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

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NOVEMBER 2021

t a b l e

JOBS: Resource Guide for LowIncome Families

o f

COVER: The Tiff with TIF: The Challenges with Omaha’s Greatest Tool for Public Development

c o n t e n t s

CULTURE: Kindred Spirits: Delita Martin’s Portraits ‘Conjure’ Wanda D. Ewing

2021

publisher/editor........... John Heaston john@thereader.com graphic designers........... Ken Guthrie Albory Seijas news..........................Robyn Murray copy@thereader.com 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

Finalist

SPECIAL: 2021’s Menu of Menus Finalists

Hoodoo: Grooving & Giving: Tommy Castro, Brandon Santini, John Primer and more

Dish: Hungry for Change: The Restaurant Revolution is Coming

PICKS: Cool Things To Do in November

BACKBEAT: Where Will the Wild Ones Go? Omaha’s DIY Scene is in Limbo

FILM: Film Lovers’ Gift Guide REVIEW: No Time to Die: Uh Oh, Double O

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

CROSSWORD/COMICS: New Puzzle, Ted Rall, Doonesbury & Ask Jen

IN MEMORIAM: Gone But Not Forgotten: David Catalan

OVER THE EDGE: Matt Whipkey: Breaking Up is ‘Hard’ To Do OUR DIGITAL MARKETING SERVICES

01 4

Roger García: First latino Commissioner in Omaha / Roger García: el Primer Comisionado Latino en Omaha

How to Access Free Immigrant Legal Services / El Acceso a un Servicio Legal Gratuito para Inmigrantes

November 2021

The Path to Corporation Diversity / El Camino Hacia la Diversidad en las Corporaciones

Community Photos / Fotos Communitarias Proud to be Carbon Neutral

A THOUSAND WORDS

PHOTO BY

Bayani Seldera

Instagram: @SartorialRamblings Email: SartorialRamblings@gmail.com

“City View seems like fiction, as if it came out of a comic book. The less than stellar reputation combined with gaudy signage makes me feel like I’m looking at something from my childhood. This piece is a visual comparison to that fictitious attitude.” — Bayani Seldera

November 2021

O M A H A

J O B S

A Resource Guide for Low-Income Families From Subsidized Child Care to Parenting Education Classes, Find Key Services for Caregivers and Kids STORY by Leah Cates

he past two Omaha Jobs features — “When Low-Income Parents Work Long Hours, Where Do Their Kids Go?” and “Falling Through the Cracks” — explored challenges community members face in finding quality child care. This month, The Reader digs deeper into resources available to low-income families raising children in the local community.

Child Care Subsidy Program Struggling to pay for child care? Check out the Child Care Subsidy Program, offered via the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The program may cover some –– or all –– of your child care costs. For more details on the below information, visit dhhs. ne.gov/pages/child-care-subsidy-information-for-parents.aspx.

How to Qualify To qualify, you (and your partner, if you have one) must do one or more of these: work, attend school or trainings, go to medical or therapy visits for yourself or your kids, be sick or injured, and/or partake in Employment First via Aid to Dependent Children (ADC). For more info on ADC: dhhs.ne.gov/ pages/TANF.aspx. If you make under 185%* of the federal poverty level (FPL) for your household size (and do at least one of the above), you’re eligible. Every 12-18 months, your eligibility will be redetermined; if you’re making under 200%* of the FPL, you’re still eligible. Search “federal poverty guidelines” at aspe.hhs.gov. Visit ACCESSNebraska to apply: dhhs.ne.gov/pages/ACCESSNebras-

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Thanksgiving VALUES PERFORMANCE

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Depending on your income level, the Child Care Subsidy Program might cover your child care costs. Photo CREDIT: CDC on Unsplash ka.aspx. Applications are generally processed within 30 days. Your child care authorization is processed the same day as your application. Know someone who needs help but doesn’t speak English? Translation services are available to help navigate the program.

Figuring Out the Math Unsure about the math? The formula is FPL × 1.85 for initial eligibility and FPL × 2 for redetermination. So, if you’re a family of two, do $17,420 × 1.85 = $32,227. If you make less, you’re eligible. Come redetermination, do $17,420 × 2 = $34,840. If you make less, you’re still eligible. If you make less than the FPL for your

You can select the child care provider that’s the best fit for your family, as long as the provider is approved by DHHS. If you want a provider who’s not already approved, such as a family member or friend, you can complete a referral process to get them registered. The program is for kids 12 and under. If your child has special needs that necessitate care beyond age 12, you can receive a subsidy up to age 19.

Additional Resources: Struggling to find child care that matches your family’s needs?

• Step Up to Quality: stepuptoquality. ne.gov Having a hard time putting nutritious food on the table? • Women, Infants and Children: dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/WIC.aspx

Start With Trust®

Want to brush up on parenting skills?

BBB.org

• Learning Begins at Birth: learningbeginsatbirth.org

November 2021

Selecting a Provider

*These percentages are part of a pilot program ending September 30, 2023, when percentages will revert to 130% for eligibility and 185% for redetermination. Thanks to Olga Dack with the Nebraska DHHS Office of Communications for providing supplementary information.

• Nebraska Child Care Referral Network: nechildcarereferral.org

family size, the state covers 100% of your child care costs. If you make more than the FPL, you pay 7% of your gross income toward child care.

• Learning Community Center of North Omaha: Parent University: parentuomaha.org Need to make sure your child is prepared for elementary school? • Nebraska Head Start: benefits.gov/ benefit/4341 Strapped for cash? • Child Tax Credit: Search “child tax credit” at legalaidofnebraska.org Want to view more child care resources? • DHHS Child Care Resources List: dhhs.ne.gov/pages/child-careresources.aspx

ProKarma, Inc.

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ProKarma, has has mult. mult. openings for Software ProKarma,Inc.Inc. openings for Engineer in Omaha, NE; travel and/or reloc to Software Engineer in locations Omaha, NE; travel various unanticipated throughout the U.S. isreloc required. for designing, and/or to Responsible various unanticipated programming, coding, and analyzing new computer locations throughout the inU.S. is required. programs and data structures accordance with specifications and user needs. Correct errors Resp for designing, programming, coding, by making appropriate changes and rechecking and analyzing new computer programs the program to ensure that the desired results are Req. a Master’s in Comp andproduced. data structures. Req: MSdegree in Comp. Sci./ Sci, Engineering (any), or any technical/analytical Engg (any) / related technical/analytical+ 1 field that is closely related to the specialty, plus year exp. IT/Computer-related 2 years of in exp in an IT/Comp-relatedposition. position.

ProKarma, Inc. has mult. openings for Software Engineer in Omaha, NE; travel and/or reloc to various unanticipated locations throughout the U.S. is required. Responsible for designing, programming, coding, and analyzing new computer programs and data structures in accordance with specifications and user needs. Req. a Bachelor’s degree in Comp Sci, Engg (any), or any technical/analytical field that is closely related to the specialty, + 5 years of exp in an IT/Comp-related position.

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ProKarma, Inc. Product Engineer Owner -Software 050459 122067

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ProKarma, ProKarma, Inc. Inc. has mult. openings openings for for Data Scientist in Omaha, NE; travel and/or Software Engineerunanticipated in Omaha, NE; travel reloc to various locations and/or reloc the to various throughout U.S. unanticipated is required. Responsible for software locations throughout the U.S.programming is required. duties in the design, development, Resp for designing, coding, implementation andprogramming, support process. Develop and write computer programs programs and analyzing new computer to store, locate, and retrieve specific and data structures. Req: MS in Comp. Sci./a documents, data, and information. Req. Master’s degree in Comp Sci, Engineering Engg (any) / related technical/analytical+ 1 (any), or any technical/analytical field year exp. in IT/Computer-related that is closely related to the position. specialty.

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November 2021

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C O V E R

A photo illustration showing how TIF works in Omaha. Illustration by Chris Bowling.

The Tiff with TIF

How Money, Politics and Social Inequity Collide in Omaha’s Greatest Tool for Public Development by Chris Bowling

t started with a new apartment. Intricate, worn octagons of black and white tile covered the bathroom floor. The inset medicine cabinet still had a razor blade slot. Sophia Smith could feel every year of the 97-year-old apartment whenever she walked across the squeaky wood floors. While the triplex was old enough to be a historic landmark when she moved there in 2020, it was otherwise an unremarkable piece of turn-of-the-century architecture in Omaha. To her, though, it was home. Less than a year later, Smith had to accept she’d lost the fight to keep it. “I almost felt a little bit embarrassed afterwards,” Smith said recently. “Just because [saving it] clearly didn’t matter to anybody.”

