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402.345.0606 | OMAHASYMPHONY.ORG
NOVEMBER2016VOLUME23NUMBER20
08 COVER STORY FAITH IN OMAHA
18 PICKS COOL THINGS TO DO IN NOVEMBER
23 HEALING NEWS YOU CAN USE
24 GREEN FOOD DAY CHAMPION
26 FEATURE ARTIFACT BAG
30 ART TUBACH + TUBACH
34 STAGE SHAKIN THE STAGE
36 EAT OMAHA ROCKETS KANTEEN
40 SPORTS CREIGHTON HOOPS PREVIEW
42 FILM MUSLIMS IN FILM
48 OVER THE EDGE THE AGE OF TRUMP
50 MUSIC WELCOME TO THE HORROR SHOW
52 MUSIC KEITH RODGER - MIX MASTER
54 BACKBEAT TAKE US TO YOUR LEADER
56 HOODOO LETS BUZZ
58 MYSTERIAN THE DOCTOR IS IN
Publisher John Heaston john@thereader.com

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heartland healing: Michael Braunstein info@heartlandhealing.com
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: James Walmsley backbeat@thereader.com
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contents
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
A Muslim and a Christian ... a blended union in a fractious era

BY LEO ADAM BIGA
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DEBRA S. KAPLAN
hen it comes to religious diversity, Omaha has

churches, cathedrals, synagogues, mosques and
temples. The metros immigrant, migrant and refugee settlers planted deep roots of Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism and Eastern Orthodoxy that still flourish today. The
imprint Mormon pioneers made during the 19th century lives on in
Florence and Council Bluffs.
Todays local religious landscape also includes Bah, Buddhist,
Hindu, Islamic, New Religion, Pagan, Atheist and Unitarian centers.Throughout the metro, interfaith efforts abound: Inclusive Communities, Together Inc., Omaha Together One Community, Neighbors United and the Tri-Faith Initiative. Countryside Community
Church programs sometimes feature interfaith dialogues. There are
also serious religious studies offerings at local institutions of higher
learning that invite cross-current explorations.
Omaha isnot immune toreligious bigotry. Hate crimes have defaced area mosques amidst rising anti-Islamic fervor. As recent and
still waging wars demonstrate, religion, like race and nationality, can
be a wedge for conflict or a bridge for understanding. Schisms happen within and between countries, denominations, congregations,
tribes, sects, even individuals. As a house divided starts at home, interfaith couples carry loaded religious commerce. One such couple is
Sharif Liwaru and Gabrielle GainesLiwaru of Omaha. Hes a Muslim
by birth and choice. Shes a self-professed follower of Jesus after
growing up Lutheran and Assembly of God.
The 40-something-year-old parents of three are professionals and
community activists. He directs the Office of Equity and Diversity at
Omaha Public Schools and is president-CEO of the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation. Shes a teaching artist. Theyre both active in the
African Culture Connection, the Empowerment Network and the Black
Lives Matter movement.
They shared with The Reader how they make their blended union
work in this fractious era when contrasting persuasions can be dealbreakers. Not surprisingly, for two people who advocate engagement, they go to great lengths to ensure they remain connected de-
spite their differences. It starts with respecting each other and their
sometimes opposingbeliefs.
Gabrielle said, As a follower of Jesus in an interfaith marriagewhat I admire is that Sharif is not every Muslim ... heis his own
Muslim. Hes unique. Each person and their set of beliefs does not
have to be exactly like the rest in their group and it goes for me as
well. Im happy that in our relationship we explore ideas and spiritual
matters together.
Though born Muslim to convert parents, Sharif thoroughly examined his faith and recommitted to it as a young man.
This settles easy on my heart and on my mind,he said of his practice.It makes sense for me, His disciplines include fasting, praying
five times a day and weekly congregational prayer.
When the couple met 23 years ago, Gabrielles religious traditions
demonized Muslims. The more time she spent with Sharif and other
Muslims, she came to see those positionsas false.
In a lot of ways, shapes and forms, the attitudes-beliefs of Christians towards Muslims are wrong, she said.
Marriage only confirmed her new-found outlook. I have a husband who has a golden heart and he is Muslim. Im extremely in love
with how he depicts himself within black American culture and with
how hes chosen to be Muslim, too.
The couple married despite each being warned against if not forbidden from mating with someone of another faith.
Both of us were breaking rules against our religion to be together,
she said.
They met at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She was a single mom and aspiring artist and art educator. He was a community
volunteer. They began as platonic friends. To this day their friendship
and love trump any conflicts.
In faith and spirituality when there are disagreements,Sharif
said,theres a barrier that can come from I-feel-its-this-way and
you-feel-its-that-way and theres no reconciliation.
Were not trying to create a sense of hierarchy of one being better
than the other. At the same time, if either one of us felt the others path
continued on page 10 y
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
cover story
SHARIF LIWARU AND GABRIELLE GAINESLIWARU
cover story
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
continued from page 8 y
was the path, we would have been on it. So, in as much as we agree
with the other, we have to acknowledge each of us thinks were right.
In situations where Sharif thinks hes right, I still have to respect him
to the core as being a peaceful person, she said.
They try emphasizing those things on which they are of one accord.
We are connected purposefully and spiritually and aligned in so
many ways, so its a challenge trying to walk through the things we
may see differently, Sharif said. Our ideologies are very similar in
terms of how we treat one another, the belief in one god and in a
creator, the understanding that your actions need to reflect what you
believe, the sense of having purpose and being created intentionally,
having strong moral values and the way you carry yourself as vital.
Gabrielle said she believes she and Sharif are ordained to journey together to do the things that make this place better, adding,
We strengthen community, we strengthen our children and family
and were role models for people to see that oh, yes, you can get
beyond differences.
It hasnt always been easy.
For many years she wasnt sure how I would take it if she was using
Jesus a lot, Sharif said. I wasnt sure how she would take different
thingslike greeting someone with as-salamu alayka or salamun
alaykum [peace and blessings or complimenting someone with alhumdulillah ...all praises be to god]. Or praying-reading from the
Koran before eating. Or using Allah for God. Those are Arabic words
for English words commonly agreed upon and used in the house.
We sometimes would self-dictate what made the other person feel
uncomfortable. But then as we started to explore and grow, especially
in terminology, she used Yah as the one creator and I used Allah. We
came to an understanding that when we say that were not saying it
be contentious, rather were saying the same thing in two different
ways. We dont see them as counter or correction.
As much as he or she might want the other to follow their beliefs,
neither takes offense at their choosing not to.
She said she doesnt accept the Prophet Mohammed as the final
messenger Jesus said was to come after him.I feel like Jesus was talking about the spirit of truth and great comforter that would never leave
us alone and would guide us without us having to follow a man and
what the man said. I feel that deep in my soul and, yes, I would like
my husband to feel that.
She takes issue with the inequity Muslim women face. There are
things about Christianity he finds difficult.
10
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
Sharif taught our kids how to make Salat. We didnt continue to do it

Each felt pressure to bring up theyre kids in a certain faith.
There was a lot of recruiting by our parents wanting to make sure religiously, nor did we do Bible or Koranic studies religiously, but our
they grew up in the faith tradition they believed, Sharif said. We family has a strong sense of being together. We pray when we hear
exposed them very intentionally and unashamedly to our faith. It was an ambulance go by. Whenever were at the table about to eat we
no secret Christian faith was on one side of the family and Islamic honor God first because from God all good things come.
Their oldest, Parris, composed a prayer the family still recites:
faith on the other side.
Thank you Yah for this beautiful day. Thank you for all the blessHe said he and Gabrielle left it open for their kids to identify as
they saw fit. Our kids grew to be examiners of information. The ings you have given us today. Please bless this food. Take any imsame way they took everything, they absorbed and created their own purities out of it and let it nourish our bodies in every way it can.
paths. At various times, he said, they identified as Muslim-Christian, Please help anyone in need of your merciful blessings and wonderful
healing. Amen.
neither-both, half Muslim and half Christian.
The couples faith, she said, extends to doing community service
In 2015 the couples middle child, Zaiid, was killed in an auto acand standing up for people in need. She stays prayed up for peocident and the loss set them on a new path seeking answers.
The passing of our son had us exploring an element of our faith ple regardless of their beliefs. It doesnt matter what theyre following,
we didnt have many occasions to discuss [before], Sharif said. if they have a religion or not, just that theyre part of who I call mine.
We found commonalities in the way we saw things and we talked We pray no hardship or harm for our loved ones and that means my
through differences. Everything from wording to where Zaiid is now Muslim loved ones who cover. The Muslim community is part of who
physical presence versus spiritual presence to where we originate I pray for all the time.
Though Gabrielles concerned about anti-Muslim sentiment, she
from as human beings to where we come after we die. We share the
philosophy that we are souls with a body, not bodies that have souls. said, I have more concern over Sharifs well-being because hes a
black man in America versus being Muslim.
Our bodies are vessels we carry until we return to our creator.
After the human stampede that killed and injured thousands during
The couple doesnt allow any divergence to supersede their relationship. The harmony we want is because of our love our love 2015s Haj, she worried about his safety on the pilgrimage to Mecca,
being bigger than him having a different religion than my spiritual one of the Five Pillars of Islam,he made last summer. Not used to being apart that long, the separation reconfirmed their love.
way,Gabrielle said. Its love above all,
We missed each other like crazy when he was on his pilgrimThey are secure enough that they can broach awkward disagreeage, she said. I think both of us held onto that our love is goments without fear of rejection or resentment or rupture.
Because of the way we feel about each other, Sharif said,we can ing to be bringing him safely home and us back together again
go deep into conversations other people cant and we feel confident because of our destiny.
in exploring things. Theres intentionality and purpose. We work on
She feels as a couple theyre still all-in.
it as much as we do for us because weve vested this many years into
We have 21 years under our belts and it doesnt feel like weve
it, but beyond that working on us is working on Gods plan. That part come to a place of were too tired to work on this or we dont have
we know to be truth no doubt. We have to work through some stuff any sparks about each other.
we dont agree with or understand but we know the outcome will still
Meanwhile, they support interfaith exchanges. Omahan Beth Katz
be that this union stays. As much as we have some [conflicting]areas, used their perspective to frame dialogues and trainings at Project Interfaith. She said she admires their commitment as individuals and as
I believe were walking the same path.
Gabrielle doesnt mask feelings about certain tenets of Islam she a couple to engage on issues of identity, faith, diversity, culture and
opposes, but she delights in how she and Sharif find common ground. community that are complex and messy and many people prefer to
I view Islam as being a religion and I feel less inclined to follow avoid. But I think it is precisely because they each have a deep sense
any religion, she said.In his mosque I cant go with him and stand of faith rooted in different religions that avoidance has never been an
or sit and make Salat with him, and I dont agree with that. I want to option and they have embraced this reality rather than resent it.
They also didnt sugarcoat the experience, Katz said. They rebe led spiritually by my husband. I want to have that accountability
for a man to uphold his household with first priority to serving God vealed there were times of tension and unease. I think their willingand loving his wife and giving to his children every nurturing and ness to share publicly their journey on issues of religion and faith
speaks to the incredible respect they hold for each other as people of
provision he can.
Sharif embodies all these beautiful characteristics to me and when faith, as a couple and as a family. They live out their faiths and the
I can grab his hand and wepray,each of us understands, were common values it provides them through their commitment to their
worshiping, she said, clasping his hand in hers at their dining room family and the larger community.
Sharif said the interfaith dynamic he and Gabrielle share adds a
table.And I believe it doesnt need a religion that goes with that. Its
just us trying to put God at the center of our marriage and home and very strong richness to their lives. He agrees with Katz that most folks
bring him glory. Thats where I like to worship. Personally I have found arent ready for open, honest conversation along faith lines. As a
the church of Jesus has no walls. I will continue to have church with community I think were not as engaged in that interfaith conversation
people who believe in God, whether were at my dining table or on as we need to be. Whether interfaith or interracial, conversations are
ignored so that nobody feels uncomfortable or because youve desomebodys couch or in a coffeeshop.
She said nature, music and art resonate with her and Sharifs spirits. cided you know about a particular group of people or its just easier to
In their North Omaha home plants sprout everywhere, international have this hateful opinion versus actually listening and possibly liking
music plays, incense burns, art pieces from friends and travels pop on the other. Some people are not prepared to deal with that dissonance.
walls, tables, shelves. The couples curiosity is reflected in their many
He likes the Omaha Tri-Faith Initiatives attempt to bring Christian,
books and periodicals.
Jewish, Muslim faith centers together on one campus.
While no discernible faith artifact is displayed, the home exudes a
Its countering the narratives we see and hear that folks are not getwarm, prayer-like intimacy and calm. When their kids were small the
ting along based on their religion and the politics of that,
where in many parts of the world these three faiths are interacting in
couple deliberately integrated faith into their home.
We had the Bible, we had the Koran,Gabrielle said.We prayed a peaceful way. ,
as a family. We adopted and said mostly in English a Hindu prayer.
We did prayers I grew up with. We asked our kids to invent prayers.
Read more of Leo Adam Bigas work at leoadambiga.com.
cover story
NOVEMBER 4 & 6, 2016
First time you felt magic at the theater.

The arts exist to inspire and nourish our community. They allow us to tell stories, to
express ourselves, to feel. Without the arts, the place in which we live would have
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What was the first performance that moved you?

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| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
11
Americas Last Taboo

B Y DAV I D W I L L I A M S
hen President Obama noted that We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus
and non-believers in his 2009 inauguration
speech, the team at Fox News was locked and
loaded by the time the broadcast cut back to the studio.
Of all the many points they would address in Obamas speech,
Fox went almost immediately for red meat in asking straight faces all around if Americans should be offended that the president had acknowledged the simple fact that atheists even existed.
Guest commentator Mike Huckabee, a Christian minister who
had handily won the Iowa Caucuses before the GOP nomination
later went to Sen. John McCain in that 2008 election cycle, led
the charge.
I think its an honest assessment, he opined, that there are certainly many people in this country that arent necessarily believers
in anything but themselves.
Huh? As if the only choice is between theism and utter and complete narcissism?
Statistics about religion or lack thereof and how it is perceived bring both good and bad news for Americans who believe
in inclusivity and the most uniquely American tenet of our democracy that freedom of religion also means freedom from religion.
A 2015 Public Policy Polling poll, for example, revealed that
54 percent of the Republican primary electorate thought President
Obama is a Muslim, compared with just 14 percent who believed
he is Christian.
Another 2015 poll, this one from Gallup, found that 40 percent
of Americans would not vote for an atheist, topped only by the 50
percent who would not vote for a Socialist.
So it is no wonder that the stigma of atheism lingers even at a
time when their numbers are growing dramatically in an increasingly pluralistic, secular society.
12
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
cover story
Cut to Fox News Dana Parino in 2013 during a discussion of

church/state issues. The woman who had been Press Secretary in
President George W. Bushs White House yes, the same talking
head who had once admitted on air that she didnt know what the
Cuban Missile Crisis was whined that she was tired of atheists.
If these people really dont like it, she said they dont have
to live here.
The framers of the Constitution spun in their graves that day.
But for the silent minority that makes up the atheist community, polls and public commentary are not always such a nogginscratchin downer. A 2014 Pew Research Center Poll showed that
a full 23 percent of Americans list their religion as none, up dramatically from 16 percent in 2007.
Now, these numbers do not at all mean that the nones are
non-believers. The majority of Americans without a religious affiliation say they believe in God, the poll explained. As a group, however, the nones are far less religiously observant than Americans
who identify with a specific faith. And, as the nones have grown
in size, they also have become even less observant than they were
when the original Religious Landscape Study was first conducted a
mere seven years earlier.
If nothing else, the Pew poll showed that membership in traditional, brick-and-mortar religion is in decline in America.
While the United States is one of the most religious countries
in the world, over half of Canadians consider themselves irreligious or atheist. The same goes for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark, Spain even Ireland, once a bastion
of devout Catholicism.
Being conversant in faith is another thing. Most Americans
scored 50 percent or less on a quiz measuring knowledge of the
Bible, world religions and what the Constitution says about religion
in public life.
FROM LEFT; QUINCEY (STANDING), RAMSEY, EVA, AMY, KEANU AND JACK
What group scored highest in the 32-question quiz? Catholics?
Nope. Barely half of all Catholics knew that when they take communion, the bread and wine literally become the body and blood
of Christ. Barely half of Catholics knew their own faith well enough
to understand one of the religions core, bedrock beliefs; the Eucharist and its underlying foundation in Transubstantiation.
And as for other religious groups? Who came out on top the quiz?
Jews? They did very well, but try again. Oh, I know, evangelical Biblebelt Southerners, right? No, they came at the very bottom.
On average, Americans got 16 of the 32 questions correct. Atheists and agnostics got an average of 20.9 correct answers. Jews
(20.5) and Mormons (20.3). Protestants got 16 correct answers on
average, while Catholics got 14.7 questions right.
While the quiz results may come as a surprise to many, they certainly didnt tell Amy Ellefson anything she didnt already know.
Shes an atheist who volunteers in the box office at The Rose and
will be the props master for Opera Omahas upcoming production
of La Boheme. Her husband, Elmer, considers himself a seeker, a
doubter, but their five kids, Jack (19), Quincy (16), Keanu (13), Eva
(12) and Ramsey (6) are all non-believers.
Atheism is a non-belief in a God or gods, Amy said. Thats all
there is to it. There is nothing more to it than that. We believe the same
things as our neighbors, just not when it comes to religion. We believe
you only have this time on Earth, that there is no better place you go
to when you die. This is your better place the here and now.
Amy has a non-belief in God in the same way that her neighbors
have a non-belief in, say, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, or unicorns.
There is, she explains, simply no evidence to support a belief in anything beyond the natural.
We can only have the best existence, she continued, if we
value life on its own terms and treat people all people like
life and our time here is valuable. Being a good person is just
being a good person. Thats how it works. We live by the Golden
Rule, we just believe that the Golden Rule like the Bible and all
religion is manmade.
Theres always a beginning, Keanu interjected, and theres always an end.
From stardust to stardust, Jack added. Im not happy at the idea
Im going to die someday. Thats how life works. But I dont fear death
like my religious friends do.
Outwardly, the family is non-descript if perhaps over-achieving.
Jack, Quincy, Keanu and Eva have all taken the stage in the Omaha Community Playhouse production of A Christmas Carol. Jack,
Quincy and Keanu were selected to be depicted in the towering
Fertile Ground mural just west of TD Ameritrade Park. Quincy began his studies at Metro Community College at 14 and is on target
cover story
to attain his degree as a 17-year-old. They are scary-smart, wellspoken and at ease in talking about a subject that is too often taboo
in America.
The family harbors no ill will towards people of faith. Its just
not for them.
The good news for the young members of the family is that they
are growing up in an America where the stigma of atheism is fading. And they have an increasing array of choices for organizations
that offer fellowship in such groups as the Omaha Atheists, the
Omaha Metro Area Humanist Association, and Camp Quest, a
secular summer camp where Jack has been a counselor and serves
on the board.
The rise of the nones, that 23 percent of us who have no religion,
is sure to grow during their lifetimes. Attitudes will change. Biases
will soften. But will atheism follow same-sex marriage, legalization
of weed and other societal issues as the next great wall to crumble?
Theirs will surely be a more accepting world, right?
At least one family member thinks so.
Ive gotten a lot more flack for being queer, said Jack, who
was born biologically female but identifies as pansexual / gender
queer, than I have for being an atheist. ,
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
13
Bah in Omaha
BY KARA SCHWEISS
he earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.

Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one
branch. Deal ye one with another with the utmost love
and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship.
These sentiments may suggest a contemporary, progressive
and global perspective of an increasingly interconnected world,
but theyre actually extracts from the 19th-century writings of
Bahullh, a Persian who founded the Bah faith. In less than
two centuries Bah has become the second most widespread
religion on the planet after Christianity, with followers in nearly
every country.
Jay Banta, a former United Methodist minister, and his wife
Linda, who was also a practicing United Methodist, came to the
Bah faith six years ago. Looking back on the transition, the
couple say they found many of the principles of Bah to be appealing and in alignment with their own values: peace, justice,
elimination of prejudice, equality of men and women, a right
to education for all children, harmony of science and religion
not to mention character traits followers aspire to like kindness,
generosity, integrity, honesty, humility and service to others.
The teachings of the monotheistic faith include a belief in the
oneness of God and religion, the unity of humanity and the essential harmony of religion. Its estimated six to seven million followers worldwide, called Bahs, believe that humankind needs
to find a unifying vision of the future of society and of the nature
and purpose of life.
Linda Banta uses a Bahanalogy that as life inside the
womb prepares a person for life on Earth, life on Earth is meant
to prepare a person for the afterlife. The body develops in the
womb, the soul develops throughout life, she says.
And there is a very strong emphasis on unity: one God, one
religion, one humanity, Jay Banta adds. When you look at a
picture of Earth, you dont see any lines. All those things have
been created by man. And all of those lines are the causes of
most of the problems we have.
14
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
cover story
The Bantas say they found Bahs to be warm and welcoming, even when they were still outsiders in the exploration phase.
My initial feeling when we started in the Bah faith was, Why
are people not clamoring to be a part of this? Jay Banta says.
He discovered early on that Bahs arent encouraged to
proselytize or evangelize, but theyre certainly open to questions
and sharing information. He initially became interested in learning more about the faith after conversations with a former highschool classmate who had become a Bah decades before.
She invited the Bantas to a Bah-sponsored music workshop at
the Chautauqua Institute in New York, which was within a days
drive from their then-home in Vermont.
The first thing that we noticed was how inclusive the people
were who were there, Jay Banta says. The second thing that
became very apparent to us was just the diversity of the group.
I had been curious, so I had been asking questions. [The
Bah friend] gave us some information to look at, and on the
way home, I was looking through it, Linda Banta says. And
everything I read, it was like this was something I had always
believed. It just kept ringing true.
Although Bah communities have sprung up all over the
world, the faith is not recognized everywhere. Its followers are
even persecuted in some place including, ironically, its originating country of Iran, Jay Banta says. Bahs there have been
imprisoned and some have even been executed. Theyre seen
as heretics, as seditionists.
In the United States, Bah are able to practice freely, although their growing numbers are still relatively small and their
faith is not familiar to or understood by many of their neighbors.
No, its not a sect. Its not a cult, Linda Banta says. And
sometimes people even hear Bah and get it confused with
Bnai Brith [a Jewish organization].
The Bah center in Omaha, located at 5114 N. 60th Street
in a converted single-family residence, has a modest current
membership of about 100.
the city of Omaha Mayors Fair Housing Advisory Board

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Gary Ferguson: Nature Writer
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November 17, 2016

8am-12pm
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Topics Include: the new HUD Fair Housing
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Thursday Nov 10 at 7 PM
The natural world can guide us through cycles of immeasurable grief.
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BREAK OUT YOUR BATTERY-POWERED STRING LIGHTS, GLOVES,

AND BALACLAVAS! ITS THAT TIME OF YEAR TO DECORATE YOUR
BIKE AND RIDE IN DOWNTOWN AND MIDTOWN OMAHA TO
SEE HOLIDAY LIGHTS!
This is the 8th Annual Bike DeLights, a social ride at a casual/conversational
pace, enjoying holiday decorated homes and displaying decorated bicycles.
Prizes for the most festively decorated bikes/riders!
START/FINISH LOCATION: BANCROFT STREET
MARKET, 2702 SOUTH 10TH.
This is a nighttime ride on public streets. Nebraska law
requires you to have a white front light and a red rear
reflector when riding after dark. Visit omahabikes.org for
more details.
6:30PM-9:30PM
DECEMBER 17TH
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
15
It was pretty small in Vermont, too, Linda Banta says. As a

matter of fact, in the little town we lived in there was only one
other person who was Bah. With three of us, we didnt have
enough for a spiritual assembly, but we were registered as local
community of three.
Jay Banta estimates that around half of the membership of the
Omaha group is comprised of followers like himself and his wife,
who voluntarily came to the faith in adulthood. Others were raised
as Bah. Bah communities are democratically-led and structured
without clergy so everyone has the opportunity to serve in leadership
roles. Anyone can join the faith who has reached the age of 15.
You simply sign a declaration card. You just state on the card
that you believe in the tenets and vow to uphold them, Linda Banta
explains. I think you can even do it online. Theyve kept abreast
of the times.
Although the Bantas easily assimilated the tenets of their new
faith, they admit to one adjustment being a challenge.
We learned a whole new way of approaching the calendar. The
Bah year is made up of 19 months of 19 days. At the end of each
one of those periods of 19, we have a feast, Linda Banta says.
In American culture, feast evokes a bounty of food, but although
a Bah feast usually involves something to eat, its focus is really
more about devotions, prayers and even administrative activities for
the community. Naw-Rz is the first day of the Bah calendar year
and occurs on the vernal equinox, on or near March 21.
Ninetime times 19 equals 361. So when you get to the end of
the year, there are four or five days, depending on whether its
a leap year or not, that are intercalary days, Jay Banta says.
These are kind of looked like as days outside of time. This is when
we celebrate.
Bah supports critical thinking, Linda Banta says, which
naturally follows the Bantas journey of moving from one belief
system to another.
Youre encouraged to search out the truth yourself its called
individual investigation of the truthnot to take someones word
thats been handed down through the centuries, she explains.
Youre encouraged to think for yourself and come to your own
terms with it.
One thing Ive noticed is that most of the Bahs weve known
are very smart, educated people, Jay Banta says, adding that with
the original texts of Bahullh still intact and the writings themselves not even two centuries old, Bah teachings have remained
remarkably consistent. However, Bahs differentiate between what
material is pulled directly from the official writings and what is personal revelation. The Bahs are very careful about that, that a
person isnt putting in his or her own spinThey always preface
with this is my belief, this is how I understand.
The Bantas are serious about their Bah practices and ongoing
studies, but coming from a Christian upbringing they say they appreciate the fact that their new faith respects their former. Bahs
believe in the validity of the founders and prophets of the major
world religions, and believe in a principle that every major faith is a
link in a cohesive spiritual system progressively revealed to humanity.
Thus, the Bantas did not have to disavow everything they had held
dear as part of their previous religious beliefs.
We still attend occasional services at a Methodist church, Jay
Banta says. Over time, God has made himself known by different messengers like Moses, Abraham, Jesus. The belief is that the
Bahaullah is the latest of these messengers; the messengers come
when there is a need among the people.
We still believe in Christ, you know, because he was one of the
messengers, his wife adds.
But its not an exclusive thing. ,
16
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
cover story
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| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
17
Through May 6, 2017

PASSION AND OBSESSION
KANEKO Gallery, 1111 Jones St.

Opening, Saturday, Nov. 12
Gallery hours: Tues. Fri. 11 a.m.7 p.m. and Sat. 11 a.m.4 p.m.
thekaneko.org/passion.
Fall fundraising events for the coming year are not uncommon in the Metro arts scene, but KANEKOOpen Space For Your Mind has always raised the bar with its accompanying anchor exhibitions that
reinforce its commitment to multi-disciplinary creativity and design. KANEKOs inaugural fundraiser
in 2014 featured a three-part display of industrial and architectural designers Cedric Hartman, Olson
Kundig and Wallace Cunningham. Last year, patrons were entertained and enlightened with Design
in Motion, which explored the impact of design in automobiles, bicycles and industry. The third annual Soire, Passion and Obsession: From the Collection, promises to be no exception as its carefully
curated exhibition focuses on the relationship between artist and collector and how it benefits both as
well as the community at large. This fall exhibit will showcase works of scale, process, and variety from
local holdings including the Karen and Robert Duncan Collection, the Steve Wake Collection, the Kathy
and Marc LeBaron Collection, and the KANEKO Collection. Passion & Obsession will feature ceramic
sculpture, glass sculpture & installations, drawings, and paintings from several internationally renowned
artists including Viola Frey, Tony Hepburn, Leiko Ikemura, Jun Kaneko, Manuel Neri, Annabeth Rosen,
Therman Statom, Goro Suzuki, Akio Takamori, and Sunkoo Yuh. KANEKO patrons are already familiar
with the significant work of Kaneko and Statom and their international reputation among collectors of
all kinds, but the exhibit boasts an even broader global scope. For instance, Ikemura is a Japanese-Swiss
painter and sculptor, and Suzuki is a Japanese master ceramist who works in many different styles, all
rooted in Japanese traditions. Suzukis work demonstrates a masterful manipulation of the material and
an aesthetic of rustic simplicity. The late Viola Frey is well known for her large, colorfully glazed clay
sculptures of men and women, which expanded the traditional boundaries of ceramic sculpture. Frey
was one of a number of California artists to produce works with robust sculptural qualities associated
with Abstract Expressionist painting, Pop Art and what would come to be known as California Funk. Yuh
focuses on ceramic sculpture, slip casting, and ink drawing. His work is informed by his personal and
intimate experiences in everyday life, which he records as spontaneous yet intricate ink and brush works.
Selected two-dimensional compositions are then represented and re-contextualized into conceptual and
three-dimensional forms on small to monumental scale.
Michael J. Krainak
A WORK BY VIOLA FREY
18
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
picks
Wednesday, Nov. 9
MURDER BY DEATH
The Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St.
9 p.m., $15 ADV/$17 DOS
waitingroomlounge.com
Despite their ominous sounding
name and the fact they have drawn
several comparisons to Nick
Cave, Murder By Deaths music
can actually be quite energetic
at times. Though technically an
indie band, it seems a shame to
not get a little more descriptive
when classifying them. Is gothicWestern a thing? No matter! If
you want to see a show thats gonna
make you think and dance, this ones
for you.
Tara Spencer
Thursday, Nov. 10
MACE HATHAWAY
The Down Under Lounge, 3530 Leavenworth St.
9 p.m., Free
thedownunderomaha.com
LA BOHEME
Nov. 4 & 6
LA BOHEME
The Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St
2 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., $19-$99
ticketomaha.com
Opera Omaha is performing Puccinis timeless love story
La Boheme. For more than a century people have fallen in
love with the beauty and heartache this opera inspires.
Performed in Italian with English subtitles, audiences
will be transported to another world where chasing your
dreams and following your heart take center stage.
Ronny Sheridan
Friday, Nov. 4
SINGER-SONGWRITER ROUNDS
9 p.m., Free
This every-first-Friday event, curated by Edward Spencer, features small groups of performers. They each take
turns on stage singing, story-telling, and rocking out to
each others sound and energy. Next month will have a

whole new set of artists, the list for this month is as follows, Group 1: Sam Burt, Michelle Eva Becker, Lucy Flott
and N8 M Sic. Group 2: Adam Houghtelling, Edward
Spencer, Aly Peeler and Valerie Electricradbolt.
Mara Wilson
Friday, Nov. 4 and 18, Saturday, Nov. 5 and 19
UNO MENS HOCKEY
2425 S. 67th St.
7:07 p.m., $20-$27
omavs.com
The UNO Mavericks are back on the ice looking to
bounce back from a season cut short. The Mavs display some of the top talent in the country, including
star player Austin Ortega, who leads college hockey in
game-winning goals. The Mavs are on the road for most
of the month, but have two series at home. The first is
Nov. 4 and 5 where they begin conference play against
Colorado College. The second is Nov. 18 and 19, against
in-conference rival No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth.
Trent Ostrom
Saturday, Nov. 5
CONCIERGE MARKETING LOCAL BOOK EXPO
The Bookworm, 2501 S. 90th St., Suite 111
1 p.m.
bookwormomaha.com
6 p.m., $67.70
thedinnerdetective.com
For a captivating night out that includes a four-course
meal and a murder on the side, join the Dinner Detective
in Americas largest interactive murder mystery dinner
show. Packed full of laughter and clues you wont want to
miss this opportunity to put your sleuthing skills to the
test. There is a murderer in our midst and its your job to
figure out who it is.
Ronny Sheridan
Mara Wilson
Tuesday, November 8
SABRINA CARPENTER
The Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St.
7 p.m., $15.00
theslowdown.com
Actress and singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter will be
stopping by the Slowdown to promote her new album
EVOLution. Carpenter was first known as a Disney star
because of her role as the rebellious character Maya
on the spin-off of Disneys Boy Meets World, Girl Meets
World. Carpenter began releasing music as early as 2011
and wrote the theme song for Girl Meets World. She released her first album in 2015 which accounted for more
than 33 million streams on Spotify. Carpenter received
attention recently for her cover of the Disney classics A
Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes/So This is Love.
Trent Ostrom
The Bookworm is hosting a local book expo for authors

published by Concierge Marketing Book Publishing Services. Fifteen authors will be signing their books at this
event including, Preston Love Jr. (Economic Cataracts),
Marilyn Coffey (Thieves, Rascals & Sore Losers, Mail-Order Kid, and more) and Paula Wallace (The Way It Feels
Sometimes and Choose Your Days). So come out and support local writers and your local independent bookstore.
MACE HATHAWAY VIA FACEBOOK
Saturday, Nov. 13
BEER & BAGEL OFF-ROAD RUNNING SERIES
Quarry Oaks Golf Course, 16600 Quarry Oaks Dr.
9 a.m., $52-$105
beerandbagel.com
Ronny Sheridan
Saturday, Nov. 5,12 & 19
MURDER MYSTERY DINNER SHOW
DoubleTree, 1616 Dodge St.
Mace Hathaway is a storytelling Americana singer-songwriter who is making his way around Omaha stages.
Hathaway is not the type to just spit lyrics into the microphone, his songs have stories behind them. Add the
down-to-earth sound of his voice and guitar and you
have quite the talented man. If you have yet to check out
this folk artist, you are missing out not only on seeing a
wicked cool beard, but great genuine music.
SABRINA CARPENTER
picks
Run, eat and party at this years Beer & Bagel, where
runners will take on nature made rugged trails in a halfmile, or four-mile marathon. Running enthusiasts can
sign up for the Squatchy Challenge and run both races.
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
19
y continued from page 19

At the finish line enjoy free beer, bagels, chili and tailgate
games. There is still time to signup individually or with
friends, so head to their website, claim your t-shirt and
get ready for fun, Sasquatch will be waiting for you.
Ronny Sheridan
Thursday, Nov. 17
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO
FIND THEM
Movie Theaters
6:00 p.m., $5-$18.81
fandango.com
Gryffindorks and Slythernerds assemble for the event
you have been waiting for. Magic has come to America
and the love for your favorite wizarding world is back
in theaters. Sure, its a new story and your favorites will
not make an appearance, but does that not make your
inner child jump for joy? J.K. Rowling fans will not only
get to continue living in the fairytale world, but this time
like a rock show. Their most well-known hit is the Carol

of the Bells, which has millions of plays on YouTube.
Trent Ostrom
Thursday, Nov. 17
CHICAGO WITH EARTH, WIND & FIRE
CenturyLink Center,455 N. 10th St.
8 p.m, $42-$145
centurylinkcenteromaha.com
70s pop rock legends Chicago and R&B/Soul legends Earth,
Wind & Fire dominated the 70s with a combined four number ones and a combined total of twenty five top ten hits.
Of their 36 albums released, Chicago has had 25 go certified platinum. Billboard magazine named them the 13th
best artist in their list of top 100 artists of all time. They are
known for songs of heartbreak and big instrumentation.
Their biggest hits include Saturday in the Park and 25 or 6
to 4. Meanwhile, Earth, Wind & Fire feature smooth vocals
and a party atmosphere with such songs as September and
Lets Groove. This is the third time the two groups have put
on the Heart and Soul tour.
Trent Ostrom
Friday, Nov. 18
BLACK VIOLIN
Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16thSt.
7 p.m.
ticketomaha.com
EDDIE REDMAYNE PLAYS NEWT SCAMANDER

IN FANTASTIC BEASTS
instead of London having all the fun, the story is set in

New York, seventy years before the famous Harry Potter arrived at Hogwarts and read the books of the main
character in this thrilling new wizarding adventure, Fantastics Beasts and Where to Find Them. The movies opening day is technically Friday, Nov. 18, but you know how
those midnight premiers turned into 8 p.m. showings
and now 6 p.m. Accio a ticket (might be safer to purchase one online for all you muggles out there) or youll
be bloody sorry you missed out.
Mara Wilson
If you thought hip hop and classical music couldnt work

together, then youve never heard Black Violin. And if listening to their music for the first time kind of confuses
you, well, thats the point. Wil B and Kev Marcus want
their music to change preconceptions and challenge
stereotypes, which they are doing with great success. No
matter what kind of music you like, there is so much to
be enjoyed during one of their shows, you will be sad if
you miss out on this one. So, you know, dont.
Tara Spencer
Through Nov. 19
OPERATION CRUCIBLE
Brigit Saint Brigit Theatre, 333 S. 132nd St.
Friday, Nov. 4, 11, 18 and Saturday, Nov. 5, 12, 19
7:30 p.m., $20-$25
bsbtheatre.com
The time is 12 December 1940. On this particular date
the city of Sheffield underwent seven hours of continuous bombing, which has been coined, the Sheffield
Blitz. The play, Operation Crucible, written by Kieran
Thursday, Nov. 17
TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA
1 Arena Way, Council Bluffs, IA
7:30 p.m., $42-$66
trans-siberian.com
The sound of Christmas is back. The electrifying TransSiberian Orchestra is coming back to the Mid America
Center to perform their unique take on the holiday
season through an electrifying show. Trans-Siberian Orchestra is known for bringing a rock flavor to well-known
Christmas songs and standards. Along with their bold
rock flavor, they bring their shows to life with special effects and expansive light show, making their shows feel
THE PRETTY RECKLESS LEAD SINGER
20
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
picks
CHICAGO
Knowles, centers around four steel workers in Britains

