The Reader 2-24-2011 by Pioneer Publishing

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011 VOL.18

official festival guide inside

news 7

Unicameral Update

dish 16 Brewin’ It Up

sending a message State senator’s Arizona-style immigration law would task Nebraska police with immigration enforcement cover story by andrew norman ~ Page 13

Unity Rally for Civil & Human Rights on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Lincoln Jan. 11

theater 28 Opposite Sides of ’Net

music 31

Open Highwayman

OMAHA JOBS 2

Weird 42

MOjo 44

FUNNIES 45

Full-time

JOB FAIR – APRIL 6, 2011 MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW! OmahaJobs.com will be hosting their first of five job fairs for 2011 on April 6th at CoCo Keys Resort from 10a.m. to 5p.m. FREE to the public. Many great companies have already signed up to do recruiting that day. Bring plenty of resumes and dress for success. Adults looking for employment, career change and education opportunites. Please plan to attend Omahajobs.com job fair.

Director of High School Admissions College of Saint Mary, seeks a Director of High School Admissions. This position, highly integral to the continued growth and vibrancy of the institution, will construct and execute a creative, data-driven enrollment strategy tailored to the needs of our growing high school class. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. EOE For additional information and to apply for this position, please go to the College of Saint Mary’s employment website, www. csm.edu./employment/.

Fantastic Beginnings Child CARE/PRESCHOOl NOW ENROLLING ALL AGES 4102 South 13th Street Title XX Welcome www. fantasticbeginnings.com (402) 408-0395

Data Support Systems Programmer position swelchert@datasupport. com For more information go to OmahaJobs.com.

Full-time

Business Analyst I The Metropolitan Utilities District is seeking qualified candidates for a Business Analyst I position in the Information Technology Department. Interested applicants must have Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, plus a minimum two years related work experience with project management, software development or system support. The District will accept applications only at 3100 South 61st Avenue, Gate #1, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., until March 31, 2011. Please check the District’s Employment line at 402.504.7019 or the TDD Line at 402. 504.7021 for information on other possible openings. Employment Contingent Upon Results of a Drug Screen and a Background Check.

COLLEGE OF NURSING Faculty positions are available with teaching responsibilities in gerontology, community health, women's health maternal/childchildren's health, medicalsurgical, nursing administration and acute care. These full and part-time positions will be available in 2011 at our Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney, Scottsbluff and Norfolk campuses. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

Senior Consultant, Implementation position. Able to Project Manage any and all project phases. Provide technical and advisory support to membership to ensure the development and implementation of products provide adherence to business requirements. TO APPLY, PLEASE VISIT WWW.MASTERCARD.COM/CA REERS <http://WWW.MASTERCARD.COM/CAREERS> (POSITION #2506). For more information, go to OmahaJobs.com.

Customer Service Clerk II The Metropolitan Utilities District is seeking a person to work in our Credit Services Division. Applications will be accepted between the hours of 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., until March 4, 2011. Check the District’s Hotline number (402) 5047019 or TDD line at 5047021 for information on other available openings. Employment Contingent Upon Results of a Drug Screen and a Background Check.

Graphic Designer Work with creative team designing advertisements for our print publications such as The Reader, El Perico, Directorial Latino, Vision Latina, Today's Omaha Women and numerous other client print publications. Check out OmahaJobs.com.

ACADEMIC PEDIATRIC ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON BC/BE fellowship-trained hand surgeons. The position involves patient care, teaching of residents and medical students, and research opportunities. For more informationm visit OmahaJobs.com.

Children’s Physicians RN/LPN (bilingual) FT We currently have a great opportunity for a bilingual nurse to assistant a new physician in our Spring Valley Clinic. A current NE license is required, pediatric experience preferred. Children’s Hospital & Medical CenterApply on line @ www.childrensomaha.org EOE.

WIRE-N-I.T. needs INDEPENDANT LOW VOLTAGE SUBCONTRACTOR Must have own working vehicle, insurance and valid drivers license. Experience a must. Call 402-546-9479 For more information go to OmahaJobs.com.

Zio’s Pizzeria Servers Contact ziospizza@juno. com For more information go to OmahaJobs.com.

Security Compliance Specialist The Metropolitan Utilities District is seeking a person to work in our Security Division. Applications will be accepted between the hours of 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., until March 4, 2011. Check the District’s Hotline number (402) 504-7019 or TDD line at 504-7021 for information on other available openings.Employment Contingent Upon Results of a Drug Screen and a Background CheckAn Equal Opportunity Employer “M/F/ D/V”

Flu Study

Farmers Insurance PT Contact Manager Contact mcarlson1@farmersagent com. For more information go to OmahaJobs.com.

Clinical Specialist Franchise Sales. Develops long-term relationships with physicians and other customers for the customer accounts in the assigned territory. For more information, visit OmahaJobs. com.

R&R Advertising Seasonal PT jobs at TDAmeritrade Park Omaha. Contact jthaller@mac.com. For more information go to OmahaJobs.com. ASSt. STORE DIRECTOR Manages, plans and leads the day to day activities of an individual retail store in conjunction with, or in absence of, the Store Director, ensuring profitable operation of all departments. Implements company merchandising and inventory programs. Schedules work loads; hires and trains store associates; and resolves all store associate relations issues. Has total responsibility for store operations when Store Director is absent. For more information, visit OmahaJobs.com.

Administrative asst. Full time entry-level position. The primary duties include serving as receptionist and chief greeter to all arriving visitors as well as providing staff liaison and administrative support This is an opportunity well suited for an individual seeking experience in and knowledge of cultural nonprofits. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com. Graduate Assistant. The Department of Health, Human Performance, and Sport is soliciting applications for graduate assistantships in Exercise Science and Sport Management to begin fall semester 2011. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

Coordinator-Recruitment/ Academic Support Services

University of Nebraska at Omaha

Manage recruitment and academic support services for award-winning Goodrich program. View description and apply on line at www.unomaha.edu/humanresources/employment.php. Attach cover letter, resume electronically to application. Submit transcripts and 3 reference letters (sent directly from references) to UNO Human Resources, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68182. UNO is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and participates in E-Verify.

Ambitious? Creative? Outgoing?

10040 Regency Circle Suite 375 Omaha NE 68114 402-934-0044 Fax 402-934-0048 www.QCRomaha.com

feb. 24 - MARCH 2, 2011

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omaha jobs

Now Hiring!

Pioneer Publishing, a fast growing local media company with over 10 channels, both print and online, is seeking Marketing Solutions Experts for full-time, part-time and freelance positions. Successful candidates must be ambitious, creative, outgoing, super helpful with a passion for solving problems and building relationships. If you have a background in sales, marketing or customer service, especially in the bar, restaurant, automotive or media industries, we want to talk to you! We need team members who are ready to meet new people, understand marketing needs, close the deal and deliver ongoing value. Spanish proficiency is a plus. Graphic and Web Design Openings Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite, HTML, Expression Engine experience a PLUS. Work with creative team of Local Print and Digital Media. Varying M-F schedules. English and Spanish required.

Drop your resume and goals to work@thereader.com

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BURST_6_Upper_A_News feb. 24 - March 2, 2011 3

feb. 24 - March 2, 2011

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Letters to the Editor: letters@thereader.com

EDITORIAL

Publisher/Editor: John Heaston Content Director: Eric Stoakes, erics@threader.com Managing Editor: Sean Brennan, seanb@thereader.com Contributing News Editor: Andrew Norman, andrewn@thereader.com Listings Editor: Paul Clark, listings@thereader.com Copy Editor: Ed Howard Contributing Editors: Ryan Syrek, Lainey Seyler, Chris Aponick Senior Editorial Contributors: Leo Biga, Michael Braunstein, Warren Francke, B.J. Huchtemann, Tim McMahan, Michael Pryor, Jesse D. Stanek, Kyle Tonniges, Sarah Wengert Editorial Contributors: Brian S. Allen, Chris Aponick, Avishay Artsy, Mike Babcock, Sarah Baker Hansen, Nicole Blauw, Wayne Brekke, Steve Brewer, Chalis Bristol, Jill Bruckner, Jeremy Buckley, Jesse Claeys, Paul Clark, Ben Coffman, Brent Crampton, Sally Deskins, Kyle Eustice, Jarrett Fontaine, Adam Froemming, Layne Gabriel, Phil Jarrett, Tessa Jeffers, Camille Kelly, Michael J. Krainak, Jason Krivanek, Casey Logan, Sarah Lorsung Tvrdik, Jasmine Maharisi, Sean McCarthy, Rob McLean, Neal Obermeyer, Adam Payson, Hal Senal, Justin Senkbile, Patricia Sindelar, Darian Stout, Carson Vaughan, Brandon Vogel, Brady Vredenburg, John Wenz, David Williams Photography Contributors: Neal Duffy, Bryce Bridges, Adam Brubaker, Justin Barnes, Fletch, Eric Francis, Dale Heise, Bill Sitzmann, Paparazzi by Appointment, Sean Welch, Marlon A. Wright

PRODUCTION AND DESIGN

Creative Director: Eric Stoakes, erics@thereader.com Production/Graphics Assistant: Derrick Schott, derricks@thereader.com

DISTRIBUTION

Distribution Manager: Clay Seaman Delivery Team: Roy Allen, Ed Boyer, Neal Duffy, Don Henkens, Dick Himmerberg, Jason Hipsher, Mark Kelly, Micah McGaffin, Juan Ramirez, Patrick Seals, Joe Shearer, Shari Wilhelm

ADVERTISING & BUSINESS

Account Executives: Jess Meadows, Kathy Flavell, Rita Staley, Erik Totten Sales Associate: David Mills Communications Coordinator: David Williams Management Analyst: Diana Gonzalez Office Manager: Kerry Olson

PROMOTIONS

Promotions Director: Rita Staley, ritas@thereader.com Creative Director: Eric Stoakes, erics@thereader.com Style Events Coordinator: Jessica Hill, Deaunna Hardrich, Jessica Stensrud

new etc.

7 Top News 8-9 News Hound ————————————————

heartland healing

11 Mortal Combat ————————————————

f e b . 2 4 - m a r c h 2 , 2 0 11 V O L . 1 8 n o . 0 1

lazy-i

cover story

34 Smells Like Noah’s Ark ————————————————

Sending a Message

hoodoo

State senator’s Arizona-style immigration law would task Nebraska police with immigration enforcement ~ Page 13

35 The Lift: New Owners, New Name ————————————————

film

dish

eight days

39 Death and Debt 39 Cutting Room: Film News 40 German Engineering 40 Report Card: Film Grades ————————————————

art

42 Eargasm, Anyone? ————————————————

16 Beer Country, U.S.A. 16 Crumbs: Food News ———————————————— 18-19 This Week’s Top Events ————————————————

news of the weird

27 Post-Graduate Work 27 Mixed Media: Art News 28 Booked: Literary News ————————————————

mojo

44 Planet Power Horoscopes ————————————————

theater

27 Buzz Worthy 27 Cold Cream: Theater News 28 Opposite Sides of ’Net ————————————————

Eric Gonzalez

P.O. Box 7360 Omaha, NE 68107 Phone 402.341.7323 Fax 402.341.6967 www.thereader.com OUR STAFF

this week

funnies

45 Modern World, Red Meat, Dr. Mysterian ————————————————

music

31 Open Highwayman 31 Backbeat: Music News 32 Truckers’ Narrator ————————————————

Interns

Jessica Stensrud Dick Akromis The Reader is published every Thursday by Pioneer Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 7360, Omaha, NE 68107, 402.341.READ, Fax 402.341.6967. The Reader is free in the Omaha, Lincoln, Council Bluffs area. Domestic subscriptions area available for $35 a year. Opinions expressed herein are those of the writer(s) and may not reflect the opinion of The Reader, its management and employees or its advertisers. The Reader accepts unsolicited manuscripts. For more advertising rates contact sales@ thereader.com. To send comments to the editor, contact letters@thereader.com

PARTNERS Heartland Healing: Michael Braunstein, hh@thereader.com

Today’s Omaha Woman: Carrie Kentch, carriek@thereader.com

Woman TODAY’S OMAHA

Omahajobs.com: omahajobs@thereader.com

El Perico: elperico@abm-enterprises.com Directorio Latino: dlo@abm-enterprises.com

contents

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feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

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feb. 24 - March 2, 2011

| THE READER |

notableevents

Q Firefighters Union Public Forum: Thursday, Feb. 24, 5:30 p.m., Firefighters Union Hall, 60th and Grover. The Omaha Firefighters Union will discuss staffing, pensions and issues related to ongoing contract negotiations. local385.com Q Pushing Past the Achievement Gap: Thursday, Feb. 24, 6:30 p.m., Thompson Alumni Center, 6705 Dodge St. University of Wisconsin professor Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings talks about the education gap in America. omahalwv.org Q Heartland Walk for Warmth: Friday, Feb. 25, 6 p.m., Turner Park, 3110 Farnam St. A charity walk to benefit those who need help paying their energy bills. heartlandwalkforwarmth.org

Governor’s budget proposal sees few changes; and a hearing on arming teachers by Fred Knapp, NET News

he Legislature will likely approve most of the deep cuts Gov. Dave Heineman has proposed for the state budget, but the debate is not over yet. How do you make a projected budget gap of nearly $1 billion over the next two years disappear? First, you change your assumptions. The Appropriations Committee’s preliminary budget stops assuming the school aid formula will remain the same, and the state will make up for the loss of federal stimulus funds. That “saves” nearly $400 million, although it leaves schools to deal with the results. You also use more than $250 million from the cash reserve. And you make a series of other adjustments in everything from Medicaid to state aid to cities, counties and natural resources districts. That’s what the Appropriations Committee has done, and its chairman, Senator LaVon Heidemann, expects that’s close to how things will turn out. “I don’t think you’re going to see major changes,” Heidemann says. “You might see some minor changes as we go through the public hearing process. We’re going to learn what our proposal will do to everything, and they’re going to voice their concerns. We might have some tweaks here and there, but we don’t have the room to wander too far.” The committee’s preliminary budget already contains some tweaks, compared to what the governor proposed. It would cut payments to Medicaid providers 4 percent, instead of 5 percent. That cut

could be eliminated entirely if the Legislature approves a proposed cigarette tax increase. That proposed tax increase could also affect whether or not lawmakers feel they can set aside more money for roads, beginning two years from now. One thing the committee and the governor agree on is appropriating $25 million to begin construction on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s innovation campus, on the old State Fair grounds. The committee is also recommending about $6 million more than the governor in state aid to schools over the next two years. That’s still tens of millions

state Sen. lavon heidemann

short of what Education Committee Chairman Sen. Greg Adams would like to see for school aid. The amount budgeted could go higher, if the state’s revenue forecast improves. That forecast is due to be revised Friday, Feb. 25, and again in late April, before final budget decisions are made.

A proposal to let teachers carry guns in schools draws strong opposition Senator Mark Christensen of Imperial introduced the bill after an incident last month when a Millard South High School student fatally shot one administrator and wounded another before killing himself. Christensen’s aide Dan Wiles opened the hearing reading a statement from the senator referring to the incident. “As a society, how should we respond to such senseless violence?” he asked. “The way I see it, we

e d i t e d

service: 18.64 The national average for state and local wireless phone taxes: 11.21 Nebraska’s rank in overall wireless taxes: 1 Number of states who charge taxes less than 10 percent: 28

Source: The Tax Foundation

a n d r e w

n o r m a n

New report details risks of transporting tar sands oil

usually respond in one of three ways: We either resign ourselves to the idea that this is just the way things are now, and do nothing, or we crack down by taking freedoms away, which usually affect lawabiding people the most, or we give people more freedom to defend themselves. Most of you know that the latter is how I lean.” Christensen’s bill would allow teachers, administrators and security personnel to carry concealed weapons in Nebraska schools and colleges. The action would have to be approved by a two-thirds vote of the governing body, like the school board. And those carrying would have to qualify under the state’s concealed carry law. The proposal drew support from Andy Allen, president of the Nebraska Firearm Owners Association, and several individuals. It was opposed by representatives of the NSEA school employees union and Nebraska private colleges, the security director for Lincoln Public Schools, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln police chief. Brian Hale, representing the Nebraska Association of School Boards, said more guns in schools would probably increase risks. “At any given time, students or others may find a way to wrestle those away in some manner if they feel so compelled,” he said. “It just … seems to be one of those things that the safety of schools probably is going to be ensured by having fewer weapons in the building, as opposed to more.” Lincoln Senator Amanda McGill said she would prefer having more mental health counselors available. Lincoln Senator Colby Coash read a letter from a student suggesting a teacher might snap, or mistake a student searching for something in a backpack for someone going for a weapon. Omaha Senator Brad Ashford said he’s concerned about schools that don’t have the resources to have professional security guards if they need them, but added that’s a separate issue. , The story was produced by NET News. Visit netNebraska.org.

numberscruncher

TAXING TEXTS: Percentage Nebraskans spend on state and local taxes on wireless phone

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upfront

Unicameral Update

topnews Proponents of the Keystone XL Pipeline say importing North American tar sands oil is key to establishing America’s energy independence. But a new national study released Feb. 16 by four environmental groups says transporting that oil — the same kind that would course through the Sandhills as part of the Keystone XL project — is riskier than transporting standard crude oil. Tar sands oil extracted from western Canada is a heavier crude oil blend of petroleum and natural gas products – known as diluted bitumen or DilBit - that is more chemically corrosive and contains higher levels of quartz sand and other abrasive materials, according to “Tar Sands Pipeline Safety Risks.” The study was conducted by the National Resource Defense Council, Pipeline Safety Trust, National Wildlife Federation and Sierra Club. Key findings from the 16-page report include: l From 2000 to 2010, exports of DilBit oil to the United States grew from 100,000 barrels daily to 500,000 barrels. The Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) estimates Canadian oil producers will triple that amount by 2019. l DilBit oil is 15 to 20 times more acidic than crude oil. l DilBit pipelines – such as the Keystone and Keystone XL lines - operate at nearly double the pressure of conventional oil lines, making them more susceptible to rupture. l Between 2002 and 2010, Alberta experienced 218 spills caused by internal corrosion for every 10,000 miles of pipeline. The U.S. experienced 13.6 spills per 10,000 miles over that same span. l U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration regulations currently do not differentiate tar sands oil from conventional crude oil. The Alberta ERCB issued a statement Feb. 16 calling the report “flawed” and “misleading.” But NRDC director Susan Casey-Lefkowitz stands behind findings. “The ERCB is trying to hide the ball when it comes to diluted bitumen’s impact on pipelines,” she says. “This is not a game that they should be playing with questions so critical to the health of our communities and special places.” The NRDC has asked the U.S. State Department to delay approval of any DilBit pipeline, including the Keystone XL project, until additional safety regulations are in place. The State Department is expected to approve or deny building permits for the Keystone XL pipeline in mid- to late-2011. — Brandon Vogel

theysaidit they PALIN COMPARISON: “It’s a free country and if you can convince enough people that you’re the best candidate then, yes, you’re qualified to be the President of the United States.” —Gov. Dave Heineman in an interview with Nebraska Watchdog on whether Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as President. A 2009 CNN poll showed 70 percent of Americans did not believe Palin was qualified to run the country.

news

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feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

iences ature aud m r fo d e intend

thenewshound

P O L I T I C O | L AW A N D O R D E R | B U S I N E S S A N D D E V E L O P M E N T Man dies after home invasion arrest

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Michael Moore, 26, died in police custody Feb. 18 of an unknown cause after invading a home at 4206 California St. According to police reports, Moore approached a female victim outside her home, grabbed her and entered her residence. The victim freed herself, picked up her son and ran outside where she was again assaulted by Moore as she called for help. When officers arrived, a group of citizens were holding the suspect down and helped the police take him into custody. Omaha Police spokesman Officer Michael Pecha said Moore was placed inside a police cruiser where he lost consciousness. Officers at the scene performed CPR until medics arrived and transported Moore to the Nebraska Medical Center where he died a short time later. Witnesses told police that Moore was acting irrationally at the time of the invasion and appeared to be under the influence of drugs. Police have yet to receive results of the autopsy. Officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative duty as they await a grand jury hearing in the death.

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news

after a federal judge pushed the trial back to April 2012. A hearing for the legal challenges to the voter-approved ordinance had been scheduled for March 15 but on Feb. 17, U.S. Magistrate Judge F.A. Gossett granted the plaintiffsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; request for more time to prepare. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund are challenging the law in court. As part of the agreement, the law penalizing landlords and employers who rent to or hire undocumented immigrants remains on hold pending the legal challenge.

Pair of police pursuits lead to multiple arrests Omaha Police made four arrests last week after two vehicle pursuits through the city. Kevin Marco, 21, was arrested Feb. 18 following a high speed chase that started and ended in South Omaha and traveled through Sarpy County and parts of Iowa. Officers deployed a tire deflation device on Highway 75 and eventually apprehended Marco at 4150 L St. Officers determined that the vehicle was stolen and also found methamphetamine in Marcoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possession. He was booked on four charges of possession with intent to deliver, flight to avoid arrest, receiving a stolen item and obstructing. Marco was additionally booked on four unrelated assault and drug and weapon possession warrants.

murderink they Quincy Coleman, 25, was shot and killed at 3421 N. 21st St. on Feb. 1. Police have made no arrests. 2011 HOMICIDES: 5 (THERE WERE 2 HOMICDES AT THIS TIME LAST YEAR)

Jasmine Fields, 19, and two minors were arrested Feb. 21 following a chase through parts of South Omaha and Midtown. The pursuit began when officers responded to a call of suspicious activity as the suspects were seen putting on gloves and hoods outside Bucky’s Service Station, 2400 Martha St. Upon police arrival, the suspect vehicle fled, striking a vehicle at 42nd and Mason before being stopped near 27th and Leavenworth. The suspects were booked on conspiracy for planning to rob the Bucky’s Service Station as well as charges related to six previous robberies in the Omaha area.

