The Reader March 3, 2011

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official restore omaha guide inside

dish 16

Moroccan Hospitality

culture 21

Electronic Introduction

lifestyle 28 Local Motive

music 35

Stripped to the T-Bone

Taking off

Omaha Film Festival continues to put out with heart-of-gold fervor cover story by leo adam biga ~ Page 13

OMAHA JOBS 2

Weird 46

MOjo 48

FUNNIES 49


Full-time WIRE-N-I.T. needs INDEPENDANT LOW VOLTAGE SU B C O NT R A CT O R Must have own working vehicle, insurance and valid drivers license. Experience a must. Call 402-546-9479 For more information go to OmahaJobs.com. Data Support Systems Programmer position swelchert@datasupport.com

For more information go to OmahaJobs.com. Fantastic Beginnings Child CARE/PRESCHOO NOW ENROLLING ALL AGES 4102 South 13th Street Title XX Welcome www. fa nt a s t ic b e g i n n i ng s. c o m

(402) 408-0395 Farmers Insurance PT Contact Manager Contact mcarlson1@farmersagent.com. For more information go to OmahaJobs.com. Black Hills Corp. Blair, NE. visit: blackhillscorp.com. For more information go to OmahaJobs.com. Fontenelle Nature Assoc.

Finance Associate. Contact jhuffman@fontenelleforest.org. For more information go to OmahaJobs.com. Zio’s Pizzeria S e rv e r s Contact ziospizza@juno.com For more information go to OmahaJobs.com. R&R Advertising Seasonal PT jobs at TDAmeritrade Park Omaha. Contact jthaller@mac.com. For more information go to OmahaJobs.com. Merry Maids Solo Cleaners. Contact nporter@merrymaids.com. For more information go to OmahaJobs.com.

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Full-time Hillcrest Health Systems

Occupational Therapist & CMA/CAN/FT/PT Contact jyoung@hillcresthealth.co m. For more information go to OmahaJobs.com. Predictive Technology, Sales Representatives. Contact awilson@ptisolutions.com For more information go to OmahaJobs.com. Now hiring friendly, experienced servers for nights & weekends. Excellent Tips. Apply MondayFriday 1p.m.-4p.m. 12997 West Center Road. 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. 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 Academic Rheumatologist Full-time academic position. A substantial recruitment package is available to the right individual. Individuals from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

march 3 - 9, 2011

Full-time

Full-time

Full-time

Full-time

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Full-time

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) 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 Check.

As part of Black Hills Corporation (NYSE: BKH), Black Hills Energy is your service provider, offering electric and natural gas service to customers in Nebraska. We offer the following career opportunity: Service Technician (Blair, NE) Requires high school diploma and NE driver’s license with safe driving record. Must have completed at least 6 months in Service Technician Trainee classification or have equivalent training or experience as determined by the company; working knowledge of NE HVAC and plumbing codes, electronics & HVAC equipment; demonstrated ability to understand control systems, read blueprints and wiring diagrams. Must obtain and keep current, applicable licenses and certificates, and work assigned shifts, on call, assigned holidays and overtime as required. We offer an attractive salary based upon qualifications with competitive benefits and a supportive professional work environment. To learn more about Black Hills Corporation and apply for this position, visit: blackhillscorp.com EOE/AA.

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.

Clinical Charge Auditor Works under the direct supervision of the Director of HIM, and will serve as the central point person for all government claim recovery activities. This position is responsible and accountable for timely and accurate release of recovery audit contractor requested patient medical information, proper documentation, tracking & follow-up of requests for information, and timely coordination of appeals & associated deadlines. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

Manager Sustainable Business Practices. Establish environmental footprint reduction goals and also develop financial metrics to monitor the return on the investment (ROI) related to all initiatives with the ultimate goal of bringing the company to a top ranking sustainable company. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

Dynamic work environment

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/.

