuque, Iowa: her dance teacher, who was the daughter of Tatiana Bechenova, an original member of the renowned Ballet Russe. “She was an incredible woman,” Overturff said. “As a young ballet student, I got access to her knowledge and history, which she passed on to her daughter.” A decade into launching AMB, Overturff is optimistic about the company’s future. “It’s all about connecting with and inspiring people,” she said. “We have generous supporters who understand the value of having dance as one of the cultural facets of our community. Artistic quality is a driving force. We do things we’re excited about, that we think are worth sharing, and that in turn inspires audience members, community partners and donors.”
Overturff’s own original piece, Party Animals, is a whimsical ballet and jazz-influenced work that imagines African animals dressed up for a night on the town dancing to ‘60s lounge music. “If someone’s not sure if ballet is for them, come to Momentum,” Overturff said, “because it’s energetic and entertaining and showcases different styles of dance.” Overturff said working with well-respected guest choreographers adds to its repertoire. “That’s how dance is preserved – passed on from person to person,” she said. “These artists pass it on to our dancers, which is really special.” The fact that top artists want to collaborate with AMB also speaks to the quality of the company, she said.
“You learn so much through dance,” she said. “Discipline, respect, teamwork, responsibility, a certain etiquette. Sharing that with young people is very special.”
“We intend to be here to stay — growing in such a way we can sustain ourselves into the future.” Visit amballet.org.
Erika Overturff’s The Nutcracker has become an audience favorite. Photo courtesy: American Midwest Ballet.
THEATER
Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.
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Plenty of Treats
From the Remember the Drumstick Halloween Gala to music at The Jewell, Chrome, Waiting Room, Lincoln’s Zoo Bar and PorchFest, live roots music is in the air. by B.J. huChteMAnn
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incoln’s Catherine Lohmeier Nebraska Blues Challenge hapreports that offline editing pens Sunday, Oct. 20, at The of Remember the Drumstick, a Jewell. Doors open at noon with documentary about Lincoln’s friedperformances by entrants Hector chicken restaurant-turned-rock-club Anchondo (solo, 1 p.m.), Stan & that brought some of the hottest The Chain Gang (band, 2 p.m.), bands to Nebraska in the 1980s, is 99 ‘n’ ½ (duo, 2:45 p.m.), Rich nearing a first-draft rough cut. The Patton (solo, 3:30 p.m.), Church project is coming together with House Blues Band (band, 4:30 Sharonda Harris Marshall serving p.m.), Soul Tree (duo, 5:15 p.m.), as associate producer and editor. Virginia Kathryn (solo, 6 p.m.) Lohmeier and company host a and Rex Granite Band (band, 7 costume gala at another Lincoln p.m.). For admission cost and other fried-chicken icon, Lee’s Chicken updates visit Facebook.com/BluesRestaurant, Saturday, Oct. 12. Her SocietyOfOmaha. late brother, Tim Lohmeier, was the longtime band-booker at The Drumstick, formerly located at 547 N. 48th St. in Lincoln. The Facebook There is lots going on at page notes just a few of the artists Lincoln’s Zoo Bar this month, who played The Drumstick from 1978-’87, including “Joan Jett, Jay including a special early Sunday CD McShann, REM, Red Hot Chili release show Oct. 6, 5 p.m. with Heather Newman has gone from Omaha stages to the national blues scene, garnering a 2019 Blues Music Peppers, Albert Collins, Fishbone, Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash. Award nomination for “Best Emerging Artist” and winning two 2018 Blues Blast Music Awards, including Jason and the Scorchers, and Early Wednesday 6 p.m. shows the Sean Costello Rising Star Award. Catch her at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar Wednesday, Oct. 30, and Omaha’s Chrome locals such as The Click, The Crap include crowd-pleasing bluesLounge Thursday, Oct. 31, both shows 6-9 p.m. Photo courtesy: HeatherNewmanBand.com. Detectors, Charlie Burton and rocker Mike Zito Wednesday, Rock Therapy, Digital Sex and The Oct. 16, guitarist Paul Nelson Park Drive Shopping Center about 100 feet south Ripchords.” Catherine Lohmeier Wednesday, Oct. 23, and the exciting Heather