Sheffield munitions factory. These men are shown at
work, rest and all the while trapped beneath the rubble
of the bombed-out building. This is not a history play
based solely on the terror of the Sheffield tragedy, but
rather a story of experiences. The men reveal their
stories as they create the steel mill atmosphere. They
express their fears in light of the awful situation they
were dropped into, but their joys arise as well when
their memories start to unfold in the darkness. From the
plays description, it is said to be a story of four ordinary men in extraordinary times.
Tuesday, Nov. 22
HENRY ROLLINS
The Rococo Theatre, 140 N. 13thSt.
8 p.m., $25-$39.50
rococotheatre.com
Where to begin? Rollins may be best known for being
the lead singer of Black Flag and, of course, The Rollins Band. But dont go to this show expecting to see
the angry one yelling Liar at the audience. No, this is
brazenly honest, stripped down, spoken-word Henry
Rollins. Hell talk about life and almost certainly about
Mara Wilson
Through Nov. 20
WHITE CHRISTMAS
Opening Tuesday, Nov. 15
The Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St.
Times Vary, $35-$100
ticketomaha.com
Irving Berlins White Christmas is a classic Christmas
Broadway show filled with amazing dance routines and
wonderful songs. This is a must-see for the holiday season. If you are still looking for Christmas presents, give
the gift of joy and goodwill that this show inspires
Ronny Sheridan
Monday, Nov. 21
THE PRETTY RECKLESS
Sokol Auditorium, 2234 S. 13th St.
7 p.m., $26.50
facebook.com/sokolauditoriumandunderground
Taylor Momsen may have started her singing career as
a childhood actress portraying Cindy Lou Who in Dr.
Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but she has
moved up and into a whole new category. Lead singer
for the rock band, The Pretty Reckless has left her audience to not even recognize the sweet little girl who sang,
Where Are You Christmas? Momsen has turned into
one straight-up bad-ass who knows how to put on an
entertaining and fun show. If you are frequent listener
of 89.7 The River, you have most likely heard this bands
songs. The audience at Sokol will jam out with Momsen
and her rocking band. Youre going to want to be one of
them who by the end of the evening will say, Cindy Who?
Mara Wilson
HENRY ROLLINS
politics. This is when hes at his best. Whether you agree

with his views or not, one thing you cant do is call him a
liar. One thing you should do, is give him a chance. Go.
You wont regret it.
Tara Spencer
Friday, Nov. 25
GOGOL BORDELLO
The Slowdwown, 729 N. 14thSt.
7 p.m.
theslowdown.com
If the term gypsy punk seems a little foreign to you, all
you have to do is listen to one Gogol Bordello song and it
will immediately make sense. The band has been pushing their gypsy punk agenda on the general public since
1999, and if youre anything like me, youll be eating it
up. While the driving force behind the music is Ukrainian-born Eugene Htz, the many rotating members of
Through Dec. 22
JAVE YOSHIMOTO
Fred Simon Gallery, 1004 Farnam St.
Opening Reception: Friday, Nov.
18, 5-7 p.m.
Gallery Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8-5
p.m.
artscouncil.nebraska.gov
MICHAEL BLACKSON
Gogol Bordello always add a little something different to

each live show.
Tara Spencer
Friday, Nov. 25
THE COSMIC SMITHS EXPERIENCE
9 p.m., Free
Another reoccurring event at The Down Under is centered around a band they define as, ethereal space rock.
The Cosmic Smiths have been around the Omaha music
scene for a short time, but have made their mark at local
venues. Collin Smith is the lead singer and songwriter
for the band and his voice is just plain smooth. Rock and
soul mixed with thoughtful lyrics make this band one to
tune into. Even if you cant place them in a genre, you
may get into their sound. The Cosmic Smiths Experience
features a different talented local and regional band. Visit the bars website to see what band is scheduled for this
event. For now, you can find The Cosmic Smiths newly
released album on Soundcloud or Bandcamp.
Mara Wilson
NANCY LEPOS THE WATERING HOLE
Friday, Nov. 25 and Saturday, Nov. 26

MICHAEL BLACKSON
Omaha Funny Bone, 17305 Davenport St.
7 p.m., $25
funnyboneomaha.com
The special engagement show at the Funny Bone for the
month is a comedian who has been called one of the
most original stand-up comics in the country, Michael
Blackson, The African King of Comedy. For more than
10 years Blackson has been causing his audience to leave
in tears of laughter. Is this not exactly what you want
from a comedian? The gut-wrenching, uncontrollable
laughter which makes you repeat the phrases for the rest
of the week. With all of the stress in our lives, we deserve
to take a break. So take your break at this special show
and leave the kids at home because this 21 & over show
will be enjoyed better without innocent ears. You may
recognize Blackson from the movie, Next Friday which
is when is career really took off. Let this hilarious man
entertain you for the evening.
Mara Wilson
Through Nov. 26
NANCY LEPO AND DAN KLIMA
Connect Gallery, 3901 Leavenworth St.
Opening Reception: Friday, Nov. 11
connectgallery.net
Nancy Lepos Pointalism artwork and Dan Klimas woodwork sculptures will make for an interesting mashup in
Connect Gallerys November exhibit, Play Well Together.
The two artists are incredibly talented in each of their
art forms. Pointillism is a technique of painting in which
small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form
an image. Lepos artwork for this exhibition is titled Pointalism, which appears to be a play on words with the technique of painting and Lepos artwork is definitely making
a point. Each piece has a title that not only tells a story by
itself, but perfectly describes the artwork. The titles make
you think about the picture in a different way than you may
have originally viewed it, but it molds everything together
perfectly. Kilmas wood sculptures are a perfect match for
Lepos pieces because they too, tell a story. With each carefully crafted curve and dip in the beautiful wood shows
something new for the viewer. As you look closer to each
piece you see something you may not have originally seen,
just like with Lepos artwork. Placing these two artists and
their
works
together
in one exhibit is
going to allow the audience to see a multitude of stories and open up their imaginations to a world where wood sculptures and paintings
play well together.
Mara Wilson
Wednesday, Nov. 30
JIM JAMES
The Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St.
8 p.m., $32
theslowdown.com
My Morning Jacket frontman and singer-songwriter Jim
James will bring his solo show to The Slowdown. My
Morning Jacket released their first album in 1999 and
over time became one of the most successful indie rock
bands. Theyve performed and headlined some of the
biggest music festivals in the country including Bonnaroo as late as 2015. In 2013, James released his first solo
album Regions of Light and Sound of God which was
received well by critics. He is currently touring to promote his new album Eternally Even, which will feature his
standout cover of the Grateful Deads Candyman. Twin
Limb will open.
Jave Yoshimoto is an Omahabased artist and educator of

multi-cultural background. He
has traveled and lived in various
parts of the country which helped
influence his artwork. Yoshimoto
experiences range from working as
an art therapist/mental health professional in Chicago to a painting instructor at Syracuse University and teaching artist in Seattle. Yoshimoto believes in
creating works that are socially conscious and
true to his authentic self. The image featured from
Yoshimotos exhibit is from his Disaster series. Each
painting in this series is based off the tragedy on March
11, 2011 when Japan was hit with a catastrophic 9.0 magnitude earthquake. Over 300,000 lives were changed forever after the earthquake triggered multiple fires, landslides, tsunami and the meltdown of Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Station. Yoshimoto stated on his website,
he painted this event in memory and honor of those
who lost their lives, livelihood and the courageous few
who are still attempting to clean up the nuclear power
plant to this day. He also made reproductions that were
produced for fundraising to assist the survivors in Japan.
A review from Dr. Elizabeth K. Mix of Butler University,
October, 2013 helps explain the prominent appearance
of Godzilla, which the artist uses as a personal symbol,
but is also relevant here because of the monsters birth
from the toxic circumstances of the Hiroshima bomb- a
condition replicated with Fukushima Daiichi. Yoshimoto states its not just the natural disaster that creates
the terror, its how each tragedy in the news cycle is
swept away by the wave of information that floods the
media creating a social amnesia that is as scary as
the disaster.
Mara Wilson
Trent Ostrom
NUMINOUS LETHOLOGICA BY JAVE YOSHIMOTO
picks
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
21
his studio. Adding the childrens images to the cans puts

faces to the product they were exploited to help create.
Melinda Kozel
Through Jan.
HOLIDAY LIGHTS
Opens Saturday, Nov. 26
Various Locations
reclaimed by the earth) and some gorgeous vistas in

perfect raking light. But he mostly maintains a prosaic
style, featuring landscapes that underscore the harsh
conditions of dry climates by capturing them in their
least verdant seasons.
Janet L. Farber
Once all the turkey, pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce

has been eaten, its time to break out the Christmas music. Get your holiday fix with these beautiful light displays to help celebrate the season. These three city hot
spots will be putting on a nightly light show. Enjoy the
magic of Downtown with The Holiday Lights Festival,
Midtown Crossing will be lit up with the Holiday Lights
Spectacular and Papillion will be transformed with the
Papillion Winter Wonderland.
Ronny Sheridan
DOWNTOWN OMAHA LIGHTS FESTIVAL
Through Dec. 23
OMAHA CHRISTMAS CLASSIC RETURNS
6915 Cass St.
Opening Friday, Nov. 18
Times Vary, $38
omahaplayhouse.com
The Omaha Community Playhouse begins its annual
tradition of putting on the Christmas classic, A Christmas Carol. Revisit the Charles Dickens story of Ebenezer Scrooge being visited by three ghosts on the night of
Christmas Eve, showing him his life, the decisions hes
made, and where his life is headed. This holiday favorite
is fun for the whole family. The production includes elegant costumes, colorful sets, and an environment that
sets the tone for the holiday season.
Trent Ostrom
from its stable in varying styles, mediums, and methods

including Chicagoan John Himmelfarb, whose work returns to Omaha after traveling across the country. Himmelfarb uses a colorful palette and energetic line to make
his iconic imagery part abstract, part figurative but always intriguing and entertaining for the viewer. Stephen
Dinsmores paintings come to life with more representational images that resonate as well as last with their
familiar landscape and domestic settings. Martha Horvays begins with collage to develop pattern and composition, which results in an optical pattern of an everyday
environment. Catherine Fergusons sculptures and installations have had a transcendent and transformative
role that has uplifted Omaha for many years. Michael
James brings to light a tension of order and disorder in
his quilted fabric constructions. Viewers of his work are
encouraged to envision the unpredictable through the
ordered patterns. Peter Hill explores the interaction of
color and shape in his hard-edge abstraction paintings
that also play with concepts and balance. Judith Burton
also explores form and color in her work, focusing on the
formal aspects of painting to indicate subtleties in the
natural world.
Melinda Kozel
Through Dec. 31
YOUTHFUL COMMODITIES
Petshop Gallery, 2725 N. 62nd St.
Opens Friday, Nov. 4
templeton-arts.com
YOUTHFUL COMMODITIES
Through Dec. 30
LEGACY
Modern Arts Midtown, 3615 Dodge St.
Opens Friday, Nov. 4
modernartsmidtown.com
With its next group exhibit Modern Arts Midtown offers
a two-month tribute to artists with long-standing careers
in Nebraska and the region. Legacy features seven artists
22
NOVEMBER 2016
Art has forever communicated struggle, political movements and humanity to an audience that may not otherwise see it. Artist TJ Templeton carries on this tradition
with his new solo exhibit at Petshop Gallery, Youthful
Commodities focusing on the all-too-recent practice of
child labor in Americas history. A combination of assemblages, encaustics and printmaking tell a story of the
children who built our country by sacrificing their childhoods and the activists who spent their lives working to
change that. Templeton utilizes public domain photographs from Lewis Hine in his pieces as a fitting tribute.
To further illustrate their labor, Templeton works in
mass production methods including making hundreds
of sardine cans for his Cannery Kids project himself in
| THE READER |
picks
Through Jan. 8
DIRT MERIDIAN
Joslyn Art Museum 2200 Dodge Street
joslyn.org
As part of its ongoing efforts to add contemporary readings to the mythology of the American West, Joslyn Art
Museum recently opened Dirt Meridian, an exhibition
of large-scale color photographs by sense-of-place documentarian Andrew Moore that continues into the first
of next year. An image-maker whose works unpack the
life of agricultural and urban landscapes through yearslong photographic studies, Moore has been focusing his
attention since 2005 on the 100th meridian, the global
longitudinal axis that also has the distinction of dividing
America quite neatly in half between east and west. It is
also known as the Frontier Strip, and is the zone that
roughly divides the lush prairies from the arid plains.
For this project, Moore headquartered himself in the
small panhandle community of Rushville, NE. While
the meridian also runs through the Dakotas, Kansas,
Oklahoma and Texas, the majority of images are from
this region and survey the terrain from the ground and
especially from the air, where the undulating sweep and
epic vastness of the landscape are more easily observed.
Moores project reveals aspects of agricultural and mining life away from population centers. To be sure, his images do include a bit of ruin porn (abandoned structures
DIRT MERIDIAN
THOMAS PRINZ
Through Jan. 15
THOMAS PRINZ
Garden of the Zodiac, 1042 Howard St.
Gallery Hours: Tues.-Sat. 12-8 p.m., Sun. 12-6 p.m.
facebook.com/TheGardenOfTheZodiac/
New paper constructions by Thomas Prinz are featured
in the latest show to open at the Garden of the Zodiac.
His art is best described as sophisticated collage, as he
creates compositions from layers of painted and printed
papers. Whether working with a bright palette or in
monochrome, Prinzs collages evince a strong sense of
structure, texture and motion. Decidedly part of his personal aesthetic, they also hint at his former profession
as an architect. Sorting through the visual evidence of
his constructions often feels like peeling back the layers
of time of paint and wallpaper built up on the wall of
an old building. An often strong horizontal orientation
adds to the sense of an urban-scape. An avid student
of art history, Prinz enjoys everything from the early
Renaissance painting to the light and place-inspired
abstractions of Richard Diebenkorn. This new work,
which includes large and small-scale collages and prints,
is accompanied by an interactive studio space for visitors to understand Prinzs working process and create
their own compositions using some of his raw materials.
Janet L. Farber
heartlandhealing
NewsYouCanUse
t has been months since Heartland Healing

published what once was a regular feature
a summary of news items that may have escaped readers attention. We aim to present
those with a holistic and natural train of thought. So
heres a dose of some news that you can use.
Trust the CDC? Think again.
We are brainwashed to believe that government

agencies like the USDA, the FDA and DOJ (google
the acronyms if you need to) are working for our safety and best interest. Toss that illusion aside. Though
its been 180 years since President Andrew Jackson
warned, The control over your dearest interests has
passed into the hands of corporations, most Americans still believe that agencies like the Centers for Disease Control have our best interest as a priority. But,
as Jackson cautioned, who controls the Controllers?
An article in the British Medical Journal (Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention: protecting the private
good? by Jeanne Lenzer,) points out that drug companies, (yep, corporations) give millions of dollars
directly to the CDC and fund studies that the CDC
undertakes. The sugar industry funds studies on sugar
pesticides, finding them harmless. Roche Pharmaceutical, makers of a flu medicine, donated millions and
the CDC ended up virtually endorsing their drug by
recommending it. Eight different corporations that
have vested interests in anti-hepatitis drugs donated
over $26 million to the CDC. The CDC subsequently
recommended expanded screening to find more hepatitis patients for the industry. Plus, the CDC failed
to reveal (read: lied) about the financial ties that the
researchers in many studies had to drug companies
and industries. This kind of greasing the wheel by
corporations takes place in virtually every government agency, bringing to mind another favorite presidential quote, this time from Ronnie Reagan. The
nine most terrifying words in the English language
are: Im from the government and Im here to help.
Naturally Speaking
BY MICHAEL BRAUNSTEIN
Hey, a Doctors Gotta Eat!
Back in the day when everything wasnt so politically correct, if you wanted to get to first base with
a girl, you took her to dinner and a movie. If you
skipped the dinner and went right to the popcorn
and Milk Duds, that wouldnt cut it. Well, turns out
your doctor may well be just as influenced as Fonzies
Happy Days date. A recent paper in the Journal of
the American Medical Association found that when
a drug company buys even one modest lunch for a
doc, said physician is more likely to prescribe that
companys name-brand cholesterol drug. Study after study has shown that pharmaceutical companies
have tremendous influence over doctors (and hospitals) medical decisions due to financial ties, gifts and
perks. Is your doctor getting money from drug companies or manufacturers of medical devices? Well,
you can search for yourself at projects.propublica.
org/docdollars/. Theres an Omaha orthopedic surgeon listed as purportedly receiving $573K. Thats
half a mil, folks. Whew! That gets a drug company
way beyond first base.
This is typically a situation where a doc gets royalties for every particular brand of knee or hip replacement device they choose to use on their patient.
Gut Check.
Emphasizing how much attention has been directed lately toward the human internal microbiome
(thats the ginormous civilization of fungi, bacteria,
parasites, viruses and other living beings that inhabit
the human digestive tract), the Department of Energys Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley
Lab) will participate in a new National Microbiome
Initiative launched today by the federal Office of Science and Technology Policy. This study will investigate
the vital impact that the microbiome has on human
health, immune system especially. Of course, anyone
who knows a whit about Traditional Chinese medicine or ayurveda has been aware of that impact al-
ready. But, carry on Western science. Youll get there

eventually. Maybe.
Acid Test.
Are you taking that purple pill for antacid relief?