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. 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.

| THE READER |

Security Compliance Sp e c iali s t 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” Database Marketing Project Manager will be responsible for managing the direct marketing projects for assigned accounts including tracking project status and financial performance within timelines, budgets and to client specifications. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

omaha jobs

UTILITIES DIRECTOR A community of nearly 47,000 residents, is seeking a highly organized, strategic planner and articulate communicator with exceptional management skills to lead the Utilities Department. The Director plans, directs and reviews the activities and operations of the electric and water utilities, coordinates assigned activities with other City departments and outside agencies. The Director provides technical and administrative support to the Mayor, City Council and City Administrator. The filing deadline is March 4 2011 EEO/AE/M/F/D/V/G. For more information, visit OmahaJobs.com. C O MMUN I C A T I O NS S P EC I A L I ST A multi-disciplined civil, structural, geotechnical and environmental engineering firm has an immediate opportunity for a talented full time Communications Specialist in our Lincoln or Omaha, NE office. For more information, visit 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. P HYS I C I A N Midwest OBGyn Oncology in Omaha, NE has a great opportunity to join a busy, established practice that is the largest provider of gyn oncology services in Nebraska and western Iowa. For more information, visit 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. Instructional Designers Experience in assessing, designing, developing and implementing learning solutions for clients. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com. Health Information Management Director This position is responsible for planning and directing the operations of the HIM Department along with maintaining a budget and developing systems to meet organizational goals and standards of accrediting agencies. Experienced required. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com. Sales REPS Support the largest specialty eye care company in the world and have the opportunity to become part of their team at the end of contract. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com

Ambitious? Creative? Outgoing?

competitive salaries, full benefits including medical, dental, life, short-term and long-term disability, as well as training opportunities, educational programs, 401(k) and referral bonuses. Travel openings in many locations. The ideal candidate will be experienced, quality-focused, flexible, detail-oriented and have the ability to work independently. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com. Finance Application Supervisor is a hands-on manager with the ability to lead team members including third party contractors for the application support, maintenance, and configuration of an SAP financials environment. This position requires an individual to manage a variety of support and maintenance issues while growing and mentoring their staff. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com. Engaging person who enjoys talking with and helping people. Responsible for contacting and validating leads (many are warm leads) from a variety of different sources, plus increasing responsibilities and pay as appropriate. Flexible hours. Initially 20 hours per week. Starting pay is between $8 - $10 / hour + Bonuses. For more information visit OmahaJobs.com.

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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March 3 - 9, 2011

| THE READER |


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

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new etc.

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

heartland healing

11 Gate’s Way is No Way ————————————————

lazy-i

cover story

38 Quarterly Report ————————————————

Taking OFF

hoodoo

Omaha Film Festival continues to put out with heart-of-gold fervor ~ Page 13

39 The Nebraska Blues Challenge ————————————————

film

dish

43 Middle-Aged Kids 43 Cutting Room: Film News 44 Churning Angst-Filled Water 44 Report Card: Film Grades ————————————————

16 Moroccan Hospitality 16 Crumbs: Food News ————————————————

eight days

18-19 This Week’s Top Events ————————————————

sports

culture

21 Electronic Introduction 21 Booked: Literary News ————————————————

BRYCEBRIDGES.COM

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

this week

theater

22 LIcense to Thirll 22 Cold Cream: Theater News ———————————————-----

lifestyle

23 Local Motive 23 Fash Flood: Style News ————————————————

art

30 Sound and Style 30 Mixed Media: Art News ————————————————

music

45 Consistently Inconsistent 45 The Jump: Art News ————————————————

news of the weird

46 Eargasm, Anyone? ————————————————

mojo

48 Planet Power Horoscopes ————————————————

funnies

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

35 Stripped to the T-Bone 35 Backbeat: Music News 36 Orchestra’s 90th ————————————————

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

| THE READER |

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| THE READER |


notableevents

Q OPS Budget Forum: Thursday, Mar. 3, 6:30 p.m., Omaha South High School, 4519 S. 24th St. Omaha Public Schools officials guide a discussion of the 2011-2012 budget. ops.org Q Restore Omaha Conference: Saturday, Mar. 5, 8 a.m., Metropolitan Community College, 27th and Q. Annual conference with information on preserving the best buildings and homes Omaha has to offer. restoreomaha.org Q Ethos the Movie: Sunday, Mar. 6, 3 p.m., Ross Theater, 313 N. 13th St., Lincoln. The Lincoln and UNL chapters of Nebraskans for Peace screen the film and discuss military spending. nebraskansforpeace.org