On Jan. 12, 2021, the Omaha City Council voted to tear down two buildings on 33rd and Jones streets, one of which held Smith’s apartment, to make way for a 55unit apartment complex financed partially through a city subsidy called tax increment finance. The story isn’t exceptional. TIF is the city’s most powerful tool to spur development. Since 2006, the city’s subsidized more than halfa-billion dollars in development, according to an analysis by The Reader. The new businesses in Blackstone, shining structures of glass and metal in Aksarben, most of downtown: TIF made them happen. Rarely are the projects publicly opposed, but Smith rallied neighbors and protested the market-rate apartments. By that point, Smith’s landlord had already told her she was being kicked out. Smith hoped she

November 2021

could sway councilmembers, but they unanimously approved the project. She logged off her Zoom call with a middle finger facing the camera. “Rage,” Smith said of how she felt. “Rage.” Opposition like Smith’s as well as mounting calls to address housing inequity in Omaha have put TIF in the spotlight. The program is designed to address “blighted” areas, and after a new amendment to the law “extremely blighted” areas, through development. Nearly every state utilizes it. The stakes are low as a city doesn’t have to spend any real money. How it works in Omaha: The city freezes the current property tax valuations and reimburses developers the difference as the values begin to rise. By the time the TIF project is complete, typically a

timeline of 15 years, the tax revenue is many multitudes higher than when it started. The problem is a friction between realism and idealism. Opponents say TIF hasn’t benefited the most “blighted” areas. Omaha, for example, has subsidized hundreds of millions in downtown, Midtown, Blackstone and Aksarben, whereas more impoverished and historically disinvested neighborhoods like North and South Omaha get a fraction. Advocates also say too much money is going to projects that would have happened otherwise. In cities like Chicago, teachers have striked in part over the overuse of TIF cutting off public schools’ primary revenue source. Advocates like Erin Feichtinger of Together, a local nonprofit committed to ending hunger and homelessness, say TIF has be-

C O V E R TIF Financing Spikes in Core Areas While Tax Increment Financing is supposed to support “blighted” areas, many say it rarely reaches the communities that need it the most. Others say it’s spurred needed development that continues to push Omaha forward.

come a revolving door of projects that never get denied to boost already burgeoning commercial districts. She sees similarities between maps of TIF funding today and those drawn up in the 1930s to keep poor and diverse people locked in their neighborhoods. And when she adds on the fact that Omaha is nearly 80,000 units short of meeting affordable housing demand, according to a new report from the Sherwood Foundation, it makes the inequity even more alarming. “We cannot just think that the market is going to do what it’s going to do, because what it’s done is create an enormous housing crisis,” Feichtinger said. “You can’t rely on the goodwill of people to do this. It needs to be, ‘We made the mess, and we need to get ourselves out of it.’” But others would say that’s a simplistic way to look at the argument. Property taxes are low in areas like North and South Omaha, and the difference between current and projected tax revenues is so negligible as to not be enticing to investors and developers without more incentives added. In 2018, State Senator Justin Wayne introduced an amendment to the TIF law that would allow developers in “extremely blighted” areas to get tax breaks for 20 years to make the projects more attractive.

At the end of the day, Bridget Hadley, the city’s economic development planner, said TIF projects don’t just happen. The city can’t force developers to redevelop areas. They have to use the tools they have to get the best deal for Omaha.

Omaha City Council President Pete Festersen said TIF is a small part of the solution. Festersen said he’s trying to leverage $20 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds against more private and public dollars to address affordable housing.

“We do live in a capitalistic society, which means people are eager to become entrepreneurs and own their own business,” said Hadley. “Why is that? They want to maximize profits, they want to have a great life … So keeping that in mind, we’ve got to be able to incentivize them with a tool that they will receive, and then [further the city’s master plan].”

“While I think [re-evaluating TIF] is part of the picture we should pursue,” Festersen said, “this bigger picture I’m describing in terms of engaging the nonprofit and for-profit developers throughout the city with the funds we’re requesting can make a much bigger difference.”

But the city’s also heard the call for equity, and Hadley said they’re trying to figure how to make TIF a better solution. Many TIF projects do partner with other state and federal programs to build affordable housing, but currently there’s no requirement that TIF projects include affordable housing, Hadley said, a standard in cities like Chicago, the city also doesn’t have a definition of affordable housing — the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines it as housing that costs no more than 30% of your income, but Hadley said no universal definition has been adopted.

But people like Smith have a hard time believing the city is serious. In the middle of one of 2021’s worst snowstorms, she moved out of her apartment. While she found another place to live — ironically next to another apartment complex that received TIF funds called “The Duke” — it’s more than she can afford. She’d always wanted to buy a house in Omaha, but now she feels abandoned. “‘The way I’m thinking is antiquated, and our city is moving forward,’” Smith interpreted the city saying after it green-lighted the TIF project that demolished her home. “‘And we just don’t have a need for people like you.

We don’t have need for spaces like this.’”

The History of Tax Increment Financing In 1975, a newspaper writer opined over the future of Omaha’s downtown. “The lunch hour is finished and so is your project at the new W. Dale Clark downtown library,” James Ivey wrote in the Omaha World-Herald. “You saunter down the steps and pop into a boat to return to work … At Eighth Street you alight and take a curving walk, along the Missouri River, to a high-rise office overlooking the river, a marina, a series of townhouses and tourist-oriented gift shops.” What would help make that happen? Tax increment financing. It was the paper’s first mention of the incentive program, and while the riverfront never materialized, by 1978 Nebraskans voted to add tax increment financing to the state constitution. The program, which started popping up in states in the mid1900s, provided cities autonomy in choosing how to reshape their

November 2021

C O V E R skylines. Today every state except Arizona uses TIF. Developers like TIF, because freezing property taxes helps mitigate the risk of building in a substandard area. The city likes it, because when the reimbursement period is over property taxes are higher than they were pre-development, boosting revenue for schools and other city priorities. To qualify for TIF funding, developers must build in “blighted”

areas, defined as deteriorating, unsanitary and unsafe. The areas also must meet one of these conditions:

✔ more than half of the land is

California, the first state to use TIF, had to amend its law in the early ‘70s when many argued freezing property taxes was suffocating schools. In 2014, the program was effectively discontinued when it became clear most projects were not able to become self-sufficient.

✔ lower per-capita income than

TIF in Omaha has come under the same scrutiny.

✔ unemployment

equal to 120% of the state or national average;

✔ structures

with an average age of at least 40 years; unimproved;

the surrounding city or village;

✔

stable or decreasing population. While TIF’s been responsible for the revitalization of cities nationwide, many say the tool is mismanaged.

Neighborhoods identified through census tracts and analyzed by The Reader for changes in unemployment, poverty and percent of population that are racial minorities.

TIF funds allocated between 2004 and 2008.

The Chicago Reader has written about TIF for more than a decade. In a 2010 article, it pointed out an area with staggering unemployment, foreclosures, crumbling sidewalks and pothole-ridden roads received .002% of the $1.5 billion in

“State guidelines for TIF plans seem to be followed haphazardly at best,” Jack Dunn wrote for the left-leaning Progressive Research Institute of Nebraska in 2011. “TIF projects have done little to benefit the most poverty-stricken districts. As profit-making entities have become aware of the availability of Tax Increment Financing, more of them have crowded onto the City agenda and used it to build in high-growth areas. Oversight of the TIF plan approval process, especially as to the need for public subsidy, seems to be lacking.” A central component of most TIF projects is the “but-for” test — meaning, does this project need the subsidy to be financially feasible? Many, like Dunn, argue that numerous high-profile projects would have happened without the incentive, leading to unneces-

sary losses in tax revenue. Even as far back as 1999, experts warned about the overuse of TIF. “This is not free money,” Richard F. Dye, a professor of economics at Lake Forest College, told the Washington Post. “There are opportunity costs. You’re diverting money from some other place. You’re giving subsidies where development would have occurred otherwise.” A report from the right-leaning Platte Institute for Economic Research also called out TIF for its lack of oversight and evidence-based decision making. “The impression left on the researcher,” Kriz wrote, “by the interviews is that the projects … once proposed, were destined for approval and the process steps were just pro forma.” In 2016 the Nebraska Legislature conducted a study of TIF and in 2018 amended the law. But Jim Vokal, the CEO of the Platte Institute, said little has changed. “There was never more teeth added to it … With that said, I think it’s a pretty important project,” he said. “I think Omaha would look a lot different if we didn’t have it.” In city reports, side-by-side images show how vacant industrial buildings downtown have been

POVERTY CHANGES ACROSS DIFFERENT OMAHA NEIGHBORHOODS

EMPLOYMENT CHANGES ACROSS DIFFERENT OMAHA NEIGHBORHOODS

From 1990 to 2019, several areas of Omaha saw changes in poverty rates. While development through TIF may be a small factor in improving the livelihoods of people in the area, places that got more TIF money (Downtown, Midtown/ Blackstone) seemed to have greater decreases in poverty in most cases, although areas like Aksarben saw increases. On the flip side, areas like North and South Omaha, which saw less investment, saw increases to their poverty rates.

From 1990 to 2019, several areas of Omaha saw (mostly) decreases in unemployment. While development through TIF may be a small factor in improving the livelihoods of people in the area, places that got more TIF money did not seem better off. North Omaha, which saw less investment, and Downtown, which saw the most investment both dropped five percentage points since 1990.

November 2021

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November 2021

C O V E R turned into low-income housing and corporate campuses. A 2012 study commissioned by the developer behind Midtown Crossing found that the project had an economic impact of $729 million and created more than 800 jobs per year from 2006 to 2011. In a 2020 report, the city looked at paid-off projects and asked, “What would tax revenue and property value have looked like without TIF?” Had no development taken place, they estimated a property tax revenue increase of $39,455. By the time the TIF projects were paid off, the annual revenue was $1,626,529 — 41 times more money. Vokal sat on the Omaha City Council from 2001 to 2009 and served as its president from 2003 to 2005, during a prolific period for TIF projects, including more than $37 million for Midtown Crossing, the most expensive TIF project to date. (If formally approved, the Crossroads redevelopment will nearly double this mark, at $80 million in TIF funds.) Vokal said he can’t remember denying a project while he was on the council. Festersen said he also could not remember denying a project. After Vokal left city council and joined the Platte Institute, he learned more about the program

than he’d known as an elected official.

ordinance to finalize the redevelopment agreement.

“It opened my eyes,” he said. “As an elected official, you really aren’t told going into that job, ‘Hey, when you’re approving TIF stuff there should be this cost-benefit analysis done in the beginning. And then the city of Omaha, in this example, is supposed to do post-TIF approval analysis of it as well. That never gets back to the council.”

“I get the optics that it looks like it’s rubber stamped,” Hadley said. “But there’s so much work that we are putting the developers through, way before it gets to the public or at the planning board and city council. So I think I would say that’s what I would want people to understand, that there’s a lot of questioning going on , a lot of vetting going.”

TIF projects start when a developer brings a proposal to the city, Bridget Hadley said. She explained the process: Economic development staff in the planning department receives and evaluates TIF applications to determine whether the project complies with the TIF program. Applications are then reviewed by the TIF committee. Those meetings are not open to the public or part of the public record. Once it gets the “OK” from the TIF committee, it’s reviewed by the planning board. Residents in the surrounding area are required to be notified by the developer through a neighborhood association. Finally the city council gives the project two readings and a vote as a resolution to approve the TIF redevelopment project plan and then three readings and a vote as an

Changes in percent of racial minorities across different Omaha neighborhoods From 1990 to 2019, several areas of Omaha saw changes in racial makeup. While some claim TIF projects encourage gentrification, areas that got more TIF money saw both increases and decreases to their percent of racial minority residents. In general, most neighborhoods, especially west of 72nd Street, became more diverse.