Immigration symposium set for March 4

Nebraska’s newest wind farm helps power Omaha

Babysitter arrested in child’s death

Omaha Public Power District dedicated the first wind farm in its 13 county footprint in eastern and southeastern Nebraska at a ceremony Feb. 17 in Humboldt. The Flat Water Wind Farm is capable of producing 60 megawatts of energy, enough to power 18,000 homes, and OPPD has signed a 20-year agreement to purchase all of the $165 million facility’s energy output. “We’re proud to officially dedicate the first wind farm in our service territory,” said OPPD President Gary Gates. “It serves as a significant step in reaching our self-imposed goal of generating 10 percent of our electricity from renewable resources.” By the end of 2011, OPPD expects 4.3 percent of its energy sales to be generated from renewable resources, up from 1.6 percent in 2010. Last year, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory ranked Nebraska third in wind energy potential.

The Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will host an immigration symposium at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln on Mar. 4. Entitled “Diverse Faces, Shared Histories: Immigrants on the Great Plains” the symposium will feature national scholars along with UNL faculty providing Native, Asian, African, American and Latino perspectives on the history of immigration in Nebraska. The daylong event is free and open to the public. For more information visit unl.edu/plains. Keny Medrano-Cambara, 30, was arrested Feb. 18 in connection with the death last summer of a 17-month-old girl. On July 8, Brianna Medrano’s parents dropped their daughter off at Medrano-Cambara’s house where the child became ill. She was transported to the Creighton University Medical Center with unknown injuries and then taken to Children’s Hospital and Medical Center where she died July 9. Autopsy results revealed Medrano had suffered brain injuries resulting from blunt head trauma. Police arrested Medrano-Cambara on a warrant for felony child abuse resulting in homicide.

Young Professionals Summit March 3

8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. If you’re interested in contributing to business and the community, join us and get inspired. Featuring

Cory Booker

Mayor of Newark, New Jersey

Cost: $125 Register by Feb. 24 at

OmahaYoungProfessionals.org/YPSummit

Sponsors

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Shooting Rounds Blake Hodges, 19, survived after being shot Feb. 19 while walking near 43rd and Marcy. Daniel Nero, 28, survived after being shot early Feb. 19 at 3508 N. 40th Ave. Police have made no arrests in either shooting. — Brandon Vogel

news

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feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

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heartlandhealing

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Mortal Combat: If You Eat Food, Read This

ou’re being held hostage and likely don’t know it. Two entities are locked in mortal combat with everyone on the planet caught in the middle. On one side is the overwhelming power and bloated might of Corporate Greed. On the other side are those who could literally be known as Food Freedom Fighters. The battlefield is your kitchen table or, more accurately, your body. Thomas Jefferson once said: “If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” What you put in your body, what you nourish yourself with, is being increasingly scrutinized and regulated by government oversight. As always, they say “it’s for the general good,” but the reality is closer to what Ronald Reagan described as the “nine most dangerous words in the English language,” (“I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”) On Jan. 4, 2011, Barack Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act. In a nutshell, FSMA is painted as an effort to make our food safer by interdicting causes of food borne illness before tainted food reaches the market place. The FDA is now granted sweeping powers to detail and demand exactly how food is grown and produced. To the unaware, that sounds like a good idea. The problem is that the very infrastructure that makes massproduced industrial food is what makes mass-produced industrial food dangerous. The new law does nothing to address the fact that housing tens of thousands of chickens, pigs or cattle in confined animal feeding operations and feeding them food that is bad for them is inherently going to be an unhealthful situation. The new law will impose extensive costs in documenting production methods and inspection fees for produce. That step may be of some limited benefit to the public by regulating large-scale growers who use profitmotivated shortcuts to grow vegetables and fruit (such as fertilizing with sewage sludge,) but will make production for small-scale growers costlier and more difficult. The new law treats huge, massively financed corporations and small, localized, family-farm growers equally. Already, the repercussions of this new law are echoing through the farming communities of the Heartland. Gone Fishin’. Family farmers are being squeezed out of business. The costs of complying with the new law go beyond money. It involves labor, too, and that is the highest premium an agency can exact from a small, family farmer. “It’s a question of labor,” one farmer told me last month. “We just don’t have the people in the county to find workers. It costs huge dollars to even have employees at all and if you can’t do the work with just your family, you’re in a bind. The new law will take hours and

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hours of paperwork and changes to comply with rules that really are designed for big corporations.” Employee benefits and compensation are easier for agribusiness conglomerates, but not so for the smaller farm. And the manpower often just doesn’t exist in the rural areas even if it could be afforded. The meat of the matter. The same farmer told me about problems in the small-farmer meat industry. Though the new law doesn’t directly include changes in USDA regulations, the agency that enforces meat and egg production, the increased cost of compliance is threatening their existence. Small meat processing plants are necessary for the small farmer who raises livestock outside the industrial feedlot mega-producers. Small processors must be USDA inspected in order to allow small farmers to sell meat to the public. “My processor told me he’ll be unable to afford compliance with the new law’s rules. I won’t have anywhere to process my pigs,” the farmer told me. The result? “We’re looking to grow food for our family and won’t be selling to the public at all.” The new law is going to have direct impact on American’s food options. The farmer I talked with will no longer be taking part in farmers markets. He isn’t the first and won’t be the last. This summer, when you visit a farmers market, your favorite grower may not be there. Fuelish thing to do. Back in December, I wrote in one of our predictions for 2011 that food prices would skyrocket. I had no idea how much. The United Nations says that the world is already in a food crisis. The World Bank warned in a February 15 report that food prices rose 29 percent since last year and jumped 15 percent since just last October and are linked to civil unrest worldwide. The effect is local, too. The Grain Place is an organic farm and a grain and nut supplier operated by the Vetter family near Marquette, Neb., since 1953. One product is organic sunflower seed sourced from neighboring states for sale to local customers. This past weekend at the Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society conference in Columbus, Neb., Dave Vetter said he can’t get sunflower seeds in the United States any longer. He told me a large part of the reason is that arable U.S. cropland is being taken out of food production and converted to corn for ethanol production. Food: The final frontier. There are at least three things you can do. First, get acquainted with the problem. The concentration of the control of food into the hands of large corporations and out of the hands of small farmers is narrowing your choice for healthful food. Second, support direct to consumer marketing by small family farms and thirdly, protect your right to access the food you want by taking action. Casey Foster from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture told me the final regulations for the FSMA have not been drafted. There may be some wiggle-room to protect your rights to real food. Public comment can make a change. Visit VoteRealFood. com for information. Be well. ,

HEARTLAND HEALING by Michael Braunstein examines various alternative forms of healing. It is

provided as a source of information, not as medical advice. It is not an endorsement of any particular therapy, either by the writer or The Reader. Access past columns at HeartlandHealing.com

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FEB. 24 - MARCH 2, 2011

THEJUMP

â&#x2013; Beat Texas. A rallying cry for most of 2010, the words became pathetic after a disastrous Texas football team beat what we thought was a very good Nebraska squad in Lincoln in October. If you knew where to look, the No Frills on Saddle Creek for instance, you could still find some of those â&#x20AC;&#x153;Beat Texasâ&#x20AC;? T-shirts available for around $2.99, a three-dollar reminder of failure and farewell to the Big 12 Conference. How many Huskers fans wouldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve thought theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d come in handy during basketball season? After beating No. 3 Texas 70-67 on Saturday â&#x20AC;&#x201D; easily the biggest win of Doc Sadlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s career in Lincoln â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Nebraska is suddenly a part of NCAA Tournament talk. As of Sunday, RealTimeRPI.com had the Huskers ranked 63rd in their most recent RPI rankings, so thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still work to do. The Huskers have two chances to really impress. Jerry Palm, resident bracketologist at CBS Sports, had Kansas State in the tournament as of last week with an 18-9 record overall (6-6 in conference) while Nebraska started the week at 18-8 (6-6). Beat the Wildcats on Feb. 23 and tournament talk can really heat up. Then thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the last home game of the season against No. 21 Missouri. Win both home games, and the Huskers are 16-1 at home this year. Another victory against either Iowa State or Colorado and we might have to be tracking the NCAA Tournament in addition to spring football during March for the first time since 1998. â&#x2013; If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re planning on going to Creightonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home finale against Northern Iowa on Feb. 26 be forewarned that there is a dress code. The athletic department is hoping to color the Qwest in a checkerboard pattern of alternating white and blue sections. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a risky move. Nothing ruins a crisp white oxford like a blue ink stain or a once in a lifetime travel photo like a Styrofoam cup floating in the Mediterranean. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to be the guy who screws up? Visit gocreighton.com for a seating map. â&#x2013; There may be no single better sport to write about than boxing. Try working words like â&#x20AC;&#x153;fisticâ&#x20AC;? or â&#x20AC;&#x153;pugilistsâ&#x20AC;? into every day conversation. It isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t easy but Omaha will get the opportunity next month. The Golden Gloves District Championship hits the Tip Top Ballroom on Mar. 5. Call 895.8959 for more information. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Brandon Vogel The Jump takes you behind the local headlines. Email jump@thereader.com and look for daily updates at twitter.com/brandonlvogel.

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FEB. 24 - MARCH 2, 2011

| THE READER |

coverstory

Sending A Message State senator’s Arizonastyle immigration law would task Nebraska police with immigration enforcement

The anchor baby question was last on my list. But when Janssen gets a call to vote, says he’ll have to cut our interview short and stands up to leave the room, I tell him I have just one more question.

Nativists and Gorillas

by Andrew Norman

n an interview in office number 1403 in the State Capitol, Sen. Charlie Janssen doesn’t offer much insight about why a first-term senator would make immigration — inherently contentious and complicated — his pet issue. There’s no Minuteman poster on his wall. No United States map with a red target. Instead, there are drawings from school kids with Latino names thanking him for a visit; not the decorations one might expect in the office of someone who in fewer than three years in the Unicameral has made enemies of just about every Latinoadvocacy organization in the state. “[Immigration] should be important to everybody,” says the 40-year-old Navy veteran. “I was elected to solve problems, not to ignore problems and to pass the buck.” Reasonable people on both sides of the immigration issue largely agree that an estimated 11 million people living off the books in this country represent a problem. Critics say Janssen’s solution, LB 48, creates more problems than it solves. Modeled after the 2009 Arizona law whose constitutionality is being challenged before the Supreme Court, it would require local law enforcement, when enforcing other laws, to determine the immigration status of people they have reasonable suspicion to believe are in the country illegally. It would give police authority to detain people and transport them into federal custody. The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee will conduct a public hearing on the measure March 2 at 1:30 p.m. in the state Capitol. “It’s clear that this brings many new costs and problems and it doesn’t actually fix anything,” says Darcy Tromanhauser, executive director of Nebraska Appleseed, a public advocacy law firm that supports comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level.

The group is working to fight LB 48, as well as the Fremont ordinance passed last June that would make it illegal to hire or rent housing to undocumented immigrants. The ordinance was immediately challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska and the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund. Enforcement of the ordinance has been delayed pending outcome of the litigation. A Nickerson, Neb., native, Janssen was on the Fremont City Council in 2008 when it introduced the first version of the ordinance. That year, he was elected to the Unicameral, replacing his uncle, Ray Janssen, who served the 15th District (which includes Fremont) for 16 years until being term limited out of office. The younger Janssen made immigration his legislative priority. He attempted but failed to defund the Latino-American and Native American commissions. “I’m not saying those organizations don’t have a mission,” he told the Fremont Tribune in January. “I just don’t think it needs to be taxpayer funded.” This month, the Education Committee voted 6-1 to kill LB 657, Janssen’s third attempt to repeal Nebraska’s Dream Act. The law allows instate tuition rates for some undocumented students who live in the state for at least three years, graduate from a Nebraska high school or obtaining a GED, and pledge to pursue legal status.

Opponents of Janssen’s bill included some of the state’s foremost education and social groups, as well as Somos Republicans, which claims to be the nation’s largest Hispanic Republican organization. It was the second run-in the Republican lawmaker had with Somos Republicans this year. In January, he drew fire for using the term “anchor baby” in an interview with the Fremont Tribune when referring to children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrant parents. Janssen is a member of a national coalition of state senators working to repeal the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which grants citizenship to native-born children. “Janssen is being insensitive and his actions are reprehensible,” Somos Republicans wrote in a press release Jan. 3. “The term ‘anchor baby’ is equivalent to other defamatory terms such as ‘wetback,’ ‘pickaninny,’ ‘kike’ and ‘tar baby.’” During the course of our half-hour interview — which was interrupted once by a call from the governor — Janssen’s face turns increasingly red and his voice rises slightly when he’s asked about reports of harassment submitted from Latino citizens in Fremont since that city’s ordinance was adopted. He enunciates forcefully when he says it is an “out-and-out lie.” And when asked about law enforcement concerns that LB 48 could sour Latino community’s trust in police, he replies, “Well, don’t come here illegally.”

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“The 800-pound gorilla here is the majority of [undocumented immigrants are] coming from south of the border,” Janssen says. His critics, including Nebraska Appleseed and One Fremont One Future, a grassroots organization formed to oppose Fremont’s ordinance, say immigration is a federal issue that should be dealt with through comprehensive legislation from Congress. Janssen, and many other conservative lawmakers and groups, are sick of waiting for a Congress that lacks the stomach for reform. Lawmakers have pushed local or state immigration laws in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and other states. A common link in many of these cases is Kris Kobach, recently elected secretary of state in Kansas. Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s chief advisor on immigration and border security, Kobach has worked since 2004 as chief legal counsel to the Immigration Reform Law Institute — the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The Southern Poverty Law Center has long listed FAIR as a hate group because of its leaders’ ties to supremacist groups and eugenicists. Kobach has helped write and defend ordinances in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Texas, Kansas and Fremont, Neb., targeting undocumented immigrants. And he’s made thousands of dollars helping the cities defend the laws in court, according to Southern Poverty Law Center. Hazleton, Pa., has spent more than $2.8 million unsuccessfully defending its ordinance that would require proof of citizenship to rent homes in the city. Farmers Branch, Texas, has spent more than $3.7 million for its residency law, upon which a judge has placed a permanent injunction (the city is appealing the decision). Valley Park, Mo., spent more than $270,000 for a watered-down version of its ordinance which would fine employers who hire undocumented immigrants without verifying their status through the federal E-Verify system. Kobach says he’s working without pay for the City of Fremont, which estimates it will

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Janssen says if an officer is profiling, they’re not doing their job. “That’s never going to go away,” he says. “But do we not enact or try to enforce our laws based solely on that?” Council calls that defense disingenuous. “What police officer in the state of Nebraska is going to ask a European Caucasian to show papers evidencing that they’re lawfully present in the United States?” she says. “The only people who are going to be asked that question are going to be people of color.” Former Los Angeles police chief and New York City police commissioner William Bratton says LB 48 and the Arizona immigration law could decrease community trust in police. He says turning police into arms of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement will mean undocumented immigrants will be less likely to report

spend about $750,000 to defend its ordinance. Adopted by voters last June, the ordinance is still on hold. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska and the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund immediately sued the city, saying the ordinance was discriminatory. It’s going to be at least another year before that case is settled. U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp last week scheduled an April 2012 trial. Arizona’s governor’s office said the state had spent more than $1 million at the end of July 2010 to defend its state law, which is still in court. It is the country’s most stringent statute targeting undocumented immigrants, requiring police officers to check immigration status of suspected undocumented persons. A federal judge has blocked that section Charlie JANSSEN of the law, which critics say would lead to racial profiling. A similar provision is in Janssen’s Nebraska-focused answer to the 800-pound gorilla. Modeled after the Arizona bill, it would require police officers, when enforcing other laws, to question the immigration status of people they have “reasonable suspicion” to believe are in the country illegally. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning helped craft the law. His office did not respond to The Reader’s requests for comment. Gov. Dave Heineman, a Fremont native, does not have a position on the bill to announce, his office told The Reader. The bill doesn’t include any fiscal notes to show how much it would cost crimes for fear of deportation. “We must have new and effective national to implement and defend — Janssen acknowlimmigration policies, not a hodgepodge of state edges it would surely be challenged. Mike Nolan of the League of Nebraska Mu- laws that weaken — rather than strengthen — nicipalities said at a rally at the Capitol Jan. 27 the strong partnerships between local police that his organization has “serious concerns and the diverse communities they serve and about the unfunded mandate this would impose protect,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Omaha on towns and local police across the state. It World-Herald Jan. 28. Jannsen counters, “what he calls a hodgewould create serious financial risk for our towns podge, I call taking action. I invite the federal and also potentially damaging social costs.” Omaha State Sen. Brenda Council says the government to do something about it. I invite bill would promote racial profiling. It includes a them to obsolete my LB 48 if it should pass. But disclaimer stating that law enforcement officials they’re doing nothing.” He says the bill would send a message to should not base reasonable suspicion “solely upon a person’s race, color, religion, sex or na- undocumented immigrants that “Nebraska’s serious about their illegal immigration laws, tional origin.” Council says, “The mere fact that you say and maybe we shouldn’t come there. Maybe that ‘should not rely solely’ is an indication that that’s shouldn’t be the place.” Tromanhauser interprets the message difgoing to be one of the primary factors, is the race ferently. or ethnicity.”

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

| THE READER |

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“It sends a signal that the state is OK with discrimination,” she says. “You have a whole variety of people who would have to pause before considering if they’d come to Nebraska.” Arizona faced boycotts after it approved its law that the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association said cost it at least 40 conventions and $15 million in lodging revenue. A study commissioned by liberal policy group Center for American Progress, and conducted by a respected economic consulting firm, found in November that losses of convention bookings following the law’s passage could cost the state $253 million in economic output and more than $86 million in lost wages over two to three years. “That’s another falsehood put out there,” Janssen says. “Arizona’s tourism didn’t suffer any more than any other state. It was a product of an economic downturn.” At $3.8 billion in 2009, tourism is Nebraska’s third-largest outside revenue source, after agriculture and manufacturing. But comparing that to Arizona’s $16.6 billion in 2009, “just doesn’t shake out,” he says. “They’ve got the Grand Canyon. They’ve got the Arizona Diamondbacks … They’ve got got Super Bowls down there. It’s just massive,” he says. “We’re a little more modest in what we have as far as entertainment goes. And our tourism is generated more from an internal combustion engine … “That’s what our tourism is. It’s not about drawing people in from the outside.” Still, he says, people who boycotted Arizona “missed the point. I hope Arizona’s law wasn’t made out of hate. It shouldn’t have been.”

Costs and Contributions Nebraska faces a nearly $1 billion revenue shortfall over the next two years. That’s a problem. Janssen says LB 48 is a solution. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that in March 2010 about 45,000 undocumented immigrants in Nebraska accounted for about 2.4 percent of the total population. “Education, health care and law enforcement expenses are all increasing at unsustainable rates,” Janssen wrote in a column Jan. 30. “Factoring in the additional expenses to all three areas from illegal immigrants makes it obvious that we must address this problem.” Most analyses have found the fiscal impact of all immigrants — legal and undocumented — is slightly positive when considering all levels of government. But a 2007 Congressional Budget Office report found that undocumented immi-

grants probably have a modest negative net impact on state and local budgets after subtracting costs of services from taxes generated. In most cases, the spending for undocumented immigrants accounted for fewer than 5 percent of total state and local spending for those services. It wouldn’t fix the two-year budget, but “in the long term, we’re going to save money,” Janssen says of his bill. “Because Nebraska will not welcome illegal behavior.” University of Nebraska-Lincoln economics professor Hendrik van den Berg says it’s a myth that undocumented immigrants use services without paying taxes. “It’s only in the areas like education and hospital emergency rooms, where explicitly people do not check for IDs that they do gain some services, but they do pay considerable taxes,” he says. Employers take out Social Security and Medicare taxes for services undocumented immigrants can’t collect. “The immigrants spend money, and that supports an entire local community. They buy a car. They look for entertainment. They shop and rent housing, and they do spend money.” Janssen acknowledges that undocumented immigrants pay local sales and property tax. “But I would never concede that they’re paying their fair share. If they were, why stay illegal?” he says. “And a bigger issue, they’re sending a lot of their money back to their home country — so we’re not even turning our own dollars locally, in some cases.” Pew Hispanic Center reports remittances — money immigrants send back to their home country — range from about 10 to 20 percent. “The rest is spent locally for living and everything else for what immigrants do,” van den Berg says.

