READY TO ROCK FREE SHO
W
DAVID COOK 1.2
CHASE & OVATION 1.3
TOM GREEN 1.14
THE DAN BAND 1.17
LISA LAMPANELLI 1.22
DAN + SHAY 3.13
GET YOUR TICKETS ONLINE OR AT THE ROCK SHOP. WWW.HARDROCKCASINOSIOUXCITY.COM
FEEL LIKE A ROCK STAR in one of our 54 boutique hotel rooms and suites. Make your reser vation online or call toll free 844.273.7625 111 3RD STREET
I SIOUX CITY, IA 51101
Management reserves all rights. Must be 21 or older. If you or someone you know needs gambling treatment call 800.BETS OFF.
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
3
ProKarma Jobs
ProKarma, Inc. has multiple Software Engineer openings based out of its U.S. headquarters in Omaha, NE. The employees may also work at various unanticipated locations. These are roving positions whereby the employee’s worksite and place of residence may regularly change based upon client and business demands; however, these positions do not involve a travel requirement as performing the daily job duties do not require the employee to travel. The position of Senior Software Engineer requires a master’s degree, or its foreign equivalent, in Information Systems, IT, Computer Science, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Engineering (any), or in a related field plus at least one year of experience in the job offered or in an IT/Computer-related position. Alternatively, the employer will accept a bachelor’s degree, or its foreign equivalent, in Information Systems, IT, Computer Science, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Engineering (any), or in a related field plus at least 5 years of progressively-responsible, postbaccalaureate experience in the job offered or in an IT/Computer-related position. The employer deems that any suitable combination of experience of education, training, or experience is acceptable.
SEND RESUMES TO: ProKarma, Inc. Attn: Jobs 222 S 15th St. #505N, Omaha, NE 68102 or email: postings@prokarma.com with Job Ref# in the subject line of the email
Senior Software Engineer #SRANDROID1214
Applicant must have professional experience with: Enterprise Java, Android SDK, JavaScript, JSON/ REST Services S/he will analyze user needs and modify and develop existing software by using various computer skill sets. S/he will modify existing software to correct errors and improve performance and will develop and direct software system testing and validation procedures, programming, and documentation.
4
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
ProKarma Jobs
ProKarma, Inc. has multiple openings for the following positions based out of its U.S. headquarters in Omaha, NE: Senior Software Engineer, Quality Assurance Analyst, & Business Systems Analyst. The employees may also work at various unanticipated locations. These are roving positions whereby the employee’s worksite and place of residence may regularly change based upon client and business demands; however, these positions do not involve a travel requirement as performing the daily job duties does not require the employee to travel. These positions requires a Master’s degree, or its foreign equivalent, in Computer Information Systems, IT, Computer Science, Engineering (any), or in a technical/analytical field that is closely related to the specialty, plus at least one year of experience in the job offered or in an IT/Computer-related position. Alternatively, the employer will accept a bachelor’s degree, or its foreign equivalent, in Computer Information Systems, IT, Computer Science, Engineering (any), or in a technical/analytical field that is closely related to the specialty, plus at least 5 years of progressively-responsible, post-baccalaureate experience in the job offered or in an IT/ Computer-related position. The employer deems that any suitable combination of experience of education, training, or experience is acceptable.
SEND RESUMES TO: ProKarma, Inc. Attn: Jobs 222 S 15th St. #505N Omaha, NE 68102 or email: postings@prokarma.com with Job Ref# in the subject line of the email
Senior Software Engineer #SRJAVA1214
Applicant must have professional experience with: Java, J2EE, JMS, SOA, Web Services, Weblogic/WebSphere/App server/JBoss, Oracle/SQL Server, Maven, HTML. S/he will analyze user needs and modify and develop existing software by using various computer skill sets. S/he will modify existing software to correct errors and improve performance and will develop and direct software system testing and validation procedures, programming, and documentation.
Quality Assurance Analyst#QA1214
Applicant must have professional experience with: HP Quality Center, Quick Test Pro, Clear Quest, Clear Case, Excel Reporting. S/he will do development and modification of test plans and scripts, both manual and automated, to ensure the quality, reliability, scalability, and monitoring of both existing and new software applications.
Senior Software Engineer #SRSETIB1214
Senior Software Engineer #SRNET1214
Applicant must have professional experience with: Object oriented analysis and design, Microsoft.Net Technologies, C#, ASP.net, ADO.net, XML, Web Services, Oracle / SQL Server. S/he will analyze user needs and modify and develop existing software by using various computer skill sets. S/he will modify existing software to correct errors and improve performance and will develop and direct software system testing and validation procedures, programming, and documentation.
Applicant must have professional experience with: TIBCO Product Suite (TIBCO Business, TIBCO Designer, TIBCO EMS, TIBCO Administrator), Oracle SQL, XML, Microsoft Visio. S/he will analyze user needs and modify and develop existing software by using various computer skill sets. S/he will modify existing software to correct errors and improve performance and will develop and direct software system testing and validation procedures, programming, and documentation.
Senior Software Engineer #SRORACLE1214
Business Systems Analyst #SRBSA1214
Applicant must have professional experience with: Oracle BRM (v7.5, 7.3 and 7.0), C, C++, PERL, Java/J2EE, Oracle SQL, Linux, CVS. S/he will analyze user needs and modify and develop existing software by using various computer skill sets. S/he will modify existing software to correct errors and improve performance and will develop and direct software system testing and validation procedures, programming, and documentation.
Senior Software Engineer #SRSECC1214
Applicant must have professional experience with: C, C++, Unix, Shell Scripts, PL/SQL, RDBMS / Oracle, multi-threading and networking programming. S/ he will analyze user needs and modify and develop existing software by using various computer skill sets. S/he will modify existing software to correct errors and improve performance and will develop and direct software system testing and validation procedures, programming, and documentation.
S/he will analyze user requirement, Information Technology System requirements gathering, functional specification, high-level design, defining the solution, test planning, and coordination of system rollouts by using various computer skill sets.
Senior Software Engineer # IPCSRSE1214
Applicant must have professional experience with: Informatica Power Center 9.1/8.6.1/8.1.1, Teradata 13x/14x, Teradata SQL Assistant, Oracle 11g/10g/9i/8i, MS SQL Server Management Studio/SQL Loader, UNIX. S/ he will analyze user needs and modify and develop existing software by using various computer skill sets. S/he will modify existing software to correct errors and improve performance and will develop and direct software system testing and validation procedures, programming, and documentation.
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
5
Re-Think Advertising
Become a Parks Supporter.
Your Name
HERE Your
Business
Support Omaha’s parks, build community and preserve our city’s beauty.
Support Our Parks!
The program will generate support to build and preserve Omaha's parks, and give advertisers access to forty premier locations. All while generating a strong connection between our community and your business.
OmahaParksProgram.com
Support 6
JANUARY 2015
Build | THE READER |
Preserve
I
n the Summer of 1999, I had finished a degree at the School of the Art institute of Chicago, my second art degree, and I still felt no closer to making anything of note. My professors spoke highly of a summer residency/school in a tiny walled hill town in Umbria, Italy. Meals at an Italian art school are rustic and fantastic. Simple, abundant and absurdly delicious food washed down by humble, fresh wine from down the valley, always available on the table. Every lunch becomes a bit of a boozy affair with loud voices and table-pounding. When lunch came, I would find a seat at the faculty table and listen. One day, guest artist William Bailey and the founder of the School, Nic Carone, got into a contest of one-upping each other’s stories of famous people they knew. As I recall, Nic’s final story went like this: “I was sitting at the bare kitchen table with Phillip Guston and his wife Musa on Christmas eve of 1949. Everyone was upset. We had no money for food, no money for presents, no money for rent. There was nothing in the house. While we sat, the phone rang — they had been hoping that it would. You see, our very good friend, Jackson Pollock, had been on the cover of Life, and was suddenly the most famous artist in the world. That year, he had sent a number of his friends a little holiday gift: a small splatter-painting holiday card. Philip and his wife, had taken it to their dealer to see if it could be sold. Musa went to answer the phone while Nic and Philip listened to “yes yes, thank you. That would be great.” When she returned to the table she calmly told them the facts of the call. Yes, that was the dealer. Yes she had found a buyer for the card. The sale price? “Fifty thousand dollars.” Everything in the story was surely exaggerated, but the idea that a gift of art given to a friend could turn into a life changing asset in a time of need was the most beautiful thing I had heard. It has stayed with me all these years. Since that lunch, each holiday season I have made a print to be given away. This year, that print is on this cover ot the new Reader. Enjoy and happy holidays. — Watie White
Publisher JO H N H EAST O N john@thereader.com Creative & Content Director ER I C ST O AK ES eric@thereader.com Assistant Editor M AR A W I LSO N mara@thereader.com Contributing Editors H EAR T L AND H E ALI NG : M I C H AE L B RAU NST EI N info@heartlandhealing.com AR T S/VI SU AL: M I K E K R AI NAK mixedmedia@thereader.com
D I SH : TAM SE N B U T LER crumbs@thereader.com FI LM : R YAN SY RE K cuttingroom@thereader.com
KYLE EUSTICE, LEO BIGA, SARA LOCKE TRESSA ECKERMANN, WARREN FRANCKE
H O O D O O : B .J. H U C H T EMA NN bjhuchtemann@gmail.com M U SI C : C H R I S APO NICK backbeat@thereader.com O VER T H E ED G E: T I M M C MA HA N tim.mcmahan@gmail.com T H EAT ER : W I LLI AM G R ENNA N coldcream@thereader.com
Sales D I NA H GOMEZ dinah@thereader.com K AT I FA L K kati@thereader.com
Senior Contributing Writers CHERIL LEE, GORDON SPENCER, JESSICA CLEM,
Operations Manager KERRY OLS ON kerry@thereader.com
contents
Photographers JUSTIN BARNES, DEBRA S. KAPLAN
Distribution Manager CL AY S EA MA N clay@thereader.com
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
7
ART Michael J. Krainak tries to delve into the future with the difficult question of what is to come in local art scene in 2015. Some artists say what they believe will be the next big thing in art and how they think artists should proceed, while others don’t have that gift of sight and seem to be glad for it. Art in the Omaha Metro area is definitely changing and Krainak delivers us examples of those. As for the future, the answer of what’s to come next might be harder to see than you think. THEATRE The theatre scene in the Omaha Metro has a chance to look back while still facing forward. Each theatre has a new lineup with a mix of the classics we know and love and some new plays and musicals to explore. The performances will be sure to showcase some familiar faces and give the opportunity for some new faces to
8
JANUARY 2015
shine. William Grennan presents titles of the works for each theatre's season from Our Town to Othello and new plays from local playwright, such as In the Jungle You Must Wait. HEALING As stated in this section, by Michael Braunstein, the type of medicine that has been around for centuries isn’t going to see a lot of change in form for 2015, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t see changes in how we view and are able to access it. Braunstein examines the different types of apps and technology at the tip of our fingers and whether or not this is a good thing. From "illegal" drugs to drugs that might be harming us more
| THE READER |
renew
than helping, how does 2015 appear to be in terms of medicine? FILM As usual Ryan Syrek is on top of the upcoming film with his usual charm, wisdom and je ne se quois. The top 15 films of 2015 that Syrek cannot wait to get his reviewing paws on. Including a few sequels, part two's and episode VII's, Jupiter Ascending, Silence, Ant Man, The Hateful Eight and so much more. This article is what to expect from 2015 films, the release dates and a little synopsis by Syrek, you're welcome. DISH Tamsen Butler dives into the future of everything food in Omaha’s 2015. With lots of possibilities for
change in Omaha within the upcoming year, it seems to be a promising one. Butler examines the healthy side of food and knowing where our food comes from. As well as taking a look into the new restaurants opening in our area. What's next for Omahans in our mouth watering decadent, inspiring and growing world of food? MUSIC Tim McMahan demonstrates the idea that all of the predictions for 2015 may not always turn out how we thought. With a list of predictions from 2014 alongside the reality of what actually happened McMahan gives a final score of how accurate he was (and it’s not too shabby). McMahan attempts this again, giving us 20 predictions for the music of 2015. Who can predict what his score will be next year? —Mara Wilson
JANUARYSHOWS www.onepercentproductions.com
I
JANUARY 2 Bennie and The Gents with KillBillies The Waiting Room • 9 PM • $7 JANUARY 2 All Young Girls Are Machine Guns with Dereck Higgins, Xion & CJ Mills Reverb Lounge • 9 PM • $7 JANUARY 3 Old Money Reverb Lounge • 9 PM • $5 JANUARY 3 Heroes: A Songwriter Showcase The Waiting Room • 9 PM • $7 JANUARY 5 MIdwest Elite Concerts presents: New Music Monday - Sebastian Ghostbachz with Digital Sick Kids & Time Giants The Waiting Room • 8 PM • Free JANUARY 8 Clarence Tilton with Big Wheel Reverb Lounge • 9 PM • $5 JANUARY 8 Screaming For Silence with Shook on3 and DJ Jab & Stereo Rocket The Waiting Room • 9 PM • $8 JANUARY 9 The End In Red with We Be Lions, Civicminded, Saul & Awaiting Eli The Waiting Room • 8:30 PM • $8 JANUARY 9 Tom Phillips Trio Reverb Lounge •21+ show • 9 PM • $7 JANUARY 10 The Sub Vectors with Life is Cool, Edge of Arbor & The Decatures The Waiting Room • 9 PM • $8 JANUARY 12 Midwest Elite Concerts presents: New Music Monday - Pleiades & the Bear The Waiting Room • 8 PM • Free JANUARY 15 Gregory Alan Isakov with Nathaniel Rateliff The Waiting Room • 9 PM • $16 JANUARY 16 Midwest Elite Concerts presents: The Impulsive with Narcotic Self, Before I Burn, When Towers Fall and Live & Obey The Waiting Room • 8 PM • $8 JANUARY 16 The Limbs with John Klemmensen and the Party & John Larsen Reverb Lounge • 9 PM • $7 JANUARY 17 Willie Waldman with Dr. Herman Green & DJEM The Waiting Room • 9 PM • $10 JANUARY 18 Raise the Roots The Waiting Room • 5 PM • $7 JANUARY 19 Midwest Elite Concerts presents: New Music Monday - Black Velvet with Ironsights & Alive to Dream The Waiting Room • 8 PM • Free JANUARY 20 Railroad Earth Slowdown • 8 PM •$22 ADV/$25 DOS JANUARY 20 Waiting Room Music Quiz The Waiting Room • 8 PM • Free JANUARY 21 Jukebox The Ghost with Twin Forks and Secret Someones The Waiting Room • 8 PM •$14 ADV/$16 DOS JANUARY 22 89.7 The River presents: Black Label Society with Hatebreed and Butcher Babies Sokol Auditorium • 8 PM • $28 ADV/$35 DOS JANUARY 22 Cold War Kids with Elliot Moss Slowdown • 8 PM • $22 ADV/$25 DOS JANUARY 23 Take Cover - A Benefit for Hear Nebraska The Waiting Room • 9 PM • $8 JANUARY 23 Relax, It’s Science with nanaHara & Montee Men Reverb Lounge • 9 PM • $7 JANUARY 24 Upon A Burning Body with Veil of Maya, Volumes, Gideon and The Last 10 Seconds of Life Sokol Underground • 7 PM •$18 ADV/$20 DOS JANUARY 24 Bahamas Reverb Lounge • 21 + show • 9:00 PM • $13 JANUARY 30 The Envy Corps Reverb Lounge • 21+ show • 9 PM • $7 JANUARY 30 The Floozies with Manic Focus The Waiting Room • 9 PM • $13 ADV/$15 DOS
magine, if you will, the uncanny ability to see into the future, to know what’s going to happen before it happens. It’s an awesome talent that comes with great responsibility, kind of like being Spider-Man. But before we gaze into my crystal Fender Squire (it’s cheap, but it works), let’s score last year’s predictions for 2014: 2014 Prediction: Look for MTV to emerge as a primary launching pad for premiering
new music and online video. Reality: MTV hasn’t emerged as anything other than being a lousy cable station. 2014 Prediction: Streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora will enter the concert promotion business, creating packaged “caravan”-type concert tours. Reality: Pandora partnered with Lexus for a Southern California concert series as well as StubHub for its “Next Stage” concert series. Pandora selected the series’ artists based on their partner’s target market and information from its listener base, including age, gender and music preferences. 2014 Prediction: Target, Walmart, Best Buy and even Kmart, will reinstall record bins as the vinyl renaissance continues. Reality: Target calls vinyl a “throwback gift” and features more than 10,000 new and oldies vinyl releases. Walmart also supposedly sells vinyl, but I’ll never know for sure because I won’t step foot in one. 2014 Prediction: With the advent of computers integrated into apparel— i.e. “wearables” — almost every concert you attend will be recorded and uploaded to YouTube. Reality: Well, not every concert is online yet, but many of the major ones are (and the quality of video is horrendous). Rare is the rock show where I don’t see someone in the crowd holding up an iPhone “videoing” an entire song. 2014 Prediction: Pussy Riot’s release from a Russian gulag will land them in America, where they’ll create a breakthrough punk album. Reality: Earlier this month, The Guardian reported that the band is in the studio with members of Le Tigre and may record an album with JD Samson and Johanna Fateman. 2014 Prediction: Upon its release next year, a song off a new Cursive double-live album will make the band the next Cheap Trick or Peter Frampton. continued on page 10 y
music
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
9
y continued from page 9 Reality: Despite multiple nights of live recording, Cursive has yet to release a single live track. What a bunch of teases. 2014 Prediction: A one-time-only all-day outdoor concert will rival the Maha Music Festival in attendance. Reality: This did not happen (Thanks for nothing, John). 2014 Prediction: Speaking of Maha, the fes-
Reality: Bob is still Blowin’ in the Wind... 2014 Prediction: New Lincoln venues, including Vega, will put a squeeze on Omaha music-goers, forcing them to “make the drive” more often to see their favorite touring indie bands. Reality: Pinnacle got McCartney, and Vega is getting Mark Kozelek Jan. 26, but there hasn’t exactly been a stampede to Lincoln. 2014 Prediction: One local online music-
(or more) than what they pay to download the same album (if they pay at all). 2015 Prediction: But before that happens, more record labels will be forced to follow record label Fat Possoms’ lead and open their own vinyl pressing plants due to the shortage of vinyl manufacturing options. Watch smaller labels ban together to acquire their own presses. 2015 Prediction: BTW, CDs are still the sec-
2015 Prediction: Maha Music Festival organizers’ wish will finally come true and they’ll book “that band” that they’ve always wanted to play the festival. Hey, didn’t I make this prediction for 2012? Proof that persistence pays off. 2015 Predication: We’ll experience the first wave of rock ‘n’ roll “retirements” as a number of long-time well-paid singers/songwriters/musicians/bands will announce they’re getting out
20 MUSIC VISIONS FOR 2015 tival will land multiple headliners this year and will finally reach attendance that exceeds Stinson Park’s capacity, forcing organizers to look for a larger venue in 2015. Reality: Maha had its biggest crowds ever, but the one-day festival still hasn’t outgrown its Aksarben location. The next Maha Festival has already been announced for Aug. 15, 2015, at Stinson Park. 2014 Prediction: In an effort to keep CD prices from eroding, more artists will follow Beyonce’s lead and release albums exclusively on iTunes. Reality: U2 blew up Beyonce’s model by giving away its latest album exclusively on iTunes. Though it was the largest record distro in history, the blow-back was so severe we’ll never see a repeat. 2014 Prediction: More artists and independent labels will say “I’ve had enough” and follow Thom Yorke’s and Nigel Godrich’s lead and pull their music from Spotify. Reality: Taylor Swift made headlines by announcing her new album, 1989, would not be available on Spotify. Coincidentally, 1989 is the only new-music album released in 2014 to go platinum. 2014 Prediction: Bands we’ll be talking about this time next year: Radiohead, U2. The Faint, Conor Oberst, Cursive, Ted Stevens, Beck, Prince, Animal Collective, Digital Leather, Frank Ocean, Grizzly Bear, Future Islands, Sleigh Bells, Spoon, Death Cab for Cutie, Little Brazil, Tame Impala, Local Natives, Modest Mouse and Icky Blossoms. Reality: Almost all released or announced upcoming releases. 2014 Prediction: Bands we won’t be talking about: Miley, Springsteen, Flaming Lips, Bieber, Chris Brown, Ritual Device, Monae, Haim, Kanye, Katy Perry and Skrillex Reality: No one saw that Ritual Device reunion coming. As for the rest, Miley who? 2014 Prediction: All Bob Dylan’s problems will be solved once and for all.