The Problem with TIF For many it’s not the rigor of the questions, but the type of questions the city is asking. Erin Feichtinger wonders why we can’t ask whether Blackstone is really still blighted. When the first TIF projects were being approved on the stretch of Farnam Street between 38th and 40th streets, the block wasn’t lined with businesses. But after investing millions and attracting brunch spots, salons and fancy cocktail lounges, should it still be receiving money for projects like the Blackstone Hotel ($7,206,000), Blackstone Plaza ($5,994,326) and Blackstone Townhomes ($765,000) when it’s already one of Omaha’s most promising commercial centers? Hadley said the term “blighted” often causes misunderstanding. The designation leads some to think subsidies should only be given to the poorest areas, or that an area can’t be redeveloped unless it’s in total decay. Hadley said the city uses the term “community redevelopment area” and prioritizes projects that advance the city’s master plan. The reason for continued development along Dodge Street is in part to attract future opportunities like a potential streetcar. “That is one of the reasons why that area will likely remain in a CRA,” Hadley said, “because we’ve got bigger designs for that Blackstone/Midtown area all into downtown.” Feichtinger knows TIF isn’t the fix-all solution to inequity, but

November 2021

changing the types of projects the city prioritizes can show intention. “When I look at the program, I view it more as a policy failure,” she said. “And any policy failure can be reversed by just changing the policy.” Sophia Smith isn’t seeing any intention of creating more equity. She lived in the Gifford Park neighborhood for six years and has seen drastic change nearby. The storefronts look different. The people look different. They’re changes she, and others like her, don’t feel they’ve had a choice in making. “Our tax dollars [are] going towards developers to basically foot the bill for whatever weird, rich kid stuff they wanted to put into the neighborhood,” Smith said. Until she had an experience with TIF, Smith didn’t know how the process worked. While Hadley said neighborhood associations inform citizens of potential TIF projects, Smith learned about her apartment’s proposed demolition from her landlord. Her neighborhood association hadn’t told her nor any of her neighbors, she said. Still, Smith thought she could stop, or at least delay the project, if she made her voice heard to the city council. She tried calling and emailing her representative and got no response, she said. She gathered neighbors’ responses to a questionnaire about the proposed developer with strong opinions not to build the new project. But it didn’t change the outcome. “The people in any sort of power right now, no matter how small, are not doing a single thing to help the actual people here,” Smith said. “And if they’re not doing it, there’s only so much that we can do if they’re not listening to us.” Some, like in nearby Sioux Falls, South Dakota, blame the lack of transparency in TIF on favoritism between politicians and developers. The Argus Leader reported that its mayor was discouraging some from applying for TIF funds, lead-

learned more about the program than he’d known as an elected official.

three readings and a vote as an ordinance to finalize the redevelopment agreement.

November 2021

Feichtinger knows TIF isn’t the fix-all solution to inequity, but changing the types of projects the city prioritizes can show intention. “When I look at the program, I view it more as a policy failure,” she said. “And any policy failure can be reversed by just changing the policy.” Sophia Smith isn’t seeing any intention of creating more equity. She lived in the Gifford Park neighborhood for six years and has seen drastic change nearby. The storefronts look different. The people look different. They’re changes she, and others like her, don’t feel they’ve had a choice in making. “Our tax dollars [are] going towards developers to basically foot the bill for whatever weird, rich kid stuff they wanted to put into the neighborhood,” Smith said. Until she had an experience with TIF, Smith didn’t know how the process worked. While Hadley said neighborhood associations inform citizens of potential TIF projects, Smith learned about her apartment’s proposed demolition from her landlord. Her neighborhood association hadn’t told her nor any of her neighbors, she said. Still, Smith thought she could stop, or at least delay the project, if she made her voice heard to the city council. She tried calling and emailing her representative and got no response, she said. She gathered neighbors’ responses to a questionnaire about the proposed developer with strong opinions not to build the new project. But it didn’t change the outcome. “The people in any sort of power right now, no matter how small, are not doing a single thing to help the actual people here,” Smith said. “And if they’re not doing it, there’s only so much that we can do if they’re not listening to us.” Some, like in nearby Sioux Falls, South Dakota, blame the lack of transparency in TIF on favoritism between politicians and develop-

C O V E R

USE IT

benefits and flex

ing to potential missed opportunities on big public projects. A Reader review of campaign finance filings found developers spent at least $130,000 among city council candidates in the 2021 spring elections. Festersen said the $10,000 he accepted from developers, the second-lowest among winning council members, doesn’t affect his judgement. “That’s not at all a factor in my view,” Festersen said, “and I’ve been elected four times with 80% of the vote, so that’s no impact on my decision making at all.” Festersen added in an email that he’s never seen similar donations affect other council members’ judgements, either. Feichtinger said experiences like Smith’s raise a point about who these projects are for. If the presence of poor people enables TIF, what happens to them when they can’t afford the apartments or restaurants? Where do they go? “It’s not the developer’s job to think about this, it’s not the investor’s job to think about this, they don’t give a shit,” Feichtinger said. “Their goal is to make profit. But our elected officials’ goal is not to make profit. Our elected officials’ goal is to protect us, our neighbors and their constituents, and the best way to do that is to make sure that everyone has a safe place to live.” Feichtinger’s criticism of the social side effects of TIF is common across the country. But in analyzing U.S. Census data for Omaha from 1990 to 2020, it’s hard to say how much of an effect TIF spending, or lack thereof, had on poverty, unemployment or racial diversity. The reason goes back to the fact that TIF is a small part of the development equation. From 2007 to 2017, the City of Omaha subsidized more than $370 million for TIF projects. In the same time, banks issued more than $12 billion in local private home loans alone, most of those gravitating westward to majority white and wealthy census tracts, according to a Reader analysis.

Still, TIF could do more to promote equity, some say. Since 2006, market-rate TIF housing projects have outnumbered affordable ones 51 to 12. Festersen has expressed interest in requiring all TIF housing projects build a certain number of affordable units, a practice used in Chicago since 2007, but even that wouldn’t be enough. “No one thinks it’s going to solve the problem, like no one is under the illusion that if we put, you know, affordability requirements in every residential rental TIF project, that we don’t need to do anything else,” Feichtinger said. “But it’s a proactive first step.”

Searching for Solutions The problem with addressing inequity in Omaha is that the first step often starts a long journey few are willing to take. That’s what Matthew Cavanaugh is learning as the new executive director of Holy Name Housing, an organization that along with a few others has spent decades trying to build homes in economically depressed areas like North Omaha. “New homes in North Omaha do not appraise for what it costs to build a new home,” former executive director Mike Gawley told The Reader in 2020. “There’s about a $100,000 per house gap.” When Cavanaugh applies for TIF projects, he requests pennies compared to projects a few miles away. That reason is simple: Property taxes are lower, so low-income builders are often limited and have to combine a slew of tax credits and subsidies to make projects happen. That’s the reality of TIF. But that doesn’t mean Omaha can’t change it. “[Policy makers] need to think outside the box, or stop thinking about all of these nuances and start thinking about solutions,” Cavanaugh said. “Because it’s there. It’s a tool that exists that can be designed however we want it to.”

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November 2021

Kindred Spirits Delita Martin’s Portraits ‘Conjure’ Soul of Wanda D. Ewing at Union for Contemporary Art by Jonathan Orozco

Conjure, gallery view.

elita Martin is a magician in two ways: visually and spiritually. In fact, magic is the basis of her exhibit currently at the Union for Contemporary Art, Conjure, in which she depicts women as monumental, yet serene and approachable, and existing between the human and otherworldly plane. This show is part of the Union’s 10-year

anniversary celebration and commemorates the legacy of their gallery namesake, Wanda D. Ewing, who subverted the conventional view of the female body and made space for bodies of color. The artist carries the spirit of Ewing in material, technique and concept. Though Martin’s focus is on rectifying the problematic approach art history

NOVEMBER 2021

has taken for centuries, she spares no expense to beautify and embellish her compositions with robust patterning and color. Her portraits are, by virtue of their decoration, stunning to look at, but nevertheless ask viewers to meditate about wider society. There have been multiple changes in Martin’s career. She initially trained in drawing in

her undergraduate program, but later studied printmaking as a graduate student. After finishing her education, Martin taught fine arts at the university level but eventually decided to pursue the status of a full-time artist and established her own studio called Black Box Press. The mastery of this exhibition is seen in the conglomer-

C ation of multiple skillsets, like drawing and printmaking, but also sewing and gilding, and the employment of decorative papers throughout the surfaces of Martin’s compositions. Up close, a viewer can observe the surface quality of these works and only experience abstraction — but each work is grounded by a figure in repose. Part of the allure of these works is they are interesting through the lens of art history. Take one of the first works you see entering the gallery, “Redbird,” made through printmaking, drawing, gilding and hand-stitching. In this picture, a woman dominates the visual space, turning her body toward us all while calmly viewing us back. She is covered in patterns, from repeating circles, to decorative leaves and floral motifs on her clothing and hair. The atmosphere is almost airless and timeless, existing beyond our temporal human world.

E They can be interpreted as souls, ghosts or even ancestors. The implication being that our ancestors are always around us as living beings who exist on a different plane. One could even interpret it as a reminder that we are our ancestors since we inherit everything about them, like their visage. For the less spiritual, by the very least, we inherit their culture. Martin’s rendering of these figures is highly tender, as if there’s no barrier between what we perceive as real and that which is beyond our understanding. In “Among Shadows,” a woman lays on her side against a crimson background, her head resting on her arm, all while being surrounded by two shadow figures. To her front are three vessels.

