The Reader - November 2019 by PioneerMedia.Me

N OV E MBE R 2 0 1 9 | volU M E 26 | ISSU E 9

by Leo Adam B ig a

Features: MIND & SOUL // Omaha Star ART: Kaneko ‘Influence’ BUZZ: All Good Bars Go to Heaven Film: Thanks to Give! REVIEW: Joker Dish: Roadmap to Omaha Coffee Heartland Healing: Industrial beef HOODOO: Musical Moves MUSIC: Nels Cline of wilco 25th: Segura Spiels Theater: Radio Theatre Omaha over the edge: Critics

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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 healing................Michael Braunstein info@heartlandhealing.com

COVER: Malcolm X Memorial Foundation // Mind & Soul // Down for the Cause

25th: Jonny Segura Reader Spiels

DISH: Roadmap to Omaha Coffee

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

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THE BUZZ: All Good Bars Go to Heaven

PICKS: Cool Things To Do in November

ART: Under the Kaneko ‘Influence’

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Film: Thanks to Give! // Joker Has Bad Answers to Gross Questions

November 2019

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heartland healing: Industrial Beef CONTENTS

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November 2019

Q&A with

Othello Meadows The first in a series of interviews with thought leaders about work, leadership, finding talent and pursuing ambitions By Steve Kerschke

fter attending college at East Carolina University and practicing law in Atlanta, Georgia, Othello Meadows returned to Omaha just before the 2008 election to help with Project 10,000, a get-outthe-vote effort in east Omaha. A decision that was out of character for him at the time proved to be the turning point in his life. It led him back to the Midwest for good. Meadows currently serves as president and CEO of Seventy Five North Revitalization Corp., a nonprofit striving to revitalize the Highlander neighborhood.

Returning to Omaha for Project 10,000 was a turning point for you. What about this

NOVEMBER 2019

experience stands out most, and how has it shaped your leadership approach? Having full responsibility and accountability for the outcome of a largescale project came with challenges and a ton of hard work, but it was exhilarating. I try every day to experience life as it comes, to instill a similar approach in my colleagues and facilitate new and interesting opportunities for our team at Seventy Five North.

What do you find to be most effective in driving engagement? Resistance and skepticism to change is inevitable. Being open, hon-

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est and consistent encourages engagement and vulnerability. Beyond that, we talk regularly about our mission. Our purpose for existence is very clear and something we care about deeply. Hiring and retaining employees who buy into the mission and purpose of the organization is non-negotiable. I’ve always strived to create a supportive environment, while also developing our employees for future opportunities. I believe people care more about places that invest in them as professionals and as people than they do in places where they see themselves as like a cog in the wheel. So we just try to be supportive in a way that makes our

employees feel good about coming to work every day.

What do you look for in prospective employees? We hire talented, hard-working and dedicated people. Simple as that. I’m not looking for people who have specific experience related to our core business. Previous experience is not indicative of success because our training is specific to Seventy Five North. Curiosity and mental dexterity are important to me. Individuals with these traits thrive when they’re provided the latitude to be creative, experiment with new ideas and find the best way to solve problems. Our culture is about

J giving people the space to do their job as effectively as possible but in a way that makes the most sense to them.

What is your approach to recruiting? Have a keen eye for talent. Most people interview well and say all the right things, so seeing them in action without an established agenda is a great predictor of future performance. At the grocery store, when I’m out to dinner or at business functions, I’m always on the lookout for exceptional people.

saying, “I don’t know.” It allowed me to engage my team more deeply. I’ve always been amazed at how far people will go to avoid being perceived as having made a mistake. Regardless of position, status or experience, we strive to create a safe space that embraces failure without negative consequences, and we celebrate the exploration of new ideas and situations where people are comfortable voicing their opinion.

Is there anything you’ve found that has had a Have a common thread. Both of my significant impact in helping most senior employees are connected your team with relationship to trusted colleagues who can vouch building and the development for them, which allows me to hire with more confidence. I don’t like to hire of a deep sense of trust? without some sense of what I’m getting into.

A colleague of mine once told me, “If someone appears to be a good fit, stick to the process, and if your gut says they aren’t a good fit, move on.” This is something that has always resonated with me. I like that. It’s easy to get wrapped up in filling a position with someone who makes a good first impression, but remaining disciplined and sticking to the interview process is good practice. On the other hand, trust your gut when there are red flags. I’ve been burned by making a hasty hire when I knew deep down it wasn’t a good fit.

You seem to have a relatively “flat system” rather than one that is more “hierarchal” in nature. Can you expand on this? It’s ridiculous to believe that one person should have a monopoly on all the good ideas. As a leader, it took me a while to embrace this. Ultimately, I got to the point where I was comfortable

Every other month, we have a mini retreat. A portion of it is structured, strategic planning time, but I also like to create space for less-structured interactions. Much like when you’re in the shower and have a strike of genius, these situations are free of pressure to come up with a really great idea or solution. It’s not forced. We always have great conversations — sometimes it’s about work, and sometimes not.

Are there any particular resources, such as books or podcasts, you would recommend?

Any other advice to offer?

I’m fascinated by the concept of leadership, but I have the hardest time finding good books that aren’t retreaded with one cliché after another. That said, a book that changed my life is the autobiography of Malcolm X, written by Malcolm X himself. He taught himself how to lead, which is a powerful concept. When he mastered his own strengths and his own weaknesses, everything else fell into place for him. For example, the focus of the first half of the book is on mistakes he’s made, the ownership of his own limitations and his personal flaws — something you don’t always see in other books.

The relationship between ego and success is a topic I’m obsessed with. People who have accomplished great things have healthy egos, and sometimes we demonize that. On the contrary, I don’t know that you can get to anything particularly great without a healthy ego. I have yet to see someone who has changed the world, changed the city or did anything of substance who didn’t have a crazy, almost irrational belief in themselves. What’s the downside of believing in yourself too much? Maybe you’ll be a little disappointed if you fail, but other than that, I can’t come up with one. I’ve always kept that in my mind, and I’m always trying to get to the point where I have the ... belief that I can do whatever I want to do. It’s a hard fight, but we should never question our ability to achieve audacious goals.

How do you approach accountability? Accountability is an internal trait, and people are wired to do their best. Because of this core belief, we recruit for this and believe people naturally want to be accountable and be held accountable by others. I set clear expectations and have high expectations. Our employees are trying hard to meet deadlines and perform at a high level, so I rarely take a directive approach. Challenges do arise, especially with younger employees, because they’re afraid of making the wrong decision. Rather than reacting harshly, a collaborative, problemsolving approach facilitates open communication and reinforces the positive aspects of accountability.

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NOVEMBER 2019

Under new leader Leo Louis II,

Malcolm X Memorial Foundation aims to take things to next level by Leo Adam Biga

Cover (L to R): , Michelle Troxclair, Michael Scott, Angel D. Martin, Shari Thompson, Leo Louis (middle), JoAnna LeFlore, Mark "Buddy" McGaugh, Paul B. Allen IV, Dalamar "Black Excellence" McTizic

PHOTO Terren ce Tryon of Tryon’s Photography

ince the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation’s start in 1971, its leadership has moved from founder Rowena Moore to board presidents Johnny Rodgers and Sharif Liwaru to newly elected board president Leo Louis II. In succeeding Liwaru, who had a two-decade run as board president, Louis is following a leader who became closely identified with the organization. The 36-year-old Louis is a well-known community organizer in his own right. His association with MXMF goes back to 2010. “A lot of my organizing and advocacy efforts have been within the confines

NOVEMBER 2019

of the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation,” Louis said. “The network of individuals that have traveled here have become my friends, advisers, confidantes and supporters.” Louis feels being a catalyst for community mobilization has well prepared him for his new post. “I think community organizing is underrated,” he said. “It’s my gift. It’s the thing that makes me feel good. It’s the thing that I love. It’s my art. It’s my passion. It’s what I do.” Louis’ community organizing career began with an action he instigated as an Omaha North High School sophomore.

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COVER

“There were still remnants of gangs,” he said. “A lot of fights, a lot of issues, a lot of drama. I got tired of the conflict. I got tired of hall sweeps. There were no school assemblies talking about the issues and culture. So I drafted a 10-point email addressing these issues and cc’d every person in the school.

is the best thing ever, like, you’ve got to keep doing this, I’m glad you said this, somebody needed to say it.”

“I didn’t know it was bold, I just needed to say something, so I sent it out.”

The experience of taking action empowered him.

While Louis described himself as a then-unmotivated C student who was “flirting with the streets,” his state-of-theschool critique hit home. “By the end of that day people had copied the email and were telling me this

Students told him he should run for student government. Teachers praised his writing. But the administrator suspended him from using email.

“It was so impactful,” he said. “I was just a quiet guy trying to float behind the radar. But I was still ticked off about the social condition in the school, so when I decided to speak up, I did it loud. I figured it was worth doing, so I did it. That was my first time organizing.”

R Michael Blackstone and Norma Reynolds volunteering for the Shabazz Community Garden Brick Building Day (2019)

From left to right: Unknown supporter, Jordan Weber holding his daughter, Gabrielle Gaines-Liwaru, JoAnna LeFlore, Kenny “Nkrumah” Walker standing in the greenhouse that approximates the original home of Malcolm X and the Little family.

Malcolm X Memorial Foundation Visitors Center

Community members who participated in the second Brick Building day for the Dr. Betty Shabazz Community Garden (2019)

Urban agriculture next became Louis’ means to build community as well as address food desert-insecurity issues and give youth positive outlets away from the streets. “Doing community gardens I found a niche in community organizing,” he said. Meanwhile, Louis got involved at MXMF where his passion and experience eventually led to creating the Shabazz Community Garden there in 2018-2019.

“We do have a very sincere interest in being a good steward of the land,” he said. “The garden is a testament to that commitment.” The last decade’s seen big changes at the site. Land acquisitions have increased the nonprofit’s property to 18 acres. It’s been cleared of debris and weeds and now offers an undulating, open span of native grasses and wildflowers. Much of it is to be developed, once funding is found, to realize long-held plans for a

library, museum and conference center. The visitors’ center is a former worship space MXMF purchased. A small greenhouse was built last year. “People come expecting only an historical marker, not acres of open grasslands and a community garden,” Louis said. “It’s just been a lot of growth and a lot of transition. The organization has always had to flow with the times … We’re COVER

Drone shot of the Dr. Betty Shabazz Community Garden (2018) still adapting to what it takes to maintain a building and 18 acres. “We’re stabilizing this part and then we’ll move into the build-out. We’re not very far away.” Louis said the thinking has generally been that it will take the foundation

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NOVEMBER 2019

R Just as the organization’s evolved, so has Louis, and he feels he’s come to lead there at the right time.

many years to build out its master plan, but he doesn’t see it unfolding that way. “I see real acceleration simply because I understand what we need to do,” he said. “The people who came before me laid a very solid foundation of where we need to go as an organization.

“The Leo of today doesn’t say everything he thinks,” he said. “I’ve realized I don’t have to say everything. There are others who can speak to points. That’s how we’re going to build this organization.”

“Once we demonstrate we’re good stewards, then we can move onto bigger things.”

Growth also comes from being an incubation space. The Mind & Soul 101.3 FM radio station that operates there grew out of a proposal from thenboard-member Carlos Carr Sr. The threeyear-old station “offers a distinct voice that can’t be heard elsewhere,” Louis said. (Read more on page 10.)

Louis is taking steps to enhance administrative and operational resources. “Those mechanisms will propel us forward,” he said. In terms of making the master plan a reality, he said funding could come locally, but to a certain degree, the perception of Malcolm X has to be overcome. “There’s an educational curve we have to deal with when it comes to who Malcolm X was and what he stood for,” he said. “It just requires more conversation . . . It’s giving people the perspective we are not carrying guns and chanting ‘by any means necessary.’” Guided school tours at the site help dispel myths. Records aren’t kept but even a cursory glimpse at the MXMF Facebook page reveals visitors to the grounds come from far and wide. The center displays photos of famous guests, including film director Spike Lee, author and activist Angela Davis, comedian Mike Epps and poet/recording artist Amir Sulaiman. Louis takes in stride the changing of the guard in progress within the organization. In addition to Liwaru moving to Portland, Oregon, to accept a new position, MXMF lost four other veteran board members this year, including Aframerican Book Store owner Marshall Taylor and journalist Walter Brooks. Louis counted Brooks as a mentor. “Five board members transitioned off the board within a short time span,” he said. “It was a huge impact. Each circumstance was different. It was definitely not a situation where I did not have their blessings. No one left with any ill will. It was just their time.”

NOVEMBER 2019

Nelson Mandela School students performing at the 2019 So- l Food and Music Festival

The remaining members have also been with MXMF and embedded in the community a long time. They include local communications specialists JoAnna LeFlore and Angel Martin. “We’ve been groomed and trained by those who left,” Louis said. “We are still here. It’s not a situation of trouble. It’s just a transition time.” Louis said the center is in the process of replenishing the board and is looking for cross-generational wisdom and experience. Board candidates must also be committed to growing the organization and realizing its vision, Louis said. Meanwhile, MXMF is busy between hosting yoga and self-defense classes, community cleanups, public forums and other events, including two major public festivals it presents annually: The Malcolm X Birthday Celebration on May 19 and the late August So-l Food and Music Festival.

line it feeds. Funding’s also being sought for a “freedom school.” The center also hosts conflict resolution workshops led by facilitators with the Alternatives to Violence Project. “I know from doing gang intervention, a lot of people act violently because they have no other tools,” Louis said. “I’d love for them to have another tool in their belt to reach for rather than something violent.” MXMF will also be active in voter education-registration for the 2020 election. “It’s in line with Malcolm X’s principles. He believed you should be an educated voter.” Louis wants the public to know MXMF is here to stay.

Historically, the organization’s operated on a roughly $100,000 annual budget, but Louis said that’s increasing as the center hosts more activities.

“We have been, with very little resources, great, unwavering advocates for this community,” he said. “We have stood on principles and values that uplift Afro-Americans, which is what Malcolm wanted to do, but that also uplift all humanity. We want people to know our works to be good works.

Justice for Kids began as a Louis-led initiative and now is an official program focused on reducing or ending disproportionate school suspensions of black children and the school-to-prison pipe-

“I want them to understand we are a human rights organization with an emphasis on African-Americans because Malcolm X was a human rights activist with an emphasis on African-Americans.”

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Social entrepreneurs Shomari Huggins and Alisha Davis brought the idea for the So-l Food and Music Festival. “They came to us with this vision and we gave them the place to plant the seeds,” Louis said. More recently, Tiffany Gamble of Emerging Ladies Academy pitched a girls coding school. “She understands there’s a lack of girls of color in the tech field,” Louis said, “and we are incubating her project right now.” African-American girls, ages 11 to 18, are participating in the free, six-week intensive “build your own app” course aimed at personal empowerment and supporting diversity in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) fields. MXMF welcomes collaboration. “We’re putting out a call for more programs we can incubate here,” Louis said. “We want to give a platform to people serious about making social change and dedicated to their cause. If you’ve got a passion for something, we will incubate it as best we can. “We aim to ‘be known for the work’ and developing people just as Malcolm X himself did.” Visit malcolmxfoundation.org.

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

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NOVEMBER 2019

Mind & Soul matures its socially-culturally

conscious radio presence in Omaha by Leo Adam Biga

s radio station names go, Mind & Soul is hard to beat given the organization that holds its license and houses its studios: the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation.