You may want to rethink that decision. Acid in our
stomach is there for a reason, uh, like digesting food.
And it also helps get rid of cellular waste and more. If
youre getting acid reflux or heartburn and you take
Nexium and the like, you should know it is linked to
advanced arterial and heart disease. There are far
better ways to avoid heartburn, starting with better
eating habits. Of course, the maker of Nexium poohpoohed the study.
Dumb, Dirty Hand Dryers.
You know, the first time I walked into the Whole

Foods bathroom after they had installed those really
stupid hurricane-force hand dryers, I thought it was a
bad, really bad, idea. First of all, Im pretty sure they
are loud enough to breech OSHA safe noise limits.
But after I watched someone use one, I looked down
inside and saw small pools of water in the device.
I reasoned that when someone washes their hands
and sticks them into the jet stream of the dryer, nebulized water is projected into the surrounding air. That
means you and I get to breathe whatever bacteria
and dermal detritus our bathroom mate has left on
his hands. I didnt need some kind of study to tell me
what common sense already provided. But, of course,
someone had to get some grant money to study it and
lo, turns out those dryers spread 60 times more viruses than regular dryers and 1,300 times more viruses
than paper towels, according to the study, published
in the Journal of Applied Microbiology.
Well, thats all the news you can use for now.
Be well. ,
HEARTLAND HEALING is
a metaphysically-based polemic
describing alternatives to conventional methods of healing
the body, mind and planet by
MICHAEL BRAUNSTEIN.
It is provided as information and
entertainment, certainly not medical advice. Important to remember and pass on to others: for a
weekly dose of Heartland Healing,
visit HeartlandHealing.com.
.
heartland healing
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
23
TammyYarmon
greenscene
24
NOVEMBER 2016
would assume the reason I won is

that we at Omaha Public Schools
are big proponents of purchasing
and using local products on our
menus. We are really active in promoting
what Nebraska has to offer, said Tammy
Yarmon, Director of Nutrition Services for
OPS, upon finding out she had been nominated for and then chosen to be Food Day
Champion this year.
To win the award, Yarmon first had to be
nominated for her exceptional work with
food. Food Day, presented by the Omaha
Farmers Market and the Gretchen Swanson
Center for Nutrition, centers on a
vision of food that is healthy, affordable and produced with care
for the environment, farm animals
and the people who grow, harvest
and serve it. Yarmon has several
food initiatives in place throughout
the OPS school system. One major
program she recently instituted is
called Nebraska Thursdays.
We have always purchased and
used local produce, but this year
we decided to take the first Thursday of every month to promote local food and let our parents and
families know that, as much as we
can, we are using Nebraska items, explained
Yarmon. For example, we use Rotellas bakery
for bread, which is baked here in Omaha. The
potatoes and sweet corn that have been used
on past menus were all from local producers.
She said they use Smart Chicken from Tecumseh, which is antibiotic-free chicken.
Yarmon and her staff send posters to the
schools and email principals in advance of
Nebraska Thursdays.
The program has caught the eye of the Department of Education. Yarmon said she met
with them recently and they are going to work
with the Center for Rural Affairs to make Nebraska Thursdays a statewide program. Yarmon is proud of this accomplishment.
Through her role at OPS, Yarmon has also
worked with Hiland Dairy to clean up their label.
They did this by getting rid of artificial colorings and flavorings. That just happened in
October and not only affects Omaha Public
Food Day Champion

BY CHERIL LEE
Schools, but also impacts all their customers

throughout the state who receive their strawberry and chocolate milk, she said.
As Director of Nutrition Services, Yarmon
oversees the whole program for all schools
in the district, including breakfasts, lunches,
snacks, suppers and the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program (FFVP). The FFVP is a USDA
grant program. Schools who qualify can apply
to receive a certain number of dollars. Then
they create a plan to serve fruit or vegetables
outside of their regular meal programs to all
their students twice a week.
We started this years ago to see if would
Consequently, companies like Jennie-O and

Tyson now raise chickens and turkeys with the certified responsible use of antibiotics.
Additionally, Yarmon said OPS belongs to
the Midwest Regional Learning Lab, a group of
Midwest districts that work together on things
like Food Day.
This year, because the Food Day national
organization didnt have the funding to continue the program in the schools, a group of
Midwest school districts, from Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Chicago and Detroit, all got together and did a Midwest Menu Day, where
we all served food on the same day. This
years menu was chicken drums,
potatoes and some kind of apple,
she explained.
Yarmon said the school district
has been into local purchasing for
probably six or seven years and
works hard to bring the Farm to
School Movement to the forefront.
Recent activities have included
Apple Crunch Day, which occurred
in some of the schools. At a specific
time on a particular day, students
all crunched into apples at the
same time.
She said activities like that bring
the movement to the forefront.
When we have local products, we always try
to tell our families where our products are coming from. During local Food Day, we have it on
our website. We designate local products with
a farmer icon on our menu. And at the beginning of the school year, we emphasize products
we are using and where they are coming from,
said Yarmon.
And there are even more plans for the
schools menus coming up. Yarmon said they
plan to celebrate Nebraskas 150th birthday
next March with a special meal.
She knows it will be difficult to find and use
local produce in the winter, but said she will
just do the best she can. Yarmon said they will
still have local bread, tortillas and chicken
they can use.
Of her job, Yarmon said I love what I do
for kids. Thats the reason we are all here is
our kids. I love the staff in the schools doing
I FELT HONORED
THAT I WAS THE ONE
CHOSEN TO BE FOOD
DAY CHAMPION THIS
YEAR. I CERTAINLY
DIDNT EXPECT IT.
| THE READER |
green scene
make a difference to our children. As part of

the program, each school is required to offer
an educational component. It could be talking
to students through the PA system about the
importance or benefits of apples or providing
watermelons to field and track athletes and
talking to them about the importance of hydration, said Yarmon.
She said a number of schools participate in
that program.
Yarmon said she enjoys being able to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to kids through
the program. Many are fruits and vegetables
they would never normally see. Plus, the
snack gives them a little something extra in
the afternoon to help boost their energy and
get them through the rest of their day. OPS is
also part of School Food Focus, a national organization that works by using a collaboration of
school districts to make changes with manufacturers through their collective purchasing power.
NOVEMBER SHOWS
NOV 3-6
DR. GONZO
Dr. Gonzos performances combine stand-up comedy & classic rock

parodies. When hes not touring with top musical acts, he is headlining major comedy clubs across America.
NOV 10-13 VIC HENLEY
Using his good Southern good ol boy persona to first charm his
audience, Vic Henley wins them over entirely with his well-crafted
humor. His improvisational ability, quick wit, and high energy have
earned him the reputation as one of the countrys fastest rising comedians. His appearance has been described as a cross between
Opie Taylor and Don Rickles, or a potent concoction of innocence
and devilment.
NOV 17-20 JOHN MORGAN
Got a question? Problem? Need advice? The Ragin Cajun is here

to help! Get your head out of the dark and help yourself with John
Morgans Comedy Therapy. WAY cheaper than a shrink and definitely more affordable than an attorney! Johns confident demeanor
and honest approach to life is refreshingly original. John dares to
talk boldly about real issues. Whether he is speaking about children
or relationships, his comedy comes from the heart.
NOV 25-26 MICHAEL BLACKSON

DR. AMY YAROCH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE GRETCHEN SWANSON CENTER
FOR NUTRITION (LEFT), WITH OMAHA FOOD DAY CHAMPION TAMMY YARMON
the work and our office staff who provide
support for our schools.
She said she enjoys using local produce
and putting money back into the economy
and on a much larger scale, she is happiest
buying products made in the USA.
There are certain times of the year I
know I have to buy outside of the state but
when I can, as much as possible, I use local
food, she said.
Yarmon enjoys working with different
community organizations like the Gretchen
Swanson Center for Nutrition and Hunger
Free Heartland. She said it is an honor to
work with people who are passionate about
kids and who want to do the right thing.
According to Yarmon, winning the honor felt great. She said it was nice to know
that she was part of this group of people
all nominated by others.
I dont feel I was better than anyone

else. Everyone who was in that group
is an advocate and passionate about
what they do. I felt honored that I was
the one chosen to be Food Day Champion this year. I certainly didnt expect
it, she said.
Yarmon is a big advocate for keeping
funding in Nebraska. She would rather the
money they spend on produce and other
food go to local businesses and people.
We try to keep the money rolling in our
state. Plus, when you take a look at produce, it doesnt have to travel as far. Its important we spend the money here instead
of someplace else.
We have people here at OPS who are
passionate about what they do. And what
we here at OPS can do to help people with
our passion is just outstanding, she said. ,
SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT
He has been called one of the most original stand-up comics in the
country, and his performances leave audiences laughing in tears.
Michael Blackson, aka, The African King of Comedy, has been entertaining audiences all across the country and around the globe
for more than a decade. Inspired by the stand-up comedy of Eddie
Murphy, Blackson began to develop his comedic talent in 1992 in
the unkind comedy clubs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
DEC 1-4
JON REEP
Jon Reep is an American stand-up comedian and actor, known as

the That thing got a Hemi? guy in Dodge commercials, and more
recently as the winner of the fifth season of Last Comic Standing on NBC. In 1995, Reep was at a Carolina Panthers football game,
when the Panthers mascot, Sir Purr, called him to the
field. Reep started dancing in the endzone until the police arrested him.
COMING UP:
DEC 8-11 GREG WARREN
DEC 15-18 PAUL MECURIO
green scene
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
25
craftinganethos
feature
26
NOVEMBER 2016
hris Hughes had earned a bachelors degree in

anthropology and sociology, had been a professional musician with Saddle Creek Records
bands Beep Beep and Gabardine, and had meandered through various jobs post-college before eventually
landing in the technology field.
I spent a lot of years working mundane jobs, Hughes said.
Ive had a lot of weird jobs that were pretty ill-fitting.A selfdescribed jack-of-all-trades, hes also been called quirky,
eccentric and even frenetic.
Its interesting; in this world you do have the autonomy to
choose your own life. Most people dont think they do, but
they do, he said. But making those decisions can be so
difficult because most of us dont know what we want to be
when we grow up.
The Recession of 2008 forced his hand. I had been in tech
and my job was eliminated, he explained. The job loss created an opportunity to reflect on his experiences thus far and
determine the future course of his career. As a married man
with children, unemployment was not an option.
Hughes made lists of his interests, talents and viable career
options, and came to a clear conclusion: I wanted to run
my own company and I wanted to make a physical product.
In early 2010, Hughes launched Artifact Bag Co., building
the business nights and weekends while working a placeholder job during the day. By the end of the year, Artifact
was a full-time endeavor.
Im good at a lot of different things that are seemingly
unrelated but the real thing was taking one singular focus
and not deviating, and doing that one thing the best I can,
Hughes said. That has been the biggest challenge so far in
my life and the one thing Im most proud of.
Artifact features handmade bags, totes and rucksacks;
heavy-duty aprons; and pouches and wallets in a variety of
materials including leather, canvas, twill, denim and awning
cloth. Hughes uses domestically sourced materials whenever
possible and incorporates vintage hardware and new old
stock fabric into some of his products.
I really like tote bags because theyre utilitarian, theyre
one-size and they easily fit in a shipping box, Hughes said.
I really love apparel and outerwear, but the complexities of
grading patterns and trying to find that product market fit
with something that was more fashion-based just seemed too
daunting to me for my first thing to do.
High merchandise quality has been paramount from day
one, Hughes said.
I dont just willy-nilly sketch something and throw it out on
the market in the afternoon. We make prototypes, we make
Old world meets new at Artifact Bag

BY KARA SCHWEISS
samples, we field-test, he said. Im very, very interested in

the ergonomics of my products, to make sure they do exactly
what they need to do. I want people to use the product and
enjoy it for a long time.
Artifact started as a one-man business as Hughes tracked
down and taught himself how to use and maintain and repair industrial sewing equipment. His tech background also
came in handy for setting up an e-commerce platform and in
transforming design concepts into three-dimensional products.
I really love to learn things, so jumping into that it was
a deeper pool than I realized, but it was okay, he said. I
was able to tread water.
Growth was gradual but strategic, Hughes said.
Its just been a learning process of creating this hybrid of
a business model that takes basically 18th- and 19th-century,
small-batch production and then melds it with 21st-century
technology, he said. I made the first bags. For the first
year I was in the basement of my home cranking this stuff
out.There was no choice.If Artifact was going to exist it
would have to be done on my own sweat equity. I knew it
had to be done incrementally and it had to be done with a
real long-game approach.
Six years into Artifact, Hughes employs six skilled workers
in a shop near Midtown and emphasizes that hes always
looking for people with sewing experience. Its very much
an apprentice model. Even if youre a wicked seamstress
youre still going to have that little bit of acclimation to sewing on industrial equipment, he says.
He still personally designs all Artifact productsin timeless
and military-inspired styles that reflect his long-held love for
antiquing, estate sales and vintage wear.
I try to design the products to be unisex. The new rucksack
I just released, I feel it fits a male and female silhouette really well. My field bag kind of like my scaled-down little
messenger bag when its hip-slung it looks good on both
women and men, he said. Not every mans going to carry
some of my tote bags because they could look a little pursey,
but that just depends on the user.
His client demographic extends well beyond young metrosexuals, Hughes says.
I actually appeal to kind of a middle-aged demographic.
Surprisingly, when I got back from my most recent trade show
in New York, I got a lot of feedback from men saying they
wanted me to make an all-leather satchel, he said. The
size they described, it sounded like a purse to me. But these
were sartorial men, so it wasnt just somebody whos off the
grid and doesnt realize what they want. So I will probably
be reintroducing that. I made that product a couple of years
| THE READER |
feature
CHRIS HUGHES OF ARTIFACT BAG CO.
feature
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
27
and it sold predominantly to women, but Im going to be

revisiting that for 2017.
Through artifactbags.com, Hughes sells to buyers all
over the country and his overseas business is increasing,
particularly in Australia and Japan. Artifact products can
be found through local retailers including Hutch in Midtown, Denim Saloon in Dundee, Lauritzen Gardens gift
shop, the Durham Museum gift shop, and Mulhalls. Yes,
the nursery and landscaping business. Theyre doing
kind of an artisanal thing, Hughes explained.
Hes even found a unique market through Paper Kite in
Countryside Village.
My totes really work well for people who need a diaper
bag but they dont want it to look like a diaper bag, he
said. I definitely scratch an itch in that category.
Hughes is hoping to place his products with more retailers in the western environsof the city, and thats just one of
the options for the future growth of Artifact.
Ive still got a lot of bags to make; Im not tired of doing that, he said. But there are other verticals Im interested in and am trying to work on. Theyre kind of hinged
on delegation; I cant do these other things in-house. My
business plan is a little bit like three-dimensional chess.
Artifact has already expanded into, well, artifacts. The
website now includes a carefully curated selection of vintage apparel, jewelry and accessories.
I want to create a product offering that shows people
what I as a designer am inspired by, Hughes explained.
Thats something that runs concurrent not only through
my design aesthetic, but just my ethos as an entrepreneur.
Hughes admits that hed probably make a lot more
money if Id stayed in tech, but he also admits that Artifact not only makes the most of his broad skill set, but also
has an undeniable cool factor.
I was a professional musician on Saddle Creek Records
and toured all over the world. When youre younger and
you do that, and then that ship kind of sails, you have
to be real and say, Okay, whats my next chapter? Its
kind of hard finding something to do thats as cool as
that, he said. But I think I found it now. I know I have. If
someone asked me, Chris, do you want to be in a touring rock band or do Artifact? Id do Artifact any day of
the week. ,
28
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
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| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
29
Preservation
In Tubach + Tubach exhibit, father and daughter display

an individual stewardship for culture and environment
B Y DAV I D T H O M P S O N
art
hough significantly different in style, subject and

You can feel the forces of composition, for instance, in Altone, artists Allan and Lisa Tubach, father and lans Shadows on Stone, in which a cascade of commercial
daughter, share a similar family trait and theme: ephemera (a gas-station logo, a bakery sign, a smiling Evean interest in capturing aspects of the world that, like figure with a few apples to sell) spills from the upper-right
for different reasons, are on the verge of disappearance. corner of the painting to the lower left.
Hence, a fitting title for Gallery 1516s current exhibition,
This bisects the image as a whole into two triangles, one a
Tubach + Tubach: Preservation, which continues through piece of classical architecture, a remnant of past order, and
Nov. 27.
the other a surprising display of minimalist painterliness, with
Yet, while Lisa and Allan have been exploring issues of three slices of color (earth-tone, beige, and white) stacked one
preservation in their work for years, their personal interests on top of one another.
and stories have taken them into different directions: enviPerhaps because her subject matter is organic, most of
ronmental sustainability for her and cultural heritage for him. Lisas paintings seem to emanate outward from a throbbing
However, knowing of their separate stewardship alone does heart, a collection of shapes and colors that is more comnot do justice to their individual take on vivid, dramatic and pacted than the image as a whole.
detailed imagery.
This is most clear in Humming/Sudden, in which this
Lisa is an Omaha-born, Virginia-based artist who has been throbbing heart (shaped vaguely like the head of a lamb) is
showing locally (primarily through the Anderson OBrien Gal- emphasized by its juxtaposition with a more sparsely populery) and around the country since the early 1990s.
lated area of canvas and crisscrossed by drips of paint.
She is following in the footsteps of her father, Allan, who
Allans paintings draw on Italian Futurisms love affair with
has been active since the 1970s. Many of his works have urbanism and motion. Indeed, his paintings are most persuafound their way into institutional and corporate collections, sive when they draw on Futurisms angularity to direct the ennot to mention the Nebraska governors mansion.
ergy of his paintings to a point of sharp convergence where
The differences between these two painters are immediate. modernity, commercialism, and perception come together.
Allans paintings consist almost entirely of fractured portrayals
In Full Circle, for instance, the portico of Omahas J.P. Cook
of a man-made world: buildings, windows, signage, sculpture. building and one of the glass faces of the Holland Center slice
Lisas paintings, on the other hand, derive much of their through the space of the painting and collide at a point where
imagery from nature and from the sea in particular. Her paint- a neon Open sign and reverberations of light suggest that
ings are crowded with plants, animals, and the movements of we have stumbled upon of those moments when life in the city
water and air.
offers a fusion of abstract shapes or surreal life forms.
There is also a difference in palette that is pronounced, parIn Cloud Columns from 1991, two slices of sky sweep
ticularly when these paintings face each other across Gallery down from above, met by a stretch of highway markings that
1516s generous space. Allans colors are often pale, in part at first converge but then curve and swoop in a manner that
because so much of the cityscape they portray is grey and in throws the view back into the space of the painting.
part because the colors are frequently viewed through one
Given that Allan is driven by an interest in dynamism and
another and thus must exhibit some transparency as they con- change, it is odd that there are very few signs in his painting
verge in a jumble of perceptions.
of actual decay of the kind that can seem depressing: rusty
Whether she is working in oil, acrylic, or gouache, Lisas metal, peeling paint, litter, crumbling infrastructure, etc. His
colors tend to be more dark and intense, from the wafting scenes are attractive and carnivalesque, swirling around the
greens and blues of Reverie (I Am You, You Are Me) to the view rather than leaving him or her feeling alien or displaced.
purple and red conflagration that flies up the middle of the
There are no humans in Lisa Tubachs work, and aside from
2010 work For the Smallest Among Us.
a few fish there arent any animals either. What there is is enWhat brings these painters together is the quest shared ergy in the form of interlocking cellular shapes in bold colors
with perhaps all painters to decide how to organize the
that are usually meant to represent coral reefs and other natuswirl of objects and sensations that each seeks to capture. ral forms. In a recent, large (60 x 48) oil painting entitled
Both are faced with the question of how to compose their im- While We Are Sleeping, the top half of the painting is taken
ages, even when the goal is to portray a moment that exists up by the waters surface, which in its undulations catches
beyond representation.
only hints of the tempest of orange and red going on below.
30
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
art
LISA TUBACHS MOUND (LOBED STAR)
art
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
31
ALAN TUBACHS ODE TO THE CORNER

Another recent work, Caesura (Too Hot Bivalve) provides

a direct suggestion of how climate change is throwing ocean
environments out of balance, to the point of destroying some
of those environments forever.
Given this reality and the artists espoused interest in this
reality, it is striking that Lisas painting capture more vitality
than they do destruction. The coral reefs in her paintings are
alive with color, not bleached, perhaps underscoring the artists latent optimism.
It also bears mention that, because Lisas ocean paintings
are so absorbing on so large a scale (the largest here is over
seven feet tall), one might not fully register the smaller, more
delicate and usually non-aquatic works that are the backbone
of her half of this show.
Most of these smaller (usually 32 x 40) works are done in
gouache rather than oil or acrylic. Gouache is most substantial and more opaque than watercolor, but nonetheless similar
to watercolor in its fragility and absorptive relationship to the
canvas or paper surface.
Nowhere in this show is this more clear than in the 2012
work A Day of Perfect Light, a luminous work capturing a
gathering of grassesin brown, black, yellow, and green
bending toward mortality and yet staking a claim for beauty in
the most unexpected places.
Preservation may be what drives this exhibition for both Tubachs each in their own manner, but at no time does the viewer
feel that this is work of desperation or hopelessness.
Perhaps its because father and daughter preserve something more than a reasonable expectation of change for the
better for both the environment and our cultural heritage. They
confirm the vital contribution artists make on behalf of both. ,
ALLAN TUBACHS SHADOWS ON STONE
32
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
art
Tubach + Tubach: Preservation will be on view at Gallery

1516, located at 1516 Leavenworth in Omaha, until November 27, 2016.
the magical
holiday classic
NOVEMBER 20
IOWA WESTERN
ARTS CENTER
DECEMBER 3 & 4
ORPHEUM
balletnebraska.org
Premier Benefactor:
Season Sponsor:
Additional Support:
Fred and Eve Simon