One shadow figure within this composition, patterned in a yellow-green tint, gently places her hand over the woman’s head as if to stroke her forehead and comfort her. The othDelita Martin, “Mirror Mirror,” charcoal, acrylic, decorative er red figure, while not papers, hand stitching, 2020. directly interacting with the woman, reclines and gazes at her from a dis“When I walk into a museclose friends and family, with “Redbird,” along with evtance. um, historically, you didn’t see the goal of portraying “how ery other work, directly conMartin refers to the visual nects to the late 20th century people like me, people with magical and spiritual women clash between colors, patterns Pattern and Decoration move- my skin color; Black women are.” ment. Similarly, the approach depicted as being beautiful in With magic and spiritualism and textures in this and other also touches on the Feminist their natural state, their natural being the through line of the works as the “veilscape.” Art Movement since only hair, their locks, their hair be- exhibitions, Martin does not “When you look at the women are being depicted, ing plaited up. This was some- hesitate to depict the ethereal women and how they go in thing that was never seen as and through her employment realm beyond human under- and out of this pattern, it’s refof sewing as an artmaking beautiful, so I want to show standing. In multiple works, erencing how we marry and technique. While this may that in my work,” Martin said. like “Spirit and Self” and connect into those spaces,” seem relatively unassuming Her approach is universal, “Among Shadows,” the artist she said. “When I think about and pretty obvious, for Martin, but also personal, since the not only depicts living wom- areas, there’s this conflict bethe action is quite political. models in the work are her en, but also silhouette figures. tween colors or patterns, and

NOVEMBER 2021

Delita Martin, “Among Shadows,” relief printing, charcoal, acrylic, decorative papers, hand stitching, 2020. then in other areas, they’re married together beautifully, there’s this smooth transition. But for me, that talks about the struggle we have with spirituality a lot of times.” The jars in “Among Shadows” also speak to a very intimate and symbolic purpose and lend themselves to the title of the exhibition. Martin fondly remembers her grandmother sorting objects like buttons, tiny perfume jars and little knick-knacks in jars. On occasion, her grandmother would pour out all the contents and tell Martin stories about the objects, which functioned as a method of conjuring memory.

Conjure jars go back to the history of Vodou and Indigenous African cultures. Practitioners would fill vessels with personal items in order to cast spells, good or bad. Through this process, Martin learned about the relationship people have with objects and other people. Items in the works of Martin, like mirrors, vessels and stools, are a vocabulary to tell the story of the women she portrays. “Among Shadows” displays this type of symbolism, with three conjure jars, almost as a visual parallel of the three women depicted in the work. These jars are empty, but they seem to evoke the memory

NOVEMBER 2021

and spirit of caring ghosts for the reclining figure. Although Martin draws from her lived experiences, the scope of her craft is meant to be relatable to anyone. The work is not meant to gatekeep, in fact, it is meant to invite all to interact and consider the people and symbols in her work. “Even though these are portraits of Black women, people across gender and racial lines can all relate to this work,” she said. “I’ve been witness to millions of those conversations where people can come up to the work, and they see a pattern or a

color that evokes something; that’s the important part of the work. At that point, I know as an artist I’ve done what I’m supposed to do.” Conjure continues until Nov. 20 at the Union For Contemporary Art’s Wanda D. Ewing Gallery, located at 2423 N. 24th St., with hours Wednesday-Thursday from 1-8 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Masks are required at all times for all visitors entering the building with no exceptions. For further information, visit the Union’s website: www.u-ca.org.

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November 2021

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D I S H

Hungry For a

C H A NG E by Sara Locke

universal truth about restaurants is that they have, historically, run at razor-thin margins. Omaha entrée-preneurs have made an art out of elevating an experience without coming down too hard on their customers’ wallets. This often results in truly finding the edge of what razor-thin can look like, both in terms of those margins and the patience and capacity of their staff. But that creativity and ingenuity are responsible for the uniquely thriving dining scene Omaha has watched flourish over the last two decades. This year has put everyone on that edge, and with the exception of hospital staff, nobody has been more put-upon than the dining industry. When everything was forced to shut down, society was given an opportunity to shift how things operate. Instead, a push was made to “get back to normal,” and we are seeing what happens when a strained system is pushed too far. From labor shortages to a broken food supply chain, the restaurant industry is on the verge of a revolution.

From the

Kitchen Recovering accountant and Metropolitan Community College culinary alumnus Angie Andahl knows the ins and outs of balancing a budget, and of a successful kitchen. Specifically, what draws people in and what drives them out. After leaving her 9-5, Chef Andahl cut her culinary teeth

creating custom vegan treats at Modern Love. She currently splits her time between whipping up unique eats in the highly collaborative Saddle Creek Breakfast Club kitchen and staying home with her five-year-old son. “As an accountant, I made a lot more money,” Andahl said. “But the people I get to work with, the creative license I’m given, and the flexibility I have with this position makes it absolutely perfect for me.” Where once that creativity would lead to Andahl reinventing a lemon curd, it’s now being employed to completely re-route course when a shipment of ingredients simply doesn’t come in. “The supply chain issues have thrown us off a lot,” Andahl said. “Our kitchen is small and very precise. We have exactly how much space we have, and we prep exactly what we can use. Timing and accuracy are very important for us to be able to serve our menu every day. This year, though — there’s literally nothing we can do to prepare for the trucks not coming, or just not bringing most of the order.” “Chase (Thomsen, SCBC’s chef/owner) is always having to run to the store to find things that just didn’t show up in our shipment. It gets expensive really fast, but he’s going above and beyond to make sure he’s not passing that on to the customers or any of us. Especially since we have some really great regulars we just don’t want to let down.”

Sometimes that means shelving an item when the ingredients become too difficult to source. “Our Benny had been a staple on our menu, but since the cost of brisket has gotten so out of control, Chase only brings it out every now and then. He doesn’t want to raise prices, so that meant cutting one of our most popular items.”

Front of the

House

Andahl’s view from the kitchen she loves is optimistic, but weary. She knows her experience is unique because of the environment at SCBC, and understands that the experience of most industry workers in Omaha is significantly more dire. Meg F., a full-time student, mother of two, and server at an upscale Omaha establishment entered our conversation in full customer service mode. She chirped about the loyal regulars who make serving a joy, the brilliance of the restaurant’s executive chef and how lucky she feels to have a job where COVID precautions were taken seriously. It’s not long, however, before she asks for a pseudonym because things got real, real fast. “The service industry is not in a great place currently,” she said. “We are having a horrible time getting food, alcohol, everything. The trucks come with half orders, and we’re left with a menu we can’t fulfill.”

Meg’s ability to handle difficult people has been the secret to her success in the industry, but everyone has a breaking point. “Staffing has been impossible. We’re hiring anyone who will show up for an interview, even if they aren’t qualified. The pay here is really good, even on a relatively slow day, and my manager is really willing to train you or work with you on your schedule. It’s a really good place to serve, when we have enough staff. But no matter how many applications we accept or interviews we schedule, people just aren’t showing up. I haven’t seen anything like this in more than 17 years in the industry. The turnaround rate is insanely high right now, and it’s really exhausting.”

From the

Source

Factory-side, many big-name brands are currently being faced with a worker uprising. Inhumane conditions and “suicide shifts” have resulted in strikes at Kelloggs, Nabisco and Frito Lays, as well as unionization and mass resignation at a number of fast food establishments. Overseas imports have been stalled by frequent obstruction of shipping routes. Additionally, a driver shortage means that even when stock is making it into port, it’s not finding its way on time, or even at all. A number of inquiries to Sysco reps resulted in a great deal of demurring before an official shut

November 2021

D I S H

MAGEIOWA.COM

Sysco has been the go-to provider for Omaha restaurants for years, but when the going got tough, the go-to couldn’t go fast enough. Stock photo. down questioning. One rep insisted there wasn’t a problem fulfilling orders, pointing to the company’s “excellent numbers” for the year before the deliverance of a stock answer about Sysco doing everything in its power to match unprecedented demand. On condition of anonymity, multiple drivers cited long hours and injuries for the massive driver turnaround.

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24 MAGE_Reader_Nov_3.54x9.25.indd 1

The match hovering over this powder keg is you. Your decisions to continue supporting Omaha restaurants, to be patient with new staff and understanding of a chef’s ability to keep the menu agile among changing inventory decides whether or not Omaha holds onto the reputation these talents have built for us as a foodie city. Bartholomew Restaurant Holdings founder Nick Bartholomew is familiar with circumstances outside of his control taking away something he’s worked tirelessly for. After losing Market House to a fire nearly six years ago, he decided to create something that couldn’t burn. The birth of Dan-

November 2021 10/13/21 11:25 AM

delion Pop-Up gave a platform to those who didn’t have one and has spawned several successful kitchen careers for the effort. Bartholomew’s approach to the current crisis is hopeful. “We are seeing that people are still willing to do the hard work to put out something great and creative,” he said, “and they’re willing to change how they’re serving to make it happen.” Bartholomew mourns each establishment’s closure but sees this shift as a season within the industry, making way for growth and positive change. “I think in place of the system that was, frankly, broken already, we’re going to see a new restaurant industry. Like it or not, things aren’t going to stay the same. The good news is that we have a say in how they change. “I think the future looks like a lot more cooperative kitchens. I think we’ll see a lot more collaboration and a lot more looking out for each other. There’s plenty of demand and plenty of creativity, we just have to support it and let it happen. This is a hard moment for us, but I think on the other side, we see something a lot more natural start to thrive.”

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November 2021

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November 2021

W PICKS W

November 7

Dreamscapes 2 p.m. | Free Hot Shops 1301 Nicholas St.

Harvesting dreams for inspiration has served artists from the beginning, but never more than from movements like Dadaism, Surrealism and, more recently, Fantasy Realism. For your fall dose of the peculiar, fantastic and Kafkaesque, Omaha Artists Inc., presents Dreamscapes, a group exhibit at Omaha’s Hot Shops. The presentation by imaginative local artists and artisans will include a wide variety of mediums and styles.