said because Tim’s birthday was Nov. 2 that of Chrome at 8528 Park Dr. Mike Zito’s Big Blues Newman and her band Wednesday, Oct. 30. Zoo Band featuring the B.B. King Horns headlines the The Blues Society of Omaha presents a cou- Bar co-owner Pete Watters celebrates his birthday Halloween “was always big fun for him.” At the Oct. 12 event, fans can expect live music, a DJ and night. Zito and his band tore it up at local shows ple of other notable events around the metro this Friday, Oct. 18, 5 p.m., Vanessa Collier makes a a costume contest with the theme “song titles.” this summer with musically on-point and highly en- month. Saturday, Oct. 5, at The Jewell, catch the special appearance Sunday, Oct. 27, 5 p.m. Get all tertaining performances. Reverend Raven & His Lohmeier said, “It will be as close to a Drumstick Nick Moss Band with very special guest Anson the details and late-breaking updates at ZooBar. experience as we can muster.” The project, started Chain-Smokin’ Altar Boys open the evening at Funderburgh. In a Facebook post, Moss said of 5 p.m. In another Thursday change-of-venue, BSO guitarist Funderburgh, “His contributions to mod- com and Facebook.com/ZooBarBlues. by Lohmeier in January 2017, is working under the partners with The Jewell for a performance by 2019 nonprofit auspices of the Nebraska Independent ern blues guitar cannot be denied. His influence Film Project. The production is still in need of funds Blues Music Award winner and multiple nominee on so many from my generation is evident by evto finish the documentary and market it. Find all vocalist-saxophonist Vanessa Collier Thursday, ery guitarist from; Christoffer Lund Andersen, Mike Blues-rock guitarist Coco Montoya plays the details at RememberTheDrumstick.com and Oct. 24, 6-9 p.m. The Thursday series returns to Welch, Doug Deming, Joel Paterson, Mike Keller, Chrome Lounge Oct. 31, 6-9 p.m., for a HalloweenFacebook.com/RemembertheDrumstick. Jeremy Johnson, myself and sooooooo many oth- Waiting Room Wednesday, Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m. themed night with BluesEd youth program alum ers around the world!” At press time, this show Justin Townes Earle performs at Waiting Room Heather Newman and her band. Newman now Tuesday, Oct. 22, 8 p.m. Sunday Roadhouse was scheduled for 7 p.m. See jewellomaha.com/ lives in Kansas City and is a rising star in the national shows for final details. Mark your calendar now for presents incomparable finger-style guitarist blues scene with a 2019 Blues Music Award nomithe wonderful Minneapolis blues-jazz of the Scot- Adrian Legg Wednesday, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m., at The BSO Presents Thursday early shows at nation for “Best Emerging Artist” and two wins in tie Miller Band, another BSO/Jewell partnership at Reverb Lounge. The third annual PorchFest takes Chrome Lounge kick off with guitarist Bobby Mesthe 2018 Blues Blast Music Awards. Her sophomore over Omaha’s Gifford Park community Sunday, The Jewell Saturday, Nov. 2, 6:30 p.m. sano Thursday, Oct. 3. Canadian blues-rockers CD, Rise from the Flames (Vizztone), is getting rave Oct. 6, 1-6 p.m., with live music throughout Murray Kinsley & Wicked Grin plug in Thursday, The BSO hosts a one-day event to choose reviews and showcases her growing command and the neighborhood around 520 N. 33rd St. See Oct. 10. the band and solo or duo acts that will represent power as an artist. Keep up with the latest dates Facebook.com/PorchfestOMA. them in the Blues Foundation’s International Blues The BSO moves the Thursday show for Oct. 17 for BSO Presents Thursdays at Facebook.com/ to a 5 p.m. start at nearby Stocks ‘n’ Bonds in the BluesSocietyOfOmaha. Challenge in Memphis Jan. 28-Feb. 1, 2020. The
Zoo Bar Blues
Other BSO Events
Hot Notes
BSO Presents Thursdays
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OCTOBER 2019
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Whitney is Still Searching J by HOUSTON WILTSEY
ulien Erhlich, the lead singer and drummer of Whitney, was in a weird place when I caught up with him over the phone.
two records are striking — both 10-song, 30-minute affairs focus on the difficulties of maintaining a relationship while you are in your mid-20s and still trying to get your shit together. Like their debut, Forever Turned Around cloaks the melancholy of these songs with Ehrlich’s voice.