National authors and scholars to talk immigration on the Great Plains

N

by Andrew Norman

icole Guidotti-Hernandez believes Americans’ financial anxieties are contributing to lawmakers’ efforts across the country to target undocumented immigrants, particularly, Latinos. “I think a lot of people are really afraid because of the economic crisis,” she says in a recent phone interview. “And historically, this has happened in the United States — whether we’re blaming Indians, or we’re blaming the Irish or the Italians or the Chinese, or the newly freed slaves, post-emancipation. “I think this nation is really good at using crisis economic moments and targeting particular populations to blame.” An associate professor of gender and women studies at the University of Arizona, Guidotti-Herdandez will talk about what she calls the current climate of anti-immigrant racism relating to Arizona’s “politics of exclusion,” and compare it to similar episodes in U.S. history, as part of The Center for Great Plains Studies’ 37th interdisciplinary symposium, “Diverse Faces, Shared Histories: Immigrants on the Great Plains” on March 4. The free event will be held at the Great Plains Art Museum on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. Guidotti-Hernandez’ talk, “Arizona: A Problematic Road Map for Nebraska and Other States,” will be one of six presentations covering history, politics and personal narratives about immigration from local and national writers and scholars. Other topics include post-WWII freeway construction in the Great Plains and housing displacement for communities in color, focusing on Omaha’s 1960s Black Freedom Movement; a man’s experience in an Indian boarding

School on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation; Latina authors work on place and the struggle for survival; the process of becoming an American citizen; and ways Americans can work to create a kinder, more welcoming culture for immigrants and refugees. Symposium Chair Amelia Maria de la Luz Montes says the symposium is designed to broaden perspectives about immigration. From Guidotti-Hernandez’ perspective as a Latina in Arizona plays a strong role in her talk. The state’s immigration law, SB 1070, tasks police with enforcing federal immigration law. Its constitutionality is being challenged before the Supreme Court. Numerous similar laws have followed throughout the country, including Nebraska’s LB 48, proposed by State Sen. Charlie Janssen that 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. Janssen and his supporters say the bill would help the state save money over the long-term. The best available data shows that all immigrants — legal and undocumented — are a slight boon to federal coffers, while undocumented immigrants probably have a modest negative net impact on state and local budgets. Opponents of LB 48, which was

e d i t e d

Percentage of Americans who think the health care reform law has been repealed: 22 Percentage who don’t know if it’s been repealed: 26 Cumulative percentage unaware that it is law: 48 Percentage who want the law repealed: 48

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation

a n d r e w

n o r m a n

Omaha asks for sewer funding help

being heard in the Judiciary Committee March 2, argue that the social costs of implementing the bill would outweigh any fiscal benefits of the law. “That is the national discourse about why these people are not wanted,” Guidotti-Hernandez says. “These individuals are seen as a drain on the economic system and if somehow we get rid of them it will cost us less money.” But she says the cost to detain and deport immigrants is often overlooked. It costs an average of $12,500 to arrest, detain and deport undocumented immigrants, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Kumar Kibble. Kibble said in January that his agency deported almost 393,000 people in 2010, at a total cost of almost $5 billion. “It’s actually costing the state and the federal government quite a bit of money to detain, process and deport these individuals,” Guidotti-Hernandez says. Opponents of undocumented immigrants largely stress that they’re targeting lawbreakers, not people of color. But she believes there’s more behind the message that undocumented immigrants are not welcome in America. “What has changed is the rhetoric, but the ultimate effect is still the same, which is exclusionary practices against particular populations, and particularly Latino immigrants,” Guidotti-Hernandez says. “In some cases, we’re talking about the figure of the terrorist. Because I think this heightened sense of urgency about the illegal body — the brown, illegal male body — it’s not just an immigrant body, but it’s also a terrorist body.” , “Diverse Faces, Shared Histories: Immigrants on the Great Plains” begins at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 4 at the Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St., Friday. It is FREE and open to the public. Call 402.472.3082 or visit unl. edu/plains.

numberscruncher

KNOW THY ENEMY:

B y

upfront

People as Targets

topnews The city would get some help from the state to fund its multi-billion dollar sewer renovation project if an appeal to the Revenue Committee is allowed to go through. A federally mandated sewer overhaul project would cost the city an estimated $1.7 billion. Work has already begun, and it’s expected to take more than a decade to complete. In the meantime, Omaha ratepayers will start to see their bills climb. “We are raising our rates substantially,” says Marty Grate, director of Public Works for the City of Omaha. “A typical household this year will pay about $16 per month for sewer fees. In 2014, that same household will pay $37 per month. We have large industries in Omaha who will see increases over the next three years in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Grate testified before the Legislature’s Revenue Committee in support of a bill introduced by State Senator Heath Mello of Omaha. The bill would turn back sales tax revenue, gathered from climbing sewer rates, to the city of Omaha — a similar financing model was used to finance the Qwest Center. But that would mean the state would give up that revenue — potentially millions of dollars. Grate said the funding could total $46 million. “[That] is a lot of money and I think it’ll be helpful to our ratepayers,” he said. “But it’s not going to suddenly make the bonds go away, or get it done. But it’s enough money that will be helpful to minimize some of these rate increases that we would otherwise have to impose.” Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle joined several other supporters of the bill, including the League of Nebraska Municipalities, the Metropolitan Utilities District, and the cities of Lincoln and Plattsmouth. No one spoke in opposition, and the Committee must still decide whether to advance it to the full legislature for debate. Committee members raised several concerns, and noted other cities around the state have had to fund similar projects, and have not received special funding clauses. — Robyn Wisch, KVNOnews.com

theysaidit they BUCK SPEAK: “Because Washington surely needs more fiscal accountability these

days, we should adapt Harry Truman’s well-known phrase and say, ‘The Buck Shrinks Here.’” — Sen. Ben Nelson writing in his weekly column on his proposal to cut Congressional spending by 5 percent in 2011. The current budget expires March 4.

news

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thenewshound

Feb. 18–March 27

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

By William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin

Orchestra Sponsor:

Plan to eliminate Omaha’s wheel tax advances

Media Sponsor:

Whitmore CharitableTrust

Yellowbook

March 4–April 3

Book, Music and Lyrics by Dan Goggin

Sponsor:

Orchestra Sponsor:

6915 Cass Street | (402) 553-0800 | (888) 782-4338 www.omahaplayhouse.org

Presents

Bishop John Shelby Spong

“I hold the Bible before my readers . . . presenting it as a dramatic and exciting document whose relevance for our day is both mighty and real.” -Bishop John Shelby Spong

Friday night, March 25 at Temple Israel Saturday & Sunday, March 26-27 at FUMC Full weekend registration includes lunch on Saturday: $45 if postmarked on or before March 11, 2011 $65 if postmarked after March 11 Registration form can be downloaded at

www.horizonsoffaith.com 7020 Cass Street • Omaha, NE 68132 402.556.6262 • www.fumcomaha.org

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MARCH 3 - 9, 2011

| THE READER |

news

State lawmakers advanced a measure Feb. 28 that would eliminate Omaha’s $50 wheel tax on commuters. The bill, LB81, moves to the final round of debate later this month. The proposed law includes a compromise that would allow the city to continue to collect the tax from non-residents living within a 3-mile zoning area of Omaha for the next two years. City officials BEN GRAY estimate the bill could cost Omaha nearly $6 million over the next two years. On Feb. 8, the City Council approved Mayor Jim Suttle’s proposal to spend $73,000 over the next year to lobby against LB 81 and two other bills that threaten to cut city revenue.

Black-White Dialogues return The annual series exploring issues of race in Omaha through one-on-one conversations and group dialogues is open for registration. The theme for this spring’s Black-White dialogues is “Breaking Down Racial Barriers,” and will feature talks from City Councilman Ben Gray, former Congressional candidate Jim Esch and University of Nebraska-Lincoln African-American studies professor Patrick Jones, among others. The six-session series will run on Tuesdays from Mar. 15 through Apr. 19 at Big Mama’s Kitchen, 3223 N. 45th St. Contact Elaine Wells at 402.573.1702 or visit black-white-dialogues.org to register.

Nebraska offers aid to Latino farmers The Lyons, Neb.-based Center for Rural Affairs was awarded a $305,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund an outreach program for Latino farmers and ranchers in Nebraska and Missouri. The program, a collaboration between the CRA and the Universities of Nebraska and Missouri, will help farmers and ranchers understand and apply for federal funding in hopes of helping them retain and operate their businesses.