November 1

Roam

Fred Simon Gallery 1004 Farnam The conceptual photographic realism of Nebraska painter Neil Griess will be presented in the new exhibition Roam at the Nebraska Arts Council’s Fred Simon Gallery from Nov. 1. Taking a long look at the prairie landscape through the lens

of history and topography, Griess charges his images of the state’s wide rolling spaces with traces of the physical and cultural changes that mark the passage of time, the evolving social context of land use and the impacts of technology on it.

Dreamscapes opens Wednes-

day, Nov. 3, with an artist reception Sunday, Nov. 7, from 2-4 p.m. and runs through Nov. 29. The gallery is located at Hot Shops Art Center, 1301 Nicholas St. Dreamscapes runs through Nov. 29. Visit hotshopsartcenter.com. — Kent Behrens

November 8

Every Time I Die with ‘68 and Candy

7:30 p.m. | $22-25 The Waiting Room Every Time I Die is no stranger to The Waiting Room. The popular metal-core band

Roam: Works by Neil Griess runs through Jan. 7, 2022. Open by appointment only with a maximum of 10 visitors at a time. Visit artscouncil.nebraska.gov. — Janet Farber

November 2021

W PICKS W has left stages and crowds visibly wet from sweating, from here to Nottingham, losing zero of its edge over 20 years. Even if you don’t care for metal, let alone metal-core, being in such a crowd can change everything. Supporting acts include the two-piece noise-punk band ‘68 and the noise-metal outfit Candy. Tickets are $22 advance and $25 at the door, and doors open at 7 pm. — Matt Casas

November 8 O’Leaver’s Underground Comedy Presents:

acclaimed, festival-performing comedians to help make your November a little funnier. The two headliners are Brandie Posey, described as Riot Grrl on acid, and Kevin Casey White, known for his cheerful cynicism, and they will not disappoint your laugh box. More at facebook.com/ oleavers. — Matt Casas

Drew Healy Icons 6 p.m. | Free Baader-Meinhof 1322 S. 6th St.

5 p.m. | Free Anderson O’Brien Gallery 33rd & Farnam

Buck Meek 8 p.m. | $12 The Waiting Room

8-10 p.m. | $5 O’Leaver’s Pub

November 13

November 11

Brandy Posey and Kevin Casey White

O’Leaver’s is known for its meteoric concerts and outdoor sand volleyball matches, but the pub thrives as a live comedy venue. Here, for the affordable price of five bucks, you can get two hours of gut-busting laughs from

November 12

Buck Meek is best known as the lead guitarist in New York-based indie folk band Big Thief and has been integral in fostering that group’s melancholy atmospheres with songwriting partner Adrianne Lenker. But Meek has stepped out in recent years as a solo artist, releasing his first solo LP in 2018 and his most recent, Two Saviors, in 2021, finding success with a strain of country that shares a pastoral quality with Big Thief and a lo-fi intimacy that recalls Sparklehorse and Guided By Voices. He plays The Waiting Room this month with harmony-rich Los Angeles folk trio Kidi Band. — Sam Crisler

November 2021

Working with photography, sculpture and sound, Providence, Rhode Island, artist Drew Healy will present a series of images documenting antenna-like sculptures, the physical vestiges of “surveillance” now also carried on wirelessly or algorithmically by our phones, apps, virtual assistants, doorbell cams and the like. Using raw materials, including copper wire, PVC tubing, untreated wood beams and found materials, Healy’s assemblages read along a line between DIY home improvement works in progress and alien intrusions into the domestic environment. Drew Healy runs from Nov. 12 through Dec. 10 at Baader-Meinhof, with a public reception Friday, Nov. 12 from 6-10 p.m. The gallery is open Mondays through Saturdays from 12-6 p.m. Visits by appointment. Email info@baader-meinhof.org. — Janet Farber

Artist and educator Bart Vargas is known for his quirky political and social commentary, expressed through his colorful and graphic paintings and sculptures. Icons features new work as well as retrospective work from the last 10 years of production, much of which has never been exhibited here. The show includes paintings from Vargas’ Mandala series and work from his widely acclaimed Amalgamate Pop-Culture Ceramic Sculpture series. Vargas’ Icons opens with a public reception Saturday, Nov. 13, from 5-8 p.m. at Anderson O’Brien Gallery and runs through Dec. 4. Visit aobfineart.com. — Kent Behrens

W PICKS W brother-duo The Garden makes their long-awaited appearance at Slowdown Nov. 15. The show was delayed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was slated to happen as early as April 5, 2020.

Indie singer-songwriter and producer Alex G started off self-releasing his music on Bandcamp before his fifth album, DSU, was released by a label.

November 13

The Lemonheads 8 p.m. | $27-30 The Waiting Room

Okay, let’s be honest, The Lemonheads haven’t been essential listening since Car Button Cloth dropped in 1996, but there’s a reason Evan Dando is still able to make a living touring on the band’s older material. It’s a Shame About Ray is a bona fide indie classic, and its follow-up Come On Feel The Lemonheads is the result of the former’s success that features a contribution from Rick James, of all people. Dando had serious star power in the ’90s, and even when he’s blowing through his setlists without a word to the audience, there’s still something captivating about him. — Sam Crisler

The 28-year-old has risen in the ranks in the past few years from playing smaller festivals, such as Lincoln Calling in 2017, to playing at Riot Fest this September. The chance to see Alex G will arrive Nov. 14 at The Waiting Room. Tickets are $19 in advance and $22 day of the show. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. — Efren Cortez

Doors open at 7 p.m. with opener, hardcore punk band The Runts, starting at 8 p.m. This all-ages show is sold out. — Efren Cortez

6:30 p.m. | $35-$40 Slowdown

7 p.m. | $18-$20 Slowdown

7 p.m. | Sold Out Slowdown

Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, the husband-and-wife indie-pop duo behind Tennis formed their band after an eight-month post-grad sailing expedition. They chronicled the trip in their 2011 debut album, Cape Dory.

Fourth time’s the charm when experimental rock

Silversun Pickups

Tennis

The Garden

Alex G

November 20

November 17

November 15

November 14 7 p.m. | $19-$22 The Waiting Room

Known for their aggressive and energetic performances, The Garden will be touring their 2020 album Kiss My Super Bowl Ring, which released on March 13, 2020, through Epitaph Records.

The all-ages show will require proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or negative test. Doors open at 7 p.m. with the opener, Molly Bunch, starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18 in advance and $20 day of the show. Reserved seating on the pit sides and balcony is $30. — Efren Cortez

Since their debut, Denver-based Tennis has released two EPs and four more albums, including their most recent in 2020, Swimmer.

Breaking out with their 2007 single “Lazy Eye,” Los Angeles indie rock band Silversun Pickups have released five albums to their name, with 2019’s Widow’s Weeds being their most recent. The band utilized overdubbed distortion on their first two albums but have since transitioned to a more electronic sound. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the show starting at 8 p.m. The all-ages show will require proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or negative test. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 the day of. — Efren Cortez

November 2021

W PICKS W November 18-21

November 27-28

The Hip Hop Curious Nutcracker p.m. and 2 p.m. | Incident of 7:30 $95-220 the Dog in Orpheum Theater the NightTime 7:30 p.m. | $16 or free with MavCARD UNO

The Curious Incident is a thrilling mystery with an acclaimed ending, and thanks to UNO’s theatre staff, the award-winning novel is coming to the stage. The story centers around a 15-year-old with diagnosed autism as he investigates the dog next door’s mysterious death, and it offers poignant, life-affirming insight. For $16, or for free if you are a UNO student and present your nifty MavCARD, you can witness a local adaptation of this fantastic literary work. Get tickets at unomaha. edu. — Matt Casas

Hip Hop Nutcracker is not your everyday ballet. For one, Kurtis Blow — credited with the first certified gold record rap song ever — opens for each stop on the North American tour. But more than merely casting a wide net, the adaptation pumps new energy into an old format, namely this 1892 two-act ballet famously scored by Tchaikovsky. Here is a fun and modern take for fans of the old and the new, well worth the price of a largescale production ticket. Visit o-pa.org. — Matt Casas

November 27

Criteria

8 p.m. | $10 The Waiting Room Of the Omaha bands that reached national audiences in the early 2000s, Criteria rocked the hardest — and they still do. The band is playing its first show in nearly two years, and you can expect songs like “Prevent the World” to sound as heavy as it did in 2005. On “Agitate Resuscitate,” Steve Pedersen shouts “We got what you want/We want to

November 2021

deliver it.” In this case, they’re delivering fist-pumping rock anthems for the Omaha faithful. Indie rockers Little Brazil and Big Nope — the solo project of do-it-all drummer Nate Van Fleet — open the show. — Sam Crisler

December 3

SeeYouSpaceCowboy 7 p.m. | $15 Reverb Lounge

Sassy hardcore punk band SeeYouSpaceCowboy is bringing their aggressive energy to

Omaha when they perform at Reverb Lounge Dec. 3. The San Diego group will be touring their new sophomore album, The Romance of Affliction, which released Nov. 5 through Pure Noise Records. Named after a Cowboy Bebop reference, SeeYouSpaceCowboy is also a champion for LGBTQ+ representation and anti-racist and anti-capitalist views. Supporting them on this tour are Greyhaven, Wristmeetsrazor and Vatican. The all-ages show costs $15 and requires proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or negative test. — Efren Cortez

H O O D O O

Grooving & Giving

November Shows Include Tommy Castro, Brandon Santini, John Primer and Great Gigs from Local Favorites by B.J. Huchtemann

ommy Castro’s latest record, A Bluesman Came to Town, is out now on Alligator Records, and Tommy Castro & The Painkillers are back on the road, doing what they do best — killer live shows. Subtitled A Blues Odyssey, A Bluesman Comes to Town is a story in a record. In press materials, Castro explained, “A Bluesman Came To Town isn’t a story about me. It’s pulled from some of my friends’ and my experiences though. I’ve seen first-hand for a lot of years what it’s like out there on the road.” Tommy Castro & The Painkillers play the BSO Presents series for a special show Tuesday, Nov. 30, 6-9 p.m., at Stocks ‘n’ Bonds. Advance tickets are available on eventbrite.com.