War Against Illegals One of the chief proponents of the Fremont ordinance, Susan Smith is a strong supporter of Janssen’s work to fight undocumented immigration. She’s an activist herself. In 2006, she founded the Nebraskans Advisory Group, whose website states, “If 30 million Americans showed up in another country ILLEGALLY … it would be called an ACT OF WAR … not a migration!(sic)” The site is a catch-all for far-right issues, including a page promising to update viewers “on the progress of Socialists who are pushing the ‘Sustainable Communities’ and ‘Green’ programs,” a page focused on incidents of violence against white people and Christians, and another dedicated to questioning President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. “Illegal aliens, in order to come to this country and stay here, they have to lie, cheat and steal to do that,” Smith says in a phone interview. “An illegal alien is an illegal alien. And they’re a problem no matter what country they come from,

which language they speak. It doesn’t matter. Every illegal alien is taking away from an American or an illegal immigrant and we’re having to shoulder the costs of that.” She says she became passionate about the issue in May 2006, when she saw more than a million undocumented immigrants and their supporters protest around the country as part of the “Great American Boycott,” which called for supporters to abstain from purchasing goods to demonstrate their benefit to the country. It didn’t convince Smith. “It made me realize … if we’ve got illegal aliens in this country at those kinds of numbers,” she says, “… that the government has no idea who they are, where they’re from, what their intention is, what their medical background is, what their criminal background is, we’ve got a problem.” Smith says her ancestors came to the U.S. from Germany through Ellis Island. Assistant professor of political science and ethnic studies at UNL, Sergio Wals says anti-immigration sentiments in the U.S. go back to Benjamin Franklin in 1753, who wrote that German immigrants “are generally of the most ignorant, stupid sort of their own nation. … Few of their children in the country learn English.” Wals says many Americans held anti-immigrant attitudes against the Germans, Irish and Italians who came through Ellis Island during the second wave of immigration — roughly between 1880 and 1924. “The logic of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ was in place. And they weren’t considered ‘white,’” he says. “… This rhetoric has been going on for centuries and research has shown that these groups … it took them roughly three generations to fully assimilate … though, in doing so, they changed the face of America as we know it. “This is the exact same pattern we’re seeing with Latinos.”

Unwelcome Mat Janssen says his bill is a start for dealing with the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. “You don’t roll out a welcome mat and say, ‘Hey, come up here. It’s OK. We’re a sanctuary city. We’re not going to look for you. We’re not going to deport you if we find you,” he says. “You’re welcome to come here legally, through the process. You’re not welcome to come here illegally.” Janssen says his bill could encourage undocumented immigrants to flee Nebraska for other Midwestern cities. Council fears legal citizens will leave as well. “It’s not only the people who are unlawfully present in the state who leave, but it’s people who are lawfully in the state who leave as well, because they don’t want to be subjected to this kind of racism and oppression,” she says.

Ostrom at One Fremont One Future says the city’s ordinance was divisive. The group collected 65 reports last summer of racial harassment of Latinos — none of whom would give their names for fear of retribution. They reported racial taunts, threats to burn their businesses, and BB guns fired at them and their children. “These are Hispanic citizens and immigrants who are legally here, who have similar complaints,” she says. “We’re not just talking about people who may be scared about deportation.” Janssen says the reports are unsubstantiated. “There’s been no reports to authorities of any harassment, whatsoever,” he says. “So it’s all hearsay.” Ostrom says many Latinos aren’t comfortable sharing their complaints with police. “Some folks are nervous about the police because of the countries they come from,” Ostrom says. “They don’t have the same relationship with police — people from Guatemala or El Salvador, Mexico sometimes. Others, because they’ve had negative experiences or heard of others having negative experiences.” While One Fremont One Future serves specifically to fight the city’s ordinance, members have founded a new organization called Un Fremont Con Dignidad (One Fremont with Dignity) to serve as advocates to the city’s Latino population. They want to improve the relationship between police and new community members. kris kobach Ostrum says LB 48 would further harm that relationship. “Communication breaks down and people are less comfortable going to police,” she says. “It’s much more difficult for the police to know the community and to know what’s going on if they’re serving as enforcement agents.”

“Why would we advance a measure that was patterned after a bill, much of which, that was found to be unconstitutional, other than to sensationalize this issue and keep the firestorm brewing over this issue?” she says. “There is a fair and reasonable means of addressing this issue, and we shouldn’t be blindly and blithely following along what others are doing. “We should do what we believe to be in the best interest to the state of Nebraska.” Mike Wagner, assistant professor of economics at UNL, says that in Nebraska, being seen as tough on undocumented immigrants is good politics for Republicans. And he doesn’t expect to see much compromise between the two camps. He says bills like LB 48 tend to make the politics more emotional and less responsive to deliberation. “I think that we can see the kerfuffle in Fremont over the last few years …,” he says, “to see how immigration issues can divide communities and can divide different residents of the same state. … These kinds of laws certainly serve to divide people on one side or the other — it’s hard to have a moderate view, a middle-of-the-road view, on this particular kind of legislation.” Wagner says if the bill gets through the Judiciary Committee and is passed by the Legislature, the reaction could be similar to that in Arizona, where many liberals view the state with stronger disdain and skepticism, while

Divide or Compact The same day the Judiciary Committee considers LB 48, it will hear an alternative resolution submitted by Council. Her “Nebraska Compact” is a statement of principles that would direct the Legislature to push Congress to address immigration reform comprehensively. The resolution says local law enforcement should focus on criminal activities, not civil violations of the federal code. It says families should not be unnecessarily separated, and that the Legislature should work to support families and improve health, education and well-being of all Nebraska children.

many conservatives are pleased. “People in the middle probably won’t pay much attention to it, and people who care about politics and really care about immigration will develop hardened attitudes about Nebraska that won’t be changeable unless the law changes one way or another,” he says. “As more and more Hispanic and Latino voters move to Nebraska, this bill could have longterm ramifications for political power in the state.”

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coverstory If the bill gets killed this session, he says, then all eyes go to Arizona to see how that case is developing.

Anchor Babies and Foreign Invaders Janssen’s standing in the doorway of his office when asked if he plans to give Somos Republicans that apology — for his anchor baby comments in January to the Fremont Tribune. “Many people dangerously come over here while they’re pregnant just for the simple fact to get the so-called anchor babies,” Janssen told the paper. “We’ve worked all summer long and throughout the fall and winter putting together the proper language for repeal of the 14th Amendment on a statewide level to push it up to the federal level.” He’s involved in an effort involving legislators from 41 other states to repeal the 14th Amendment — established in 1868 as a result of the Dred Scott decision — which grants citizenship to people born in the U.S. State Legislators for Legal Immigration founder, Arizona State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, said in a press release in October the group’s mission is to “deliver a legislative solution that all 50 states can use to shut off a primary economic faucet that encourages pregnant illegal alien women to sneak across the border to have their babies, and in the process, reclaim hundreds of millions of hard-earned American tax dollars that are being fraudulently handed over to countless foreign invaders.” The Southern Poverty Law Center says, “Despite the widespread myth of the ‘anchor baby’ born to undocumented immigrants who use a child to quickly gain citizenship, the law does not allow such a path. Children born in the United States cannot petition for the permanent residency of their parents until age 21. “Further, there is no data supporting the theory that families have babies as part of a 21year plan to achieve citizenship. In fact, absent changes to U.S. law, the parents would likely be ineligible to migrate to the United States.” A report released this month by the Pew Hispanic Center found the vast majority of illegal immigrants who had children in the USA in 2010 had entered the country several years earlier. About 350,000 babies were born in the U.S. between March 2009 and March 2010 to at least one illegal immigrant parent, it found. Of those parents, 91 percent arrived before 2008. Janssen’s answer to the request for an apology: No. “It’s like me taking offense to being called a ‘Generation Xer,’ he says. “It has no racial overtones to it, whatsoever. You can come from Canada with illegal parents and have a child — that would be an anchor baby. It has nothing to do with what race you are.” ,

| THE READER |

feb. 24 - March 2, 2011

Beer Corner, U.S.A.

Anthony’s Steakhouse/The Ozone Club For more than 38 years, Anthony’s has been known for its steaks, using premium black angus beef aged on premises. Anthony’s is dedicated to bringing customers a truly special dining event every visit. 7220 F St. • 331.7575 anthonyssteakhouse.com Bailey’s Best breakfast in town. “King of Eggs Benedict.” 1 block south of 120th & Pacific • 932-5577 absolutelyfresh.com Attic Bar & Grill Great food and great drinks with live music. 3231 Harney St. • 932.5387 atticbarandgrill.com Blue Planet Natural Grill Healthy People. Healthy Planet. 6307 Center St. • 218.4555 blueplanetnaturalgrill.com Cascio’s Steakhouse Established 1946, 63 years of selling great steaks. 1620 S. 10th St. • 345-8313 casciossteakhouse.com Dundee Dell Omaha’s Finest Neighborhood Restaurant & Pub 5007 Underwood Ave. • 553.9501 dundeedell.com Hector’s Boasting the only Baja-style Mexican cuisine in the city, Hector’s serves fresh food with panache from Baja California and northwest Mexico. Two Locations: 1201 S. 157th St. • 884.2272 3007 S. 83rd Plz. • 391.2923 hectorsomaha.com La Casa Pizzeria Fine Italian Dining Since 1953. Located on historic Leavenworth street in midtown Omaha, La Casa has the freshest pizza in town. 4432 Leavenworth St. • 556.6464 lacasapizzaria.net La Mesa An authentic Mexican experience, from mouthwatering enchiladas to fabulous fajitas. Top it off with one of La Mesa’s famous margaritas. Voted # 1 Mexican Restaurant seven years in a row. Locations: 156th and Q • 763.2555 110th & Maple • 496-1101 Ft. Crook Rd. and 370 (Bellevue) • 733.8754 84th and Tara Plaza (Papillion) • 593.0983 Lake Manawa Exit (Council Bluffs) • 712.256.2762 la-mesa.com Matsu Sushi Downtown’s Original Sushi Restaurant 1009 Farnam St. • 346-3988 matsusushi.wordpress.com

Shucks Fish House & Oyster Bar Great Seafood. Great Prices. Southwest corner of 168th & Center 1218 S 119 St. • 827.4376 absolutelyfresh.com Ted & Wally’s Premium Ice Cream Voted best ice cream in Omaha! 1120 Jackson St. • 341.5827

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

Food and brew at 36th and Farnam make bar flies crawl

by Patricia Sindelar

e Crescent Moon has not only been Omaha’s specialty beer institution for the last 11 years, it’s the anchor that is known as Beer Corner U.S.A., a cluster of local brew-focused businesses committed to providing the metro with one of, if not the, most diverse selections of quality suds. And if your mother always told you not to drink on an empty stomach, don’t worry. Beer Corner U.S.A. has perfected pub food, too, including an authentic German menu to match the Bavarian biers. A sublime drinking experience begins at the original business, the Crescent Moon Alehouse located on the northeast corner of 36th and Farnam. Inside the door is a warm, friendly bar with wood paneling, dark blue paint and, of course, paraphernalia from various breweries decorating the walls. The Crescent Moon specializes in micro and craft brews from around the world, but especially from these great United States. If you’re overwhelmed by the extensive beer menu, don’t be afraid max & joes to ask the staff for help. All of the workers are highly trained in the products offered. Sure, the bartenders will serve you a Miller Lite with only the hint of a side-eye when they’d rather suggest the latest seasonal ale from Weyerbacher. The change of seasons always means a change in the beer menu, too, so it’s important to stop in frequently. The beer you loved in September may not be available in March. The menu is the very definition of pub food, from burgers and sandwiches to wings and soups. Anything fried, such as the chicken strips or the Chicken Ranch Sandwich, redefine “golden brown.” Even though a large part of the menu is composed of things that can be frozen and assembled to order, this fact will be lost because the Crescent Moon kitchen can fry a piece of chicken that tastes like new. The Twice-baked Potato Soup is nothing short of fabulous. Compare it to, for example, the baked potato soup at Charleston’s. Like Charleston’s, The Moon’s twice-baked potato soup is thicker, full of chunks of potato, and garnished with bacon and cheese, but is a portion of the cost. The Inferno Wings live up

| THE READER |

dish

to their name, and the same kickin’ sauce is used for the Buffalo Chicken Salad. Directly downstairs from the Crescent Moon is this writer’s favorite nook of Beer Corner — the Huber Haus. It’s decorated in the style of the traditional bier hall with long wood tables, deer and boar heads mounted on the walls, and of course, wood paneling. Huber Haus carries some Bavarian brews not available upstairs in the Moon. It’s also the home of Das Boot, whose popularity obviously exploded after the movie Beerfest. There are rules with Das Boot, though, so don’t expect to waltz in and order one without being read the complete list of stipulations. The Huber Haus has its own menu, and you have to be in the Bier Hall to order some of the traditional German fare offered. Most offerings are made from pork, of course, and include Black Forest ham, schnitzel or sausage. The jaeger schnitzel is a tenderized pork loin and, like many items upstairs, breaded and fried to perfection. Then, it’s smothered in a savory brown gravy, a delicious and authentic German experience. The schnitzel also comes in sandwich form on a Kaiser roll with horseradish sauce. If you’ve filled up on the rich German bier, you may want to order from the Vorspeisen and Brotzeit (appetizers and snacks) menu. The Huber Haus crafted its own special, fried, Germaninspired “Haus Bites.” Choose from Reuben or Brat-n-Kraut filling fried in a pastry crust. The Reuben bites are too tangy for the delicate dough and don’t make for a cohesive palate, though. Luckily, the Haus has imported Bavarian pretzels for a tastier carb option. Back on the top floor, next to the Crescent Moon, is the newest bar in Beer Corner, Max & Joe’s. The beers here are Belgian, which means that they may be stronger than the average beer drinker is used to. Be sure to read the beer menu because it will list the percent of alcohol by volume. Many of the German beers in the Huber Haus are brewed to a centuries-old purity law, which limits the ingredients used, and even those that aren’t still use only a few ingredients. The Belgians have no such law, and no reservations about what should or could be used to make beer. This can lead to some of the Belgian beers being thick, mealy and even odd tasting. Be sure to request a sample before committing to a whole pint. Max & Joe’s may one day offer its own Belgianinspired snack menu, including a small, grilled ham and cheese sandwich, and a plate of seasonal fruit with adam brubaker

84th Street Café Serving delicious cost-conscious food. 8013 S. 83rd Ave. • 597-5003 www.facebook.com/84thstcafe

n First it was high fructose corn syrup you had to worry about when it came to drinking soda. Now it’s the caramel coloring, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a public advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. Last week they urged the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of the coloring thatís added to colas and other soft drinks. “In contrast to the caramel one might make at home by melting sugar in a saucepan, the artificial brown coloring in colas and some other products is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulfites under high pressure and temperatures,” the agency said in a press release. “Chemical reactions result in the formation of 2-methylimidazole and 4 methylimidazole, which in government-conducted studies caused lung, liver, or thyroid cancer or leukemia in laboratory mice or rats.” Not surprisingly, the American Beverage Association had something to say about this. “4-MEI is not a threat to human health,” they stated in a press release titled American Beverage Association Responds to CSPI Scare Tactics on Caramel Coloring. “There is no evidence that 4-MEI causes cancer in humans. No health regulatory agency around the globe, including the Food and Drug Administration, has said that 4-MEI is a human carcinogen. This petition is nothing more than another attempt to scare consumers by an advocacy group long-dedicated to attacking the food and beverage industry.” Bottoms up! — Kyle Tonniges

crumbs

dish

Crumbs is about indulging in food and celebrating its many forms. Send information about area food and drink businesses to crumbs@thereader.com

cheeses and Belgian chocolates, but that menu isn’t ready and has no date set for a debut. For now, Max & Joe’s simply offers the best fried potatoes known to man. They’re called pommes frites, and are served with your choice of two of six dipping sauces. Beer Corner U.S.A. is one of the few places in Omaha where you can get a meal and a beer for under $20. Daily specials are available Monday through Saturday (the days the Moon, Huber and Max & Joe’s are open). Next month, Beer Corner will be throwing one of its many festivals, the outdoor Bockfest, back for its sixth year. The party starts at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 26, moves inside at 7 p.m. and then continues until closing time (2 a.m.). The Barry Boyce Band and the Jaeger Girls will be on hand along with traditional bock bier. Also look for the Crescent Moon’s annual Mardi Gras party March 8. , The Crescent Moon Alehouse, The Huber-Haus, Max & Joe’s and Beertopia are all located at 36th and Farnam. Hours of operation are as follows: The Crescent Moon 11 a.m.-2 a.m. (closed Sundays), The Huber Haus 5 p.m.-2 a.m. (closed Sundays), Max & Joes 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Beertopia is open Mon.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-10 p.m. and Sunday noon-5 p.m. For more information, visit beercornerusa.com.

| THE READER |

feb. 24 - March 2, 2011

8 days

Feb. 27

83rd Annual Academy Awards 7 p.m, ABC

For once, I feel like the gods are with me on Oscar night. I think Christopher Nolan is an overrated director, and he got shut out of the Best Director category for Inception. The overrated Black Swan and The Social Network also got their share of snubs. On the other hand, I’m delighted with this week’s the abundance of tv pick nominations for The King’s Speech and True Grit, along with the shout-outs for less commercial projects such as Blue Valentine, Winter’s Bone and The Kids Are All Right. And it’s good to see Toy Story 3 in the Best Picture category, where it belongs. For thrills, laughs and poignancy, no live-action production outdid Woody and Buzz in 2010. So I’m expecting a very personally gratifying evening, especially if Natalie Portman is denied Best Actress for that one-note performance in The Black Swan. Come on, gods — can you help me out? — Dean Robbins

feb. 24 - march 2, 2001

t h e r e ad e r ’ s e nt e rtainm e nt pi c ks f e b . 2 4 - ma r c h 2 , 2 011

THURSDAY24

karrin allyson

Feb. 24

Yves Behar

Joslyn Art Museum Witherspoon Concert Hall, 2200 Dodge St. 7 p.m., Free to daOMA members designallianceomaha.org Yves Behar is an industrial designer who turns everyday objects — from office chairs and laptops to condoms and underpants — into objects of desire. Think of him as the ampersand between function and form. Behar is at the Joslyn this Thursday to tell Omaha how he uses design to change the world one object at a time. Whether you’re more familiar with his SFW objects, the NSFW ones or a first-timer, this daOMAsponsored event is open to all. — Nicole Blauw

SATURDAY26 Feb. 26

UNO men’s basketball vs.Pittsburgh State

Lee & Helene Sapp Fieldhouse 3:30 p.m., $7 adults, $5 students 554-2271, omavs.com

UNO aspires to be “Omaha’s Team,” but other than hockey and wrestling, all its athletic programs struggle to draw fans. What’s maddening is the University of Nebraska at Omaha consistently fields excellent teams and does so with a slew of local kids. This year’s men’s basketball squad is enjoying another solid season but getting no love for its efforts, as home crowds average about 500. The Mavs’ up-tempo, freestyle brand of hoops should be packing them in. Tyler Bullock of Lincoln and Mitch Albers of Omaha combine for 37 points a game. High-flying Torrian Harris is a human highlight reel. John Karhoff and Alex Wellhouse are big men who produce inside and outside, respectively. UNO’s closing in on a seventh 20-win season and sixth post-season berth in 10 years. Show ‘em some love Saturday. — Leo Adam Biga

| THE READER |

picks

PICKOFTHEWEEK Saturday, Feb. 26

Karrin Allyson, with the UNO Jazz Band Holland Performing Arts Center, 1200 Douglas St. 8 p.m., $35 , 345-0606, ticketomaha.com

maha’s gifted the world with two world-class chanteuses. Julie Wilson is a cabaret staple singing standards at posh Manhattan night clubs. More recently, jazz vocalist Karrin Allyson has made connoisseurs in New York City and other swank spots take notice with her live concerts and Grammy nominated recordings. Her new CD, Round Midnight, comes out May 2. She describes her 13th release on Concord Records as “a very intimate, personal album” that recreates the vibe of a late night set. Her February Holland performance with the UNO Jazz Ensemble marks a homecoming and reunion in several ways. Omaha’s where she grew up. Her father and numerous friends still live here. The University of Nebraska at Omaha is where she earned her music degree (piano and choral). She’s performed with the UNO jazz band and she usually gets back to gig once a year in her hometown, where she first cut her chops soloing at M’s Pub. Allyson, who lives in New York, appreciates accolades by critics, fans and peers The ever-searching artist is always looking to evolve, whether rediscovering old standards or adopting French tunes or performing Brazilian numbers. Lately, she’s played more piano, acting as her own accompanist. She did most of the arrangements on her new CD. On stage and in the studio, she calls the shots. “I think from the very beginning I’ve been a bandleader. I’ve never had a music director,” she says, adding she subscribes to what a UNO choir teacher taught her: “I’m a musician who sings. I’m a part of the process, not standing outside it.’ The classically-trained Allyson also led a rock band at one point but it was the improvisation of jazz and its huge repertoire that captured her. As her voice has ripened and she’s lived more of life, she’s grown into the music: “It’s true the older you get or the more experience you get the more you have to say. I want to tell a story — that’s my thing.” — Leo Adam Biga

THE R EADER’S ENTERTAINMENT PICKS

SUNDAY27

THURSDAY03

Feb 27

March 3

Embassy Suites Hotel 12520 Westport Pkwy, La Vista Patron Party 1-2 p.m., General Admission 2-6 p.m., $100 for Patron Party, $50/adv and $55/at the door, thevnacares.com

Whiskey Roadhouse, Horseshoe Casino 2701 23rd Avenue, Council Bluffs 8 p.m., $20, caesars.com/whiskeyroadhouse (712) 329.6000

Art & Soup

There’s nothing like a good bowl of soup to warm the body and soul. The Visiting Nurses Association utilizes this concept by hosting a party featuring an unlikely combination of yummy soup and art to raise funds for one of its benevolent programs. Art & Soup features more than 30 chefs and 55 pieces of art, which are up for sale in support of a good cause. Fifty percent of art sales and the ticket proceeds support the VNA Shelter Nursing Program, a public health service that provides nursing assistance to homeless living in the Greater Omaha area. — Chalis Bristol

Feb. 27

School Of Rock: A Tribute to Rock ‘n’ Roll Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St. 6:30 p.m., $10, 691.8875 schoolofrock.com/omaha

The best rock ‘n’ rollers manage to balance dedication, practice and method with sweaty, reckless, passion. If your kiddo already has the heart, School of Rock can teach the technique. For more than a decade the outfit has trained budding musicians ages 7-18, emerging as a national leader in youth musical education. Last fall the program opened an Omaha branch. This first performance by its inaugural class celebrates the greats of the past whose influences reverberate in the music world. Incorporating pop, rock and soul, the mini maestros will present an aural seminar on Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard and others in what’s sure to be a heavily rocking history lesson. Your assignment: Be there to rock out. — Sarah Wengert

Slaughter w/ Vinyl Haze

Much like the city they hail from, Las Vegas, Slaughter caught the coattails of the last train bound for a generically overexposed pop culture bandwagon that somehow survived its death throws only to become an overexposed pop culture novelty — kind of like a Criss Angel magic show. Be entertained at your own risk. But hey, Vegas is still Vegas; you have to try it at least once. Formed in 1988 by vocalist/rythm guitarist Mark Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum, Slaughter briefly reached stardom at the tail end of the ’80s Glam Metal movement with their first album, Stick It to Ya, spawning several hit singles including “Up All Night” and the awesomely epic power ballad “Fly to the Angels.” Touring the metal circuit for over two decades with other relic bands from the genres past, Slaughter is sure to offer a well-rehearsed night of throwback glam metal. Long hair and leather jackets not provided. — James Derrick Schott SLAUGHTER

FEB. 24 - MARCH 2, 2011

THREEUPTHREEDOWN March 4

Jeff Dunham

Qwest Center Omaha, 455 N. 10th St. 8 p.m., $45.50, ticketmaster.com

ach week in this space, we will feature three questions posed to one of our featured “picks” for 8 Days. In this debut installment, we tweeted with standup comedian/ventriloquist extraordinaire Jeff Dunham, who returns to the Qwest Center Friday, March 4. Dunham has been called “America’s favorite comedian” by Slate.com, and according to the concert industry publication Pollstar, he is the top-grossing standup act in North America. That’s quite an achievement for the Dallas, Texas, native who has been credited with reviving ventriloquism. Dunham’s character/puppets have been described as “politically incorrect, gratuitously insulting and ill-tempered.” We asked about his inspiration for his characters and more in this week’s Three Up, Three Down.