South High students to attend immigration bill hearing Students from Omaha South High School, along with faculty members from the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS), planned to attend the state legislature’s Mar. 2 hearing on the Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act. The Arizona-style law, LB48, sponsored by Fremont State Sen. Charlie Janssen, would require local law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of people they have reasonable cause to believe are in the country illegally during routine stops. As part of the OLLAS sponsored program, the students plan to produce fact sheets, presentations and a video to be included as part of a PBS documentary. The film will be screened in Omaha at a community forum on Apr. 30 at South High School, 4519 S. 24th St.


murderink they Willie Longmore, 25, died Feb. 23 from multiple gunshot wounds suffered in a shooting at 3309 N. 39th St. No arrests have been made. 2011 HOMICIDES: 7 (THERE WERE 5 HOMICIDES THIS TIME LAST YEAR)

Acting

UNMC administrator dies in Haiti

on his way to school, who pushed the suspect, Dr. Rubens Pamies, 52, died of a heart attack Feb. causing him to flee. Police searched the area for the suspect but 26 at his sister’s home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Pamies served as the University of Nebraska have made no arrests. The investigation is ongoing. Medical Center’s vice chancellor of academic affairs and dean of graduate studies for the past Shooting Rounds Michael Nauden, 21, survived after being shot eight years. While at UNMC Pamies founded the Virgin- near 19th and Evans on Feb. 23. Michael Moss, 31, survived ia-Nebraska Alliance — a partafter being shot while occupants nership between five Historically dr. Rubens pamies of two vehicles exchanged fire at Black Colleges and Universities, 4424 Florence Blvd. on Feb. 24. UNMC and Virginia CommonTobias McClinton, 28, surwealth University — to help vived after being shot near 70th attract minorities to the health and Ames on Feb. 27. McClinton professions. In 2010, he led the told police he was shot by an unvolunteer effort at UNMC to aid known assailant while sitting in victims of the earthquake in his his car. Investigators found evinative Haiti. dence of the shooting but did not “Rubens had a very strong locate any suspects. commitment to addressing the Ronnie Brown, 22, survived health needs of the poor regardafter being shot during a rolling less of their race or ethnicity,” said Dr. Louis Sullivan, president emeritus of gun battle on N. 30th St. on Feb. 28. Police lothe Morehouse School of Medicine. “He worked cated the victim’s vehicle near 31st and Cass but tirelessly to accomplish that goal. He was a very did not locate the suspect’s vehicle. Adam Martinez, 38, survived after being strong person with a big heart full of compassion shot at his home at 4622 S. 22nd St on Feb. 28. for others.” Tentative arrangements have been made for Police are searching for two suspects. No arrests were made in any of the above shootings. a funeral service in New York City. Randall Grimm, 25, died Feb. 28 after being shot a few steps outside a Hy-Vee at 78th and Cass Girl eludes abduction attempt A 12-year-old girl escaped after nearly being ab- in the city’s seventh homicide of the year. Store ducted by an armed man while walking to school security guards were able to detain a suspect until on the morning of Feb. 28. The victim told police police arrived and took him into custody. Sidney she was walking on Florence Blvd. when a man Anderson, 40, was booked on charges of criminal carrying a black handgun grabbed her from be- homicide and use of a weapon to commit a felony. — Brandon Vogel hind. Her cries for help alerted her brother, also

