THE READER - EL PERICO OMAHA JAN 2021 by PioneerMedia.Me

JA N UA RY 2022 | vo lUME 28 | I SSUE 11

Now wit hM ore

JOBS: Employment Equity | NEWS: Stories we missed / COULD IT BE ANY WORSE? / (DIS)Invested: A Deeper Look at Inequality in Omaha | DISH: 2022 Dining Predictions | HOODOO: TURN UP THE VOLUME | BACKBEAT: 2021 BEST OMAHA ALBUMS | FILM: 2021, SRSLY THE WORST, Hope for 2022 | FILM REVIEW: Five TV SHOWS. WHY NOT? | OVER THE EDGE: 2022 Music Visions | PLUS: Picks, Comics & Crossword EL PERICO: ¿El 2021 fue intenso, o pudo ser peor? | expectativas DE Los LÍDERES LATINOS | TIEMPO DE COMPARTIR UNA ROSCA DE REYES | Fotos comunitarias

REPORT FOR AMERICA: JOIN THE MOVEMENT! Apply to Become a Report for America Journalist in Omaha NE

Report for America (RFA) helps local newsrooms report on under-covered issues and communities by sending early-career and mid-to-late-career reporters and photographers to newsrooms throughout the country. RFA newsroom El Perico, a Spanish bilingual community monthly in Omaha, NE, is seeking an immigration beat reporter for 2022-2024. Our ideal fit is a local reporter with knowledge of the Hispanic community. RFA is a two-year program, with an optional third year. Each service year begins on June 1 and runs through May 31. Corps member applicants should have a minimum of 1-3 years of local news experience. Recent

January 2021

graduates may apply if they’ve had local newsroom internships and journalism leadership experience in college. Application Process To apply, complete the corps member application at www.reportforamerica.org/ newsrooms/the-reader-el-perico-2/. The early application deadline submission date is December 31 and the final deadline is January 31, 2022. Should you become a finalist, your application will be shared with the newsroom. Questions? Contact Report for America at recruitment@ reportforamerica.org • work@thereader.com

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January 2021

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JOBS: Edging Toward Employment Equity

NEWS: (DIS)Invested a New Year-Long Project from The Reader

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c o n t e n t s

Cover: Stories We Missed

COVER: 2021, The Year Of Hope That Wasn’t

THEater: For Local Theater Productions, 2021 Offers a Renewal

THEater: Beaufield BerryFisher Is Changing Omaha’s Arts Landscape

publisher/editor........... John Heaston john@thereader.com graphic designers........... Ken Guthrie Albory Seijas news..........................Robyn Murray copy@thereader.com copy editor................. Mike Newgren mike@pioneermedia.me lead reporter............... Chris Bowling chris@thereader.com associate publisher.... Karlha Velásquez karlha@el-perico.com report for america corps member..........Bridget Fogarty bridget@el-perico.com creative services director....................... Lynn Sánchez lynn@pioneermedia.me

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

ART: COVID Persists, But Art Breaks Through

BACKBEAT: The Best Omaha Albums of 2021: Chosen by the Omaha Music Scene

DISH: Dining Prediction for 2022: Collab, Shift Power, Shop Local

PICKS: Cool Things To Do in January

FILM: 2021’s Stinkers, and Hopes for 2022 REVIEW: Binge in the New Year

CROSSWORD/COMICS: New Puzzle, Jeff Koterba, Doonesbury & Jen Sorensen

arts/visual.................... Mike Krainak mixedmedia@thereader.com eat.................................. Sara Locke crumbs@thereader.com film.................................Ryan Syrek cuttingroom@thereader.com hoodoo................. B.J. Huchtemann bjhuchtemann@gmail.com music............................. Sam Crisler backbeat@thereader.com over the edge..............Tim McMahan tim.mcmahan@gmail.com theater.................... Beaufield Berry coldcream@thereader.com

OUR SISTER MEDIA CHANNELS

Hoodoo: Turn Up the Volume

.com

1000 Words: Looking Back at 2021 with Pictures

OVER THE EDGE: Through the Looking Glass, Music in 2022

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Reader Radio Podcast: The Long Road to the Harney St. Bike Lane

January 2022

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Backbeat Online Only: Next Year in Omaha Music

IN MEMORIAM: Gone But Not Forgotten OUR DIGITAL MARKETING SERVICES

Immigrant Guide Proud to be Carbon Neutral

A THOUSAND WORDS

PHOTO BY

Duane Vosika

Instagram and Facebook: @sixhexsix Web: dvcaptures.com

Inspired by “Blades of Glory,” Colter Bowers and Jade Korn perform a double lyra routine during the Winter Wonderland Circus at The Max in downtown Omaha on Sunday, December 5, 2021. The burlesque show was put on by Norsefyre, a traveling circus troupe specializing in aerials and fire spinning.

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¿El 2021 Fue Intenso, O Pudo Ser Peor?

Predicciones Por Parte De De Líderes Latinos / Predictions About 2022 From Latino Leaders

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Tiempo De Compartir Una Rosca De Reyes / Time to share a Rosca de Reyes

¿Ocurrirá La Reforma Migratoria En 2022? / Will Immigration Reform Happen In 2022?

January 2022

Fotos Communitarias / Community Photos

O M A H A

J O B S

Edging Toward

Employment Equity A Retrospective of 2021 Omaha Jobs Columns — and the Resolute Community Members They Spotlight by Leah Cates

arch 2021: Reader reporter Alex Preston writes a feature on two unicameral bills to raise workers’ wages, one of which seeks to boost Nebraska’s $9-an-hour minimum wage to $20 by 2032. December 2021: I publish a story on a nonprofit’s ballot-initiative campaign to increase Nebraska’s $9 minimum wage to $15 by 2026.

Nearly a year passed between the stories –– and in the intervening months, activists’ resolve to fight for living wages didn’t waver. That tenacious spirit characterizes everyone I’ve interviewed for Omaha Jobs, The Reader’s monthly column on employment equity, from disability rights activists to single moms struggling to make ends meet. Here’s a look back at 2021 in Omaha Jobs.

Your future in healthcare starts here. Learn more at methodistcollege.edu/healthcare (402) 354-7200

January 2022

January – June

most community members of color.

Before I began my Omaha Jobs tenure, Karlha Velásquez Rivas published an article advising Omaha’s Hispanic community on securing well-paid employment. Chris Bowl- ing followed it up with a piece on how unemployment (remember that?) disproportionately affects women and

July – August I kicked off my Omaha Jobs tenure in July with a profile of Eureka! – a program guiding girls from underserved communities toward STEM careers. In August, I talked to Michael Richard Warner, a young activist with cerebral palsy, who’s wary of working because of the state’s convoluted insurance-benefit system for people with disabilities. The story was referenced in Disability Rights Nebraska’s testimony on behalf of Legislative Resolution 139, which promotes employment equity in Nebraska.

September – November My September interview with Flor Campos –– a single mom of five who founded a 24-hour day care so parents working in the wee hours of the morning didn’t have to leave their kids home alone –– made me wonder how the state supports low-income families. I started a series on the experiences of low-income, working families and chatted with Catherine Brauer about how she worked nearly 85 hours a week and secured latenight child care for her three girls. Help for working parents exists, said Campos and Brauer, who started a business supporting low-income female entrepreneurs –– but many families don’t know where to find assistance. So, come November, I created a resource guide for low-income families, including a breakdown of child care subsidies.

O M A H A

J O B S December and Beyond With the lowest unemployment rate in U.S. history, Nebraska’s labor market took over the December issue. The Reader’s core reporting team dived deep into strenuous working conditions, barriers to employment for im-

migrants (even in a tight labor market), unionization and, for the Jobs column, the push for a higher minimum wage in Nebraska, coming full circle from Alex’s March story. Whatever 2022 brings, The Reader will continue telling stories about community members committed to advocating for the rights of working Omahans and their families.

Read the Stories in this Retrospective: January: February: March:

Michael Richard Warner, featured in August’s Omaha Jobs column, is developing a company that trains people with disabilities to secure stable employment. Like other Jobs interviewees, he’s committed to building a better future for the city’s workforce. Photo by Chris Bowling

April: May: June: July: August: September: October: November: December:

el-perico.com/2021/01/16/climbing-the-career-ladder-for-a-brighter-future/ thereader.com/news/minorities-and-women-continue-bearing-brunt-ofunemployment thereader.com/news/two-bills-in-unicameral-aim-to-increase-minimum-wagefor-workers-across-nebraska thereader.com/news/pro-act-passed-by-house thereader.com/news/biden-administration-proposes-american-jobs-plan thereader.com/news/workers-leaving-restaurant-industry-amid-labor-shortage thereader.com/news/breaking-down-stem-barriers-for-girls omahajobs.com/blog/get-hired-lose-insurance-benefits/ omahajobs.com/blog/when-low-income-parents-work-long-hours-where-dotheir-kids-go/ omahajobs.com/blog/falling-through-the-cracks/ omahajobs.com/blog/a-resource-guide-for-low-income-families/ thereader.com/news/new-petition-drive-fights-for-a-living-wage-in-nebraska

January 2022

L E T T E R F RNO EMWT SH E E D I T O R

What I Wished We Covered in 2021 by John Heaston

s the local alternative newsmedia, one of our goals is to find the stories missed elsewhere, so we’re going even one step beyond that with this annual reflection on the stories we wished we had covered this last year. We believe this is an important part of our growing commitment to you, our reader, to be transparent and reflective, critical components in the long-important and faster evolving nature of journalism. When The Reader started, we were one of a small group of local media able to reach a large audience thanks to industrial printing presses or broadcast licenses. Collectively, one of our most import-

ant roles was that of gatekeeper, reporting to find the stories we think you need to know and, by our coverage, setting the public record and deciding the general discourse. The internet, of course, blew that up. The challenge today for local media is to move beyond gatekeeper to moderator, even referee, of the record and its discourse. We aim to grow our reporting and storytelling, we’ve significantly increased our news resources this year, but also need to elevate new, diverse voices. News is no longer strictly the domain of journalists, which leads us to what wished we’d covered -- and that’s you.

January 2022

We launched our Community Voices section in the summer of 2020, as we all took a harder look at equity, with a collection of essays from new leaders. We’ve had more Voices since, but in the meantime, every minute of every day, news has been breaking and voices have struggled to be raised across our community, on every platform available. A lot of this is the raging river of content in our cyber-networked bubbles of social media, propelled by more sophisticated advertising and revenue demands. Average folks have broken some of our biggest stories, especially about police misconduct, but they also know there’s a lot

more going on than just the news they get from media, especially all the stories of mutual aid, people helping people to figure things out and to get through some challenging times -- the good stories that seem in such short reply compared to all the stories that drive anger and outrage. With our editorial partners First Sky Omaha and others, we launched 2021 with a half day Citizens Journalism training. Building well beyond that with actual funding is a high priority this year and we have an epic opportunity. Out of 100 applicants in a national search, we were selected to partner with City Bureau to bring the foremost community journalism program in the country, Documenters, here. Documenters hires and trains community members to cover the most important under-covered government meetings, organizing the key information and sharing what happens in the room as issues are being discussed and votes made. Together we can build the news, not just break it.

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Stories We Missed

The Reader laments about 2021 by READER STAFF

Less Scattershot, More Focus

Critical Race Theory

At The Reader we try to shine a light on inequities, but unless we commit to giving them the time, attention and thought they deserve, we’re always going to come up short. In 2022 we’re focusing on issues like housing, criminal justice and education through our series (DIS) Invested (see page 12) to put racism and social inequity under the microscope.