JEFF DUNHAM

How did you come up with your popular characters Jose, Walter, Peanut and, most infamously, Achmed? Every character I’ve had in my act — none of them have a similar creation story. I actually thought up Peanut and designed him in my head. I described him to a woman that was making soft puppets and she drew up some sketches. And the character came to be just because he popped into my head. Walter on the other hand ... I figured he would be a good three minutes of the show. I created him thinking that nobody would enjoy a grumpy old character like that. Little did I know, he is an “every man” ... everybody has that guy in him. Either they’re married to him or he’s their father, but people for some reason love him. So that character just stuck. Jose the Jalapeno — that’s the weirdest story. When I was in college I was doing a radio campaign on the radio station and I was doing all the voices of this pizza. Every ingredient on the pizza spoke. And one of them was Jose Jalapeno. He ended up having all the funny lines. So I thought about making a dummy in the act. So I thought why not a Jalapeno on a stick? The genesis of Achmed began a year after Sept. 11th. Sad and scary things were going on in our country — and still are — and I thought if I can make fun of those guys, there’s something people can laugh at in our country. And then the big surprise was that I had no idea it would go worldwide. Which one is your favorite? Whatever that particular audience of the night is liking the most, I’m having a ball right along with them. It goes without saying, however, that Achmed certainly has allowed me to break through in places that otherwise might have remained closed for a while ... So is he my favorite? I couldn’t say that and hurt Peanut’s feelings. What is it like playing to huge arena audiences? Moving into much larger venues, coupled with the current economic climate, has also upped the ante for getting the show right every time. When we first started doing these huge arenas, I was concerned that the intimacy of the 300-seat clubs that I had grown to know so well would be missing. On the contrary, the audiences stayed right with what I was doing. The bigger the venue, the bigger the screens. Everyone has a good seat. The only thing missing is being able to pick on some poor schmo in the front row and everyone being able to see him. — Eric Stoakes

picks

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Mentor/artist Giron exhibits 9 ‘alums’ at RNG gallery by Michael J. Krainak

ike Giron, professor of art at Bellevue University, is glad he scheduled an exhibit of former students at the RNG Gallery because that next step in an emerging artist’s career is often hard to come by after graduation. 9, which continues at the gallery through March 6, consists of exactly that many artists who, among others, made a lasting impression on Giron over the past 10 years while he was teaching at Bellevue and Metro Community College. The exhibit features the mixed media work of William Holland (watercolor and ink), Mario Gallegos (oil painting), Vivian Kvam (photography), Tafadzwa NDoda (charcoal drawing), Fredy Rincon (watercolor and oil), Shawnequa Linder (painting), Valerie Eich (clay pottery and imprints), Jeff Carnal (oil painting) and Donald Thayer (oil painting). “Their talents and artistic temperaments set them apart from the mainstream of students,” Giron said. “One of the most gratifying aspects of teaching is to see people you’ve worked with pursuing their dreams. I thought it important to mount this exhibition outside of the academic setting and at RNG where many new names and edgier art have been shown. “One of 9’s featured artists, Valerie Eich, is on course currently to finish her degree at Bellevue,” Giron continued. “She is an example of the creative environment first established in 1973 by Les Bruning (former department chair) who has influenced many artists to follow their bliss. Valerie’s experimental work with clay and cast metal type imprints convinced me she is ready to move out to the gallery.” Having the benefit of a college education is no guarantee of either significant work or a successful career, but it does give one the opportunity to network and be seen, always the next step for any emerging artist. Overall, predictably, 9 is less than the sum of several good parts, which is the nature of group shows that lack a strong singular vision or concept. There is a mixed bag of talent here as each artist struggles to find a voice or style and improve on technique. While no new media is present, some of the art is abstract, experimental, and never merely imitative or decorative. Gallery One highlights Holland, Gallegos, Kvam, NDoda and Rincon and probably represents

the most accomplished work in the show, at least at this point in their careers. Holland now dabbles in the abstract and the surreal with his ink and watercolor, which appears more sketched than painted. “Dabbles” because most of his pieces appear to be unfinished with the merest suggestion of an animal figure and graphic pattern floating in the foreground on a nondescript background.

self-assured. Elisabeth & Dead Sea Scrolls 2 is a bit posed and self conscious, but E. & D. S. S. 1 is nicely unassuming as his female figure appears lost in thought and just fine in her own skin, nestled as she is under a blanket of her own comfort zone. His telephoto POV and tight cropping off the frame of his figures is paradoxically voyeuristic and detached. It’s like being close to something or someone, but

lyrical conversation

Holland makes good use of white space in this reductive method, drawing attention only to what he considers significant in his imagery. Consequently, the work is often more interesting visually than conceptually as he offers few clues for interpretation. His simplest piece, The Two, may also be his most successful because the eye is readily drawn into the frame to focus solely on his subject, an embedded figure and pattern possibly in conflict over mind and heart. Gallegos displays an affinity for the voluptuous pin-up like figures of another of his mentors, artist/ instructor Wanda Ewing. But unlike Ewing’s expressionistic caricatures, which are stylin,’ satiric and center stage, his nudes are more contemplative and

from the vantage point of a zoom lens. Among the more experimental in this eclectic group is Kvam, whose black and white and sepia tone figurative photography is formal in structure and exotic in tone. The imagery is provocative as the dominant motif is one of women “boxed” in, at least symbolically. Only the titles, Solace, Silence and her three Psalms seem a bit strained. Though the former two are a bit diffused and fuzzy, the women within, consoling each other, are nicely vulnerable and expressionistic. Yet the latter three pigment prints are more interesting visually as Kvam cleverly lights and composes her women so that mostly their arms and legs, all akimbo, are only visible as continued on page 22 y

art

n The Iowa legislature Monday wisely decided against advancing a bill proposing the sale of “Mural,” the Jackson Pollock painting owned by the University of Iowa Museum of Art. The legislature withdrew the controversial proposal that would have forced the museum to sell its most iconic piece, valued at $140 million. A bit of background: Rep. Scott Reacker introduced a bill in early February, suggesting that the funds earned from the sale of the Pollock piece could be used to fund 1,000 scholarships for art students. Last week, the appropriations subcommittee voted 2-to-1 to advance the measure, causing immediate — and well-deserved — controversy.Peggy Guggenheim donated the artwork to the museum in 1951. The university agreed then that it would not sell the work. Current University of Iowa President Sally Manson told the Daily Iowan that selling the piece would go against “everything that we stand for.” The sting of this attack on university museums lingers even after the bill’s demise. The Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (full disclosure: it’s my employer) owns an amazing collection; many of its pieces carry impressive price tags. The Nebraska Legislature has attempted to get into the museum business in the past. The late former Sen. Bernice Labedz tried to get the museum to stop showing “Hail Mary,” a film by Jean-Luc Godard. Thankfully, the Legislature in Nebraska has never suggested selling parts of Sheldon’s collection to fund art scholarships — an oxymoron if there ever has been one — or anything else. n Though the Legislature isn’t currently taking aim at the Sheldon’s collection, it is aiming to cut funding to public art. LB497 proposes to put a moratorium on Nebraska’s 1% for the Arts program. Introduced by Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha, measure received a public hearing Feb. 14. More than 50 people wrote letters and sent emails to the Appropriations Committee in opposition to the bill. We will know soon if the proposal for a 10-year moratorium on the program will go before the full Legislature. The 1% program has been in effect since 1978, making it one of the oldest public art programs in the nation, and the loss would be detrimental to practicing artists in Nebraska. It would also mean that state buildings that the legislature votes to build or renovate won’t have any money devoted to the creation and installation of public art. As I said in this space last week, public art is simply too important to cut. Selling iconic, university-owned art in order to fund university programs is silly. It’s times like these — times of war, of economic strife, of depression — when artists turn to their craft and make statements that live for generations. It’s also, apparently, times like these when lawmakers turn to the arts as a source of money to pay for other things. If Nebraska’s 1% for the Arts program gets cut, one thing is likely: It won’t soon return. — Sarah Baker Hansen

| THE READER |

mixedmedia

Post-Graduate Work

culture

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

culture y continued from page 21

they also appear to struggle with what constrains them. NDoda, otherwise known locally as TG, again offers his by now familiar nude figure studies. There are very few in this area who draw and do justice to the human figure and face as he, especially with such pieces here as Wiggle Your Big Toe and Rebecca Sleeping, rendered in beautiful charcoal detail. But we have seen work such as this from him for some time. Ironically, perhaps the most interesting one, the aptly titled and more abstract “Shapes & Shadows” was done in 2005, an approach that may deserve experimentation again. One of the strongest personal visions in this exhibit is that of Fredy Rincon who explores in strong expressionistic imagery his Mexican heritage and culture. Some of the carnal soul work is a bit obvious as with Now That I Am Rich, which features a sombrerohatted hombre huddled around a bottle and the too decorative Dia De Los Muertes skull. But his large horizontal narrative Execution tells its own folk story of oppressive death by a skeletal firing squad in broad, gestural strokes. Two additional watercolors, Santa Muerte and Life That Death Gives are more delicate and subtle renderings of the paradox of The Day of the Dead, both quite colorful, festive and menacing. One look at the variety of abstract work from Shawnequa Linder and you may conclude that she is a work in progress, still looking for a clear focus and direction. Her art is pleasant enough, but her two most confident pieces are the more conceptual 3 White Chairs that feature objects floating on an

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Wednesday, March 16

7:30 PM • Orpheum Theater TicketOmaha.com or 402.345.0606 “Avenue Q” has not been authorized or approved in any manner by the Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop, which have no responsibility for its content.

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

| THE READER |

culture

9 continues until March 6 at the RNG Gallery, 1815 Leavenworth St. (use the Dixie Quicks entrance). For details, go to dixiequicks.com.

booked

n The big news for book lovers last week was the announcement that Borders had filed for bankruptcy protection and was closing 200 stores. The good news is that none of the three Omaha-area stores are among them. In an email to customers, President and CEO Mike Edwards assured customers that the stores are still open for business and that their loyalty program, Borders Rewards, is still in effect and that their eBook libraries are perfectly safe on Kobo, the engine behind the chain’s eBooks. n End February on a high (and free) note by attending The Encyclopedia Show: Omaha at the Omaha Community Playhouse, located at 6915 Cass St. Billed as a live variety show that commissions local and touring artists and experts from various disciplines to use their individual talents to present a different verbal encyclopedia entry each month, this promises to be a performance that manages to both educate and enter-

orange acrylic on wood background. And the second is the more aggressive Decay on Board, a faintly representational landscape suitably done in earth tones, grays, whites and blacks, all a very pleasing combination of design and texture. Eich offers the only clay work here and her several fired and glazed vessels are quite nicely proportioned and formed, no two alike, many sporting corks. Her work is understated, elegant and feminine, not the least bit ostentatious and all the more professional because of it, especially her two “melting pots,” one a single, the other a pair. Only her five or six breastplates, broken and battered, seem more obvious, interesting in form and concept, but whose etched and textural pattern and painted aesthetic is just too busy. The darkly surreal and expressive oils of Carnal have merit, yet his centerpiece, Soul Portrait, suffers from overkill with its excessive imagery and allusions. Conversely his Creative Pressure plays the suffering artist card more effectively with its simpler and carefully composed narrative. On the other hand the nicely liquid and sculptural untitled paintings of Thayer would benefit from some sort of scenario and more focused design in order to provide the viewer an entry point. As such, despite their very cool palette, they remain a bit too detached and decorative. Curator Giron has always organized interesting exhibits at Bellevue’s own campus gallery, many of which featured its larger community, cultural connection. 9 was the next logical step in the process, and not coincidentally it favorably reflects his influence as both mentor and artist. ,

tain. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. n The National Book Foundation just launched a blog — NBFPoetryBlog. squarespace.com — to showcase National Book Foundation Award-winning poets of the last 61 years. “The blog provides an opportunity for a group of talented contemporary poets who represent diverse poetic styles to sound off on some of the greatest American poets and their books, with one original essay published each weekday into May 2011,” according to the site. Each blog entry includes the original book cover, an author photo, a list of the National Book Award judges and finalists for that year (when available), as well as relevant related material and links. — Kyle Tonniges Comments? Questions? Want more? Check out our Booked blog online at thereader.com. Or email us at booked@thereader.com.

| THE READER |

feb. 24 - March 2, 2011

| THE READER |

feb. 24 - March 2, 2011

| THE READER |

theater OCP’s Spelling Bee fun, racy and just plain hilarious by Sally Deskins

“M

exican: An American slang term referring to anyone from South America.” Subtly curious definitions like these are spelling bee the foundation of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’s hilarity. Other words featured in The Omaha Community Playhouse’s latest production are ridiculously difficult. The spelling of “syzygy” by teacher and spelling bee administrator Ms. Peretti (Theresa Sindelar), recalling her days as a young speller, starts the show. “Syzygy’s” definition as a kind of unity most commonly used in the astronomical sense is a fitting start to the off-the-wall, endearing story of seven spacey adolescent outsiders who join forces in the end. “Syzygy” continues to play as a zinger, complimenting the understated but sidesplitting one-liners throughout. The characters are equally and bizarrely funny and multi-layered. Director Carl Beck says 90 percent of making the show work was in the casting — and cast well he did. From multiple-award winning actors Sindelar, Tim Abou-Nasr and Gordon Krentz to worldly stage alumns Analis Swerczek, Bailey Carlson, Dan Chevalier and Jennifer Tritz, to newer breakouts Roderick Cotton and Eric Micks, the ensemble shines, making the show a trippy, nostalgic and dark comical ride, clearly uproarious as evidenced by the crowds’ continuous explosions. What also sets this show apart, and makes each night unique, is audience participation — selected participants remain onstage for a big portion of the show, with the cast egging them on

by dancing and giving words for them to spell, being a part of Peretti and Panch’s impromptu humiliating, most often politically incorrect quips like “Mr. [Volunteer Name] has the largest collection of belly button lint”; or “Mr. [Bald Volunteer] just got over head lice.” This humiliation is part of what makes this show so true and beloved, according to Beck. “I didn’t want any cute, grownup versions of

kids,” Beck says, “but to show the strangeness, awkwardness, foibles, pains and fun rawness of being a kid, before developing filters.” Character William Barfee (Micks) is perhaps the epitome of such; endlessly correcting his name pronunciation (“Bar-FAY”), Barfee suffers from severe peanut allergies and embarrassing mucus membrane deficiency, being able to only “breathe with one nostril,” causing him to wheeze, snort and hack throughout. Barfee is also a know-it-all, classic proud dork who uses the infamous “magic foot” method, forming the

words with his toes while spelling each seemingly impossible word. Yes, most of the words are about as impossible as “syzygy,” including strabismus, cystitis, boanthropy and capybara. A few extremely simple words are thrown in, too, such as “cow,” (to the other participants’ extreme dismay). The smart-ass definition given is, “It means cow.” And with that, “Please spell cow.” But the show isn’t really about the spelling bee; it’s about the characters’ personalities and their times and trials, as Beck alludes. Even Mitch Mahoney (Cotton), who’s on parole and serving volunteer hours by “comforting” bee losers by showing them out and handing out juice boxes. The character is quite the opposite of all the others — clothed in black and adorned with chain, tough guy Mahoney serves as a participant’s “scary” potential future — losing. Cotton also shines as the gay stage father of Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere and absent workaholic father of shy Olive Ostrovsky, showing multi-faceted talent, sometimes switching in less than a minute between characters. No doubt the actors are all showing their aptitude with these roles — never going out of character as they twitch, wander, giggle, stretch, push, mumble and daydream throughout — just like real kids. Constantly in kid mode, they memorize crazy words, interact with audience volunteers, and sing sweet, innocent yet telling personal odes. “The script is fun, off-putting, clever and unpredictable as can possibly be,” Beck says. “Each character goes in different directions — light, frivolous and dark. It has a subversive, dark humor but is also fun and childish.” Somehow, it all comes together — “syzygy” — in the end. , The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee runs through Mar. 27 at the Omaha Community Playhouse‘s Howard Drew Theatre, 6915 Cass St. Performance times are Thurs-Sat at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Visit omahaplayhouse.com or ticketomaha.com for details.

theater

coldcream

Buzz Worthy

n From Sarah Palin’s Mama Grizzlies to Care Bears, from the infamous Pedobear to Smokey the Bear, all will be bared at The Encyclopedia Show, 7:30 p.m. Monday Feb. 28 at the Omaha Community Playhouse. It’s the latest innovative offering of the “21 and Over” series organized by resident director Amy Lane. Katie F-S and Andrew Ek co-host invited artists who’ll present verbal (and/or musical) encyclopedia entries on their assigned topics. For example, Ek will offer Bears in Children’s Literature, F-S will do Pedobear and Smokey will come from the recently famous All Young Girls Are Machine Guns. Nine more presenters include slam poets, storytellers and the Aetherplough pair, Susan Suprenant and Thom Sibbit on gummi bears. Admission to the Howard Drew Theatre is free with opportunity for donations. n You can read more about the Playhouse musical 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on this page, but it raises a question that also pops up almost annually: Why is a show so much more entertaining in the Drew than the touring company was in the Orpheum? Obviously, it’s more intimate than the big downtown auditorium so you’re much closer to the cast. In this case, add two other factors: the masterful school gymnasium setting by Jim Othuse is a more palpable presence when you look down on the hardwood and the free throw lane from above. And director Carl Beck artfully adapts this sort of comedy to well-chosen talent. He’s done it before and will do it again, enabling an experienced non-professional cast to outshine the visiting pros. It might also help that we’re seeing familiar favorites like Dan Chevalier, Bailey Carlson, Tim Abou-Nasr and Theresa Sindelar, plus such promising newcomers as Eric Micks. Whatever the causes, the effect is an infinitely more appealing version than the enjoyable one at the Orpheum. n It was an emotionally charged evening watching a powerful performance by Barb Ross in the Circle Theatre’s A Year of Magical Thinking by (and about) Joan Didion. As a life-long writer, and one who experienced the sudden loss of a beloved spouse, I would have identified with her story under any circumstances. But we had just learned a few hours before the performance that our granddaughter Kaela, a college freshman in New York, had received a preliminary diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. When Barb as Joan spoke of her experiences and said, “It will happen to you,” we empathized, especially when she talked of caring for an ailing daughter. — Warren Francke Cold Cream looks at theater in the metro area. Email information to coldcream@thereader.com.

| THE READER |

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

theater ‘Dark Play’ UNO debuts polarizing internet tale

by Warren Francke

ark Play “is not an easy play,” director Amy Lane warns. “I have no delusions that it’s a play everyone will like.” But she brought the script by Carlos Murillo to the attention of her drama colleagues at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, along with several other scripts featuring younger characters. It’s “very twisted, dark, but everybody has some connection to it.” She considers it “a worthy topic, thought-provoking” as well as a “challenge emotionally and good training” for the student cast. Dark Play or Stories For Boys (the full title) travels “through the murky recesses of cyberspace and into the most terrifying regions of the human psyche.” It opened with a preview performance Wednesday and continues through March 5 in the Weber Fine Arts Building. Bill Grennan, in his dark play master’s thesis role, plays college student Nick, “a disturbed young man” of 21, whose girlfriend asks about the scars on his torso. He tells her about a time when he was 14 and discovered an online profile of a young man who wrote, “I want to fall in love.” So he created a dream girl, or so he says. Nick warns us, “I make shit up.” Grennan believes they “wouldn’t do this at Creighton,” where he earned his undergraduate degree. But he and his director share the hope that audiences will empathize with his situation. “He tells you he’s a liar,” Lane says, “but I feel for him because he’s in trouble.” She talked to Murillo and learned that the playwright has seen Nick portrayed as a psychopath or as “a kid caught up in something.” Grennan explains, “He thinks he’s above humanity, and that’s what gets him in trouble.” His “dark play” game on the internet “spirals out of control.” The character’s drama teacher provides a rationale for the play’s value when she argues

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

| THE READER |

theater

that the best theater “challenges the audience to confront the darkness in their own souls.” Sarah Liken plays Nick’s college girlfriend, Steven Hartman is Adam, the love-seeker, and Olivia Sather is “Rachel,” the embodiment of the dream girl Nick concocts online. Some others are simply identified as “netizens,” which in this case are fellow travelers in cyberspace. Obviously, it deals with an internet world quite familiar to students at UNO and the rest of online world. Given the student focus, it calls for a homework assignment. Consider the article by Adam Gopnik in the Feb. 21 New Yorker, titled “How the Internet Gets Inside Us.” Among other points in a lengthy piece, he argues: “A social network is crucially different from a social circle, since the function of a social circle is to curb our appetites and of a network to extend them.” Away from the internet, you’re “less oppressed by the force of your own inner life. Shut off your computer, and your self stops raging quite as much or quite as loud.” If you saw the photo spread in Saturday’s WorldHerald, you know that lighting designer Steven L. Williams collaborated with scenic designer Robbie Jones and director Lane to make this production a highly original exercise in light and darkness as the netizens enter into virtual reality. They’ll sometimes be seen only in the pale glow of their laptop screens. If it all comes together as expected, the combination of technical stagecraft and creativity will add to UNO’s reputation for innovative productions, often unmatched in the metro theater community and unrecognized by voters in local award competitions. As for the content, playgoers may respond in ways as different as these two reviewers: One called it “A kick in the throat that you’re thankful for” while another said “It’s only lesson is to stay away from plays by Carlos Murillo.” , The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Dark Play or Stories for Boys runs through March 5 at the Weber Fine Arts Building, 6001 Dodge St., with performances at 7:30 p.m. Wed.Sat. and a talkback after the March 4 production. Tickets are $15, $10 for seniors, $5 for students and free to UNO students. Visit unomaha.edu/unotheatre or call 554.PLAY.