Brandon Santini Thursday, Nov. 11, 6-9 p.m. at The Jewell. Santini is praised by critics as a standout in the contemporary blues scene. He is a multiple Blues Music Award nominee, recognized in the “Blues Instrumentalist – Harmonica” and “Contemporary Blues Male Artist” categories. The Highway 91 Music Festival is assisting in the presentation of this show.

The BSO teams up with The B. Bar to bring the high-octane rockabilly of The Mezcal Brothers to the stage Friday, Nov. 12, 5:30 p.m. The BSO again joins with The Jewell to present Joyann Parker Friday, Nov. 19, starting at 6:30. Parker is a Minnesota-based blues, jazz and R&B vocalist, and local favorites Mitch Towne (organ), Other shows in the Blues Soci- Andrew Brookins (drums) and ety of Omaha’s BSO Presents series Craig Balderston (bass) will be include Memphis-based harmoni- joining Parker and her collaborator, ca player, vocalist and songwriter guitarist Mark Lamoine. Wednesday, Nov. 24, 6-9 p.m., at The Jewell is a Kris Lager Band CD release show for Lager’s latest recording, Blues Lover. They will be fresh from a California tour where they are selling out shows. Thursday, Dec. 2, 6-9 p.m., the music moves to The Strut, 5402 N. 90th, for Chicago bluesman John Primer & The Real Deal Blues Band. Primer was a longtime sideman for Magic Tommy Castro & The Painkillers are back on the Slim and is a road and hitting Omaha for a show presented two-time Gramby the Blues Society of Omaha Tuesday, Nov. 30, nominee. 6-9 p.m. at Stocks ‘n’ Bonds. Photo CREDIT: Kathleen my He also worked Harrison/Alligator Records.

as the lead guitarist for Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon. Watch for schedule updates at facebook. com/bluessocietyofomaha. Find all the BSO events plus a curated list of other local blues/roots events at omahablues.com.

Toy Drive The Toy Drive for Pine Ridge returns in early December. The annual events are organized by longtime local musician Larry Dunn, also known as Lash LaRue from The Mercurys and other local bands. Dunn has been involved in the Lakota spiritual traditions and ceremonies for many years, and the Toy Drive is his effort to give back to the Lakota community. The Toy Drive for Pine Ridge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that brings toys to the children of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Donations are also used for essentials, like an emergency propane heating fund for the elders. Funds also go toward clothing, food, assistance for the medical clinic and educational resources for residents of the reservation, which is one of the poorest areas in the United States. There will be toy-gathering and fundraising concerts Friday, Dec. 3, at Waiting Room and Sunday, Dec. 5, with the Blues Society of Omaha, location to be announced. Look for another Sunday morning event from Rick Galusha’s P.S. Blues radio show, too. Watch for details and further announcements at facebook.com/toydriveforpineridge.

Hot Notes Sunday Roadhouse presents Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express Sunday, Nov. 14, 5 p.m., at Reverb Lounge. Prophet is a musician’s musician who is well-

known in roots-rock-Americana circles. See sundayroadhouse.com. The harmony-laden, hit-making rock band the BoDeans is at Waiting Room Sunday, Nov. 21, 8 p.m. Buck’s Bar & Grill, 27849 W. Center Rd., in nearby Venice, Nebraska, continues to bring in great up-and-coming country acts. Check out the schedule at bucksbarandgrill.com. The Jewell offers an eclectic mix of local and regional jazz, blues and R&B. Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal take the stage Saturday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m. Keep up with the full schedule at jewellomaha.com. There is plenty going on at Lincoln’s historic Zoo Bar, including Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal Saturday, Nov. 27, 5 p.m., Kris Lager Band Saturday, Nov. 13, showtime TBA, and fantastic Austin-based blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Sue Foley coming Saturday, Dec. 4, 6 p.m. See facebook.com/zoobarblues and zoobar.com. Cathy Lohmeier’s documentary Remember the Drumstick about her brother, Tim Lohmeier, and the Lincoln chicken restaurant turned 1980s rock club will be screened in Omaha as part of Film Streams’ 2021 Local Filmmakers Showcase Nov. 11-18. Check for the date and time listings on the showcase website at filmfreeway. com/2021LFS. Nebraska Public Media’s second season of Jam features four programs with local artists Lloyd McCarter & The Honky Tonk Revival, Héctor Anchondo, Hope Dunbar and Jocelyn. The programs are airing on Nebraska Public Media statewide and can be viewed online. Search for “Jam” at nebraskapublicmedia.org.

November 2021

B A C K B E A T

Where Will the Wild Ones Go? Omaha’s DIY Scene has Operated in Limbo Since the Shutdown of a Go-To Venue by Sam Crisler

Welcome to the Backbeat column, where local music is the only music.

he toilet seat is gone, the sink runs only cold water, and the mirror is adorned with drawings in permanent marker of a phallic nature. But the bathroom’s functioning is the least of your concerns. You’re here to see a show. This could describe any number of DIY music venues — spaces run for the purpose of building community through music and/ or art — and it might be an unfair stereotype if it wasn’t accurate. But that’s part of the experience: It feels unruly, like a venue run by and for outsiders ought to. “The only thing you think about is the fact that you’re getting this weird and amazing euphoric high off of being in that moment,” said Anissa Romero, a member of the POP20 DIY events collective and a former promoter at the Midtown Art Supply DIY space on 26th and Harney streets. For almost two years, Midtown Art served as one of Omaha’s go-to DIY venues, for touring bands in need of a show, new local bands in search of a proving ground and young adults needing a break from the lethargy of their day to day. But in early 2020, developers purchased the venue’s building, and after a final two-day festival in March of that year, Midtown Art was done. Cameron Leininger, who drums in the Omaha band Jocko, is one of the music scene’s leading figures and books many of the punk and hardcore bands that come to town. Without

spaces like Midtown Art to rely on, Leininger said lining up DIY shows has been a gamble. It puts promoters in a bind when they’re booking, and the community component of the DIY scene is stressed. Consistency in a DIY scene’s familiar venues is not essential, but it’s a plus when you can head to a show without typing the address into a GPS app. Leininger could book at bars like O’Leaver’s or Pageturners Lounge, which are often supportive of the DIY community. But they’re 21-and-up venues — supporting all-ages crowds is a principal tenet of DIY. So Leininger has had to try out some new venues and hold out hope that people will show up. “I hope people just love the music enough they’re gonna follow it to where we can have it and have it still be accessible,” he said. Leininger hosted his first post-pandemic show in early October for Milwaukee hardcore band Big Laugh. The venue? A barn behind Jocko bassist Benji Molczyk’s house in North Omaha. Leininger estimated about 100 people came out for the show on a Tuesday night.

Anissa Romero running the door at Midtown Art Supply in February 2020. — Photo by Jessy Hunt Omaha electronic punk band Pagan Athletes also has its album release show scheduled at OutrSpaces for early November. Could it be the venue to pick up where Midtown Art left off? “To be transparent, no I don’t think OutrSpaces can fill that void,” said OutrSpaces executive director Philip Kolbo. The nonprofit provides a rehearsal space for the music community, but its mission extends into workshops and the arts.

But he has concerns about parking and bothering the neighbors, not to mention the people trying to sleep in Molczyk’s home. The barn is a placeholder.

“I think OutrSpaces has a chance to open another door or two in the future, but I believe the community is better off with planning to open more independent venues.”

What about OutrSpaces? The Little Bohemia arts rehearsal and performance space hosted Jocko’s first show back from the pandemic. Nearly 200 people showed up, Leininger said, to see Jocko, new Omaha band GLOW, Militarie Gun from Los Angeles and Yambag from Cleveland.

When I talked to Romero in May of 2020, just a couple months into the pandemic, they were planning POP20’s next steps in the aftermath of Midtown Art’s closing and getting ready to secure a new venue space. But when I talked to Romero for this column, the acquisition had fall-

November 2021

en through. They weren’t sure what the future held, and without a venue to book at, they’re not sure where to start. “I’m standing by until I can get my toes back in the water,” they said. Leininger said his first few shows back have been heavily attended by people he didn’t recognize from before the pandemic, and many were young faces. That’s a good sign. To keep them involved and to keep things consistent, he plans to book a few shows soon at Reverb Lounge in Benson, which allows all-ages crowds. Benson won’t produce the feeling of a disheveled DIY space bathroom, but Leininger is betting on people following the music to Reverb. “You just want to keep stoking that fire,” he said. “And I don’t know if Reverb can be the answer, but at least I’ll ask them to come.”

F I L M

Movie Lover Gift Guide 2021

5 Affordable Presents for the Near Future

adore/abhor buying things for people. This isn’t because of my love language, because my love language is drunken, vulgar Esperanto. I adore it because giving someone something that makes them feel seen, known and heard is one of the purest expressions of empathy available to humans. I hate it because that, my friends, is a lot of pressure. If you’re thinking “Yeah, but he’s probably only that worried about presents for his closest friends and family,” the only way you could be more wrong is by sporting a Hateful 8 tattoo. I say that as a caveat. I can’t promise you that these five gifts will produce the ugly crying I hope for at every birthday and holiday. I realize that makes me sound like some kind of emotional vampire, but I meant it in a good way? What I can promise you is that these are all very good, modestly priced gifts that movie lovers will actually want. That’s my least favorite thing about most gift guides: They seem to be written by people who had their butler do the typing. Pretty much everything here is less than half a hundy, because we got bills, yo.