Charitable Foundation
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
33
stage
shakespeareshakesthestage
34
NOVEMBER 2016
h for a muse of fire that

would ascend the brightest heaven of invention Those thrilling
words in the prologue to Henry V presage
the magnificent ones to follow as Shakespeare unfolds a story of Englands glorious
days when that king conquered France. Aye.
Invention. Because more fire is needed to
convey what happened thereafter. Henry
VI. The meek young king. His story swirls
with horrid struggles for power, with treachery, with confused alarums and excursions.
Indeed invention is needed to convey such
complexities as nobles cross swords across
the vasty fields (Henry V again) of France
and the sceptered isle of England. To do so,
Shakespeare parsed his pageant into three
parts. Each one continues the narrative. So
much is in there, in fact, that a daunting task
awaits whatever theatre magicians aim to do
when taking on the complete task.
Now two universities and a professional theatre company unite to confront the challenge.
The title: A War of Roses.A two-part invention
| THE READER |
stage
Burning Questions About War

BY GORDON SPENCER
Why now? Its timely; look at the world situconceived by Nebraska Shakespeares artistic director Vincent Carlson-Brown along with ation, Glasser explained. This parallels what
UNO and Creightontheatre directors profes- our country and many others have been ensors D. Scott Glasser and Amy Lane. Part 1, gaged with. Wars that seem to have no end.
Foreign Flames,appears at UNO and Part 2, A
It resonates today, especially in American
Fire Withinat Creighton.
politics Lane added. England is a house diSixty-eight characters appear on two stages, vided. The story is about a country turning on
portrayed by 41 actors, the majority of them itself. And, think of Jack Cade. Cade surfaces
students. Most have multiple roles, with a third in Part 2. A real-life figure, here seen as a charof each ensemble being professional actors, ismatic, bitterly comic oaf, he wins public admialumni of the universities. Nearly every char- ration and, without prior experience governing,
acter from Part 1 appearing in Part 2 is played leads a rebellion against the established order.
No doubt the collaborators bore in mind
by a different actor. This massive undertaking
has been two years in the making. Glasser, thefamed words by George Santayana:
Carlson-Brown and Lane had long wanted to Those who cannot remember the past are concome together in a project that would use all demned to repeat it. Only the dead have seen
of their resources combined in something that the end of war.
would have been difficult, nay impossible, to
In short, the French want their country back
attempt alone. Actually producing all of Henry after Henry V dies. Inspired by a young woman,
VI has been an enduring dream of Glassers. Joan La Pucelle (aka Joan of Arc), they exploit
He was motivated due to this infrequently pro- the confused, unwary and fragmenting alliduced collection of plays appearing rarely, not ances among the occupying English, taking adonly because of the challenge of the immensity, vantage of new English weaknessunderscored
but also because most companies want to stick by the frail new king. The English alliances and
with Shakespeares most famed works.
counter-alliances and the constant shifting of
power cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war. guage. He welcomed that. In fact, hes been
Two families, identified by white and red roses, working on this idea for his UNO Theatre Arts
are the main contenders: Lancaster and York. masters degree.
He chose to rearrange the three original
The Yorks eventually take ascendency, with
Richard III on the throne. The time: 70 years of Shakespeare plays into two, with his own titles,
rather than simply refer directly to the three
the 100 Years War.
The details of what happens are indeed parts of Henry VI. Two themes dominate, the
complicated. Fear not. Program notes ampli- wars in France and then among the English
fy, including family trees. Plus Carlson-Brown themselves. I wanted to tie them together, to
has created a new character, Time, the nar- make sure that we were echoing the cycle of
rator who tells what happens between here conflicts. Consequently, hes transposed parts
and there.
of all three originals to try to create a clearThe costumes differ in how contemporary or er narrative and to focus the reconstruction
period-like they are in the productions.We around major characters that are central to the
did lots of research about the period, Glasser most significant plot developments. Some reexplained, and decided to move away from called through memory or nightmare. He has
that towards a theatrical suggestion, a silhou- retained the original historical time-line.
Moreover, Carlson-Brown has included a
ette, outlines in black and white using contemporary materials.Lane chose to represent the few speeches from Henry V the famed proclothing of 16th Century England. We feel logue mentioned above, and text from Richard
that our play is very much about that specific III, along with a fragment from Elizabethan
time and place, dealing with real people in Christopher Marlowes Doctor Faustus.
real history. It allows the references to that hisGlasser also pointed out that this undertory to make sense.
taking serves as a commemoration of the
This does not suggest any conflict of opinion 400th anniversary of Shakespeares death.
between the two directors about costuming, but A celebration would be a better way to derather that the directors made decisions on how fine it, Glasser said. Lane further called
best to interpret their own productions, includ- it a celebration of their universities. And
ing basing them on the separate resources on Carlson-Brown found cause to celebrate his
hand. As for casting, students from UNO and companys 30th anniversary.
Creighton mingle and perform together across
Glasser evidently always felt that the best
the borders of time, space and campuses.
way to make Shakespeares ungainly maOne major agreed-on decision from the terial play dramatically was to come up with
start was to use cross-gender casting. In For- an adaptation such as this. Already knoweign Flames ten women take on mens role. For ing Carlson-Brown quite well, admiring his
A Fire Within 15 do so. The principal reason insights and talent, the connection seemed
was practical. Creighton has far more female serendipitous. With Lanes input from the start,
Theatre students than it has men. But there was they became a team. Re-working the new
also mutual agreement, Carlson-Brown said, texts has stayed an ongoing process, all the
that there are so few womens roles even in way through rehearsals, with Carlson-Brown
the original texts, that such gender imbalance on hand as dramaturg and playwright in residence sometimes making alterations aimed
works against the purpose of student training.
Equally, all three felt the desire to show a at improvements.
Hes been coaching the student actors on
womans perspective. After all, the few women
in the plays are so strong, said Glasser, in- how to play the texts. We want to unlock the
cluding the powerful and complex Queen syntax and language, which are tricky, and to
Margaret and Joan La Pucelle, that we wanted make them as accessible and as great as they
to expand that concept. But how much does are. This is also one of the major reasons we ingender matter? This is living theatre of today. volve professionals performing alongside them.
This is truly an academic adventure, Lane
This is something like color-blind casting,
Lane observed. We looked at this very care- added, given that we want to make sure that
fully and considered changing gender where it the students especially grasp the wonderful
made sense. Both say that casting was based language and give it its due. The language
on the ways that work best for the students. Af- conveys the essence, the thoughts, the feelings,
ter all, students are three-quarters of each cast. the story. This is her story and Glassers and
Clearly Carlson-Brown had a major task in Carlson-Browns. A new collaboration. Perhaps
combining the original texts and story-line in history-making in its own right. ,
a dramatic, yet practical way, so as to get the
essence of the stories, the characters, the lanVisitnebraskashakespeare.com.
stage
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
35
GoodMemoriesandGoodEats
O
eat
maha Rockets Kanteen in the Lake Point Center

at 24th and Lake is a healthy soul food eatery with a Negro Leagues Baseball theme and
a community empowerment thrust.
The baked, not fried, turkey legs, wings, greens, stuffing,
candied yams, smothered chicken and oxtail stew prepared
from family recipes come in a wrap option. All of its served
amidst a casual, memorabilia-filled, stadium-inspired space.
Signed photos and paintings depict Negro Leaguers and
other black baseball players Kanteen co-owner Don Curry
befriended in many cases.
The joint, whose tagline is Enjoy the food, digest the history, is named after a barnstorming semi-pro, independent
all-black town team, the Omaha Rockets. The club fed players to the Negro American League and played exhibitions
against clubs like the Kansas City Monarchs.
Since opening in July, Kanteens been championed by city
officials and community leaders as a catalyst for more devel-
36
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
eat
Soul food eatery evokes Negro

Leagues past
BY LEO ADAM BIGA
opment in this historical African-American business corridor

thats seen better days. Plans call for the area to recapture its
arts-entertainment and small business district past.
Currys been through the revival thing. His now defunct
Negro League Cafe was heralded as a spark for the Brownsville section of Chicago. That restaurant enjoyed a five-year
run before he reached an impasse with his landlord and
couldnt find an affordable new space to lease. He took that
brick and mortar on wheels with his Southern Pitch food
truck. Two fruitful years came to a halt when city officials
cracked down on illegal operators and enacted strict rules
that stifled legit operations like his own.
The entrepreneur. who did part of his growing up in North
Omaha, was twice ready to try his soul food-baseball concept here but each time could not drum up enough support.
Finally, he and co-owner Marcus Johnson, an Omaha firefighter and fellow entrepreneur, got it done.
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| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
37
MY MANTRA
IS TO PICK
PEOPLE UP.
Currys justifiably proud of the concept be- where soul food was the going cuisine and
hind his place.
pot liquor the savory brew. Kanteen pays
Its damn near, Ive been told, brilliant, he homage to it all.
said. My target markets three-fold: history
A chance encounter with Negro Leagues
buffs, sports fans and foodies.
legend Buck ONeil, who loved the idea for
He said even legendary Omaha restaura- the eatery, emboldened Curry, but he was
teur Willy Thiesen has praised his niche idea. too busy climbing the corporate ladder to
Curry harbored his Negro Leagues-themed take the plunge.
restaurant fancy several years before launchStill, he said, it kept gnawing at me.
ing it in 2004. His interest in the Negro
He said once he opened his Chi-Town cafe
Leagues started while attending Virginia State it took off as a stop for ex-sports stars like the
University. It went to a new level in Chicago, late Mr, Cub, Ernie Banks.
where he worked in the financial industry.
Hes banking his Omaha Kanteen becomes
During a Negro Leagues tribute night at a destination, too.
Comiskey Park he marveled at the rainbow
Baseball is a reflection of American socispectrum of fans queuing up for autographs ety and I believe I have something that brings
from ex-players.
people together and embraces a piece of our
Inspiration hit.
culture people find wonderful. I look at it as
If these people are willing to stand in this being a true melting pot because some of evlong line to get their autographs, I thought, eryone is coming in here.
why wouldnt they patronize a restaurant with
He will expand evening hours once he adds
the same theme.
live jazz acts and liquor sales. Hes bullish on
Curry saw a moneymaking vehicle for the areas potential.
celebrating a rich chapter of African-AmerTheres oil in North Omaha and Im drilling
ican history.
for it. Why not be the first? It seems like specuAfter I got the vision, I had to make sure lation but I know its about to happen.
it was well-versed in the history. I immersed
He knows the area needs more of a critical
myself in reading and seeing anything I could. mass of attractions to stimulate big commerce.
I mean, it was the look in their faces in the
Its going to take a lot more people willing
photographs. They didnt bitch about nothing. to come here and do it. Its going to take all
They said, If youre not going to let us play this the vacant lots to be in filled with establishgame with you, were going to learn the game, ments from Lake to Hamilton.
master it, and compete straight up.
He wants his business hes already lookHe said the economics struck him as well. ing to expand in the metro and in Kansas City
The Negro Leagues World Series outsold to be a beacon of hope and a source of emthe Major Leagues World Series, and were ployment for more inner city residents.
talking about nobody but black folks going to
My mantra is to pick people up.
watch baseball. They would dress up to the
Avenue Scholars youth will learn the culinines. That alone compels me, especially af- nary trade there as interns. He wants to give
ter befriending a lot of Negro Leaguers and young people positive options that counteract
hearing their stories. They told me it beat the the miseries he saw claim too many friends.
hell out of sharecropping. Theyd be gone
Look for his Southern Pitch food truck to hit
weeks on end but would come home with a the streets this fall. For details, visit omaharocketskanteen.com.
pocketful of money and not be in debt.
Teams often couldnt find hotels or restauRead more of Leo Adam Bigas work at
rants to serve them and so stayed at black
boarding houses or private black homes leoadambiga.com. ,
38
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
eat
TASTE THE COOKING TRADITIONS

OF OMAHAS LITTLE ITALY
for your team dinners, office lunches,

graduation parties, weddings,
any party!
FRIDAY
NOV 4th
6-9 PM
First Friday is a free event celebrating

local creativity in Omaha's most
historic neighborhood.
Ride Ollie The Trolley

No Charge!
Visit galleries to explore fresh

perspectives and meet the artists.
For event information, go to FirstFridayOldMarket.com
or email: mmgmetalsmith@cox.net
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
39
creightonhoopspreview
sports
40
fter a couple of seasons when the Jays

sometimes struggled to pick their game
off the floor, expectations for this seasons edition of Creighton basketball
are through the roof with the holy grail of college
hoops, the Final Four, seeminga legitimate goal for
the team that is ranked at No. 23 in the preseason
Coaches Poll. Itsfirst such preseason nodin four years.
The Big East preseason poll of coaches, as well
as most publications, have the Jays picked to finish
third in the high-powered league. Defending national champion Villanova is the choice to finish on top
for the fourth year in a row with Xavier tabbed as
the runner up.
The Jays return a plethora of talent and experience
to help bolster their case. Seven players have extensive starting experience, led by senior point guard
and preseason All-Big East First Team pick, Maurice
Watson Jr..
Hes our glue. He holds us all together,said junior guard Marcus Foster.In practice if things are
going hard hes the one who pulls us together, even
before coach McDermott, so we can fix things.Hes
a point guard like Ive never seen before, a guy who
can create for his teammates whenever he wants to
but also a guy who can score whenever he wants to.
Watson is the NCAA active career leader in assists with 639, and he will have plenty of firepower
surrounding him to help add to that total. The Jays
Let it Fly mantra will be at full throttle with the lightning-quick Watson pushing the pace at every opportunity. Head Coach Greg McDermotts seventh
Creighton team could be his best yet.
All those expectations might cause some teams to
get caught up in the hype, but not if their court general has anything to say about it.
Sure I like hearing all the good things, I like being
in a good preseason position, said Watson, But all
that hype should just make us want to work harder.
We want to be in first place. Third place isnt first
place so why should we be satisfied with that?We
wont be satisfied with that.
While the Jays look to make some noise on a national level, a pair of hometown heroes are expected
to play a big role. Sophomore guard Khyri Thomas
from Omaha Benson and redshirt freshman center
Justin Patton from Omaha North have both worked
hard at improving their game over the offseason,
and according to the coaches the results have been
apparent. Pattons 7 frame certainly looks more
chiseled, proof that he took advantage of his redshirt
season with time spent in the weight room.
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
sports
A lack of strength was never a problem last year

for the muscular Thomas, but as the season wore on
a lack of confidence took a toll. He scored 18 points
in the opener against Texas Southern and 22 on
the road versus Loyola (Chicago) before struggling
through much of conference play. Thomas started to
turn things around during Creightons three-game
postseason NIT run and took that momentum into
offseason workouts.
We just dont want to disappoint, said Patton.Khyri really did a good job holding down for
me while I was redshirting. This year Im going to be
out there and have his back, and we will be able to
put on for our city.
Thomas and Patton have also earned a reputation
as team jokesters. Over the course of a long, pressure-filled season, a little levity can go a long way
to help keep a team loose as long as they maintain
their focus.
Last year we just automatically clicked,said
Thomas.Were both from Omaha, we both love
basketball, and were both kind of ... goofy. Hes my
roommate so I guess Im stuck with him.
Theyre great kids and talented players, said
McDermott.They are as popular on our campus
with the student body as they are on our team.
Theyve just done a great job of being part of our
community. The progress that theyve made in the
time theyve been here has been really impressive,
and they are both going to play an integral part on
our team this year.
Having each other to keep each other grounded
and loose doesnt hurt either.
Weve been through a lot of the same things
growing up, so he knows how I feel and think most
of the time, said Patton.He knows I trust him, and
he trusts me so we listen to each other both on and
off the court. We try to give each other perspective
about our game and what were doing wrong and
what we can do different.
Both cite Coach McDermott as a huge influence
in their lives.
Hes like a father figure to Justin and I, said
Thomas. We were both raised by our mothers, and
I dont want to say we really needed discipline, but
he has made us more accountable.He can be real
hard on us sometimes, but its all love.
We both look up to him and we talk about him
like hes our dad,added Patton.Its fun having
someone like him in our corner,
I think the world of them, said McDermott.They
had a lot of other offers and opportunities to go else-
B Y JA S O N K R I VA N E K
where. It means a lot to me that they thought enough

of our program and our coaching staff to stay in
Omaha. Im really proud of them. Im proud of the
way they conduct themselves, number one, but Im
also really proud of the way theyve worked.
Few players have generated as much buzz in the
Creighton fan base before theyve ever stepped on
the court for the Jays as Kansas State transfer Marcus Foster. He dazzled as a freshman, earning second team all-Big 12, and averaged 14.1 pts. per
game over two seasons with the Wildcats before
some off-court issues led to his departure.According to the Creighton staff, Foster has been a great
teammate and solid student since stepping onto
campus, and any struggles he may have had are a
thing of the past.
Everybody has to face a little adversity from time
to time, and I feel I learned from it, said Foster.It
has made me a better person, both on and off the
court. So its definitely something Im glad I went
through, but now its in the past and I can get on to
the next page.
Fosters solid frame looks built to withstand the
rigors of the Big East, and he has drawn raves for
his defensive work in practice as well as his scoring
acumen. Paired with Thomas, the Jays have a couple
of strong, lockdown defenders on the perimeter.
Creightons other returning starter at the guard
spot is senior sharp shooter Isaiah Zierden. Hampered by injuries throughout his career, Zierden
ability to stay healthy will have a big impact on
the teams success. Last season he chipped in 10.2
points per game, including a career high 31 points
at DePaul. Besides providing a serious outside shooting threat, Zierden possesses a basketball savvy and
experience thats hard to replicate. He led the team
in minutes played per game and steals last season. If
Watson is the teams glue, Zierden is the paste.
Sophomore guard Ronnie Harrell Jr. will also be
in the mix for playing time. At 67he gives the Jays
some size and athleticism on the perimeter as well as
another legitimate threat from beyond the arc. Junior
walk-on guard Tyler Clement provides further depth
at guard.
The Jays also have plenty of experience on the
front line with senior center Zach Hansen, senior
forward Cole Huff and junior forward Toby Hegner.
Hansen underwent knee surgery in the offseason,
but should be close to returning to action by the first
game. Hansen gives the Jays a measure of size and
physicality down low they need to help counter what
is a team built primarily on skill and finesse.
Huff also had offseason surgery after knee issues

plagued him for much of last season. Despite dealing with the pain, which also included a midseason
shoulder injury, Huff still finished second on the
squad in both points (11.3 per game) and rebounds
(5.1 per contest). The coaching staff has been limiting his reps in practice hoping to keep him fresh for
the long grind ahead. The 68 Huff showed flashes
of brilliance at times last season and possesses a
deadly shooting stroke when hes dialed in. Just ask
the Seton Hall Pirates, who Huff torched for 35 points
and 9 boards in the Big East Tournament last March.
Hegner has started 40 games in two seasons. At
610, he can play down low, but it is his versatility
that makes him valuable. Hes a scrappy defender
with a penchant for hitting the clutch three-pointer.
Redshirt freshman forward Martin Krampelj will
also compete for playing time. The 69 Slovenians
athleticism and size should especially help the Jays
on the boards while he continues to work on improving his defense.
Newcomers looking to make a splash are freshmen guards Davion Mintz and Kobe Paras. Mintz
earned first team all-state honors in North Carolina
and will back up Watson at the point. Paras is a
celebrity back home in the Philippines, where his
dad once earned MVP honors in the Philipines pro
league and his mom is a soap opera star. But his
real claim to fame is his penchant for throwing down
dunks, having won a pair of international competitions as well as viral fame for dunking over Labron
James at a camp last summer. ,
sports
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
41
FILM
WhereMyMovieMuslimsAt?
The Importance of Cinema