WERE YOUR SCHOOL DAYS A BIT MORE C ON F E R E NC E A N D E X H I BI T ION

march

4-5

Spend a weekend with national and local experts to learn how to restore, renovate and preserve older properties. Friday, March 4 Opening Reception

GEEK THAN CHIC?

Send your geekiest childhood photos to The Reader for a chance to win dinner for two and tickets the Omaha Community Playhouseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production of

The Ambassador Apartments 111 S. 49th Ave. o Q N t $PTU The Ambassador is currently going through a major renovation to bring it back to its original, 1928 glory. Come enjoy great food and drink and a chance to tour several of the planned apartments.

Saturday, March 5 Conference .FUSPQPMJUBO $PNNVOJUZ $PMMFHF 4PVUI 0NBIB $BNQVT 27th and Q Streets B N o Q N t $PTU JO "EWBODF BU UIF %PPS Keynote address by Rudy Christian, executive director of the Preservation Trades Network. Christian will speak on the importance of conserving our rich heritage of classic architecture while building for permanence and sustainability for future generations. t FEVDBUJPOBM TFTTJPOT 5PQJDT JODMVEF #SBECVSZ BOE #SBECVSZ wallpapers, researching the history of your house, roof restoration and high velocity systems for older buildings. t -VODI NPSOJOH BOE BGUFSOPPO CSFBLT BOE B 3FTUPSBUJPO +". at the end of the day. A great opportunity to gather ideas and solutions from other property owners and from the 25 businesses and organizations exhibiting at the event. For further information and to register DBMM /JDPMF .BMPOF BU PS WJTJU

w w w. r e s t o r e o m a h a . o r g The conference is made possible with support from Metropolitan Community College, the Omaha Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, B.G. Peterson Co., Omaha City Planning Department, The Reader, The

| THE READER |

FEB. 24 - MARCH 2, 2011

art

OpeningS

CATHEDRAL CULTURAL CENTER SUTHERLAND GALLERY, 701 N. 40th St., cathedralartsproject.org. SHARING SPACE: New work Dennis Wattier and Deborah Murphy, through Apr. 2. DAOMA, Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge St., 980.9850, designallianceomaha.org. YVES BEHAR: Founder of fuseproject speaks, opens Feb. 24, 7 p.m. EISENTRAGER-HOWARD GALLERY, Richards Hall, Stadium Drive and T, Lincoln, 472.5025, unl.edu/art/facilities_eisentragerhoward.shtml. GRASSROOTS: Fundraiser for MEDICI, reception Feb. 26, 6:30 p.m. SHELDON ART GALLERY, 12th and R, UNL, Lincoln, sheldonartgallery.org. BOOK, JACKET AND JOURNAL SHOW: Group show, features examples of design and includes 56 books, one journal, and 40 book jackets and covers, through Feb. 28. PHOTOFEST AWARD CEREMONY: Opens Mar. 1, 5 p.m.

ONGOING

ARTISTS’ COOPERATIVE GALLERY, 405 S. 11th St., artistscoopgallery.com. EVERY ARTIST HAS A STORY: New work by Ken Heimbuch, Katrina Methot-Swanson and Tom Sitzman, through Feb. 27. BELLEVUE UNIVERSITY GALLERY, Hitchcock Humanities Center, 1000 Galvin Road. S., 293.2048, Bellevue.edu. ART AND MEDICINE: New work by Mark Gilbert, through Mar. 7. BEMIS CENTER, 724 S. 12th St., 341.7130, bemiscenter.org. STILL LIFES: New work by Vera Mercer. ANOTHER NEBRASKA: Group show by the Nebraska Arts Council individual artist fellows. Both shows through Apr. 9. BEMIS UNDERGROUND, 724 S. 12th St., 341.7130, bemiscenter.org. GROUP SHOW: New work by Kenneth Adkins, Dan Crane and Victoria Hoyt, through Feb. 26. CREIGHTON LIED ART GALLERY, 2500 California St., 280.2392, finearts.creighton.edu. DRAWING OMAHA FROM MANHATTAN: New work by Edgar Jerins, through Mar. 4. CULTIVA CAFE, 727 S. 11th St., Lincoln. NEW WORK: George Sisson, through Feb. 28. DRIFT STATION GALLERY, 1745 N St., Lincoln, driftstation.org. REDACTED PERFECTION: Group show curated by Jeff Thompson and Angeles Cossio, through Mar. 2. DURHAM WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM, 801 S. 10th St., 444.5071, durhammuseum.org. SCHOOL HOUSE TO WHITE HOUSE: THE EDUCATION OF THE PRESIDENTS: Through Mar. 27. WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition, through Mar. 20. EL MUSEO LATINO, 4701 S. 25th St., elmuseolatino.org. MOLAS EXHIBIT: Textiles created by the Kuna people of Panama. NEBRASKA MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS: Group show, through Apr. 16. EL CABALLO: The horse in Mexican Folk Art, through May 4. ELDER GALLERY, 51st and Huntington, Nebraska Wesleyan University, nebrwesleyan.edu. ALL STUDENT ART SHOW: Through Feb. 27. FRED SIMON GALLERY, Burlington Building, 1004 Farnam St., nebraskaartscouncil.org. NAC IAF VISUAL ARTS SHOW: Group show, through Feb. 25. GALLERY 9, 124 S 9th St., Lincoln, 477.2822, gallerynine.com. NEW WORK: Larry Griffing, through Feb. GOVERNOR’S RESIDENCE EXHIBITION, 1425 H St., Lincoln, nebraskaartscouncil.org. NEW WORK: Marcia Bauerle, through Mar. 11. GREAT PLAINS ART MUSEUM, 1155 Q St., Hewit Plc., Lincoln, 472.0599, unl.edu/plains/gallery/gallery.shtml. DOUBLE VISION: New work by Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, through Mar. 27. HAYDON CENTER, 335 N. 8th St., Lincoln, 475.5421, haydonartcenter.org. UNREAL LANDSCAPES: Steve Ryan & Diane Fox, through Mar. 12, reception Mar. 4. HILLMER ART GALLERY, College of St. Mary, 7000 Mercy Rd., 399.2400, csm.edu. RECENT PAINTINGS: Jeffrey Spencer, through Mar. 4. HOT SHOPS ARTS CENTER, 1301 Nicholas St., 342.6452, hotshopsartcenter.com. ARDENT: Presented by G Thompson Higgins Photography, featuring readings on the topics of love, lust, obsession and passion. DRAWING FROM LIFE: Work from drawing from life sessions. ART CHALLENGE 2011: Juried show. All shows through Feb. 27. INTERNATIONAL QUILT STUDY CENTER AND MUSEUM, 1523 N. 33rd St., Lincoln, 472.7232, quiltstudy.org. MARSEILLE:

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

WHITE CORDED QUILTING: Through May 8. REVISITING THE ART QUILT: Through Apr. 3, gallery talk Apr. 3, 3 p.m. JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, 333 S. 132nd St., 572.8486, jccomaha.org. SCREAM TRUTH AT THE WORLD: Emanuel Ringelblum and the Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Gutter, through Feb. 25. JOSLYN ART MUSEUM, 2200 Dodge St., 342.3300, joslyn.org. THE GLORY OF UKRAINE: Two part exhibition that forms an unprecedented celebration of this large European nation, through May 8. FROM HOUDINI TO HUGO: The art of Brian Selznick, through May 29. KANEKO, 1111 Jones St., 341.3800, thekaneko.org. FREE. FOLDED SQUARE ALPHABETS & NUMERICALS: Sculpture exhibit by Fletcher Benton, through Feb. KIECHEL FINE ART, 5733 S. 34th St., Lincoln, 420.9553, kiechelart.com. SHARED HISTORY: Anthony Benton Gude with works by Thomas Hart Benton & Dale Nichols, through Apr. 8. KRUGER COLLECTION, UNL Architecture Hall, 10th and R, Lincoln, 472.3560, krugercollection.unl.edu. THINK GREEN: Interior/green design and miniatures, through Mar. 18. LAURITZEN GARDENS, 100 Bancroft St., 346.4002, omahabotanicalgardens.org. A TROPICAL PARADISE: Amazing tropical plants, through Apr. WEEDS/PODS/SEEDS: New work by Kristin Pluhacek. THE LANDSCAPES: New work by Kristin Pluhacek. Both shows through Apr. 17. THE LICHEN, 2810 N. 48th St., Lincoln, thelichen.com. THE METRO PHOTO CLUB COLLECTIVE: Group show, through Feb. LUX CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 48th and Baldwin, Lincoln, 434.2787, luxcenter.org. VIS-A-VIS: Group show, through Mar. 1. PULP: Group show. SELECTIVE MEMORY: New work by Arjan Zazuety. AS YOU WERE: New work by Matthew Dercole. All shows through Feb. 26. METRO COMMUNITY COLLEGE, Fort Omaha Campus, 30th & Fort St., North Building #10. LUIGI WAITES EXHIBIT: Artwork honoring Luigi Waites, through Mar. 30. MODERN ARTS MIDWEST, 800 P St., Lincoln, modernartsmidwest.com. PHOTOGRAPHERS: Group show, through Feb. 26. MORRILL HALL, 307 Morrill Hall, Lincoln 472.3779, museum. unl.edu. AMPHIBIANS VIBRANT AND VANISHING: Photographs by Joel Sartore, through Nov. 30. MUSEUM OF NEBRASKA ART (MONA), 2401 Central Ave., Kearney, 308.865.8559, monet.unk.edu/mona. THE ANIMAL KINGDOM: Through Jun. 5, 2011. A GREATER SPECTRUM: African American artists of Nebraska, 1912-2010, through Apr. 3. OF PEN, PAPER, PENCIL: Group show, through Feb. 27. NOMAD LOUNGE GALLERY, 1013 Jones St., 884.1231, nomadlounge.com. THE LONG CON: New work by Timothy Siragusa, through Feb. 27. OLD MARKET ARTISTS, 1034 Howard St., Lower Level of Old Market Passageway, oldmarketartists.com. GROUP SHOW: Featuring 13 local artists, through Feb. 28. OMAHA’S CHILDREN’S MUSEUM, 500 S. 20th St., 342.6163. ocm.org. BIG BACKYARD: Through Apr. 10. PARALLAX SPACE, 1745 N St., Lincoln, parallaxspace.com. PRIVACY AND THE PLAINS: Photographs by Kimberly Thomas, through Feb. PROJECT ROOM, 1410 and 1416 O St., Suite #8, Lincoln, 617.8365, projectroom.us. NEW WORK: Matt Hilker, Ying Zhu, Maggie Tobin, through Feb. RETRO, 1125 Jackson St., 934.7443. NEW WORK: Group show curated by Pope Katherine of Ralston Costume, through Feb. RNG GALLERY, 1915 Leavenworth St., 214.3061. 9: Group show, through Mar. 6. SCREEN INK, 416 S. 16th St., Lincoln, screenink.com. NEW WORK: Nicole Gustafsson, through Feb. SHELDON ART GALLERY, 12th and R, UNL, Lincoln, sheldonartgallery.org. BETTER HALF, BETTER TWELFTH: Women artists in the collection, through Apr. 1, 2011. AN AMERICAN TASTE: THE ROHMAN COLLECTION: Through May 1. POETICAL FIRE: THREE CENTURIES OF STILL LIFES: Group show, through May 7. TRANSFORMING VISION: PHOTOGRAPHIC ABSTRACTION IN SHELDON’S COLLECTION: Group show, in conjunction with Lincoln Photofest. TUGBOAT GALLERY, 14th and O, 2nd floor, Lincoln, tugboatgallery.com. LANDSCAPE/LANDSCAPED: Group show curated by Kim Thomas, through Feb. 26. UNL HILLESTAD TEXTILES GALLERY, 35th & Holdrege, Home Econ Bldg., Lincoln, textilegallery.unl.edu. ADDRESSING THE BODY: LESSON IN QUILTING: Through Mar. 18.

| THE READER |

art/theater listings

PETE LEE, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY 25

check event listings online! UNL ROTUNDA GALLERY, Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, 472.8279. 2ND ANNUAL UNL EMPLOYEE QUILT SHOW: Through Mar. 3. UNO ART GALLERY, Weber Fine Arts Bldg., 6001 Dodge St., 554.2796. 2011 ANNUAL JURIED STUDENT EXHIBITION: Curated by Brigitte McQueen, through Mar. 17. WORKSPACE GALLERY, Sawmill Building, 440 N. 8th St., Lincoln, sites.google.com/site/workspacegallery. NEW WORK: Priya Kambli, through Feb.

theater oPENING

21 & OVER: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA SHOW, Omaha Community Playhouse, 6915 Cass St., 553.0800, omahaplayhouse.com. Opens Feb. 28, 7:30 p.m., FREE. COMPANY, Nebraska Wesleyan, McDonald Theatre, 51st and Huntington, 465.2384, nebraskawesleyan.edu. Opens Feb. 24-27, Mar. 3-6, Thu.-Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m., 15, $10/seniors, $7.50/students. DON GIOVANNI, Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St., 345.0606, omahaperformingarts.org. Opens Feb. 25 & 27, $19. FANTASTIC MR. FOX, Rose Theater, 2001 Farnam St., 345.4849, rosetheater.org. Opens Feb. 25-Marc. 13, Fri. 7 p.m., Sat.-Sun., 2 p.m., Mar. 12, 2 p.m. & 7 p.m., $16. IPHIGENIA 2.0, Howell Theatre, Temple Bldg., 12th and R, Lincoln, 472.4747, unl.edu/theatrearts. Opens Feb. 2426, Mar. 2-5, 7:30 p.m., $16, $14/seniors, $10/students. PEACE THROUGH CORN, Council Bluffs Public Library, 400 Willow Ave., Council Bluffs, 712.323.7553. Opens Feb. 28, 7 p.m., FREE. WELCOME TO JULLIARD, Gross Auditorium, College of Saint Mary Campus, 7000 Mercy Road, csm.edu. Opens Feb. 25-26, 7 p.m., Feb. 27, 2 p.m., $5, $3/students.

oNGOING

THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, Omaha Community Playhouse, 6915 Cass St., 553.0800, omahaplayhouse.com. Through Mar. 27, Thu.-Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m., $40, $24/student. DARK PLAY OR STORIES FOR BOYS, UNO Theatre, 6001 Dodge St., unomaha.edu. Through Feb. 26, Mar. 2-5, 7:30 p.m., $15, $10/seniors, $5/students, FREE/UNO Students. STRING OF PEARLS, Angels Theatre Company, Lincoln Community Playhouse, 2500 S. 56th St., Lincoln, 489.7529, lincolnplayhouse.com, angelscompany.org. Opens Feb. 18-20, 21-16, 7:30 p.m., Feb. 20 & 27, 2 p.m., $20, $10/students. THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, Circle Theatre, 55th & Leavenworth, 553.4715, dlmarr@cox.net. Opens Feb. 18-Mar. 12, Thu.-Sat., 7 p.m., $23/show & dinner, $13/ show.

poetry/comedy thursday 24

COMEDY NIGHT AT THE SIDE DOOR, 3530 Leavenworth St., 8 p.m., $5. (Every Thu.) DR. WILLIAM S. WORLEY, Durham Western Heritage Museum, 801 S. 10th St., 444.5071, durhammuseum.org, 5 p.m. Historical impersonation of President Harry Truman. KEN BLOOM, Nebraska Wesleyan, Olin B. Lecture Hall, 5000 Saint Paul Ave., nebrwesleyan.edu, 1 p.m., FREE. Lecture: “Discovering the Quantum Universe at the Large Hadron Collider. PARK TEEN CENTER UNDERGROUND OPEN MIKE COFFEEHOUSE NIGHT, Park School, 855 S. 8th St., Lincoln, 441.9471, 7 p.m., $1. Grades 8-12. (last Thu.) PRAIRIE PRIDE FILM FESTIVAL, Joyo Theatre, 6102 Havelock Ave., Lincoln, prairiepridefilmfestival.com, $5 per screening.

DAVID LIEPERT, Harper Center Hixson-Lied Auditorium, Creighton University, 2500 California Plz., creighton.edu, 7 p.m. Lecture based on book Muslim, Christian and Jew: Finding a Path to Peace Our Faiths Can Shair. NO NAME READING SERIES, Zen’s Lounge, 122 N. 11th St., Lincoln, unl.edu/noname, 4 p.m., FREE. Featuring Bob Fuglei & Karen Babine. PRAIRIE PRIDE FILM FESTIVAL, Joyo Theatre, 6102 Havelock Ave., Lincoln, prairiepridefilmfestival.com, $5 per screening. PETE LEE, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7:30 p.m, 9:45 p.m.

SATURDAY 26

CIVIL WAR BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP, The Bookworm, 87th & Pacific, 392.2877, bookwormomaha.com, 10 a.m. DEAN JACOBS, Omaha Healing Arts Center, 1216 Howard St., 345.5078, omahahealingarts.com, 2 p.m., $35. “Digital Dharma Photography 101: Simple Truths of Making Great Photos.” PRAIRIE PRIDE FILM FESTIVAL, Joyo Theatre, 6102 Havelock Ave., Lincoln, prairiepridefilmfestival.com, $5 per screening. PETE LEE, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7:30 p.m, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday 27

BRIAN BOGDANOFF, The Bookworm, 87th and Pacific, 392.2877, bookwormomaha.com, 1 p.m. Author of Three Bodies Burning. PETE LEE, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7 p.m.

monday 28

ARCAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA LECTURE SERIES, Room 15, Richards Hall, Stadium Drive, University of NebraskaLincoln, unl.edu, 7:30 p.m. Lecture: “Three Mysterious Portraits from Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum.” DUFFY’S COMEDY WORKSHOP, 1412 O St., Lincoln, 474.3543, myspace.com/duffystavern, 9 p.m. (every Mon.) POETRY AT THE MOON, Crescent Moon Coffee, 816 P St., Lincoln, 435.2828, crescentmoon@inebraska.com, 7 p.m. Open mic and featured readers. (every Mon.) WWII HISTORY BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP, The Bookworm, 87th and Pacific, 392.2877, bookwormomaha.com, 2 p.m.

tuesday 1

88 IMPROV, Pizza Shoppe Collective, 6056 Maple St., 8 p.m, 88improv.com, $5. (1st and 3rd Tuesday) FILM OF AND BY WOMEN ARTISTS: !WOMEN ART REVOLUTION, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, 12th & R St., Lincoln, sheldonartmuseum.org, 7 p.m. SHOOT YOUR MOUTH OFF, The Hideout, 320 S. 72nd St., 504.4434, myspace.com/shootyourmouthoff, 9 p.m. Spoken word, comedy, music and chaos (every Tue.) TUESDAYS WITH WRITERS, The South Mill, 4736 Prescott, Lincoln, 7 p.m., Open mic with featured reader Lisa K. Roberts. (1st Tue.)