PHOTO Terrence Tryon of Tryon’s Photography

‘There she goes soapboxing again.’

“It’s kind of a perfect name. This is what we’re all about. ‘Edutainment’ is what we call it,” said Paul B. Allen IV, the station’s program director. “Educate and entertain,” the station’s weekday morning news anchor, Michael Scott, decoded. “The fact we are here at the [Malcolm X] birth site is very significant,” said Michelle Troxclair, morning co-host, “because the teachings of el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz [the name assumed by Malcolm X after he completed the Hajj pilgrimage] encompass everything we do. We educate our community, not only with news and commentary but with music that is part of our culture and our community.” Practical self-determination and informed citizenry, Allen said, “aligns with the mission” of the foundation at 3448 Evans St. and with the principles of the slain activist whose name it bears. “He was about selfsufficiency and we’re trying to stay a blackowned station that serves the black community — and do that on our own.” This emancipated, aware, Black Lives Matter vibe has sustained Mind & Soul for

NOVEMBER 2019

“So they gave me 15 minutes on whatever I want. I research specific topics that rile me up. It gives me the opportunity to provide information and resources for people to do their own research. It’s not like we try to spin anything we can’t back up with factual data. That’s the difference between us and a Fox News.” Scott enjoys the spirited repartee.

“We challenge each other, like ‘Where’d y’all get that from?’ I go back to (L to R): Paul B. Allen IV, Dalamar “Black Excellence” McTizic, Michelle Troxclair, 1977 as a journalist Michael Scott, Mark “Buddy” McGaug and not airing my pernearly three years on the air at 101.3 FM and Troxclair teams with Scott for the stasonal views. But with streamed online via the TuneIn app. While tion’s popular Michael and Michelle in the what’s been happening in the government, the station has grown and evolved since its Morning weekdays from 7 to 11. I find myself going on tirades, and she’ll go, founding, it has kept its deep-rooted comAllen put them together as personalities ‘Well, I guess that was your soapbox momitment to North Omaha and its mission to who play off each other. Scott’s a former net- ment.’” foster an independent, progressive voice in work affiliate television news and Entertain“Sometimes I educate him or prove him the city. ment Tonight anchor. Troxclair’s a spoken wrong,” Troxclair said. “People value our re“We are the lone progressive voice in a word artist and community activist. lationship and shenanigans.” conservative radio town,” Scott said. “I knew she was politically aware, and In November, Troxclair is soapboxing “We act as a counterbalance to give he was about politics, and that when he on: the need for more black male teachpeople a different perspective,” added Trox- chimed to do his Michael Scott thing and ers; the epidemic of missing and murdered clair. needed to get chopped down, she could do women of color; and the history of hip hop. Mind & Soul carries the syndicated that. She’s the only one that can put up with “We’re able to tell our stories indepenDemocracy Now, an independent journal- his mess.” Allen said, tongue-in-cheek. dent from being interpreted by other news ism program generally considered to be The pair’s bantering has led to a recur- sources,” Allen said. “Nobody else is talking a strong, progressive voice, and Troxclair ring bit. about black issues like this station is. Things said the team insists on “keeping listeners we’re talking about are opening the eyes of “Michael would do a story, and I’d do abreast of what’s happening in the political realm and the importance of voting.” a rant about it,” Troxclair said. “He’d say, this community and the larger community.”

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FEATURE

F The station also features activismthemed shows, such as The Brooks Report, on “Woke Wednesdays.” A favorite guest on the show is educator and Democratic Party activist Jonathan Benjamin Alvarado. “He tears apart what’s happening.” Scott said. Straight reporting is valued, too. “We’re working to build our own news operation,” Allen said. “It’s really important we be a trusted news source for hard news reported from our community by our community.” He said the station partners with 95.7 The Boss, NOISE, The Reader and KIOS-FM. “There’s a lot of collaboration going on. Everybody sees this big need to represent and let people know what’s going on.” Besides news and commentary, Troxclair said the station also supports local artists and has programming dedicated to playing local music, such as Maha Monday and Lunchtime Live that features two hours of homegrown artists. The station sponsored its first big live concert last August featuring Donell Jones on the MXMF grounds. More shows are planned.

The station also provides a means to discuss music controversies that are important to the black community, such as The Waiting Room’s decision to ban hip hop acts after a fatal shooting in August and disparities that exclude or limit black music promoters. “The point is there’s so much going on in the black community never addressed elsewhere in the city,” said Allen. “We have a platform for these things.” Blacks giving voice to blacks, said Dalamar Lee McTizic, the station’s lead engineer, “is about being able to speak for ourselves.” As a public service, Troxclair said the station also pushes mental and physical health topics, such as breast cancer awareness and domestic violence. “We did a whole week on domestic violence and stalking,” she said. “I’m real with these young ladies. If he’s sitting outside the house at all hours of the night, it’s not because he loves you. That’s dangerous.” Transparency reigns. “We are very comfortable talking about personal experiences,” said Scott, who’s discussed being molested as a child.

“I talk about being diagnosed with major depressive disorder and taking my medication religiously. I talk about it to take the stigma off of it,” Troxclair said. The station has grown since its January 2017 launch. Local shows, such as Roots of Electric Jazz with Dereck Higgings and Funktropolis reach listeners nationally and internationally. The station even exchanges programming with a French radio station. And more shows are coming. The Giro, a planned local program, will celebrate “African-American spoken word artists, page poets, storytellers, playwrights, rappers and our elders,” Troxclair said. “It is so important to tell our stories,” she said. “We have such a rich history, and we make history every day, so we need to perpetuate this oral tradition.” Allen said the station’s growth represents an evolution. “The first year we were a typical community station,” he said. “We had people doing whatever kind of shows. We subsequently went out into the community to find out what people need and want to hear and put that together intentionally. Now our live

shows are stronger. There’s a professionalism that wasn’t there. These are not just hobbyists who come on and spit whatever they want to talk about. Now it’s a very curated community station.” Mind & Soul is exploring an opt-in subscription-based media package featuring exclusive content — “new ways to keep old media running,” Allen said. There are also plans to incorporate video streaming to reach more people and secure more funding. Meanwhile, the team encourages listeners to support the station with recurring member donations. All to keep Mind & Soul running and serving the community. “We feed the spirit and the mind,” Troxclair said. “Both must be fed to have a healthy community. We are part of the community, we support the community, and we are community-operated.” Visit mindandsoul1013fm.org or listen at 101.3 FM or via the TuneIn app. Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.

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NORTH OMAHA

Down for the Cause, Not Down for the Count by Lynn Sanchez, Special Projects Editor, The Omaha Star “Down for the Cause, Not Down for the Count” is a special series that puts a magnifying glass on Omaha, our divided city, to help us accept what cannot be changed, and to change what we can. The series is made possible by a Community Network Grant from the Facebook Journalism Project and the Lensfest Institute for Journalism. The Omaha Star was one of the first 23 media organizations in the country to receive the grant. The selection committee awarded the funds with a “special emphasis on the needs of news deserts and underrepresented communities.”

More Market-Rate Homes, City Buy-In Would Help Uplift North O B etween them, Al Goodwin and Michael Maroney have been at the helm of the Omaha Economic Development Corporation (OEDC) for more than 40 years. Their commercial and residential ventures have made an undeniable impact on the physical, social and economic landscape of North Omaha. Drive through the neighborhood for a few minutes and you will see them: Kellom Heights, Ville de Sante, the historic Jewell Building, The Learning Community Center, Fair Deal Village Marketplace, to name a few.

The concept for this series evolved because Omaha is in a pivotal moment regarding its North neighborhoods. Developers may be eyeing the land and buildings thinking of their potential profit, while caring little about the precious cultural history it contains.

And if you think it’s easy, they will tell you straight up, “It ain’t easy.”

This series is reprinted from The Omaha Star and edited for space. Read the full version at www. theomahastar.com.

Like many, Goodwin’s family migrated to Omaha from Mississippi and Louisiana to escape “prejudice,” as he calls it. He became a loan officer for the Small Business Administration and worked for Omaha mayor Eugene

They are numbers guys, hard-nosed businessmen. But they haven’t forgotten why they got into the business — commitment to the community, desire to uplift it and belief in the ingenuity and resilience of its people.

Let’s Talk Numbers

In 1969, a young Maroney worked in the offices of Union Pacific. He had joined in an Open Occupancy protest at City Hall as a high schooler and wanted to do more. He heard about an upcoming celebration of Malcolm X Day hosted by the Black Panthers and other groups in a local park. The groups were encouraging the community to stay home from work or school in honor of the slain civil rights leader. Maroney asked for the day off work at UP. “Next thing I know, I’m called up to a much higher floor,” he said. Again, he was asked why he wanted the day off. “I told the truth.” His request was refused. “I understood why. And so I quit. I went to the celebration.”

Leaving UP eventually led him to a position with Wesley House. Maroney, about 10 years Goodwin’s junior, worked with him off and on, finally succeeding him as president in 2005. As the two discuss North Omaha development, several themes emerge: transportation, jobs and housing, all issues deeply entangled with racial discrimination in Omaha. As well-paid packing house and railroad jobs dwindled in the early century, North Omaha residents were often stranded far from gainful employment. OEDC attempted to provide a van service to transport them but was unable to maintain it. “As jobs left, people of higher income left,” Goodwin said. “A lot of the larger houses were subdivided into apartments, and you had people with less income coming in. It was just a spiral effect.” Property values had no chance to rise as housing aged and became overcrowded. When outside businesses that might provide much-needed jobs assessed North Omaha

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Virtually Zero The amount of affordable housing available outside of Northeast and Southeast Omaha.

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38th Position of Omaha, Neb., out of the top 100 most segregated metropolitan areas in the United States (2010 Census).

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Virtually Zero The percentage of affordable housing currently required to be included in new developments.

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21.4 The percentage of Black Omahans who live in high-poverty neighborhoods. By comparison, 6.9% of Whites and 14.3% of Hispanics live in such neighborhoods (2010 Census).

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$63,062 Median income for Omaha’s overall population in 2017.*

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$20,754 Median income for residents of North Omaha, 68111.**

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$108,927 Median real estate price for homes located in 68111, which is less expensive than 75.3% of Nebraska neighborhoods and 81.7% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

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$43,000 The average property value in zip code 68111.

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$161,000 The average property value in Midtown, 68106.

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$285,500 The average property value near Glenn Cunningham Lake, 68118 (Zillow.com).

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1936 The year redlining maps were commissioned and created, officially ghettoizing North Omaha. This action was not imposed on unwilling White residents by an overbearing outside entity; local actions had concentrated the population of poor immigrant and Black citizens here since the city was founded. 23 out of 100 The number of low-income housing units available versus the number who qualify for them (FHEA). *https://www.forbes.com/places/ne/omaha/

Leahy. He later joined Wesley House, which ran numerous programs and social services. Under Rodney Wead, Wesley House had created the “Overall Economic Development Plan” for North Omaha in the late 70s. Out of the need for a dedicated organization to implement grant money, OEDC emerged. Goodwin was its first president in 1977.

NOVEMBER 2019

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FEATURE

**http://www.city-data.com/income/income-Omaha-Nebraska.html

as a location, most found it lacking. “When shopping centers and major retailers look at areas, they look at the rooftops, the value of the houses, the income levels, the transportation, the workforce,” Goodwin said. “They see a depressed area; it just doesn’t meet their profile. So they won’t locate here.” This unfortunate reality is a nationwide problem, he emphasized, not just Omaha. “McMansions” or market-rate housing that flourishes in West Omaha is scarce in North Omaha because, again, from a strictly business perspective, it is a poor risk for developers. North Omaha housing is some of the oldest in the city. Maroney explained the conundrum. “To build a $200,000 house costs you $200,000. You’ve got to be able to sell it for that,” he said. To build such a house in a neighborhood with depressed property values, “You might get $130,000 to $140,000 appraised value, if that much. The bank will lend you 80 percent of that. Then you’ve got to come up with $100,000 (down payment).” Once again, the numbers mean homebuyers and developers probably won’t invest in an area where they aren’t able to build equity and make money when the house is sold. For this reason, OEDC has adjusted its approach to real estate development and is now focused on bringing more market-rate housing to the area. “We came to the realization that if all you do in a low-income community is low-income housing, all you’re doing is recycling poverty,” Maroney said. But again, it “ain’t easy.” Maroney pointed to the concerted effort it took to create one small development of market-rate homes, Miami Heights. The city helped assemble a small area consisting of 33 lots with 19 different owners, 12 of whom did not live in Omaha. They had a willing, progressive banking partner, neighbors who were on board with the changes and qualified buyers who could afford loans for $300,000 homes. Part of the reason the neighbors agreed to the project is that Maroney grew up around 30th and Miami, and the residents trusted him. None of this happened overnight; the deal took several years to play out. “It takes the right players, the right kind of vision, and willingness to bend a little bit and it will make things happen,” Maroney said. Big picture, Goodwin said, the community needs to be “economically uplifted.” Government money is helpful, but it comes with many restrictions. He tells entrepreneurs

that they must be savvy and able to “get value out of what you do. You cannot depend on the government or anyone else to give you something.” Maroney and Goodwin identify several keys to healthy North Omaha development: entrepreneurship with an equity position, political will and corporate investment. Considering the area’s cultural significance, they caution that community members must remain active in the decision-making process to preserve and protect their history and, as property values rise, avoid pricing long-time residents out of the area. The two said they have not seen city government gaining traction in bringing depressed areas up to par with the rest of the city. Goodwin noted that Omaha policymakers could require a percentage of minority contractors be hired for government contracts based on the population statistics. “There’s nothing wrong with set-asides,” he said. “They’re not giving away anything; they’re going to go in and they’re going to work. But that’s what you have to do in order to get them to hire people.” Look around at the current public works projects, he said. “I guarantee you aren’t going to see many African Americans with a pick, a shovel, a tractor or anything else.” Maroney added, “Corporations could do a much more deliberate job in searching out minority businesses to work with. Because if we don’t have businesses that are growing and becoming stronger, diminishing that wealth gap is much less likely to happen, and we’re not going to have the impact we all talk about wanting to have. The way things are going, it will take African Americans 400 years to close the wealth gap. And that is unacceptable.” Goodwin noted that as North Omaha becomes more desirable to developers, those who care about it must remain vigilant and politically active. “You look at North Omaha now, and you can see the location is helping the city. It’s close to downtown, it’s close to the airport, you can get a whole lot of different places in 10 minutes,” he said. “It’s attractive to young people. Go downtown, look at the buildings that are being occupied now by the young people and empty nesters. People are coming back. And as they come back, they want to expand out, and as they do, they start to take stuff away. If we’re not careful, we’re going to lose our area and our identification here.”

FEATURE

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NOVEMBER 2019

This Paper is Still Here! by Jonny Segura

25th Anniversary Reflections from the Rocker

was a Reader reader, as we all were then. Then I was a Reader intern. And then a contributor, and then after the great Omaha newsweekly fracturing of 2000, I was an Omaha Weekly staffer. One of three, occasionally as many as six (?) if you didn’t count the guy who did sales until he didn’t, which I did not. At the Weekly, we didn’t have a copy editor. We didn’t have a fact checker. We didn’t have libel insurance. We didn’t have scruples. We did, however, have John Heaston, who exuded/exudes megawatts of foolish optimism (which was on occasion slightly contagious) and will surely hate me for name dropping him in the second graf of this piece. More on him in a bit. Now, it has been a long time since I left town and headed east. When I bailed, summer of 2002, there was The Reader and there was the Omaha Weekly, a curiously folded broadsheet that you could find at your better drinking and eating establishments. I know this because I wrote a good chunk of it, edited a good chunk of it, laid out a good chunk of it, occasionally picked up the print run from the printer down in Missouri, and distro’d it to a bunch of your better drinking and eating establishments every week. But let’s back up.