in Cultural Compassion
B Y R YA N S Y R E K
rumpet the advent of social media all you want: The truth human trash heaps werent enough to account for Trumps popularity
remains that we live insular, segregated lives. Studies after on the issue. No, that required a quiet collective who didnt so much
studies after studies show that we seek out those who think scream huzzah at Islamophobia as much as they nodded their heads
and believe as we do, that we are obsessed with having our and hit their polling place.
And movies are to blame.
world views validated, not challenged. On the one hand, this is mildly
Well, kinda.
innocuous and pays for itself with common sense; the very spine of
Let me explain by using a suddenly dated and uncomfortable (but
any nonfamilial relationship is some measure of shared interest or
mutual understanding. But there is a quiet danger fostered by our important) well-known example. In the 1980s, the black and white
insatiable need for cultural and religious homogeneity, a goblin of racial divide was bridged in a meaningful way by a hugely popular
intolerance fed from the food scraps pushed off a table surrounded by sitcom. As Jake Flanagin wrote in a great opinion piece in The New
York Times back in 2014, The Cosby Show was a remarkable show
like-minded people.
Donald Trumps comments regarding the detention, expulsion and about the power of the unremarkable. As has been discussed in countexclusion of Muslims didnt sink his maggot-laden, hate-fueled cam- less analyses, all of which are so much harder to read in the wake of
paign; they elevated it. His distancing from the Island of Misfit Toys finding out Bill Cosby was super interested in booking a first-class ticket
that represented this years crop of GOP primary candidates was due, to whatever version (secular or holy) of eternal damnation you accept,
in a not-insignificant way, to his stance against those of the Muslim faith the influence of The Cosby Show was a direct result of its depiction of
inside and outside of America. The frothing redneck apes who threw up a middle-class black family as piercingly normal. Previous shows, like
slanted right arms that bent towards World War II-era Germany were The Jeffersons, treated the concept of black affluence within a loving
easily accounted for as subhuman pig people. But those loudmouth nuclear family as novel. But the Huxtables were both window and mircontinued on page 44 y
42
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
film
cuttingroom
n I know shes in the running, but I need Tess Thompson to be cast
as a lead in the new Han Solo movie. Casting Alden Ehrenreich
from Hail, Caesar! as Han was nifty. Having The Lego Movies Phil
Lord and Christopher Miller as directors is swell. But the thought of
Thompson, easily among the most charismatic and talented young
actors in all of Hollywood, classing up the screen is tempting enough
for me to walk to a galaxy far, far away, if need be.
n The latest easy cash-grab for Disney has been turning animated
movies into live action, even if the results are just yawntastic. Fresh
off of news that Jon Favreau will look to turn The Lion King into the
same CGI-animal-snoozefest he made out of The Jungle Book comes
word of a live-action Mulan and, more troublingly, Aladdin. I say
more troublingly because theyve decided to hand the reigns to Guy
Ritchie, a man known best for British gangster movies and procreating with Madonna. Few things suggest an ability to adapt an amusing
but intolerant Arabic fairy tale like knowing how to appropriately use
the world blimey.
n HBO, who largely cant do anything wrong, is trying to turn Green
Days American Idiot into a movie, which seems wrong. As a people,
weve already allowed this thing to exist as both a concept album and
a Tony Award-winning play. If we allow it to become an HBO movie,
and they choose to release it in theaters for a qualifying Oscar run,
theres a chance Billie Joe Armstrong will EGOT. Do you want to live
in that world? I dont.
n They officially announced a 2018 release date for Oceans 8, which
is not a goddamn remake of Oceans Eleven, no matter what idiots tell
you. Starring a gobstopping cast that includes Sandra Bullock, Cate
Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Helena Bonham
Carter, Awkwafina and (sorry ladies who for no reason seem to hate
her) Anne Hathaway, this all-woman heist movie just so happened
to get mentioned on the last broadcast Billy Bush did on The Today
Show before being suspended for The Trump Tapes. I mention this
because I happened to catch this segment live at a mechanics shop
hours before Bush and Trump became locker room buddies for life.
Im not saying the writing was on the wall, but Bush was making jokes
about how we should get a remake of famous women-centric movies
starring all dudes. His hilarious suggestion of The Brotherhood of
the Khaki Pants came just hours before everyone found out that hes
not simply a stupid face. Bye, Billy, you wont be missed.
Jules and Jim
1962
Omaha Steaks Classics
Dundee Revival
A series celebrating the Dundee Theaters

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to its future.
313 N. 13TH STREET / LINCOLN, NE
8 1963
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Nov 5 & 10
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Nov 26, 27, Dec 1, 3, 4 & 8
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Info & tickets at filmstreams.org.
Ryan Syrek
Cutting Room provides breaking local and national movie news complete with added
sarcasm. Send any relevant information to film@thereader.com. Check out Ryan on Movieha!,
a weekly half-hour movie podcast (movieha.libsyn.com/rss), catch him on the radio on CD
105.9 (cd1059.com) on Fridays at around 7:30 a.m. and on KVNO 90.7 (kvno.org) at 8:30
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313 N. 13TH STREET / LINCOLN, NE
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CALL OR CHECK OUR WEBSITE

FOR MOVIE TIMES AND PRICES
film
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
43
In Ibrahim Kamals must-read article How

ror: a reflection of black reality and an insight
Hollywood Makes Muslim Lives Ungreiveable
into such lives for white audiences.
Expanding beyond race, the 2005 text Reli- in the War on Terror, he asks the kind of
gion and Popular Culture in America lays out question that devastates anyone who still conthe case for a reciprocal influence between siders compassion a virtue. He writes Is it any
popular culture and religion. The essays ex- surprise that an American public that routinely
plore the ways in which music, fiction and sees Arabs and Muslims depicted as monsters
other aspects of cultural ephemera have both and the killing of women and children as justishaped and been shaped by religion. As no- fied, has no regard for their real-life deaths?
brainer as it may seem, the influence of this Id suggest a mic drop after that crippling inbinary function inherent in pop elements can- quiry, but thats typically a celebratory gesture,
not be understated, especially when it comes and theres nothing worth smiling about here.
to issues of tolerance. As Kris Dunn and Instead of humanizing the other, instead of
Shane P. Singh argue in their 2014 article in working to deconstruct ignorant preconcepthe journal Democratiziation, when individu- tions, we get unwatchable tripe littered with
als are exposed to diversity under positive or stereotypes like London Has Fallen. Jack Shaneutral conditions, they become more tolerant heens Reel Bad Arabs found that in about
of diversity. This is an element of what they 1,200 depictions of Arabs and Muslims in the
call pluralistic conditioning. The flip side be- movies, 97% were unfavorable. And you woning, if the exposure is negative, intolerance is der why even alleged liberals like Bill Maher
fostered and thrives. Uh oh, Spaghetti-Os.
feel comfortable barfing Islamic ignorance
Given that we know people do not seek and then finger-painting with the vomit.
out friends from the land outside their ideoAnd yet, to adopt a measure of optimism
logical umbrella, the pluralistic conditioning that 2016 hasnt earned, in knowing a root
afforded by cinema becomes a paramount cause, we know a root solution. We need a
influencer. Thats real fancy talk to say that name for the term that doesnt reference a sehere in America where the only Muslims most rial rapist, but the Cosby-fication of Muslims
folks know show up on that ole TV or in them in cinema represents an untapped opportunithar movie theaters. Polls constantly show that ty. The efficacy in showing Flanagins power
Americans just dont understand Islam. We of the unremarkable may well be the closest
dont grasp the faith, the attitudes of follow- thing we have to a sure thing when it comes
ers or even basic demographic information. to fostering tolerance. Marvel Comics is curIn the absence of real education and actual rently publishing Ms. Marvel, a peerlessly brilexperience with flesh-and-blood Muslims, liant comic book about a young girl navigatAmericans rely on arguably the most domi- ing romantic relationships, high school, her
nant culture influencer: Movies. Hoo boy.
parents and the demands of being a superIf the average Americans extent of knowl- hero. Her happening to be Muslim is simply
edge regarding Islam is reduced to Holly- a characteristic that fleshes her out, inflating
wood depictions, Trumps ascendancy on the her into a fully three-dimensional heroine who
back of anti-Muslim rage makes more sense, both is and is not defined by her faith. I love
right? American Sniper, a book written by comic books, but imagine the influence of a
a documented liar, was turned into a movie character in a comic book movie appearing
directed by a demented asshole who talks as such. Thats a billion-dollar prospect.
In an ideal world, every American would
to empty chairs in public. Clint Eastwoods
rah-rah, kill-them-evil-Muslims film was the know an actual Muslim in real life. Sadly, opnumber one movie at the domestic box office eration Give Joe and Jane Six-Pack an Islamic
in 2014. It did goddamn superhero money, Buddy isnt going to get congressional funddespite starring obvious real-life supervillain ing. Thankfully, the platform is there to estabBradley Please Punch My Face Cooper. It lish a pseudo-relationship with make-believe
raked in the dough not because the film is friends who can pluralistically condition auanything resembling good. It made cash diences toward a tolerance that would make
because it trafficked entirely in nave patrio- Trump the irrelevant orangutan Cheeto he
tism, the kind that looks great in catchphrases should have always been seen as. The impetus
on hats. The kind that reinforces bigotry and then is on those of us who acknowledge this
ignores American missteps in favor of point- untapped tolerance-teaching outlet to ask the
question that formed the title of this here essay.
ing at brown people and yelling shoot.
Where are my movie Muslims at? ,
44
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
film
The brick streets of the Old Market came alive on Oct. 8 as

we celebrated our third annual Toast of the Old Market. The
event featured a Restaurant Tasting Tour, Gallery Walk, and
a Shopping Showcase. Headliner the Kris Lager Band was
joined by Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal, Matt Cox, Luigi Inc.
and the Matt Wallace Fusion Force. Toast of the Old Market
is co-sponsored by The Reader and was presented by Eyman
Plumbing, Heating & Air and Atchley Auto Sales.
toast recap
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
45
OMAHA ENTERTAINMENT
& ARTS AWARDS
PERFORMING ARTS
NOMINEES
BEST MUSICAL
Caroline, or Change, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Disenchanted!, The Candy Project
Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre
Honk!, Rose Theater
The Producers, Omaha Community
Playhouse
BEST DRAMA
Animal Farm, UNO Theatre
The Christians, Blue Barn Theatre
The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre
Frost/Nixon, Blue Barn Theatre
Macbeth, Nebraska Shakespeare
The Quality of Life, SNAP! Productions
BEST COMEDY
Beertown, Omaha Community Playhouse
and Dog & Pony DC
Calendar Girls, Omaha Community
Playhouse
Red, White and Tuna,
Bellevue Little Theatre
The Singularity, Shelterbelt Theatre
Untitled Series #7, Shelterbelt Theatre
BEST PREMIER OF A NEW,
ORIGINAL, LOCAL SCRIPT
The Curious Disappearance of Mulder,
the Cat by Madeline Radcliff-Reilly,
FireBelly Rep
The Singularity by Crystal Jackson,
Shelterbelt Theatre
The Feast by Celine Song,
Shelterbelt Theatre
Animal Farm by Jack Zerbe, UNO Theatre
Untitled Series #7 by Ellen Struve,
Shelterbelt Theatre
46
Noah Diaz, Red, White and Tuna,

Bellevue Little Theatre
Michal Simpson, The Quality of Life,
SNAP! Productions
Aaron Zavitz, Frost/Nixon, Blue Barn
Theatre
BEST LEADING
ACTOR (MUSICAL)
Dan Chevalier, Honk!, Rose Theater
Steve Krambeck, The Producers, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Jim McKain, The Producers, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Cork Ramer, Man of La Mancha, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Dan Tracy, Sunday in the Park with
George, Creighton University
BEST LEADING ACTRESS
(PLAY)
MaryBeth Adams, The Singularity,
Shelterbelt Theatre
Sarah Carlson-Brown, Macbeth, Nebraska
Shakespeare
Kim Jubenville, The Quality of Life, SNAP!
Productions
Mary Kelly, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre
Laura Leininger-Campbell, Untitled Series
#7, Shelterbelt Theatre
BEST LEADING ACTRESS
(MUSICAL)
Echelle Childers, Caroline, or Change,
Omaha Community Playhouse
Jennifer Gilg, Man of La Mancha, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Roni Shelley Perez, Heathers, Blue Barn
Theatre
Alissa Walker, Disenchanted!, The Candy
Project
Melanie Walters, Disenchanted!, The
Candy Project
BEST DIRECTOR (PLAY)

Vincent Carlson-Brown, Macbeth,
Nebraska Shakespeare
Susan Clement-Toberer, The Grown-Up,
Blue Barn Theatre
Noah Diaz, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre
Lara Marsh, Lost Boy Found at Whole
Foods, Omaha Community Playhouse
Beth Thompson, The Singularity,
Shelterbelt Theatre
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

(PLAY)
Ben Beck, Frost/Nixon, Blue Barn Theatre
Raydell Cordell III, The Christians, Blue
Barn Theatre
Noah Diaz, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre
Beau Fisher, The Feast, Shelterbelt
Theatre
Nils Haaland, The Grown-Up, Blue Barn
Theatre
Andrew Prescott, Cloud 9, UNO Theatre
BEST DIRECTOR (MUSICAL)

Susan Clement-Toberer and Randall T.
Stevens, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre
Susie Baer Collins, Caroline, or Change,
Cynthia Gendrich, Honk!, Rose Theater
Matthew Gutschick, Disneys The Little
Mermaid, Rose Theater
Amy Lane, Sunday in the Park with
Kaitlyn McClincy and Noah Diaz,
Disenchanted!, The Candy Project
BEST SUPPORTING
ACTOR (MUSICAL)
Thomas Gjere, Heathers,
Blue Barn Theatre
Noel Larrieu, Man of La Mancha, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Ryan Pivonka, The Producers, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Robby Stone, Heathers,
Blue Barn Theatre
Nik Whitcomb, Caroline, or Change,
BEST LEADING ACTOR

(PLAY)
Paul Boesing, Frost/Nixon,
Blue Barn Theatre
Anthony Clark-Kaczmarek, The Christians,
Blue Barn Theatre
Anthony Clark-Kaczmarek, Red, White
and Tuna, Bellevue Little Theatre
BEST SUPPORTING
ACTRESS (PLAY)
Jill Anderson, The Christians,
Blue Barn Theatre
Leanne Hill Carlson, The Feast,
Shelterbelt Theatre
Kaitlyn McClincy, The Christians,
Blue Barn Theatre
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
Colleen ODoherty, Seven Homeless

Mammoths Wander New England,
SNAP! Productions
Kathy Wheeldon, Calendar Girls, Omaha
Community Playhouse
BEST SUPPORTING
ACTRESS (MUSICAL)
Katy Boone, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre
Aguel Lual, Caroline, or Change, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Regina Palmer, Caroline, or Change,
Samantha Quintana, Disenchanted!, The
Candy Project
MacKenzie Zielke, Heathers,
Blue Barn Theatre
BEST YOUTH PERFORMER
Danny Denenberg, Caroline, or Change,
Danny Denenberg, To Kill a Mockingbird,
Chloe Irwin, Mamas Girls,
SNAP! Productions
Chloe Irwin, To Kill a Mockingbird,
Justice Jamal Jones, Lost Boy Found at
Whole Foods,
BEST DANCE PRODUCTION
A Celebration of Storytelling: Voice of
African Instruments, African Culture
Connection
Cleopatra, Ballet Nebraska
Momentum: Go West!, Ballet Nebraska
BEST PERFORMANCE POET
Devel Crisp
Greg Harries
Olivia Johnson
Brok Kerbrat
Lite Pole
BEST COMEDIAN
Mollie Bartlett
David Burdge
Jordan Kliene
Cameron Logsdon
Dylan Rhode
BEST COMEDY ENSEMBLE
The Backline
Badland Girls
Big Canvas
OK Party Comedy
The Weisenheimers
PERFORMING ARTS
TECHNICAL NOMINEES
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING
DESIGN
Joshua Mullady, The Feast,
Shelterbelt Theatre
Jim Othuse, Man of La Mancha,
Steven L. Williams, Kwaidan,
UNO Theatre
Steven L. Williams, Lost Boy Found in
Whole Foods, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Carol Wisner, Heathers,
Blue Barn Theatre
For more information go to

oea-awards.org
OUTSTANDING
PROP DESIGN
Sharon Diaz, The Feast,
Shelterbelt Theatre
Darin Kuehler, The Producers, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Darin Kuehler, Caroline, or Change,
Ivania Stack, Colin K. Bills, and Darin
Kuehler, Beertown, Omaha Community
Playhouse and dog & pony dc
Amy Reiner, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre
OUTSTANDING SCENIC
DESIGN
Holly M. Breuer, Macbeth, Nebraska
Shakespeare
Sharon Diaz, The Feast,
Shelterbelt Theatre
Martin Scott Marchitto, Heathers, Blue
Barn Theatre
Jim Othuse, Man of La Mancha, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Jeff Stander, Honk!, Rose Theater
OUTSTANDING
COSTUME DESIGN
Amanda Fehlner, To Kill a Mockingbird,
Amanda Fehlner, The Producers, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Zachary Kloppenborg, The Feast,
Shelterbelt Theatre
Georgiann Regan, Man of La Mancha,
Valerie St. Pierre Smith, Cloud 9,
UNO Theatre
OUTSTANDING
SOUND DESIGN
Martin Magnuson, The Grown-Up,
Blue Barn Theatre
Craig Marsh, Frost/Nixon,
Blue Barn Theatre
Hannah Mayer and Shannon Smay,
The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre
Shannon Smay, The Singularity,
Shelterbelt Theatre
Aaron David Wrigley, Kwaidan,
UNO Theatre
OUTSTANDING
CHOREOGRAPHER
Julian Adair, Man of La Mancha,
Sue Gillespie Booton, Honk!,
Rose Theater
Nichol Mason Lazenby, Heathers,
Blue Barn Theatre
Melanie Walters, The Producers, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Wai Yim, Macbeth, Nebraska
Shakespeare
OUTSTANDING
MUSIC DIRECTION
Jim Boggess, Man of La Mancha, Omaha
Community Playhouse
Doran Schmidt, Caroline, or Change,
Doran Schmidt, Heathers,
Blue Barn Theatre
Stephen Sheftz, Sunday in the Park with
Jennifer Tritz, Disenchanted!,
The Candy Project
FALL
SHOWCASE
OCTOBER 21, 2016
6 VENUES BENSON
VISUAL ARTS NOMINEES