Wednesday 2

ACOUSTIC OPEN MIC FOR MUSICIANS & POETS, Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso, 1624 S. St., Lincoln, 8 p.m., 477.2007. Hosted by Spencer. (every Wed.) LUNCH AT THE LIBRARY, Bennett Martin Public Library, 14th & N St., Lincoln, 12:10 p.m. Featuring Lois Lewandowski, author of The Burden of Truth: A Gillian Jones Mystery. MIDWEST POETRY VIBE, Irie, 302 S. 11th St., 9 p.m.. (Every Wed.) NAKED WORDS, Soul Desires Bookstore, 1026 Jackson St., prairie.sky@gmail.com, 6 p.m. Open mic hosted by Heidi Hermanson. (1st Wed.) PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL: BAM 6.6, McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Farnam, 7 p.m., FREE. The story of two American victims of a devestating earthquake. (every Wed.) POET SHOW IT, 1122 D St., Lincoln, 8 p.m. Hosted by Travis Davis. (1st & 3rd Wed.) WHAT ARE YOU READING?, The Bookworm, 87th & Pacific, 392.2877, bookwormomaha.com,1 p.m. (1st Wed.)

music

Kris Kristofferson gets candid about a life well lived

by Jesse D. Stanek

anyone who’s ever had a chance to speak one-on-one with the man can attest, he can also spin the heck out of a yarn. Stories like the one Johnny and June Cash liked to tell about Kristofferson landing his helicopter in their yard when he was first trying to get Johnny to buy one of his songs simply add to the mystique. “Lord, yes,” Kristofferson says with a contagious full-belly laugh. “For that little five minutes I could talk about that more than anything I’ve ever done. But it’s true; I had already known John for a couple of years. I worked as a janitor in a Columbia recording studio and I was at every session he ever cut. And I had given him every song I had ever wrote but he hadn’t recorded any of them. But he was so support-

ost people would consider Kris Kristofferson’s accomplishments as a songwriter and musician enough to qualify his as one hell of a life well-lived. But Kristofferson has succeeded at everything he’s tried in his life, whether it be acting (Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Convoy, The Wendell Baker Story), sports (he achieved success in boxing, track and field, rugby and kris kristofferson football), academics (he was a top-rate student and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University), or aviation (he deftly maneuvered helicopters in the Army and later flew to offshore oil rigs in Louisiana). And to say he hasn’t aged gracefully would be utter folly: His most recent albums were critically lauded, he recently spoke at The Grammys and he still maintains that rugged attractiveness that makes the ladies swoon. Recently he was able to perform a Kennedy Center tribute to his old friend Merle Haggard, whom he will be joining onstage Saturday in Omaha. “Well, Merle is one of my heroes,” Kristofferson says during our recent phone conversation. “I was glad just to be a part of that. I didn’t do a whole lot on that. I gave him an award one night and then the next night, you know, sang. He deserves every accolade he gets. “We did it once before and one of the real blessings in my life has been that these people who are my heroes turned out to be ive of me. I remember I thought of it as a sort of a joke. I was briefly in the National Guard back when close friends.” Kristofferson’s songwriting contributions are I was about to have another child in my family and not only an intrinsic part of the canon of great coun- figured I ought to have the financial support because I try music songs, they are part of the overall canon of was still a janitor. And when I landed there he wasn’t great American music. Cuts like “Sunday Morning even home. But John and June both had a real creative Come Down,” “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Loving memory. He said I got out of the helicopter with a Her Was Easier (Then Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)” tape in one hand a beer in the other, you know, and showcase a razor-sharp wit, a romantic’s eye and a po- there was no way in hell I could fly a helicopter like et’s feel for the perfect word. Lines as simple as “Free- that. I definitely needed both hands.” Years later, after Cash bought “Sunday Morning dom’s just another word for nothing left to lose” and as gorgeously poignant as “Aching with the feeling of Coming Down” and turned it into a huge hit, Kristthe freedom of an eagle when she flies” made Krist- offerson teamed up with Cash, Waylon Jennings and offerson one of the most iconic songwriters ever. As Willie Nelson in what will always be one of music’s

all-time super groups, The Highwaymen. The band released two extraordinary records, most notably 1985’s Highwayman which found the foursome harmonizing on classics like “Against The Wind,” “Highwayman” and Woody Guthrie’s classic “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos).” The records have an intensity that still shines some 25 years later. The fact that it was four hugely-talented artists who were also the best of friends rings through on cut after cut. As great as Kristofferson’s songs are, his acting is every bit as exceptional. While we’re all familiar with several musicians who tried to act with sappy results and actors who tried to play music (Russell Crowe, anyone?) with equally disastrous outcomes, Kristofferson managed the transition effortlessly. And no, he didn’t just play roles that fit him (like, perhaps, a country outlaw or more currently a wizened sage), he stretched himself into other character’s shoes with a grace that alludes many full-time actors. “Well, you know, when I started performing back in ’70, I happened to be down in Los Angeles at a place called Troubador and a lot of movie people hung out there,” he says. “And it was a time in film when I think they were taking chances on people. I can’t imagine why I got offered a film role when I was doing all I could just to stand behind a microphone.” When an artist has a catalog as distinguished as Kristofferson’s it is somewhat unfair to ask him if he has a favorite song or one that holds a special significance, but when asked, without skipping a beat he responded. “Well, you’re right, it’s like picking out your favorite kid, but I would have to say if there were one favorite it’d probably be ‘Bobby McGee.’ It seemed to be when everything turned around on that song. It was one that I’ll probably be singing at every show I ever do. I’ll tell you what. I’m primarily a songwriter so I love it when other people cut my songs. Most of them sound a hell of a lot better than I do. I never knew that Janis was going to do it; I had never heard it even though we were together for a month or so right before she died. I heard it right after she died. I had gone out to L.A. because she had just died and her producer, who was a friend as well, told me to come over the next day and he played me the song she had done and it just destroyed me. She did a great job on it.” , Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard will play The Holland Center, 1200 Douglas St., on Saturday, February 26 at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $48 to $78. For more info or to purchase tickets visit omahaperformingarts.org.

music

backbeat

Open Highwayman

n Mark April 2 on your calendar because it’s going to be the show of the spring. Queens of the Stone Age are playing the Sokol Auditorium, 2234 S. 13th St., as part of a run-of-date celebrating the re-issue of their long out-ofprint self-titled debut album. The show will feature entire albums, non-album cuts from that era and hits from the rest of the band’s catalogue, according to a release from the band’s publicist. The 1998 release had become a holy grail of sorts among Queens fans, with counterfeit versions even surfacing online. Singer Josh Homme’s Rekords Rekords imprint is teaming up with Domino Records to offer the re-issue March 29. Those who purchase tickets to this run of shows will also be offered a special pre-order of the album.

n Here’s some concrete details on the forthcoming It’s True album, courtesy of Slo-Fidelity Records head honcho Kyle Harvey. It is the second album for the Adam Hawkins-led band and the first since Hawkins relocated to Iowa in the middle of 2010. The album another afterlife will be released via local imprint SloFidelity with two shows April 1-2. The Friday night April Fool’s Day show is at the Waiting Room Lounge, 6212 Maple St., with the Haunted Windchimes, Cowboy Indian Bear and Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship, followed the next night at Lincoln’s Bourbon Theater, once again with Noah’s Ark and Cowboy Indian Bear. Both are 9 p.m. shows with no set price as yet. The album also marks the 15th Slo-Fidelity release. n Just where Bright Eyes’ latest album The People’s Key will fall on the Billboard album sales chart is not yet public, but Homer’s Music reports that the release is its top seller right now, moving more than 150 copies, including more than 45 vinyl copies. The local retailer had guaranteed the anticipated Saddle Creek Records release would be in-stock at its two locations. n UK label FatCat Records, home to the first Animal Collective and Frightened Rabbit releases, are getting in on the shitgaze game by releasing Laced, the new album by Ohio’s Psychedelic Horseshit. Take note, as this may just be connected to some local news of note later this year. — Chris Aponick Backbeat takes you behind the scenes of the local music scene. Send tips, comments and questions to backbeat@thereader.com.

| THE READER |

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

music Truckers’ Narrator Patterson Hood talks to The Reader about the Drive-By Truckers’ latest CD

You’re known for your narrative songwriting. Whether it’s a song or a story, what elements make for a good tale? I don’t know. I just have to have a strong reaction to it. I don’t go looking for those stories, they seem to seek me out. I have to empathize (not necessarily agree) with some aspect of the story or the person involved. A song like “The Wig He Made Her Wear” or the two murder songs on Go-Go Boots (the title cut and “The Fireplace Poker”) were written as a reaction to growing up where we did, where religion was such a huge part of our local culture and sometimes a very oppressing force in our town socially, politically and culturally. It was a dry county, you couldn’t buy a cold beer after work or go see a band play, yet there was this preacher carrying on like that. I’ve always reacted strongly to people of authority acting terribly. That inspired “Used To Be A Cop” also.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS

by Chris Aponick

rive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood has garnered a well-earned reputation for his songwriting by telling detailrich accounts of southern rock, methamphetamine addiction and George Wallace’s final damnation, among other things. So when The Reader was offered a chance to send Hood some questions, we jumped at the chance to crawl into one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most literate minds. Here’s an excerpt from Hood’s responses. Check out the rest at TheReader.com. First of all, the Truckers have a new album. Go-Go Boots. Could you tell us about how it came about? When we went in to record The Big To-Do, we had a very clear idea of what we wanted to do and how we wanted the album to sound, etc. However we had all of these “other” songs that absolutely didn’t fit that mold but that we felt just as strongly about as the album we were making, so we decided to just record everything and sort it out later. After we finished TBTD, we would go in whenever we had a little time and work on it until we had the album we wanted and I think I like it the better of the two.

There’s some cuts on the record that dabble more in soul than southern rock on this record. How did that come about? That’s something we’ve always wanted to do; it’s just taken a long time. It’s a much harder type of music to play properly than the big rock stuff and we didn’t want to massacre something we love as much as soul/r&b so we took our time. Having Johnny (Neff ) and Jay (Gonzalez) in the band really helped us do this as well as the things we learned working with Bettye LaVette and Booker T. Jones. Did the inclusion of the two Eddie Hinton covers guide the sound and songs of the record? It did dramatically. I had to literally relearn how

to sing in order to pull the vocal off for “Everybody Needs Love” and in doing so, it opened up a whole host of new doors to us. What’s the dynamic like with three people contributing songs to the band? It’s great. It only works because we all really love and respect each other’s writing. I think Shonna (Tucker) is becoming a great writer and the things she writes are cool to play but things we could never do otherwise. I love having a female perspective in our songs. I have always rebelled against the cliché of rock ‘n’ roll as a “boys club.” (Mike) Cooley writes my favorite songs in the band. He’s not particularly prolific, but his two to three a year usually are my favorite things of all.

When writing songs, do you just write or do you have to set in your mind that you’re working specifically on a “Drive-By Truckers song” or a “solo song” to guide you? I just write. I sort all of that out later. There was a time when I had to think of what made for a DBT song due to the way the band played, but honestly, the lineup we have now can play anything I can dream up better than I can imagine it. It’s really a stellar lineup these days. , Drive-By Truckers w/ the Heartless Bastards play the Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St., Sunday, Feb. 27 at 9 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance and $23 day-ofshow. For more information, visit onepercentproductions.com.

A Beneﬁt for the Band’s SXSW Expenses

SXSW SEND OFF PARTY

Satchel Grande WAITING ROOM

MONDAY MARCH 14 32

FEB. 24 - MARCH 2, 2011

| THE READER |

music

$5 Cover ALL PROCEEDS GO TO THE BAND!

THU. MARCH 24 MID-AMERICA CENTER All Ages | 6:00 PM One Arena Way | Council Bluffs, IA

TICKETS AVAILABLE THRU

OUTLETS, WWW.TICKETMASTER.COM OR BY PHONE (800)745-3000 | THE READER |

feb. 24 - March 2, 2011

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Smells Like Noah’s Ark: Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship runs a golden mile

T GIBSON ~ EMG ~ DIMARZIO ~ ZILDIAN CRATE ~ EPIPHONE RED BEAR ~ HAMER

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he scene is O’Leaver’s on a Saturday afternoon. How could a bar so fun and full of life in the evening look so bleak and frightening in the daylight? Flat, winter afternoon sun glared through the dirty windows, cutting the darkness where a handful of faceless people sat stooped over the bar, drinking and watching college basketball. The room’s tiny “stage” in daylight was a patch of dirty carpeting behind a couple tiny monitors that I pushed out of the way while dragging a chair up to the table where the boys of Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship sat drinking a variety of tallboys. Guitarist vocalist Andrew Gustafson was late arriving from a luncheon with his family. We bided time talking about how the band’s music has been influenced by a handful of acts that these guys are way too young to have heard when first released. “I was in third grade when I first heard Nirvana,” says drummer Rob Webster. “I had a friend whose older brother was really into that shit.” Guitarist vocalist John Svatos explained how a friend had made a VHS mix tape of “super ’90s bands” that introduced him to Smashing Pumpkins. While bassist Ricky Black professes to being “super into Weird Al. I’m not as cool as these guys.” Once Gustafson arrived the interview became chaotic, with everyone talking at the same time, made all the more confusing when the jukebox erupted into Thin Lizzy so loud that I couldn’t hear what anyone was saying. I warned them that I was going to get the story wrong, but they didn’t seem to mind. The thumbnail sketch of the band’s history: Gustafson met Svatos during art class at Creighton Prep in 2002. “He had a Nirvana patch on his backpack and was already in (local metal band) Paria at the time,” Svatos says. “We were both into Sonic Youth.” With bassist Black, the trio played their first gig on the under card of a local metal show at The Ranch Bowl. Drummer Rob Webster didn’t join the band until the winter of 2006, when he was Svatos’ roommate. Back in the old days, Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship was an instrumental noise band, very much influenced by Sonic Youth. It wasn’t until Black returned from the University of Iowa that the band added vocals, which changed everything. Their discography includes a 7-inch on local Dutch Hall Records and an EP on Slumber Party, the record label that’s releasing their debut LP, HangaFang, at an album release show this Friday night at The Waiting Room. I say “album release” because there will be no CDs — just digital downloads and $15 slabs of 180-gram orange vinyl.

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You can get the drift of Hanga-Fang’s post-punk by playing it on your computer speakers, but you’ll enjoy it much more by dropping it on your Technics turntable hooked to your Harman/Kardon stereo and a pair of beefy Boston Acoustic speakers — or at least wearing headphones — where you can pick up subtle hints of Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Husker Du and Fugazi beneath layers of densely packed guitars and crisp, cracklin’ drums. Noah’s Ark does more than emulate. They reinvent that ’90s facade in a modern setting without taking their eyes off the past. Their sound reminds me of the Lawrence scene circa 1993 (think Vitreous Humor or Zoom) — noise rock taken to slacker extremes born under a lonely, empty sky. The album was recorded last spring by long-time Noah’s Ark engineer Mark McGowan at his Suitcase Recording studio, and mixed by AJ Mogis at ARC Studios. The band pressed 500 copies under the Slumber Party moniker. We talked about the logic of only pressing vinyl, and how they couldn’t afford a distro deal. Money is not high on their priority list. “I encourage bootlegging,” Gustafson says, though I couldn’t talk him into allowing me to post the download link in this article. Their next step is heading east and south on a tour with pals The Yuppies, followed by a western tour this summer that Black has yet to book. They’ve become renowned locally for their live show, but there also have been miscues, like playing Laslo’s Brewpub last summer, a restaurant where Webster was a cook. He warned them. “We played to kids and grandparents,” he says. “When we got done, you could hear a pin drop.” “The guys from Oxygen played after us,” Gustafson says. “They told us, ‘We really love your hard-edged sound.’” Webster quit Laslo’s shortly afterward, and the band never did get paid. But they made up for it, opening for Cursive at a sold out New Year’s Eve gig in Chicago that they nearly missed due to an ice storm. “We almost ran over a cop about a half- hour outside of Iowa City,” Webster recalls. For the band, the best part of the job is touring, and discovering weird new places, like Fairfield, Iowa, “America’s capital for transcendental meditation,” Svatos says, though none of the band knew that when they booked the gig. Gustafson says Fairfield and that tour stop could be summed up by a conversation between him, a local girl and a guy who had just arrived in the U.S. “We were standing on top of this building, and the foreign guy asked, ““What is medicine?’” Gustafson said. “I told him it’s like a pill that you take when you’re sick. The girl gave me a stern look and said, ‘No, it’s not.’ And then she pointed at a bird that was flying over and said, ‘Medicine is that.’” Svatos then adds, “That turned out to be the best show on the tour.” ,

is a weekly column by long-time Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on the Omaha music scene. Check out Tim’s daily music news updates at his website, lazy-i.com, or email him at lazy-i@thereader.com.

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

| THE READER |

lazy-i

hoodoo Reasons to experience Reasons to experience

LIVE THEATRE B L U E S ,

R O O T S ,

A M E R I C A N A

A N D

The Lift: New owners, new name

M O R E

B Y

B . J .

H U C H T E M A N N

Saturday, Feb. 26. Doors open at 6 p.m. at The Barn, located at Military and State Streets. Your ticket price includes a barbecue dinner and live blues music from The Avey Brothers, who represented Iowa and were finalists in the 2010 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Find more info at OperationBBQMW.org.

LIVE THEATRE

#74 No commercials. O Side Door Lounge ! l a Get Re

#14 It’s totally legal. ! l a e R t Ge

Reasons to experience

wnership of the New Lift Lounge has officially been transferred to John Anderson and Chad Kelderman. The formal announcement came from Terry O’Halloran on Saturday, along with word that the new owners will change the name to The 21st Amendment Saloon. Regulars will remember that O’Halloran originally reopened his old 18th Amendment Saloon at the 96th and L location when he sold the original 18th in the 82nd and Center area. The name never quite made sense to me since the 18th Amendment was the amendment that started the Prohibition era. The 21st Amendment made drinking legal again. In his last Blues Society of Omaha email as proprietor of The New Lift O’Halloran wrote, “The blues will continue on Thursdays at The Lift under the new ownership only if it continues to receive adequate support. Please support it if you can. I’ve got some great acts booked for them in the coming weeks, including The Bel Airs, Smokin’ Joe [Kubek] & Bnois King, and Debbie Davies. Words cannot adequately express my gratitude to all of you for reading these emails each week, and especially for supporting my shows, in addition to all the other shows in our area.” O’Halloran will continue to book the Thursday series at the newly christened 21st Amendment at 96th & L. Those shows begin at 5:30 p.m. Coming up this Thursday, Feb. 24, is the popular and irresistibly danceable blues, boogie and New Orleans-flavored music of The Bel Airs from Columbia, Mo. Thursday, March 3, the Texas blues-rock of Alligator Records artists Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King take the stage. March 10, it will be powerhouse guitarist Debbie Davies, and St. Patrick’s night, March 17, it’ll be the return of blistering bayou blues from Josh Garrett & The Bottomline. Thursday, March 24, will feature the legendary horndriven jump-blues and swing of Roomful of Blues. Watch for schedule updates and any other news about the Thursday series at OmahaBlues.com, the Blues Society of Omaha’s website. O’Halloran will continue to function as the BSO’s president in the short term. He and his significant other, Lilly Broders, have tentative plans to relocate to Austin, Texas, when Broders is done with school in about a year.

Michael Campbell, Omaha musician and former proprietor of Mick’s in Benson, has launched a monthly show featuring some familiar faces. The shows are on the first Wednesday of each month at The Side Door Lounge at 35th and Leavenworth. The cozy club reminds me of Mick’s with its candlelit tables, art on the walls and warm, upscale feel. Campbell’s guest Wednesday, March 3, is Gunnar Guenette, who will play from 9-11 p.m. The Side Door is owned by Steve Jamrozy and the focus is on THE BEL AIRS hand-crafted, old-school cocktails. A small stage and sound system allow for intimate music shows too. Find them at Facebook.com/ SideDoorLounge.

LIVE THEATRE

#151 No two shows

Omaha Rockabilly Night

Hot Notes

Property: Horseshoe Council Project: WRH - Slaughter, Show: 2/18/11 Vendor: Omaha Reader dMax: Trim: 4.9" x 7.47" Live: 4.625" x 7.22 VO: ~ x ~ Final Mats: PDF File Desc.: Omaha Reader 4.9” x 7.47” Ad

The 2nd Omaha Rockabilly Night is Thursday, Feb. 24, at Gator O’Malley’s “after 8:30 p.m.” The free show features Billy Beale plus Des Moines rockabilly band Rumble Seat Riot. Look up the Omaha Rockabilly page on Facebook to find out more.

are alike!

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Job#: 50030.1 3:59 PM Ship: 2/21/11 Insert: 2/24/11 Bleed: none Artist: Lawrence Rev: 0

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The Matt Cox Trio plays McKenna’s Friday, Feb. 25, 9 p.m. to midnight. The Matt Cox Band is featured at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar next Thursday after 9:30 p.m. along with The Betties. The Bel Airs hit the Zoo Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25 and 26, after 9 p.m. Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King play the Zoo Bar Wednesday, March 2, 6-9 p.m. Also on the horizon at the Zoo is guitar great Walter Trout, who plugs in Tuesday, March 15. Tickets are on sale at OmahaPerformingArts.org for the March 5 Big Head Todd tribute to Robert Johnson at the Holland. The tour includes special guests and legends of the blues James Cotton, Hubert Sumlin, Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm. Cotton has replaced Honeyboy Edwards for this leg of the tour. Willie Nelson & Family perform at the Orpheum Friday, March 11. Tickets are on sale while they last at TicketOmaha.com. The Drive-By Truckers gig is at Slowdown Sunday, Feb. 27. Mark your calendars for Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses Tuesday, March 8, at The Waiting Room. Bingham took home the Oscar last year for his song “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart. ,

Reasons to experience

LIVE THEATRE #10

BBQ & Blues For Our Troops

Julia Roberts doesn’t need another million dollars.