Although The Reader’s articles deal with aspects of Critical Race Theory, I would have liked to see it tackle the actual definition of CRT. At the same time we are seeking what CRT is, we are being told what it is by people who don’t know, but who oppose it anyway.

We’re also going to have to remember to add the page number once the TOC is done — Chris Bowling Lead News Reporter

A group of The Reader’s staff gets together for a little holiday cheer. Pictured, front row left to right, are Lynn Sanchez, Karlha Velàsquez, Chris Bowling, John Heaston. Back row, Bridget Fogarty, Tylonda Sanders. Photo by Chris Bowling.

with practical, educational information? – Lynn Sanchez, Creative Services Director

Environmental Issues Latino ComThe Reader should expand munity Issues

coverage of local environmental issues beyond just an obligatory Earth Day story. Omaha’s recycling program, electric vehicles, composting, chemical use, garbage dumping, alternatives to the traditional lawn -- people care passionately about these topics, which tendril into community liveability and health. How about a monthly column

We weren’t able to cover everything last year, but there is a point I wish I had focused on more: In the current thinking of the Latino community, how to deal with domestic violence and how to make our children dream, too. – Karlha D. Velasquez Rivas El Perico Associate Publisher

Backlogged Immigration 21,621. That’s how many pending cases there are in immigration court in Nebraska, according to TRAC Immigration, an online tool that tracks backlogged immigration court cases. In 2022, we will amplify individuals’ stories to illuminate how the backlogged immigration system impacts families in Nebraska. — Bridget Fogarty Report For America Corps Member

– Paul B. Allen IV, Founding Director, 1st Sky News

We Face an Existential Threat. The Reader Should Cover It. One story. In 2021, that’s all we wrote about climate change –– an existential threat. As Omaha (finally) develops a climate action plan, The Reader should hold local officials accountable and keep the community apprised of how we’re fighting the global crisis on a local level. Let’s help save the planet. Literally. — Leah Cates, Editorial & Membership Associate and Writer

January 2022

C O V E R

How Could It Get Any Worse?

2021 Ups the Ante

After a Pandemic and Protests Brought Social Inequities to the Forefront in 2020, This Year Served as Their Battleground by Chris Bowling and Karlha Rivas

fter the great dumpster fire of 2020, we expected better things from 2021. That didn’t pan out.

or to go along in the same direction. Mayor Jean Stothert won a third term, and nearly every incumbent on the Omaha City Council kept their seat by comfortable margins. But while many of the faces stayed the same, momentum is shifting. People are more civically engaged, and city officials are taking up causes such as affordable housing and climate change. No significant changes seem to have come to the Omaha Police Department, however, so whether the crowds who took to the streets in the summer of 2020, and the many more influenced by the movement, will be satisfied remains to be seen.

Whether you look at the attempt to overtake the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 or the stubborn resilience of COVID-19, 2021 didn’t let up on the gas. In Omaha we had a heated election cycle, felt the squeeze of a tight labor market and heard debates about sex education and critical race theory. Did we move forward or regress deeper into our social/political corners? These journalists of a small alternative outfit smack dab in the middle of the heartland dare not wager a guess. But there’s some good news — we’re still here and you’re still reading. In this issue we’d like to take a glance back at some of those stories and why they matter.

Sickness and Death Runs Rampant in One of Nebraska’s Largest Industries Despite two efforts to pass state legislation to protect those who slice our beef, pork,

chicken and more, meatpacking workers got little help. Our story in February showed how the state’s only oversight consisted of a part-time worker who spent a fraction of her time overseeing one of Nebraska’s largest industries. A recent Congressional report showed COVID-19 deaths and cases in meatpacking plants were much higher than originally reported. “At the onset of the pandemic, America’s largest meat companies failed to put adequate measures in place to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in their facilities,” a press release from a Congressional subcommittee on COVID-19 reads. “At the same time, the companies achieved record profits, with

January 2022

high prices burdening consumers already struggling under the impact of the pandemic.”

A Tense Election in Omaha Omaha’s elections in May 2021 were a referendum on the future of the city. It was time to see whether voters wanted radical change after social justice issues skyrocketed to the top of public consciousness in 2020,

Feeling the Squeeze of the Tight Labor Market In 2021, an ongoing pandemic forced workers to confront serious questions about their rights, like those who went on strike at Omaha’s Kellogg’s plant.

C O V E R Many other workers lost their jobs or saw their hours reduced as a result of the pandemic. But as soon as Nebraska returned to “normal,” there were more jobs available than people who wanted them, an issue we covered in a package about the tight labor market.

spring of new businesses and development, you’ve probably wondered how it happened. One answer: tax-increment financing. TIF is the city’s best tool to incentivize development, and the tax breaks are intended for “blighted” and “substandard” areas. Despite that, the city’s poorest areas see little investment. Our story about the tool examined how it’s been used and included a map we built from scratch that shows the density of how TIF dollars have been spent.

Going to War over Inclusive Sex Education When we looked into the state’s proposed sex education standard suggestions (mouthful isn’t it?), we had no idea how big the story would become. What started as a search for national, peer-reviewed research, became a political firestorm — in no small part due to the progressive way the suggested standards addressed gender. The result: The state dropped it, and now a petition drive could allow voters to create a new education board that would report exclusively to the governor. Meanwhile, our feature on transgender students showed that Omaha is far behind where it needs to be to give equal and fair opportunities to all students.

The Tiff with TIF If you’ve watched Dodge Street grow from a few dying commercial outposts to a well-

Latino Leaders Rising Up When the late commissioner Mike Boyle passed away on Sept. 13, the Douglas County Board searched for a new can- didate to fill the District 1 seat. Roger García — who lost to Boyle by three votes in 2020 — won out, this time against 24 opponents, becom- ing the first Latino commissioner on the Douglas County Board. Another leader who made headlines in 2021 was Paco Fuentes. His leadership runs deep in Omaha. When he announced his retirement from the Boys and Girls Club of the Midlands after more than 20 years of service, El Perico sat down with him at his favorite place, the Guaca Maya Restaurant. Fuentes talked about his 20year career as a military man, how his father came from Mexico, the memories he has from there and how his life in Omaha has shaped his values. His days serving the Omaha community

aren’t over. Fuentes continues working in what he considers “a beautiful job” — helping young people as the community outreach director at Goodwill Omaha.

around vaccinations. We lost people, too, and covered their stories through our new “In Memoriam” section as well as a series about funeral directors, the last responders.

An Immigrants’ Guide to Omaha

It feels like not much has changed since last year. While vaccines and booster shots are available, 34% of Nebraskans, or about 650,000 people, still haven’t gotten any kind of shot.

In June 2021, El Perico welcomed Bridget Fogarty, a corps member of Report For America, to strengthen our reporting on Omaha’s immigrant communities. Fogarty’s immigration guide includes information on accessing affordable food, connecting with free legal assistance, where to find free English classes, how to access day care, where to get help in an emergency and much more. El Perico also highlighted organizations and individuals who help our immigrant communities thrive — from the South Omaha Neighborhood Alliance and neighborhood associations to those who organize celebrations of Cinco de Mayo and Día de los Muertos.

COVID-19: The Return 2021 was supposed to be the light at the end of the tunnel for COVID-19. It wasn’t. We covered doctors calling for more help as well as the implications of the state taking down its pandemic data. In our print editions and The Reader and El Perico website, we wrote about how to get the vaccine and fact-checked rumors

Anti-Racism, Critical Race Theory and Lies Your Social Studies Teacher Told You When we started looking into how Nebraska teaches history in its public schools, critical race theory had not become a headline-making phrase. In retrospect that’s exactly what we were looking at with our award-winning story on the fight to change social studies standards. We talked with students and educators dissatisfied with Nebraska’s whitewashed curriculum. Notably we were denied access to teachers by the Omaha area’s biggest districts, but reporter Leah Cates was still able to get the story. The result was a widely read piece that pushed some textbook manufacturers to change the wording of some of their chapters. In November, Cates’ reporting was recognized as the best solutions journalism story in the Local Online Independent News Publishers awards.

January 2022

N E W S

(Dis)Invested

A New Project from The Reader to Dig Deeper into Omaha’s Entrenched Inequalities Story and illustration by Chris Bowling

the government did the same. In Omaha, local governments and wealthy foundations have put up billions just in the last few years to reshape the city.

he sun shone on an activist as he picked through rubble, aiming a camera toward the destruction. In the weeks after a devastating storm, Omaha banded together to put its communities back together again. That was just as true in North Omaha, but activists like this man said there was a deeper problem here. As one paper put it, “a much quieter disaster that has been playing out for more than thirty years in Omaha: the economic atrophy of the near north side.”

The result is that Omaha is one of the best places to live in the country. It has low unemployment, income inequality and segregation relative to other large cities. But that’s not the reality for everyone.

That was November 1997. The activist was former Omaha City Council member Ben Gray back when he was still a TV news pho-

tographer. The story, titled “The Abandoned Omaha,” ran in The Reader.

Since then, a lot has changed. But then again, a lot has stayed the same. “Everything is being built up Poverty Changes Across Difaround North ferent Omaha Neighborhoods Omaha, and North Omaha From 1990 to 2019, several areas of Omaha saw still looks the changes in poverty rates. While development same,” Precious McKesson, through TIF may be a small factor in improving president of the the livelihoods of people in the area, places that North Omaha got more TIF money seemed to have greater deNeighborhood creases in poverty. On the flip side, the areas with Alliance, told the least investment saw increases in poverty and The Reader as continued to have the highest rates. protests rocked Omaha in 2020. “That’s the hard part.” For decades, where you live in Omaha has had a massive effect on the route your life takes. Particularly on the east side of the city, poverty, often perpetuated by systemic rac-

January 2022

ism, has kept generations of people stuck. Meanwhile, the west side has generally been home to decent housing, good schools, low crime and plentiful opportunities. People have tried to close those gaps. Solutions have come in the form of nonprofits, government initiatives, youth-centered programs and lots of money. Some things have changed. Others not so much. Our question, which we want to answer with a new, year-long reporting project, is why? Our answer: investment. “Our opposition is investing every resource — monetary, social, capital, everything they can, time — to make sure we go back to what they were comfortable with,” activist Ja Keen Fox said in 2020. “If we can’t match that, we can’t win.” Change isn’t hard to find in Omaha. The suburbs have exploded, the city razed then rebuilt Midtown, and city leaders dug a trench for a waterway park in the middle of downtown only to decide years later to refill it for a public park. When COVID-19 plunged America into economic freefall,

In poor, minority-populated neighborhoods, people have dealt with many of the same issues for years. Reader headlines from the year 2000 talk about a growing population of Latino immigrants in South Omaha struggling with poor housing, language barriers and citizenship statuses. In North Omaha the same year, residents held protest signs that read, “Omaha talks the talk, but does not walk the walk for minority business.” In recent years, improvements have been made to incomes, high school graduation rates and employment levels, particularly among the city’s Black community. The city’s also become more diverse as minorities have moved to areas outside of North and South Omaha. However, concentrations of poverty still exist. Some measures, like the rate of homeownership in the city’s Black community, have gotten worse. Poverty in North Omaha has risen steadily since 2000. Other problems have persisted, like crime concentrating in poor neighborhoods or Omaha police shooting and killing people of color. “This is home, this is all I know,” said Shan’e Perkins, the sister of

N E W S Kenneth Jones, who was killed by Omaha police in 2020. “But to keep experiencing this, it’s just kind of like, are things gonna change?” Omaha’s inequality goes back to maps drawn up in the 1930s that kept mostly poor Black and brown people trapped in their neighborhoods by deeming them “hazardous” to loan money to. Today those zones, identified through a practice now called redlining, are the same that have the highest eviction rates, crime rates, housing code violations and lowest rates of life expectancy, education and employment in the city. Meanwhile, Reader analyses have found majority-white neighborhoods are being flooded with private home loans — $12 billion worth from 2007 to 2017, 45 times that of minority neighborhoods. “It’s as if some of these places have been trapped in the past, locking neighborhoods into concentrated poverty,” said Jason Richardson, a researcher at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition in 2018. The realities of systemic racism are true in Omaha even as the city becomes more diverse than ever.