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H E A L T H

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W E L L N E S S

Gates’ Way: Computer nerd touts GMOs, vaccines and techno-mosquitoes

O

rdinarily, it’s considered the piety of noblesse oblige when the wealthy earmark billions for a charitable cause. In the case of techno-maven Bill Gates, the world might be better off if he kept his money in his pocket. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ranks with Bob Geldof and Bono for image-polishing acts of charity deemed to help end sickness, world hunger and global grief. Of private foundations, BMGF is the world’s largest. Few realize, however, that much of BMGF funding is dedicated to increasing the worldwide reach and power of mega-corporations like Monsanto, and that millions are spent on secret (or just plain stupid) plots to use questionable technology to control nature and populations. The BMGF backs genetic manipulation of crops in a misguided presumption that GM seed will end world hunger, despite evidence to the contrary; has funded genetically modified mosquitoes released on an unsuspecting population; supports questionable vaccine policy in third-world countries; and, as described in a recent article in Gates’ hometown paper, donates millions to media organizations, shaping the content and subject matter of the news. Look in the Windows: there’s Big Pharma. Gates’ foundation heartily backs the drug industry and its vaccines, selecting Dr. Tachi Yamada as the head of its so-called global health initiative. Yamada was head of research development for GlaxoSmithKline, the second-largest drug company in the world. GSK is the company that sued Nelson Mandela over HIV drug prices when he wanted to void patents and get drugs to the needy in South Africa. Forcing vaccines on vast populations that have little or no access to information on admitted adverse side effects of the drugs is hardly excused by any contention by the BMGF that “It’s for their own good.� Many would argue. Forced Frankenfood. Monsanto, the biotech giant that brought us Agent Orange, napalm, DDT, PCBs and the most powerful killer chemicals in history, is the leading owner of patents on genetically engineered crop seeds, also known as genetically modified or GM. Corn, soybeans, beets, alfalfa and cotton are some of their best selling products. Many countries have banned them. But in poverty stricken third world countries with governments easily swayed by Western influence (read dollars) BMGF has managed to coerce farmers to adopt genetically modified seeds by promising they increase crop yield. But research shows that isn’t always the case, and farmers often go bankrupt. In India, it’s estimated 46 farmers commit suicide every day. Some blame the economic constraints of GM crops that make seed-saving impossible due to a “terminator� gene inserted in the patented seeds. Eco-activist Dr. Vandana Shiva wrote, “As debts increase and become unpayable, farmers are compelled to sell kidneys or even commit suicide. More than 25,000 peasants in India have taken their lives since 1997 when the practice of seed saving was transformed under globalization pressures and

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multinational seed corporations started to take control of the seed supply. Seed saving gives farmers life. Seed monopolies rob farmers of life.� The BMGF connection is deep. In 2010, BMGF bought 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock valued at $23.1 million. Dr. Phil Bereano, recognized expert on genetic engineering expressed alarm. “First, Monsanto has a history of blatant disregard for the interests and well-being of small farmers around the world, as well as an appalling environmental track record. The strong connections to Monsanto cast serious doubt on the foundation’s heavy funding of agricultural development in Africa and purported goal of alleviating poverty and hunger among small-scale farmers. Second, this investment represents an enormous conflict of interests.� And there’s more. BMGF has teamed with agri-giant Cargill to the tune of $10 million to develop the use of patented GM soybean in central Africa. Cargill, Monsanto, corporate-controlled Frankenfood — hardly what one could call a humanitarian effort. The Foundation may think it’s doing the right thing but $23 million in Monsanto stock gives pause. Many agencies believe BMGF methods are doing more harm than good. Jurassic Skeeters. BMGF has invested almost $20 million in a scheme to design genetically modified mosquitoes in the lab and release them, armed with killer genes, to wipe out mosquito populations, claiming to fight malaria. That program secretly released thousands of the transgenic mosquitoes on the Caribbean island of Grand Cayman in 2009 and 2010 to see if it would work. They held no town meetings, no debates. They claim they informed the population by mounting a video on YouTube! I can imagine the population of this remote island huddled around their iPhones watching a YouTube video that doesn’t even mention that the mosquitoes are genetically modified! The two releases are believed to be the only release of genetically modified animals into the wild. Who pays the piper calls the tune. The Seattle Times recently published an article revealing BMGF has given $1 billion to print, television and radio programming that covers foundation projects, bankrolling pieces that go so far as to solicit donations. Is it unreasonable to suspect that those media outlets are going to be hard pressed to be critical of Gates’ work or Monsanto and drug companies working with BMGF? It’s understandable that someone who made billions from the field of technology would be romanced and entranced by the notion that there is a high-tech solution to everything. But the problem with high-tech is that it’s always untested by time. While Gates and the many who work with him spending foundation money may or may not be well-intentioned, the results and the data are showing that their untested, high-tech methods make things worse instead of better. Their methods end up unhealthful for people and the planet. And spending billions in media-spin doesn’t help matters. With the bugs, fixes, patches and errors endemic to Microsoft products you’d think Gates would have learned high-tech is not benign tech. If Gates really wants to end global grief, he’d forget GMOs and find a way for Windows Vista to actually work. 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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coverstory

Taking off

Omaha Film Festival continues to put out with heart-of-gold fervor

F

duction, cast, and crew of three musicals up for the annual Freddy Awards in Easton, PA. Students, parents and educators get caught in the drama of nominations and rehearsals. The feelgood movie is at its best portraying the pride and passion on the line.