Operation BBQ is a volunteer organization that hosts celebration dinners for area troops when they deploy and when they return home. The group hosts a public dinner to raise funds for their efforts this

HOODOO is a weekly column focusing on blues, roots, Americana and occasional other music styles with an emphasis on live music performances. Hoodoo columnist B.J. Huchtemann is a Reader senior contributing writer and veteran music journalist who has covered the local music scene for nearly 20 years.

www.theatreartsguild.com

LIVE THEATRE #162

No airbrushed nudity.

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SLAUGHTER MARCH 3

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Reasons to experience

LIVE THEATRE #24

Tickets available at whiskeyroadhouse.com or by phone at 1.888.512.SHOW.

Lots of Omaha actors are McDreamy! I-29 South, Exit 1B | horseshoe.com

Must be 21 years or older to attend shows or to gamble. Know When To Stop Before You Start.® Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-BETS-OFF (Iowa) or 1-800-522-4700 (National). ©2011, Caesars License Company, LLC.

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| THE READER |

FEB. 24 - MARCH 2, 2011

2/21/11 5:18 PM

2234 South 13th Street Omaha, NE 68108 346 - 9802 www.sokolundground.com

livemusiccalendar

SEND CALENDAR INFORMATION — including addresses, dates, times, costs and phone numbers — to The Reader’s calendar editor. Mail to or drop off information at P.O. Box 7360 Omaha, NE 68107; email to listings@thereader.com; fax to (402) 341.6967. Deadline is 5 p.m. the Thursday prior to issue date.

thursday 24

thu 2/27/2011

fri 3/03/2011

wed 3/04/2011

wed 3/05/2011

wed 3/08/2011

thu 3/09/2011

Afton Live Doors @ 6:00, show @ 6:30 GLAssjAw w/ tBD Doors @ 6:30, show @ 7:00 Afton Presents: Doors @ 6:00, show @ 6:30 Afton Presents: Doors @ 6:00, show @ 6:30 the Atticus MetAL tour iii Born of osiris, DArkest hour, As BLooD runs BLAck, the huMAn ABstrAct, AnD More tBA Doors @ 5:00, show @ 5:30 within the ruins w/ suffokAte, the contortionist, ByLeth, AnD fAce the tyrAnt! Doors @ 5:00show @ 5:30

within the ruins w/ suffokAte, the contortionist, ByLeth, AnD fAce the tyrAnt!

MusicOmahaShow.com

The Documentary three-part episode

With Special Guest:

Andrew Jay

From Rock Paper Dynamite

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

THE BEL AIRS, (blues/rock) 5:30 p.m., 21st Amendment. ELLMATIQ RECORDS, (DJ) 9 p.m., 415, FREE. THE STEREOFIDELICS, CLIMATES, SFS, STONEBELLY, (rock) 8 p.m., Bourbon, $5, $7/under 21. DIGITALLOVE, (DJ) 9 p.m., Bricktop, FREE. A LOVE ELECTRIC, DARREN KEEN, THE AMALGAMATORS, (various) 7 p.m., Clawfoot House, $5. SHITHOOK, (karaoke) 9 p.m., Duffy’s, FREE. GARY DARLING, (cover) 8 p.m., Firewater Grille, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS

BILLY BEALE, RUMBLE SEAT RIOT, (rockabilly) 9 p.m., Gator O’Malley’s. SPIKE NELSON TRIO, (jazz) 6 p.m., Jazz Louisiana Kitchen. A DIFFERENT BREED, IMMORTAL MALICE, FILTHY FRESH AND THE SCUMBAGS, (rock) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers. STEVE SPURGEON, (acoustic) 8 p.m., LIV Lounge, FREE. CAMILLE DAVORE, (jazz) 9 p.m., Myth, FREE. FRONTRO, (jazz) 6:30 p.m., Ozone, FREE. ACOUSTIC JAM W/ JASON LEE, (acoustic) 6 p.m., Prestige. JR HOSS, (acoustic) 9 p.m., Two Fine Irishmen, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS

TAPES ‘N TAPES, OBERHOFER, (rock) 9 p.m., Waiting Room, $12. KICKIN’ COUNTRY, JASON BOLAND & THE STRAGGLERS, (country) 8 p.m., Whiskey Roadhouse, FREE. ACADEMY OF ROCK, (rock) 6 p.m., Zoo Bar, $4. LOS VILLANOS WITH MY BROTHER, (blues) 9:30 p.m., Zoo Bar, $4.

FRIDAY 25

GREG K, (DJ) 9 p.m., 415, $5. CHESHIRE GRIN, (cover) 9 p.m., Arena, FREE. WATCHING THE TRAIN WRECK, SNAKE ISLAND, CLI MATES, (rock) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern, $5. SPL, BEN SAMPLES, UNLIMITED GRAVITY, (electronic) 9 p.m., Bourbon, $12. LABELS, (cover) 9 p.m., Brewsky’s Park Drive, FREE. LANDSLIDE, (rock) 9 p.m., Chrome. OPEN MIC W/ JES WINTER, 4 p.m., Clancy’s, FREE. KOONDA HOLAA, OMNI ARMS, (rock) 8 p.m., Cultiva. JR HOSS, (acoustic) 5 p.m., Cunninghams, FREE. HEART MURMURS TRIO, (blues) 5 p.m., Duggan’s. TABLAO-LATIN FLAMENCO BAND, (flamenco) 6:30 p.m., Espana. 2 PAIR, (rock) 9 p.m., Firewater Grille, FREE. DEADMAN FLATS, WEEPING FIGS, (rock) 9 p.m., Hideout. MATT GAGNE AND THE BLUES EXPERIENCE, (blues) 9 p.m., Jackson’s Pub, FREE. SWAMPBOY BLUES BAND, (blues) 7 p.m., Jazz Louisiana Kitchen. RALLY FOR ONE, SLIP SOLO, (rock) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers. BRANFORD MARSALIS, TERENCE BLANCHARD, (jazz) 7:30 p.m., Lied Center, $39-$46, $19.50-$23/students. LEMON FRESH DAY, (cover) 9:30 p.m., Loose Moose. POG MO THON, (celtic/rock) 9 p.m., Louis. MATT COX, (bluegrass/country) 9 p.m., McKennas. FINEST HOUR, (cover) 9 p.m., Ozone, FREE. AVARICIOUS, (cover) 9 p.m., Pieces Lounge, FREE. SHURTHING, (cover) 9 p.m., Prestige, FREE. ENIGMA, (acoustic) 7:30 p.m., Rick’s Boatyard Cafe, FREE. TEN CLUB, S.A.B., (tribute) 9 p.m., Slowdown, $7. SIN, BLACK ON HIGH, VAGO, (rock) 9 p.m., Stir Live, $5. HIFI HANGOVER, (cover) 9 p.m., Two Fine Irishmen, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS

NOAH’S ARK WAS A SPACESHIP, IDEAL CLEANERS, THE ANSWER TEAM, YUPPIES, (indie/rock) 9 p.m., Waiting Room, $7.

| THE READER |

music listings

WICKED FUN, (cover) 9 p.m., Whiskey Roadhouse, FREE. GARY DARLING, (acoustic) 9 p.m., Your Moms Downtown Bar, FREE. RICH BERRY, (blues) 5 p.m., Zoo Bar, $4. BEL AIRS, (blues) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar, $8.

SATURDAY 26

CHRIS AVEY BAND, (rock) 6 p.m., 21st Amendment. JAMES EHRMANN, ADAM HOTZ, (DJ) 9 p.m., 415, $5. ON THE FRITZ, (variety/classic rock) 8:30 p.m., Ameristar, FREE. CHESHIRE GRIN, (cover) 9 p.m., Arena, FREE. THE FORMS, SCOTT REEDS, KYLE HARVEY, DORKAS, (rock/singer-songwriter) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern, $5. WHITEWATER RAMBLE, DEADMAN FLATS, (bluegrass/jam/ rock) 9 p.m., Bourbon, $7/adv, $10/dos. FIZZ, DOUBLE ZERO, (rock) 9 p.m., Chrome. DISCOURSES WITH THE DIVINE, BUFFINGTON, JOSH KAY, (rock) 6 p.m., Duffy’s. VIBENHAI, (reggae) 9 p.m., Duffy’s. TABLAO-LATIN FLAMENCO BAND, (flamenco) 6:30 p.m., Espana. D*FUNK, (cover) 8:30 p.m., Grove. KARRIN ALLYSON, UNO JAZZ BAND, (jazz) 8 p.m., Holland Center, $35.

READER RECOMMENDS

MERLE HAGGARD, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, (country) 8 p.m., Holland Center, $48-$78. THE GODZ, (cover) 9 p.m., Islands, FREE. NIGHT SHAKERS TRIO, (jazz) 7 p.m., Jazz Louisiana Kitchen. RISING FOE, GORILLA WARFARE, AS EMPIRES BURN, SHERIDAN BREAKDOWN, (rock/metal) 6 p.m., Knickerbockers. PERFECT STRANGERS, GRENADES AND HAM, DUDE WON’T DIE, (rock) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers. CAPE TOWN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, (classical) 7:30 p.m., Lied Center, $36-$42, $18-$21/students. DJ SUIT JONES, (DJ) 9 p.m., Lit Lounge, FREE. LEMON FRESH DAY, (cover) 9:30 p.m., Loose Moose. MASARIS, SENTENZA, (DJ) 9 p.m., Nomad, FREE. CHRIS SAUB, (acoustic) 6 p.m., Oscar’s. CONFIDENTIALS, (cover) 9 p.m., Ozone, FREE. FISHHEADS, (cover) 9 p.m., Prestige, FREE. ENIGMA, (acoustic) 7:30 p.m., Rick’s Boatyard Cafe, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS

I, TITIAN, WALKING OCEANS, LIGHTHOUSES, MEGATON, (rock/experimental) 9 p.m., Sandbox, $5. BACK WHEN, BAZOOKA SHOOTOUT, DAPOSE, FERAL HANDS, (rock) 9 p.m., Slowdown, $7. HIFI HANGOVER, (cover) 9 p.m., Two Fine Irishmen, FREE. NASHVILLE REJECTS, (cover) 9 p.m., Uncle Ron’s. JAVIER’S BIRTHDAY BASH: A BENEFIT FOR MS W/ VAGO, THE GARDEN, CIVICMINDED, THE CURTAIN CALLS, 2 BIG 2 FAIL, GIRL DRINK DRUNK, (various) 8 p.m., Waiting Room, $10. THE PERSUADERS, (cover) 9 p.m., Whiskey Roadhouse, FREE. SPANKY JAMES, (acoustic) 9 p.m., Your Moms Downtown Bar, FREE. BEL AIRS, (blues) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar, $8.

SUNDAY 27

SUNDAY GOLD W/ GREG K, (DJ) 9 p.m., 415, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS

GERSHWIN! W/ THE OMAHA SYMPHONIC WINDS, (jazz/ standards) 3 p.m., Bethany Lutheran Church, $10, $5/ seniors & students. WALKING OCEANS, LIGHTHOUSES, BETSY WELLS, PLAINS, (rock) 8 p.m., Bourbon, $5, $7/under 21.

80’S NIGHT W/ OL’ MOANIN’ CORPSE, (DJ) 8 p.m., Bricktop, FREE. GREEN TREES, THE SHOW IS THE RAINBOW, MASSES, (acoustic/experimental/instrumental) 9 p.m., Duffy’s.

READER RECOMMENDS

MARDI GRAS COMMUNITY CELEBRATION W/ WOODY WITT, RON COOLEY, MARK LUEBBE, (jazz) 1:30 p.m., Florence City Hall. LINCOLN CIVIC ORCHESTRA CONCERT, (classical) 3 p.m., O’Donnell Auditorium, FREE. THE SUDDEN LOVELYS, THE COLOR PHARMACY, (folk/ rock) 7 p.m., Pizza Shoppe Colletive. MEG FANGMAN KNOPP & JAMES JOHNSON, (piano/organ) 3 p.m., Presbyterian Church of the Cross, FREE. DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS, HEARTLESS BASTARDS, (rock/ country) 9 p.m., Slowdown, $20/adv, $23/dos. STEPHEN MONROE, (acoustic) 2 p.m., Soaring Wings. AFTON LIVE PRESENTS MODUS VIENDI, RANDOM, ES CAPE THE FIRE, KATE TRUKA, COLOR THE ROAD, ALL DEO, (rock) 6:30 p.m., Sokol Underground, $10. SCHOOL OF ROCK, (rock) 6:30 p.m., Waiting Room, $10.

MONDAY 28

SONGWRITER SHOWCASE W/ JUSTIN ROTH, (singer songwriter) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern. ACOUSTIC OPEN STAGE, (singer-songwriter) 7 p.m., Bourbon, FREE. MONDAY NIGHT BIG BAND W/ BRAD OBBINK, (jazz) 7:30 p.m., Brewsky’s Jazz Underground, $6, $5/students. MIKE GURCIULLO AND HIS LAS VEGAS LAB BAND, (jazz) 6:30 p.m., Ozone, FREE. MOVIE NIGHT: BLOOD ON THE FLAT TRACK, 8 p.m., Waiting Room, FREE. PIANO HAPPY HOUR, 5 p.m., Zoo Bar, FREE. Z-JAM OPEN STAGE, 9 p.m., Zoo Bar, FREE.

TUESDAY 1

OL’ MOANIN’ CORPSE, (DJ) 9 p.m., Duffy’s. THE SUDDEN LOVELYS, THE COLOR PHARMACY, (rock) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers. WANNA BE HEARD OPEN MIC, (acoustic) 6 p.m., Oasis. JAMES TAYLOR, BEN TAYLOR, (rock/pop) 8 p.m., Orpheum, $68-$88. JR HOSS, (acoustic) 6:30 p.m., Ozone, FREE. CHRIS SAUB, (acoustic) 8 p.m., The Phoenix, FREE. MARK SANFORD, (piano) 6:30 p.m., Prestige, FREE.

READER RECOMMENDS

TELEKINESIS, THE LOVE LANGUAGE, LITTLE BRAZIL, (rock) 9 p.m., Slowdown, $8. 2011 STRINGS AHEAD-SPRING TOUR W/ HEAD FOR THE HILLS, TRAVELIN MCCOURYS, JEFF AUSTIN, DREW EMMITT, MATT COX TRIO, (bluegrass/jam) 9 p.m., Waiting Room. JAZZOCRACY, (jazz) 6 p.m., Zoo Bar, FREE. TROUBADOUR TUESDAY W/ MARTY STEINHUASEN, SHAUN SPARKS, MARK THORNTON, KEN MORTON, JOHN “HONEYBOY” TURNER, (singer-songwriter) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar, FREE.

Wednesday 2

PERT’ NEAR SANDSTONE, THE AMALGAMATORS, WEEPING FIGS, (folk/rock) 8 p.m., Bourbon, $6. DICEY RILEYS, (celtic) 7 p.m., Brazen Head. MOTHER PILE, SOUP OF THE DAMNED, (rock/metal) 9 p.m., Duffy’s. ICARUS THE OWL, LEARNING TO FALL, (rock) 6 p.m., Knickerbockers. BULLY THE KID, (rock) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers. GREASE BAND, (oldies) 6:30 p.m., Ozone, FREE. COLES WHALEN, (acoustic) 9 p.m., Two Fine Irishmen. INNNERPARTYSYSTEM, SISTER SOLEIL, (rock/dance) 8 p.m., Waiting Room, $10/adv, $12/dos. SMOKIN JOE KUBEK, BNOIS KING, (blues) 6 p.m., Zoo Bar.

READER RECOMMENDS

KID B, THE VINGINS, (rock) 9:30 p.m., Zoo Bar, $5.

VENUES

Ameristar Casino, 2200 River Rd., Council Bluffs, ameristar.com Arena Bar & Grill, 3809 N. 90th St., 571.2310, arenaomaha.com BarFly, 707 N. 114th St., 504.4811 Barley Street Tavern, 2735 N. 62nd St., 554.5834, barleystreet.com Bourbon Theatre, 1415 O St., Lincoln, 730.5695 Downtown Blues, 1512 Howard St., 345.0180 Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 O St., Lincoln, 474.3453, myspace.com/duffystavern The Hideout, 302 S. 72nd St. Knickerbocker’s, 901 O St., Lincoln, 476.6865, knickerbockers.net LIV Lounge, 2279 S. 67th St., 884.5410, livlounge. com Louis Bar and Grill, 5702 NW Radial Hwy., 551.5993 McKenna’s Blues, Booze & BBQ, 7425 Pacific St., 393.7427, mckennasbbq.com New Lift Lounge, 4737 S. 96th St., 339.7170

0 O’Leaver’s Pub, 1322 S. Saddle Creek Rd., 556.1238, myspace.com/oleaverspub Ozone Lounge at Anthony’s Steakhouse, 72nd and F, 331.7575, ozoneclubomaha.com. Pizza Shoppe Collective, 6056 Maple St., 556.9090, pscollective.com Qwest, 455 N. 10th St., qwestcenteromaha.com Side Door, 3530 Leavenworth St., 504.3444. Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St., 345.7569, theslowdown.com Sokol Hall, 2234 S. 13th St., 346.9802, sokolundergound.com The Sydney, 5918 Maple St., 932.9262, thesydneybenson.com Stir, 1 Harrahs Blvd., Council Bluffs, harrahs.com Venue 162, 162 W. Broadway, Council Bluffs, 712.256.7768, myspace.com/venue162 Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St., 884.5353, waitingroomlounge.com Whiskey Roadhouse, Horseshoe Casino, 2701 32nd Ave., Council Bluffs, whiskeyroadhouse.com Zoo Bar, 136 N.14th St., Lincoln, zoobar.com

UPCOMING SHOWS

Flaunting a mix of Southern pride, erudite lyrics, and a muscled three-guitar attack, Drive-By Truckers became one of the most well-respected alternative country-rock acts of the 2000s. Led by frontman Patterson Hood and comprising a rotating cast of Georgia and Alabama natives, the band celebrated the South while refusing to paint over its spotty past. History, folklore, politics, and character studies all shared equal space in the Truckers catalog,

SUNDAY, 2/27/11 9:00PM

@ SLOWDOWN

SPOTLIGHT SHOW

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS w/ Heartless Bastards

1RDKlV $UF ZDV D 6SDFHVKLS -DPHV 'HUULFN 6FKRWW

THURSDAY, 2/24/11 9:00PM @ THE WAITING ROOM

TAPES ‘N TAPES w/ Oberhofer

FRIDAY, 2/25/11 9:00PM @ THE WAITING ROOM

NOAH’S ARK WAS A SPACESHIP

FRIDAY, 2/25/11 9:00PM @ SLOWDOWN

TEN CLUB

w/ Ideal Cleaners, The Answer Team, & Yuppies

SATURDAY, 2/26/11 8:00PM @ THE WAITING ROOM JAVIER’S BIRTHDAY BASH

SATURDAY, 2/26/11 9:00PM @ SLOWDOWN BACK WHEN

SUNDAY, 2/27/11 6:30PM @ THE WAITING ROOM SCHOOL OF ROCK

MONDAY, 2/28/11 8:00PM @ THE WAITING ROOM OMAHA ROLLERGIRLS MOVIE NIGHT

TUESDAY, 3/01/11 8:00PM @ THE WAITING ROOM HEAD FOR THE HILLS

WEDNESDAY, 3/02/11 8:00PM @ THE WAITING ROOM INNNERPARTYSYSTEM

A Beneﬁt for MS

w/ Bazooka Shootout, Dapose, & Feral Hands

w/ The Matt Cox Trio

3/04/11 ELI MARDOCK 3/05/11 WALK 3/06/11 GENITORTURERS 3/07/11 JOSHUA JAMES 3/08/11 RYAN BINGHAM & THE DEAD HORSES 3/08/11 THE ATTICUS METAL TOUR III 3/09/11 JOHN KLEMMENSEN & THE PARTY 3/09/11 ALPHA REV 3/10/11 SUGAR & GOLD 3/11/11 FUNK TREK

w/ The Hollywood Kills & Sister Soleil

3/11/11 MARNIE STERN / TERA MELOS 3/12/11 MICHAEL SHOWALTER 3/13/11 THE ELEPHANT 6 HOLIDAY SURPRISE 3/15/11 THE DIRTY HEADS 3/16/11 OCTOPUS NEBULA 3/17/11 THE FILTER KINGS 3/18/11 AFTER THE FALL 3/18/11 RALLY FOR ONE 3/19/11 EDGE OF ARBOR 3/20/11 TARA VAUGHAN

More Information and Tickets Available at

WWW.ONEPERCENTPRODUCTIONS.COM

music listings

| THE READER |

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

YOU AND A GUEST ARE INVITED TO A SPECIAL SCREENING OF

BE ONE OF THE FIRST 50 PEOPLE TO VISIT WWW.THEREADER.COM BEGINNING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24 FOR YOUR CHANCE TO RECEIVE A COMPLIMENTARY PASS FOR TWO.*

*NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. One admit two pass per person. 50 passes available. Log on to www.thereader.com no later than 11:59 PM (CT) Wednesday, March 2. Employees of participating sponsors are not eligible. This film has been rated PG-13 for sustained and intense sequences of war violence and destruction, and for language.