5 Affordable Gifts for Movie Lovers n Streaming Services and/or Memberships Let’s get this one out of the way first: Support yer local theaters, y’all. They need your help so, so much right now. If your movie lover is (understandably) plague averse and not yet

by Ryan Syrek

Finding inexpensive gifts for cinephiles can be as hard as an unpopped kernel. Let this guide make it all soft and buttery for you. Photo from salbree.com venturing back into theaters on the regs, I promise you that they will eventually. Gift cards at cineplexes rarely expire. Include a note with it that says: “For when you’re ready.” I’m pretty sure virginity-until-you’re-married groups already sell wrapping paper that says that on it. A membership to Film Streams is also a phenomenal way to keep our local arthouse strong while allowing your present-taker to score cheap tix for remarkable films. In addition, we are now at somewhere around 6.7 million different streaming services. Soon, we’ll all be assigned an individual streamer at birth, Truman Show style. In the meantime, consider gifting a subscription for a slightly-more-niche offering, like Shudder, The Criterion Channel, BritBox or FlixPlex. I made that last one up, but you didn’t notice because that’s how many streaming options there are now. Trying out a new service is a ton of fun for at least a month. Maybe do a tiny buffet, wherein you gift a few months for a handful of them! You may think that Netflix and Hulu is enough, but the only way you’d be more wrong is if you created Quibi.

n Salbree Microwave Popcorn Popper and Popcorn Toppings I do not know what dark alchemy the good people at Salbree used to make a popcorn

weird ones. Like, just look at this thing:

popper this damned good. I have tried similar products and been burned. Scorched corn is no one’s friend. Salbree lays waste to all other mechanisms of popcorn popping. Please know that I have tried them all, from stovetop to a magnifying glass and sunlight. Without oil or any other lubricant/additive/magic, this little fella nukes your kernels to absolute perfection. Some of the seasonings you can get now are mind-blowing. At-home popcorn is never going to achieve theater-level status, but if you want to throw some dill-sriracha-parmesan-flavoring at home, that’s between you and the Lord. The Lord, in this case, being Orville Redenbacher. Again, and I cannot stress this enough, buy this specific device, accept no imitations. Package that with some fixings carefully curated for your recipient like you’re some kind of savant popcorn sommelier, and I promise you they’ll tell you months later how much they still use that shit. You may think that a combo of a popper and toppings is a lame gift, but the only way you could be more wrong is by writing Big Bang Theory fan fiction.

n Posters and Prints (within reason) In general, I frown upon the practice of gifting large decorative items. You’re basically saying “Allocate to me a portion of the walls you live inside or I’ll know you don’t really love me.” If you know someone who either loves to change up their space or swap out framed posters, you can find so many cool and weird ones these days. Mondoshop.com has so many profoundly cool and

Do you not want that on your wall, regardless of whether you’ve even seen the movie?! They have some for older movies, TV shows and random cool flicks. If that doesn’t do it for you, head to your local Etsy, where you can find some truly excellent prints. Those are ideal because they are much smaller. Thus, you are only demanding a tiny portion of your recipient’s home be kept as a shrine to your generosity. You can find artists on Instagram and the other social medias who will do movie-based illustrations or cartoons that range from whimsical to wholly inappropriate. Get those commissioned early, if you do that, because those are actual humans who have to manually create things and then mail them to you using a postal system still somehow run by Louis DeJoy. You may think that most movie lovers have enough art related to their favorite films. The only way you could be more wrong is to continue to allow Louis DeJoy to run the U.S. Postal System.

n Tie-In Board Games Did you know there was a Labyrinth board game that includes

November 2021

F I L M a tiny figure of David Bowie’s Goblin King, bulbous crotchal region and all? There is a Die Hard board game, wherein I can only hope one of the challenges includes actual broken glass and bare feet. For the love of Leonard Maltin, mondoshop.com sells a Leonard Maltin board game that involves lying to imitate Leonard Maltin. It is called King of Movies, which is just the absolute sweet spot on the Venn diagram of hubris and entertainment.

The point is, there is a better than zero chance that a movie your movie lover loves has a semi-immersive gaming opportunity associated with it. I realize that not all cinephiles are parlor game fanatics. That is insane to me. What else do you people do when you gather in groups? Talk to each other? About life? With your mouths and faces pointed at one another? Gross. From a Dune game to a Golden Girls version of Clue, whatever your gift target is into, there’s something for them. And for the record, everyone falls into “would play a Dune game” or “is irrationally excited for a Golden Girls version of Clue.” You either fall into one category, the other or both, but nobody is immune to the charm of one of those. You may think that a board game is a boring present that should be reserved for nerds. The only way you could be more wrong is to assume I’m on team Dune game.

Uh Oh, Double 0...

We All See Bond Movies for the Crying, Right? by Ryan Syrek

This brilliant gem is available from cinemetaltshirts.com, as are John Carpenter and Ingmar Bergman options. I also bought a friend a shirt with Jim Jarmusch as a cartoon on it from teepublic.com. Get creative! If your gift receiver is a fan of a specific writer/director/actor, I promise you they aren’t alone. If the internet has done one thing, it’s provided an exploitable method by which to spread misinformation and distrust. But if it has done two things, that second one is provide merchandise for crazy-specific interests. If you think a T-shirt isn’t a gift literally any human will appreciate, the only way you could be more wrong is to have created Facebook. The methodology by which you can find clothing merch for gifting is pretty applicable to most movie lover interests. Use any search engine, even Bing, and enter a combination of “Thing Someone Loves” and “Object They Also Love,” and more often than not, you’ll get a hit. I’m not kidding, I tried “Ted Lasso” and “Candle,” and guess what…

n Director/Actor T-shirts Anybody can buy someone a T-shirt with a logo from a movie or TV show on it. A legend buys their beloved a Jodorosky shirt in the style of Judas Priest.

November 2021

Tha t ’s a Te d L a s s o candle from illuminidol. com. If you can t hink of a better way to end a gift guide like this, well then you’ve given me the worst gif t of all.

Still from No Time to Die from Eon Productions

o Time to Die is a horrid, endless chore using illusion technology to look like a movie. Its villain — clothed in only the finest suits from the Steven Seagal collection — is so comically unwatchable he’s all but completely edited out of the film. His name is Lyutsifer Safin. It’s pronounced “Lucifer,” and his last name is practically “Satan.” Get it? Because he’s evil. The only reason this isn’t the most embarrassing thing Rami Malek has ever done is because he won an Oscar for a Bryan Singer movie. No Time to Die is a hot dog made from the pig anuses passed over by other Bond movies. But things don’t start off terribly! Director Cary Joji Fukunaga delivers an opening sequence that feels more like a claustrophobic, snowy cabin slasher film. Fun! The flashback gives way to an Italian vacay for Bond (Daniel Craig) and Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) that descends into a betrayal that hinges entirely on Madeleine repeatedly saying that she has to tell Bond something instead of actually telling him that thing. Not fun! Cut to some years later: Bond is an island-dwelling alcohol sponge. Her Majesty even gave away his special spy locker number, 007, to Nomi (Lashana Lynch), the most interesting character in the film despite her sincerely saying this line of dialogue: “Do you know what time it is? Time to die!” One of the four credited writers on this is Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She almost certainly had nothing to do with that line, but it’s fun to think she put it in there just to tweak the nips of the Bond enthusiasts who take this shit seriously.

The problem is, everything else is so, so, so serious. Watching James Bond repeatedly weep is so flagrantly disingenuous given the context and breadth of the character. Skyfall was masterful for the way in which it believably deconstructed and humanized the character, but No Time to Die feels like a gross attempt to procure unearned emotional responses. Not that James Bond has any previous recorded experience with forcibly soliciting things that aren’t consensually offered. The plot MacGuffin is a nano-virus thing but then also an island made out of poison or something? Look, if you can remember what happens in all nearly three hours of this joyless slog, your recognition and retention are above superspy levels. Storylines are Frankensteined together: rotting, fetid flesh stitched by a great theme song and Craig’s baby blues. Ana de Armas’s scene is kinda fun? The opening credits featured guns shooting bullets that weave into DNA, which is what America’s blood looks like under a microscope. That’s cool, right? Craig’s Bond tenure can be reduced to the near-perfect Skyfall, the serviceable modern resurrection that was Casino Royale, and then things that fall under an umbrella of nonsense, like the very phrase Quantum of Solace. It’s not quite clear how the exceptional Fukunaga, the genius Waller-Bridge and the somehow-still-underrated-as-an-actor Craig got together to do … this. All that is clear, is that it is the last time any of them will be doing it.

Grade = D

Other Critic al Voices to ConsideR Rosalynn Try-Hane at Liquid Marmalade (great name there) says “I was left neither shaken nor stirred but rather perplexed.”

Kelechi Ehenulo at Confessions From a Geek Mind says “Only Doctor Who – another franchise with 50+ years of history under its belt, can stand shoulder to

shoulder with Bond on the pressures of longevity. But it’s evident in the process how characters can change, evolve and step outside of the formula.”

Yasser Medina at Cinemaficionados says “Before Craig, 007’s spies were built from the same plastic material as action figures.”

C O M I C S Garry Trudeau

Jen Sorensen

TED RALL

November 2021

C R O S S W O R D

YRs Truly

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

— more initial reactions — by Matt Jones

Across

1. Brit’s WWII weapon

5. Eight, to Teo 9. Tiny tastes 13. Chance for change, maybe?

16. Opera highlight

17. Flower in a Texas song

24. Getaways with a focus on poses 30. Commandeer 31. “The Hangover” actor Ed

37. Order for humans 39. “En ___!” (fencing command)

40. Runny cheese 41. Longs (for)

29 32

44. Cooking appliance

45. Squares up 48. Yangs’ counterparts

49. Waffle brand that somehow has a cereal version

42. Keep an ___ the ground 43. Until now

34. Dumpster emanation 36. ___ diagram (logic illustration)

50. Propose a romantic connection, in fanfic

51. Like some bloomers

52. Constellation named for a stringed instrument

32. Progressive character

47. Prized instrument, for short

62. Ticket specification

35. Otter relative

48. “I’m serious”

Down

36. Car brand that 54. “No argument here” 1. Hang around translates to “I roll” 56. “Empire” actor 2. “America’s Next Top 37. Galumph Diggs Model” host Banks 38. Play the quizmaster 57. Like two, but not 3. Impressive in scope too? 39. “Aladdin” character 4. Vessel crammed full 40. “Real Housewives” 58. Cardiologist’s of wildlife procedure, for short channel 5. McFlurry variety 41. Longest waterway in 59. Raison d’___ (justification) 6. A.P. math subject China 43. Toward the rear of a 60. Hardy title character 7. Smashing fellow? boat 61. Abbr. on a cognac 8. Prefix meaning “earbottle related” 46. Objective

21. “___ la vista, baby!”