10
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
focused website will shut down forever in 2014 (and no, it won’t be Lazy-i). Reality: They’re all still kicking (including SLAM Omaha). 2014 Prediction: Believe it or not, a local radio station will integrate a College Music Journalstyle playlist into its regular programming Reality: Don’t stop believing. 2014 Prediction: Yet another new live music venue will open in Benson, but this one will focus on either jazz, blues or country music. Reality: Reverb opened in Benson this summer, and while it hasn’t distinguished itself for any one genre, Jim Johnson, who co-owns the place, said he’d like to book more country bands on Reverb’s stage. 2014 Prediction: An indie music legend with Nebraska roots who moved away from the Midwest more than a decade ago will return to The Good Life state and open a recording studio. Reality: Matthew Sweet is now living somewhere in Omaha, where he’s built a home studio. 2014 Prediction: Look for another local singer/songwriter to break out nationally in 2014, but without the help of Saddle Creek Records. Reality: There were big pushes by Kris Lager and Josh Hoyer, but no breakout, yet. 2014 Prediction: Next year Conor Oberst really will appear the Saturday Night Live stage, but not as a music performer…Oberst, the actor! Reality: Um, no. Final score 11 for 20. Now onto 2015: 2015 Prediction: An all-out Spotify rebellion will break out next year, and it won’t be coming from independent labels who are getting gutted by the service, but rather (ironically) from big name stars who make the most money off Spotify. And you’ll have Taylor Swift to thank. 2015 Prediction: The vinyl craze will slow, this after a year that saw 49 percent increase in U.S. vinyl sales vs. 2013 numbers. The growth will level off as younger music fans refuse to embrace a medium they see as an interesting but inconvenient gimmick that costs twice as much
music
ond-best selling format (vinyl only accounts for about 4% of total music sales). Record labels will discover a way to add new value to CDs, either by offering better audio quality (hi-res audio), lower prices or new packaging options. 2015 Prediction: Oculus Rift virtual reality technology is a revolution for the video gamers, providing an experience so real, it’s scary (I know, I’ve tried it). Glomming on to this new tech, a rock band will produce the first-ever Oculus Rift music video. You’ll be able to view it via OR booths at independent record stores. 2015 Prediction: The soundtrack of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie made history as the first soundtrack album consisting entirely of previously released songs to top the Billboard 200 chart. Watch as record labels try to replicate that success by releasing new collections consisting entirely of chart-topping oldies tied to popular television programs or films. Who cares if all the songs are already available on Spotify? 2015 Prediction: The ‘90s indie/alt-band reunions will continue next year. One reunited band will release a new recording that will break into the mainstream in a big way. Will it be Sonic Youth, Buffalo Tom, Jane’s Addiction, Galaxy 500, The Grifters, R.E.M. or Commander Venus 2015 Prediction: Bands we’ll be talking about this time next year: Modest Mouse, Hop Along, U2, Desaparecidos, Low, Cursive, Prince, Savages, Lloyd Cole, The Mynabirds, The Replacements, The xx, The Rolling Stones, Tom Wait, For Against, PJ Harvey, Icky Blossoms. 2015 Prediction: Bands we won’t be talking about: Iggy Azalea, Madonna, Metallica, Bright Eyes, Sun Kil Moon, The War on Drugs, Swans, FKA Twigs, Kanye, Led Zeppelin. 2015 Prediction: The Rolling Stones will be down one Stone. 2015 Prediction: Omaha’s bar-club bubble will burst as one or more local music venue/ clubs will change hands and stop offering live music. You’ll be shocked.
BY TIM MCMAHAN
of the music business because they can no longer make a living at it, thanks to declining album sales and streaming services. 2015 Prediction: Along those same lines, look for a Kickstarter campaign from a former Billboard chart-topping act (and I’m not talking about Creed). You will be appalled. 2015 Prediction: While mainstream pop music becomes more sugar sweet, indie music will become more miserable. Depressing, dark acts like Pharmakon, Swans, Perfume Genius and Sun Kil Moon will be joined by even more miserable acts that will counter-balance pop’s bright banality. 2015 Prediction: With the continued popularity of music contest shows like The Voice and American Idol, it was only a matter of time until a network decided to revive American Bandstand. The format will focus on live performances by chart toppers (rather than teens dancing), and none of us will recognize Dick Clark’s replacement. 2015 Prediction: Conversely, thanks to its airing on Palladia, someone will create an American version of Later… with Jools Holland — a fantastic music-based TV show that airs on BBC that presents live performances by a mix of cool artists playing across a circle of stages. 2015 Prediction: Look for the launch of yet another new FM radio station in the Omaha market that plays CMJ-style indie. I know, I know, but it’s bound to happen. 2015 Prediction: As the industry continues to crumble, more historically huge bands will sign deals with mid-level indie labels. Along those same lines, you’ll see more formerly “large” bands and performers self-releasing material as they turn their back on labels altogether. 2015 Prediction: No local or Saddle Creek artist will make it to the SNL stage next year (duh), but one (other than a Conor band) will make it on national TV, and (in classic Buzzfeed fashion) when you see who it is it’ll blow your mind. ,
Enjoy an evening of vintage silent films accompanied by live gypsy swing.
JANUARY 17 8:00 pm
Iowa Western Community College
TICKETS ON SALE NOW: box office 712.388.7140 PURCHASE ONLINE: artscenter.iwcc.edu
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
11
Y
ou can’t open a national arts publication such as ARTFORUM or Art in America without being impressed, let alone bewildered, with the plethora and diversity of art on display. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that in an era loosely referred to as post postmodernism or meta modernism, when it comes to contemporary art, anything goes, that is, comes and goes, and maybe comes again. Andy Warhol was probably right about everyone,
“Isn’t that the beauty of current art? It keeps you guessing,” Campbell said, “but I can reflect on things that I’ve witnessed lately. I think that there has been a real upswing on artists’ desire to explore their own personal narratives in the context of broader social issues.” Joslyn’s major contribution on behalf of area artists in this year--Art Seen: A Juried Exhibition of Artists from Omaha to Lincoln opening in August--reflects such an “upswing” during Campbell’s more than 50 studio visits in the area.
Like many, Gilmer looks to Benson to be the epicenter of Metro’s alt arts vibe, and he offers this advice: “Pave new paths in materials, technique and thought. First Fridays need to get more illegal, sexier and downright raunchier. Flesh for sake of flesh, beer for sake of beer, art for sake of art is over.” To all local artists, aspiring and established, he challenges, “Paint in oil, not acrylic, know art from the classics to now. And get to know the local art scene as well as worldwide. But do not jump on the bandwagon, create your own and find venues to
rators Josh Powell and Jeff King in their startup DIY Project Project. Like Reid Kuhn, Damon views art as social practice with a jaundiced eye and sees it “slowly fading” in 2015. He does see “a lot of young graffiti artists showing more in the Metro,” which he considers a good thing though Project Project won’t be following in hot pursuit. “We will be showing a local ceramicist/painter, Luke Severson, in January, who’s never had a solo,” he said, “and in February, two of Kansas City’s heavy
GOOD! BETTER! BEST! METRO ARTS SCENE PROMISES TO ‘NEVER LET IT REST’ IN 2015 B Y M I C H A E L J . K R A I N A K as well as trends, enjoying their 15 minutes of fame. Yet, the best art endures long after its moment in the sun, spotlight or social media. There are no real instant classics. No overnight success, either. This is as true for Pop Art as it was for all great art that preceded it from the Renaissance and beyond to Impressionism and the 21st century. There will always be a test of time. What transitions from fame to glory is best left to theorists and academics. Which is a good thing. Theorists, educators, critics and patrons of the arts have all they can do to get their collective head on what’s happening in art today, and where it is going in 2015. That of course includes the Metro and its surrounding area. To that end, in order to help us re-launch this January online and in print every month, we asked local curators, artists and venue owners to comment on art in the coming year and how it will impact their work and exhibitions. What follows is less laundry list of 2015 shows and more thoughtful show-and-tell regarding contemporary art in the Metro going forward. One way to look ahead is to cast an eye in the rearview mirror, as it is still true that “past is prologue.” Do this by having another look at Reader’s 2014 annual A-List in print last week and currently online. It offers a survey of the best events and exhibits of the past year, with the latter participating in same styles, movements, mediums and issues anywhere in America, so eloquently demonstrated by the State of the Art show currently on display at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Looking back, it is tempting to play prognosticator and identify trends but most artists and curators prefer not to be followers or typecast. “Social Practice” and “Post Internet Art” are hot button items but only because what really defines the art scene is inclusivity, unpredictability and one thing more. “Individualism is maybe the only ‘ism’ that really matters,” said Larry Roots, artist and owner of Modern Arts Midtown. “There is so much distraction and sensory overload today, an artist cannot afford to let himself be overly influenced and compartmentalized by the next big thing.” Karin Campbell, the Phil Willson Curator of Contemporary Art at Joslyn Art Museum, says she isn’t comfortable predicting where art is going in 2015.
12
JANUARY 2015
“While I cannot say that I identified a prevailing trend, I was thrilled to see how keenly area artists are responding to issues that directly impact life in the Omaha Metro,” she said. “Topics like water use, the changing landscape of the Midwest, racial and sexual politics, etc., came up repeatedly.” Roots agrees that artists need to be informed by 21st century geo-political as well as local concerns, but he cautions that there is more for artists to connect to than just what is current. “Similarities from one era to another are just as real as the dissimilarities, if not more so,” he said. “To think and create art independently of the times is sometimes more difficult than to just conform to what’s happening now.” That would seem to apply to process and style as well as theme, some of which remain relevant from era to era. “I think painting is as compelling and dynamic today as it has been in any postwar period,” Campbell said. “Abstraction is particularly beautiful right now.” Roots must agree as MAM’s next exhibit opening Jan. 9 is titled Abstract Expressionism, a decided response to two previous exhibitions he called Cool Abstraction. Curators in the Metro’s alternative gallery scene understandably have a less traditional or mainstream interest in the local arts vibe and contribute to it accordingly. That includes Robert Gilmer (RNG Gallery), Alex Jochim (Petshop), Kim Reid Kuhn (Sweatshop) and Joel Damon (Project Project). What they share is a commitment to emerging artists of all ages in the Metro and beyond. In the process they may be more amenable to trends and experimentation. Gilmer, who has been at this the longest with some of the most controversial and provocative work on display, is also the most vocal and a tad hyperbolic as to what to expect and hope for in 2015. “There is a major void in mind-blowing contemporary art in Omaha these days,” he said. ‘There are too many norms and not enough risks taken. In the ‘70s Patti Smith sang, ‘Everybody create.’ In the ‘80s everybody did, and it produced a lot of bland art. This is occurring again today.”
| THE READER |
art
show it. Show where a show has never been. Make us shit in our pants. Whether Gilmer and RNG takes his own advice remains to be seen, but if his latest show, cardBoard, is any indication, then we can look forward to more. That includes the OEAA Visual Arts Nominee show, which opens Jan. 16 and previews those honored at the annual Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award showcase, Feb. 15. Things are relatively quiet in Benson in January, but Jochim and Reid Kuhn have their own take on what makes Metro tick and trend…and what doesn’t exactly work. “Local art seems to flourish when accompanied by a trending musician, space or artist,” Jochim said. “Patrons get more jazzed about visual art when accompanied by their favorite musician, band or DJ. At Sweatshop, we’ve always tried to interact different disciplines to form this sort of cohesive social scene.” Sweatshop and Petshop will continue to favor curated group shows and solos with local familiar faces. “At Sweatshop, we’re toying with the idea of an Entomology-themed group show in 2015,” he said. “In February, we are opening with Mark Goodall, a local lawyer. By profession, he is a lawyer. Through passion, he’s a sculptor, and an intriguing one at that.” Reid Kuhn says she doesn’t know about trends and doesn’t worry about popularity. Her take on art with a social conscience has a unique flavor consistent with her point of view and her own work. “Social practice and community engagement are the lifeblood of art,” she said. “However, unlike what art charlatans tell you, that can rarely be written up in a grant, boxed and packaged and still retain any life or fervor. Social practice without passion equals photo ops.” Reid Kuhn’s passion for curatorial challenges runs contrarian like her art. Sweatshop will engage the community in 2015 with the show Brut Art in February with “international, national and local weird artists.” Another veteran of the emerging, alternative arts scene in the Metro is Damon, the former curator of the Bemis Underground. Now he has gone above ground on Vinton Street with fellow artist/collabo-
hitters, Garry Noland and Lonnie Potter, both do mixed media 2D and sculpture.” Traditional galleries are also fully invested in the 2015 Metro art scene. Joining their ranks by this summer is a venue whose name is the same as its address on Leavenworth, Gallery 1516. Founder Patrick Drickey says it will specialize in local and regional artists along with travelling exhibits from the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney and the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art in David City. Gallery 1516’s inaugural exhibit in June can only be considered blockbuster. “The Friends of Kent Exhibition features the late Kent Bellows, we have over 90 plus pieces to select from,” Drickey said, “along with Nebraska artists who work in a similar style, contemporaries including Steve Roberts, Edgar Jerins, Gregg Scott and Paul Otero.” Viewers can also look forward to these significant events and exhibits in 2015: Bemis Center will host workshops next fall with artists Shu Lea Cheang, Claire Pentacost and Mel Ziegler along with collectives Fallen Fruit and FoAMM in conjunction with a residency program on food production and consumption. The Kaneko will open a collective exhibit Feb. 6 titled Fiber, which will “sample the ways in which textiles and fiber art serve as a canvas for various expressions of culture and the creative process. Meanwhile, Joslyn will offer in February its American Moderns, 1910-1960: From O’Keeffe to Rockwell. And the Moving Gallery, a beacon of regional, national and international art will showcase Omahan Catherine Ferguson in March, Brazilian photographer Luzia Simons in May and German photographer Frauke Bergemann in September. Overall, 2015 boasts an impressive line-up and Drickey probably speaks for all when he says, “I am pleased and surprised to see how much the arts scene in Omaha has grown (he is a co-founder of the Artist Co-op in the ‘70s). It just gets better and better.” Though some try to put their finger on what exactly the Metro arts vibe is and where it’s going next, Roots, Campbell and others here remind us of the folly of predetermining art or following trends. In the end, what artists, curators and patrons share most is the joy of personal discovery and expression. ,
Preserving historical traditions of Latino music in Omaha, Nebraska
SouthOmahaArts.com 402.734.3240
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
13
Instructions for a great Valentine’s Day gift:
1. Cut out the announcement below. 4. Order opera tickets. 2. Insert in Valentine’s Day card. 5. Prepare to be smooched. 3. Make dinner reservations.