BEST VISUAL ARTIST
Phil Hawkins
Susan Knight
Stephen Cornelius Roberts
Sarah Rowe
Jar Schepers
BEST EMERGING ARTIST
Shawn Teseo Ballarin
Anthony Deon Brown
Hugo Zamarano
Geoff Johnson
Federico Perez
Katie B Temple
BEST NEW MEDIA ARTIST
Sue Knight
Sarah Rowe
Jamie Danielle Hardy
Sarah Kolar
Bzzy Lps (Dustin Bythrow & Mike Bauer)
BEST 2D ARTIST
Stephen Cornelius Roberts
Shawn Teseo Ballarin
Joseph Broghammer
Steve Joy
Dan Boylan
Shea Wilkinson
BEST 3D ARTIST
Sora Kimberlain
Jar Schepers
Phil Hawkins
Michael Villareal
Christopher Prinz
Luke Severson
BEST GROUP SHOW
FRIENDS OF KENT - GALLERY 1516
Marc Chickinelli, Edgar Jerins, Paul
Otero, Stephen Cornelius Roberts,
Greg Scott
FLATLANDERS - DARGER HQ
Kenny Adkins, Jennifer Bockelman,
Kim Darling, Charley Friedman,
Nancy Friedmann-Sanchez, Camille
Hawbaker, Anthony Hawley, Qwist
Joseph, Michael Ian Larsen, Craig
Roper, Sarah Rowe, Luke Severson,
Matthew Sontheimer, Steve Snell,
Sheila Talbitzer, Ying Zhu
NEBRASKA RISING BEMIS CENTER
FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Heron Bassett, Mary Elizabeth/
Mesonjixx, Phil Hawkins, Roberta
Leaverton, Joey Lynch, Liana
Owad, Kristae Peterson, Christopher
Prinz, Craig Roper, Barbara Simcoe,
Michael Villareal
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM MODERN ARTS MIDTOWN
Brian Gennardo, Rick Johns, Cathy
Palmer, Larry Roots, Teresa Schmidt,
Robert Spellman
ONCE UPON A TIME - RNG GALLERY
Lauren Baird, Jamie Heit Craig,
Shelby Geitsfeld, Norm4eva, Xuan
VISUAL ARTS
AWARDS
SHOW
SHOWCASE
FEBRUARY 19, 2017

OMAHA DESIGN CENTER
JANUARY 2017
Pham, Courtney Kenny Porto, Nicole

Roberts, Alma Becerril Salas, Marie
Elena Schembri, Nadia Shinkunas,
Torrey Smith, Sam Danger White
BEST SOLO SHOW
Stephen Cornelius Roberts The Figure:
Paintings, Drawings and Studies
- Garden of the Zodiac
Jar Schepers: Repetition - Garden of
the Zodiac
Phil Hawkins: Paradox - Sunderland
Gallery
Charley Friedman Wet & Shiny - Project
Project
Troy Muller Honey Mushroom
Wonderfuls - Modern Arts Midtown
BEST 2-PERSON SHOW
Justin Beller & Mads Anderson Full Yet
Hungry - Project Project
Jacqueline Kluver & Larry Roots
Common Origins/Separate
Destinations- Modern Arts Midtown
Steve Tamayo & Paul High Horse
Revitalize - Hot Shops Art Center
Kristine Allphin & Lori Elliott-Bartle
Waxing Poetic - Fred Simon Gallery
RT Murphy & Bzzy Lps (Dustin Bithrow
& Mike Bauer) The Swamp - Project
Project
BEST PUBLIC ART
Tiny Mural Project with Autumn Armstrong,
Ransom Bennett, Christopher Vaughn
Couse, Sarah Craw, Maggie Heusinkvelt,
Joe Nicholson, Jonathan Riggle, Barrett
Ryker, Maggie Weber
Polish Mural - Mike Giron, Rhianna Giron,
Quin Slovek, Richard Harrison
Plaza de la Raza mural - Hugo Zamorano,
Mike Giron, Gerardo Vazquez, Jair
Rodriguez, Ian Rodriguez, Sedra
Caseneda, Rhianna Giron, Quin Slovek,
and Richard Harrison
Indian Hills Elementary Murals - Watie
White in collaboration with Justice for
Our Neighbors
Old Market Art Project with 37 artists
MUSIC NOMINEES
BEST ROCK
Carson City Heat
FREAKABOUT
Jump the Tiger
Matt Whipkey
Naked Sunday
Time Giants
BEST HARD ROCK
Arson City
Before I Burn
Bloodcow
Save the Hero
Screaming For Silence
Through the Stone
BEST ALTERNATIVE/INDIE
High Up
Kait Berreckman
Mitch Gettman
Oketo
See Through Dresses
The Hottman Sisters
State Disco
BEST SINGERSONGWRITER
Aly Peeler
CJ Mills
Emily Ward
Jocelyn
Tara Vaughan
The Shineys
BEST ETHNIC
Djem
Esencia Latina Band
Mariachi Zapata
Rhythm Collective
The Bishops
The Prairie Gators
BEST DJ
DJ Madix
DJ Mellie Mel
DJ Mista Soull
DJ Shor-T
Houston Alexander
Spence Love
BEST AMERICANA /FOLK
Clarence Tilton
Jack Hotel
Pleiades & the Bear
Ragged Company
The Electroliners
The Wildwoods
BEST COUNTRY
Belles & Whistles
Dylan Bloom Band
Jason Earl Band
Jimmy Weber
Ryan Osbahr
Sack of Lions
BEST R&B/SOUL
Dominique Morgan
Edem
E Rawq
Jus.B
Mesonjixx
Rothsteen
BEST HIP HOP/RAP
Conchance
Greco
J. Crum
Mark Patrick
Mola-B
TKO
BEST BLUES
Brad Cordle Band
Dilemma
Levi William Band
The Rex Granite Band featuring Sarah
Benck
Steve Lovett Blues Band
Tim Budig Band
BEST JAZZ
Clark & Company
Curly Martin
Kellison Quartet
Mitch Towne
Omaha Guitar Trio
Steve Raybine
BEST PROGRESSIVE/
EXPERIMENTAL/EDM
Citizens Band
Chemicals
Human Teeth Parade
Kethro
SharkWeek
BEST COVER BAND

3D In Your Face
Hi-Fi Hangover
Lemon Fresh Day
Polka Police
Sailing in Soup
Secret Weapon
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Jack Hotel Voices from the Moon
J. Crum Black Sheep
Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal Running
From Love
Jus.B - PartySoul
Kait Berreckman Battle Scenes
McCarthy Trenching More Like It
Ryan Osbahr Easy Way Out
Tara Vaughan Dandelion Wine
The Electroliners The Common Clay of
the New West
Through the Stone Through the Stone
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
All Young Girls Are Machine Guns
Arson City
Belles & Whistles
CJ Mills
Dominique Morgan
Hector Anchondo Band
Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal
Kris Lager Band
Satchel Grande
Tara Vaughan
BEST NEW ARTIST
A Ferocious Jungle Cat
Born on Leap Year
Chemicals
Mark Patrick
Tiny Monsters
Skyloft
MUSIC TECHNICAL
NOMINEES
BEST RECORDING STUDIO
ARC Studios
Hidden Tracks Recording Studio
Icon 1NE Recording Studio
Make Believe Studios
SadSon Music Group
Screen Door Studios
Ware House Productions
BEST LIVE MUSIC SOUND
ENGINEER
Dan Brennan - Slowdown
Keith Fertwagner - Lookout Lounge
Jeremy Garrett - Freelance
Brenton Neville - Vessel Live
Jon Pitts - Reverb Lounge
Ben Stratton - Waiting Room Lounge
Mark Wolberg - The Zoo Bar/Vessel Live
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
47
overtheedge
The(Dis)informationAge
48
write this on Oct. 24, 15 days before the presidential election. Thus are the deadlines for
monthly publications, unlike the old days when
The Reader was a weekly and my deadline was
literally two days prior to the paper hitting the racks.
This issue will hitthe streets Nov. 3, but Im assuming
you wont read it until after the big show Nov. 8, after
its all over. So Im going to make some assumptions
here, some predictions about this years presidential
election, though I dont think theyre very presumptuous. As of this morning, Hillary Clinton was between
4 and 12 points ahead of Donald Trump, depending
on which poll you looked at, with the trend lines ever
widening between the two.
But that could change at any moment, which is why
I keep pushing back on my deadline with the editor.
Every day some new bombshell is uttered by Trump, a
new accusation or threat or devastating warning that
cannot go ignored by the press or the Clinton campaign. Every day a new Wikileak drips from Russia
to the Internet, or someone else steps forward with a
sordid story about what Trump did to her (or him).
Just last night for example, Trump casually attacked the
First Amendment, asking why we cant have a free press
like they have in England, where there is a presumption of
guilt of the accused in slander cases. Why indeed.
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
There are those who will point to the infamous Billy

Bush Access Hollywood pussy grabbing video as the
arrow that struck down the Trump campaign. Others
will point to his rigged system comments and unwillingness to accept the outcome of the vote. The easy
answer involves a combination of all of those, plus racism, sexism and xenophobia combined with Trumps
inability to recognize truth from fiction.
But a better question than why he failed is how Trump
ever got as close as he did to the most powerful political office on the planet. Heres my simplistic answer:
Social media has made it possible to spread facts
and falsehoods as quickly as someone can punch letters into an iPhone. It has empowered dumb people to
spread their dumbness.
In the days prior to the widespread distribution of
technology and/or the internet. stupid people and
their stupid ideas were isolated to wherever those stupid people hung out mostly in bars or living rooms.
I can never understand why TV news producers, in
an effort to put a dipstick into the minds of the common man, send film crews to the local pubs to gauge
what the everyday working man is thinking. The results are always predictably asinine, misinformed or
just plain belligerent. But what did they expect? Theyre
talking to a roomful of drunks.
over the edge
How did Trump

get so close?
BY TIM MCMAHAN
Still, those remotes from Finnegans Bar, while amusing, were both inconsequential and harmless.
Then along comes the Internet. Obama harnessed
the power of social media in his first-term campaign.
We saw Facebook and Twitter impact not only fundraising, but the ability to get the core message to the
masses. Social media was a conduit that bypassed
traditional news outlets, and it worked. History may
record that social media was a primary driver behind
Obamas victory. Just as it will be blamed for the rise
of Donald Trump.
It is now impossible to go onto Facebook and not
get deluged with posts that are flat out lies generated
by one of the hundreds of so-called news websites
whose information has been made up by tin-foil-hatwearing trolls whose backward opinions used to be
isolated to late-night AM radio call-in shows. Now
their shit-thought is everywhere.
With this in mind, Trump quickly recognized he could
say and post anything regardless of the facts, and that
those eager trolls would gladly amplify it among their
network of shit-brains like a virus. And if something
spreads far enough, its sure to infect not-so-stupid,
gullible people desperate for any kind of change in
their miserable lives. And then theres that line credited
to both Vladimir Lenin andJoseph Goebbles that
a lie told often enough becomes the truth. No

other quote better sums up Campaign 2016.
Heres another one, from one of my favorite
authors and literary mentors, Harlan Ellison:
We are not entitled to our opinions; we are
entitled to our informed opinions. Without
research, without background, without understanding, its nothing. Its just bibble-babble.
Its like a fart in a wind tunnel.
When Ellison first uttered that wisdom, there
was no internet. Journalists were still held in
high esteem as people trying to get at the
truth. And while there existed a handful of
bullshit conspiracy publications, they were
hard to find and no one took them seriously compared to, say the New York Times or
the Washington Post or even your hometown
newspaper. It was an era when people still
went to the library to do research. Libraries.
Remember those?
Today, having an informed opinion
means spending 20 minutes reading madeup nonsense on Facebook or some imbeciles
blog. To help weaponize disinformation,
Trump spent most of his campaign trying to
discredit the traditional, above-ground press,
blacklisting reporters who asked him embarrassingly pointed questions, and, as Politico
put it using the media as a punching bag
while still largely enjoying saturation campaign coverage from television networks.
And while all that was going on, along
came the hack of Democratic leaders private
email servers, and Wikileaks. It might be legal for journalists to use stolen, private documents in their reporting, but is it ethical? Isnt
it kind of like publishing statements that are
given off the record or blowing the cover of
an anonymous source? I guess none of that
matters in an era when the press is struggling
to keep the lights on. And when more people
are getting their information from Twitter and
Facebook than traditional news channels.
After the smoke clears, Trump followers
a sizable chunk of our population will
never trust the mainstream press again, leaving them only un-fact-checked, unfiltered social media for their information ... along with
Trump TV.
Funny how despite all of that disinformationwe still managed to elect the first woman president.
Unless, of course, the assumption made at
the top of this column was wrong, and we are
now living in the Trump Era. In which case,
weve got bigger problems to deal with... ,
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
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HA
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over the edge
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
49
music
welcometothehorrorshow
I
Punching the Time

Clock in Arson City
BY JEREMY LAFRENTZ
ts a tale of two cities: one of enterprise, another of fire. In and a full-tilt stage show that at times consisted of as many as 11
Omaha, the family men and nine-to-fivers Mark Beckenhauer, individuals on stage, including the band themselves, plus zombie burPatrick Wilson, Matt Denker, Matt Oliver and Matt Dibaise lesque dancers and additional steel-drum percussionists known as the
hold normal employment as a landscaper, a granite fabricator, Horror Squad.
a welder, an electrician and a social worker, respectively.
Their fans, self-proclaimed Citizens of Arson City, have also
In Arson City, they are The Doctor, The Mayor, The Enforcer, The embraced the imagery and mythology of this rapidly growing band,
Con and The Dealer a hard rock act branding themselves nation- creating unique characters for themselves and attending concerts
ally for their post-apocalyptic motifs, massive walls of sound and a dressed to the nines, giving an onlooker the sensation of walking
top-shelf stage production. The quintet were a pleasure to talk with onto the set of the latest Mad Max film.
backstage of The Waiting Room before their third annual Citizens
It was crazy, guitarist and songwriter Mark Beckenhauer said.
Ball, which kicked off an aggressive, seven-show, eight-day cam- People started showing up in costume immediately. The band had
paign spanning half the country.
yet to play its first show before realizing fans were creating characters.
Its going to be a big testing ground for us, vocalist Patrick Wilson
We did storylines prior to actually playing, drummer Matt Densaid. Its going to be a challenge.
ker said. We were just having fun. Were not trying to be a gimThe guys seemed to have nothing in common with the personas mick band
they assumed later that evening after the proverbial curtains opened:
But we totally are, interjected Wilson. We waited until we were
It was all beards and dreadlocks and Mohawks and black makeup grown up to dress up.
50
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
music
Its a style, continued Denker. Every musicians, and I was like, Yeah, I will. It
practice, its like your best friends you have wasnt like starting a project with a bunch
some beers, you watch the games, and you of guys I didnt know, I was comfortable with
start spittin ideas at each other. It took hold these guys.
And there were ideas for The Wreckage,
almost immediately. We said, We might
have something bigger than we thought. We Beckenhauer said. Bigger ideas that we retook complete advantage of the situation. ally didnt want to be a part of. Its not that
We said, What if we do a Citizens Ball? we didnt respect it or like the music we were
Lets give back to the fans.We have so many playing, its just that we didnt want to be a
loyal friends and fans, our hearts go out to part of that plan, so we had to make moves.
We were motivated, Denker said. We
these people.
Their efforts paid off. The band was recent- didnt want to sit around and wait, because
ly signed by The 517 Label after winning a you never know whats going to happen. So
battle of the bands at the Hard Rock Casino we just kind of took charge.
One phone call, three bottles of whisin Sioux City last April a win that earned
them a cash reward and the opportunity to key and a Husker game was all it took to
play the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas last get Arson City into a rehearsal space. Just
September. On being contacted by the re- three years later, the band already has two
cord label, bassist Matt Oliver said, It was EPs and one full-length album 2015s The
kind of out of the blue. Two months after we Horror Show in their discography and
won, Mark gets this message
theyre primed to be 2017s breakout band
I thought it looked like a crock of shit, of the year. The act is working on new muWilson said.
sic, traveling for shows every weekend for the
We saw the message in the inbox, Oliver next six months and maintaining day jobs to
laughed. I was like, Man, this is spam.
support their families in between.
But that message turned out to be from Mike
This is definitely a balancing act, WilGoodman, an executive at The 517 Agen- son said. We have strong families behind
cy. Hes somebody thats got a lot of drive, us that are definitely going make sacrifices
Beckenhauer explained. Hes a musician for us, and were very fortunate to have that,
himself, so now hes in a position where he cause a lot of people dont. Its good to have
can help another band push something a strong backbone behind you.
that he believes in. He sold it on us, and hes
These salt-of-the-earth workhorses dea hell of a guy. Two weeks after Arson City serve every bit of success thats coming to
spoke with the label, Goodman flew to Oma- them, and while they may not be pushing
ha to personally sign the band.
any musical boundaries, and this brand of
We werent even looking for offers, Wil- theater has been touched upon by more
son said. We all have families, you know. bands than you can brandish your torches
No label is going to fund us the amount we at, the lasting impression one receives afneed to support our children.
ter witnessing performances such as the
Were kind of a do-it-yourself band, Den- eponymous album track The Horror Show
ker said.
and the downtempo Not Coming Home
We always joked, Oliver said. Theres is enough to dispel doubt as to where this
no way wed be able to do this without some- band is going, which is straight to the top.
thing like this happening.
From the wild podium-preaching howls of
Someone who could invest in us, Becken- vocalist Wilson, to the succinct yet skillful sohauer said. Someone who really believed, los of lead guitarist Dibaise, to the tandeminstead of just wanting to make money.
drumming of Denker and his ghoulish HorTheir fortunes might not have ever changed, ror Squad, watching Arson City live feels
however, had it not been for the bands ser- like youre being gifted something that no
endipitous inception. Arson City rose from one else has.
the ashes of two previous Omaha-based
Just give it a shot, Wilson said. Check it
bands, Emphatic and The Wreckage, who out one time, thats all we ask.
essentially swapped vocalists.
Even just the live show, Beckenhauer
Its strange how we just flip-flopped sing- agreed. Its a production, and for a local
ers, Wilson said. I left Emphatic and I band, we try really hard.
thought I was going to be done, but I was
True to their humble nature, the band has
lyin to myself. Then Denker got a hold of me left it up to me to set the record straight: Say
and said, What do you think about coming what you will about Arson City, their stage
to work with us? I knew they were all good show is better than yours. ,
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music
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
51
music
mixmaster
52
NOVEMBER 2016
The Not-So-Basic Keith Rodger