November 2019

A long time ago, late in the past century when journalism seemed like a viable career choice, I was a journalism major at UNO and answered the call for interns at The Reader. At the time I was a fucking idiot and an utterly clueless punk rock kid. I sent in a resume (which prominently featured my food service experience) and was shocked to get called in for an interview. That necessitated the dying of my pink hair black and the purchase of a collared shirt. One must be respectable; even I knew that. The interview lasted a few minutes, in my dim recollection, in the old office on Howard and 11th, was it? It was a loft space, with a tasteful smattering of folks rocking dainty nose rings. The thing I still remember vividly was how purposeful everyone seemed. They were cranking out a weekly paper, and they were not fucking around.

then, was very wanker attire. (We will not discuss my leather jacket, but know that it was awesome.) My first assignment was to “write something about this.” This being a scroll of crinkled fax paper cold off the machine. A long time ago, you see, faxes existed. And in their primitive days they came out on giant scrolls of weird gray/ silvery paper that would flake and fade and become useless before their useful lives were over. This particular fax contained some data from an agency I can’t recall. County health, probably, about the high rate of sexually transmitted diseases in northeast Douglas County.

Until they hired me, of course, as an intern.

I made some phone calls. I talked to folks. I wrote it up and don’t think it ever ran. This makes sense, because I had no idea what I was doing. Or maybe it did run. In which case it would also make sense.

Man alive, I have no idea why they did that. I met with Heaston during my interview. Heaston was the founding publisher and had the charisma of a cult leader but none of the underhanded guile or weird group-sex/doomsday shit about him, as far as I know. He is, as I would come to learn, a good dude. Though at first I wondered if he wasn’t a bit of a wanker, because he was wearing a bright yellow ski jacket, which, back

But I got more assignments, and I learned to suck less. And then my internship was over and I got paid actual money to write freelance pieces for the paper. I wrote up a faith-based program at the county jail, did a thing about a noise ordinance and loud-ass car stereos, got in over my head in a follow-up piece about a family dealing with the aftermath of a cop shooting. And, after a bit, as things happen, I kind of drifted away.

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25th anniversary

Until Heaston called me out of the blue one morning. Long story, he said, but the short version was things had gone sideways at The Reader, and he was starting up a new thing. I should join him. Well, why not? The pitch was good: a $10/hour gig, ground floor, sky’s the limit, we are gonna fuck shit up. “Are you with me?” he asked. Sure, I was. A few months later, we had an office on 16th Street, next to the 7-Eleven and near the Orpheum. Big open-plan office, no walls at all, just a massive room with a few desks in it. It was street level, and any dingbat could walk in and be a dingbat, which they often did. Like, multiple times, daily. And so I set up shop way in the back, by the bathrooms. Michelle, a colleague whose baseline was slightly below angry donkey levels of cranky abrasiveness, was hired I think as some kind of office manager and ended up running arts coverage; she sat up there and had to deal with them. Meanwhile, I built a buffer of spent coffee cups on my desk and cowered behind them. (Hi, Mizzo. Miss you.) My charge was to set up the news operation. Which would be a huge ask of someone who knew what they were doing. I did not. I managed to get a press

pass from the cops despite my less-thansterling reputation there (see: earlier story about cop shooting), and Heaston showed me how to use the logic-defying computer system at the courthouse. He also walked me around the city-county building and introduced me to about 90% of the people who worked there. As it happened, he knew everybody, somehow. Everybody. Prosecutor? Knew ‘em. Public defender? Buds. Snack guy? High-five.

do. So I kicked it over to Heaston to fix. He pointed out a few seconds later that I didn’t have a nut graf, which of course I didn’t. (A nut graf being a paragraph that contains the nut of a story, the what’sthis-all-about-anyway, normally a few paragraphs in.) Heaston dictated one to me — I remember it being something along the lines of the competing plans having broad similarities, but the devil, as always, was in the details — and it went onto the page and off to the printer.

Soon, I was dorking up the place with my fedora, parking in one of the few media spots in the garage, taking morning smoke breaks in the county clerk’s office, poring over documents in the city council office and doing triple shifts on Tuesdays covering the county board, then the city council, and then going back to the office to write it all up, lay out the issue and ship pages.

That benign back-and-forth has stuck with me. It was an innocuous moment, one that happens any number of times every day in whatever newsrooms are still operating. Who knows. I’m trying not to recreate dialog here, because ain’t no way it’s going to be accurate, but I can tell you with near certainty that Heaston’s side of that conversation began with, “Rocker…” That’s what he called me most of the time, because of my tenure in the mid-late 90s in a very briefly and hyperlocally known punk rock band. In fact, when he emailed me about writing this piece a few weeks ago, the subject line was “25th Anniversary reflections from the Rocker!” Which, let me tell you, as an overweight father of a four-year-old who is heading off to the knee doctor tomorrow morning to have a janky joint looked at, is kind of adorable.

We caught a few hot ones, about some faulty fire trucks, a meaty piece about a widow of a longtime WorldHerald employee who was getting hosed on some retirement benefits. I remember that one, coming up on our printer deadline and talking to the widow’s attorney to verify some of the numbers and the timeline. Narrowly avoided catastrophe there. We were in full swing when Mike Fahey challenged incumbent Hal Daub for the mayorship in 2000. Strange days, those. I was a kid and knew fuckall about these things. Fahey was running on a platform of, more or less, “Hal Daub is a prick,” and Daub was just being his routine tense and chilly self, and instead of fighting it out on things like taxes and services, it was a battle of personalities. Fahey was a private sector guy who’d done very well. Daub was a longtime Republican Party guy with all the charm of a Madame Tussaud’s wax Richard Nixon statue. I remember banging my head on my desk trying to figure out a story on how they differed on some crime policy stuff, and I had this whole thousandwords-that-say-nothing piece strung together that just wasn’t happening. This was probably late on Tuesday, with deadlines looming, as they tended to

It wasn’t long after I moved to New York that the Omaha Weekly merged with The Reader and was no more. That was a win. It’s hard enough to sustain one weekly in a town, much less two. And as we look around at the papers shutting up shop every day in this country and the people who used to work at them getting chucked aside, it’s genuinely something to jump up and down about: This paper is still here! It is a pain in the ass to those who wish it wasn’t! It will tell you which restaurants are good! It has a bunch of weirdos working at it! (Does it? I have no idea. This line will probably get cut, which: sure.) It very well may still have a delightfully baffling horoscope!

FOR ALL EVENTS AND TICKET INFO VISIT RALSTONARENA.COM

Omaha Lancers Home Games

Chris Janson

Real Friends Tour Friday, January 31

Blippi Live

Wednesday, March 4

Dancing with the Stars Live Wednesday, March 11

And, goddamn, I bet it doesn’t lean on its editors to make the delivery runs, either. 25th anniversary

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November 2019

Roadmap to Omaha Coffee

A GUIDE TO THE BEST CUPS IN TOWN story and photos by Mary E. Mahowald

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you that fairytales aren’t real! I drink a potion made from magic beans every day and it brings me back to life!” — Nanea Hoffman, founder of Sweatpants & Coffee

o my fellow caffeine addicts, locals searching for a new spot, coffee-loving friends, out-of-towners, studiers and those in search of the perfect local coffee to fill your mug and soul: Cheers friends, this cup’s for you!

Culprit Café & Bakery

3201 Farnam St. | 1603 Farnam St. With two locations serving coffee, tea, breakfast, lunch, dinner (Midtown), cocktails and baked goods, this coffee house and eatery is serving up something to cherish all day long. The cappuccino is authentic, smooth and requires no sugar at all. The menu is focused but fantastic.

519 S. 13th St.

13th Street and I go way back. I remember being 18 and planning my first vacation — sans parents — here with one of my besties. The Creamy Kiss tasted like adventure and freedom and has been my jam ever since. The quaint shop features local art for sale, seats several dozen on mismatched chairs, tables and couches, and offers books, newspapers and board games. It boasts of brewed and steeped concoctions as well as house-made gelato, baked goods and light, precooked fare, including dietary-inclusive items.

Archetype

3926 Farnam St. | 1419 S. 13th St. Where coffee is an art and small-batch roasting is a passion, this two-location favorite is the literal archetype for hipster coffee shops, minimalist menus and artisan beans so good you can subscribe for a regular fix. Archetype is best for coffee to-go, or small groups and conversations, as seating is limited. And don’t miss it on Farnam — like all of the best secrets, you have to be looking to find it!

Blue Line Coffee

4924 Underwood Ave. A treasure in the heart of Dundee, Blue Line is great for beans or java to-go or small-table conversations. It has patio seating, if you are lucky to snag some, which is great for people-watching or fresh morning air with your paper and cuppa.

A truly one-of-a-kind find. Unique and delicious coffee, a smoothie menu and freshly baked goods are just the beginning. As you enter, the treasures for sale nearly strong-arm you into gift-buying. Fala’s offers an eclectic boutique of home items, clothing, jewelry, a milk paint studio and more. With little room for sitting, but more room for shopping, it’s a perfect weekend stop-and-shop in the heart of downtown Elkhorn.

Green Beans Coffee 6831 S. 167th St.

This is one of my favorite finds. It’s nestled just off Harrison Street, and you have to know it’s here to find it. Green Beans is a local, independent and veteran-owned coffeehouse, which donates a portion of all orders to its missions, which are focused on the armed forces. The friendly staff serves a hug-in-a-mug, made-to-order breakfast, lunch and freshly baked pastries, and also offers catering services. Whether you prefer to use the drive-through, let the kids play in the children’s play area while you chat or enjoy a working lunch, Green Beans will welcome you. And don’t forget a “Joe for a Joe” — at the register you can pre-buy a member of the military a cup of coffee.

Hard Bean

7302 Giles Rd, La Vista Also local-veteran-owned and operated, Hard Bean is a great little coffee shop in La Vista proudly supporting veteran causes. Local artworks adorn the walls, while fresh roasts and baked goods steal the show. A meeting place for everyone, Hard Bean has cozy lounge seating, café tables and private meeting rooms that are available by reservation.

Culprit raises the bar on customer service.

NOVEMBER 2019

Fresh is more than a catchphrase at Roast.

Roast

14512 W. Center Rd | 1904 S. 67th St. | 2929 California St. | 1919 Papillion Parkway The next big thing. With four locations, Roast offers “real coffee for real people.” The comfortable, casual atmosphere is great for small tables, conversations, freshly baked goods, fabulous beans and a great cup to drink.

Sozo Coffeehouse

1314 Jones (underground) This hidden gem, which is really an expansive underground establishment, is the self-proclaimed “biggest coffee shop in Omaha.” The shop is open until midnight seven days a week and is naturally a hangout for college and high school kids alike. With couched commons, as well as traditional tables and chairs, billiards, a stage for nightlife, reservable study and meeting rooms, a large party room (which was set up for an adorable wedding shower when I last visited), it has a space for every need. For the right price, you can even reserve the entire floor for your gathering. The pumpkin Chai was amazing, Alyssa, the manager, was wonderful and our barista was helpful and knowledgeable. With fresh, local coffees, teas and baked goods, Sozo is sure to have a space and cup for all.

The Beanery

Karma Koffee

11849 S. 216th St., Gretna | 344 S. Washington St., Papillion

With a pleasantly nostalgic playlist, friendly baristas and an incredible and uplifting background story (ask the owners!), Karma Koffee is an all-around happy place. It serves locally roast-

The Beanery’s tag is “Serving people. Coffee.” A cornerstone in the Gretna area, now with a new location in Papillion, a coffee truck and catering services, The Beanery offers a great drivethrough for an in-a-hurry cup of coffee! Friendly

587 N. 155th Plaza

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DISH

Good karma is in every cup at Karma Koffee. people, cute locations, a few locally baked goods and breakfast items, it has everything you need to get your day off on the right foot. Even if your kids were late for school, and one of them forgot their backpack. Right?!... Just me?

Scooter’s

Omaha metro

Fala’s Treasures and Coffee House 2627 N. 205th St., Elkhorn

13th Street Coffee

ed coffee and baked goods from Stay Sweet Nicola’s, and the caffeinated concoctions are delicious. On my last visit, I tried the Yin & Yang, a white- and milk-chocolate latte with oat milk that was rich and delightful. This unpretentious establishment will put a smile on your face and a pep in your step. Some seating is available, or you can get your coffee to-go, so come in and put a little Karma in your cup!

The locally owned Scooter’s franchise has 230 locations in 15 states and is in the process of acquiring a smaller local coffee chain, Crane Coffee. Download Scooter’s app-based, payand-rewards system to earn free drinks, coupons and specials. Its signature drink, and one of my all-time favorites, is the Carmelicious. Or, if you prefer an off-menu secret, the “Pot o’ Gold” with caramel and butterscotch is sure to make you sing and dance.

Village Grinder 8706 Pacific St.

A shabby/chic and classic establishment in Countryside Village, the Grinder offers a friendly cup of coffee, Wi-Fi, a fun variety of local arts and crafts and Grinder swag for purchase. The baristas wear funky nametags, and they’ll move you around to make room for all, with familylike familiarity. Village Grinder offers a quaint chalkboard menu of coffee drinks, teas and home-baked goods, such as scones and cinnamon rolls, crustless quiche and cutely decorated seasonal cookies. The Grinder has tables and a few comfy chairs for groups of two to eight, with a max capacity of about 20. With a cozy atmosphere and family-residence feel, it’s a gathering spot where regulars feel at home.

Whisk + Measure 2505 S. 133rd Plaza

This sweet little coffee shop and bakery offers a variety of handm a d e - f ro m - s c ra tc h baked goods, including many dietary inclusive items. With housemade coffee syrups, Hill of Beans’ local roasts, plenty of tablespace to chat and space to rent, Whisk + Measure is a great little gem, hiding in Woodridge Plaza, facing Aldi. Stop in for a cup, a bite or a baking class. What more could you want? The Reader wants to know where you go for your caffeine fix. Leave us a comment or tag us @ TheReaderOmahaDish on Instagram.

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NOVEMBER 2019

All Good Bars Go to Heaven story and photos by Salvador S. Robles

ha’s oldest, and greatest, dive bars. Some could even argue it reigned supreme over all dive bars. “We have been your average neighborhood dive bar since our beginning with our regulars being salt of the earth kind of people,” Olson said. “Our tagline is, ‘Where good friends meet.’” For those who never made it to Bud Olson’s, let me give you a quick visual image. The bar was right on the busy street of Leavenworth, which doesn’t allow parking, so guests had to park in the back off the alley. A three-wall mural portraying George Seurat’s famous pointillist work “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” lined the back entrance. FYI, it was painted by an Olson family member and is quite spot on.

fter more than 50 years on Leavenworth Street, Bud Olson’s Bar has closed its doors for good. The Olson family, who has been synonymous with Omaha’s bar history for 70-plus years, said “last call” for the last time on Halloween night. “I felt like this was just the right time,” said Kerry Olson, current owner and granddaughter of the original owner, Marvin “Bud” Olson. “It’s a lot of work to run a bar,” she said. “We have had a lot of good people come in and out of our doors. We’ve had a good run.” Bud Olson’s was one of Oma-

The open-ended room led to a 50-foot-long space, which included the bar. The décor was a mishmash of college football and Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals baseball memorabilia. Throw in some random collectibles and an ancient-looking statue of St. Patrick, and you had yourself a uniquely fitted dive bar.