MAIN FLOOR SEATS
2 FOR
38
$
A
s we power up the Reader in its new monthly format, the visual arts department is ready to recommit its coverage of the Metro scene both online and in print. As its contributing editor I am confident that our readers will continue to receive the best reportage and review of the area contemporary arts vibe media can offer. And we will do this with both new and familiar faces and voices.
and helping to plan a Pocket Neighborhood concept in the Midtown area. Janet Farber is the director of the Phillip Schrager Collection of Contemporary Art in Omaha. A curator whose experience includes more than 15 years overseeing modern and contemporary art at Joslyn Art Museum, Farber continues to write and consult on behalf of museums, galleries and publications in the region.
STAFF EAGER TO RENEW ITS COVERAGE OF METRO CONTEMPORARY ART SCENE
We’re going to
a flowering tree
Love blooms in this romantic tale of transformation and redemption by John Adams. CUT ALONG DOTTED LINE
Friday, February 13 | 7:30 pm Sunday, February 15 | 2:00 pm ORPHEUM THEATER
FOR TICKETS: (402) 345-0606 | TICKETOMAHA.COM
Graham & Sally Lusk
14
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
art
BY MICHAEL J. KRAINAK
But before we introduce our arts writing staff, let me list briefly what you can expect each month in print and at thereader. com each week. The Reader will print the first Thursday of the month allowing us to include three or four previews of the top shows opening the next few weekends. A calendar of arts events will include all others. Each print issue will also publish a feature or in-depth review that highlights key figures, exhibits and events, venues and issues that continue the dialogue with regard to contemporary art in the Metro. As times goes on, additional editorial material will be added such as interviews and capsule reviews. This is a work in progress. Because of that, we hope to include our readers more in the online version, which will add new content daily including 8-Day Picks, the Mixed Media column and weekly reviews. We want your feedback. We look forward to your comments and ideas. There is no conversation without your contribution. That said, here is our staff, who along with myself, are imbedded firmly in the Metro art scene as artists, curators, patrons and writers. Get to know them and what they offer on behalf of visual arts venues and artists of all kinds, emerging and established. They enjoy what they bring to the table and they do it well. As the year progresses I hope to add to their numbers, but for now, they are: Eddith Buis, a 39-year veteran of teaching with Omaha Public Schools as well as Metropolitan Community College, holds a B.S, M.A. and Curriculum Specialist Degree in Art Education. Best known for directing public art projects for the Omaha Metro area (J. Doe, Benchmarks, the Riverfront Icons) , Buis is now focusing on making art, writing
Joel Damon is the founder and curator of Project Project, an independent DIY contemporary arts space in South Omaha focused on providing new opportunities including exhibitions, concerts and lectures for makers and doers in the region. He is also the curator and project manager of Art in the Parks, an ongoing six-piece public art project for the City of Council Bluffs and an Omaha entertainment and arts awards board member. Previously, he was the curator of the Bemis Underground at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. David M. Thompson returned to Omaha in March 2013 after spending 25 years in Chicago engaged in activities including practicing law, non-profit fundraising and working as a teacher and administrator. After completing his bachelor’s degree at the UNL and his master’s degree at Oxford University, England, David completed his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1997. In 2000, he completed his J.D. at Northwestern University, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Northwestern University Law Review. David is on the board of Restoration Exchange Omaha and was a participant in the Citizens’ Academy for Omaha’s Future in Fall 2014. Alex Priest is a curator, spatial thinker and designer holding a degree in Landscape Architecture and Design Studies from Iowa State University. He has curated exhibitions at Concordia University, Seward NE, Gallery 72 and the Michael Phipps Gallery in Omaha. Priest has been volunteer curator for the Omaha Public Library’s Michael Phipps Gallery since November 2013. He works as the exhibition assistant at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. His current research includes spatial anxiety and Dutch design. ,
L
eticia Mejias, one of the partners , is committed to making the experience of finding insurance as pleasant as possible. Along with co-owner/husband Robert and the other owners Diva and Al Mejias, they pride themselves with the best customer service, high quality and is their first priority. “Clients come first always,” Mejias says. “We put their needs ahead of everything else. We try to give them the best information to keep them educated. They don’t have to come with us, but we just want our clients and the general public to be well informed.” “They come in, we give them a quote and they don’t have to necessarily buy a product from us, but as long as they leave knowing what kind of questions to ask if they do go somewhere else, we’re happy.” BEST OPTIONS M&M Insurance recognizes it can be hard to compare coverage options, discounts, and insur-
Let M&M Insurance help with your health insurance!
ance policies on your own so every agent does their best to get you the most appropriate insurance rate for your needs. M&M Insurance offers for health Blue Cross/Blue Shield, United Health Care, Coventry, and Coopportunity, for auto/home MetLife, Progressive, Safeco, Travelers, The Hartford, and many others, which cover auto, motorcycle, home, renters, business, workers comp, all property and casualty insurance policies. “We give you the options,” she says. “We can quote you on all of the available insurance companies. We are able to give you a broad variety. We can find something to better fit your budget.” Mejias loves her work. “This job is very rewarding. All of the feedback from our clients last year, specially in health insurance was really positive. They were relieved they could go into the doctor and not worry about a massive bill coming in the mail. It’s great to know we are able to help people be healthier and be happy.”
M&M Insurance hours are Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
2734 S 123rd Ct. Omaha, NE 68144 Tel: 402.932.2910 | Fax: 402.884.2079 www.mminsassoc.com
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
15
W
ith its rich history and deep roots, the Omaha theatre scene has one of the city’s strongest artistic foundations. While the past 2 years saw some of the community’s strongest productions ever, the years were also defined by forthcoming change, upheaval, and transition. In 2015, many theatres across the city will get the chance to dig back in, embrace their identities, and strengthen the roots dug so long ago.
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the play about George and Martha’s cruel mind games toward their new friends Nick and Honey. The special event Late Night Catechism will be featured over the off season. Interest will focus on the second half of the year when new Artistic Director Hilary Adams gets her first chance to choose a new season. Look for a diverse set of shows featuring more guest directors and an expanded repertoire of alternative programming. The biggest unknown is how they
The last production in the Blue Barn’s old space will be Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic Our Town, opening May 7th. Described by Edward Albee as ‘the greatest American play ever written’, the classic tale of life, love, and death in Grover’s Corners has stood the test of time as a reminder of life’s richness. The second half of the year has many interested in what theme the Blue Barn will choose for their first season in the new space and whether the num-
In the Jungle You Must Wait by Jeremy Johnson will open on April 17th. The play blends together slam poetry and satire to tell the story of a group of coworkers struggling with each other as they raise money for a janitor diagnosed with cancer. In the process, they discover more about themselves than they ever cared to know. Finishing the season in July is Beaufield Berry’s Happy Hour, the story of two brothers clashing after one sets the other up with a girl from
A L O O K A H E A D AT 2 0 1 5 P R O D U C T I O N S BY WILLIAM GRENNAN
■ The Omaha Community Playhouse’s Hawks Mainstage will start off the new year with Little Women: The Musical. Directed by former Associate Artistic Director Susie Baer Collins, the show is a joint endeavor with the Playhouse’ professional wing, the Nebraska Theatre Caravan. The show will have a one month engagement starting in late January before embarking on a national tour. After that, the mainstage will open the Andrew Lloyd Webber hit musical Jesus Christ Superstar on March 6th, featuring John Gajewski as Jesus and Roderick Cotton as Judas. In April, Paul Rudnick’s comedy I Hate Hamlet will show audiences what happens when the ghost of acting legend John Barrymore haunts the apartment of fellow actor tasked with taking on the iconic Shakespearean role. The final show of the season will be the Monty Python musical adaptation Spamalot. Written by founding member Eric Idle, the show openingly admits that it is a ‘loving ripoff of Monty Python and the Holy Grail’. The Playhouse’s Howard Drew Theatre will start the new year off with Hands on a Hardbody, a new musical partially written by Phish frontman Trey Anastasio. The show revolves around several characters as they compete in a radio competition to be the last one with their hands on a new vehicle. The season will finish starting on May 8th with the Tony Award-winning Edward Albee classic Who’s
16
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
go about producing the longtime tradition of A Christmas Carol without Carl Beck and Susie Baer Collins. ■ One of the biggest stories of the year will be the finished construction of the Blue Barn Theatre’s new performance space on 10th and Pacific. Designed by Min/Day Architects with the consultation of Fisher Dachs Associates, the new Blue Barn will be a convertible indoor/outdoor space designed to provide the theatre with a state of the art facility that still maintains the spirit and feel of the old space. The new space will still have the old seats and signature pillars of the old theatre and the seating capacity will be increased but still under 100 seats. But before they move, the Blue Barn still has plenty of offerings to send the old space out in style. First is the special event Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays opening in January. Featuring a large cast of theatre veterans and rookies, the two-week production is the first directed by new Associate Artistic Director Randall Stevens. Following in March is the new Joshua Elias Harmon play Bad Jews. The play tells the story of Daphna, a “Real Jew” with an Israeli boyfriend. When Daphna’s cousin Liam brings home his shiksa girlfriend Melody and declares ownership of their grandfather’s Chai necklace, a vicious and hilarious brawl over family, faith and legacy ensues.
theater
ber of offerings will expand with the addition of Stevens. - SNAP Productions will open the new year with Chad Beguelin’s play Harbor. The dramedy about the shifting nature of family tells the story of a ne’er do well mother and her daughter that crash the home of her brother’s family. Directed by Michael Simpson, the production will open on March 5. After that, Todd Brooks will direct Calendar Girls by Tim Firth. The play is based on the true story of eleven members of the British community organization the Women’s Institute who posed nude for a calendar to raise money for the Leukemia Research Fund. The news of the women’s charitable venture spreads like wildfire, and hordes of press soon descend on the small village of Knapeley in the Yorkshire Dales. The show opens May 28. The next season for SNAP will no doubt stay in line with their revamped artistic mission. Look for a good mix of newer, off-Broadway shows combined with LGBTQ-centric works. ■ The Shelterbelt Theatre will continue its aim of producing locally written plays with three upcoming work by young, Omaha-based playwrights. Starting Jan. 23, Marie Amthor’s play Another Sewing Circle will showcase an all female ensemble as they share unique stories of repercussions from the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the dawn of the millennium.
work. This is the second play of Berry’s the theatre has produced. For the rest of the year, look to see the Shelterbelt continue to reevaluate and reinvent its past traditions while continuing to produce local works and offer intensive workshops. - The Rose Theater will present Max Sparber’s Buffalo Bill’s Cowboy Band followed by Zen Ties, The Reluctant Dragon, Charlotte’s Web, and the new musical version of Mary Poppins. Also look for Nebraska Shakespeare’s productions of Othello and As You Like It, the latter of which will go on tour in September. Bellevue Little Theatre will produce The Miracle Worker, Godspell, and Sabrina Fair. Chanticleer Theater will showcase The Good Doctor, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and The Secret Garden. Creighton will present Noises Off! and Cabaret while UNO Theatre will produce Freakshow and As You Like It. The Omaha Performing Arts Broadway series includes the touring productions of Camelot, Pippin, Motown: The Musical, Mamma Mia!, and the Oscar darling turned eight-time Tony winner Once. The plays produced in the new year reflect the history, transition, and new vision for Omaha theatre. From new buildings to new plays, from old classics to reimagined productions, audiences have never had more to choose from. ,
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
17
C
onsider my predicament. Since inception, Heartland Healing’s been reminding readers of alternatives to Western techno-pharmaceutical medicine. But when the first of each year comes around, staff at The Reader is asked to present predictions for the upcoming year. Therein lies the rub. If my bailiwick is traditional healing arts and sensibilities that have persisted for millennia, what possible change could these ancient practices see
(and profitability) of regulated marijuana use in 23 other states, watch for movement to modernize Nebraska laws in 2015. The smoke signals are up. Prediction: Unicameral discusses catching up. Invest now, Nebraska or see corporations from out of state reap the rewards. American medicine will kill hundreds of thousands. Through December 11, the Food and Drug Administration lists over 40 drugs or medicines recalled in 2014 alone. Recalls included drugs used to
reading), blood pressure and more. Other tech developers offer similar devices on similar platforms. Apple will stir the pot with the wearable Apple Watch in early 2015 but after a short run, the real health benefits will come from ignoring the gadgets and getting outside in nature. Relying on tech to tell us about our bodies is just another big mistake. It’s a form of obsessive health-related navel gazing. The more time and attention we give to technology that actually distances us from our
healthcare activists too numerable to name (Sandy Aquila knows who they are), acupuncture licensing requirements may see a welcome amendment next year. Nebraska-licensed acupuncturists already have extreme requirements that ensure that they are fully trained and experienced in the intricate details of Traditional Chinese Medicine. That won’t change. But some little-understood requirements regarding medical doctors will be modernized to keep up with accessibility standards typical
PREDICTIONS 2015: INTO THE LOOKING GLASS BY MICHAEL BRAUNSTEIN
in the next 12 months? I mean, after 6000 years, is there going to be some startling discovery in the field of acupuncture, say? Practiced for thousands of years as is, will something radically change about yoga, herbology, ayurvedic medicine, feng shui? Or even more recent modalities like homeopathy or iridology or (genuine) chiropractic? Those, along with many others, are traditional therapies. They haven’t basically changed for centuries. It’s doubtful they will in 2015. That said… Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em The current moronic legal actions against marijuana in Nebraska notwithstanding, the sea change has begun. Once just another plant in nature’s garden, thousands of years ago, inquisitive humanoids noticed the spindly-leaved, prodigious herb had special qualities. Cultures have long used cannabis as a ritual and recreational intoxicant and medicine. Unless living under a rock in the United States, or otherwise stoned, it’s hard to ignore the immense shift in public policy about marijuana in just the past couple years. Banned early last century based on ravings that its use was evil and depraved, outlawing marijuana possession is no longer a morally defensible issue. It’s not immoral to use marijuana. It’s immoral to penalize people for it. Look for more states to liberate marijuana from the manacles of insanity that once bound it. After a couple of years seeing the advantages
put you to sleep for surgery (they might not work,) painkillers (they might kill you,) and many others. Want a prediction? Legally prescribed drugs will kill around 100,000 Americans in 2015. Other medical mishaps will add a few hundred thousand more. The total killed by allopathic medicine will range to over a half million avoidable deaths. Regardless of the best private insurance or Obamacare, you’re not safe from that. To be fair, American medicine will also save many lives, especially in the area of trauma care and acute treatments. Where we fall down is in the overuse of drugs, techno-pharmaceutical medicine and treatment of chronic afflictions. The world panicked over 7000 deaths from the Ebola virus in 2014. Yet estimates show that over 700,000 die annually from Western medicine. Prediction 2015: status quo. Health apps will peak. I remember the reveal on Good Morning America when the inventor of the Segway finally exposed the “It” machine that sages (including Steve Jobs) called as revolutionary as the Internet and as important as the PC. Hmmm. Well, the iPhone 6 and associated OS comes with an app that logs an estimate of your daily steps, flights you’ve climbed, distance you’ve walked or run. It’s expandable to log medical information and interface with nutrition apps and wearable technogadgets to record heart rate, temperature, sperm count (just checking to see if you were still
health and wellness, reducing us and our bodies to a stream of data, the less time and attention we give to actually being well and staying active. As the vapid supermodel said, “Shiny…” Prediction: By the end of 2015, health apps and gadgets will go the way of Google Glass and the Segway. Ebay here they come. Prep schools spring up. Not what you think. These won’t be the traditional schools that prep you for college. Those are so quaint. No, these will be increasingly popular classes and businesses that prepare people for being…prepared. The media calls them “preppers”, the people who stockpile food, water, supplies, self-defense weapons and survival items needed to exist past an event that collapses social infrastructure to any degree or another. Government agencies already go to great lengths to encourage people to be prepared for a disaster like a tornado, hurricane, superstorm or other catastrophe. “Bug out bags” will become a fashion accessory. Acupuncture. Well, as promised, there won’t be any actual changes in a medical modality that has been successfully practiced for thousands of years. It’s not like the meridians located three millennia ago will be moved to a different location in the body. But there could be a change in accessibility to acupuncture (and thus, associated Traditional Chinese Medicine) in Nebraska in 2015. As a result of the ongoing and tireless efforts of a handful of
in other states. Licensed acupuncture in Nebraska is relatively new, with the statute dating back to gubernatorial signature in March of 2001. Since then, acupuncture has become a popular first-line approach to wellness, healing and health. Some changes in the structure of the statute will allow clients to have greater accessibility by waiving the requirement that a visit to a medical doctor is required first. Though never an issue for someone like me or most people I know, this makes it easier for many to understand that traditional therapies like acupuncture are to be considered on the frontline of health care. The Reader. Finally, for this column, we predict that The Reader and Heartland Healing will continue to inform and enlighten readers about a more holistic lifestyle and ways to recover or maintain health. Through the format change and the enhanced integration of online connectivity, we’ll make our words available to all in the best ways possible. 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.