Of races with more than 5,000 people in Omaha, the white population grew the least during the past two decades, according to 2020 U.S. Census numbers. Meanwhile, the Latino community nearly tripled, the Asian community more than tripled, and the Black community grew by nearly 25%. When it comes to addressing systemic racism, the approach sometimes feels scattershot. Even at our small newspaper, we find ourselves playing hopscotch from one topic to another; building up a small wealth of knowledge on a subject before moving to the next. In the past few years alone, The Reader’s done stories about the dire state of affordable housing, the disconnect between what causes crime and how we treat it and how investing in a cheap foster care system is hurting kids and families. We’ve looked at the inequitable use of the city’s biggest tool for development, the hoops working families jump through to survive and disparate opinions on how we, as a city, address systemic racism and move forward. Meanwhile, Nebraska, like most of the country, seems more apt to have conversations around inequi-

Minorities See Most Growth in Last 20 Years In Douglas County, white people still represent the majority of the local population. However most of the county’s growth came from minority communities with Hispanic or Latino people leading the way.

ty than ever before — critical race theory, antiracism and initiatives to address affordable housing are all hot-button topics, even if the debate doesn’t always seem productive. It’s all a good start, but the further we go, the more questions we have. We can’t answer them, it gets frustrating, and it solves little. So we want to try something different and ask our small staff to make a big investment. Through our reporting and community forums, we’ve identified four subject areas that are most integral to the well-being of Omahans: • Housing and community development • Education • Criminal justice • Family and community supports All of these touch and intersect in unique ways. Where we live, how safe it is and whether we live in fear of eviction affects so much. So do the schools we go to and whether our families have the tools to build wealth, get good jobs and provide a better future for generations to come. And how our city handles crime undoubtedly can stymie or perpetuate inequity. Our commitment is simple. Our reporters will cover and study each of these topics. I, Chris Bowling, will cover development and criminal justice. Bridget Fogarty will cover education, and Leah Cates will cover family/community support systems. We also plan on collaborating with local media on stories and issues within the project to further the depth and reach of our reporting. The reporting process will include building rich source lists, filing public records requests, analyzing data and building resource pages. We will publish weekly stories that may be profiles, features, podcasts, data pages and other forms of storytelling.

Charts: Chris Bowling Source: U.S. Census Bureau Created with Datawrapper

Monthly we’ll publish investigative stories on deeper issues. At the end of this project, our research will coalesce in a series that will analyze these four topics through the lens of inequity and come up with viable solutions for our community.

All of this reporting will be available at thereader.com as well as a multimedia landing page that will serve as the project’s home. The framework won’t surprise many. It’s beat reporting 101 with a twist — we’re adding intention to what we believe is the greatest static problem facing our community. And through that deep research, hopefully we can tell stories that combine historical context with reporting that can build better stories. We’re also hoping to work with our local media partners from television to newspapers to radio stations. We believe our community is best served when we pool our collective talents and experiences. These stories will be free to republish with credit, but more importantly we want to collaborate to reach more viewers together than we could separately. The most indispensable part of this process? You. “We have North Omaha. We have South Omaha. We have West Omaha,” Kimara Snipes told us in 2020. “We are extremely segregated here and have been like that since my parents moved here from the South … but we have to listen to the people in these different parts of the city.” Whether you’re a reader, a community advocate or politician, we want you to be a part of this. Tell us the stories we need to cover, the studies we need to read, the history we need to hear. We also want you to tell us when we’re wrong. Because underlying all of this is a central optimism. We love this city. We want our neighbors to succeed. But we can’t do that unless we all face some ugly truths. And the truth is, the American dream does not exist for everyone in Omaha. As hard as we work, our success is often dependent on factors outside our control. We can’t fix that, but we can inform people, like you, who can. And those solutions are out there. They exist already in our community, or maybe they’ve worked elsewhere and we have yet to try them. Our goal is to find them and make a case for their application in Omaha.

January 2022

T H E A T E R

For Local Theater Productions, 2021 Offers a Renewal Doors Open Again, Curtains Rise and Audiences Return to the Seats by Natalie Christie

heater in Omaha in 2021 ushered in a much-anticipated comeback season, reviving the spirit of perseverance in the face of challenges that had temporarily closed many theaters’ doors. Theater was alive and well, and back once again, stronger than ever. When the going got tough and restrictions were cemented in place, theaters got collaborative and creative. Many hosted outdoor productions or events in addition to their usual seasons. Masks were required indoors with the exception of eating or drinking. New COVID vaccination protocols were also implemented at the majority of local theaters to keep patrons and artists safe. The year was also a time for new leadership and direction to take place, with the Omaha Community Playhouse bringing on board a new artistic director. After a long, collective hiatus for many theaters, it was a time for reflection and growth. Industry changes continued with more emphasis on casting BIPOC performers, and select theaters introduced compensation for performers, a huge benefit and, moving forward, a step in the right direction. The Omaha theater community also unified together, participating in the initial worldwide event with Musical Theatre International’s All Together Now! Omaha Performing Arts brought back national Broadway tours, which was a long time coming after nearly a year of postponed or canceled shows. Previously postponed shows that returned were Hamilton and Cats, with Anastasia set to return in June of 2022 after being postponed. Omaha Performing Arts also broke ground with plans to open a new live music venue, Steelhouse Omaha, in 2023. In November, the Omaha Community Playhouse welcomed Stephen Santa into the position of artistic director. The OCP season opened with Dear Jack, Dear Louise, a two-person wartime romance with Josh Pey-

Pandemic. Former OCP artistic director Kimberly Faith Hickman joined Rave On Productions as artistic and education director, launching McGuigan Arts Academy, which stages select productions in traditional and nontraditional venues throughout Omaha. The Circle Theatre brought us Shakespeare’s Lovers and the hauntingly poignant Holocaust survivor testimonies of When We Go Away.

RaveOn’s Rocky Horror Show cast, directed by Kaitlyn McClincy ton and Sarah Schrader in the lead roles. Guest director Jim McKain brought to the Howard Drew Theatre The Mystery of Irma Vep, a campy, quick-change farce starring Ben Beck and Ana Perillo. One of the first shows back in theaters at OCP was the wildly popular Ain’t Misbehavin’, a high-energy musical delivered by an exciting cast with Jus.B, Leiloni Brewer, Dara Hogan, DJ Tyree and Tiffany White-Welchen, directed by Kathy Tyree. Other season productions included Agatha Christie’s Murder On the Orient Express, Gutenberg! The Musical!, in conjunction with The Candy Project, The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey, Fully Committed by Becky Mode, The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown, and Grounded, led by guest director Kimberly Faith Hickman. The BlueBarn Theatre boasted a robust 33rd mainstage season along with themes of embracing “empathy, explosive laughter, madness and love, and the wild west.” It began the year with the premiere of Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery. Thomas Gjere, Anna Jordan, and Michael Judah were just some of the stellar cast in this dynamic production about differing perspectives and social issues. Next it staged the regional premiere of the trailblazing Juneteenth new musical Buf-

January 2022

falo Women, A Black Cowgirl Musical Dramedy by Beaufield Berry and J. Isaiah Smith, based on one of their popular outdoor workshops from the summer. (Read Courtney Bierman’s profile of playwright Beaufield Berry on the next page) The show featured notable talents such as Brandi Smith, Nadia Ra’Shaun, and Echelle Childers. The Bluebarn had a first successful outdoor Season 33 Happening with free and socially distanced events such as Musing, A Storytelling Series: Movies, Music, and Me, in the Porchyard. Just in time for the holidays A Very Die Hard Christmas rounded out the season with a Christmas-themed fan favorite. Brigit St. Brigit Theatre Company’s 29th season also consisted of innovative outdoor events, such as Fireside Macbeth held at Rainwood Farm. With its popular festival celebrations on hold, BSB returned in early September from a post pandemic hiatus with The Dresser, by Ronald Harwood. The Benson Theatre debuted its first season with 20th Century Blues by Susan Miller. The Union for Contemporary Art introduced experimental and immersive theater experiences with Pursuing Legacy starring Dara Hogan. It combined unique storytelling elements with alternate reality, and the spoken-word livestream of Zedeka Poindexter: Sense of the

The Lofte Community Theatre staged the Pulitzer-winning drama Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley, with standout performances from Melissa Holder, Natalie McGovern, and Wade Mumford. Other season highlights were the wisecracking and humorous Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End, a one-woman show with Melinda Mead in the title role. The four-person musical I Do! I Do! I Do! I Do! was a hit, with Anna Rebecca Felber garnering the Lofte its first OEA nomination for outstanding actor in a musical. Alone Together by Lawrence Roman was staged next, a comedy about empty nesters, and featured hilarious performances from Wendy Allen, Andrew Schell, and Aaron Spracklin, while The Savannah Sipping Society, by Jones, Hope and Wooten, delighted audiences with its light-hearted, southern comedy cast of four older women showcasing the talents of Therese Rennels and Rosalie Duffy. The season rounded out with the holiday spectacular Christmas At Leon’s. The Rose Theatre lineup included shows such as the musical Disney’s The Descendants, It’s A Wonderful Life, based on the Lux Radio Theatre Script, rockathon Misunderstood: Heroes and Villains and Corduroy, the children’s book adapted for the stage by Barry Kornhauser. Omaha looks forward to an even brighter future of theater in 2022. As we navigate the pandemic world, we’ve learned through our stages that although they may be dark for a while, the show will always go on.

T H E A T E R

Beaufield Berry-Fisher Is Changing Omaha’s Arts Landscape Plays, a Novel, a Musical – Even an Education Cooperative and Nonprofit by Courtney Bierman

eaufield Berry-Fisher is expecting. She’s not pregnant, though some of the most creatively productive times of her life have coincided with pregnancy. Berry-Fisher and her husband Rob have three children. She was pregnaont with her youngest, Georgia, in 2019 while writing Red Summer, the play about the lynching of Will Brown that had a wildly sucessful run at the BlueBarn Theatre.

was no way after hearing her first draft that we would have ever said no.” It’s that kind of initiative that makes Berry-Fisher a blessing to Omaha’s artistic community. She is a fierce advocate for other artists of color in the city, and she is vocal about the need to compensate artists for their work. She is driven by the desire to dismantle the traditions that have largely shut out women and people of color from theater in Omaha and the world at large.

Before that was her son Oscar in 2017, who Berry-Fisher says represented a turning point in her career. That’s when she did some of her best work. During that pregnancy, she wrote the play In The Upper Room in three days and cranked out a novel, Childhood Friends.

“There’s been a very structured way about theater, a very ‘sacrifice everything in your life to make this art or you’re not dedicated,’” Berry-Fisher says. “But to dismantle that is to make it possible and more tangible for artists of color, Black artists, Black women and mothers in the arts to work and sustain a life inside of the arts. So it is an undoing of everything we’ve been taught about how theater must be done, which is all centered around white men.”