by Leo Adam Biga

Someplace with a Mountain

ilm festivals are the brothels of cinema. High-end ones offer uniform quality. Low-rent ones are enter-at-your-own-risk propositions. In its sixth year, the Omaha Film Festival, showing now through March 6 at the Great Escape Theatre, is a mid-level cine-fest with a-heartof-gold that keeps putting out. Top-tier is the Saturday-Sunday film/screenwriting conference, whose panels feature major industry professionals talking shop: l Oscar-winning (Avatar) cinematographer Mauro Fiore lensed the fall 2011 release Real Steel l Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang writer-director Shane Black is slated to direct Iron Man 3 l Editor Tom Elkins is cutting his directorial feature debut The Haunting in Georgia l Ted Griffin owns script credits on Ocean’s Eleven and Matchstick Men and he executive produced Up in the Air OFF features, special screenings and documentaries are typically strong with films by established and emerging artists. The wildcard categories remain shorts and Off the Edge, where work runs more uneven, including how-did-thisever-get-in? type of fare. Animation entries are usually satisfying. Here’s a sampling across the fest.

Steve Goodall’s film follows his discovery of an indigenous island people whose way of life’s endangered by rising sea levels, and his subsequent efforts to broker their survival.

off-the-edge Trail of Blood

See this only as a primer for how not to make a mindless variation on the slasher pic. Acting ranges from decent to vacuous to incompetent. The cliched lines and situations are uninspired, an irritation only made worse by weak writing and humorless takes. It gives a bad name to exploitation shlock.

SHORTS

brycebridges.com

The Pink Bicycle

FEATURES

rected the witty screenplay by Thomas Cohen and John Jay Osborme.

The River Why

Splatter: Love, Honor and Paintball

Angling is the existential backdrop for this sweet, quirky look at life, love, identity and eco-systems. Zach Gilford and Amber Heard make fetching leads. Kathleen Quinlan and William Hurt shine in supporting roles. Dallas Roberts nearly steals the show with his eccentric philosopher turn. William Devane hams up a cameo. This mélange of Local Hero and Cross Creek boasts excellent photography by Crash. Matthew Leutwyler di-

Reminiscent of Slap Shot, this Iowa-shot comedy balances a human story amid schoolboy humor. Writer-director Lonnie Schuyler’s long takes and ironic understatement bring to mind Alexander Payne’s work, though awkward moments hold the film back. Omahan Matt Geiler is effective as the put-upon protagonist. The whole cast is good. Better yet is the music by She Swings She Sways.

Littlerock

It’s easy to see why writer-director Mike Ott’s bittersweet drama about the challenge of ever being able to really know someone has been a festival darling wherever it’s played.

DOCUMENTARIES Most Valuable Players This documentary explores a community’s attempt to honor high school theater the way prep sports are feted. Matthew Kallis charts the pro-

cover story

This story about innocence starts promisingly, as director Olivia Johnson shows a supple hand with montage. Then things get muddled. The acting’s solid in spots but a key character is botched. An ending meant as enigmatic plays confusing, leaving the meaning open to interpretations the filmmaker likely didn’t intend.

Irma

The best film I saw is this sublime portrait of retired Mexican lady wrestler Irma Gonzalez. Directed by Nebraska native Charles Fairbanks, the film has a quiet, studied, contemplative approach that’s mesmerizing in its minimalist rigor and keen observation. It’s a mature work by an artist with the courage of his conviction to let carefully chosen images and sounds speak for themselves.

Taking the Road

Writer-director Natalie Covault expertly upsets our expectations in her pulp fiction rendering of

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thriller film conventions. The clever work marks her as one to watch.

Priority Auto

Writer-director Aaron Sawyer’s comedy whimsically riffs on the Owl and the Pussycat scenario as a buttoned-down guy is liberated by a free-spirited gal.

Esperanza

John O’Keefe and Tim Guthrie display finesse with their documentary about community building efforts amid crushing poverty in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Bye Bye Blatt

Mike Machian’s swan song to Rosenblatt Stadium combines striking still and moving images

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| THE READER |

cover story

with pithy sound bites, creating a poignant farewell tour of the old ballpark.