JIM JACOBI
CRAP DETECTORS 2014 RELEASES AVAILABLE ON CDBABY, ITUNES, AMAZON PLUS MANY MORE SITES!
incolor.inetnebr.com/kahunas
18
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
heartland healing
MANILOW SPECIAL GUEST
DAVE KOZ
FEBRUARY 11 OMAHA, NE
CENTURYLINK CENTER Click on the "Prize Vault" of our Facebook page and enter to win! /thereaderomaha MANILOW.COM
Lecia Brooks Montgomery Civil Rights Museum & Southern
2014-15
Poverty Law Center
Standing Against Fear & Intolerance
January 15 7:00 p.m. Countryside Community Church 8787 Pacific Street
Racism and Extremism are far from deadCurrently, there are 939 known hate groups in the country. Ms. Brooks will detail the intransigence of hatred and intolerance in America as well as the social and legal actions that together dismantle organized hatred and racism across the country.
JANUARYSHOWS JAN 2-4
JOHN MORGAN
JAN 8-11
GREG MORTON
JAN 12
ADDICTS COMEDY TOUR
JAN 13
TOM GREEN
JAN 15-18
MIDNIGHT SWINGER
JAN 22-25
TOM COTTER
Got a question? Problem? Need advice? The “Ragin’’ Cajun” is here to help! Get your head out of the dark and help yourself with John Morgan’s Comedy Therapy. WAY cheaper than a shrink and definitely more affordable than an attorney!
Is it cheesy to say that Greg Morton is an “animated presence” when performing? It isn’t, if his many cartoon credits are taken into account. He has worked for Hanna-Barbera on The New Flintstones and The Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show and directed ABC’s Hammerman. His comedy style has been likened to a hipper Bill Cosby. As such, Greg mixes a vast array of voices and facial reactions with content that can be a bit risque. He’s been known to impersonate Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, Prince, and even Madonna!
SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT 18 & OVER Humor heals all wounds...eventually. Enjoy the deep laughs emanating from surviving life’s darkest moments in this funny, poignant comedy show about the journey back to sanity. The Addicts’’ Comedy Tour is a new stand-up show about overcoming life challenges with laughter and strength. Drawing upon their shared friendship and experiences around often persistent addictions, nationally headlining and most in-demand recovery comedians Mark Lundholm and Kurtis Matthews finally tour together to share colorful stories about life, love, jail and rehab, and keep you laughing along the way. With over 50 years of recovery between them, these seasoned performers have a lot to share and laugh about. Don’t miss this amazing show!
SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT 21 & OVER On numerous interviews, Green has stated that he started doing stand-up comedy at the age of 15 but stopped after he started his public access show. Green said that going back to stand-up comedy was something he always wanted to do. In September 2009, Green performed several stand-up comedy shows in Los Angeles, and later appeared at a MySpace secret stand up event in New York. On November 10, 2009, he announced his first ever world stand-up comedy tour, and as of January 2010, has been touring the world along with comedian Shawn Halpin going to countries such as Canada, United States, and Australia.
Putting the show back in showman, The Midnight Swinger combines the style and cool of a 60”s Las Vegas performer with the flash and excitement of a 21st century Super Bowl halftime extravaganza. More than just a stand-up comedian, the Midnight Swinger is proud to be called a throwback entertainer. That’s right, an entertainer! The Swinger believes in more than just standing behind the microphone and telling jokes, and doing more than just a simple “comedy show.” The Midnight Swinger puts on a spectacle that leaves the audience LAUGHIN’, SINGIN’ and SWINGIN’.
If laughter is the best medicine, prepare to be heavily medicated. Tom Cotter’s high energy, rapid-fire style of comedy leaves audiences clutching their sides and rolling in the aisles. Recently, Tom became the first comedian to ever reach the finals of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”. His runner up finish on the show has catapulted him to the comedic stratosphere. Tom’s star is rising quickly, CATCH IT!!
JAN 29-FEB 1 JAMES JOHANN
James Johann’s standup career in 1991 in Kansas City.James’ boyish appearance, self-deprecating sense of humor and high-energy style all come together to create a unique onstage persona.His comedy hits upon the universal theme of failure and it provides a truthful and hilarious reflection of life as he sees it.Besides headlining comedy clubs James has been on tour with Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy performing in theatres across the country.
Tickets available for a $10 suggested donation by calling the office or at the door. Call 402-391-0350 or email kellyk@countrysideucc.org. Students with IDs free. | THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
19
T
here are many dining trends that we predicted last year that are humming right along and very likely to increase further still in 2015. For example, sourcing food locally and leaning more toward seasonal ingredients is now par for the course with most local restaurants. We’re quickly moving into a food era where everyone wants to tell you everything about what you’re about to eat. Servers can tell you where your food came from. The app on your smartphone can tell you the calories and micronutrients of the food. The supermarket
with the drink I just ordered?” and you’ll probably get a lengthy response. And of course, specialty cocktails are going to get weirder and more exotic as mixologists try to figure out ways to knock the socks off their customers. This makes me think that it won’t be long before the pendulum swings the other direction, and people start sauntering up to the bar and ask for a simple gin and tonic, but probably not this year. No – this year you’ll have to sit through a fifteen minute explanation of what’s in the drink and why. I think we can expect to see more of those “chains, but
PREDICTIONS: 2015 BY TAM S E N BUT L E R
wants to tell you how you can make this food at home. No matter what it is you’re eating, someone out there wants to tell you more about it. This isn’t a bad thing. Informed consumers can make better, healthier choices. But there’s much more coming in 2015 that you should know about. Opening up your home to friends and family for meals is taken to a new level this year as websites like MealSharing.com become more popular. If you’re hungry, but don’t want to cook, but don’t want to go to a restaurant, but really want to eat at someone’s house, but don’t want to feel weird about not bringing anything, but don’t mind chipping in some cash for the meal, but like eating in someone’s home even though you don’t know anyone there, then this is for you. Pop-up restaurants will also become more mainstream, although they’ll likely maintain their delightful obscurity intentionally. A pop-up restaurant shows up where there was not a restaurant before, and then is gone before most people realize it was there at all. And I’m not just talking about food trucks – I mean temporary restaurants where the only way you know it’s coming is if you’re in the loop. Trust me – it’s really a thing. For most people, their only exposure to a butcher was watching Brady Bunch reruns and witnessing the amazing sexual tension between Alice and Sam the Butcher. Prepackaged cuts of meat in the grocery store have essentially eliminated the butcher-customer faceto-face relationship. But in 2015, people are much more aware of where their meat comes from. They don’t just want to know what farm the meat came from, but they also want to know more about the meat itself. They want to be able to chat with a butcher about the best cuts for certain dishes. This is the year butchers will come out from behind the confines of the meat locker and start educating customers about the meat they’re buying. Pairing wine with certain foods isn’t unusual, and pairing beer with certain foods is making a pretty strong showing among restaurants in the area. Expect to see more pairings of different kinds of drinks like whiskey, scotch, and more to food. Servers will know their stuff, too. You’ll be able to ask your server, “Hey, which of these entrees goes best
20
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
dish
not really big chains” restaurants popping up around town, particularly in the Papillion and West Omaha areas. Take, for example, the addition of Spin! Pizza to Papillion in late 2014. It’s an eatery that has other locations, but not very many. They’re poised for growth, and for whatever reason they chose this area as a good one to land. Consider the folks who oopened the Smallcakes Cupcakery in Papillion. They’re not from this area, but when they researched places around the U.S. where they might like to open up their business, Papillion made sense to them. If it makes sense to them, it probably makes sense to a bunch more potential business owners who are looking for somewhere to open up a restaurant. Expect to see more chains hit town that were once regional elsewhere. I’m not thinking that we’re in for an In-N-Out anytime soon (which is a pity, because I would go bonkers if they opened one out here), but I do expect to see more places coming to Omaha that you would have had to travel to otherwise. The world’s shrinking, you know. Now who do I talk to about getting a Jamba Juice to open up here in Omaha? You can figure out how to do just about anything with food now, thanks to the Internet. You want to make a Turkducken? Want to build a smoker? Have a hankering for roasting your own coffee beans at home? No matter what it is you want to do, you can find detailed instructions online. As a result, expect to encounter more ambitious cuisine when you go out to eat. Chefs know that people want more than food when they go out to eat – they want an experience. They want to be able to take a photo of their meal and post it on Instagram, proudly announcing they just ate tong zi dan or whatever. While the National Restaurant Association can’t tell me much about what’s going to happen right here within the Omaha food scene, they do have a few predictions for eating out in general. These predictions come from chef surveys and food experts, so I suppose they know what they’re talking about. Let’s face it; every year is The Year of Food here in Omaha. We love food. We’re fortunate to live in an area where there are so many great chefs and eateries that are willing to feed us such good food. It’s going to be a great year! ,
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
21
E
rmahgerd! Jam packed with long-awaited sequels, promising indie fare and Quentin Tarantino’s Hate, 2015 promises to blow the lid off the box office while blowing our lids. What follows is my most anticipated 15 films of 2015. It’s completely fair for you to be excited about other movies because there’s no law against being wrong.
12 – Beasts of No Nation Director: Cary Fukunaga Release date: 2015 Fukunaga directed HBO’s “True Detective.” Ergo, I want to watch whatever Fukunaga does next. “Excited” and “anticipated” aren’t easy words to use about a movie that tells the story of a child soldier fighting in a civil war in Africa. So, let’s say I’m “intrigued” and “inter-
8 – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Director: Frances Lawrence Release date: Nov 20 Somehow, the dude who directed I Am Legend and Constantine has delivered one of the most defining sci-fi film series of our era. With Jennifer Lawrence’s raw, gutty performances buoying the proceedings, this franchise hasn’t faltered
4 – Avengers: Age of Ultron Director: Joss Whedon Release date: May 1 Have you heard about this small independent film? A sequel to one of the top-grossing films of all time, this action orgy of comic book goodness features my favorite Avengers’ bad guy. After all these years, part of me still feels like this wave of Marvel movies was the result of a wish I made on
15 FOR 15 UPCOMING MOVIES WORTH SURVIVING B Y RYA N S Y R E K T H E H O L I DAYS 15 – Jupiter Ascending Directors: The Wachowskis Release date: Feb 6 Channing Tatum plays an alien wolfman trying to rescue the queen of the universe (Mila Kunis) while fighting lizard people. I’m in. It’s not an encouraging sign that the studio moved this wacky space opera from July 2014 to February, but Edge of Tomorrow proved studios have no idea how to appropriately market sci-fi that doesn’t have a Trek or Wars in it. Although they’ve been maligned, I am and always will be Team Wachowski.
14 – Chappie Director: Neill Blomkamp Release date: March 6 If you think about it, why wouldn’t sci-fi auteur Blomkamp write a movie about a sentient robot taken in by a pair of criminals played by the members of the real-life art rap band Die Antwoord? Free advice: If you Google Die Antwoord and see their music videos, make sure you’re in a happy, well-medicated place before watching. Although the trailer didn’t instill overwhelming confidence, looking like an indie version of I Robot, District 9 bought Blomkamp decades of my trust. Spend wisely, friend.
13 – Silence Director: Martin Scorsese Release date: November One day, Martin Scorsese is going to direct his last film. On that day, cinema will lose one of (if not the) all-time greats. If he’s making a movie, that movie goes on my anticipated list. Even if it has a plot that sounds like something I’d hate… and this one does. An adaptation of a novel, this will feature two Jesuit priests in Japan trying to spread Christianity. The cast is interesting, with Adam Driver, Andrew Garfield and THE Liam Neesons, but the real appeal is from the Marty man himself.
22
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
ested” to see what Fukunaga can do with this content, as his beautiful style seems at odds with the brutal subject.
11 – Ant Man Director: Peyton Reed Release date: July 17 Had the original director, Edgar Wright, survived the preproduction process, this would have been higher on my list. That said, how can you not be revved to see Paul Rudd play a superhero and see Evangeline Lilly do literally anything? Described as more of a “heist” movie than a superhero outing, Marvel is hotter than Hansel, and there’s no reason to doubt this will break that streak.
10 – I Walk with the Dead Director: Nicolas Winding Refn Release date: 2015 I’m one of the five people in the world who really liked Refn’s Only God Forgives. If I loved that, there’s little doubt I’m on board for this, even if it is in my second least favorite genre. Refn doing a horror movie sounds…well, dangerous, quite frankly. The fact that he’s committed to making an all-female horror film ups the stakes and promises to increase the scrutiny on the brilliant weirdo.
9 – Spectre Director: Sam Mendes Release date: Nov 6 Skyfall was the best Bond movie, even if you’re a Sean Connery apologist. Heck, it was the best Bond movie, even if you’re Sean Connery. The title indicates 007 is finally going to tackle a global menace for the first time in Daniel Craig’s tenure. Christoph Waltz is the big baddie, and rumor has it he may be stroking a cat before it’s all said and done. That’s not a euphemism. He may play Blofeld. Get your mind out of the gutter.
film
yet. Although some readers kvetched about the ending of the book series, I’m not one of them. I found the conclusion so satisfying that the only way the movies can disappoint me is if they listen to the whiners and change something.
7 – Untitled Rian Johnson Sci-fi Project Director: Rian Johnson Release date: 2015 You know you’ve made an impression if you don’t have a plot or title for your movie and it cracks my top 10. I was way, way too hard on Looper when I first watched it. Subsequent rewatches lead me to conclude that Johnson’s voice is one we need in my favorite genre. Moreover, since we’re losing him to Star Wars in the next few years, it’s more important than ever we get one final go with an original idea beforehand.