This time, the baby is figurative. It’s Buffalo Women, the historical, musical dramedy that will premiere at BlueBarn this summer. It’s Agribella Orbis, a theater nonprofit Berry-Fisher is starting with friends. And it’s her vision for the artistic future of Omaha and its other Black creatives. Berry-Fisher is camped out in the bedroom with Zoom open on her laptop — her favorite place to work. There’s an office in the house, but she doesn’t use it much. “I try to get as much done from my bed as possible,” she jokes. “I have an office right next to my bedroom. Just don’t — there’s no bed in there.” Today, working from the bedroom is a necessity. Berry-Fisher is a founder of an education cooperative in Benson called the Village Co-Op, started in 2020. Village may not have hap-

Beaufield Berry-Fisher pened if it weren’t for the pandemic. COVID forced Berry-Fisher to slow down. She wasn’t writing, which gave her a chance to get the school off the ground. “The co-op’s been a dream of mine for five years,” she says. “I wasn’t publicly schooled, and I can’t homeschool. Like, I wanted something in between.” Berry-Fisher starts things herself rather than wait until someone else beats her to it. In another life, if it weren’t for her talents as a playwright, she might have

been a producer. After all, she was a self-produced writer for years before her plays began to get national attention.

In community theater, the backbone of performing arts in Omaha, actors usually aren’t paid. Nightly rehearsals are difficult for working-class parents — especially mothers — to accommodate. “That decolonization comes at the expense of some tradition, but at the literal benefit for the people who I feel need the stage the most,” Berry-Fisher says.

When Berry-Fisher wrote Red Summer in 2019, she showed up at the BlueBarn to pitch it to artistic director Susan Clement-Toberer with an entire prospective cast in tow. A first in BlueBarn’s 33-year history.

What’s missing in Omaha, she says, is grassroots investment in new playwrights.

“She came in in true Beaufield Berry style, super prepared, and she had a cast put together,” Clement-Toberer says. “There

It’s a problem she’s dealing with while finishing Buffalo Women, which will premiere at the BlueBarn in May.

January 2022

T H E A T E R Buffalo Women is a country-western musical directed by Nik Whitcomb with songs by young Nebraska composer J. Isaiah Smith. It follows a group of Black frontier women in 1865 — real figures like Stagecoach Mary and Biddy Mason, who have been largely forgotten or omitted altogether from the historical record. They will be played by Tiffany White-Welchen and Breanna Carodine, respectively.

“And I said, ‘You know how to get the money, and then you pay me the money. But how do I just get you out of the way and get the money,’” she says. “There’s no place in Omaha right now where you can actually develop a new piece of work. And I think that that’s something that’s fundamentally missing.” Christi Leupold, Berry-Fisher’s longtime friend and occasional collaborator, was helping with fundraising efforts one night when she suggested cutting out the middleman: Why not start a nonprofit?

Overlooked and under-appreciated stories are hallmarks of Berry-Fisher’s playwriting “I love having Beau as a creative partner in Omaha,” Whitcomb says. “And I love that she is really respectfully engaging with Black stories in this way, in a way that I don’t think our city’s seen often. You know, a lot of times, Black artists in Omaha and elsewhere are boxed into certain narratives. And Beau is finding a way to kind of capitalize on telling a new version of those narratives, which I think is very exciting.”

Beaufield Berry-Fisher with the cast of Buffalo Women, A Black Cowgirl Musical Dramedy BlueBarn previewed Buffalo Women last summer after a brief workshop process. Workshopping is essentially a trial-and-error performance of a new work. The creative team gets together to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Scenes are rewritten and structure is tweaked.

February 8–13 Orpheum Theater

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January 2022

Buffalo Women has another workshop coming up in January at the BlueBarn. Berry-Fisher wants to raise $20,000 for the full workshop experience: compensating actors, musicians, and herself. She sent letters to the heads of arts organizations in Omaha to ask for assistance.

“I was like, ‘Yes, I want to help you with this, but this is not the last time you’re going to be doing this. I know that. And I know that the Omaha community is looking for something different and new and innovative,’” Leupold says. “And I said, ‘Why don’t we just lay the groundwork?’” Berry-Fisher was on board.

T H E A T E R “And I was like, ‘Damn,’” she says. “The last thing I needed was another thing to do. But it was brilliant.

on what I’ve experienced with places like the Summit. It was just like a full circle amazing moment.”

Berry-Fisher and Leupold are filing for nonprofit status for Agribella Orbis, an organization they hope will provide a financial framework to recruit and keep artists in Omaha.

After writing In The Upper Room — her best play, she says — Berry-Fisher was convinced she’d never write something so good again.

Leupold and Berry-Fisher are cautiously optimistic about Agribella Orbis. They also believe in signs. Their lawyer, hired through the legal technology website Rocket Lawyer, recognized Berry-Fisher’s name — Beaufield is a hard name to forget, after all. He’d seen a performance of her play In The Upper Room in 2019 at the Colorado New Play Summit in Denver “It was just like, holy shit,” Berry-Fisher says. “This randomly assigned dude in the U.S. knows my name and has seen my work, and we’re literally making this nonprofit about the work based

But writing In The Upper Room also changed the way she thought about playwriting altogether. No longer was she creating from a place of darkness — a signature of the largely white and male theater tradition she’s working so hard to dismantle. She began to see the joy in her work and the payoff. “I’d rather be writing, right, like pregnant with ideas and full of life instead of embodying … this proximity to death in this sadness and grief of writing,” she says. “You can write with the same depth inside of joy in life.”

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thereader.com January 2022

ART

Best of Times, Worst of Times

Best in Show: Merrill Peterson, “South Window”

COVID Can’t Dim A-List’s Spotlight on Metro’s Visual-Art Scene in 2021-22 by Mike Krainak

f 2020 was the “best of times, the worst of times” as argued in last year’s A-list of The Reader’s annual review of the most significant visual-art events and exhibits, then 2021 must be an encore performance. Less so the art created and seen perhaps, but more the challenging circumstances under which the Metro art scene struggled in and outside the box.

The top tier of the A-list features no less than 11 significant exhibits from dozens of eligible shows in 2021. These four group and seven solo shows met and raised expectations for both venues and individual artists on view. Please note exhibits that opened

Will 2022 be another year of “what goes around, comes around?” Metro art centers remain positive, busy scheduling while providing a booster shot of their own. But before the big reveal below, our preview of the year ahead, let’s take one last look at the most significant art events and exhibits of 2021 seen and written about by yours truly and The Reader’s staff of arts writers. The A-list doesn’t claim to be the last word on the “best in art” in 2021. Nor do we claim to have seen or Delita Martin, “Mirror Mirror,” written about all art events charcoal, acrylic, decorative and exhibits therein. But papers, hand stitching, 2020. the majority have been considered via the criteria of most creative, unified and re- or showed mostly in December alized work based upon original will be considered in 2022’s list. intent. A more complete A-list, including key events, runners-up As explained, large-group and honorable mentions as shows needed to be more than well as separate stories of plastering ivory walls salon-style. 2022 art previews and Read- Gallery 1516 continued its comer arts writers’ favorite shows mitment to Nebraska regional last year, can be found online artists with its third Biennial. What at https://thereader.com. it may lack still in experimental,

January 2022

provocative art it makes up for in quality, professional work and presentation in the Metro’s most sophisticated gallery. Amplify Arts’ Generator Space gallery offered two of the most successful, conceptual smallgroup shows in 2021: The People, The Human Beings was curated by artist Sarah Rowe and comprised of Native artists Nathaniel Ruleaux, Steven Tamayo, Rowe and student artist Lyla Rowe and Elliana Sitting Eagle; and secondly, Celestial Real Estate, organized by Omaha-based choreographer Lauren Simpson and four additional collaborators, Nick Miller, Celeste Butler, Derek Higgins and Galen Rogers. They created installation work that traced the movement of sunlight within the gallery space itself.

hibits of 2021 represented familiar genres and media, artists were diversified in style and point of view even with ongoing subject matter. For instance, both Claudia Alvarez and Joseph Broghammer continued their curious portraits with her images of “children” at the Zodiac Gallery and his “Flock of Joe” at Anderson O’Brien, two of the most polished, sophisticated exhibits seen last year. But Alvarez’s haunted vision of innocence in bloom is even more vulnerable and displaced in the Year of COVID. And Broghammer’s now very familiar birds of a feather are Fatties, hummingbirds to be exact, and as always embedded in autobiographical set pieces.

But the group show that best realized its objective was Bemis Center’s Intimate Actions featuring artists Maria Antelman, Joey Fauerso and Paul Mpagi Sepuya. It was curated under the theme of well, physical, spatial and emotional intimacy and set a high bar of originality. Meanwhile, though the seven best solo ex-

Claudia Alvarez, “Untitled,” 2021, Graphite and watercolor on paper

ART Two solos dealt eloquently with issues of race and identity. Joslyn’s Riley Cap Gallery featured an impressive mixed-media installation of Native American portrait photographs from Wendy Red Star following in the footsteps of her grand-uncle, Clive Francis Dust Sr., known for his similar cultural keeping. And Delita Martin’s expressionistic portraits of strong black women at Union for Contemporary Art “Conjures” up the equally bold spirit of late Omaha artist Wanda Ewing. The remaining three best solos of 2021 eschew the personal in favor of a more detached, conceptual point of view. Project Project hosted several alternative exhibits, none more effective than Reagan Pufall’s creative, cerebral Archives of 3D busts and text panels that inform as well as inquire after “humankind’s Cosmic Remembrance.” More micro in scope is the equally evocative Bowman’s Capsule from John-Elio Reitman. Baader-Meinhof’s best exhibit of 2021 offered us a striking, sculptural “Sinus Diagram” of watercolors that illustrated how the human body functions as a thing of beauty and wonder. Yet, leave it to Travis Apel, Metro’s most experimental, concep-

tual sculptor, to bring us back to “reality” with earth matters, with his unique grass roots installation, Fiber Position, that explored current environmental issues at little gallery/blackstone.

Over at Hot Shops, Creighton faculty and students will be featured in two medically themed exhibitions. A Portrait of Medical Humanities: Artwork by Creighton University Students (Jan. 7-31) includes a mix of studio art majors and med students, revolving around infusing compassion into observation.

In galleries across the Metro, winter will be no time for post-holiday doldrums, as the calendar of venue offerings well into the spring of 2022 makes it easy to keep those resolutions to get out and enjoy more of the visual-arts scene. What follows is a sampling of upcoming shows around town.

The Fred Simon Gallery opens the year with the beetle-centric work of Omahan Lily Ackman (Jan. 14-March 2), followed by the pairing of calligrapher Cheryl Dyer and collagist Sophie Newell (March 11-May 4).

Procrastination is not an option for fans of Joslyn Art Museum, Travis Apel: “Three Blades” which closes its doors goldenrod stems, grassroots, hemp in May until 2024 cord, acetate, masonite, 2021 while its expansion/ renovation gains tracfrom sound art and experimental tion. The final Riley CAP show for music resident Maya Dunietz. For the year will be a mini mid-career Root of Two, her installations cross survey of Allison Janae Hamilton’s boundaries of music, composimultimedia narratives of life in the tion, visual art, performance, tech rural American South (Feb. 5-May research and philosophy (May 1). 5-Sept. 11). Also focused on the landscape will be the keystone spring show at Gallery 1516 – Nebraska: Flatwater (April-June). This immersive video installation captures the vistas, wildlife and open skies of the state across the seasons. Before this debut, the Gallery will also feature the group exhibition Confluence, including new work by Kristae Peterson, Steve Azevedo, Bill Hoover, Karen Linder and Meghan Stevens (Jan. 14-Feb. 27).