www.battlela.com

IN THEATERS MARCH 11 38

feb. 24 - March 2, 2011 Film: Battle LA

| THE READER |

E D I T E D

Biutiful’s long, dark road to redemption

by Justin Senkbile

Marambra (Maricel Álvarez) is unstable and immature, maybe he could try a little harder. Moving swiftly between scenes of quiet familial bliss and visceral depictions of pain (both the physical and the psychic kind), Biutiful is ruthless in its attempts to run the gamut of human experience. Thankfully, because we’re able to accept and feel for Bardem’s tortured hero, we’re likewise able to accept every nasty twist of fate Iñárritu co-writers Armando Bo and Nicolás Giacobone subject him to. If it weren’t for Bar-

et in a dismal-looking Barcelona and following a character with amazingly bad luck, Biutiful slathers on the misery like few other movies do. But misery is nothing new for its director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, the man behind several other bleak BIUTIFUL pictures, including Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Biutiful is a big movie that’s slightly overloaded with ideas and impressions but held together by one of Javier Bardem’s best performances to date. Bardem plays Uxbal, a father of two who works as a middleman between Barcelona’s illegal immigrants and the men who employ them. Like the immigrants, Uxbal lives a pretty rough, hand-to-mouth existence. Fortunately, he’s able to make a few extra Euros here and there, communing with the dead for grief-stricken relatives. It’s an ability that he carries like a burden, and one that the film itself seems to forget about pretty quickly. Uxbal is neither hero nor villain, but he has his fair share of life debts, and his sins and shortcomings come sharply into focus when he’s suddenly diagnosed with terminal cancer. He isn’t personally exploiting the desperate workers, but he’s still legally a criminal. And while his estranged wife

Film Streams at the Ruth Sokolof Theater 14th & Mike Fahey Street (formerly Webster Street) More info & showtimes 402.933.0259 · filmstreams.org Facebook & Twitter: /filmstreams

dem’s performance, Biutiful, which is already a bit unwieldy, would likely be a mess of disparate ideas and gratuitous darkness. Besides Bardem, Álvarez’s portrayal of the impulsive Marambra is stunning. This is almost literally a thankless role, as she appears to be little more than a self-involved and self-destructive party girl. Marambra can play the role of doting mother when she needs to, or when she’s desperate enough for Uxbal’s attention, but sooner or later her overwhelming desire to “have fun” breaks the family apart once again. Uxbal is the one who’s dying, but Marambra is the film’s most heartbreaking character. Uxbal’s Barcelona seems to reek of mildew and stale cigarette smoke. Desperation lurks everywhere, just a little less so within the confines of the small, run-down apartment he shares with his children (played by Hanaa Bouchaib and Guillermo Estrella). Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto captures this world in the popular art-house style, with hurried, handheld cameras following their subjects closely and an eye-popping yet subdued color palette. It’s an atmosphere you can almost touch and feel. What does a basically good man go through when he sees death coming at him, fast and hard? That’s the essential question of Biutiful. And while the journey Iñárritu and Bardem take us on to find the answer is certainly bleak, it’s also, strangely and definitely, hopeful. ,

GRADE: B+

B Y

R Y A N

S Y R E K

■ It’s official, Baz Luhrmann’s impending favor to high school English students (aka, a new remake of The Great Gatsby) will be shot in 3D. You know, because social allegories are more wicked awesome when things fly at your head. Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan are rumored to star, so at least the faces flying at your face will be pretty faces. ■ GQ has more than just delicious photos of celebrity abdomens, as proven by a particularly insightful column from former Entertainment Weekly executive editor Mark Harris. Titled “The Day the Movies Died,” it’s every bit the optimistic, happy-go-lucky romp you’d imagine. It’s the story of how Hollywood, a place once packed with artists, went wrong … something that the record-breaking 27 sequels that will arrive in 2011 seems to back up. It’s so fascinating while depressing, I’m surprised Iñárritu didn’t direct it. ■ If you haven’t seen the internet trailer for the video game Dead Island, YouTube that business RIGHT NOW. Arguably the finest zombie-related material since Shaun “got some red on him,” this Memento-meets-Romero preview is honestly breathtaking. The game may suck, but the trailer has already resulted in a mini-bidding war for the rights to make this a full flick. It may not sustain itself for a full 2 hours, but for 2 minutes, it’s perfect. ■ As if you needed another reason to lust after the impending release of The Muppets, now comes word that a new Toy Story short will appear in front of it. This means we’ll go Gonzo for Buzz before catching our Gonzo Buzz. Pure joy.

CUTTINGROOM

Death and Debt

film

— 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 the radio on CD 105.9 (Fridays at around 7:30 a.m.), on his blog at thereader.com/film/ C19 and on Twitter (twitter.com/thereaderfilm).

This Week Biutiful First-Run (R) Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. Starts Friday, February 25 Academy Award Nominee: Best Actor (Javier Bardem) Best Foreign Language Film

Steven Soderbergh Series Out of Sight 1998 Friday, February 25 - Thursday, March 3

Oscar Shorts! The 2011 Academy AwardNominated Short Films (Animated, Live-Action & Documentary categories) Now showing exclusively at Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater!

The Marx Brothers: A Day at the Races 1937 Feb 19 - Mar 3 (Saturdays, Sundays, Thursdays)

ﬁlm

The Met Live in HD: Iphigenie en Tauride Gluck Live: Saturday, February 26, 12pm* Encore: Wednesday, March 2, 6pm * A Prelude Talk with Opera Omaha Artistic Adviser & Principal Stage Director Garnett Bruce will begin at 11am, Saturday, Feb. 26).

Last Chance: Somewhere First-Run (R) The Spirit of the Beehive 1973 Through Thursday, February 24

| THE READER |

FEB. 24 - MARCH 2, 2011

presenting sponsor

Basic English for Adults

film M O V I E

MONDAY THRU FRIDAY 7:30 A.M. & 9 P.M.

R E V I E W S ,

C O M M E N T A R Y

German Engineering: Car chases and clunky machinations define Unknown

G et m o S e a s o n 2 re ICU We e kdays En S e a s o n 3 c o re s at 12:30 p .m . E n c o re s at 1:00 p Se as o n 4 .m . E n c o re s at 1:30 p .m .

Monday thru Friday 7 a.m. and Noon

Cox Cable 17 or Qwest Channel 79 check the schedule at www.tknomaha.org

by Ben Coffman

orget Harley-Davidsons and 20-something girlfriends — the newest trend for male leads having their second mid-life crisis is action films. Two years ago, 50something Liam Neeson starred in the surprisingly OK Taken, a high-bodycount revenge flick that had UNKNOWN him practicing his “combat roll and reload” sequences. His latest foray is Unknown, a good-enough-for-February film that doesn’t quite meet Taken’s not terribly lofty standards. In Unknown, Neeson (Schindler’s List, Kinsey) plays scientist Dr. Martin Harris, who has just arrived in Berlin for an important conference. Accompanying him is his lovely wife Elizabeth, played by January Jones (Betty Francis on “Mad Men”), who was likely born after Dr. Harris completed his doctoral dissertation. After arriving at their swanky hotel, Harris realizes his briefcase and passport were left at the airport. He quickly hails a cab, leaving his wife to check in. En route, a car accident sends Harris plunging into an icy river, where his own taxi driver Gina (Diane Kruger) saves his life. Harris suffers a head injury, his heart stops and, even worse, he loses his Blackberry. Although foggy after a four-day coma, he seems to remember who he is; however, things turn bizarro when he discovers that someone has seamlessly assumed his identity. Before the halfway mark, Unknown feels like a twisty psychological thriller; after the halfway mark, it devolves into a geriatric version of The Bourne Identity in which the first action se-

REPORTCARD

Black Swan A It’s like Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” … only with more sexytime. Blue Valentine A Love hurts, but Williams’ and Gosling’s performances sure don’t. The Fighter If you can be punch-drunk on crack, Bale nails it.

B+

The King’s Speech BNot the best movie of the year, but lots of people will tell you it is.

FEB. 24 - MARCH 2, 2011

| THE READER |

A N D

ﬁlm

M O R E

E D I T E D

B Y

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quences are a little tardy to the party. Unknown is best during its early “huh?” moments, before screenwriters Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell begin spoon-feeding viewers clues via fairly bad, exposition-laden dialog. For instance, after Neeson’s character reconnects with Gina, the Bosnian taxi driver that saved his life, a two-man hit squad ends up killing Gina’s friend. “I am sorry,” says Neeson, who has become so wooden that he has temporarily stopped using contractions. “I brought more trouble into your life. I’ll try to make up for it, I promise.” “I know,” says the Bosnian. Unknown is a step in the right direction for untested director Jaume Collet-Serra, whose previous efforts include House of Wax (you know, Paris Hilton’s other movie). Screenwriters Butcher and Cornwell — who haven’t created anything of note in the past 15 years, if ever — are adequate matches for Collet-Serra’s questionable talents. Even playing a paper-thin character with virtually no back-story, Neeson is likable; likewise, despite his age, he’s believable in his handful of jumbled, visually incoherent fight scenes that are unfortunately becoming the new gold standard for modern action scenes. To further tip the enormous imbalance between off-screen talent and on-screen talent, Frank Langella (Frost/ Nixon) shows up late and demonstrates, in just a few seconds, why he’s too good for this movie. A middle-of-the-road kind of flick, Unknown seems to specialize in small disappointments — both its characters and dialog are letdowns, and its plot has holes big enough to drive a Volkswagen Touareg through. A good re-write would’ve done wonders, but instead, Collett-Serra seems content to let his stars shine bright enough to obfuscate these shortcomings, which they very nearly do. ,

GRADE: C-

The Mechanic Jason Statham is a one-man Jiffy Lube of pain.

C+

No Strings Attached C+ No strings and even less originality … but at least it has Nat-Po. True Grit AYippee ty yi yay! The best Western since The Unforgiven. READER RECOMMENDS

Waiting for Superman (ON DVD) A You’ll learn more by watching this documentary on public education than most students do by attending public schools.

CREIGHTON Welcome to Our House!

MEN’S BASKETBALL u Saturday, Feb. 26 @ 1:05 PM Creighton vs. Northern Iowa

Men’s basketball home games played at Qwest Center Omaha (10th & Cass St.)

Tickets: 280-JAYS

WWW.GOCREIGHTON.COM

FRIDAYÊ >ÀV Ê{Ì ÊÛÃ°Ê Ü>Õ iiÊ7>ÛiÊÇ\äx« For tickets: Visit www.ticketmaster.com or Qwest Center Box Ofﬁce

ALL HOME GAMES PLAYED AT THE " Ê 6 Ê 1 /", 1 ÊUÊÓä/ ÊEÊ * /" www.omahavipers.com | THE READER |

FEB. 24 - MARCH 2, 2011

newsoftheweird

T H E W O R L D G O N E F R E A K Y B Y C H U C K S H E P H E R D W I T H I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y TO M B R I S C O E

Eargasm, anyone?

he ear has a “G-spot,” explained the Santa clara, calif., ear-nose-and-throat surgeon, and thus the moans of ecstasy that Vietnamese “ear pickers” reportedly elicit from their clients might well be justified. a San Jose Mercury News reporter, dispatched to ho chi minh city in January to check it out, learned that barber shop technicians could sometimes coax “eargasms” (as they removed wax) by tickling a certain spot next to the ear drum served by multiple nerve endings and paper-thin skin. Said one female client, “everybody is afraid the first time, but after, it’s, ‘Oh my God!’” Said one Vietnamese man, returning home after a trip abroad, and who went immediately from the airport to a “hot toc” parlor for a picking, “[this] brings a lot of happiness.”

The Continuing Crisis two San francisco-area counselors recently formed men of tears — a male support group to encourage crying, according to a San Francisco Chronicle reporter, who observed as nine men recounted touching events in their lives, accompanied by tears that, according to the counselors, make them emotionally stronger and less hostile. One of the counselors praised the recent public cries by Speaker of the house John boehner and hoped that president Obama (who stopped just short of tears at the memorial service for victims of the recent tucson, ariz., shootings) would someday step over that line. Disabled wheelchair user Jim Starr, 36, of Dorchester, england, was recently ordered off of public roads because his “chair” is too big.

authorities told him that his custom-made, motorized chair with caterpillar treads instead of wheels, which moves like a tank, would have to be licensed like one (“category h” vehicle, one category higher than a “road roller”). Starr said his chair was the only way he could play at the beach with his kids. In December, J.p. morgan chase abruptly ended a program that had allowed military personnel to defer paying on chase-owned student loans while on active duty. (2) three weeks later, Nbc News reported that chase’s mortgage division had long been ignoring a federal military protection law by charging 4,000 active-duty personnel higher mortgage-interest rates than permitted (and improperly foreclosing on 14 of them). (3) that same week, chase was found to be advertising (through an agent) a foreclosed-on, 5-year-old house in rexburg, Idaho, without adequate notice that it was infested with “thousands” of garter snakes. (In february, chase reinstated the student-loan deferments and apologized for ignoring the federal law.)

Bright Ideas edward hall III, 24, a columbia University researcher, was arrested in January for trespassing at JfK airport in New York city after he disobeyed United airlines personnel and tried an alternative method to board a plane. he told ticket agents he badly needed to be on the flight to San francisco even though he had forgotten to bring a photo ID. frustrated, hall stepped behind the counter and crawled onto the luggage conveyor, where his next stop, minutes later, was the tarmac where bags were being loaded and where he was arrested.

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feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

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weird news

COPYRIGHT 2010 CHUCK SHEPHERD. Visit Chuck Shepherd daily at NewsoftheWeird.blogspot.com or NewsoftheWeird.com. Send Weird News to WeirdNewsTips@yahoo.com or P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, FL 33679. Illustrations by Tom Briscoe (smallworldcomics.com).

A suburban Chicago high school health-class instructor’s technique for teaching the names of female reproductive parts caught the ire of the Illinois Family Institute religious organization in January. To some of the kids, teacher Jacqulyn Levin’s “game” was nothing more than a mnemonic to facilitate memorizing the anatomy, but others told the institute that Levin’s play on words was chantable, could be set to the tune of the “Hokey Pokey,” and was referred to by several students as “the vagina dance.” Said a complaining parent, “It is disrespectful to women and removes modesty about the reproductive parts.”

Oops! Three men visiting Philadelphia in December were charged with a severalstore robbery spree, and perhaps luckily for them, they were quickly arrested. The police report noted that one of the victims (who had a gun waved in her face) was Terri Staino, 38, the owner of John Anthony Hair Styling for Men, who is also the husband of Anthony Staino — reputed to be the No. 2 man in the South Philadelphia mob, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. Alex Good, 15, practicing tee shots with his high school golf team on a rainy day underneath a golf course awning, had one of his drives hit the metal pole holding the awning up, causing the ball to ricochet into his eye, resulting in likely permanent damage. Despite the fact that the pole was directly in front of the tee, inches away, Good nonetheless charged the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club (Hillsboro, Ore.) with negligence and filed a $3 million lawsuit in January.

Least Competent Criminals Failed to Think It Through: Kyle Eckman, 22, was charged with theft in Lancaster, Pa., in No-

vember after he was stopped leaving a Kohl’s department store, mostly still in his own clothes but also wearing the pair of Elle high-heel shoes he was allegedly trying to shoplift. Jimmy Honeycutt, 27, was arrested in Pawtucket, R.I., in October and charged with five recent robberies of liquor stores. Among the items found on Honeycutt was a telephone directory listing of liquor stores, with the ones recently robbed marked off. Recurring Themes: At a traffic stop, once again a passenger climbed into the driver’s seat as the officer approached, trying to save a drug-impaired driver from a citation. However, once again it turned out that the passenger was just as drug-impaired as the driver, and both were cited (Gastonia, N.C., December). Once again a woman tried to conceal drugs by stuffing them down her pants into her most private area, and once again, when police found them, the woman immediately denied that the pills were hers (Manatee, Fla., December).

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Undignified Deaths A 26-year-old man died in Chattanooga, Tenn., in January after being accidentally bitten by a copperhead snake. According to police, a friend had caught the snake and taken it to the man’s house because, for some reason, he wanted the man to ascertain the snake’s gender. A 21-year-old man was stabbed to death at a party in Bristol, Conn., in January (and three others wounded), apparently because they had been making derisive comments about another man’s flatulence. The allegedly gaseous Marc Higgins, 21, was charged with the crimes. ,

weird news

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feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

planetpower w ee k l y

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ing Neptune welcomes you into the Ocean of Devotion that is Pisces. Neptune rules the subconscious, mysticism, fantasy, music and dreams; the number “9,” the color purple and that which cannot be explained — anything indefinable. (How about ‘dem definable abs, too?). I explain the mystery of Neptune’s trident spear in/on my tune, “PISCES,” from the “ZODIAC,” my life long mystical, musical survey through the 12 Astronomical signs of experience. I’m releasing one sign at a time for 99 cents at MOJOPOPlanetPower.com/Pisces. It (Inshallah) will/shall/should be ready by the next Full Moon, March 19. So far you can order a very beautiful tune for the sign of Capricorn at MOJOPOPlanetPower.com/Patience. Tell me what you think (dream). l PISCES (2.20-3.20) A Martian visits for tea. A Virgo/Gemini wants to talk to you about you and me. Take care of any loose ends in order to be reborn on the afternoon of March 4th, the New Moon in Pisces. Clean up and good luck! The key phrase for Pisces is “I and All Life.” We are all fish in the Aquarium of God. a ARIES (3.21-4.20) Deep into the mysteries of the past, the origins and incubation of life itself, the depths of your psychological ocean of experience. You’ve got until April to explore your subconscious, both personal and then the Universal. You have to purify your personal subconscious before you are/ will be allowed into the Holy of Holies? You are granted a preview March 6th & 7th. Let the Waters of Life cleanse you, to lighten your load so’s you can “flame on” the first week in April. Expect the unexpected April 3rd! Your key phrase is “I am.” b TAURUS (4.21-5.20) Money’s going to be the BIG deal until March, as if it isn’t always for you this/your entire incarnation? You chose to be a Taurus? Your key phrase as a Taurus is “I Have.” You are here to explore this material Universe until you realize it’s all an analogy for what’s really going on both here (3D) and throughout the interpenetrating levels (bardos) of this/your conscious experience? Too heavy? Maybe I’m preparing you for a Quantum Leap next week! (Well then, look it up?) c GEMINI (5.21-6.21) Your key phrase, as an incarnating Gemini, is “I Think.” You’ll have an ocean of information to think about as your ruler Mercury has just been launched onto the nebulous immensity of the “Ocean of Emotion” (Pisces); for a short cruise until Ash Wednesday, March 9th. You can/will/may receive the lightning bolt of the Holy Word with the ashes marking your 3rd Eye? d CANCER (6.22-7.22) Your key phrase this incarnation is “I Hold Onto.” What is it that catches your eye and causes you to reach out? And how come you can never let it go? How does the MOJO know? Time for you to dream ... Why are there more millionaire Cancers than any other sign? What are you/they trying to hold onto? We’ll discuss these and other solu-

feb. 24 - march 2, 2011

| THE READER |

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tions next week when once again we speak. Write your dreams down for this coming month. e LEO (7.23-8.22) Here comes the final chord in your symphony. Ta-da! Completion always feels good, whether it’s the New News or the same ol’ blues. You win or your lose depending on how/what you choose. Your key phrase, as a Leo, is/will be “I Give Out.” This is the Year of the Cat, isn’t it? Is this your year to shine like a feline? Completion first(!)? Simba ... Simba ... Simba ... f VIRGO (8.23-9.22) Your key phrase is “I Perfect.” Virgo is/represents the sign of Mother Nature, the power to grow things and the Earthly Magique that can turn the seed into a sprout. Much overlooked (ring a psychological bell, Pavlov?), but without it there can be/is no life on this planet. Time to sprout your Spring garden — whatever that means to you, whatever form it takes. g LIBRA (9.23-10.22) Venus enters Aquarius along with the Moon on March 1st. Spread the love and the good cheer until Spring! See what your sharing shall bring.= Key phrase for Libra is “I and One Other.” With Venus in Aquarius share it with your sister and your brother. Look up “altruism” and then become it. Study and use science and electricity. h SCORPIO (10.23-11.22) Until April Martians are looking at/into Spirituality; or is it looking into them? Plutonians are engaging in an economic enterprise to open up their eyes. Scorpio’s key phrase is “I and the Universe.” Scorpios need to find their harmonious place within the All to feel secure. In an ordered Universe, you made a promise to get/be here? (Time to) back it up. i SAGITTARIUS (11.23-12.21) Hold onto your horses until April 3rd. Trust me. I can see/feel you chomping at the bit. Hold onto it. Your key phrase this incarnation is “I and Groups of People”; your place amidst your tribe — the 30 to 40 people that know you and your limits as you know them and theirs. The Moon is in your sign until Saturday the 26th until noon. Even though you’ve got a chance, keep it in your pants. j CAPRICORN (12.22-1.20) Scorpios got a BIG MONEY idea. Listen but don’t hurry. The/any opposition comes in early April. You (and a partner?) and your reputation will seemingly have to stand against the world. Build up your meditative cool in the meantime with your subsequent dreams. If you don’t give them a target you’ll have a better chance at surviving harmoniously? Enchant them by/with your absence? Magicians don’t leave — they disappear. You are/will be the distributor of wealth. Your key phrase is “I and the Fruits of the World.” k AQUARIUS (1.21-2.19) Here comes Venus, March 1st, with the Moon. Love (Venus) is on the way and a woman (the Moon) will/may prove the facilitator? You are “I and All Humans”; the feeling that we are all brothers and sisters on/of the planet. Life is a gamble. You win or you lose depending on how and what you choose. Choose well April 3rd! ,

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