6 – Pitch Perfect 2 Director: Elizabeth Banks Release date: May 15 I do not and will not apologize for my love of the first Pitch Perfect. From the funky acapella breakdowns to a soft-spoken Asian girl making snow angels in vomit, I loved every single thing about it (I’m looking at you, Anna Kendrick). With Banks sliding behind the director’s chair, I have full faith that this will leave me in aca-awe.
5 – The Hateful Eight Director: Quentin Tarantino Release date: 2015 When Tarantino’s script for this leaked, he threw a tantrum and said he wouldn’t make it. Then he did a live reading. Then he came to his senses. Now we all get to see this Western tale of bounty hunters trapped in a blizzard. Some advice for those hunters: if you have to resort to cannibalism, don’t even think about chomping on Sam Jackson.
birthday candles at some point.
3 – Mad Max: Fury Road Director: George Miller Release date: May 15 How did they give the director of Happy Feet a huge budget to make an installment of a franchise that has been dormant for 3 decades? That’s not me complaining. Featuring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron and all of the explosions and car chases, the trailer alone for this one had my heart doing the Red Bull dance.
2 – Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Director: JJ Abrams Release date: Dec 18 After the prequels, Star Wars fans went through the five stages of grief. Just as we arrived at acceptance, Episode VII was announced. Having been hurt before, we pretended not to be excited. Then the first trailer hit, and we collectively nerdgasmed, screaming “Star Wars is back!” If Abrams sticks the landing, he’ll be the most beloved thing to geeks since Internet pornography.
1 – Untitled Benh Zeitlin project Director: Benh Zeitlin Release date: 2015 You may be thinking “Who?” Zeitlin did Beasts of the Southern Wild, which is my favorite movie of all time. There isn’t a frame of film or bit of score that I don’t love with all my heart. I’ve been waiting to hear how he’d follow up a film that came out of nowhere to snag a Best Picture nomination. I still don’t know much, but I know that something is coming. And I. Can’t. Wait. ,
313 N. 13TH STREET / LINCOLN, NE
SHOWING IN JANUARY
The Red Balloon 1956
FILM STREAMS PRESENTS:
CALL OR CHECK OUR WEBSITE FOR MOVIE TIMES AND PRICES
Forever Young Family & Children’s Series Winter 2015 Quality film fit for the whole family! Kids 12 and under get in for just $2.50! January 10, 11, 15, 17, 18, & 22 The Red Balloon 1956 Directed by Albert Lamorisse.
Mar 7, 8, 12, 14, 15 & 19 The King and the Mockingbird 1980 Directed by Paul Grimault.
Jan 24, 25, 29, 31, Feb 1, 5, 7, 8 & 12 Song of the Sea 2014 (PG) Directed by Tomm Moore.
Mar 21, 22, 26, 28, 29 & April 2 Microcosmos 1996 (G) Directed by Claude Nuridsany & Marie Pérennou.
Feb 14, 15 & 19 Little Women 1933 Directed by George Cukor. Feb 21, 22, 26, 28, Mar 1 & 5 Looney Tunes 1944 - 1957
Info & tickets at filmstreams.org. Series made possible with support by
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
23
When not processing words on a keyboard, she earns her ink and paper as a graphic designer. More at http:// marieamthor.wordpress.com/ where she quotes Tennessee Williams: “I have found it easier to identify with the characters who verge upon hysteria, …strong people really.” Perhaps such words underpin the fabric of what she brings to life on stage. — Gordon Spencer
Through Feb. 15 ANGIE SEYKORA’S WORKING MATERIALS ART EXHIBITION Creighton University Lied Art Gallery Recepton Friday, Jan. 16 from 5:30 p.m. to 730 p.m. Artist lecture Saturday, Jan. 24 from 1-2 p.m. Events are free and open to the public Hours: 1 to 4 p.m. www.creighton.edu
Saturday, Jan. 10 SIX ROUNDS OF PUNK Mid-America Center, 1 Arena Way 6:00 pm, $24.75 www.midamericacenter.com Six Rounds of Punk, that’s right, the Mid-America Center is hosting a punk rock show featuring six bands that are sure to rock your socks off…and quite possibly your ear drums. This hardcore-tastic concert will feature The Misfits, The Vandals, Dead Kennedys, Guttermouth, Strung Out and Total Chaos. The Misfits are an aggressive, horror punk and rock band that began over 30 years ago in 1977 and they are not only still around today, but they are thriving. With old and new music they have the opportunity to create a new fan base while still keeping their diehard fans. Guttermouth, the punk rock band formed in 1988, has just released its 10th full length album. The band is appropriately named because their lyrics are the furthest thing from prude or conservative. Their behavior matches their deliberately explicit THE DEAD KENNEDYS
and humorously offensive manners. Dead Kennedys in the late ’70s were one of the most popular hardcore punk bands. Their music was unique in the punk genre because of the diverse sound they created and mixed together. In 1986 the band called it quits, but reformed without Jello Biafra in 2001. They took a break from touring, but now they are back. Strung Out formed in 1989 as a punk rock band in California, they have a different approach to punk using a melodic punk and progressive rock sound as well as heavy metal. Total Chaos was also formed in 1989 and in California. Their hardcore punk sound was created for what they called a desperate need to save the dying genre of punk rock. The band has not only played their fill of punk, but created multiple organizations, with the help of other bands, such as United Valley Punks, Orange County Peace Punks and Alternative Gathering Collective. They have held social events with these organizations to support certain causes. If you are a punk fan and believe in keeping it alive, come support these six iconic bands. — Mara Wilson
24
JANUARY 2015
COLD WAR KIDS
Thursday, Jan, 22 COLD WAR KIDS The Slowdown, 729 North 14th St. 8:00 pm, $22 ADV/$25 DOS www.theslowdown.com Presented by 1% Productions Cold War Kids comes to Omaha. For those that don’t know these rock/soul musicians, they began in 2004 in Fullerton, California on the rooftop of a restaurant. They were a band that created their sound without instruments. They perfected this sound and now with the use of instruments, and still with the occasional use of clapping, the Cold War Kids know how to entertain. This group lets off a sound into the world that just plain feels good. With beats you can move to, a strong voice to follow and a powerful motion of feeling put into their songs, this is a concert to look forward to. Also at this event will be the multi-talented singer, songwriter, producer and visual artist, twentyyear-old Elliot Moss. Moss recently released his debut album a little more than a year ago which was recorded and mixed mostly by himself. — Mara Wilson Saturday, Jan. 24 BAHAMAS Reverb Lounge, 61221 Military Ave 9:00 pm, $13 www.reverblounge.com Afie Jurvanen, a Finnish-Canadian, goes beyond the ordinary and takes a look at life from every angle. Jurvanen has been creating music under the name Bahamas since 2009 and his newest album was released August of 2014. The songs give the idea to plug in your headphones, meander down the street and have a seat in a coffee shop. Even the upbeat songs of Bahamas holds a chill quality and his simple yet playful sound takes you on a tour of exploration. Jurvanen produced an album that takes a turn he said he didn’t even realize he was creating. Bahamas believes that you are stronger than you are and he will be there to remind you of that. Afterall, Jurvanen has all the time in the world and if you want some of it, coming to his show is your chance. — Mara Wilson
| THE READER |
picks
Through Feb. 15 THE OTHER SEWING CIRCLE Shelterbelt Theatre 3225 California St. Thurs-Sat: 8 p.m. Sun: 2 p.m. Tickets: $10-15 www.shelterbelt.org As dawn rose over this millennium, HIV and AIDS epidemics poisoned countless lives. Women dealing with the repercussions shed light on what has happened to them, gathering in a circle of life, the Edgewood Sewing Circle. There they quilt, stich and sew, discussing the threads of their lives, those undone, those repaired, patching together whatever they can. Omaha BrazilianAmerican Marie Amthor probes these issues, weaving together such stories. Her dialogue, her ideas, her imagination were revealed with Coming Up For Air which surfaced at the Great Plains Theater Conference in 2007. BAHAMAS
Working Materials is a solo exhibition by the Omaha based artist and Creighton University alumnae, and it will be the first in a yearlong series of special exhibitions at the Lied Art Gallery to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Fine and Performing Arts Department. Curated by Creighton University Associate Professor of Fine Art Amy Nelson, this exhibition will showcase recent works by Seykora that demonstrate investigations into pattern, labor and the hierarchy of material through her craft based studio practice. Angie Seykora utilizes a combination of found, repurposed and recycled materials to explore the intersection of seemingly formal arrangement and the ubiquitous nature of consumer culture. At first glance Seykora’s work mimics industrial manufacturing executed through her labor-intensive craftwork process. However, as the viewer is seduced through the vibrant visually appealing surfaces, the slight irregularities of her handwork are revealed. Upon this discovery the audience is asked to reconcile their initial assumptions with the reality before them, calling into question prescribed values of material and the physically engaged processes of making. — Michael J.Krainak
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
25
We've only just begun. 01.07.15
26
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
feature
SEEKING THE MAGIC ~ FOSTERING THE SCENE THE READER’S SENIOR CONTRIBUTING WRITER AND HOODOO BLUES COLUMNIST B.J. HUCHTEMANN WINS N AT I O N A L M U S I C A W A R D FOR JOURNALISM S TO RY B Y J O S H UA H OY E R PHOTO BY CHIP DUDEN
A
nyone in the Omaha/Lincoln music scene who has had the good fortune of befriending B.J. Huchtemann knows just how dedicated she is to Roots music. You can see it at every show she attends. From her own big band roots to a college epiphany and her immersion in roots music, Huchtemann’s lifetime of work is about to receive one of the highest honors in music journalism. On Friday, Jan. 23, Huchtemann will receive the Keeping the Blues Alive Award for Journalism, given out annually by the Blues Foundation in Memphis. Huchtemann is the fourth Nebraskan to win a Keeping The Blues Award along with Larry Boehmer, Terry O’Halloran and Rick Galusha and honored to be a woman winning the Award in more male-dominated industry.
Each year, the awards are given to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the Blues world. In Huchtemann’s case, it is her deeply sincere passion for music that has fueled her work over the last 25 years. That passion began early when as a child she would watch her mother, Peggy, dressing to the nines in preparation of going to see Big Band concerts at the Elms Ballroom in Schuyler. It is told that her father, not particularly into music, would often have BJ or her brother dance with Peggy while listening to Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and other Big Band favorites. Huchtemann also remembers spending a lot of time in her youth with a transistor radio that would fill the air with a variety of genres including Soul, Blues, Pop and Rock from Ray Charles to The Monkees.
But it wasn’t until the early ’80s in college where Huchtemann fell in love with the world of Roots music. Attending University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she took a lecture class called “Arts Today” with Professor Larry Lusk. Lusk brought the infamous Jay McShann in from Kansas City to perform and she was taken aback. Huchtemann quickly became a regular at the ZOO Bar, where owner Larry Boehmer often hosted McShann as a performer. She defined the performances of McShann and newly re-discovered singer, Alberta Hunter, as “magical.” “You know, there are certain artists that just have, I guess, such a passion for the music, or a connection with the music, that it’s not just a performance, it’s an experience,” she said. “And if you’re really lucky, you experience this kinetic thing that can only happen
feature
with live music; where there’s an energy sharing, and the more the audience responds, the more the artist responds, and it can really be magical. I feel sorry for people that don’t give live music a chance, because to me it is one of the most important things. It’s like religion to me.” Seeking the “magic” in music has inspired Huchtemann to see thousands of shows and form deep, lasting bonds with musicians and industry professionals that span from the local scene to iconic international status. Here are what some of those folks have to say about her: “It’s rare, I think, to find people who pay attention to the details and get it all so right. I’m sure the Nebraska music scene, roots music in particular, ben-
| THE READER |
continued on page 28 y
JANUARY 2015
27
THURSDAY JAN 1
MONDAY JAN 12
CLOSED HAPPY NEW YEAR
Mike Gurciullo and his Las Vegas Big Band
FRIDAY JAN 2
TUESDAY JAN 13
Hi-Fi Hangover
Billy Troy
SATURDAY JAN 3
WEDNESDAY JAN 14
Rough Cut
The Grease Band
MONDAY JAN 5
THURSDAY JAN 15
THURSDAY JAN 22
Steve Raybine FRIDAY JAN 23
Bozak & Morrissey SATURDAY JAN 24
Taxi Driver
MONDAY JAN 26
Mike Gurciullo and his Las Vegas Big Band
Chad Stoner
Mike Gurciullo and his Las Vegas Big Band
FRIDAY JAN 16
Soul Dawg
TUESDAY JAN 27
TUESDAY JAN 6
Annie Mullins WEDNESDAY JAN 7
Bozak & Morrissey
Spontaneous Combustion
SATURDAY JAN 17
Eckophonic
WEDNESDAY JAN 28
The Persuaders
MONDAY JAN 19
THURSDAY JAN 8
Mike Gurciullo and his Las Vegas Big Band
THURSDAY JAN 29
Ed Archibald FRIDAY JAN 9
TUESDAY JAN 20
Scott Evans
FRIDAY JAN 30
Bluehouse
SATURDAY JAN 10
WEDNESDAY JAN 21
SATURDAY JAN 31
The 402 Band
In the Gruv
Lemon Fresh Day
The Brits
Secret Weapon
y continued from page 27 efits greatly from her passion and professionalism in print.” — Tommy Castro (Blues Music Award Winner) She has a keen awareness of soulful music regardless of the genre, and can always discern the more artistic bands from the mundane.” — Larry Boehmer (founder of ZOO Bar) “For as long as I have known her, B.J. Huchtemann has been a perceptive, compassionate and non-stop promoter of blues music and the musicians that perform it. She’s helped me, and so many other musicians, through some damn rough times as well as shared the good times and has given wise career counseling to more musicians than I count. If every city had someone like her, the world of music would be a better place.” — Dave Alvin (Grammy-Award Winner) “As a local musician, I can’t think of anyone who, on a daily basis, passionately promotes and shares with the public the upcoming events and artists in our area. BJ is a tremendous asset to our community and local music scene and we are lucky to have her in Omaha.” — Matt Cox (Local Musician) “It’s one thing to just write about music, it’s a whole another thing to show up and become a part of it like she does. She doesn’t just write about the music, she lives it and is passionate about it. That’s the way it should be.” — Kris Lager (Local Musician) “B.J. has good taste and she knows music and I find that rare. I talk to a lot of music critics who have no idea about the history and the roots of it. And she actually goes out to learn more and that is extremely impressive. I talk to a lot of people that don’t get what I’m saying, that misquote me left and right. It’s refreshing to find someone who really cares about writing about music.” — Curtis Salgado (Blues Music Award Winner) In the early ’90s, Huchtemann saw dwindling crowds for some of her favorite Roots artists, namely a show at the Howard Street Tavern where 40 people showed up to see Luther Allison. She realized the mainstream press was not going to cover Roots music so she held off on CD reviews she was writing for the regional music monthly “The Note” in order for them to coincide with local performances. At that time, editor John Heaston reached out to her about doing Blues coverage for The Reader. Looking back, she realizes that in the days before the internet, people used to talk more about music; they hung out at record stores and talked about what shows they were excited to see. Essentially, her Hoodoo column, and the freedom afforded to her by The Reader editors, harkened back to
those days of lively conversations on what great music was coming through town. Huchtemann doesn’t claim to be, see herself as, or market herself as an “authority” on music. She sees herself as a knowledgeable fan that is blessed with a platform to reach people in the community. She defines the foundation of her job as trying to connect the artist with audiences that will respect, appreciate and hopefully be moved by their work. At The Reader, she is thankful for the freedom to write about the music she loves most, but has been asked why she seems to lack a critical voice. Her response is that she’d rather talk about the artists creating music that is significant, rather than bash the artists that aren’t quite there yet. If any of you have seen B.J. at a show, you know exactly where her heart is. You can see the happiness she exudes while listening to great music. She is in it. She is with you. It is magic. Talking about seeing older performers such as Jay McShann, she says “after a song or two, if you really look, if you really watch, you can see the days and the years roll off. And you can see the joy that they get out of the music. And you can see the person that started making music and it is pretty amazing. Music IS medicine.” Memorable performances by her favorite artists including Jon Dee Graham and Dave Alvin, seeing Curtis Salgado at Playing With Fire after his liver transplant, seeing Odetta in the misty rain at the Chicago Blues Festival, seeing Luther Allison for the first time at a completely packed ZOO Bar, have solidified the idea that music is a very special thing when it works. As we see crowds and musicians in the Blues world aging, Huchtemann gets frustrated at some younger perspectives that think of Blues in a negative light, as sad or depressing. She notes that new, younger artists such as Shakey Graves and John Fullbright are packing houses and are very rooted in Blues music and she hopes that younger crowds will realize what they are hearing and be willing to dig deeper into Roots culture. “Blues is not sad music,” she said. “Blues is about celebration. Blues is about community. What we are facing now, is this issue of not enough people coming out to keep places like The ZOO with a secure future.” She is very aware that club owners that succeed realize that you have to build a following and not write off great bands if they don’t pack the place the first time. With that thought, always fighting for the cause, BJ encourages people to just please get out of the house and go see live music. Search for the magic. ,
W
ant to change the future?