John-Elio Reitman,“Sanguine Ear”, 2021 watercolour and ink on paper

Bemis Center devotees will have to wait for a solo effort

Area universities continue to offer their gallery spaces for important student and faculty shows, but do make room for visiting voices. First up at UNO is Insight, a two-person show of Omaha’s Shawnequa Linder and Kansas City artist Harold Smith (Jan. 28Feb. 24). Over at Metro’s Elkhorn campus, Des Moines artist Rachel Connell will present mallscapes and other paintings in Justice, based on her considerations of American consumerism (March 16-April 13). Visiting artist Erin McCluskey Wheeler will open the year at Creighton’s Lied Gallery, bringing her aesthetic of bright, layered and intricately constructed collage work. Wheeler is fascinated with the manipulation of paper, its weight and materiality, and its “life” before her interventions (Jan. 21-March 1).

Generator Space begins the year with a duo project with Joslyn curator Annika Johnson and Minneapolis artist Hannah Hall, with an emphasis on the body as part of nature (Jan. 14-Feb. 18). Dollhouse, organized by Gayle Rocz, Matt Bailey and Natalie Hanson, will explore real/virtual personas by connecting live and filmed choreography (March 5-April 15). Next door, the RBR Gallery is again hosting the OEAA visual arts nominee showcase (opening Feb. 11). Its April show will feature an array of contemporary prints created under the collaborative guidance of master printer Mike Sim, founder and director of the renowned Lawrence (Kan.) Lithography Workshop. A few steps away, Project Project will be home to the vivid pop/ street-inspired painting of Omaha’s Tyler Emery (opening Feb. 11). The following month, Byron Anway and Isaiah Jones are joining forces, combining Anway’s two-dimensional work with Jones’ poetry (opening April 8). Nearby in Little Italy, Baader-Meinhof’s big show for the season will be Joshua Abelow: 1982-2022, a mid-career retrospective of the New York-based artist (opening April 8) and prolific painter whose work often explores the potential of abstract geometries. (Arts writer Janet Farber contributed the abridged preview above.)

January 2022

D I S H

2022 Dining Predictions What Will Be Hot, and What We Will Be Happy to Leave Behind in the New Year by Sara Locke

e are finally moving out of survival mode and back into a thriving dining scene that makes Omaha a destination for foodies across the country. As we cautiously make our return, there are trends and behaviors that are clearly history, and others that are just finding their footing. This month, The Reader takes a look at what’s trending in 2022.

Alternative Schedules The four-day work week has been gaining a lot of popularity throughout corporate America as many are finding new ways to balance their families, jobs and multiple side hustles. Let’s keep the same supportive energy when restaurants shift to the same structure. While many smaller establishments have long prospered staying closed one day a week, larger restaurants and many chains are now embracing the idea of limiting service hours. From worker uprisings and labor shortages to the broken supply chain making maintaining inventory a tall order, something has to break. In an attempt to keep that “something” from being their remaining workers or their produce budget, your favorite restaurants will look to more selective service hours in the new year. Cutting hours alone won’t be enough to manage the enormous shift change, and you will likely see more focused menus, and prices that continue to rise for the foreseeable future.

Collaborative Kitchens We have seen the success of cooperative models like Dandelion and The Switch, which both rely heavily on an all-forone attitude between collaborative chefs and kitchens. This does more than take the pressure off each individual establishment, it also creates a more diverse and enjoyable dining experience for the customer. Expect the most creative of the culinary industry to continue to find ways to create a virtual stone-soup out of the current kitchen crisis, and perhaps find a permanent way to end the toxic isolation and overworked culture the culinary industry has been suffering under.

Shop Local, for Good I will fully celebrate an end to the fetishization of incentivizing local dining. As costs rise on goods and groceries for even the cheapest of chains, diners will be faced with overpaying for overprocessed food, or paying a proper price for some-

January 2022

thing sustainable and substantial. Deals and discounts, loyalty programs, and forcing momand-pops to compete with bigname chains is staying in 2021. And what will these smaller spots do with your dollars? Use them to source their food even more locally. Indoor gardens and greenhouses will be popping up faster than anything inside them, and this hyper-local sourcing will allow those newly focused menus a chance to grow strong and healthy again. We’ve seen this work beautifully in the past with The Market House, and more recently at Gather in Omaha, which coincidentally took over the bay Market House left behind. As the pressure to just stay open begins to lift (again, thanks to you choosing to support local), the minds behind the local movement to protect and invest in heritage foods and heirloom varieties will have the opportunity to get back to their very important work. We will see foods on the brink of extinction become local-exotic, something you very nearly lost the opportunity to ever even taste. While endless breeds once existed, can you believe Red Delicious was the one that got a pass? Support for heritage foods will mean a much more delicious future.

Exploration Continuation For the last several years, allergen-free, health-conscious, or vegan alternatives to the most commonly used grains, nuts, and milks had been at the forefront of culinary explo-

ration. Now that we’re finally climbing back out of survival mode, the creativity can continue. New trends in fermentation are under way, while CBD infusion continues to find its way into everyday dining. Non-dairy potato milk is ready to make its way into your favorite recipes for a richer, more sustainable dairy alternative.

The Return of the Experience When Dave Utterback had to swap Yoshitomo’s beautiful chef-side dining for to-go boxes, I was finally able to admit we were in possibly irreversible trouble. By the end of 2021, not only was Utterback back in business, he was putting on a show and donating portions of the proceeds to causes close to his heart. As tensions continue to ease, expect more establishments to embrace the celebration of food as Utterback always has. You’ll find more food as performance art, kitchen-side dining, and table-side preparations to bring you closer to the action.

Respect for Staff “The Customer is Always Right,” is wrong, and it’s long past time we all admit it. If the labor shortage showed us anything, it’s that it takes an awful lot of grit and patience to deal with the public, and restaurant staff have given notice that they’re not going to take it anymore. Many establishments will approach raising minimum pay for those dishing your favorite foods, and tip sharing is getting a hard look in the process. And the next time you think

D I S H

Thanks Omaha for voting us

BesT BrewpuB, AgAin management is lax enough to let you abuse the wait staff, I promise you that another diner is pointing a phone at you ready to name and shame you on TikToK. On second thought, go ahead and yell. The Go Fund Me accounts for the abused staff will more than make up for the paltry tip you were lording over them in the first place. The underlying theme of this revolution is that 2022 will be the year the industry doesn’t just grind its way back into ex-

istence, but the year true sustainability is celebrated. The year we fully let go of predatory practices, like national delivery chains ripping off restaurants and dangerously toxic shifts for restaurant staff. The year we fully embrace what kept the industry alive. Thank you for your support in 2021. You let us continue to share your stories, and helped The Reader shine the light on what matters to you the most. We are so grateful that you continue to trust us to serve the community we love. Happy New Year.

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W PICKS W MESSAGE FROM THE READER’S EDITORIAL STAFF: Stop us if you’ve heard this before. We need you to wear a mask, get vaccinated, get boosted and take COVID-19 seriously. We originally had more event picks filling these pages, but we couldn’t condone large gatherings when Douglas County hospitals are at 86% capacity and nearly 3,000 Nebraskans have died from the virus. And while 62% of Nebraskans have gotten the shot, the more contagious omicron variant poses serious threats as cases are, once again, spiking while Douglas County goes without a mask mandate. We don’t want to pull stories to remind readers COVID-19 is serious, especially as we enter our third year of the pandemic. But that’s the reality. As cases persist we will not promote shows, concerts, art galleries or other events that don’t ensure proper social distancing, masking and vaccination requirements. Get your loved ones vaccinated and boosted. Make sure you have a mask in hand when you need to go to the grocery store. Pandemic fatigue or not, it’s not just possible to beat this, but necessary. ing with patients, are central themes of the show.

January 7-31

‘Portrait of Medical Humanities’

Hot Shops Art Center 5-8 p.m. hotshopsartcenter.com Proof of vaccination or negative test required for entry The Nicholas Street Gallery at The Hot Shops Art Center opens 2022 with A Portrait of Medical Humanities: Artwork by Creighton University Students. An opening reception will be held Friday, January 7, from 5–8 p.m. Face masks are required.

The show runs from January 7 through January 31. Nicholas Street Gallery is located inside the Hot Shops Art Center at 1301 Nicholas St. Further information is available at hotshopsartcenter.com. — Kent Behrens

January 13 - February 27

Confluence

Explores Nature of Creativity Gallery 1516, 6-9 p.m. gallery1516.org By appointment only, masks required even for vaccinated guests

This exhibition is a collection of works made by Creighton University studio art majors and School of Medicine students. Many of the works were created in the Art of Examination class taught by Professor Rachel Mindrup or as independent studies with her studio art majors and pre-health majors. Bridging the gaps between art and science, care and compassion for our future physicians, and healthcare workers work-

DECEMBER 2021

Gallery 1516 opens the new year with Confluence, an exhibition by five Omaha-based Artists. Works to be featured are by Karen Linder, Kristae Peterson, Bill Hoover, Meghan Stevens and Steve Azevedo. Confluence represents “synthesis after disjunction” — exploring what creativity means post the start of the pandemic, and the show feaAmplifyarts.org tures a variety of sizes and mediums. The Gallery Member’s opening will be Thursday, January 13, from 6-9 p.m. A public opening is scheduled for Friday, January 14, from 6-9 p.m. The Gallery is located at 1516 Leavenworth St., and is currently open by appointment only, Wednesday through Sunday. The show runs through February 27. Check gallery1516.org for further information about the exhibit and appointments. — Kent Behrens

January 14

‘Treader’

features Artists Hall, Johnson Generator Space January 14, 6-9 p.m.

By appointment only. Masks required. Catch the upcoming interactive exhibition Treader in the Vinton Street commercial district in south Omaha. The exhibit at Generator Space features work by Minnesota artist Hannah Lee Hall and Annika Johnson of Omaha. Treader will consist of Hall’s colorful, assemblage-style paintings, found-sound compositions by Johnson and a zine authored by both artists. An opening reception is planned for January 14, from 6-9 p.m. In addition, on February 18, a public program will be presented featuring texts submitted by exhibition visitors in a found-sound composition by Johnson. Details and times for this public presentation to be announced. Generator Space is located at 1804 Vinton St. Gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays, noon to 5 P.M. Exhibition viewings at Genera-

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tor Space are currently by appointment only, for groups smaller than five. Masks are required. Contact Amplifyarts.org or 402-996-1092 for appointments and more information. — Kent Behrens

January 14 - March 2

Lily Ackman’s “Focus” on Insects

Fred Simon Gallery artscouncil.nebraska.gov/ explore/fred-simon-gallery/ Restricted visitation, book viewings in advance. Masks encouraged.

O M A H A The Nebraska Arts Council and Fred Simon Gallery open 2022 in January with a solo show of works by Lily Ackman. Ackman was born in Colorado and raised in Papillion, Nebraska. She has had a lifelong interest in nature, especially when it involves the insect world. The intricate, largerthan-life works in this exhibit specifically focus on the beetle and include many species native to Nebraska. Her work covers a variety of styles and mediums, reflecting a deep attraction to nature and wildlife, one she has nurtured through working such places as the Henry Doorly Zoo and the Biology Department at Wayne State College. The show will run from January 14 through March 2. The Fred Simon Gallery is located at 1004 Farnam St., in the historic Burlington Building. Hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. More specific gallery visitation information may be available at artscouncil.nebraska. gov/explore/fred-simon-gallery/ or by calling 402-595-2122. — Reader staff

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DECEMBER 2021

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Fear of missing out on time with friends and family? Get vaccinated now! The COVID-19 vaccine is widely available throughout the state, but younger people are still getting coronavirus at the highest rates. Let’s all do right to reach community immunity and get the good life back.