“I’m watching a children’s yoga class at a YMCA in Birmingham, Alabama,” Ehrlich said with a laugh that acknowledged how strange his predicament was. The band had a couple of hours before they were needed for rehearsals, and they were waiting to get in a game of hoops or, as Ehrlich himself put it, everybody “wants to make their bodies feel good before [they] stuff them with barbeque.”
At the center of it all is Ehrlich and Kakacek’s relationship. The two have been friends since their high school days, and both spent time playing in the Chicago glam-pop band Smith Westerns at the start of the decade. They even room together. “A lot of questions about whether these songs are Max and I’s relationship and, in a roundabout kind of way, I think they are,” Ehrlich said. “They can be applied to both platonic and romantic relationships because there’s overlap between the good and the bad parts of both.”
For Ehrlich and Max Kakacek, Whitney’s guitarist and Ehrlich’s songwriting partner, these random situations have become an almost routine occurrence. Whitney has been on the road almost non-stop for the better part of the last three years supporting their breathtaking debut Light Upon the Lake. It’s easy to see why. Light Upon the Lake is an album that is cinematic in its production — with syrupy-sweet guitar licks from Kakacek, organ flourishes, strings and multiple horn parts — that also feels insular and instantly-relatable, thanks to Ehrlich’s yearning falsetto delivery of lyrics focused on non-descript depictions of easy love and loss. From the first time Ehrlich croons “I left drinking on the city train” on the album’s opener “No Woman,” it’s hard not to be hooked. Before long, the accolades came flying in: a “Best New Music” review from Pitchfork, a mention on NPR’s “Artists We Love,” and both Ehlrich and Kakacek were even interviewed by Sir Elton John for a New York Times piece, in which John lavished the duo with praise. “We just want to make sure that everything on our records honestly resonates with us,” Ehrlich said. “Max and I have this way of processing songs to make sure they feel right before we put them out. … Our goal is always to make songs that aim straight at the heart and make us want to cry,” he added with a laugh.
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Lead singer Julien Ehrlich talks about the band’s meteoric rise, fans passing out at shows and the inspiration behind Whitney’s sophomore album, Forever Turned Around. Photo credit: WHITNEY.
That formula appears to be working. Fans tearing up at shows is a “pretty frequent occurrence,” according to Ehrlich, at times leaving a lasting impression on the band’s members. “There was one dude at our show in Austin that fainted midway through the first song,” Ehrlich recalls. “I don’t think he was on drugs, but I’m also not sure it was Beatlemania-type hysterics either. It was a little concerning at first, but apparently, when the guy was being hauled out he had the biggest smile on his face while he was giving the thumbs up and yelling ‘you guys rock!’” Ehrlich said other people have passed out at shows, “but that was definitely due to drugs.” Fans now have even more reasons to faint as Whitney recently released their
| THE READER |
Backbeat
sophomore album, Forever Turned Around, in August. “We’ve grown up quite a bit since Light Upon the Lake,” Ehrlich said. “I think we tried to push ourselves outside our comfort zone on this album. I feel like if you’re not progressing as a songwriter then your music starts to sound stale and uninspired.” For both Ehrlich and Kakacek, that meant writing songs on instruments they were less familiar with. “I got quite a bit better at guitar,” Ehrlich said. “It just gets you writing differently.” While the members were writing outside their comfort zones, this is still very much a Whitney record, and every song here recalls the gauzy soft-rock of their debut. The similarities between the
Despite the melancholy that can be found throughout the lyrics, Forever Turned Around is still an incredibly sunny listen. It’s nearly impossible to hear the slinky guitar on the opener “Giving Up” or the string swells on “Song for Ty” and find yourself anything other than completely content. And that’s where Ehrlich said he finds himself at this point with the band, especially compared to his time in Smith Westerns. “It’s infinitely better,” Ehrlich said. “Just to be in an environment now where we’ve surrounded ourselves with people that we like and who are honest is amazing.” Ehrlich said the band is most excited just to play the new songs. The band will need that enthusiasm to get through a touring slog. They’re on the road until early December, and the overall tour takes them deep into 2020 with what Ehrlich said will include “four or five different trips to Europe.” Burnout hovers as a concern as Ehrlich said they still don’t turn any opportunity down at this point. “But,” he added, “the love we feel out there is real. It’s very real.”