Pioneer Publishing, the parent company of El Perico and The Reader, has co-working space available near the heart of South Omaha for creative professionals looking for a great work atmosphere for as little as $75/ month, including internet service. Perfect studio space available for the right person.
become a
(We’ll save you a seat.)
Please contact Clay Seaman, clays@thereader.com or 402-341-7323 x108 if you are interested. 402-930-3000 • mentor@p4k.org
28
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
feature
Saturday April 18th - Elmwood Park 11:00am - 6:00pm
BOOTHS - BANDS - FOOD - SPEAKERS www.EarthDayOmaha.com fb.com/EarthDayOmaha @EarthDayOmaha | THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
29
Thursday, January 15, 2015 | 7:30 PM | Holland Center | Scott Recital Hall
ORDER NOW:
Tickets start at $25 | TicketOmaha.com | 402.345.0606 All productions, performers, prices, dates and times subject to change.
WARNING OFFICE IN THE HEART OF HOT GUYS! FREE TO LISTEN & REPLY TO ADS!
Omaha
402.341.4000
Small, public-facing office available in the heart of South Omaha with shared reception area and conference room. Includes street signage opportunity and internet. Great Value!
FREE CODE: Omaha Reader For other local numbers call:
1-888-MegaMates
TM
24/7 Customer Care 1(888) 634.2628 18+ ©2013 PC LLC 2562
30
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
Please contact Clay Seaman, clays@thereader.com or 402-341-7323 x108 if you are interested.
the way back story: a tal e of survival
P
b y Wa r r e n F r a n c k e
undits have predicted the death of newspapers for a century or so, but some keep defying the forecasts, including The Reader you’re now reading. I’m not exactly a mass murderer, but I’ve killed a few weeklies myself. Or at least my columns ran in a few Omaha weeklies that didn’t survive. Not that all the papers that ran my words died. The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil lives on, though it’s now part of the Omaha World-Herald’s corporate holdings. I wrote columns for a high school paper called the Echoes, and it still echoes (echo, echo). I even wrote columns for the University of Nebraska at Omaha Gateway and it soon celebrates its centennial. (For the record, its most famous column writer was a fellow named Dick Holland.) But it’s one thing to survive when supported by strong institutions, and quite another for a newspaper to live independently for 20 years as an alternative to a monopoly daily. So pardon me if celebrating The Reader’s two-decade run reminds of the fallen, including many so short-lived as to make its endurance rather amazing. The Reader hasn’t once failed to publish since starting bi-monthly in February, 1994, moving to weekly in 1996 and now monthly in 2015. If that doesn’t seem so remarkable, recall the silenced voices. Before radio emerged in the 1920s, Omahans found alternative voices in a handful of daily newspapers with different politics and different names: the World, the Herald, the Republican, the Bee and the News, among others in the city’s first half century. continued on page 22 y
timeline
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
1
94
ground zero: of course it was bo r n at a bar in 1 994 by kevin simonson
I
survive, an alternative publication needed every “alternative” source of revenue it could find. If you were seeking a soul-mate or perhaps a dinner date (keep in mind this was before Facebook, Grinder, Backpage, etc.) you would check out “The Meeting Place”. It was free to place an ad but if you wanted to reply to a printed ad or browse through the voice greetings you could call a 900 number (for only $1.99 a minute). Courtship is much easier nowadays, right? In between these two (now defunct) sections we inserted colorful columns by local heavy-weights: Todd & Tyler, Mike Messerly, Otis & Diver Dan, Guy Rudloff, Gary Java and Michael Braunstein, to name a few. If there was a story that the Omaha WorldHerald shied away from…we were there. We had some pretty lofty goals. But we also wanted to entertain! So into the mix we tossed in some great book reviews (Kyle Tonniges), an advice column (“Mondo Can Help”), movie reviews (“Bix Pix The Flix”), restaurant reviews (Geoff Jordan), a very comprehensive ‘Entertainment Guide’…and Mr. Weepy. The ads were even entertaining. Right now I’m looking at one from March of ’94. Tool was com-
t has been said many times throughout history that some of the greatest ideas are hatched in the darkness of a bar. The Reader was born in a brewpub in Omaha circa 1994. It wasn’t an easy birth. As newborns go, this baby was a bit anemic and lacked the rosy red cheeks of other publications in the continental United States. But within a month or two we started to add color to the cover and back page. Eventually it became a full-color publication. The Reader came into this life as a bi-weekly. It was published every other Wednesday. Some of the defining characteristics of this young publication included an actual “Letters to the Editor” section on the first page. Back then, people still wrote letters, put them in envelopes and mailed them to our office. The last couple of pages of The Reader consisted of a section called “The Meeting Place.” To
OMAHA STAR The oldest continually running black femaled founded and owned newspaper in the country, Mildred D. Brown founded the Omaha Star in 1938 and publication continues to this day under her niece Marguerita Washington. To preserve the founder’s legacy, Washington started the Mildred D. Brown Memorial Study Center, preserving the Star’s archives and serving youth interested in communications.
OMAHA SUN Founded just after Christmas in 1951, the Sun grew to a be a local chain of weekly newpapers targeting neighborhoods from South Omaha to Benson and then West Omaha, which didn’t go much past 72nd Street at the time. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought the Sun in 1968. In 1971 the Sun became the first weekly newspaper to with a Pulitzer for Investigative Reporting for it’s expose on Boys Town.
THE 1ST ALTERNATIVE
OMAHA’S ONLY PULITZER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
OMAHA BEE Founded in May, 1871 by Bohemain Jewise immigrant and Union Civil War veteran Edward Rosewater, the Omaha World-Herald later reported the paper was founded to support the bill creating Nebraska’s first board of education. In 1900, E.W. Ingraham, founder of the White Castle fast food chain, got his first job there as a cattle reporter. The Omaha Bee was sold to William Randolph Heast in 1927. who later sold it to the Omaha World-Herald in 1937, making Omaha an early daily newspaper monopoly and one-paper town.
2
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
ing to the Civic Auditorium with The Flaming Lips opening. Tickets were only $12.50. Then…out of freakin’ nowhere, Al Gore invented the internet! And the publishing world was never the same. Numerous newspapers and magazines either switched to an online format or just totally disappeared. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I still like to actually hold whatever I’m reading. When I finish a book, I thumb through the pages and re-read blurbs and stare at the cover, lost in deep thought. So anyway…this paper was born in a brewpub in 1994. We laid out the pages in a train car attached to the building. One time a greyhound inexplicably pounced through a door that was slightly ajar and trampled all over the upcoming issue. Someone eventually lured the dog out using a piece of beef jerky. With a deadline looming we frantically patched together the publication as best as we could. The issue went to press with paw prints and teeth marks on virtually every page (but I don’t think anyone really noticed). And wow…check it out now! The Reader is all grown-up. To this day, I still get a few goosebumps whenever I smell fresh newsprint. ,
FIGHTING FOR TO SAVE THE OLD MARKET
THE METROPOLITAN: Started as the Sun Newspaper began its decline after publisher Stan Lipsey’s departure for the newly purchased Buffalo New and Buffett’s sale of the Sun newspapers to a Chicago publisher, John Lee’s Metropolitan filled the weekly newspaper void. Lee and editor John Boyd led the fight to save Jobbers Canyon, the warehouse district along Omaha’s riverfront. A small fraction of that area is today’s Old Market, one of the top tourist destinations in the state.
timeline
OMAHA’S OLDEST ALTERNATIVE
A NONPROFIT MONTHLY
SOUND NEWS & ARTS: Creighton students Barry Bedlan, Tsu Ling Toomer, Jamie Welch, Ken Guthrie and John Brackle teamed up with UNO students John Heaston, Ed Stastny, Ted Grau, John Giles, Kelly Powell and others to launch Omaha’s first general publication alternative to the mainstream media in 1994. Spurred in part by an effort to keep Sokol Auditorium open, that venue’s basement, Sokol Underground, would become an important venue for local musicians and was the first home for local music promotion powerhouse 1% Productions.
nomadic newsweekly: From Dundee to the Old Mar k e t to Downtown and Back Ag ain
b y wa r r e n f r a n c k e a n d j o h n h e a s t o n
Born in co-founder Mark Simonson’s apartment at 49th and Dodge, The Reader moved to the railroad car next to Sharky’s Brewery at 77th and Cass before settling in on the 2nd floor of the old Firehouse Dinner Theater and now Upstream Brewery in 1995. With the move to weekly, The Reader was now near the County Courthouse in the old Matthews Bookstore at 1618 Harney in the Keeline Building, the supposed spot where a young Henry Fonda watched the 1919 Lynching. In the basement, music editor Curtis Grubb launched Grasshopper Takeover and the band pad had frequest gatherings, most notably with 311 and opening act Gwen Stefani after their Civic Auditorium concert. In 1999, The Reader moved back to Dundee, first to 48th & Dodge and then to 50th & Underwood. It’s during the last leg of these travels that most of the issues from 1994 and 1995 were lost. While most of these early copies of The Reader are archived at the Nebraska State Historical Society, we’re still looking for copies of these issues: Feb, 16, 1994 - 1st issue March 2, 1994 March 16, 1994 March 30, 1994 April 13, 1994 April 27, 1994 May 11, 1994 May 25, 1994 June 8, 1994 June 22, 1004 July 6, 1994 July 20, 1994 August 3, 1994 November 9, 1994 November 23, 1994
December 7, 1994 December 21, 1994 January 4, 1995 January 18, 1995 February 1, 1995 February 15, 1995 March 1, 1995 March 15, 1995 March 29, 1995 April 12, 1995 June 21, 1995 July 5, 1995 July 19, 1995 August, 2, 1995 August 16, 1995
August 30, 1995 September 13, 1995 September 27, 1995 October 11, 1995 October 25, 1995 November 8, 1995 November 22, 1995 December 6, 1995 December 20, 1995
The start of Omaha’s explosive indie music scene can be traced back to the all ages, non=profit music club Cog Factory, founded by Rob Rathe and Scott Ruehlie. Finally offering a home for local musicians of any age to play, many of the bands on the Saddle Creek label performed here, including The Faint, Neva Dinova, Slowdown Virginai (Cursive), and Commander Venus (Conor Oberst’s first band). The Cog Factory also hosted national touring acts like Dillinger Four, Man or Astro-man?, Rancid and Spoon.
WOMEN SEEKING MEN: Attractive Lady, 46, 5’6”, medium build. Enjoys gardening, outdoors, dining out, quiet times. Seeks WM 49-53, 6’ or taller, who enjoys homelife, cooking, outdoors, for relationship. MEN SEEKING WOMEN: HE BANDS: If you are a good-looking SWF, 20-27, 5’7”, 120 lbs, this extremely handsome pilot would like to talk! Frequent layovers in Omaha, nonsmoker. In the mid-’90s, as you can see, people were very specific regarding the height of potential dates.
DO YOU REMEMBER 1995?
ACTUAL CLASSIFIED AD CIRCA ’94
OMAHA NIGHTLIFE: Capitol Bar, Ranch Bowl, Sharky’s Brewery, Arthur’s, Howard Street Tavern, The White Rabbit, 49’r, The Cog Factory, Saddle Creek Bar, Three Cheer’s, Dooley’s THE BANDS: Mighty Jailbreakers, Blue Moon Ghetto, Hat Trick, Old Boy Network, Lie Awake, Beef Curtans, The Kind, Shovelhead, The Cocktosens, Lash LaRue & the Rage, Ritual Device, The Labels, Mousetrap, Snakey Billy & the Blonde Iguanaz, Secret Skin, Stick Figures, Grateful Dudes OTHER STUFF: The Antiquarium Bookstore, Peony Park, Indian Hills Theatres, Emmy Gifford’s Children’s Theatre, Firehouse Dinner Theatre, Rosenblatt Stadium, New Tower Inn, Magic Theatre, Pickles Records & Tapes, Aksarben
95
GET THE LEAD OUT: With most of Jobbers Canyon cleared for a new corporate campus, the 100-year-old Asarco refinery site was finally cleared and capped, the reason we sitll can’t grow trees along the riverfront. The emissions from Asarco contributed to east Omaha being declared the largest Superfund site in American for its lead contamination.
NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT
LARGEST SUPERFUND SITE IN AMERICA
STARTS WITH OMAHA TOGETHER ONE COMMUNITY The first issue of The Reader featured a cover story about local churches organizing for social justice under the acronym OTOC. Lambasted by the Omaha World-Herald as a “Saul Alinksy” effort, OTOC continues working today as Omaha’s largest cross-community collaboration. Almost two decades later, America’s first black would be called an “Alinsky-style community organizer” by opponents, even as shortly thereafter Alinsky’s seminal Rules for Radicals would make the top of the Tea Party reading list.
timeline
THE END OF A 23-YEAR DROUGHT.
FINALLY, ANOTHER HUSKER FOOTBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: After 21 years as head coach of the University of Nebraska football program, the often-maligned heach coach Tom Osborne brought home his first national championship, to be repeated in 1995 and 1997, firmly establishing the Huskers as one of college football’s all-time greatest programs. You can’t really talk about this time in Omaha history without mentioning the piece of Nebraska history that’s been missed ever since.
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
3
96
going weekly and beyond: f r o m f in an c e to i nv estig ative news to publishe r by john heaston
I
never once thought growing up I’d ever want to get into journalism, but keeping Sokol Auditorium open changed all that for me. There I found my passion, but it’s thanks to quite a few folks that I learned the trade. That started for me watching Fairbury, Neb. native, former Creightonian editor and now a senior editor at Associates Press, Barry Bedlan, putting together the early issues for Sounds News & Arts. With the launch of The Reader, I worked with the Simonson brothers, both brilliant editors and writers, and my happy introduction to the New Journalism expounded by literary giants Thomas Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson. Busy with Sharky’s Brewery and one of Omaha’s very first dog biscuit boutiques by the name of Bone Appetit, they left the paper by the end of 1995. From the 2nd floor of the former Firehouse Dinner Theater and today’s Upstream Brewery, a high school chum, recent University of Arizona graduate and future Emmy award winner Jason Auslander was our first trained news journalist.
Art Director Mills left in May of 1996 to return to his hometown in northern California and with that The Reader was down to two founders and owners in myself and Beckmann, setting the stage for what might be one of the longest running duels in newsweekly history. That July, after a trip I took to my first convention for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN), The Reader went weekly from its offices at 1618 Harney Streets. Former Fremont Tribune editor and Associated Press Columnist of the Year Tom Gunning was our first full-time editor, teaching me to match literary chops with passion and journalism fundamentals. He heralded his replacement, former World Herald editor Michael Newgren, who’s sage outlook and sense of humor steadied our youthful exuberance. The Newgs helped me see the long-view on journalism, as well as life. Our first culture editors, Max Sparber and Amy Goldyn, significantly raised the bar of our coverage and laid the seeds for what is Omaha’s longest-running and most established cultural and critical writing team that is today led by Warren Francke, Mike Krainak, Tim McMahan, B.J. Huchtemann, Ryan Syrek, Bill Grennan and Chris Aponick. In July of 1998, The Reader joined such notable metroplitan newsweeklies as Village Voice,
MICHAEL NEWGREN: The former WorldHerald editor just happened to be walking by our offices when he stopped in as he was looking for a 2nd start in life. We couldn’t have been more fortunate he did. Affectionately called The Newgs, he was the senior statesman to our youthful exuberance, sharing journalism wisdom along with life lessons.