Get COVID-19 vaccine information at DoRightRightNow.org 24

DRRN P3 The Reader_FP_June_VF.indd 1

DECEMBER 2021

6/17/21 4:23 PM

B A C K B E A T

Best Omaha Albums of 2021

Chosen by the Omaha Music Scene by Sam Crisler

etween hosting a local music radio show and covering the scene each month here for The Reader, I probably end up listening to almost as much Omaha music as everything else combined. And now that I’ve shared my credentials, here’s why I’d prefer not to be Mr. Gatekeeper. I could make my own list of the best local releases of 2021, but what fun would that be? I’m just a music nerd who sits behind his computer in his basement and (mostly) stands against the wall at shows. Why take my word? To provide a nice survey size, I spammed a bunch of Omaha musicians and scene tastemakers to find out which local releases they loved in 2021. What I got back was wide-ranging stylistically, but I think it provides an accurate idea of what the best Omaha albums from 2021 were, and which albums we’ll remember when we look back. As they say, real recognize real. So, here are the results: The best Omaha albums of 2021, as chosen by the Omaha music scene.

Pagan Athletes – Pagan Athletes

Sam Lipsett (Cat Piss, Magu–): My favorite album of 2021 is, without a doubt, Pagan Athletes by Pagan Athletes. It’s original and blends so many styles and genres while never being too much of one thing. To me, it really sounds like people making something that doesn’t have any boundaries or cares and is just fucking free. And I think the record just touches on the potential they possess and have and where

things are going. And they haven’t just already played all their cards as a two-piece, that the limitations of just two people somehow gives them more freedom than some other ensembles. It’s the sounds of two wild dudes who are just free. Thor Dickey (Nowhere): Refreshingly unique sound from this two-piece. I’m excited to hear their progression as they experiment further! Reminded me of the band Yip-Yip without the costume/stage prop theatrics. Roman Constantino (Garst, Velvet Velvet): They are pushing jazz and noise in a new, exciting direction by playing it with more garage-style instrumentation. They’ve revamped their live shows from their original state by adding lyrics on every song that harken back to the work of artists like Mike Watt and Shellac, and they accent their vocal inflections with witty stage banter that one might expect at a show of an SST signee.

Marcey Yates & XOBOI – Culxr House: Freedom Summer

Conny Franko (M34N STR33T): What I like about it most is all the different styles and features on the project. The record does a beautiful job of showing what Omaha’s hip-hop scene has to offer in all corners of the city. Aramara Quintos Tapia (Histrionic, Latino Lives): Freedom Summer was an amazing & impressive effort of so many different Omaha artists while staying cohesive all the way through; it definitely should be included on this list!

MarQ Manner (Homer’s music store manager, culture writer): I’ve been a huge fan of Marcey as an artist and a person for a long time, so any new music from him is important to me. Then you add to it that this is the first local hip-hop to come out on Saddle Creek, and that is important. It’s also important that it is a collaborative effort within part of the Omaha hip-hop community. The best part about it though is that the music and songs are so good through the entire release.

Kyle Jessen – Make the Right Man Bleed

Nathan Wolf (Pagan Athletes, Cat Piss): I’m probably a little biased, as Kyle played on the Pagan Athletes album. But I think this is a stunning set of alto sax improvisations. Kyle develops rhythms and ideas in a way that I haven’t heard any other free player do. The lengths of phrases vary wildly, yet they remain compelling and logical. The second track on the album is especially great, as Kyle gets to show off the lyrical side of his playing. After a brief meditation in a minor mode, Kyle returns to the alien soundscapes that make up the rest of the record. He revisits some of the ideas at the beginning of the track eventually, but they’re far more hideous the second time around. If you’re at all interested in improvised music, do not miss this tape. Sam Lipsett: Kyle Jessen also is on my list of sweet records.

Jocko – Future Form

Aramara Quintos Tapia: Future Form was simply just SO good, and the track “Exhale” has me excited for the evolution of their sound.

Living Conditions – Vows

Zach Schmieder (concert promoter): You can tell those dudes just put it all out there on this album. It’s an emotional roller coaster that I will ride until my body can’t take it anymore. It’s truly a brilliant piece of art.

Yadda Man – JiMMY

J. Crum (rapper, producer): My favorite album out of Omaha was JiMMY by Yadda Man. It was hella cohesive and has zero misses on the project.

January 2022

F I L M

2021 Film Year in Review: It Was the Worst of Times No, Seriously – It Was the Worst of Times by Ryan Syrek

gainst all odds, prayers, and pleas, 2021 was somehow even worse than 2020. We did it! Apocalyptic without the novelty, full of so much death that everyone now just yada-yada-yadas over body counts, maybe this last year will finally be the poison pill that kills nostalgia addiction? Waxing whimsical about past pop culture is a helluva lot more difficult when the context for that entertainment is super-duper icky. VH1’s I Love the ‘90s isn’t likely to get a sequel titled I Love the Plague Era.

trying to make this political, because science shouldn’t be, I’m just saying if you draw a diagram of “People who know what Titane is about” and “People who wear a mask over both their mouth and nose,” there’s gonna be some overlap.

For now, those of us who aren’t content with having a teeny-tiny handful of studios dominate theaters for the rest of our lives need to speak with our wallets. Support smaller flicks when you feel safe doing so, and drop some full-price coin on In a year filled with many bad things, of course a movie about a good dude Here in Omaha, our at-home rentals until locally and regionally made the naughty list. From the worst movies of the year to the worst trends then. It’s that or we’ll be in cinema, let’s take out 2021 with the trash owned theaters surstuck watching the sons vived. Oh, they ain’t of famous directors didoin’ Scrooge McDuck swan dives award contenders are still treat- million domestically. His last film, recting remakes of their daddies’ into tepid pools of gold coins or ed like Michelin-star delicacies The Grand Budapest Hotel, snagged movies forever. anything. Still, simply continu- that East and West coasters get $60 million. Do you understand ing to exist in this environment to chow down on first, leaving us that people still dress up like charis not nothing, considering they Midwesterners to lick crumbs. For acters from The Royal Tenenbaums were blasted point-blank with a now, let’s lean into the terrible! In a for Halloween (and in everyday double barrel of bad bullshit. The quest for catharsis, let’s Marie Kon- life)? I gave one of his movies a B-, ACX Cinema 12+ celebrated its do all the movie-related elements and I thought I was going to get Speaking of crossing streams, first full trip around the sun. Film of 2021 that whizzed on our joy in stabbed to death with a quirky Hollywood’s half-assed plan on Streams welcomed patrons back preparation for a 2022 that surely comb by someone humming an how to handle at-home cinema obscure European pop song. If the for regular and repertory screen- can’t be worse. Right? Right?? is going about as you’d expect. Cult of Anderson isn’t enough to ings at both the Dundee and Ruth We’re all suddenly navigating a get vintage jean-covered butts in Sokolof theaters. Marcus Theaters colossal cluster cluck of 37 platseats, what hope do newer writer/ recently took to offering “vaxxed forms and interfaces. Like dim-witdirectors have? only” screenings, hoping to coax ted panhandlers who clung to those rightfully still a bit iffy on The old problem was space: covered wagons, studios digging locking themselves in a room full It’s not like things were great for Theaters didn’t want to cede a for streaming gold have given us of strangers with questionable indie art house movies in the be- screen to some French foreign … a more confusing version of cahygiene and varying “opinions” fore times, but the pandemic has film when they could squeeze in ble? Seriously, you know they’re on scientific medical information, emicked all over nonblockbuster another showing of Fast and the literally going to just reinvent cawhich is 2021’s true lasting legacy. flicks. Audiences are increasingly Furious 17: Vin Diesel’s Wheelchair ble again, right? “The Disney BunNext month, we’ll do a hap- willing to risk the Rona for Spi- vs The Rock’s Power Scooter. Now, dle” will soon give way to “Cable py dance. I’ll roll out my top 10 der-Man and his amazing friends, there’s plenty of space, but the Classic,” and we’ll all be thanking films of the year, late as always. but smaller films are struggling. audiences who flock to non-main- them when they do it. stream cinema are the kind likely Why? Because even during a pan- Hard. Big-time serious movie men demic, in which everyone is used Wes Anderson’s The French to, you know, take concerns about threw big-time serious tantrums to streaming everything, major Dispatch pulled in less than $15 disease spread seriously. I’m not when they found out their big-

Streaming Struggles

Wherefore Art House?

January 2022

F I L M time serious movies weren’t going to show on big screens. Did it actually hurt revenues or returns? Who knows?! They all just lie through their teeth about how many people watched what on streaming. Netflix counts it as a view if you think about one of their movies long enough to remember the name. Dune made a hundred milly despite being released early on HBO Max. Is that good? Again, who knows?! If those people who wanted to see Space Paul vs the Sand Tapeworms on super-duper IMAX got to do that and those who love Frank Herbert’s book but would prefer a significantly less germy, wormy experience got to watch safely, that seems like a win-win. Here’s the thing: Without strapping into pandemic prediction mode, I think we can safely agree this isn’t going to suddenly just go away. Yet it sure seems like nobody is closer to making logical, reasoned decisions about the best way to handle how to distribute movies so that audiences are happy, theaters can survive, and studios can continue to make bonzo bucks while creatively accounting their films into net losses. Sure seems like 2021 was a good time to make a plan. That … didn’t happen. Look for 2022 to be even worse in terms of confusion about how, when, and where to watch what you want. Yippee!

The Worst 5 Movies of the Year To put a fine shine on this turd, it’s the moment you’ve (not) been waiting for. Before I hit you with the weakest of sauce, I want to say that I do this because it’s fun and sparks conversation, not because I like shitting on something that someone somewhere loves. I promise you, each movie listed below was someone’s favorite movie of the year. I love that thought, I really do. We’ve come to take opinions as such a personal slight when they’re nothing more than a reflection of how we see the world and the myriad of complex, ever-changing and unseen influences at work on us. I am glad we have a diversity of thought on what is and isn’t good. So here’s the sucky movies

that sucked most this sucky year.

5 - The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard

This ugly, loud, gross “throwback” action comedy bumped an M. Night Shyamalan movie from this list. Do you know the kind of grotesque hell Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson had to summon to make something I disliked more than another Shyamalan movie about magic water?

4 - The Last Duel

Binge in the New Year Rapid-Fire Reviews of 5 Recent TV Shows by Ryan Syrek

Ring in the New Year by doing what everyone should have been doing for the last two plague years: Staying home and watching TV. Here’s a quick roundup of shows to skip and screen

One of two stinky steamers Ridley Scott dropped this year, this is (I hope) the only big-budget film to give a rapist’s point of view a full third of the running time. Making Ben Affleck wear a soul patch and Matt Damon sport a mullet should be enough to keep any movie from this list. You know what can undo that? Multiple, long, “glamorous” rape sequences. No thank you please!

fter gleefully overindulging during the holidays, an act of celebration that does perfectly encapsulate the American spirit, slapping the couch a butt high-five and binging on television is just that much better. Here’s an odd grab bag of recent shows to either avoid or imbibe, depending on whether or not you see my opinion as valid or grody.

3 - Last Night in Soho

Something akin to David Lynch-meetsQuentin Tarantino fan fiction, I was tricked into watching this wildly unpleasant mess. What was I supposed to do, not watch a show that featured Catherine Keener as a cat witch? Yes. I was supposed to not watch this. A young writer/ director (Rosa Salazar) wants to make it in Hollywood but winds up crossing paths with curses and zombies and stuff. I know this very much sounds like it could be weirdly compelling, quirky, and “worth a try.” It is none of those things. It’s mostly boring, oddly exploitive/gross, and is way more fun to describe to others than actually suffer through.

Someone on the internets “dragged me” for saying I lost faith in Edgar Wright after Baby Driver. That’s a movie that features Kevin Spacey and Ansel Elghort. Google them and see what happens! Point is, it’s not surprising that Soho is a pervy, wrongheaded dive into sex work that features the worst “twist” ending of the year. And, as we discussed, M. Night Shyamalan made a movie this year.