23. Chess piece, at times

15. Spike’s demon friend, on “Buffy”

22. Raphael’s weapon, in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”

14. Bratwurst topper

19. Genre for Michael McDonald and Rupert Holmes

November 2021

9. Cancels

24. “3:10 to ___”

10. “Have ___ my mind?”

25. Conditional suffix?

11. Bucatini sauce 12. Lipstick smudge 14. NBA star Irving in the news for refusing to get vaccinated

26. Engine buildup 27. Minimal beachwear

28. Fired up again

29. Presley-inspired MexicanAmerican singer with the albums 18. Word often used by “Graciasland” and “Jeopardy!” champ “Merry MeX-mas” Matt Amodio 32. Chuck D’s Public 20. It covers a lot of Enemy partner, for ground short 23. It’s hard to distinguish, for short

53. Chuck as far away as possible, in modern slang

33. Zero, for Nadal

AnsweR to last month’s “Spuh Day” R E S T U P

E X P O S E

A C U M E N

S H O E S A L E

P E R S O N A L

A L L S W E L L

R O M A S I G L O O S

S N O N T O L C A O T H E E R N M E A S P P L Y E

A M I S R O D E I M O N N O A B O R R E W A S G T T I I I N N D E I F U S T I Z R I N O Z A I N N T A

H O Y T A V C A O T M A E R Y U Y R A B G A A N

S T A T E D O G

C O M E T R U E

H E A D S E T S

A S T O R S

P S E U D O

A R C T A N

C R O S S W O R D

YRs Truly

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

— more initial reactions — by Matt Jones

Across

1. Brit’s WWII weapon

5. Eight, to Teo 9. Tiny tastes 13. Chance for change, maybe?

16. Opera highlight

17. Flower in a Texas song

24. Getaways with a focus on poses 30. Commandeer 31. “The Hangover” actor Ed

37. Order for humans 39. “En ___!” (fencing command)

40. Runny cheese 41. Longs (for)

29 32

44. Cooking appliance

45. Squares up 48. Yangs’ counterparts

49. Waffle brand that somehow has a cereal version

42. Keep an ___ the ground 43. Until now

34. Dumpster emanation 36. ___ diagram (logic illustration)

50. Propose a romantic connection, in fanfic

51. Like some bloomers

52. Constellation named for a stringed instrument

32. Progressive character

47. Prized instrument, for short

62. Ticket specification

35. Otter relative

48. “I’m serious”

Down

21. “___ la vista, baby!”

23. Chess piece, at times

15. Spike’s demon friend, on “Buffy”

22. Raphael’s weapon, in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”

14. Bratwurst topper

19. Genre for Michael McDonald and Rupert Holmes

November 2021

9. Cancels

24. “3:10 to ___”

10. “Have ___ my mind?”

25. Conditional suffix?

11. Bucatini sauce 12. Lipstick smudge 14. NBA star Irving in the news for refusing to get vaccinated

26. Engine buildup 27. Minimal beachwear

28. Fired up again

53. Chuck as far away as possible, in modern slang

33. Zero, for Nadal

AnsweR to last month’s “Spuh Day” R E S T U P

E X P O S E

A C U M E N

S H O E S A L E

P E R S O N A L

A L L S W E L L

R O M A S I G L O O S

S N O N T O L C A O T H E E R N M E A S P P L Y E

A M I S R O D E I M O N N O A B O R R E W A S G T T I I I N N D E I F U S T I Z R I N O Z A I N N T A

H O Y T A V C A O T M A E R Y U Y R A B G A A N

S T A T E D O G

C O M E T R U E

H E A D S E T S

A S T O R S

P S E U D O

A R C T A N

I N

M E M O R I A M

David Catalan May 29, 1941 October 5, 2021 Community builder may best describe the late David Catalan, whose commitment to improving Omaha was all the more impressive given he made this his adopted hometown.

He finished high school in Merced and earned a scholarship to UCLA, becoming the first in his family to obtain a diploma or degree. A U.S. Army stint brought him to Paris, where a love of the arts was sparked. Back in the States, he joined Union Pacific, which paid for MBA studies at Pepperdine University. Once he got settled in Omaha, Catalan said, “doing community service, being on nonprofit boards became an identity for myself.” Catalan later worked at Metropolitan Community College, in the cabinet of Mayor Hal Daub and as executive director of the Omaha Press Club and the Nonprofit Association of the Midlands. He was president of the South Omaha Business Association and the South Omaha Optimist Club, and he consulted several nonprofits and small businesses.

Catalan arrived in 1980 as a Union Pacific manager. He immersed himself in community affairs and public service the next four decades — a far cry from his earlier, rootless life.

The arts champion and published poet served on the Opera Omaha, Omaha Symphony and Nebraska Arts Council boards, cofounded SNAP! Productions and helped start El Museo Latino. He supported projects by local artists, some of whom commemorated his passing in original new works.

“My whole life had been like a gypsy,” he told a reporter in 2017. “I was a vagabond traveling from place to place and never really having a fixed home — until I came to Omaha. I chose to stay even after I left U.P. because I really felt at home here … after all those years wandering around.” Catalan grew up in a Tucson, Arizona, barrio after World War II. His father worked in the copper mines. As a young teen, he and his family made the migrant worker circuit, leaving each spring-summer for California.

I N

— Leo Adam Biga portrait by artist Bart Vargas

M E M O R I A M

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More info... To submit, go to thereader.com/in-memoriam.

November 2021

O V E R

T H E

E D G E

Breaking Up is ‘Hard’ to Do Omaha Rocker Matt Whipkey’s New Album Sifts through the Ashes of a Broken Marriage by Tim McMahan

he theme to Omaha singer/songwriter/rocker Matt Whipkey’s new album, Hard, can be summed up by its artwork: a photo of a vintage bride-and-groom cake topper, sitting on a Pepperidge Farm cake.

“For an artist treading that territory, you want to be reverent about it,” Whipkey said. “At a certain point, the songs wrote themselves, and what came out ended up being what was on my mind. It was therapeutic.”

“The record is about a breakup, the end of a marriage,” said Whipkey, who, though proud of the album, sounded skittish about the subject.

You can’t blame the guy if he occasionally wandered into maudlin territory, but, to his credit, Whipkey edited himself, cutting songs he felt “ventured into the land of diary rock.”

He easily could have said the album was about the pandemic, having written the first songs when the country went into lockdown in March 2020 and wrapping up the last song in April 2021. But that cake topper would have been hard to explain.

“I didn’t want to do that,” he said. “When you look at the idea of a divorce album, there’s some standouts in the genre you have to consider.” He said those include Bob Dylan’s Matt Whipkey, Hard Blood on the (2021, Unusual) Tracks, Bruce Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love and Whipkey said he and his wife the overlooked 1999 gem by Tom were together for a couple years Petty and the Heartbreakers, Echo. before their divorce in March 2020 at the height of the panOn the other hand, Whipkey demic. He suddenly found him- said, “The worst thing you can do self living in the basement of his is write something that you’re goartist/photographer friend Justin ing to be embarrassed by 10 years Limoges’ house with a whole lot down the road.” of time on his hands. He doesn’t have anything to “I said I wasn’t going to turn worry about. his basement into a recording stuClocking in at 11 songs in 41 dio, but sure enough…,” Whipkey minutes, Hard is the best soundsaid. ing album Whipkey has recorded With Limoges’ support, Whip- in a career that spans 24 years and key began to write and record the 14 albums, including work with new album, starting with rocker bands The Movies, Anonymous “Hello, Hello” and ending with American and punk act Unexalbum-closer “Big Noise.” Along plained Death. Whipkey recorded the way he thematically covered almost all the tracks in lockdown aspects of his broken relationship, in Limoges’ basement, adding shifting from bombastic power Scott Gaeta’s drum parts along chords to subtle acoustic nuance. the way. He shares recording and

November 2021

release is slated for Nov. 12 in conjunction with an album release show at The Jewell. While the album was mastered by the inimitable Doug Van Sloun, the vinyl’s lacquers were cut by legendary engineer Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Services.

Matt Whipkey. by Justin Limoges. production credits with Gaeta and recording engineer Ian Aeillo. The DIY recording approach allowed him to lay down as many as 40 vocal tracks per song, searching for the perfect take. “I compare singing to pitching,” Whipkey said. “Some pitchers don’t hit their shit until the seventh inning. When I sing a vocal 20 times, things begin to sound different by take 10 or 12. I want to know where it will take me from a physical and spiritual perspective. You’re no longer thinking about pitch, you’re feeling the experience.” Throughout the album, Whipkey’s vocals go from a breathy, husky whisper to a throaty yell as if channeling his relationship’s pleasure and pain. Standout songs include the rock-hard title track, the aforementioned “Hello, Hello,” twang-inspired waltz “Lazarus” and indie-swing closer “Big Noise.” The album was digitally released last month, but the vinyl

Whipkey said landing Weston was a stroke of luck, as was finding his record label — a boutique momand-pop label out of Minneapolis called Unusual. Hard will be #001 in the Unusual catalog, with an initial vinyl run of 300 copies.

After years of recording and touring, including performing in arenas opening for Dwight Yoakam, Heart and America, Whipkey sounds satisfied with his career. “I’ve done some pretty cool things with music,” he said. “Playing those arena shows was something I dreamt about. The joy for me now is the creative process, the songwriting, just producing something. And while I want people to enjoy this album, I wrote it for me.” Matt Whipkey and his band play Friday, Nov. 12, at The Jewell, 1030 Capitol Avenue. Two shows will be performed, at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $15. For more information, go to jewellomaha.com. 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.