JASON AUSLANDER After his brief stint standing up The Reader’s news chops, Auslander went on to be a lead reporter at the Aspen Daily News, eventually landing at The Santa Fe New Mexican, covering cops and courts. That led to his entry in television journalism, leading the invetigative team and winning Emmys at KRQE-TV in Alebqueraue. Auslander is now a feelance journalist in New York City
CREIGHTON JOURNALISM ROOTS
FUTURE EMMY AWARD WINNER
BARRY BEDLAN After securing Fr. Don Doll’s permission to use the journalism lab bearing his name after hours to produce Sounds News & Arts, Bedlan worked at the World Herald before joining the Associated Press and becoming Nebraska News editor in 1999. In 2003, he was AP’s News Editor for the Atlanta bureau, overseeing coverage of the Atlanta courthouse shootings and in 2007 was named AP’s Assistant Chief of Bureau for Texas. Bedlan continues to return to Creighton to talk with journalism students.
4
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
Chicago Reader and San Francisco Bay Guardian (RIP), all with Nebraska roots, as a member publication of AAN. In 1999, I had a parting of ways with publisher Dan Beckmann and in 2000 started the Omaha Weekly just as Alan Baer took ownership of The Reader. News editor and now Publisher’s Weekly editor Jon Segura regularly picked up scoops with his trademark fedora hat, when we wasnt’ fronting punk bands in the evening. Michelle Cartwright-Bruckner managed everything. With their departures for educational and job opportunities, Summer Miller-Widhalm took over and longest contributor Ken Guthrie, always the production calvary, assisted with layout. After Alan Baer passed away in 2002, I was approached by son Ted Baer, who rememberd a promise years earlier to talk with me first if things ever changed for The Reader. With assistance from the Baer family estate and two of Omaha’s finest individuals and my first angel investors, we purchased The Reader in December 2002. That led to the purchase of ABM Enterprises and Omaha’s leading Spanish publications -- El Perico and Directorio Latino -- in September of 2004, making us a true multicultural media company.
LITERARY PASSION
TOM GUNNING Now retired from journalism, Gunning was The Reader’s first full-time editor, bringing his experience as editor at the Fremont Tribune and recognition as the Associated Press Columnist of the Year. to a fledgling operation still building its credibility. Gunning’s literary passion and narrative journalism devotion were instrumental in The Reader’s editorial development., producing our first writer’s guide that still steers us to this day.
timeline
LIFE LESSONS
FEDORA AND ALL
JON SEGURA Affettionaly called The Rocker by co-workers for his punk rock adventures, Segura gave the fledgling Omaha Weekly instant news credibility with stories on Omaha’s astronomical high school drop out rate -- as high as 50 percent and produced in partnership with KPTM -- along with breaking news on Husker football legend Eric Crouch’s paternity suit and the Omaha World-Herald class action lawsuit you never heard about. Today’s he’s a senior editor at Publisher’s Weekly in New York City.
97 A deeper look at the end of Aksarben race track and the near death of the horseracing industry in Nebraska in a no-bid land sale to First Data Re-
Back when downtown Omaha was a hotbed for “skin” flicks, the story of how a staffer at the daily paper would draw underwear on the raciest movie ads.
sources and the Aksarben Trust.
Our first investigation into white flight and how federal funds were directed to downtown developement in place of economic development and re-
sources for North Omaha
ALMOST OUR FIRST FEMALE MAYOR Longstanding school board president Brenda Council’s run for mayor promised to help bring together a dividied city. Despite our endorsement, she fell just hundreds of votes short of wiining.
BOB GIBSON Breaking a long-standing silence with local media, baseball and Omaha legend Bob Gibson invited Reader lead contributor Leo Adam Biga into his home to catch up with the Baseball Hall of Famer.
SUPREME COURT LAWSUIT
THE GREATEST ARM OF ALL TIME
DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT Clearing way for a new Omaha skyline, developers didn’t hesitate to use eminent domain to take ownership frome one private property owner to give to another. While the benefits of that development are now well-established in a reborn downtown, the process at the time was quite a bit murkier., resulting in a lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court.
THE BUSINESS OF BUSINESS
FIRST ENDORSEMENT
OMAHA’S FASTEST Ahead of Omaha’s next explosion in entreprenurial growth, The Reader was the first media in Omaha in modern times to investigate and profile our fastest growing companies according to an annual ranking of the Chamber of Commerce, capturing the seeds of today’s local digital titans.
timeline
FROZEN CITY
OMAHA ON ICE The freezing rain and ice story of late 1997 paralyzed the city and killed thousands of trees. With electricity still at the office, but not in many homes, Reader writersshared their stories of surviving the storm.
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
5
98 Despite what the LA Weekly might tell you, The Reader was reporting on Saddle Creek Records and its artists from the very start, when we were’n’t helpign to promote their shows. The music editor at the LA Weekly later apologized at a SXSW showcase for the error.
The more we learned about Omaha, the more we were stunned to find out about its buried histories. Possibly our worst moment, the story of and the photo from the 1919 Lynching of William Brown hadn’t been told or seen locally in decades.
RETIRED OMAHA WORLD HERALD ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTER Fred Thomas was able to share the story of the fight to preserve the Niobrara River that he couldn’t tell at the daily.
COVERED UP The city deal to relieve Asarco of the long-term liability for the toxicity of the former lead refining site in exchange for relinquishing ownership and a one-time payment raised a lot of concerns
LAUNCHING REESE
ACTUAL CLASSIFIED AD CIRCA ’94
WHILE FILMING ELECTION His first, full feature film with studio support, emerging cinema giant Alexander Payne stopped to talk with us and lay down the gauntlet for more Omaha shot movies
6
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
After midnight at a hotel bar in Toronto in 2008, the editor of the Village Voice described the best natural writing talent he’d ever read. We were fortunate Casey Logan interned with us in high school to write our first story on the Sudanese immigrant community. You can read him now in the local daily.
FIELDS OF FUEL
ETHANOL TAKES HOLD Compared to the cost our country has absorbed in preserving fossil fuel supplies from the Middle East, ethanol offered a home grown solution
timeline
PROTECTING NIOBRARA
ORIGINAL GANGSTER
OMAHA’S AL CAPONE Boss Man Dennison ran Omaha from the late 1800’s up until his death in 1934, controlling city hall, the police department and most illegal activities, including gambling, prostitution and drugs. After World War I veterans and reformers won city elections in 1918, it’s believed Dennision fabricated the story that led to the 1919 Lynching of William Brown and the end to the refrom administration.
99 Bill Farmer is largely credited with helping to launch artistic activism in modern Omaha protesting the Vietnam War and racial discrimination. His legacy was preserved in the 3rd floor gallery of the Antiquarium bookstore.
The original home for the Bemis Art Center and then home to the Blue Barn Theater and Dark Room Gallery, the fire at the Bemis Bag Buidling stunned the Old Market.
Just six months before Omaha would have dueling newsweeklies, The Reader shared the story of the street brawl between the editors of the Omaha Bee and the Omaha World-Herald.
BIG TARGETS: Omaha millionaire philanthropist leads the charge to conquer heart disease by taking on the industrial food complex and watching what we eat
UNO’s storied wrestling program always competed for national titles under Coach Mike Denney and his unique, zen style
FIRST BLACK FIGHTER PILOTS
FLYING FAR: Omaha was home to a number of Tuskegee Airmen, the African American pilots that broke the color barrier and fought with valor in World War II
TAKE IT TO THE MAT
MOOOO-VE OVER
KILL HEART DISEASE
THE MEN AND ANIMALS THAT BUILT OMAHA: South Omaha says farewell to the Stockyards and hello to a world-class community health clinic
timeline
BAD AIR.
BREATHE HARD: With lead emissions down from Asarco, clean air was still a local battle with coal fired plants and vehicle emissions
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
7
00
ON FIRE: y eah, t hat was a w eir d time by JIM MINGE
M
y brief stint as the editor of The Reader came during a weird time for the celebrated weekly newspaper. Ask anyone who was around then, and they’ll tell you – “Yeah, that was a weird time.” Our distribution manager backed into my new Jeep. There were a half-dozen stray kittens bouncing from office to office. The Reader’s original publisher was fired by the new owner. And for about 60 seconds, there was a local quasi-stuntman on fire in the front parking lot. (It was a cover shoot, but for the life of me I can’t remember the cover’s feature.) That was during my first week there. Seriously. That all happened in a five-day span, and as it turned out, that was a typical week during my rein at The Reader. Hmm … . I had arrived at The Reader fresh off a comfy job as entertainment columnist at the Omaha World-Herald. It was a big deal because I was a
guy from the respected daily newspaper – “the establishment” – who left to work across town for a scrappy, let’s-ruffle-some-feathers alternative newsweekly. During that time, we headquartered out of the defunct KESY 104.5 FM radio station on the south side of 48th and Dodge streets. My office was one of the old recording studios, with the vintage noise-reducing shag carpet still on the walls. Loved that office. About the time of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, my time at The Reader ended. I went on to become the editor of two more alternative newsweeklies in Omaha, first the City Weekly and then Shout Weekly. Today, I juggle a few gigs. I publish The Dispatch (OmahaDispatch.com), a weekly entertainment e-newsletter that is emailed to 40,583 subscribers each Thursday morning. I am also currently a freelance copywriter for Omaha Steaks and Hayneedle.com. And every once in a while I’ll knock out an eBook or build a website for a local business (ByTheWords.com). I’m looking forward to 2015 and the new format for this longstanding Omaha publication. Congrats on this 20th anniversary!
THE TEENA BRANDON story shocked the nation when the Lincoln, Neb., native was tortured and killed by two Falls City, Neb. men jealous for dressing as a man and befriending on their girlfriend’s
JOAN MICKLIN-SILVER : The Omaha native beat her own cinematic beat and cracked the glass ceiling for women film directors
8
JANUARY 2015
WRESTLING TITANS: helped launch the modern wrestling entertainment industry from Omahay
IN THE WRONG PLACE
CRITICAL DARLING
| THE READER |
A look at Omaha’s storied Civil Rights Movement
LA RAZA
CHICANO ACTIVIST: Ben Salazar launched the first voice for Omaha’s Latino community with his monthly El Mundo
timeline
MONARCHS OF THE MATT
WHERE THERE’S SMOKE.
THERE MIGHT NOT BE FIRE ENGINES: An investigation into the lack of maintenance that kept 9 of 13 Omaha Fire Department aerials from passing safety inspectionsy
01 Reader Art Director Jared Cvetas and his wife were part of the largest photo shoot of naked people in United State history, making for two different Reader covers
The Reader’s long-tradition of April Fool’s Day issues was carried on at the Omaha Weekly
Preparing for the annual Fall Arts issue, the tragic events of 9/11 led to a quick shift in coverage, finding an image and Chicago Tribune article on the Al-Queda terrorist to run instead, making the Omaha Weekly one of the first publications in the country with Osama bin Laden on its cover
LIVING WITH AIDS: The story of an Omaha family enduring the false stigma of living with AIDS
STDS on the rise, even back then
STEM CELLS
AND CONTROVERSY: The first profile of UNMC’s leading stem cell researcher and some of the breakthroughs his research was already showing despite the conservative backlash
UNPROTECTED
DEATH PENALTY
LWA
DEATH BY SHOCK: As many states around the country abandoned the electric chair for the death penalty, Nebraska was still debating
timeline
UNSUSTAINABLE
MORE LAND, NOT ENOUGH TAXES: As Omaha’s land mass grew exponentially, requiring increased investments in roads and infrastructure the tax system couldn’t sustain, Omaha increased it’s borrowing by 281% in a decade
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
9
02
VIVID PORTRAITS: IRONY DID NOT DIE byTIMOTHY SCHAEFFERT
I
began at the Reader as a movie reviewer, during one of the most dismal periods in cinema history. Somewhere I still have all the swag the distribution companies sent along in their efforts to excite us about their listless product – posters for movies with titles that strain with their eagerness to easily please: The Sweetest Thing, Death to Smoochy, Josie and the Pussycats, Mona Lisa Smile. I have a Mylar poster for the Johnny Depp movie Blow (for snorting blow off of, apparently), a calculator with the logo for A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and a Gosford Park mystery board game. Eventually I moved into various editorial roles over a period of a few years. We were a newspaper with no staff reporters, so covering the news adequately – and offering any substantive investigative reporting, the bread-and-butter of alternative weeklies-- was out of the question. We relied on a team of very committed and reliable freelance writers, often with full-time jobs of their own, to nonetheless create a vivid portrait of the
city. We angled to capture the city’s character and culture. But the very enterprises we sought to review were always potential advertisers, creating a constantly festering sticky-wicket. There was a theoretical separation between sales and editorial, but it was hard not to feel responsible when a salesperson lost her contract when an advertiser decided to punish. Because, basically (and not in theory), we were responsible. (Theoretically, however, honesty and integrity were responsible.) And at times it seemed like the only people reading us were people poised to be offended. Sometimes we provoked, to check their pulses. Did we have to run a photo spread of a Barbie doll topless and snorting coke off her dune buggy’s fender, for an innocuous article on spring break fun? No, we probably didn’t need to do that. (“My little girl saw it and asked, ‘Mommy, why is Barbie doing that?’” reported one complainant.) And this skewed, ironical stance left us on the wrong side of popular temperament in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. But that reverence for stoicism was short-lived, and reports of the death of irony proved greatly exaggerated. Now, of course, the sardonic voice of the alternative newsweekly is the voice of the blogger – and of practically everyone on Twitter, Facebook, etc. While it was sometimes a challenge to find writers who could write that
way, now there’s no avoiding them. There was much I loved. I found Omaha to be idiosyncratic and grittily poetic, and The Reader was our opportunity to shine a light on that mix of the highbrow and the lowdown (most amusingly captured in Leslie Prisbell’s “Bar Hag” column). And at the time we were the only publication in town to report in depth on the gay community, and to regularly feature long-form journalism. We also had full-color profiles of local artists and photographers, and interviews with local musicians. And leaving the office to go watch an awful movie or two wasn’t the worst way to spend a working-day afternoon. I haven’t written a movie review in many years. I write novels now, and I’m a professor of English at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There are fictional Omaha artists, writers, and an alt-weekly editor in my third novel, Devils in the Sugar Shop, which is a kind of warped Valentine to the city, inspired by my days at The Reader. My most recent novel is The Swan Gondola (out in paperback in February), which is set in turn-of-the-century Omaha. I haven’t left the movies entirely behind; my novel in progress is set partly in Jazz Age Hollywood.
UNION FIGHT: The fight to organize in Omaha’s meatpacking plants
RON STANDER: remembers Omaha’s only world title fight, until today’s Bud Crawford
LOST YOUTH
NOT EDUCATED: The first of its kind report on high school dropout rates exceeding 50 percent at some OPS high schools
BLUFFS BUTCHER
CLASS ACTION
FIDUCIARY DUTIES: Employees at the state’s largest media company sued after changes in the corporate structure increased the valuation at the country’s largest employee-owned newspaper
ORGANIZE NOW
UNCOMMON COMMON MAN
COMMON MAN: Omaha philanthropist Alan Baer is remembered
03 THE BIANNUAL HOMECOMING: The start of our perennial coverage of North Omaha’s largest celebration and family reunion
FATHER DON DOLL: documents the life of the Lakota Sioux Indians in South Dakota
RISING HEALTH CARE COSTS
A DECADE BEFORE: Obamacare brought affordable health insurance, The Reader covers the explosive rise in health insurance costs
NATIVE PHOTOGRAPHER
PRAIRIE POPULIST
LIBERAL LION: Former Nebraska governor Frank Morrison remembers a lifetime of political battles
NATIVE OMAHA DAYS
SIX DEGREES
OF SEPARATION: The story of the MIT researcher that sent 200 letters to Omahans to pass to a friend to pass to a friend to reach a surgeon in Boston. The average number of times - 6 - launched a cultural catch phrase and Kevin Bacon movie
04
LITTLE RECALL: A C ORKSC REW IN TH E B A R H A G ’ S P U R SE byLESLIE PRISBELL
T
hose were the days, my friend … and though I can remember only three or four of them from that wine-soaked era, I nonetheless look fondly on the years I spent writing little doodads for the Reader. fancied myself to be Dorothy Parker -- except for, you know, the writing talent -and I’m almost certain we all had a wonderful time back then. But beyond my own self-indulgent observations on the drinking life, I learned the value of an alternative publication in the community; one that fearlessly speaks the truth and tells the stories of culture, art, and the human experience often overlooked by mainstream media. … I also learned the value of keeping a corkscrew in my purse, a sippy cup to use at parties as a goodwill gesture of carpet protection, and an extra pair of panties in the glove compartment. (That last one I made up, but it sounded kind of sexy.) After weathering a few different publishers at the Reader, some of us went on to create a short-
I
lived culture weekly called Pulp. We wrote about what we loved … art, music, writing, vodka … and we loved that little paper. The first artist profile I wrote was about Wanda Ewing; my hero, my friend, and so dearly missed since her untimely passing in 2013. We continued to cobble together a paper for a year, and on Monday afternoons to this day I swear I can hear our designer, Justin -Hud to those who know and love him -- uploading the last page of the issue to the printer and yelling from his office, “Shut it down, motherfuckers,” which was my cue to check my lipstick, hike up my fishnets, and head to the bar to celebrate putting the week’s paper to bed. Eventually it was a permanent sleep for the beloved rag. In 2006 -- following a few lost years for which I cannot account -- I became managing editor for a large online retailer. Today, instead of bar reviews, I oversee bar stool reviews and advertising, along with everything else home-related. I’ve traded Jägermeister for yoga, martinis for meditation and pinot for painting. And although I write different kinds of doodads today, my hope is that they still wink at you now and again, with just a bit of bite, babies.