A jacket that Marvin “Bud” Olson wore hung next to a sign about what made Bud Olson’s the best dive bar.

NOVEMBER 2019

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Besides the random bar accessories, which added to the divey feel, the prices were so economical that if Warren Buffet looked at drinking as an investment, he would have considered Bud Olson’s. PBR draws and Hamm’s cans THE BUZZ

Knick knacks and memorabilia lined the walls of Bud Olson’s.

were $1.25 every day, all day long. The most expensive beer on the Bud Olson’s menu: a glass of Guinness for a whopping $5. I’m telling you, Bud Olson’s was breaking the bank! Back in its heyday, Bud Olson’s gave out free food on Husker game days and was a major destination for St. Patrick’s Day festivities. “We would serve corned beef and cabbage every St. Patrick’s Day, and it was one of our busiest days of the year; it was always packed,” Olson said. “Besides on

special occasion days and or if there was a big party coming in to celebrate a special event, Bud’s is mostly a place where you come sit down, have cheap drinks. Strong drinks are served … It’s part of our Bud Olson heritage.” With that heritage, Bud Olson’s Bar can trace its ancestral bar line to Carville’s, which was owned by Kerry Olson’s great-grandfather, and before that to Smitty’s bar, which was also owned by the Olson family. It wasn’t until the late 70s that Kerry Olson’s grandfather, Bud Olson, moved the bar to its final location

T on 3207 Leavenworth. Kerry Olson’s father, Tom, took over and ran it in the 80s. Two years ago, Kerry Olson stepped in to help take over the bar from her father. “I ultimately came to the decision to sell the bar for my dad and his livelihood,” Olson said. “My dad got to a point in his life where it was too hard on him to run Bud Olson’s anymore.” Although Halloween night may have been the last time the Olson family poured a drink for customers, the establishment’s future is still up in the air. “I have a couple of offers and possibly some people that might be interested in continuing the Bud Olson legacy,” Olson said. “But nothing is quite set in stone yet.” One thing is certain though: Bud Olson’s Bar was a destination for many Omahans and a staple in the bar community. “When I was growing up, and before I even worked at the bar, I always joked I was the legacy of Bud Olson’s,”

Olson said. “Then, come to fruition, it turned out I ended up owning a bar.”

The back room had a wraparound mural portraying George Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” It was hand-painted by an Olson family member.

Some Olson family members who at one time worked in the bar and now live out of town planned to stop by on Halloween for one last beer with family and friends. Olson was looking forward to the reunion. “It will be good to see everyone and be together to bid farewell to this staple and legacy that has been our family,” Olson said. “I want to thank the patrons, the Leavenworth Neighborhood Association for all the memories.” Bottom’s Up: Bud Olson’s did not just fit the definition of a dive bar that serves cheap drinks. It stayed true to something much deeper: It was where good friends met. Remember to have fun, drink responsibly and PLEASE tip your bartenders. Tweet us bar suggestions and follow The Buzz at TheReader.com.

Where good friends met; the regulars who VISITED Bud Olson’s liked to sit at the end of the bar.

THE BUZZ

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NOVEMBER 2019

on the mezzanine outside the balcony-level seating). Shows run Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20. The 2 p.m. show on November 2 provides ASL interpretation for the deaf and hard of hearing and audio description services for the blind. The 5 p.m. show on November 2 is designated as sensory-friendly. Contact The Rose Box Office at 402-345-4849 for more information. — Beaufield Berry

Now through November 24

Now through November 10

Ella Enchanted

Spirited Space: Figure and Form

Anasazi cliff dwellings, the St. Ignatius Chapel on the Seattle University campus and figurative experiments with light in the photo studio. Images of material space, environmental design and human presence attempt to provoke appreciation of the mystery of “spirited space” and form. Michael Flecky SJ was born in Omaha and has taught fine art photography, criticism and photo history at Creighton University for nearly 40 years. His photographs have appeared in more than 30 one-person exhibitions and 50 group shows around the country. His feature illustrations and articles on photographic history and criticism have appeared in national publications. The gallery is open Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. For more information contact: 402-280-2290 or liedartgallery@creighton.edu.

November 2019

Order Out of Chaos Michael Phipps Gallery W. Dale Clark Library

—Elmer Ellefson

Now through November 30

Glimpses Anderson O’Brien

Lied Art Gallery Creighton University

The Rose

In this new musical adaptation of a modern fairytale, we follow the adventures of Ella’s enchanted life. A life that becomes far less so when her father, Sir Peter, remarries and Ella is shipped off to finishing school. That’s after her new step-sisters find out Ella has been bestowed with the gift of “obedience” from her flighty-but-well-meaning Godmother, Lucinda. On her own, blessed with an unwanted gift, Ella faces challenges that lead her to discover her true talents, develop meaningful friendships and live a life not controlled by the whims of others. Or so she hopes! Join the cast after the show for a question and answer segment. It’s a great way to learn more about all aspects of the production. After some shows, autographs from the cast will be available. (Meet them

Now through December 31

The Lied Art Gallery presents Spirited Space: Figure and Form, photographs by Michael Flecky SJ, through November 24. Recognized for his landscapes, figure studies, studio and found objects, Flecky SJ’s featured work includes images of the

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Jane Booth: Glimpses experiments with different points in time, such as a fading past or a manifesting present. The artist dove into art through ceramics. Pursuing her “love of sculpture and working with her hands” led Booth to become a steel-cutter and welder before turning to fine art. Often painting on raw canvas, paper, wood, metal and rubber, she devotes “physical and emotional” experiences “of being in and of the environment” to reveal an honest expression. This could lend to pinning cotton canvas to the ground with heavy rocks, spraying or dipping it in water, while working in the elements may inspire the color palette or mark-making. Gallery hours are Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 pm. For more information, go to aobfineart.com. —Hugo Zamorano

How does one comprehend and balance abstraction among nature, chaos and spirituality? Visiting the Michael Phipps Gallery’s newest exhibit will provide some insight on what that might look like. A provocative, two-person show, Order Out of Chaos features works by Jaim Hackbart and Mike Giron, who both create painted abstract works. Both artists build their themes based upon where their works take them, allowing the work to grow through technique and process. Some works by Giron use a combination of silkscreen, ink drawing and paint. He works through an open-ended process using tools to create textures. The artist tends to find a “balance between chaos and order” while using structure to create subject matter that is “almost there.” Hackbart is a formalist who uses nature and spirituality to explore “color, line, shape, texture, form and vibration.” Her work focuses on the motion of water, while layering the images through patterns and color to “cover and reveal” the history and state of the image. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 1 to 6 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 402-4444800 or visit omahalibrary.org. —Hugo Zamorano

November 7

antics of Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield and Chevy Chase unwind at 7 p.m., but not before special guest Cindy Morgan, the film’s nubile ingenue, speaks about making the movie. Proceeds benefit HELP Adult Services. Tickets at Hy-Vee stores.

Remo Drive w/

Summer Cannibals Reverb Lounge

— Leo Adam Biga

Following up a breakthrough album is never easy, but Minneapolis’ Remo Drive is a unique case. They hit the big time in early 2017 when the ultra-DIY music video for “Yer Killin Me” — the lead single from their rowdy debut LP Greatest Hits — got a major shoutout from YouTube music critic Anthony Fantano. From there, the band seemingly became overnight emo sensations, selling out shows around the country, scoring tours with Jeff Rosenstock and Saves The Day and signing to legendary punk label Epitaph Records. When it came time to release LP2, Natural, Everyday Degradation, the band opted for cleaner production that compromised some of their raw energy for more crisp and layered tones. And while Greatest Hits was full of youthful spunk and angst, Degradation is far more measured and mature. That rubbed many longtime fans the wrong way upon the album’s May release, and the band was less-than-cordial in receiving negative feedback on Twitter. But with a few months between then and now, the band’s change in direction is a bit more digestible. In fact, the album is pretty dang good. It’s a grown-up doomer’s approach to indie rock inspired by Death Cab and The Killers, and if that’s your thing, Remo Drive will be at Reverb Lounge this month with Summer Cannibals. Tickets are $16 at reverblounge.com. — Sam Crisler

November 8 and 9

Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre Lofte Community Theatre 15841 Manley Road, Manley If you’re feeling antsy and want to get out of town, but not too far out of town,

never forget The Lofte Community Theatre in Manley is just a 30-minute drive and always ready to entertain you. Between their usual season shows, The Lofte is pulling out the stops this month with an evening of ferocious fun. There’s a murderer on the loose, and you may be his next victim! But with a delicious catered meal in front of you, a cash bar and a view from the stage, it may just be worth it. For reservations, call or email: 402-2342553 or LofteTickets@Lofte.com. General admission tickets are $35.

November 8-17

The Book of Liz The Old Church New Events Hall 1322 N. 45th St.

— Beaufield Berry

November 8

Caddyshack Joslyn Art Museum

By definition, anarchic comedies break rules. Perhaps thumbing one’s nose at conformity explains why Caddyshack, despite its sloppy structure, dubious writing and lukewarm critical reception, became a box office success and cult favorite. The 1980 Harold Ramis movie defies convention in its shaggy-dog approach to story that has an anything-goes looseness to it. Omahabased film impresario and historian Bruce Crawford explained the film’s popularity this way: “It followed in the footsteps of Animal House as a wild, insanely funny and irreverent comedy poking fun at societal norms, in this case the country club set on America’s golf courses, and it succeeds wonderfully!” The

If you’ve ever appreciated the zany sense of humor of brother-sister duo Amy and David Sedaris, then you must see this show. Not to mention, all of the proceeds go to a great cause: Nebraska Wildlife Rehab. The show itself is a heartfelt riot, following the squeamish antics of Sister Elizabeth Donderstock and her religious community, who she sustains with her “traditional and smoky” cheese balls. When she starts to feel unappreciated, she decides to branch out into the world at large. Through her journey, she meets a “Cockney-speaking Ukrainian immigrant couple” who secure her a job at a family restaurant run by recovering alcoholics — who love her. I’ll leave the rest of the show up to Lorie O’Bradovich and team to reveal, but questions left to be answered include: Will Liz solve her sweating problem? Will the Clusterhaven residents be able to duplicate the well-loved cheeseballs? Find the answers to these and other questions in the new comedy from the Talent Family, David and Amy Sedaris. Shows run Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Admission is $20. 100% of proceeds support Nebraska Wildlife Rehab, Inc.

based painter Erik Daniel White. Curated by Hummel Jones, the show focuses on an aesthetic conversation between Daniel White’s highly sculptural paintings and her own ceramics. Emphasizing the value of commodities, both artists toy with simulated reality in their work. Daniel White’s paintings are simulations of compositions made in never-dry clay. Such scenes emphasize the “economies of excess,” depicting dollar bills, suburban scenes and trophies. Hummel Jones too plays with commodity fetishism with her ceramic food simulacrums. These replicas of gas station donuts, pizza slices and chocolate chip cookies are arranged in stacks and clusters and colored in supersaturated glazes. I borrow my comparisons from clay, being clay myself runs until December 20 at the Generator Space Gallery located at 1804 Vinton St. Gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more info, go to amplifyarts.org. —Jonathan Orozco

November 9-17 Kerfuffle Presents

Firefly

Outrspaces, 1258 S 13th St.

— Beaufield Berry

November 8

Clay Comparo Generator Space

The Generator Space will present the show I borrow my comparisons from clay, being clay myself on November 8. The twoperson exhibition will feature work by ceramicist Sarah Hummel Jones and Lincoln-

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Kerfuffle offers some of Omaha’s richest live-entertainment for very young children. Being the mother to kids in their target age, I can attest to the magic Kerfuffle creates not only for kiddos, but for their caretakers,

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November 2019

too. Through their gentle approach to storytelling, often with barely any dialogue, Kerfuffle has taken us to a yurt dome in The Caterpillar’s Footprint, a giant bird’s dwelling in Nested, and now we follow Kerfuffle into the New England woods on an adventure with Park Ranger Glow. In this all-senses show, you and your littles will hear crickets, smell the pines, sit on and feel the moss and be surrounded by the night, so the fireflies come out and play. Firefly is ideal for children ages 2-5 years old with their families. Come early or stay later for art-making activities. Shows are Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Tickets are $10, and pay-what-you-can admission is available.

November 13

Chris O’Leary Band Zoo Bar, Lincoln

— Beaufield Berry

November 12

Tel Aviv on Fire Film Streams Ruth Sokolof Theatre

Chris O’Leary and his band have been wowing local audiences over the last couple of years with stellar musicianship and a whole lotta soul. O’Leary was the vocalist and harmonica player for the great Levon Helm & The Barnburners for six years after Helm’s battle with throat cancer left him unable to sing. The Chris O’Leary Band’s debut CD Mr. Used to Be was the “Best New Artist Debut” winner in the 2011 Blues Blast Music Awards and was nominated for “Best New Artist Debut” in the 2011 Blues Music Awards. This is their only Nebraska gig on this run. And they’re worth the drive. Hear CD samples at thechrisolearyband.net. Showtime is 6 to 9 p.m. ZooBar.com.

able to keep a bird’s-eye view on Lana Del Rey’s ascent to the peak of indie music. Although much of her past work is easily digestible dream pop for a niche audience of girls in their late-teens and early-20s, ambitious ‘50s-inflected singles, like 2011’s “Video Games” hinted at an aspiration to make music more thoughtful than fellow former Tumblr icons, like Halsey. That earlycareer potential has blossomed beautifully in the eight years since Born To Die, during which she’s released four records — the most recent being this year’s opus Norman F*****g Rockwell. For the first time, Del Rey sounds exactly as she ought to. She’s not trying to force her damsel-in-distress persona anymore; she’s embodying it with maturity and honesty. Give “Venice Bitch” a listen; you’ll see what I mean. Del Rey is playing at The Orpheum on November 13. If you can get your hands on tickets, this won’t be one to miss. She’s about to be remembered as one of the defining indie acts of this decade. Tickets start at $60+ at ticketmaster.com. Additional information is available at ticketomaha.com.

— Leo Adam Biga

November 2019

New Paintings Garden of the Zodiac 1054 Howard St.

The Bay, Lincoln

The Orpheum

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Jeff Sedrel,

Greet Death

Lana Del Rey

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November 14

November 13

If you spent the early-2010s cognizant of Tumblr trends or occasionally visited your local American Eagle store, you’ve been

—Sam Crisler

—B.J. Huchtemann Salem, a naive Palestinian from East Jerusalem, is a lowly production assistant on the soap opera Tel Aviv on Fire. Following a lie he tells Asi, a politically aware soldier at the checkpoint he passes through on his way to work, Salem is promoted to show screenwriter. Only Salem can’t write. To avoid being found out, Salem makes a deal with Asi to help him write in exchange for Palestinian hummus and his word the series’ plot will end with a wedding. But the Palestinian investors want a different ending. Salem is caught in the middle of a conflict that comedically mirrors the region’s larger cultural conflict while also showing the promise of peaceful compromise. Kais Nashef has earned acclaim for his portrayal of Salem. The 2018 internationally produced film was directed by Sameh Zoab. He cowrote the pic with Dan Kleiman. This 7 p.m. collaborative screening is presented with the local Jewish Federation and its Omaha Jewish Film Festival.

guitars roar back. And it’s those guitars that help Greet Death fit into Deathwish’s repertoire. They border on metallic, rivalling the gargantuan, downtuned power chord riffs of post-metal bands like Isis or former Deathwish band Deafheaven. New Hell drops on November 8, and the band will presumably show off the album’s walls of sound when they play at The Bay in Lincoln this month. A $5-10 donation is suggested. More information is available at The Bay’s Facebook page.