BY JAMES WALMSLEY
n the intricate ecosystem that is Omahas music scene, which is

composed of diverse micro scenes, Keith Rodger, aka Kethro, is
the straw that stirs the drink. Well, hes at least one of the more
conspicuous straws: The DJ/producer is a fluorescent, bendy one.
Rodgers spirited flexibility ranges from co-owner of local label
Make Believe Recordings; to performing on stage with top local acts
Icky Blossoms, Conny Franko and Lightning Bug; to his current position
as music director of Omaha Fashion Week. On this day, Rodger is the
equipment tech for The Faint on their tour with Gang of Four. Hes in
Boston, sipping coffee and listening to music.
| THE READER |
music
Im pretty much their go-to guy, Rodger, 27, said on the phone
last month. When theyre on the road and they have a problem, Im
just there to fix it so they dont have to worry about anything. They
can be musicians, performers and worry more about the creative side
of things.
For nearly five years, perhaps even longer, Rodger has been an
integral mover amongst the music community, brokering a post-postmodernist era between the voices and ears of the town eccentrics and
those foraging an overloaded soundscape for the next it sound. The
musical factotums taste transcends conventional categories and seems
The reason why we put out these records is, personally, for me, theyre the
records I wish I could write, he said.
When we put out a record, I feel like
Im a part of the project just as much.
Thats always been my thing: I love so
many different kinds of music. Every
band and artist I sign, the musicians
are innovative people themselves.
Make Believe Recordings is nearing the
half-decade mark in age, a feat for any independent label, and is primed to hopefully
release a new album every month or every
other month in 2017, starting with Rodgers
own material. Indeed, Kethros Evoleno
one love spelled backwards or what the
DJ half-jokes is the album an extremely dark
Brian Eno would write will kick off the new
year as a massive collaborative effort. Each
track is slated to feature a local female vocalist, including Emily Ward and CJ Mills. Rodger said the female vocal brings the most
emotion out of him.
I really wanted to push the boundaries of
these musicians. When we connect on an
emotional level, I find theres nothing really
that spreads us apart and what were creating
musically, he said. Were almost creating
the same thing. Except mines more synthesized and theirs are more acoustic.
Rodger traversed what he thought were his
own limitations last spring when he took on
the position of music director of Omaha Fashion Week. He was anointed as such after his
disappointment in a 2015 event prompted
him to offer up his musical competency in the
name of fashion.
With the music programming, I felt a little
confused. If youre going to be Omaha Fashion Week and you want to stand up like the
rest of them, you have to be innovative and
not so Nebraskan, he said. I know it represents Omaha and what it stands for, and
Im proud to be an Omahan, but Omahas
fashion is so basic, the only people that are
innovating it are the people in Omaha Fashion Week. So I dont want anybody basic
coming in and not putting in the extra effort
to make it right.
Before this years pageantry, the fashion
week aficionado collaborated with nearly
30 individual designers to craft sounds that
would match their respective collections. He
even put together a futuristic jazz, hip-hop
flavored band to close out the show.
Thats Keith Rodger, mixing things up.
Music and fashion go hand in hand, he
said. I feel like if you have good music
backing some really good fashion, really
good designers, you can change a whole
city that way. ,
MUSIC AND
FASHION GO
HAND IN HAND
to concern itself more with pushing the limits
of art while, at the same time, reconnecting
art to our baser instincts.
To me, music is only emotion thats the
only way I see it, he said. Some people see
colors, some people just see styles and genres, I
only see emotions: What are you feeling? How
should this feel? Should this make you feel like
you want to jump out of a window? Smash a
window? Have sex with your girlfriend?
Rodger said he hooked up with fellow
Make Believe Recordings co-owners Rick Carson and Jeremy Deaton with a similar modus
operandi based on a feeling. The year was
2011 and his former band Lightning Bug was
combing the area for the right studio to record
their newest collection of songs. They opted
for a couple of upstart engineers who were
operating out of a small basement at the time.
Just talking with those guys [Carson and
Deaton] for 15 minutes made us realize that
those were the guys we wanted to work with,
he said. Because creatively, they understood
our vision, and they brought ideas to the table
that one-upped our vision.
Amidst the dog days of recording, Rodger
said the trio began discussing what musicians could be doing better in the city. Local
artists were wasting too much creative energy
doing an ineffectual job of putting out their
own records and promoting themselves. The
group decided to render their services under
the moniker Make Believe the same name
used by Carson and Deatons studio and
founded their label in early 2011 on the
genre-bending principle of not behaving
the way record labels used to. Oh, and the
weirder the artist, the better.
We didnt want to put out anything basic,
Rodger said. Everything has to push the limits. Everything has to either scare people or
have an emotional impact on people.
Rodger rattles off some of his labels roster, past and present: Conny Franko (formerly
Conchance), Make Believes pioneer artist,
with his free-jazz cadences; Sam Martin, the
lo-fi virtuoso who creates his own sounds;
Scky Rei and INFNTLP of BOTH, whove been
known to deliver their art in bizarre locales;
the now defunct Snake Island, an indie act
that created its own instruments; and Black
Jonny Quest, who Rodger described as a
genius solving math equations when he raps.
TUESDAY, NOV 1
Billy Troy
FRIDAY, NOV 11
The Six
TUESDAY, NOV 22
Steve Dunning
WEDNESDAY, NOV 2
Generations
SATURDAY, NOV 12
Outlaw Road
WEDNESDAY, NOV 23
Bozak & Morrissey
THURSDAY, NOV 3
Mighty Jailbreakers
MONDAY, NOV 14
Gooch and his Las
Vegas Big Band
THURSDAY, NOV 24
Happy Thanksgiving!
TUESDAY, NOV 15
Billy Troy
FRIDAY, NOV 25
The Confidentials
FRIDAY, NOV 4
On the Fritz
SATURDAY, NOV 5
Charm School
Dropouts
MONDAY, NOV 7
Gooch and His Las
Vegas Big Band
TUESDAY, NOV 8
Grace & Logan
WEDNESDAY, NOV 9
The Persuaders
THURSDAY, NOV 10
Funk Trek
music
WEDNESDAY, NOV 16
Daybreak
THURSDAY, NOV 17
Prairie Cats
FRIDAY, NOV 18
Soul Dawg
SATURDAY, NOV 26
Avaricious
MONDAY, NOV 28
Gooch and his Las
Vegas Big Band
SATURDAY, NOV 19
Taxi Driver
TUESDAY, NOV 29
Scott Evans
MONDAY, NOV 21
Gooch and his Las
Vegas Big Band
WEDNESDAY, NOV 30
Billy Chrastil
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
53
backbeat
SAD13, AKA SADIE DUPUIS
takeustoyourleader
T
heres plenty to give thanks for this

month. The presidential race is almost over. Finally, a woman president and in a landslide! (This
very well could be my Dewey Defeats Truman
moment the part about Hillary Clinton beating Donald Trump by a lot of votes as opposed
to beating him by quite a few votes.) Not to
mention: Black Violin (Nov. 18), Daughter
(Nov. 19), Fruit Bats (Nov. 4), NOFX (Nov. 16)
and Earth, Wind & Fire (Nov. 17) are all coming to town.
JAMES WALMSLEY is The

Readers contributing music editor and a longtime touring musician. The Michigander-turnedNebraskan came to Omaha by
accident on an aimless road trip.
He lives in Benson with his wife
and daughter and runs a vegan
restaurant (another accident) in
his spare time.
54
NOVEMBER 2016
Night of The Living Deads

Its The Living Deads first time in Omaha,
so of course the band is parking its digs outside of Brothers Lounge Wednesday, Nov. 16,
9 p.m. Indeed, the mysterious two-piece punkabilly act from Anywhere, U.S.A couldve
driven their faithful RV out of the dives legendary jukebox.
Featuring Symphony Tidwell on upright
bass/vocals and Randee McKnight on
drums/vocals, plus, perhaps, a kidnapped
guitarist of their choosing, the Deads aesthetic reminds one of an early Troma film or
a bad porno flick the kind where the pizza
guy gets involved. Good thing Nolis doesnt
deliver. Opening is local surf rockers Huge
Fucking Waves.
| THE READER |
backbeat
Our long national

nightmare is over
BY JAMES WALMSLEY
Election Day
Hate her or dislike her or just distrust her a
little, electing the first woman president Tuesday, Nov. 8 is a historic occasion. Give your
future where were you when...? response a
kickass setting: Indie rocker Graham Stevenson,
aka Grumpus, might not be a 100 Elite NPC
but he does have a WoW factor. The Hottman Sisters are opening his Milk Run debut at
9 p.m.; Failure Anthem, in support of its First
World Problems LP, is offering up its push you
through the day active rock to The Waiting
Room Lounge, 7 p.m. The Greensboro, N.C.
quintet is nudging hard rockers Letters From
The Fire (San Francisco) and Cover Your Tracks
(Atlanta) along on their eponymous tour; Girl
Meets World star Sabrina Carpenter is making
her formal introduction to Omaha as part of
her inaugural EVOLution Tour at Slowdown, 7
p.m. Her formulaic blend of Disney pop, which
follows in the footsteps of Hilary Duff and Miley Cyrus, is slightly edgy, but then again, so
is the Epcot Center; Veteran Canadian songwriter Tom Wilson is donning his psychedelic
folk persona LeE HARVeY OsMOND at Reverb Lounge, 8 p.m. Perhaps more intriguing
is opener Jim and Sam whose sound is positioned somewhere in the bluegrassy knoll. The
L.A. folk sweethearts are bound to break out
with their Simon and Garfunkel meets Serge
and Brigitte vibe (just scope their website for

Chrissake); and Chicago drum hero Dylan
Ryan (Herculaneum/Cursive/Rainbow Arabia) of Dylan Ryan/Sand is going to make
OLeavers patrons hallucinate at 9 p.m. with
his mind-bending projects free-jazz psychedelia. Opening is Arc Flash (Lawrence, Kan.) and
local band Chemicals.
Black Friday
Consumerism, violence, Walmart stampedes, cold stuffing, gray skies, parking lot
tents, crowded multiplexes and leftover pumpkin pie; Black Friday is as American as apple
pie and Black Monday and Black Tuesday,
and so is partaking in your own tradition Nov.
25:Sad13 (Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz) is
dropping her 8-bit, anti-pop truth bomb on
Milk Run, 9 p.m. The New York native is touring in support of her freshly minted debut Slugger, which is a consent-minded, sex-positive
critique on rape culture in mainstream music.
Opening is fellow New Yorker Vagabon and
Mannequin Pussy (Philadelphia). Gypsy punk
ensemble Gogol Bordello is throwing the other
party at Slowdown, 9 p.m. The New York octet
with an Eastern European flare is known for its
eight-ring circus gimmickry that ties into one
theatrical act. Expect obscure instruments, a
diverse cast and great facial hair.,
JAKES CIGARS AND SPIRITS
10TUHAL
ANN
NO JUDGES!
JUST EVENTS
& FOLLICLE
WORSHIP
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
55
hoodoo
LetsBuzz
THE PALADINS
PHOTO BY LISA DEAN
The Paladins return, Mark Hummel, Anson Funderburgh and Little Charlie Baty bring their Golden
State-Lone Star Revue to the Zoo, Danielle Nicole and Josh Hoyer gig at The 21st
BY B.J. HUCHTEMANN
CHIP DUDEN
ig shows this month include the return

of hard-charging rockabilly heroes The
Paladins for two shows at Lincolns
Zoo Bar Tuesday, Nov. 15 and Thursday,
Nov. 17, 6-9 p.m. both nights. Fans newer to the
roots scene may recognize guitarist Dave Gonzalez
as the co-leader of the Hacienda Brothers with
the late Chris Gaffney. But for a couple decades prior
to the Hacienda Brothers, Gonzalez was part of the
astonishingly tight and rockin Paladins along with
bassist Thomas Yearsley. Brian Fahey is back in the
drummers chair for this tour. The band is hitting a
select series of venues in support of the release of a
double vinyl, Slippin In Ernestos (Lux Records). See
paladinsband.com and luxrecordsusa.com.
In between those two great shows, the Zoo slides
in another top-flight touring act. The Golden
State-Lone Star Revue gigs at the Zoo Wednesday, Nov. 16, 6-9 p.m. featuring harmonica great
Mark Hummel and the one-two guitar-powerpunch of Anson Funderburgh and Little Charlie Baty
on guitars. See markhummel.com/golden_state.html.
Other notable dates include Josh Hoyer & Soul
Colossal Saturday, Nov. 12, 10 p.m. and Mezcal
Brothers Saturday, Nov. 26, 9 p.m. Visit zoobar.
com for the latest schedule.
HOODOO focuses on blues,

roots, Americana and occasional other music styles with an
emphasis on live music performances. Hoodoo columnist B.J.
Huchtemann is a senior contributing writer and veteran music
journalist who received the Blues
Foundations 2015 Keeping the
Blues Alive Award for Journalism.
Follow her blog at hoodoorootsblues.blogspot.com and on
www.thereader.com.
56
21st Saloon Music
Omahas 21st Saloon is working hard to support

live roots music, with Cedric Burnside Thursday,
Nov. 3. Burnside is the grandson of the acclaimed
R.L. Burnside and furthering the hill country blues
tradition in his own right. See cedricburnside.net. Up
and coming young Illinois blues-rock guitarist Matthew Curry plugs in Thursday, Nov. 10. See matthewcurry.com. Homegrown soul-funk heroes Josh
Hoyer & Soul Colossal hit the 21st stage Friday, Nov. 11. The soulful blues of Danielle Nicole,
NOVEMBER 2016
| THE READER |
formerly of Trampled Under Foot, takes the spotlight

Thursday, Nov. 17. Former Russos proprietor Jim
DeShamp hosts a Home for the Holidays Super
Jam at the club Saturday, Nov. 26.
I caught Houstons Annika Chambers in 2015
playing before the Blues Music Awards in Memphis,
Her highly entertaining show and excellent band
put on a memorable set. On Thursday, Dec. 1, they
make what I believe Is their Omaha debut. Catch
this artist, shes poised to become a national blues
audience favorite after racking up notable Houston
awards for her big voice and voluptuous stage presence. See annikachambers.com.
More Roots Music
Tennessee Americana songwriter Matt Woods

gigs at Reverb Lounge Sunday, Nov. 13, 8 p.m. with
Evan Bartels. See therealmattwoods.com. Country band Slim Cessnas Auto Club is a 20-year veteran of the Denver roots music scene. Jello Biafra
said that theyre the country band that plays the bar
at the end of the world. Intrigued? Check then out
Thursday, Nov. 17, 9 p.m. at the Reverb and at slimcessnasautoclub.com.
The gypsy punk of Gogol Bordello takes over
Slowdown Friday, Nov. 25, 9 p.m.
My Morning Jackets Jim James plays
Slowdown Wednesday, Nov. 30, 8 p.m. Also performing is Twin Limb. See facebook.com/jimjamesmusic.
Gobble, Gobble
Matt Cox presents his seventh annual Canned in

Benson at the Barley Street Tavern Thanksgiving Eve,
Wednesday, Nov, 23. The songwriter showcase benefits local food pantries. See mattcoxmusic.net. 2016
International Blues Challenge finalists the Hector
Anchondo Band gear up The Waiting Room with
hoodoo
DANIELLE NICOLE
PHOTO BY MARINA CHAVEZ
their original, rockin blues Wednesday, Nov. 23, 9
p.m. Sebastian Lane & Roadrunners open.
See hectoranchondo.com. Meanwhile another veteran local blues band, Blue House, brings their
Thanksgiving Eve show to The 21st Saloon Nov. 23.
Hot Notes
Early Warning: Jon Dee Graham plays at the

Zoo Bar Tuesday, Dec. 13, 6-9 p.m.
Mark your calendar for this years Toy Drive
for Pine Ridge events. Saturday, Dec. 3, Lash
LaRues annual event takes over both the Waiting
Room and Reverb Lounge. Sunday, Dec. 4, Ill be
joining LaRue, aka Larry Dunn, on Rick Galushas
P.S. Blues program on 89.7 The River for another Toy
Drive tradition. Well have live music in the studios
and help raise awareness about the needs of families on the Reservation. Sunday, Dec. 4, the Blues
Society of Omaha co-hosts live music and a holiday party to benefit the charity.
Visit facebook.com/Toydriveforpineridge for updates and details. ,
| THE READER |
NOVEMBER 2016
57
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| THE READER |
18+
The Devil You Know
There will be cold days ahead. Although

the world is getting warmer, the upset in the
climate will lead to colder winters. In fact,
within 20 years the average winter will have
three months with below-zero weather, and
some will suffer months at a time of weather
cold enough to cause near-instantaneous
frostbite. As a result, most Americans will
spend much of the winter indoors, some
working form home, some going from
heated indoor parking lots to preheated
cars to heated indoor parking lots, without
ever setting foot outdoors. Many cities will
be connected by a series of skyways and
underground tunnels, making it possible
to walk for miles without ever exiting a
building. For the less fortunate, winter will
be a dangerous and often deadly time, as
spending any time at all outdoors will cost
limbs and sometimes life. Some will argue
that the very desperate deserve to freeze, but
most will have compassion and great warm
shelters will be built for the needy. In the
winter, one must be kind.
The fastest growing religion in the next

decade will be Satanism, to the shock and
horror of many mainstream Americans. By
2025, more Americans will tell surveys that
they are Satanists than Jews or Muslims
combined. There will be several branches of
the movement. The first will take it seriously
as a religion, while the second will treat
Satanism as satire, an opportunity to make
fun of established religion and challenge
laws that seem to favor religions. The latter
group will be the most visible, insisting on
their right to place Satanic ornaments next
to Christmas trees in public places, standing
alongside evangelists at college campus
and passing out one copy of Satanic
literature for every Bible passed out.
Ultimately, these pranksters will be doing
us a favor, as their behavior will cause
members of other religions to panic and
support laws that make clear the distinction
between church and state.
For more on these predictions and others by Dr.
Mysterian visit thereader.com.
Dating
Easy
FREE TO LISTEN
The Long Winters
2014 PC LLC
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3288
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NOVEMBER 2016 | VOLUME 23 | NUMBER 20

FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS IN NOVEMBER

We're packing the money booth full of CASH!

111 3RD STREET

SIOUX CITY, IA 51101

of a project to benefit clients in government and private

ARE YOU THAT RARE BREED of combined left-brained/

OPERATIONS RESEARCH ANALYST

WORK WITH A TEAM that is pioneering effective digital

Movie Music Series

Full-length movie with orchestra!

Make It Your Family Tradition!

December 10 -18, 2016

Ernest Richardson, conductor

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Tickets to these performances will go fastOrder Today!

HELP SHINE THE LIGHT ON HUNGER

Omaha Downtown/Old Market Area

Publisher John Heaston john@thereader.com

A Muslim and a Christian ... a blended union in a fractious era

hen it comes to religious diversity, Omaha has

SHARIF LIWARU AND GABRIELLE GAINESLIWARU

continued from page 8 y

Sharif taught our kids how to make Salat. We didnt continue to do it

NOVEMBER 4 & 6, 2016

First time you felt magic at the theater.

What was the first performance that moved you?

MAIN FLOOR SEATS STARTING AT $19

Americas Last Taboo

Cut to Fox News Dana Parino in 2013 during a discussion of

he earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.

the city of Omaha Mayors Fair Housing Advisory Board

The Carry Home

November 17, 2016

Free Housing Conference for

Register Today on Event Bright (Realities of Housing

BREAK OUT YOUR BATTERY-POWERED STRING LIGHTS, GLOVES,

continued from page 14 y

It was pretty small in Vermont, too, Linda Banta says. As a

Bensons Premier Roong Company

Through May 6, 2017

KANEKO Gallery, 1111 Jones St.

each others sound and energy. Next month will have a

The Bookworm is hosting a local book expo for authors

MACE HATHAWAY VIA FACEBOOK

y continued from page 19

like a rock show. Their most well-known hit is the Carol

EDDIE REDMAYNE PLAYS NEWT SCAMANDER

instead of London having all the fun, the story is set in

If you thought hip hop and classical music couldnt work

Knowles, centers around four steel workers in Britains

politics. This is when hes at his best. Whether you agree

Gogol Bordello always add a little something different to

NANCY LEPOS THE WATERING HOLE

Friday, Nov. 25 and Saturday, Nov. 26

Jave Yoshimoto is an Omahabased artist and educator of

NUMINOUS LETHOLOGICA BY JAVE YOSHIMOTO

his studio. Adding the childrens images to the cans puts

reclaimed by the earth) and some gorgeous vistas in

Once all the turkey, pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce

from its stable in varying styles, mediums, and methods

t has been months since Heartland Healing

Trust the CDC? Think again.

We are brainwashed to believe that government