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This Halloween, Send in the Subs Recommendations by Horror Movie Subgenre by Ryan Syrek
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ack when humans would have to actually walk through stores and physically touch copies of the movies they wanted to watch, only six genres were acknowledged: Comedy, Drama, Action, Foreign, Kids and Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror/ Whatever-Else-You-Weird-Nerds-Like. Some video stores had a seventh genre, and legends were told of youths who dared enter the Adult section…
who may be watching with you what they’re getting into.
Comedy Horror:
Little Evil
A Netflix original skewering of creepykid movies, this did not get much love when it was released a few years back, probably because y’all don’t have dueling shrines to Evangeline Lilly and Adam Scott like I do. It’s
movies will never be better than 28 Days Later. If you love you some werewolves, I really need you to remember that Jack Nicholson’s Wolf is a real movie that really exists, and he pees on James Spader in it. This was a big budget movie with legitimately high expectations, and it has aged into glorious hilarity. Finally, zombie movies will never be better than 28 Days Later, but you maybe haven’t seen Train
Netflix-ization has gone the other way with things, sewing gangly genre appendages onto one another, creating lumbering monsters, like Black & White, Neo-Noir Slapstick Adventures Featuring an Overweight, Balding Oscar Winner. However, if used correctly, the subgenre is your friend, and none more so than with horror movies. Halloween season is all about two things: mainstream media making lame jokes about pumpkin spice items because they’re predominantly enjoyed by women and thus subjected to undue ridicule, unlike consumables such as craft beer, and watchin’ horror stuff! I can help with that second one! Because when you’re in the mood for spooky cinema you often have a specific flavor in mind, here are recommendations for you broken down by subgenre:
Action Horror:
Blade II
This was the very first movie I ever reviewed for The Reader and remains my favorite Guillermo del Toro movie. Sorry, aquatic perverts! Filled with great little gross horror beats and the last recorded footage of Wesley Snipes actually trying, this one is still surprisingly watchable. I stand by my 2002 rating, which I believe was “Cool Beans.”
Body Horror:
Raw
Like all veterinarians, Justine (Garance Marillier) develops a taste for human flesh during her training. This coming-of-age parable is only for people not immediately turned off by cannibalism as a metaphor. It’s less of a “scary movie” and more of a brilliantly gross slice of cinema, so please warn anybody
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Psychological Horror:
Hereditary
Because supernatural elements are involved in writer/director Ari Aster’s debut film, this is maybe not a true “psychological horror” movie. But it’s my list, and I’m too cool for rules, fools! Honestly, the most scarring, shocking moments in the film involve mental trauma, with Toni Collette giving a criminally underseen masterclass in depicting genuine emotional torment. Maybe she’d have won an Oscar if her character was also a hooker or she wore a wig or something.
Science-Fiction Horror:
eXistenZ
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night offers atmospheric, trippy vampire shenanigans with an exceptional soundtrack. no Shaun of the Dead, but we’ve all got that one memorized by now and hilariously quote it all the time to our friends still, right?
Creature Horror:
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Wolf, Train to Busan The unholy trinity of creatures featured in horror has to be vampire, werewolf and zombie. If you want some bloodsucking that doesn’t suck, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night offers atmospheric, trippy vampire shenanigans with an exceptional soundtrack and plenty of macabre pouting. If you love you some werewolves, I really need you to remember that Jack Nicholson’s Wolf is a real movie that really exists, and he pees on James Spader in it. This was a big-budget movie with legitimately high expectations, and it has aged into glorious hilarity. Finally, zombie
| THE READER |
FILM
David Cronenberg is a master of body horror, which is on par with having mastered your horrible body. eXistenZ is weird in more ways than its capitalization. It goes to strange simulated reality/ Matrix-esque places via the single most disgusting user interface ever conceived. It may sound like a straight-up sci-fi film, but there’s an organic gun that uses human teeth for ammunition. Have fun with that nightmare!