When a band gets signed to Deathwish Inc., they’ve usually built their following in the hardcore underground traversed by bands such as Touché Amoré and labelfounders Converge. But there’s hardly anything hardcore about Deathwish’s latest signee, Michigan’s Greet Death — the singles leading up to the trio’s Deathwish debut New Hell weave together contemplative, textured verses that often explode into mammoth, distortion-dominated climaxes that would make Billy Corgan ask why his post-2000s output doesn’t sound the same. The Pumpkins’ influence on Greet Death is clear, though, with nasal vocals softening up to match the atmospheric interludes and multiplying their intensity when the heavy

Garden of the Zodiac presents Jeff Sedrel: New Paintings through January 14, 2020, with an opening reception on Thursday, November 14, from 7 to 9 p.m. Primarily working in ink and brush Sedrel says, “The paintings shown are simply what I have been working on in my studio over the last year or so, hence, the title New Paintings.” What’s “new” are small monochromatic works on paper that reveal Sedrel’s process of inventing a multi-faceted artistic language inspired by a range of imagery from cave drawings to consumer products. They are pictographic in character, combining essential geometric forms, familiar symbols and patterning. Also featured are large paintings on newsprint and canvas with inky calligraphic gestures on acrylic ink base layers, often in a vivid palette of pinks and oranges. Here, Sedrel composes a visual narrative around a single or small group of centralized motifs. Frequently, his themes include animals — zebras, tigers and horses form the core of several works. The gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday from noon to 8 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. For more information, email Janet Farber at jlfarber@cox.net. —Elmer Ellefson

November 14

five friends embark on a game of CLUE live. If you have a team of fewer than six, or even decide to come solo, you’ll be given a team and can make some new friends! Each team is assigned an infamous character from the popular board game and movie, and the best-dressed team will take home a prize. There are more details to come on this fantastic night, so if you have any questions, please email suspenseonstage@gmail.com. Tickets are $55 and include two drink tickets, hors d’oeuvres and dessert. Reservations are required. Show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Charlie Parr Slowdown

— Beaufield Berry

November 15

The Mercurys

Charlie Parr has remained based in Duluth, Minn., while pursuing a career that’s taken him across the country and to prestigious places, such as the Newport Folk Festival and recent tours of Europe and the U.K. Downbeat magazine calls him “one of today’s leading folk-blues troubadours.” He’s touring in support of his most recent, self-titled disc on Red House Records. A freak skateboarding accident while riding with his daughter in 2018 nearly sidelined his career, leaving the accomplished guitarist with a badly broken shoulder and questions of whether he would be able to play again. The accident challenged him to revisit his priorities, noting in press materials that the experience reaffirmed “what’s really important to me. That’s not a music career, it’s just making music ... having pure motives and loving intention.” In his first record since the accident, he includes fresh takes on previously recorded songs and new originals, all deftly showcasing his work on his resonator guitar and his acclaimed 12-string picking. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 day of show for the 8 p.m. performance at theslowdown.com.

staple in the Nebraska rap scene, inclusive of rappers from all backgrounds around the state and region. Lincoln rapper Adrian Madlock, aka Sleep Sinatra, launched the series, but members of his Dreamscape Media Group have taken GoodGospel into their own hands, the 17th edition by Lincoln MC Eddie Branch at Omaha DIY space Midtown Art Supply. On the bill are Omaha beatmaker INFNTLP, Omaha rappers Net Avenue (aka Yung Trapino) and S1SW, and Lincoln spitter Flannel Lewis. Headlining is Des Moines rapper Teller Bank$. This isn’t just some gang of buddies freestyling over lo-fi instrumentals. These guys have serious talent, and they’re all from this neck of the woods. Find more information for the show on Facebook by searching “GoodGospel Vol. 17.” Entry is $10. — Sam Crisler

The Rose Theater

— Leo Adam Biga

November 15

Waiting Room

Big Wild

w/EVAN GIIA and Ark Patrol Sokol Auditorium

One of the metro’s most rockin’ roots and rockabilly trios, The Mercurys, returns for a special 25th anniversary reunion show. (25 years, what?!?) The Mercurys are guitarist Lash LaRue, bassist Todd Dickey and drummer Mike “Ringo” Maguire. The Pink Flamingoes open. See waitingroomlounge. com for tickets and the Hoodoo on page 30 for more on this month’s blues scene.

November 15

Suspense on Stage

—B.J. Huchtemann

November 15

Build Up Omaha

Empire Room Omaha 200 S. 31st Ave., Suite 4107

—B.J. Huchtemann

November 15

GoodGospel VOL. 17 Midtown Art Supply What started in 2016 as a local hip-hop showcase series housed in an abandoned Lincoln church has slowly morphed into a

Just because October is over doesn’t mean the whodunits and costume fun has to end. There are a few mystery dinner events still floating around as we get into the holidays, and one of the most anticipated is at the Rose. This adult-only evening encourages costumes as you and a group of

Omaha Awards celebration from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. recognizes Omahans of all ages who demonstrate this ideal. Civic Nebraska and hosts Alison Armstrong and Mark Scudder, two longtime community advocates, will dole out the kudos. Attendees have the opportunity to meet the honorees whose actions strengthen civic life in the metro. Also on the bill is a keynote address by Karl A. Racine, attorney general of the District of Columbia. Racine advocates for affordable housing and juvenile justice reform, brings down slumlords, holds employers accountable for wage theft and protects consumers from abusive business practices. Dinner and drinks provided. Purchase tickets via Eventbrite.

Civic Nebraska is founded on the notion that a strong democracy grows one person, one action at a time, and there’s strength in numbers when people work together to build community. The third annual Build Up

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For as good a music scene as Omaha has, it rarely provides its residents with the opportunity to see electronic artists. That’s a good or bad thing depending on who you ask. Both parties might be able to make peace while seeing Big Wild, the production project of Massachusetts native Jackson Stell. Stell splits the difference between tranceinducing builds and slick synth-pop. It sounds like a spacier version of Empire of the Sun. Those looking for someone to bounce around behind a laptop for 90 minutes, this show has got you covered. For those stodgy music fans who believe artists have to play their instruments, watching Stell construct his samples should suffice.

| THE READER |

—Houston Wiltsey

November 2019

classics Reign in Blood, South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss are stopping at the CHI Health Center as part of their extensive Final World Tour. Known as one of the Big Four of thrash — along with Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeth — Slayer separated themselves by leaning heavily into their hardcore punk roots, playing at break-neck paces (their signature “Raining Blood” is performed at 220 bpm) and opting for an unadorned production style (courtesy of studio shaman Rick Rubin). If you are a Slayer fan and reading this, you’re already going. For those of you unfamiliar with the band, grab a ticket and buckle up.

November 20

Bobby Shew The Jewell

Acclaimed jazz trumpeter Bobby Shew hits The Jewell, bringing a lifetime of jazz musicianship to Omaha’s top-flight music club inside the downtown Marriott. Shew cut his teeth as a teen playing in a band he organized to play dances and dinner clubs. He spent three years as a trumpet soloist in the famous NORAD multiservice military band. His subsequent civilian career found him performing with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Woody Herman’s band and Buddy Rich. After a stint in Vegas working in various show bands, Shew moved to Los Angeles where he performed with numerous big bands and a number of high-profile jazz groups, including working with Art Pepper and the Horace Silver Quintet. He’s also a Grammy nominee and has recorded with his own well-respected quintet and sextet. Shew plays two shows at The Jewell, located in the Capitol District Marriott, Wednesday, November 20, 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Admission is $10. See jewellomaha.com. —B.J. Huchtemann

November 18

Slayer

w/Primus, Ministry, and Philip Anselmo CHI Health Center

—Houston Wiltsey

November 20

Wilco w/Tuomo and Markus

Orpheum Theater

There are times on Wilco’s excellent 11th studio LP, Ode to Joy, when it feels like a two-instrument affair — just acoustic guitar and drums. Glenn Kotche, the band’s percussionist since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, has a particularly heavy presence on the record. His kick drum keeps “Before Us” chugging along, and the prominent snap of his snare powers the Summerteeth-style single “Everyone Hides.” Though the album is solid as far as latecareer albums go, it’s not going to convert anyone to the Church of Wilco at this point. The band’s set list is already packed with tunes from their unassailable run in the late 1990s and early 2000s. On top of that, fans are even able to request a deep cut on the band’s website leading up to the show. Flip to page 32 for a check-in with guitarist Nels Cline. —Houston Wiltsey

November 20

TIMESHARE Slayer is calling it quits. The California thrash metal pioneers behind the genre

November 2019

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts

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Omaha at Stocks ‘n’ Bonds. Music starts at 6 p.m. See more upcoming blues shows in this month’s Hoodoo on page 30. —B.J. Huchtemann

November 21

Through sculpture, painting and video, multimedia artist Jillian Mayer creates installations that tug at our interpretations and solutions, examining human negotiations with technology and natural forces. TIMESHARE brings her ironic insight and sometimes acerbic commentary to bear on how art can function and/or aid during times of disaster or even when the planet becomes uninhabitable. Her ironic and humorous creations become a place of refuge and solace, often mixing absurd solutions with a laissez faire attitude. Mayer is the recipient of several awards, grants and residencies. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and her films have screened at festivals such as Sundance, SXSW, Rottenberg Film Fest and the New York Film Festival. Curated by Bemis’ own chief curator and director of programs, Rachel Adams, TIMESHARE will open on November 20 with a reception for the artist from 6 to 8 p.m. An artist’s talk is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The exhibit runs through February 15, 2020. See bemiscenter.org.

An Evening with Three-Time World Champion

Poet Buddy Wakefield Om Center 1216 Howard Street

—Kent Behrens

November 21

Earl & Them Stocks ‘n’ Bonds

Earl & Them is the touring band of the great Earl Cates, co-leader of the remarkable soul-blues band The Cate Brothers, a topcharter in the ‘70s. While brother Ernie is largely retired, Earl continues to work pretty much full-time, with a repertoire that includes many Cate Brothers favorites along with guitarist “Baby” Jason Davis and Levon Helm’s nephew, Terry Cagle. See Facebook. com/BluesSocietyOfOmaha for details on this show, presented by the Blues Society of

Now that performance poets travel a circuit not unlike that of standup comics, an entire infrastructure of venues exists to support their touring. Guest star Buddy Wakefield is a big name in the spoken word milieu. Nebraska State Poet Matt Mason, who heads the Nebraska Writers Collective hosting Wakefield in Omaha, said, “Buddy Wakefield has toured more miles than any poet I know and has come through Nebraska almost every year since I started in poetry slam in 2002. The man knows how to put on a good spoken word show and is one of those folks you need to see. Buddy brings his poems to life in a powerful delivery of work that can be both funny and devastating.” In addition to performing his pieces at the 8 p.m. event, Wakefield will sign copies of his first book of new work in eight years, A Choir of Honest Killers. Tickets $10 in advance. Purchase at Eventbrite or call 402-345-5078. $15 at the door. — Leo Adam Biga

November 26

Third Eye Blind w/Smallpools Orpheum Theater

Palomo has been relatively quiet in the ensuing years since Night School, most notably composing for Pete Ohs’ film Everything Beautiful is Far Away and appearing in Terrence Malick’s Song to Song, which is set in Palomo’s hometown of Austin, Texas. —Houston Wiltsey

November 27

November 29 – December 22

A Very Die Hard Christmas Bluebarn Theatre

See Through Dresses with Hail Varsity Reverb Lounge

Did you know that Third Eye Blind just released a new album? Screamer, the band’s sixth full-length LP, finds the San Francisco boys trying to fold in the sounds of arena pop-rock that have catapulted the likes of OneRepublic and Imagine Dragons to the upper reaches of the charts and streaming playlists. It’s ... fine. Let’s not kid ourselves here, though. We want “Jumper.” We want “Semi-Charmed Life.” We want “How’s It Going to Be” and “Never Let You Go.” —Houston Wiltsey

November 26

Neon Indian The Slowdown

Alan Palomo is finally coming out of the shadows. Back in 2015, he released Vega Intl. Night School, which took his thenbright synth-pop and dragged it through the scum-soaked, neon-lit underworld of his creation. It was an absolute stroke of brilliance. A wonderfully cohesive collection of nocturnal disco that feels equally at home soundtracking a night out as it does Sunday doing chores around the house.

For a while, See Through Dresses was the biggest indie band in Omaha. Their 2013 self-titled debut was a local hit, turning heads in indie music media with its punchy dream pop from tag-team songwriting partners Matt Carroll and Sara Bertuldo. The band eventually scored a record deal with buzzing North Carolina label Tiny Engines, which released See Through’s 2015 follow-up End of Days, an EP full of basement-rock bangers hearkening back to Dinosaur Jr. and Guided By Voices that boosted them to staples of the Midwest DIY circuit. It seemed like See Through Dresses had found their footing, but instead of building on the momentum with an alt-rock throwback sound, the band took a sonic risk with their next LP, Horse of the Other World, which is a dive straight into the world of synthesizers. The record is still heavily indebted to shoegaze and dream pop; but, save for one track, the distortion guitars are completely gone. It’s a beautiful record with Bertuldo and Carroll’s most daring songwriting yet, but it likely alienated some longtime fans who saw See Through rocking in basements. Now the question is where will they go next? Perhaps their next headlining hometown show — their first in months — will provide some insight. It’s at Reverb Lounge, and tickets are $10. Find more information at reverblounge.com. — Sam Crisler

A Very Die Hard Christmas is a yippee-kiyay laugh riot that parodies the 1988 action flick that has become a classic Christmas movie. (Has it? Polls have actually been conducted on this question.) Presented by Jeff Schell and the Habit, the production is an absurdly funny holiday treat with all the trimmings: Christmas songs, beautifully choreographed dancing and lots of bloodshed. Come join the company Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza a for little holiday cheer. Watch a team of “vaguely European terrorists start taking hostages as part of their nefarious plot to…who cares?” A Very Die Hard Christmas hilariously skewers the inherent absurdities of over-the-top Hollywood action movies, using a variety of classic movie references and one-liners. Tickets are available at bluebarn.org. — Reader staff

November 30 and December 1

Handmade Omaha Winter Art & Craft Bazaar Bancroft Street Market pickS

Makers are all the rage as people crave authentic, handmade crafts in an era of manufactured junk. Cities, Omaha, included, even have districts devoted to lost arts and events built around makers and their wares. The eighth annual Handmade Omaha Winter Art & Craft Bazaar is for anyone wanting to shop local and handmade. This free two-day showcase from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. presents 26 makers in a cozy marketplace of artisan works. Host Handmade Omaha is a group of makers dedicated to promoting small handmade businesses. The group presents two markets a year featuring the handiwork of local makers. It also offers business development classes and moderates a Facebook group for makers to discuss small business issues. Plug into this community as a vendor or consumer. —Leo Adam Biga