PRISONS : Well beyond capacity a decade ago, additional expansions haven’t kept up with a correctional system overloaded with nonviolent drug offenders
HE PLAYED EVERYTHING
ALWAYS HAVING FUN: Remembering legendary jazz man and Omaha Star advertising director Preston Love, Sr.
CROWDED
While the rest of the media attacked the over-top-language of Omaha police officer Tariq Al-Amin towards an inner city minister, The Reader took a hard look at how a ministry was being used to build personal wealth
OUT of Nebraska’s foster care system was a harsh real world introduction before changes were made
A NEBRASKA
ORIGINAL: Catching up with former governor, U.S. senator and then university president Bob Kerrey
AGING
NATIVE
FREEDOM FIGHTER: On the anniversary of his trial, the story of Standing Bear’s fight for personhood under United States law
05 Reader founder Kevin Simonson remembers his time with Hunter S. Thompson
As we partnered with El Perico, examining Omaha’s immigrant history
Digging deeper, the real story behind blocking immigration reform leads to keeping cheap labor
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: Chairman Warren Buffett shares his secrets . . . from his annual reports
HERE’S JOHNNY!
WOODSTOCK OF CAPITALISM
LATE NIGHT LEGEND: Johnny Carson and his start in Omaha television
GALLERY 72: founder John Rodgers reflects on a lifetime of independent art
OMAHA’S OPRAH
OMAHA STAR veteran and Omaha native Kathy Hughes built the 2nd largest broadcast empire run by an African-American woman with her Radio One and TV One
RANDOM CONVERSATION
JEWISH GANGSTERS
OMAHAN discovers his family’s secret past
06
C0MING OF AGE: C RAFTING STO R IES by SUMMER MILLER-WIDHALM
T
he Reader is a coming-of-age story for so many people who worked there. I was 20 years old when I started in classified ad sales. I held my last staff position as Editor in Chief when I was 27. I believed deeply in what the paper was trying to accomplish – to tell stories that were meaningful to our generation, to have a true and lasting impact on our community, and to be a bit edgy, even if sometimes it was youthful chest pounding. The Reader gave a bunch of young writers, designers and photographers the space to not only tell a story but also to craft it. A viable opportunity for eager, creative talent to discover our own voices and style didn’t exist before that newsprint weekly showed up wire racks and coffee shop counters around town. We made so many mistakes, but we grew and we learned and pushed ourselves to improve with every issue. We even, eventually, adopted a few standards of our own. The people I worked with during that time are still some of my dearest friends. I have yet to find
that depth of office camaraderie anywhere else. Many of the writers and business influencers in the Omaha community today had a hand in crafting the content of The Reader at one point or another. I’m proud to call them my friends and I look forward to reading their work or supporting their creative endeavors wherever and whenever I find them. These days I spend most of my time writing about food and the people who love it. My stories appear in Edible Omaha, Edible Feast, SAVEUR and Every Day with Rachael Ray. My first book, New Prairie Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Chefs, Farmers and Artisans of the Great Plains will be released nationwide by Agate Publishing in May 2015. I know the success I enjoy today wouldn’t have happened without the people I learned from and the experiences I gained at The Reader. I’m sure that is true for most us who came of age there. May the next phase of this publication create more roads, more creative leaders and more opportunities for those who are willing to take risks and work hard.
KENT BELLOWS: captures the visual arts zeitgeist of his hometown while launching an international career
HYPER REALIST
SHUUUSSSH!
LIBRARIAN OF THE YEAR: Rivkah Sass wasn’t quiet about increasing use and improving access for the Omaha Public Library system. Like a more recent library director, she was pulled away by bigger offers on the West Coast
14
JANUARY 2015
LEOLA’S RECORDS: was the indie music store for generations of North Omahans
| THE READER |
INDIE ACTRESS
YOLANDA ROSS: starts making her mark on the indie cinema scene
timeline
INDIE RECORDS
IN THE BARRIO
WITH BETO: Legendary gang counselor has helped countless youth find a straighter path
07 Misbegotten efforts by churches to turn God’s nature
The deepest investigation into the 1971 slaying of Omaha police officer Larry Minard and the role the FBI’s COINTELPRO program likely played
The only media to challenge college president Jo Ann McDowell’s complete upheaval at Metro Community College. She resigned shortly thereafter.
CLUB OWNER and national Blues honoree Terry O’Halloran prepares to exit the business stage lefty
FIRST EVER
LEGEND RECOGNIZED: The first Omaha Entertainment & Arts Awards gives a Lifetime Achievement to Omaha jazz legend Luigi Waites
ALWAYS GROOVING
LAUGHING: with Larry the Cable Guy
EX-SPY
GET ER DONE
NIK FACKLER’S: cinematic and creative genius with a nice dash of goof
STUDIO 360: host and Spy magazine founder Kurt Anderson on Omaha and culture
timeline
LOVELY ALWAYS.
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
15
08
MAKING IT RAIN: AND GETTING ALL WE T by ANDREW NORMAN
U
sing buckets and a wet/ dry vac to remove ankledeep rainwater out of the basement of The Reader’s South Omaha location with then-news editor and cartoonist Neal Obermeyer, my last day as TR’s managing editor was highlighted by the same kind of charm that I’d both become accustomed to, and had genuinely come to appreciate. To keep an alternative newspaper afloat, after all, sometimes you have to bail some water. Cursing the city’s wastewater infrastructure decisions and clomping barefoot up the stairs to toss a gallon or three into the alley, and repeat, I suspected I’d never have a job quite like it. I was right, of course. But I didn’t fully understand then how significant the skills, lessons and experiences I’d gained working there would positively impact my life. Those gifts started right away, in another basement. I’d made it rain by securing a “signing bonus” — a new Fender Jazz Bass — from head honcho John Heaston to come over from the
now-defunct Omaha City Weekly. So of course I was in high spirits as I spent my first day at The Reader navigating its labyrinthine basement maze in Dundee that had formerly housed Nebraska’s longest-running grocery store (owned by Warren’s grandfather, Ernest Buffett). I was meeting people, sure, including Editorin-Chief Summer Miller, Listings Editor Kevin Coffey, Doer-of-Everything Rita Staley, Salesman Marv Pratt and designers Jared Cvetas, Ethan Bondelid and Eric Stoakes (with whom I’d worked at the OCW). I was also avoiding my office, wherein a support beam that helped keep Buffett’s building erect since the grocery store opened in 1869 separated the door and my new desk. More subtle than a dead rat in a corpse snitch’s mouth, the message was clear: “This isn’t about you. Do the work.” Eventually, I had to do just that. With his encyclopedic knowledge of seemingly every government, community and administrative figure worth knowing in Omaha, as well as his passion for exposing underreported stories affecting underrepresented populations, Heaston has a knack for lighting a fire under a reporter’s ass. He put me on a first-name basis with the most important people in government — the secretaries and aids. He taught me how to do the
AVANT GARDE: theater has roots in Omaha’s Magic Theater, redefining the performing arts since that 1970s
PREDICTIONS
MOJO: looked ahead the first issue of every year
MAGIC THEATER
labor required to dig up good stories: searching through stacks of criminal case records; poring through documents; and being productive while sitting through the most boring city council meetings. And he taught me that the only way you get better at writing is to do it every day.
LEE TERRY: was a city councilman when The Reader started, going on to be Nebraska’s longest serving Congressman
HIS WAY
TERM LIMITS: finally forced Senator Ernie Chambers to retire . . . for 2 years
REPEAT REPRESENTATIVE
UNEQUAL RIGHTS
THE UNDERHANDED WAY: to gut affirmative action in Nebraska
I began covering stories that I still believe really matter, from the city’s unlawful lack of an independent police auditor and its detriment to police-community relations, to the full story behind the COINTELPRO-related imprisonment of Mondo We Langa and Edward Poind-
exter. I interviewed politicians and musicians and artists and homeless people. I learned Omaha, quickly. It was fun. It was challenging. It sucked. It was weird. It was scary. A few notable moments include: being propositioned for oral sex (no, thanks, though) by a wouldbe source; skinny dipping in Lake Michigan; and receiving a phone call from a pissed-off publisher minutes before the paper went to print, regarding our visual depiction of the crucifixion of Christ in a story involving Focus on the Family and the headline, “Can Jesus Make Me Straight?” I wouldn’t trade my time at The Reader for anything. There’s no chance I’d be doing what I’m doing now if it weren’t for The Reader, and the experience it helped me gain. I also wouldn’t have met or gotten to work with many of my favorite people, including the late Ed Howard, Rita Staley, Tim McMahan, Tessa Jeffers, Sarah Baker, Lindsey Baker, Casey Logan, Sean McCarthy, Sara Wengert,
Jeremy Schnitker, Kerry Olson, Ryan Syrek, Jesse Stanek, Chris Aponick, Jon Tvrdik, Nicole LeClerc, Paula Restrepo, Carrie Kentch and many more. Online or off, weekly or monthly, I hope The Reader continues its important work for another 20 years, it serves a truly important community need, and there’s no publication like it in town, or in the state. I hope that it continues to frequently be all-hands-on-deck, because that’s the fastest way to build strong, loyal, dependable teams. And I hope that it continues to give young writers a chance to get their feet wet.
ANTI-IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Kris Kobach was first profiled by The Reader and El Perico for his role in writing almost all of the local anti-immigration laws in the country before becoming Kansas Secretary of State
FORECLOSURE FINDS US
THE GREAT RECESSION: hit certain parts of Omaha first
NATIONAL NATIVIST
09
OLIBA: launches to organize Omaha’s local, independent businesses
BIG FOOTPRINTS
COAL PLANTS: serving Omaha generate a lot of carbon and pollution
KEEP OMAHA HOME
SILICON PRAIRIE.
DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURS: in Omaha herald a new era of economic development and growth
10
Saddle Creek’s secret sauce has their fingerprints on a lot of local hits
As the Iraq War winds down, veterans are returning with more diagnosed cases of PTSD, increasing counseling visits, but not nearly as fast as prescriptions
UNMC leads the way improving community health
A diverse state coalition comes together to fight antiimmigration measures in the Unicameral
SECOND LIFE: for a special Learning Community and cross district public school
LEAD POLLUTION: threatens our most vulnerable
HEAVY METAL
BRIGITTE UNBROKEN
UNION OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS: launches in North Omaha to mix creativity and community development
18
JANUARY 2015
| THE READER |
11
SUPER SILOS
EMERGING TERRAINS: repurposes abandoned silos to launch a conversation about local food and sustainability
TIMELINE
NEW SCHOOL
SINK OR SWIM
EX CONVICTS: struggle to return to society
12
When Republican election commissioners schemed a way to shut down polling places, we did the hard math to show how it hit East Omaha twice as hard as the rest of the city, leading to many polling locations being restored
How Sam Mercer and friends created the Old Market
Long-time astrologer, friend and mentor to Omaha’s alternative community, MoJoPo aka Michael Joseph Pryor is remembered
TUNETTE POWELL: brings UNO Forensics another national championship while launching a community career
ANDY RANNELLS: explodes on the theatrical scene but remembers his creative roots here
MUSIC GODFATHER
INFLUENCING A GENERATION OF MUSICIANS: from an indie record store, Dave Sink remembered
ELDER EXPLOSION
13
The Bemis Center combines visual arts with community development at the Carver Center
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLING.
THE OTHER WOMAN
STANDARDIZED TESTING: Is killing education
TIMELINE
NO MORE
EMPTY POTS: finds food insecurity and hunger in Omaha’s food deserts
| THE READER |
JANUARY 2015
19
the way back story: a tale of survival b y Wa r r e n F r a n c k e
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
As The Reader celebrates 20 years in the more motley media world of the city’s fourth half century, it has survived an even more fluid era of competition after those dailies began disappearing…until there was one. Long before television, cable and the internet quickened the spread of news, those dailies died. First, in 1889, the World and Herald became the World-Herald, owned by Gilbert Hitchcock, a Democrat who became a U.S. Senator. Rosewater’s Republican died a year later, and two more became one as the Bee-News in the 1920s. When employees tried to keep it alive in the 1930s by buying it from William Randolph Hearst, the World-Herald paid him more, $750,000, to kill it. So Omaha became, like so many other cities, a one-newspaper town. A daily monopoly. That left the neighborhood weeklies whose names changed from time to time: South Omaha, Benson, Dundee, North Omaha and West Omaha. Plus narrower voices, with one actually identifying itself as The True Voice (now the Catholic Voice). We had the Jewish Press, a labor press, the university weeklies the Creightonian and the Gateway, and more. Until 1983, those neighborhood weeklies had survived as many as 88 years but by then were all known as the Sun Newspapers. They died after an anti-trust suit, dedicated to preserving a second editorial voice in Omaha, led to an out-of-court settlement with the defendant, the WorldHerald. Gone was the weekly group that under the ownership of Warren Buffett had won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting and other national awards. The group had reported on racial discrimination in housing and other inequalities while the daily generally looked the other way. Even a column I shared with my prolific university colleague Bob Reilly couldn’t keep the Sun shining. An Omaha that once had a flourishing foreign language press —German, Czech, Danish, Italian — and other alternative voices still had Mildred Brown’s Omaha Star serving the black population largely on the north side. And others popped up, lasting a few issues or a few years, but not two decades. The Star brought more attention to the fight for civil rights, but didn’t fight hard and fast enough for more radical voices that briefly published as the United Front Against Fascism. The more established
20
JANUARY 2015
Down Here on the Ground was a monthly that featured a “Slumlord of the Month” while promising to “make people aware of problems” not presented in the WorldHerald or even The Star. Others, even more issue-oriented, were called underground, counter-culture or anti-war voices in the 1960s. The most memorable: the Buffalo Chip by artists Gloria and Tom Bartek and others, including Tim Andrew who would later be arrested on obscenity charges for distributing his *Asterisk publication. Other audiences needed alternatives, it seemed, so former Sun and World-Herald journalist Bob Hoig provided the Omaha Mirror, then later the Metro Monthly which he sold to his daughter Andy for $1. Bestknown for his successful Midlands Business Journal, Hoig also started a paper, the Downtowner, for another neglected neighborhood, and staffer John Boyd left it to edit The Metropolitan weekly for publisher John Lee. It led the fight to save Jobbers’ Canyon downtown and lasted from mid- to late ’80s. If anyone’s counting for kills, my columns appeared in the latter at times, but not when it folded. My media commentary was also carried on WOWT television as “Watching the Watchdogs,” a role also played by Mick Rood’s short-lived River
| THE READER |
TIMELINE
City Review and Frances Mendenhall’s longer-lived WHAMO (World-Herald Attitude Monitoring Operation) which became The Nebraska Observer. By 1990, a later-arriving immigrant population would get a monthly voice when Ben Salazar started Nuestro Mundo, and a bit later by El Perico, founded by Carlos Alvarez, John Barrientos and Marcos Mora (ABM), and now The Reader’s sister publication. In 1992 some Creighton and UNO students would launch a publication that set the stage for the 20-year history of The Reader. Father Don Doll’s Creighton journalism lab spawned a monthly called Sound News & Arts under the very capable hands of Creightonian staffers, a mix of artists, poets and musicians and UNO finance major John Heaston, eager to keep Sokol Auditorium open. At the same time Wahoo
brothers Kevin and Mark Simonson were distributing The Great Red Shark and hosting the likes of Hunter S. Thompson and Kurt Vonnegut in Lincoln. Throw in radio saleman and future dueling weekly publisher Dan Beckmann (City Weekly, Shout) and you have the start of our story.