2 - Malignant I do not care that this horror flick was an intentional homage to schlocky genre movies of the past. I care that it was so poorly acted that I spent the first half of the movie thinking the twist was that we were watching a bad movie within a real movie. There was no real movie, joke’s on me!

1 - Roadrunner Rotten Tomatoes wouldn’t let me give this an F-, but I gave it one. This ghoulish, monstrous reframing and manipulation is as irresponsible as filmmaking gets. An Anthony Bourdain documentary could have, and arguably should have, been a profound gateway to meaningful reflection. Instead, a director shamed himself, even if he failed to sully the good name of a troubled man.

Brand New Cherry Flavor (Netflix)

Grade = D-

What We Do in the Shadows (FX on Hulu) An endless delight, it seems impossible that we’re now three seasons deep into a vampire mockumentary spinoff featuring Matthew Berry. It would have been enough for the show to simply crack droll, sassy jokes about supernatural creatures dealing with modern life. Instead, this year went into even denser areas of its own mythology, actually attempted to develop its characters in meaningful ways, and featured a legitimately great plot twist. In addition to being effortlessly watchable, it’s now compelling in terms of narrative. Also, Matthew Berry says naughty words a lot, and it’s perfect.

Grade = A-

9 Perfect Strangers (Hulu) The best part about 9 Perfect Strangers is that the Wikipedia entry states up top “not to be confused with Perfect Strangers.” Oh, how I wish that this were the

tale of 9 Balkis … Instead, it’s dull and predictable nonsense punctuated by a career-worst Nicole Kidman performance. Her accent here makes Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff voice seem nuanced. A whole bunch of broken people sharing their trauma at a spa led by a kook sounds like it could be appealing, especially with a cast that includes Melissa McCarthy. Instead, the show ranges from insufferable to immovable. But hey, maybe it’s the perfect show to have on while you tryptophan fantastic nap.

Grade = D

Love Life (HBO Max) Watching an attractive person stumble through major relationships sounds exhausting, right? Love Life shouldn’t work but does because it’s secretly about realizing all of the times that you were the asshole when you were younger. You weren’t always the asshole. Sometimes someone else was. But sometimes you totally were, and you can only grow as a person if you admit that. Season one followed Anna Kendrick, which was totally fine. Season two switches the focus to William Jackson Harper, and in doing so, delivers something wholly more compelling. A celebration of Black love in various forms, from family bonds to queer romance, it’s also the universally necessary story of a dude learning to not be such a dick.

Grade = A-

Foundation (AppleTV) Lordy do I love me a dense space opera that has to do with the survival and extinction of all humanity. And that’s before you throw Lee Pace up in there! This take on Isaac Asimov’s book series is, let’s say, “deliberate.” Some people are likely to be turned off by the plodding pace and posturing/pontificating. Pah, I say! If you’re going to make a show that tries to get math to look sexy, you’re going to lose a few people along the way. The stunning visuals, fascinating subject matter, and fact I am a total f’n nerd has made this one of my favorite new programs of the year.

Grade = A

January 2022

C O M I C S Garry Trudeau

JeffREY Koterba

Jen Sorensen

January 2022

C R O S S W O R D

Free Fifty

AnswerS in next month’s issue or online at TheReader.com

— that’s 5x10x2 — by Matt Jones

Across

1. When they’re low, insurance companies are more profitable

32. Children’s cold medicine brand

33. Boundaries between biomes

15. Central, with “of”

16. “I Am Not My Hair” singer India.___

34. “Citizen Kane” studio

11. Trans Am that talks

17. Sap

20. Indigo dye 21. Second-hand, alternately 22. Costar of Thora and Wes in “American Beauty” 23. Canadian actress Cooper of Apple TV+’s “See” 24. Circumvents 26. He played Tobias Funke 30. Puff ___ (venomous critter) 35. Race a motor 36. Unilever laundry soap brand that’s over 100 years old 37. Basis of the name of a short-lived, shortform streaming platform 40. Detach from the dock 41. “In ___ called malice, yeah” (The Jam lyric that’s almost the proper title)

23 26 30

18. Haynes with the documentary “The Velvet Underground” 19. Musical work featuring historical figures, often

31. Outdated headgear for a poor student

38. “C’mon, let’s do this!” 39. Municipality in the province of Padua (and not a Japanese send-off) 42. Supposed occupation of Joe Coulombe, founder of a grocery chain

40 47

45 51

43. Cigar brand whose name means “best” in Spanish 44. Gets petulant 45. Sue Ann ___, Betty White’s role on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” 48. “An Impeccable Spy: Richard ___, Stalin’s Master Agent” (2019 Owen Matthews book)

58. “House” actor Omar 7. Solution strength, in 14. Show with the chemistry Season 1 episode 47. Like two structures 59. Ferrari model “Biscuits” 8. “Do ___ to eat a that map out the peach?” (Eliot) same way 25. “Be Kind, Rewind” device 9. Rome’s port in the 52. 30 Seconds to Mars Punic Wars singer Jared 27. Billy Zane’s character 1. Cruise liner decks in the Netflix with pools 10. Like some hams, at 53. Like the pronouns miniseries “True this time of year? he, she, and they, 2. Head of a bowling Story” grammatically team? 11. ___ Damacy 28. Heeler healer? (Playstation game 54. Rosy assertion 3. Monk known as “the with a ball that picks 29. Japanese light novel Venerable” 55. St. Vincent’s backup up everything in its series “___ Been group? 4. Counties overseas path) Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out 56. Kitten’s scruff 5. Do some boot repair 12. Like some T-shirt art My Level” 57. The act of not paying 6. Title ship in a 1997 13. Spruce quality? 30. Like an eagle’s beak attention, old-style Spielberg movie 46. “L&O: SVU” costar

Down

January 2022

AnsweR to last month’s “Adjusted to Fit Your Screen” C E R T D E F E R B O D S

A R I A

P I G S

S C H E M O Z E R O S A X T H E Z O U R A H A L E O H E E

T R A I M E N T T S I D E G E M R O A N S N S D H A I R T A B L E A M E L I N E D N S C A I M O S N O I S S G A R T E F A S T

L O S U P R P E R A E D T S E S T T H A I W R S

E R G

S A Y I N G S

E O E H M N O E H M

G I G A

G L O B

E A T U P

T R A N S

S O A P

L O L A

E W A N

H O O D O O

Turn Up the Volume Samantha Fish Rocks, Tedeschi-Trucks Plugs In at The Orpheum and Dave Alvin Announces a New Book by B.J. Huchtemann

alendar listings are thin as we write to meet early deadlines in order to get the January issue out on time with the December holidays. Visit omahablues.com for a curated list of local events and check in with your favorite venues and bands to see what else is happening in January. Keep an eye on venues like The Jewell, The Strut, The B. Bar, The Waiting Room and Reverb Lounge, Slowdown, Buck’s in Venice and Lincoln’s historic Zoo Bar for show announcements. Ozone is scheduled to host some BSO Presents shows, though details are not available at press time. A few highlights include The Mezcal Brothers at The B. Bar on Friday, Jan. 7, 5:30-8:30 p.m., and The Wondermonds at The B. Bar on Friday, Jan. 14, 5:30-8:30 p.m. A popular Johnny Cash tribute band, Church of Cash, is scheduled for Buck’s, 27849 W Center Rd., Thursday, Jan. 20, 9 p.m. Samantha Fish started out on the K.C. blues scene and has graduated to the national stage. This fall she released a new disc, Faster, produced by Martin Kierszenbaum, who has produced or collaborated with Lady Gaga, Sting and Sheryl Crow and written for Madonna. Kierszenbaum co-wrote a number of the tunes for Faster. The new association puts Fish in a rawer, edgier rock spotlight. The record is Fish’s seventh solo album and her debut on the Rounder Records label. If the album cover and first music videos seem like a departure for Fish, No Depression magazine said of the result, “The music is unexpected, but the tracks work. The songs are solid, as is the production. But it feels like an extreme pivot to a very new sound … it’s a fascinating step for an artist who

always manages to find something new to say.” Fish plays at Waiting Room Lounge on Sunday, Jan. 16, 8 p.m. with Django Knight opening. The phenomenal Tedeschi-Trucks Band is at Omaha’s Orpheum Theatre on Tuesday, Jan. 18. Co-led by the husband and wife team of powerhouse guitarist Derek Trucks and stellar vocalist Susan Tedeschi, the duo surrounds themselves with amazing musicians. This band makes a truly mind-blowing and joyful noise. See ticketomaha. com for tickets.

that: previously unreleased or lesser recognized tracks featuring a stellar cast of musical friends. The cover photo was shot by Omaha’s own Chip Duden at the 2013 Zoo Bar outdoor anniversary festival.

Hot Notes

The International Blues Challenge (IBC) happens in Memphis on Jan. 1822. Watch for online updates at facebook. com/bluessocietyofomaha about the status of the Blues Dave Alvin Book Samantha Fish continues her evolution with Society of Omaha’s a more rock-oriented sound, but her guitar representatives. Stan in the Works and vocals are still at the center of her & The Chain Gang Roots-rock luminary music. She plugs in at Waiting Room Lounge make their second Dave Alvin has turned trip to the IBC repreSunday, Jan. 16, 8 p.m. Photo BY Kevin King his attention to more than senting Omaha. Nesongwriting during the pan- “but there are certainly pieces braska Jr. performs in the solo/ demic, recently announcing the that could be in a memoir. Be- duo category. From the BluesEd May 2022 release of a new book, sides a large batch of song lyrics program, the Us and Them New Highway: Selected Lyrics, Po- from throughout my songwrit- Blues Band will perform in the ems, Prose, Essays, Eulogies and ing career, most of the pieces annual Youth Showcase. Find Blues (BMG Books). The book is are focused on music, musicians out more and get updates from available for pre-order on Ama- and our complicated lives and the Blues Foundation at blues. zon. In announcing the book on passions.” org/international-blues-challenge. his Facebook page, Alvin wrote If you follow Alvin’s Facebook Larry (Lash LaRue) Dunn “I’m nervous about releasing my posts you already have some first anthology of writings since idea of the poetry, lyricism and delivered toys for the Pine 1996 but that doesn’t mean that keen observations he brings to Ridge children and youth before I’m not happy and excited about moments and memories. With Christmas. Watch for updates this book coming out. If you’re a his whole life lived learning from from the deliveries that are alperson who enjoys music, books and performing with some of ways heartwarming at facebook. The and reading about some giants America’s best roots and blues com/toydriveforpineridge. need for propane will remain all (like Big Joe Turner, Sam Phillips, musicians, that memoir ought Buck Owens, Bo Diddley, Gene to be something. Stay tuned to winter. With the extreme povVincent, Johnny Otis, Doc Po- Alvin’s official Facebook page at erty on the reservation, families mus and Frank Zappa) or some facebook.com/davealvinofficial sometimes have to choose benot-quite giants that I’ve crossed for more barroom memories, tween food and fuel. Donations paths with, I sincerely hope you updates and hopefully 2021 can be made year-round to the emergency propane fund that consider checking it out.” tour dates. helps elders and families at toy“It’s not a memoir (that’ll be Alvin’s latest musical release is driveforpineridge.org. coming along next),” Alvin ex- From an Old Guitar: Rare and Unplained in the announcement, released Recordings, which is just