November 30 and December 1

Harry Potter Concert Series The Holland Potterheads can return to their favorite

fantasy world with the third installment of the Harry Potter Film Concert Series. For two nights, the Omaha Symphony will perform John Williams’ Grammy-winning score while the third film in the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, plays on the big screen. This live-to-picture event is part of a worldwide concert series and will be conducted by Ernest Richardson. Showtimes are Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $19. For more, visit omahasymphony.org. — Reader staff

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November 2019

Under the ‘Influence’ Kaneko exhibition highlights sculptor’s impact on Omaha and the world stage by Jonathan Orozco | Photos by KANEKO and Ben Semisch

Tony Berlant’s “The Cops and Me,” multimedia

“I

nfluence season” has kicked off at KANEKO after the exhibit’s opening in September during the venue’s annual fundraiser. Influence, which continues until August 2020, is a celebration of the life and career of Jun Kaneko, the acclaimed Japanese ceramicist and founder of the KANEKO art and creativity center. His impact is examined through his own work and the work of his colleagues. This dynamic exhibition is based on Kaneko’s own words: “Nothing exists by itself; everything has something next to it. Something changes drastically depending on what is next to it.” Acknowledging his influences, the KANEKO establishes a dialogue between those the artist has influenced. Influence is marked by change, following the four seasons of the year. As the show progresses, galleries will be uninstalled and reinstalled with works by select artists. Currently on display are works by ceramicist Peter Voulkos, metalworker Tony Berlant, ceramic artist John Balistreri, sculptor Chakaia Booker and Jun Kaneko. Upcoming seasons will feature work by Paul Soldner, Betty Woodman, Goro Suzuki, Rudy Autio and Manuel Neri. This constant change

November 2019

prevents viewers from absorbing the exhibition in one outing and encourages deep contemplation through frequent visits. Visitors are confronted by a Peter Voulkos sculpture upon entering the exhibition. This earth-colored colossal ceramic sculpture establishes the themes explored throughout the exhibition, such as the monumentality of Kaneko’s dango sculptures and Japanese aesthetic considerations and philosophical approaches to art. The lower level concentrates on Kaneko’s mentors, colleagues and artists whose careers developed through him. Voulkos’ and Berlant’s artworks are placed in relation to one other in one gallery, while Balistreri’s pieces are totally segregated in another gallery room. Leading from Voulkos’ tone-setting piece, the “Mentors and Contemporaries” room is arranged with enormous sculptures and paintings. But, upon further inspection, smaller, more intimate works reveal themselves. Voulkos’ earthenware ceramics and bronzes and Berlant’s multicolored abstract compositions engage in a conversation about the development of contemporary art in California.

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Art

Jun Kaneko’s “Untitled,” glazed raku ceramics and stainless steel Works by Voulkos and Berlant reflect Kaneko’s art-making philosophy. In Voulkos’ work, Kaneko borrows monumentality and an appreciation of wabi-sabi — the belief that beauty exists in the aged and imperfect — aesthetics. This is balanced out through inspiration from Berlant’s surface treatment, using metallic luster and rhythmic pools of color. In this gallery, Berlant’s representational work stands out. His 1992 piece “The Cops and Me” engages the viewer in cinematic composition and storytelling. This work is also entrenched in art history since it resembles the “Retablo” Mexican folk craft tradition, with its naïve painted surface and its use of text to describe the work’s narrative. The “Artist Workshop” room presents painting and sculpture by John Balistreri. A student of Voulkos, Balistreri became an assistant in the Jun Kaneko studio in his formative years. He is now an internationally known artist and teacher, as well as an innovator in the development and use of 3D printing technology for the creation of ceramic objects. At a glance, one can easily connect Balistreri’s ceramic work with Voulkos’ sculpture. The

sculptures are monumental in size and maintain a subdued color palette, and when Balistreri applies color on his ceramics, they are toned down. However, Balistreri prefers rounder surfaces and more symmetrical compositions compared to Voulkos. His non-representational canvases are formalistic experiments in color and texture. Unlike his sculptural work, Balistreri generously coats his canvases with colors, letting paint drip down. His gestural application of paint is recorded through color patches, dots and matrix-like structures. On the upper level, installation works by Chakaia Booker are presented in one gallery, while Kaneko’s contribution to opera costume design is examined in another. Entering Booker’s gallery space, all the senses are activated. Her intimidating sculptures and installations made of tires exude an industrial smell of treated rubber. Visitors are greeted by a portal surrounded by stacked tires, with rubber shards protruding into space. Other, less-menacing works are installed in the room, but with droopy rubber shards.

A Small-scale monochromatic prints next to her sculptures are scribbled with an abstracted written language. The final gallery space in the show is titled “The Opera House.” The focus of this space is on Kaneko’s design of three major opera productions: Madama Butterfly, The Fidelio and The Magic Flute. The works presented are a mixture of art, sketches, costume design and mock-ups of clothing and theater stages. The “Madama Butterfly” section provides the most material on Kaneko’s creative process, with costume and stage sketches. His figures appear to be plucked from ukiyo-e woodblock prints and decorated with Japanese folk costume in Kaneko’s notable color scheme. The kimonostyle dress in this space appears authentic — something a person would wear rather than a costume for a theatrical production. Whimsically, two mock-up costume designs lead the way to the next section in the gallery, “Fidelio.” Like the kimono dress in “Madama Butterfly,” the commanding 1940s/1950s costume dress in this gallery appears too convincing to be a costume. The works surrounding the dress follow Kaneko’s simplified and austere use of color, focusing on black lines on white backgrounds. In between “Fidelio,” and “Magic Flute,” a model stage is situated with tiny dancing figures wearing Kaneko’s folkloric costume designs.

The costume in the “Magic Flute” section is distinct from those in “Madama Butterfly” and “Fidelio” because it is totally unwearable outside of the opera. The plum-colored Elizabethan gown and headpiece are covered in sequins. Mounted on the wall are ceramics with twirling ribbons, which are repeated in the production’s poster as winding snakes.

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Also presented in the gallery are Kaneko’s well-known abstracted bust sculptures. These small-scale works are modestly adorned with primary colors and simply patterned with polka dots and stripes. This space, dedicated to Kaneko’s opera work, primed viewers for the production of Madama Butterfly, which was held November 1-3 at the Orpheum Theater with set and costumes designed by Kaneko. Influence attests to Kaneko’s impact on the world stage and, especially, the local art community. In Omaha, there is virtually no cultural venue where a Kaneko sculpture cannot be found. He has thoroughly influenced the city and its creative community. Influence will run through August 2020 at KANEKO located at 1111 Jones Street. Hours for the exhibition are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, call 402341-3800 or visit www.thekaneko.org.

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ART

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November 2019

Audio Drama Finds New Life Via

Radio Theatre Omaha by Leo Adam Biga | PHOTOs BY DEBRA S. KAPLAN

he largely lost art of locally produced audio drama lives again courtesy of Radio Theatre Omaha (RTO) performances. The group next performs November 8 at OutrSpaces, 1258 S. 13th St., when it presents two pieces with voice actors, live sound effects and live musical accompaniment. Founder-Artistic Director Kent Garlinghouse formed RTO two years ago. The Minnesota transplant created audio drama for decades with Lake Area Radio Theatre during and after a long music education career. When he and his wife moved to Omaha to be close to family, he searched for an audio drama company here, only to find none. As a writer himself, Garlinghouse promotes RTO throughout the state’s writing community, hoping to inspire fellow scribes to pen scripts. He’s recruited some converts that way. “There are lots of excellent voice actors, but the big issue is trying to find material — finding the writers — and that’s what I spend a lot of my time doing, going to various writing groups with my spiel,” he said. A radio theater script “is short (5,000 words or 25 minutes), to the point, simple, direct, all action-oriented, and you get a public performance out of it,” goes his pitch to prospective writers. “I really look hard for people who are interested.” Garlinghouse, who’s also an actor, is still enough of a newcomer he doesn’t know the local acting talent pool that well. Thus, he’s allied himself with Omaha theater veteran Stephanie Kidd, herself a transplant from Overland Park, Kansas. The stage director, actor and voice talent serves as RTO’s managing director. With 22 years on the local theater scene, she taps her deep network of experienced theater professionals to

Composer-musician Luke Furman scores and performs RTO productions.

November 2019

work with RTO. The company sweetens the pot by paying cast and crew stipends from ticket sales. Both Kidd and Garlinghouse are theater junkies. While she’s a newcomer to audio drama, Garlinghouse was weaned listening to it as a kid in the 1940s. “I was hooked,” he said. It still enthralls him at age 79. “The thing about theater that triggers me is the power of words,” he said. “And for me audio drama is theater of the mind. It’s what radio has always been for me. It’s different from stage or screen, which is theater of the eye. In theater of the mind, you create the whole world yourself. “Every audience member, based on their own personal experience, will create a different world. To engage in it, you only need to be able to hear the presentation.” Before television became the mass market consumer staple in people’s homes, radio was the great national convener. People gathered around their console radio to listen to variety shows, game shows, situation comedies and audio dramas, such as The Shadow. Growing up in Malta, Montana, Garlinghouse found himself spellbound by the dramatic goings-on broadcast into his home. Many radio talents went on to Hollywood stardom, notably Orson Welles, whose Mercury Theatre Players’ live adaptation of The War of the Worlds put a scare into America. Not only did radio feed the small and big screen, many established Hollywood and stage figures found success in the medium. “By the middle-1950s, radio theater began to fade away only to surprisingly be reborn in the last 20 years,” Garlinghouse said. The phenomenon of American Public Media’s Prairie Home Companion helped whet

Kent Glaringhouse affecting a wind sound effect with his voice.

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appetites. More recently, audio-drama-series podcasts have found large followings. It all speaks to the universal human connection to story, Garlinghouse said. “I think it’s a need for deeper understanding of ourselves and more self-awareness,” he said. “I believe one of the things story does is invite us to find ourselves in it. To do that we have to be open to what the story has to say to us.” From a theater company perspective, Kidd said radio theater offers “a really easy way for a small company to do homespun productions relatively affordably.” “You can put up productions you write yourself, so there aren’t copyright costs,” Kidd said. “You can present it on an empty stage with just a microphone and sound effects using found objects and music you compose yourself.” Plus, she said, there’s the kick of producing an art form with nostalgia and romance attached to it. “It pays a nod to the past, which I think people love right now.” As radio drama is largely a thing of the past, few theater artists today have experience with it, though staged readings are a close approximation. That’s why, Kidd said, it’s a process acclimating actors to the genre. “Our actors don’t memorize their lines,” she said. “They read from a script. They have to present absolutely everything in the story with just what’s written on the page for them to speak. They must establish everything about the character with just their voice.” Kidd added some character traits and actions can be established through live sound effects and music. Sound technician Scott Dombeck and assistants manipulate objects and contraptions

From right to left: Kerron Stark, Sydney Hendricksen, Chris Scott, Jackson Newman, Ronette Lammers, Tom Schuler, Luke Furman, rehearsing.

Theater

Radio Theatre Omaha guru Kent Garlinghouse and RTO Managing Director Stephanie Kidd run the show. to mimic wind, doors opening and closing, footsteps, etc. Luke Furman composes and plays original music for the shows on his keyboard. But spoken words, accented by vocal inflections, grunts, sighs, laughs and shrieks, must carry the day. “The idea is that the audience, at home, in their car or in the theater,” Kidd said, “know what’s going on purely through what’s vocalized.” Garlinghouse, who’s acted in dozens of audio dramas, said what may seem a straightjacket for actors is actually liberating by its very concentration. “You don’t have to worry about stage directions or hitting marks or costumes,” he

Rehearsal in progress with Stephanie Kidd directing. From left to right: Luke Furman (keyboard), Tom Schuler, Ronette Lammers, Ami James, Kim Alger, Jackson Newman, Chris Scott, Kerron Stark, Randy Hill, Kent Garlinghouse, Todd Brooks.

Cast and crew at a recent Radio Theatre Omaha rehearsal. From left to right: Randy Hill, Todd Brooks, Chris Scott, Jackson Newman, Tom Schuler, Kim Alger, Sydney Hendricksen, Stephanie Kidd, Ronette Lammers, Kerron Stark, Asher Hoffman, Kent Garlinghouse, Ami James, Luke Furman. said. “It’s all focused on the vocal delivery and interpretation of the script.” To minimize distractions, actors dress all in black, move as little as possible and generally don’t interact with each other. “We need them to just stand there and be a voice.” Kidd said. “Anyone too animated pulls focus from everyone else.” Actors practicing radio drama for the first time must unlearn some training. “All the actors I’m working with have been trained for the stage,” Kidd said. “So they’re used to being able to emote with their face and use their bodies. They want to be able to interact with each other physically.” But in radio theater, Kidd said audiences should know the actors’ intentions without watching them. “When it’s the actor’s turn to speak, they step forward to the microphone. When they’re not speaking, they step back and sit down. They can’t turn their head when they speak or their voice is lost on the mic.” Since radio theater performed before a studio or theater audience hasn’t happened here in a long time, RTO audiences need some education, too. Before each show, Garlinghouse preps the crowd, emphasizing their own primary role in the proceedings. “Radio theater is a way for you to enter into a world of your imagining,” he tells them, “and the presentation is only limited by your imagination.” Kidd said some audience members may choose “to listen with their eyes closed and experience it that way, but part of the fun I think is to see the sound crew create the live sound effects.” Omaha public radio station KVNO 90.7 FM records the shows. None have been broadcast or streamed yet as KVNO wants to first accrue a large catalog of shows. The station actually produced radio theater in the 1980s as part of an audio drama contest it sponsored. Recordings don’t survive, but select scripts do, some by notable area writers. Garlinghouse is vetting them for potential RTO productions.

RTO launched at the B Side of Benson Theatre and at Gallery 1518 before finding its home at OutrSpaces. The company presents one show per quarter there. The November 8 pieces, both directed by Kidd, are Shadowpoint: The Christmas Pit by Omaha playwright Doug Sasse and The Grinch Who Came to Dinner by Garlinghouse. Shadowpoint essays a squabbling family searching for the fortune a billionaire uncle left upon his death. Their treasure hunt plays out during a rural Nebraska blizzard. Kidd promises “a fantastic plot twist at the end.” Grinch portrays a big family forced to host the father’s crabby boss for dinner at their home. In the course of the evening, the boss is revisited by his past and forced to learn a lesson before the holiday. Garlinghouse plans to feature aspects of local history and cultures in a series of scripts he hopes to produce. He’s in talks with Nebraska filmmaker Bridget Timmerman to use stories of Native American elders in her award-winning documentary Omaha Speaks. He’s secured permission from Omaha author Ted Wheeler to adapt his novel Kings of Broken Things. RTO could choose from countless old-time radio theater scripts available for the picking, but Garlinghouse said RTO is committed to Nebraska writers. “I’m impressed with the talent here,” he said, “and this is a way to lift up the gifts of the people who live here.” RTO.

Creatives are invited to get involved with

“We are actively looking for folks that want to be a part of our process as writers, actors or sound effects people,” Kidd said. The Facebook page Omaha Audio Drama Collective announces audition and volunteer opportunities. RTO returns in February for a Valentine’s Day show. For showtimes and tickets, visit facebook. com/radiotheatreomaha.