Slasher Horror:
to Busan, which doesn’t so much reinvent the undead wheel so much as Die Hard-s it by setting most of the action in a confined space. If you hated public transport before, just wait!
Found-Footage Horror:
Trollhunter
Outside of Cloverfield, the beloved location of the hill I will still die upon, most found-footage horror is a cheap way to have a quick seizure. With shaky-cam footage and jump scares, very few films have improved upon what The Blair Witch Project did to kick things off. Trollhunter isn’t true “horror,” but it legally counts, with dead bodies and monsters. I thought this would build a cult following, but I guess people said “Norway” to that. Get it? Because it’s Norwegian and Americans consider reading to be too much physical exercise.
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare Slasher movies are easily parodied and largely quite similar, save for the only film to go bonkers with meta-awareness, and nothing is more terrifying than metaawareness. Conceptually just incredibly fun, this forgotten Elm Street sequel sees the actress who played opposite Freddy Krueger the first time playing herself opposing the “real” Freddy Krueger. As the first horror franchise sequel to try something truly, uniquely different, it deserves better than being remembered only when it’s time to rank all the Elm Street sequels.
Torture Horror:
None
Stop it. Please stop it. Let this subgenre die. Go read a book or something. A nice one about puppies.
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It: Chapter Two is a start-to-finish misfire. Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Exhausting Piece of It It: Chapter Two Flogs a Bloated CorpSE by Ryan Syrek
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tarting with a wholly unnecessary hate crime sequence, It: Chapter Two is the worst clowninfused sequel since the birth of John Wayne Gacy Jr. Almost entirely plot-free, the film is frequently cheap-looking, unintentionally silly and a total CWBH, which stands for “complete waste of Bill Hader.” That probably didn’t need an acronym, but after 170 minutes of It 2: The Yawn-maker, anything that’s shorter is better. After the aforementioned opening gay bashing, a scene that should be made legendary for its exceptional tone-deafness, It 2: Let’s Watch People Remember Things reintroduces every character. One by one. Slowly. Over the last 27 years, the teenage members of the Losers Club have grown nicely into their hackneyed premise. Bill (James McAvoy) is now a wealthy writer and obvious Stephen King surrogate. Ben (Jay Ryan) got swole and rich. Richie (Bill Hader) parlayed youthful F-bombs into a stand-up comedy career. Eddie (James Ransone) is now a risk assessor “hilariously” married to a carbon copy of his overweight, overbearing mother. Beverly (Jessica Chastain) is in a completely different sexually abusive relationship. Stanley (Andy Bean) does a puzzle; the rest is a spoiler. And Mike (Isaiah Mustafa), who stayed in Derry, calls everyone home to kill the returned and murderous Pennywise the clown (Bill Skarsgård). How do you kill a shape-shifting, possibly interdimensional demon/alien with an everchanging set of powers? If your guess involved a lazy appropriation of Native American rituals, give yourself a honk on the nose. Gary Dauberman’s
script is a cacophony of horror notes in search of a composer. Basic facts are confusing and jumbled, despite a spectacularly whack attempt to plot-splain that involves micro-dosing with a hallucinogenic and an ancient vase filled with exposition. Hands down, the most shocking thing about It 2: What’s With All the Crab and Spider Stuff? is how cheap and ill-conceived many of the CGI creatures are. The film is clown-car packed with preposterously goofy character designs apparently rendered in Microsoft Paint. The second most shocking thing about It 2: Everybody Chant Now is the stilted, near-painful performances of everyone whose last name doesn’t rhyme with Vader. The first scene of the reunited Losers Club captures the feeling of a mom refusing to stop taking family photos until “everyone does a silly one.” These actors may all be best friends in real life, but watching them interact exudes the sensation that they never wish to be in the same place at the same time ever again.