January 2022

O V E R

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E D G E

Music Visions for 2022

A Look Forward (and Backward) at the Omaha and National Indie Music Scenes… by Tim McMahan

ho could have predicted what we lived through over the past 12 months? Well, I guess I could. Before I give you a glimpse of what’s to come in ’22, let’s see how I did predicting ‘21. 2021 Prediction: Vaccinating enough people so it feels safe to go to concerts again will take a lot longer than anyone expects. The Waiting Room, Reverb Lounge and The Slowdown will begin booking touring bands again beginning in July. O’Leaver’s will plug in the amps in early fall, alongside The Brothers Lounge. Reality: That timeline was pretty straight-on, except for O’Leaver’s, which just started up again in December. 2021 Prediction: The Maha Music Festival will be back in late summer, though we’ll all still be wearing masks and social distancing (sort of). South By Southwest, which takes place in March, will remain a digital-only affair. Reality: Pretty much a direct hit. 2021 Prediction: Save Our Stages legislation will pass, eventually. Reality: The legislation did pass and many venues were helped, but for some, it was too little too late. 2021 Prediction: Despite federal SOS and CARES Act money finally flowing, venues will continue to go out of business, including a major Omaha player. Reality: We lost The Brothers Lounge as well as Barley Street Tavern, though there’s no direct evidence that COVID did them in. 2021 Prediction: Under pressure from some very large artists, streaming services (and labels) will be forced to look at how they’re compensating talent. Reality: Nothing’s changed, though Bandcamp now tosses a few extra bucks to performers by

new small live music venue opens to help fill the void. Prediction: Helping fill those small-venue stages will be an army of next-generation indie bands created during the pandemic, many consisting of children of the aught-era indie bands that made Omaha famous. Prediction: Unfortunately, when it comes to popular national indie acts, we’ll continue to be “NOmaha” for national tours.

waiving fees on Bandcamp Fridays — the first Friday of every month.

gel Olson, Modest Mouse, Phoebe Bridgers and U2.

2021 Prediction: After a year of ordering stuff online, shoppers will rush back to brick-and-mortars post pandemic, and record stores will be a big beneficiary.

Reality: Meh, though we did hear from Courtney, Nick and Angel; and Phoebe is as popular as ever.

Reality: There are now four record stores in the Old Market alone, more than before the advent of digital media. 2021 Prediction: Live-streamed rock shows will become a new revenue generator for bands and venues that learned how to properly produce and monetize the events. Reality: A few bands have done it (Bob Mould, for example), but venues, not so much. 2021 Prediction: The floodgates will burst as artists rush to release recordings they’ve held until they could return to the road. Reality: Is it me or were there more albums than ever released last year? 2021 Prediction: Bob Dylan won’t be missing that song catalog he just sold to Universal. Reality: Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. 2021 Prediction: Bands and performers we’ll be talking about this time next year: Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes, The Faint, The Good Life, David Nance, Courtney Barnett, Little Brazil, Nick Cave, The National, An-

2021 Prediction: I’ve given up on my annual “Conor Oberst on SNL” prediction, which almost guarantees this is the year it’ll happen. Reality: Hey, maybe Conor doesn’t want to play SNL …? Final count: I’m giving myself 8 out of 11. Best year ever? OK, moving on to 2022… Prediction: COVID-19 will have its last ugly gasp this winter and then will quickly fade away (except from our memories). By late summer, music venues’ mask and vax mandates will be a thing of the past. Prediction: With TikTok creating the next generation of pop stars (Tai Verdes ring a bell?), and The Mountain Goats “No Children” going viral, more indie acts will take advantage of the platform. God help us all. Prediction: The Maha Music Festival will be back and at full capacity at Stinson Park. But it won’t be alone. Another Nebraska-based, indie-flavored, day-long music festival will be announced in ’22 that will be in direct competition. Prediction: With two small music venues closing in ‘21, watch as a

Prediction: Look for another bigtime indie music name to be taken down by a #metoo-style scandal. Prediction: Coming off one of its most successful years (The Spirit of the Beehive, Indigo De Souza, Hand Habits) and after opening offices in Los Angeles and New York City, Saddle Creek Records will make a major announcement that will impact the label’s Omaha legacy. Prediction: Bands and performers we’ll be talking about this time next year: David Nance, Little Brazil, Modest Mouse, Christian Lee Hutson, DIIV, Spoon, Desaparecidos, Yo La Tengo, Jenny Lewis and (once again) Phoebe Bridgers. Prediction: No Filter 2021 will be the last Rolling Stones tour. Prediction: A certain music journalist will finally seriously begin compiling information for an oral history of the Omaha/Nebraska music scene. When / if it ever gets published is anyone’s guess. Prediction: After years of being shut out, a Saddle Creek Records act will finally perform on SNL. It’s about time. Over The Edge is a monthly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, music, the media and the arts. Email Tim at tim.mcmahan@ gmail.com.

January 2022

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John McIntyre

Juanita Hanger Johnson

October 3, 1968 — November 25, 2021

1929-2021 (age 92)

This one hurts. I don’t even know where to begin. You were just always there. At M’s Pub, art openings, receptions, a sidewalk in Benson, or at a coffee shop. Every time we crossed paths, your eyes lit up, you had a smile, a handshake, a hug, an embrace, and it was genuine. It was real. You would ask how I was, and what I was doing, and you wanted an authentic answer. It wasn’t just a ritual of social norms, you cared, you were my friend. And when I asked you how you were, you wouldn’t talk over my head, you would explain your role in business and finance in a way that was down-to-earth, and easy to understand. You had a way of humanizing things that were abstract to me, and easily helped me see how it was meaningful, yet frustrating at times for you.

Drawing of John McIntyre by Bart Vargas. Reprinted with permission

Laura and you were at every Omaha art opening I ever had. You followed and celebrated my achievements, and reminded me of my accomplishments when I was worried and down. Both of you even ran my swag table, selling T-shirts, prints, and stickers for me when I was in-between gigs, and wondering how I’d pay next month’s rent. I’d wake up to your texts of the latest street art you had found, asking me if I recognized it, or what I knew about it. Or texts reminding me to wish Laura a Happy Fucking Birthday, or sending me the exact minute and second that a painting of mine showed up in the background of some superficial, reality TV show along with a link to see it for myself becauseI didn’t have a TV or Internet of my own at the time. Or find packages in my mailbox, of newspapers from your hometown, with articles about the work I was doing there. … but I’m selfishly talking about me, and my own bullshit. Laura and you were so much to so many. You supported all of us in your own way, in so many ways. You were and are the best of us. Farewell my friend. I’m sorry I never said I love you, but I do. Laura and you have helped make Omaha the great culture center for visual arts and more that it is. I don’t know how to say goodbye to you because everything you have done for us lives on in so many ways … This one hurts. So bad. — Reprinted from Facebook with permission from author Bart Vargas

January 2022

Hailing from a family of high achievers, Juanita Hanger Johnson made her own legacy mark. Her mother, Ione Hanger, was an Omaha Public Schools teacher, a missionary and a community volunteer. Her father, Saybert Hanger, was among the area’s first Black attorneys, federal meat inspectors and the Nebraska Urban League’s first Black president. A “cradle-to-the-grave Episcopalian,” Juanita grew up in St. Philip Church. In 1986, she helped broker the merger of all-Black St. Philip with all-white St. John to form Church of the Resurrection (COR) In 2004, she was ordained the first Black deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska. Bishop Rt. Rev. J. Scott Barker said: “As an educator and advocate for civil rights, it was her passion and purpose to serve those on the margins, and to lead her fellow Episcopalians in ministries of justice that sowed healing and hope.” Past COR rector Rev. Jason Emerson called her a “trailblazer” who let her actions do the talking, but her preaching once “blew the doors off the joint.” An Omaha Central High School graduate, Juanita earned a bachelor’s degree at Fisk University and a physical therapy degree at Cleveland Clinic. She later earned a master’s at Creighton. She also completed studies at Drake University and then-Omaha University, She married Korean War veteran George Warren Johnson, a Marshalltown, Iowa, native, in 1958. He was a career educator. Juanita went from being a physical therapist to an Omaha Public Schools math teacher and guidance counselor. She ended her career at Omaha North High School in 1997. The Johnsons encountered redlining barriers. In 1969, they built a home in the metro’s first mixed-race subdivision, New Horizons. She was active in Alpha Kappa Alpha and The Links. Following her OPS retirement, she was a YWCA domestic violence hotline counselor. Emerson said Juanita was “an icon” who lived her faith. “By seeing us truly and deeply she called us into a deeper relationship with God and to greater service of our neighbors.” Juanita was preceded in death by her husband and by her daughter, Joslen Johnson Shaw. She’s survived by her son Marty Johnson (Laura), grandchildren and great-grandchildren. — Leo Adam Biga

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M E M O R I A M

Dr. William “Just Plain Bill” B. Rumford Jr.

tate appraiser, and as the project developed it became evident to Bill that security and possibly police services would be needed. He presented his ideas on police services to management and was appointed assistant chief of BART Police Services in 1970.

October 14, 1933 — September 2, 2021

In 1976, Bill was appointed chief of police for BART and served in this capacity until 1979. In this same period, Bill was a member of the Berkeley City Council. His more significant contributions include: one of the first “No Smoking in Public”’ ordinances that prohibited smoking in buildings with public access; the removal of the Santa Fe Railway tracks from Sacramento Street, ensuring safety and removing a barrier to the unification of the African American community and the larger community of Berkeley; and the creation of community services for seniors that are still operational.

“I’m living my dream!” Those words came over the short-wave radio when Bill rounded our Valiant 40 sailboat at the Pacific Ocean and Juan de Fuca Strait. That was 1996 and the beginning of our love affair with the Gulf Islands. Bill had just retired as chief of security with the Golden Gate Bridge District, and his dream was to sail north from San Francisco to the San Juan and Gulf islands. We embraced the healing spirit of Pender Island so much so that in July 2004, we moved there from San Francisco and began the operation of the Pender Island Inn. The son of renowned Berkeley, Calif., lawmaker Byron Rumford, the first Black state legislator from the Bay Area and author of the first fair-housing law in the U.S., Bill co-produced a film highlighting his father’s political accomplishments, Fair Legislation – The Byron Rumford Story. Before the move to Canada, Bill enjoyed a distinguished and diversified career in law enforcement and public administration in the San Francisco Bay Area. He began his career with the Berkeley Police Department as an officer, and an early beat took him by the offices of the legendary jazz station KJAZ, at the time the “greatest jazz station in the world,” according to famed jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. There, he made many fast friends in their mutual enthusiasm for music. He then served as an agent (federal narcotics) for the U.S. Treasury. In the late 1960s, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) was developed with the intention of linking San Francisco and Oakland by mass transportation. Bill joined BART as a real es-

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In the 1980s, Bill sought to further his law enforcement career and became the chief of security for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District until his retirement in 1996. There, he met and married former Omaha Affirmative Action Officer Margaret Heaston (aunt and godmother to Reader Publisher/ Editor John Heaston). She had left Omaha for career opportunities, having endured threats for her work integrating the first Black female into the Omaha Police Department. The two were early investors in The Reader. You might not be reading this in this media if it weren’t for Bill taking a chance on an upstart publication in 1994. Bill also educated future leaders as a professor with Golden Gate University and the University of San Francisco. From 1998 until 2003, Bill was the executive director of Timothy Murphy School in Marin County, an alternative education site north of San Francisco for boys with emotional and mental challenges. He often stated that this was one of the most rewarding experiences for him. He didn’t sit still in retirement, joining the Emergency Preparedness Program on Pender Island, and at the age of 78 he made his debut on the big stage as Obadiah Llewellyn in Noel Coward’s Nude with Violin at the local Solstice Theater. Not only did he live his dream, he made the dreams of others possible as well. — Margaret Heaston-Rumford

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