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

Theater

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November 2019

Musical Moves

The BSO Presents Thursday shows move to a new venue, Nebraska Blues Challenge winners and Toy Drive for Pine Ridge events are announced. by B.J. huChteMAnn

ig news for fans of the weekly early Thursday shows hosted by the Blues Society of Omaha (BSO). The series was held at Chrome Lounge for the last several years, but the venue abruptly closed after Saturday, Oct. 12, making the announcement on Facebook. They reopened Saturday, Oct. 19, for a final rock show. Meanwhile, the BSO, which took over the booking and bulk of the financial risk for the popular, long-running 6-9 p.m. shows after the 21st Saloon closed, announced that the series will move to nearby Stocks ‘n’ Bonds, just south of Chrome at 8528 Park Dr., in the Park Drive Shopping Center, the strip mall southwest of 84th and Q streets. Stocks ‘n’ Bonds is owned by the Charf family, which owns and operates Bushwackers and the now-closed Chrome Lounge. Here’s the BSO Presents Thursday early show schedule for Stocks ‘n’ Bonds. Contemporary Texas guitar star Mike Morgan plugs in Thursday, Nov. 7, with his band The Crawl. The Jimmys are up Thursday, Nov. 14. The Jimmys are fresh from the fall Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise and recent winners of Madison, Wisconsin’s “Best Local Blues Band.” They’ve been around for 10 years, but Elmore Magazine recently called them “a band on the move.” This is a versatile, party-starting band with an emphasis on keys and horns, something that’s rare for the touring circuit. Earl & Them take the stage Thursday, Nov. 21. Earl is the great Earl Cate, one half of the chart-topping Cate Brothers. The band includes longtime Lincoln, Neb., bandleader “Baby” Jason Davis on guitar and Levon Helm’s nephew, Terry Cagle, on drums. Cagle both looks and sounds a lot like Helm and some choice Helm/The Band covers are always part of the show. John Davies holds down the bass duties. There is no Thursday show on Thanksgiving night. Watch for any additional late-breaking show or venue announcements at OmahaBlues.com and fb.com/BluesSocietyofOmaha. On Sunday, Oct. 20, the BSO hosted the Nebraska Blues Challenge at The Jewell. Entries were accepted in the band and solo/duo categories. Winners were selected by a panel

NOVEMBER 2019

toys to children on the Pine Ridge Reservation just before Christmas. The Toy Drive has also expanded to maintaining an emergency propane fund to assist elders and families with propane for heating during the bitter cold winters. The Pine Ridge Reservation is one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the U.S., according to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Benefits start this year with a hard rock/ metal/punk show Saturday, Nov. 9, 8 p.m. at Winchester Saloon Bar & Grill, 7002 Q St. Mark your calendars now for the early December events. Thursday, Dec. 5, the BSO has their holiday party and Toy Drive fundraiser at Stocks ‘n’ Bonds featuring Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal. This is an all-ages show. Then, Saturday, Dec. 7, the Toy Drive is at Waiting Room beginning at 8 p.m. with performances by Satchel Grande, Pony Creek, Garst and Vago. Admission to each of these three events is $10 or a new, unwrapped toy.

Swing into the holiday season with the jumpin’ sounds of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. The original band members continue to wow audiences since hitting the scene in 1993. of guest judges using the International Blues Challenge (IBC) criteria. Hector Anchondo was selected to represent the BSO in the solo/ duo category, and the Rex Granite Band featuring Sarah Benck was chosen as the band representative. Both are previous Nebraska Blues Challenge representatives, with Granite and Benck’s band making the 2018 IBC semi-finals, and their disc Spirit/Matter/ Truth/Lies garnering semi-final status in the Blues Foundation’s 2019 Best Self-Produced CD category. In 2016, Anchondo’s band made it to the IBC finals as one of eight band finalists selected from international entrants. They will represent the Blues Society of Omaha in the annual International Blues Challenge hosted by the Blues Foundation in Memphis Jan. 28Feb. 1, 2020. For more information, visit blues. org/international-blues-challenge.

Zoo Bar Blues Highlights from Lincoln’s Zoo Bar include Mike Morgan & The Crawl playing Friday,

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HOODOO

Nov. 8, 5-7 p.m. The phenomenal Chris O’Leary Band is back Wednesday, Nov. 13, 6-9 p.m. O’Leary delivers on rich vocals, blues harmonica and soulful showmanship, and his band is tremendous. The Jimmys hit the Zoo Friday, Nov. 15, 5-7 p.m. Fresh from another run with the guitar-star-studded Experience Hendrix Tour, Mato Nanji and Indigenous plug in at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar Wednesday, Nov. 20, 6 p.m. Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys are back Thursday, Nov. 21, 6-9 p.m. Earl & Them gig at the Zoo Friday, Nov. 22, 5-7 p.m. Check in at ZooBar.com and fb.com/ZooBarBlues for late-breaking show information.

Toy Drive for Pine Ridge It’s that time of year again, with many folks planning or participating in various opportunities to help those in need during the holiday season. The annual Toy Drive for Pine Ridge, a 501(c)(3) organized by Lash LaRue, aka Larry Dunn, hosts several events. The Toy Drive for Pine Ridge collects and distributes

The next morning, Sunday, Dec. 8, at Reverb Lounge, Rick Galusha’s P.S. Blues radio program and 89.7, The River, pitch in with live performances by local artists at the Reverb that will be heard live on 89.7 FM 9 a.m. to noon. Admission to Sunday’s Reverb event is free, but donations are still welcome. Find all the details in the event listing at fb.com/ psblues. Learn more about the Toy Drive and the needs on the reservation at toydriveforpineridge.org and fb.com/toydriveforpineridge.

Hot Notes Catch Lash LaRue along with Todd Dickey and Mike “Ringo” Maguire in a special 25-year reunion of their classic local rockabilly band The Mercurys at Waiting Room Friday, Nov. 15, 9 p.m. showtime. West Coast retro-swing purveyors Big Bad Voodoo Daddy bring their “wild and swingin’” Christmas show to the Holland Performing Arts Center Tuesday, Dec. 3, 7:30 p.m. See TicketOmaha.com for details.

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NOVEMBER 2019

Nels Cline is Here if You Need Him by Houston Wiltsey

“I

learning these songs to learn, and we didn’t play the typical places you play when you’re growing up, like bars or clubs or parties.”

like being led,” said Wilco guitar player Nels Cline. The 63-year-old and I were talking about why, at an age when most folks are considering getting a condo in Florida, he and the rest of the band seem busier than ever. “We just believe in Jeff [Tweedy, the band’s lead singer] as a songwriter. When you have someone like that, you’re willing to help in whatever way you can. Also, I think Jeff had a very particular sonic vision for this record, which is fun to be a part of.”

The Clines both exhibited a curiosity for music well beyond the likes of what their peers were listening to at the time. “We got into the blues early on,” Cline said. “By the time we reached high school, we were both into jazz and more improvisational stuff.” It was within this world that Cline truly started to grow as a musician. By the time he reached his late-20s, he was playing alongside accomplished musicians in jazz ensembles bearing his own name. He was also continuing to expand his range, becoming more enamored with effect pedals — eventually leading him to record a pair of albums with Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore.

It had been less than two weeks since the release of Ode to Joy, Wilco’s 11th studio album, and we were discussing its genesis. “It’s built around Jeff’s acoustic guitar and a cymbalfree percussion sound from Glenn [Kotche, the band’s percussionist],” Cline said. “The starkness was by design, and I think you can see that mirrored in the lyrics.”

Ode to Joy, Wilco’s 11th studio album, doesn’t feature the tenured guitarist (FAR LEFT) as much as the band’s previous records, and he’s just fine with that. Photo credit: Annabel Mehran. He’s right. Ode to Joy is rarely It wasn’t until he joined Wilco joyful. Compared to the Beethoven that Cline was truly able to showsymphony it’s named after, it’s “Jeff has this rubber piece on his guitar On The Whole Love opener “Art of Almost,” his case his rock guitar chops for a mass audidownright morbid. Tweedy and company that cuts down on the resonance,” said Cline. stabs of feedback undercut the boops and ence, searching for those pockets where he have crafted a batch of tunes that tap into the “It just gives it such a great sound, and that’s beeps of the song’s electronic opening half can sprinkle in his magic. technology-fueled anxiety that people across why the finished versions of these songs before careening into a krautrock freak-out. On Ode to Joy, those moments are still the country are struggling with. In Tweedy’s aren’t too far from the demos. There was such On the band’s last album, 2016’s Schmilco, there — check out the Velvet UndergroundAmerica, everyone is home alone with the a great sound to start with.” Cline was even able to flex his jazz muscles, style shredding at the end of “Quiet Amplifilights off and their screens on, cut off from showing off the same versatility that’s on disIt begs the question: How does Cline, the world yet completely connected to its play playing alongside Julian Lage in the Nels er” or his arpeggiating that punctuates “Love one of the most talented and acclaimed rock happenings. And everyone is pretending to Cline 4, his jazz quartet that also features bass- is Everywhere (Beware).” They’re not the foguitarists of his generation, fit in? cal point, but that’s not a problem for Cline. be someone else. ist Scott Colley and drummer Tom Rainey. “I tread lightly,” Cline said. “I give the “I think we’re all really happy with how That feeling of isolation is exactly what “It’s funny, because playing in Wilco has songs a listen and try to listen for my pockthis record turned out,” he said. the band, specifically Tweedy, wanted to capallowed me to play all the stuff that I wanted et and where I can add my little flourishes.” ture on this record. to play as a kid,” Cline said with a chuckle. “I’m At this point in his musical career, Cline Since joining Wilco in 2004, along with multiafforded the opportunity to be 15 again.” seems less concerned than ever about how The album opens with “Bright Leaves,” instrumentalist Pat Sansone, Cline said he’s a song gets made as long as the results are in which Tweedy softly coos “Arguing, I’d approached every Wilco record with that Cline started playing guitar alongside his forgive / But I always forget / Which side I’m same mindset. How that manifests in Cline’s twin brother Alex when they were 12 years good. “Everyone in the band is older, me eson” before ending by repeating “You never playing has varied greatly. old. Cline cites Jimi Hendrix as a major influ- pecially, and we’re all still really committed to change,” a dozen times. Two songs later, in ence early on but said he also drew heavily the craft. But the one thing you learn after doWhen Cline first appeared on record “One and a Half Stars,” he’s singing “I can’t from other classic rock staples, particularly the ing this for so long is that everyone doesn’t for 2007’s Sky Blue Sky, he split the difference have to be busy to make a great record.” escape my domain / Two stories high in bed Allman Brothers and Yes. between Dickie Betts and Scott Gorham on all day” as Kotche’s drums putter along, barely “I was really unrefined at first, just play“Impossible Germany” and added bluesy staying in time. It sounds like a funeral procesnoodles between the verses of “Hate it Here.” ing with two fingers,” he said. “We were just sion.

November 2019

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Music

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November 2019

I’m (Not) All Out of Thanks to Give!

Warning: Thanksgiving Sincerity Ahead by Ryan Syrek

havioral strategy used in treatment. When firing up our own imaginations seems like an impossible task, free-falling into someone else’s can be a blissful release. I am so thankful for cinema’s embrace, for its ability to show me dreams that often escape my REM cycles, and for offering an alternative when reality is too abrasive to endure for another moment.

word-less and wielding humor as the flimsiest of shields, I do combat every day.

It is a never-ending ritual of ducking the invisible arrows of relentless anxiety while keeping one eye on the impending daily existential avalanche that perpetually hangs over life during this uniquely challenging time. It is an embarrassingly difficult exercise, common for too many, worse for others who are pushed to the margins by society and told to fix it themselves.

I am Thankful for Opportunity

This piece will get positive (and have something to do with movies soon), I swear! Among the first casualties of this endless war are perspective and gratitude. Resurrecting them is a defiant act of emotional necromancy. Please feel free to use the phrase “emotional necromancy” this Thanksgiving with your family. I am so very fortunate, from systemic advantages to relationships that I may never deserve but will forever try to earn. Cataloguing that for which you are grateful, if you are able, is a beautiful and humbling exercise. And yeah, that involves movies. For many of us, art is not only an outlet but a lifeline, a tangible, good thing that can be easier to see than others. Don’t let anybody make you feel silly for being truly, deeply, profoundly thankful for whatever it is that brings you joy. All that being said, grab your sincerity cauldron and wave your feelings wand as it is time to do some emotional necromancy! Here are the three things involving film that I am most thankful for this year.

I am Grateful for Diversity I have been overcome this year by the diverse cinema I am now able to consume. My favorite films thus far span the globe, from Sweden to Ghana to right here in Omaha. My top 10 list is still a couple months away, but I can safely say that it will feature movies made by a more vastly disparate group of creators

NOVEMBER 2019

Out of Omaha is just one of the many film things to give thanks for this year. than any of the 16 previous year-end lists I’ve done. Maybe I haven’t been to every theater in Omaha this year, but I’ve seen unique indies at Film Streams and both (!) Alamo Drafthouses. I’ve caught loads of blockbusters at nearby Marcus Theaters. And then there’s Aksarben Cinema, which hosted the Omaha Film Festival and premiered Out of Omaha, the most important local film I’ve ever seen. Although I will always, always, always prefer going to the movies and sharing in the communal audience experience, the ability to supplement those screenings with the offerings of streaming services means I can pretty much see anything I want at some point. How incredible is that? For those of us who find solace in cinema, the fact that we are no longer confined to the mercy of Hollywood gatekeepers allows us increased opportunities to find crucial voices. We can peer into lives and experiences wholly unlike our

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FILM

own or process things by holding a film up like a mirror. If cinema is magic, this access is the most beautiful spell.

I am Grateful for Hope Although many movies these days are reflective of the somber, nihilistic environment in which they are born, countless others pulsate with optimism and inspiration. Avengers: Endgame may seem like a hokey cash-grab to some, but its very existence is a crazy affirmation to those who grew up loving the longform storytelling of comic books. Its message, although simplistic, is a crowd-pleasing fantasy about overcoming spectacular evil that is absolutely therapeutic right now. Meanwhile, a film like Midsommar quietly pauses to validate and acknowledge intimate pain, personal tragedy and invisible emotional traumas. “Fake it ‘til you make it” is more than a cat-poster slogan; it’s an actual cognitive be-

For the first decade or so that I wrote reviews for The Reader, I felt like someone was going to come over and whisper “That’s enough. Please stop now.” Maybe I still feel that way a bit. Still, this platform, this space will remain the film thing for which I am most thankful for as long as they let me. I am deeply appreciative of everyone who takes the time to let their eyes roll over anything I’ve written. Whether my reviews and pieces resonate with you or frustrate you, I hope you know how seriously I take this whole thing. I know how few opportunities like this are available. I know how important it is to treat having an outlet like this with respect. I have not, and will not, ever take it for granted. Maybe you don’t need (or want) to do a list like this. But I encourage you to take some time and reflect not just on the big things everybody knows to be thankful for but the small things. Give a tiny bit of gratitude to this year’s favorite book, song, theater performance, dish, film or whatever this Thanksgiving. If you want to share it with me, please do on Twitter (@thereaderfilm). Or maybe just whisper it like a prayer to yourself. It won’t fix everything, but, I promise, it helps.