NEW RELEASES
Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins Ruth Sokolof Theater — Starts Friday October 4, 2019
1340 MIKE FAHEY STREET OMAHA , NE 68102
Stephen King is beloved, and It is among his most revered texts, for reasons I shall neither judge nor ever understand. Without question, most of his fans will either genuinely enjoy this conclusion or at least convince themselves that they did, a guiltfree crime each of us has committed for a fandom to which we swear fealty. However, purely as a film on its own, It 2: At Least There’s No Sewer Orgy is a start-to-finish misfire, from its insensitive opening to an ending that would make Peter Jackson give the “wrap it up” signal.
Grade = D FILM
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OMAHA ROLLER DERBY
The cult-classic, Tank Girl, will be produced by, and hopefully star, Margot Robbie.
CUTTING ROOM by Ryan Syrek
At some point, we’ve all asked ourselves “How do I follow up my debut, coming-of-age, feminist cannibal movie?” The only one of us who has an answer is Julia Ducournau, and she’s not telling. Ducournau’s Raw had an insanely unique spin on the tired “Hey, remember how much growing up sucked?” genre. Her new film, Titane, was just announced by Neon, and nobody knows what it’s about. I mean, Ducournau hopefully does. I would also assume somebody at Neon does, but honestly, if they saw Raw and just wanted to give her a blank check, that would also track. I am as excited to see this as I am mystified by what it could be about. Here’s hoping it’s a French remake of Titanic where Rose eats Jack at the end.
As a fully certified evangelist for the church of Lori Petty’s Tank Girl, the best film to ever feature Ice-T as a violent kangaroo, I am over the moon right now. News recently broke that the cult classic, 1980s comic book series will be produced by (and hopefully star) Margot Robbie, who is so perfect for this role it detonates an explosive in my heart. If you’re totally unfamiliar with Tank Girl, you probably also don’t know what ‘zines are, and I’m sorry we killed the planet you will live on for longer than those of us who are familiar with Tank Girl.
Modern cinema arguably peaked when John Woo swapped the faces of John Travolta and Nicholas Cage. Featuring one of the grossest lines about fruit ever uttered
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and Travolta doing a worse Nicholas Cage impression than Nicholas Cage usually does, Face/Off was so vital to our cultural wellness that they’re bringing it back. The big debate is about who will play the cop and criminal who get face-swapped. Even money says they’ll just randomly pick two of the Chrises, but I hope they go really weird with it and put Ryan Gosling’s face on Idris Elba’s body or make Tilda Swinton wear Cate Blanchett’s skin on her skull. Wait, that last one is actually really good. Do that. Do that please!
Finally, because we are not allowed to have a single good thing in this broken, awful, worst-possible timeline, Disney+ is scrapping plans for a new Muppet series. It would have been called Muppets Live Another Day and brought immense joy to people saddened by the miserable reality all around us. Instead, that title was overly ambitious, and the project is deader than bipartisanship. There’s still going to be an unscripted shortform series called Muppets Now, in which celebrities get interviewed, but if I wanted to watch a childlike puppet act like a goofy nutball around famous people, I’d just watch Fallon. 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 @thereaderfilm.
| THE READER |
FILM
Don’t miss our last two home games this season!
September 28 : Superhero Night
Come dressed as your favorite superhero for a chance at a prize! Omaha Junior Roller Derby vs Chick Whips Omaha Roller Derby vs Wisconsin Men’s Roller Derby
October 5
Omaha Roller Derby vs Rockford Rage ///////////// Doors Open at 4:30pm $14 for adults //////////////////// //////////// First Whistle at 5:30pm $8 for kids (4-12) ////////////////////
Photo by Jason Orton Photography
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News You Can Use by Michael Braunstein
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ime once again for a potpourri, a compendium if you will, of items of interest that have skated across the glazed landscape of my mind recently and have previously escaped comment. Snippets. Vaping—Who’d a Thought?
the spread of antibiotic-resistant infection. Talk therapy works better than drugs for insomnia. Menopausal hormone therapy doesn’t do the job. Wearable technology (think Fitbit or Apple Watch) does nothing to help a person lose weight. Knee problems? This research found
panpsychism, and it means that pedestrian viewpoints of what consciousness is are just that: pedestrian. A commonly held view is that consciousness is materialistic. That is, awareness is no more than the firing of neurons in our brain. But there is evidence of more to it than
cases where physical therapy (cheaper, less invasive) was better than surgery. There are so many entrenched medical methods that just do not work and/or are not cost-effective. But we suffer them anyway. This study used data and research from Lancet, Journal of the American Medical Association and New England Journal of Medicine. What we really need now is a study that shows how much more effective holistic therapies are than conventional ones. Open the door for herbalists, acupuncture, hypnosis, ayurveda and more.
that. The late John Archibald Wheeler, the scientist who coined the term “black hole,” believed that proto-consciousness is evidenced by quantum mechanics, where particles don’t express shape or location until observed. What links the viewer with the viewed? Consciousness is the answer. Any fan of Star Wars will tell you “the Force” is a conscious entity. Astrophysicists such as Gregory Matloff pose the idea that stars display conscious actions as evidenced in Parenago’s Discontinuity. It’s only radical if you don’t understand the theorem. I remember when I was young that the prevailing wisdom was, “Animals don’t think.” Well, we certainly know that has changed. So why not consider that maybe the Milky Way is watching? Richard Feynman — what a guy.
I have a few friends who are military veterans. Me? I got drafted, but something happened between the “Greetings” letter and basic training, so I don’t count. But lots of my vet friends who served in the various Gulf Wars starting in 1992 tell of massive burn pits where war material of unknown sorts was incinerated, releasing plumes of toxic smoke for months, years. Iraqi oil fields were set ablaze for weeks. This left everyone in the region with serious lung problems due to the fetid atmosphere. Many of those problems have become lifethreatening and chronic. Which leads to the current kerfuffle over vaping. How is it that someone’s common sense escapes them, and they willingly heat oil to the vapor point then breathe it into their lungs? Let’s see, breathing in oily mist. What could be wrong with that? Ask a Gulf War vet. And you need researchers and government agencies to tell you breathing in oil globules is not a good thing?
Tighty Whities and Other Worthless Medical Procedures — So Many! You know those tight, white compression stockings hospitals make so many patients wear? The ones that probably get billed at $500 a leg? Well, they’re hardly worth that. In fact, researchers have found they are worthless. Seems a massive study (published in eLife and conducted by Oregon Health & Science University, the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Chicago) looked at hundreds of medical procedures we have been using, sometimes for decades, and found that there is no statistical basis that they actually are worth doing. That includes mammograms, of course. Having everyone in intensive care use gowns and gloves did nothing to cut back on
Does the Entire Universe Have a Consciousness? This isn’t news to me, but now prominent scientists are on board with the idea. It’s called
HEARTLAND HEALING
Junk in Your Trunk Amazing! A study has come out that links the indulgence of eating processed foods with obesity and poor health! The real problem is that we have become a society that is dependent on information being force-fed to us rather than evaluating what our senses could tell us on their own. Case(s) in point are that we use a weather app to see what the weather is like or going to be like during the day; we use a smart watch to monitor our heart rate and, as such, further isolate ourselves from being in touch with our bodies, our health and so much more. So the fact that we need researchers to tell us that “food” made of suspect components and assembled in various ways to become “processed” is actually bad for us is hilarious. Look at the way we assess the value of stuff we buy in the supermarket. We pick up an item and look at the industry-mandated and controlled “ingredients” and “nutritional data” on the package. If you have to do that, you’re buying the wrong food. Real food doesn’t need labels to tell you about it. Think broccoli, apples, fish, artichokes, beef, dry beans, bananas and so on. If it comes in a package, it’s processed. Stay in touch with yourself by being in touch with yourself. That’s all the news for now. 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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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in a Cancel Culture World
Separating the art from the artist has never been so difficult by Tim McMahan
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wonder if it will ever be OK to watch Woody Allen movies again.
artists’ work is shamed right alongside the artists. Knowing all of this, I still like Woody Allen films. What does that make me? I still like Aziz Ansari.
I say this because Allen just finished a new movie called A Rainy Day in New York starring Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning and a slew of hot new Hollywood talent. The film opened last month in Paris but, as of this writing, still doesn’t have U.S. distribution, so it’s not looking so good that I’ll be able to see it, at least not on the big screen.