Do You Want to Know How I Got These Emotional Scars? Joker Has Bad Answers to Gross Questions by Ryan Syrek

atching an emaciated creeper do several “kooky underpants dances” is definitely somebody’s idea of a good time. It is just not mine. Joker isn’t quite the incel love letter I feared. Instead, it is mostly a clichéd bore with a final act that validates dangerous psychopathological misperceptions of reality. Because clearly what we need right now is a film from the director of Due Date that ultimately suggests lunatics who think they’ll be celebrated for murdering people are probably right. Joker is set in whatever year is Martin Scorsese’s favorite, likely the late 70s or early 80s, whichever had less women. The life of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is a lazy amalgamation of every real-life serial killer’s origin story. He has a history of head trauma, mental illness, mommy issues and an obsession with a celebrity, Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), the host of a late-night show. As his therapist is taken away and he goes off his meds, Arthur attempts to find out the truth about his parents and finally make people “see him.” Again, it cannot be stressed enough just how much this process involves a skeletal Phoenix, dressed only in his tighty-whities, gyrating while his vertebrae pop up and down like anxious groundhogs. Press junkets for Joker have focused extensively on Phoenix’s obnoxious method acting, writer/ director Todd Phillips’s inability to mature with the culture around him and how the film’s script was mostly improvised. Having now seen the film, that last point reads more like an apology than a revelation. Without spoiling anything, the conceit upon which the entire third act hinges is that the downtrodden in Gotham choose to celebrate a murderclown because his victims were rich. Here in the real world, if somebody gets diarrhea once after eating lettuce, nobody has a salad for three months. Yet the premise in Joker is that everyone super loves a

dude John Wayne Gacy-ing people because there’s an ongoing garbage strike.

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But hey, who cares about the plot, right? Allegedly the reason Joker exists and is already winning awards is because of Phoenix’s “masterful” performance. Although what makes acting good is wholly subjective, where is the masterwork in random twitching, hacking up laughter like hairballs, and mamboing in greasy Fruit of the Looms? Heath Ledger’s portrayal was a departure for both the character and the actor. This Joker is stunningly expected and so completely in line with Phoenix’s body of work. It’s not “bad” so much as simply on par with every cosplay impression of the character we’ve collectively endured for the last decade.

Martin Scorsese’s

What is unique is the almost nonchalant endorsement of a truly horrifying worldview. Again, without spoiling things, audiences are told rather explicitly that Fleck’s fears are accurate, his inherent beliefs about people are true and his strategy to gain recognition through violence is an effective one. This is not interpretation. The film’s closing moments literally confirm the validity of the very worst things a troubled person can think. That seems, I don’t know, kinda bad, right?

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Making any major film about a violent, awful person is a choice that comes with a massive level of social responsibility and requires significant awareness. Censorship is abhorrent, as cultural progress requires that artists are allowed to work unchecked. That said, there were cops at my theater. If the very existence of your movie makes people afraid that some who are inclined to see it may shoot other people, maybe you’ve made a bad thing?

Grade = F FILM

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NOVEMBER 2019

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You can see Caddyshack this November at the Joslyn Art Museum, which is great because that place typically has way too little gopher-based content.

CUTTING ROOM

The cult-classic, Tank Girl, will be produced by, and hopefully star, Margot Robbie.

by Ryan Syrek



At nearly 40 years old, Caddyshack is still likely your dad’s favorite movie and is now producing memes, so it’s got that going for it, which is nice. Also nice, you can head to the Joslyn Art Museum on Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. to watch a screening of the film and meet Cindy Morgan, who played Lacey Underall. Film historian Bruce Crawford’s 27th event will once again serve as a fundraiser, this time for HELP Adult Services. Tickets are $24 and can be purchased at Hy-Vee grocery stores around town. The fact that a movie in which a semi-coherent Bill Murray attempts to murder an animatronic rodent will be shown at a place where Rembrandt paintings hang feels like my kind of performance art.



If you’re like me, few things are as profoundly satisfying as a smooth segue. Well, hold on to your transitional butts … Bruce Crawford’s last event this past May was a screening of Aliens featuring Michael Biehn. On Nov. 9 at 7 p.m., the day after the Caddyshack screening mentioned above, Biehn will be at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s La Vista location for a Q&A and meet-andgreet after a screening of Terminator. That’s pretty cool news but an even cooler transition from the first news blurb here, right?! I’m not sure what questions Biehn will be asked, but I hope someone asks him to draw an illustration of the diverging and alternate timelines of the Terminator franchise on a white board. If not that, maybe just who would win in a fight, Ripley or Sarah Connor?



Y’all, this is hard to believe, but I have another impeccable transition! OK, so

NOVEMBER 2019

you remember how I started this column with jokes about the Joslyn Art Museum? Well guess what: Folks from the Joslyn’s Kent Bellows Mentoring Program served as the grand jury that chose the selections for the Film Streams 2019 Local Filmmakers Showcase. I’m only slightly more excited for the event than I am about that second consecutive seamless transition. On Nov. 7 at 7 p.m., the Dundee Theater will screen the nine films chosen, which include the work of artists from Nebraska and Iowa. Don’t worry, the nine films only span 106 minutes, but I bet you’ll leave wishing they spanned 106 years! Maybe that’s an exaggeration. Ignore me, I’m high on segues. The following week, on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. down at the Ruth Sokolof Theater, the Jewish Federation of Omaha will present Tel Aviv on Fire as part of the Omaha Jewish Film Festival. The film focuses on a Palestinian man who becomes a soap opera writer after meeting an Israeli soldier. It’s apparently quite funny, which is surprising, as I’m finding it difficult to come up with a smarmy, clever ending for a column that wraps up with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Do you think Jared Kushner’s task to find Middle East peace extends to helping me wrap up this column? 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.

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NOVEMBER 2019

Where’s the [Industrial] Beef? by Michael Braunstein

mericans love their meat. In fact, we loved 104 billion pounds of it in 2018. Let me type that again. Americans ate 104 billion pounds of red meat and poultry in 2018. That works out to 223 pounds per person. 104 billion pounds total; 223 pounds per. Just in America.

The meat has a natural nutritional profile that includes omega-3 and omega-6 long chain fatty acids. They are allowed to grow at their natural rate and when they reach market weight they are taken in small numbers to one of the few local USDA approved processing plants in Nebraska towns like Table Rock, Diller or Neligh. The cow that goes in is the meat that comes out. The burger is made from meat and never mixed with meat from another herd. Steaks and roasts and whole cuts are aged, packaged and frozen, and if I were to count, I’d find maybe two people who have handled the meat before it gets to my freezer. The shorter the food chain, the safer the food chain.

With that much meat going into our mouths, producing it must be a pretty slick operation. I mean, that’s a lot of meat. The only way it can be raised, fattened, slaughtered, packaged and marketed to hungry Americans is by a big, powerful industry. And that it is. But most folks don’t give a thought to how those meat products are brought to market. I’ve been using the term “industrial meat” to describe the kind of meat products Americans typically and blithely buy in our supermarkets, fast food outlets and restaurants. Recently, a longtime friend of mine asked me, “What do you mean, ‘industrial meat’”? Good question and food for thought. I should explain myself. When it comes to how beef gets to market, the bucolic image most people have is of a cow running free in the pasture in the warm sun, grazing on green grass, watered and cared for. And then, after a long, happy life, that cow has just one bad day when he’s gathered up with a bunch of his friends and goes on a ride down the road. We even talk ourselves into believing that our livestock animals can be “humanely raised” though I don’t find the idea of treating an animal with care and respect just so that on that “one bad day” we kill it. (Like, “We’re taking good care of you and we really do care, but today we’re going to kill you and eat you.” Doesn’t qualify as “humane” to me.) In any case, that pastoral portrayal is nowhere near how most meat is produced. No. And here’s the short story. Just to generalize, calves are born in late winter or early spring and can be born to a cow in a confinement barn or in pasture. The calf will wean and then be turned out to pasture because, after all, letting a cow eat grass is a good idea since all ruminant animals are designed to forage on grass and never to eat grain or corn. Sometimes that calf is separated immediately from the mother cow and sometimes stays in confinement instead of pasture.

November 2019

Time is money. In order to produce the massive amount of beef that Americans crave, pasture feeding won’t get the job done. Taking a cow from a birth weight of 80 pounds to a market weight of 1,200 pounds could take about three years or so, best case, feeding just on grass. So the industry built feedlots that take over after the cows are sold at auction after only six months or so. Life in a feedlot is a lot different. That cow will never see pasture again. Instead, he stands in his own manure and that of 20,000 or so other cows for the next few months as his weight balloons on a diet of corn, distillers’ grain (the dregs of what’s left of corn after it’s processed into ethanol) and other unusual feed rations all designed to get that cow as beefy as it can and in as short a time as possible. He’s on schedule to go to the slaughterhouse in only 12 months of life. Fast facts. Cows (and all ruminant animals) are designed by nature to eat grass and forage. They have multiple stomachs called rumens that can turn cellulose and fiber into protein and meat. But corn can kill them. It’s not good for them and, it turns out, feeding them corn is not good for us. But since corn and its derivatives are chock full of sugar, starch and carbs, cows gain weight fast. And like humans who eat something that doesn’t agree with them, cows get indigestion. Indigestion that can kill. So in a feedlot, our happy cow gets a daily dose of antacid, usually something called Rumensin. And since “you are what you eat,” the nutritional profile of

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HEARTLAND HEALING

the meat that cow now produces is changed quite a bit. Once the cow reaches market weight at about 12 months or so, off it goes to a massive slaughterhouse covering a few square miles, processing thousands and thousands of cattle a day. With tons of manure and intestines splashed about on the killing floor and throughout, you can only imagine how difficult it is to keep a place like that clean. You can only imagine how many hands of how many people handle that meat. After the meat is mechanically separated from the carcass, anything that is left is shipped to another plant, usually in another state, where the dregs of those thousands of animals are processed into separated protein and fat. All that is combined with other scraps from hundreds of animals from dozens of plants and states and even countries to go into that package of hamburger you can get at the store. The steaks, roasts and ribs of those animals go off to packaging and are usually put in a sealed “modified atmosphere package” that contains carbon monoxide to keep the meat looking fresh on the supermarket shelf for days and days … and days. Contrast. The beef I buy comes from one of three or so farmers I know personally within a hundred miles or so of where I live. The cows never eat anything other than grass, never live anywhere other than pasture and sheltering trees. Never have to get antacids.

And cluck. The poultry in my freezer comes to me even more directly. The chickens are pasture-raised, never cooped up with thousands of other sick chicks, and they are processed right at the farm, delivered to me frozen. And, surprise! Mostly because these farmers who raise grass-fed, grass-finished livestock are not indentured to the industrial format and charges, never have to pay auction fees or corporate costs, the prices are competitive. It takes a little bit of planning and interest to step outside the industrial circus, but the results are worth it. Eat less meat, but eat better meat. Note: Some unscrupulous producers will call beef “grass-fed” because, after all, all cattle eat grass at some point in their life, even if they end up going to corn at an industrial processor later. Once a cow starts eating corn, within hours the body chemistry changes and the nutritional profile can alter significantly. Make sure your “grass-fed” beef is “grass-finished” and has never eaten corn. 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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November 2019

Where Did All the Critics Go?

In an age of free music, are music critics going the way of the dinosaur? by Tim McMahan

t’s already November, and in the next couple months, we’ll all be inundated with a plethora of year-end best-of album lists, even though we still have a couple months of releases yet to hit the racks of our local record stores.

Actually, when it comes to musicindustry-related careers, the lowest of the bottom-feeders are us critics — thousandyear-old mollusks attached to the hull of a decaying, sunken ship.

For this month’s column, I intended Yes, the last part — the “hit the racks” to lay out a list of the best local and overpart — was intended to cause a reaction. If looked releases of the past year, a sort of you were born after the year 2000, you might have wrinkled your brow and thought There’s this band called Dinosaur Jr. “What rack? What record You should give their record a listen... store?” Whereas, if you were born before 2000, the comit’s a wonderfully bizarre hybrid of ment likely generated a halfsuppressed, scornful laugh, twangy Pop and hardcore Punk. what we in the business call a “snicker.” Because as a musician friend of mine likes to say: Ain’t no one buying music no more. He’s wrong, of course. Plenty of people still buy music — mostly collectors and music fans who want tangible evidence of their devotion to their favorite artists. Collectors have driven the music industry to the point where, for the first time since the ‘90s, vinyl is going to outsell CDs. That fact is more of a reflection of the weakness of the CD market than the strength of vinyl and, more than that, proof of the dominance of streaming as the primary way people hear their music. This is all *yawn* old news to those of us who have been following the technological transformation of the music industry over the past couple decades. I don’t know who makes money off streaming. Certainly the streaming companies do, and to a (much) lesser extent, the record labels. Last in line with their calloused paws held out to Spotify and YouTube and all the others are the artists themselves. Has there ever been a worse time to want to be a rock ‘n’ roll musician? At least in the old days you could dream of gold records and babes, babes, babes. Those days are gone, gone, gone.

November 2019

Ian Cohen because I know those guys. Critics used to have a leg up on the rest of the listening public, not because they were smarter or in some ways better, but because we had access to more music than the rest of you. Back in the pre-streaming days, our mailboxes overflowed with promo CDs weeks before anyone else got their

Me instead of the next Re-ac-tor or The Spaghetti Incident or anything by the Goo Goo Dolls. That’s when music criticism was really important, when everyone had skin in the game. Now that it’s all essentially free, there’s nowhere for artists to hide the filler. If you don’t like it, don’t play it. Add the good tracks to your playlist; leave the rest behind.

What’s a record? First KNOWN MUSIC Critic (a long long time ago)

preview to the onslaught of top-10 lists you’re about to endure. But then I thought, ”What’s the point?” Music criticism has become not so much passé as unnecessary for a number of reasons, the first of which is social media. You’re more likely to first hear about a red-hot album or track from your Facebook or Twitter page than from online music websites like Stereogum or Pitchfork. And that recommendation and/or diss will likely come from someone you know rather than a mythic “music thinker” or “tastemaker” hidden in some far-off basement. I’m personally more apt to check out an album suggested by, say, Mean Dean Lundberg or Jeff Runnings than Pitchfork’s

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OVER THE EDGE

hands on them. But these days, while critics often get downloads of albums a few weeks before they hit streaming services, everyone has access to everything eventually. And it doesn’t cost a dime. And that’s the other reason criticism is becoming less relevant. If all new music is a click away, what’s stopping anyone from just checking it out themselves? Who remembers the old days when slapping down $5.99 or $6.99 for a vinyl album or $10.99 for a CD was a real roll of the dice with money you could ill afford to waste? You may have heard one or two singles from an album on the radio or MTV, but the rest was a mysterious gamble. We all hoped we’d just bought the next Born to Run or Exile in Guyville or Pleased to Meet

That attitude has changed the way everyone listens to music, including critics. It’s not so much that our attention spans have shortened as much as it’s no longer necessary to sit through dreck when you can simply tap to the next song. At the same time, it’s become much harder to confine yourself to an entire album, which is an absolute necessity for any music critic who wants to really understand what the artist is trying to say.

It’s that striving to understand that differentiates a critic from some guy bloviating on Facebook. That, along with an understanding of an artist’s history, a genre, the ability to see through a first impression for something deeper that lies beneath, and then to be able to tell you about it in a way that makes you want to listen. So while there’s no shortage of people willing to spout their opinions, there are fewer critics writing for print publications than ever before, and fewer still as papers and magazines become as obsolete as land lines and phone books and people willing to pay for music. Over The Edge is a monthly column by THE Reader’S senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, music, the media and the arts. Email Tim at tim. mcmahan@gmail.com.

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