And, apparently, so do a lot of other people. Ansari recently released a new standup special on Netflix directed by Spike Lee. And people watched it. Lots of them.
The reason there’s no U.S. distributor goes back to the sexual accusations made against Allen by his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, who says Allen assaulted her in the home of her adoptive mother, Mia Farrow, when she was seven years old. Allen denies the accusations, which first surfaced in 1992 but keep resurfacing only to be refuted by Allen. In the latest round, Chalamet and others have apologized for taking part in Allen films. On the other hand, Scarlett Johansson, who’s appeared in a number of Allen films, recently said she believed Allen’s side of the story and would work with him anytime. The fact that Allen was never charged with a crime doesn’t make a difference. I’m not going to tell you who to believe, only that I love Woody Allen films and have since I was a wee lad. Play it Again Sam, Annie Hall, Stardust Memories all had a huge impact on me. And while I find the accusations against Allen reprehensible, I don’t know what they have to do with his body of work. His films didn’t change after the accusations became public except in the minds of those who believe the accuser. And, of course, in the minds of the money people at Amazon who terminated a four-picture deal with Allen because they didn’t want to appear to be profiting from someone under the specter of such accusations, leaving A Rainy Day in New York high and dry.
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Then there’s Ryan Adams. Back in January, The New York Times published a story that said Adams had an inappropriate internet relationship with a 14-year-old girl back in 2013. Adams denied it. Shortly afterward, sordid stories about Adams started rising like mushrooms from a shit cellar. His ex-wife, Mandy Moore, and indie singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridgers were among those who claimed Adams made unwanted sexual advances and/or was emotionally abusive, according to Rolling Stone. Adams had plans for three new full-length albums this year, all to be released on his own Pax-Am record label and distributed by Capitol Records. But none have materialized as of this writing and likely won’t any time soon. Again, I’m not going to tell you who to believe. This one’s a little easier for me personally as I’ve never cared for Adams’ music. After the story broke, a number of long-time Adams fans posted on Facebook that they were done with him. They were deleting their Ryan Adams tracks from their iPhones because the guy must be a piece of shit. I think he probably is, but here’s the thing: Not a note of Adams’ recorded music has changed, not a word was edited. But whatever he sang on those recordings before all this happened now means something different to a
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portion of his fan base that could never support a guy accused of doing such sordid stuff. Aziz Ansari, now that one hurt. I loved his standup and his Netflix series, Master of None. When accusations of sexual misconduct were surfaced by an anonymous writer on an internet chat board, Ansari quickly went into hiding. He and Adams joined a long list of celebrities that we’re all too familiar with. Researching this article, I came across a Hollywood perp list at glamour.com that seemed to go on forever — all men, all accused of doing shitty things. (Strangely, Woody Allen didn’t appear on it.) In the old days before the internet, it was easy to separate the art from the artist. I can only think of a few men pre-world wide web who were brought down by scandal. I guess Pee-wee Herman tops the list. But now, with social media, there’s no place for the accused predators to hide. The women harmed by Harvey Weinstein may have created the #metoo movement, but social media is why it’s here to stay. “Cancel Culture” — the rise of hashtag boycotts of artists (and others) accused of misdeeds — is nothing more than the free enterprise system on internet steroids. The marketplace “influencer” is social media, where anyone who dares admit to still consuming these
Look up Ryan Adams in Spotify, and you’ll discover he still has 1.4 million monthly listeners and nearly a half million followers on the platform. In his new Netflix stand-up special Sticks & Stones, Dave Chappelle takes on cancel culture point-blank and appears to have walked away unscathed. Because, just as the boycotts’ effectiveness depends on social media, the ability for artists to continue to have their art consumed depends on people consuming it … in the shadows. As one person recently told me, “I never stopped listening to Adams’ music, I just quit talking about it.” It’s a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” approach toward consuming art made by dubious artists, but where the wheels fall off is when the art no longer is available to consume. Will Spotify keep Adams’ music available on its platform if he’s indicted of a crime? Will I ever get a chance to see that new Woody Allen film? As Chappelle pointed out in his stand-up special — it’s not up to me, it’s up to you. 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.