Heels to the Pavement

Zachary Mattson directed, edited and co-wrote (with Garret Geist) this very funny comedy about rival power walkers. It has the zany spirit of the Farrelly brothers and the mockumentary style of This is Spinal Tap meets True Stories. As for the rest of the fest, based on descriptions alone, good bets appear to be the features The 5th Quarter, A Little Help and Down the Shore, the doc My Kidnapper and the special screening Queen of the Lot. On a parochial note, Kevin Costner narrates Omaha’s symbiosis with the College World Series in The Long Home Run. , brycebridges.com

coverstory

For screening-panel schedules and tickets, visit www.omahafilmfestival.org. For more info, call 208-8173.


passion unmasked

Nebraska native Charles Faribanks debuts wrestling flick Irma at OFF

I

by Leo Adam Biga

n the space of a few years Charles Fairbanks has gone from conventional prep and collegiate wrestler to one of the few gringo performers of Lucha Libre, Mexico’s equivalent of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). Amid a world of masked figures with exotic alter egos, Fairbanks performs as the One-Eyed Cat. It’s not what you’d expect from this cerebral, soft-spoken, fair-skinned rural Nebraska native. Then again, Fairbanks is an adventurous artist and art educator, which explains why he’s devoted much of the last nine years to Lucha Libre’s high-flying acrobatics and soap opera melodramatics. Fairbanks, whose pretty boy face and chiseled body are in stark contrast to Jack Black in Nacho Libre, is a photographer and maker of short films who loves wrestling. He combines his passions as self-expression. He’s gone so far as affixing a video camera to his mask to record the action. “Oh, I look silly,” he says of his third eye. “Other wrestlers laugh out loud but they’re always very welcoming. I make sure to establish a relationship before I walk in with a camera on my head.” His documentary short Irma, an Omaha Film Festival selection, lyrically profiles Irma Gonzalez, a hobbled but still strong, proud former wrestling superstar and singer-songwriter. He befriended Fairbanks at Bull’s Gym on the outskirts of Mexico City. Last fall Irma won the Best Short prize at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival. It’s shown at festivals worldwide, as have other works by Fairbanks. Some, like Pioneers, don’t involve wrestling. Intense curiosity brought him to Mexico. Oddly, he’d just abandoned organized wrestling. He was a state champion grappler at Lexington (Neb.) High, where his artistic side also flourished. His mat talent and academic promise earned a scholarship to Stanford University, where he wrestled two years before quitting the team. He was touring Mexico on a rite-of-passage mission of self-discovery and enlightenment when he saw his first Lucha Libre match. He soon started shooting and practicing. He made still images, but has since used video to capture stories. “I just fell in love with this spectacle,” he says.

Bull’s Gym, located on an upper floor of a hilltop building, is his main dojo, sanctuary and set. It overlooks a cinematic backdrop. “There’s something powerful for me in looking out at the miles of humble cinderblock housing spread out and up the ridges around Mexico City,” he says. “That view is very beautiful. With all the pollution, the sunsets are very colorful. The airport is nearby and so you see the airplanes taking off. “For me all of this magnifies and modulates the gym’s energy, which is really pretty fervent. There’s

Charles fairbanks

“In my experience of Lucha Libre the matches themselves are not staged — you don’t know who’s going to win. You still maybe want to win, but it’s not just up to you,” he says. “You can’t just go for a pin. You really have to try to entertain. It’s very much like a dance. There’s a certain repertoire of moves my opponent and I know how to do together, and if I start to do one move [then] you recognize this move and you actually respond in a certain way to help me do it more spectacularly. “And then there are variations, where you’re doirma gonzalez

irma poster

often boxing and wrestling going on at the same time in the same room. With all the activity, the ambient noise is really a roar.” Lucha Libre has a near mystical hold on him now but he admits he originally regarded it as a lovely though bastard version of the wrestling he grew up with. “At the time, as most competitive wrestlers in the U.S., I denied the connection,” he says. “I said, ‘This is totally different.’ Now I’ve gotten to the point where I can accept the real links between competitive wrestling and show wrestling.’” Fairbanks, a Stanford art grad with a master of fine arts from the University of Michigan, takes an analytical view of these kindred martial arts. “There is a lot of overlap but at the same time I think they have very different philosophies embedded in them.” Asking if Lucha Libre is fake misses the point. The visceral, in-the-moment experience is the only reality that matters.

ing something defensive that’s changing me, so it’s not my move anymore. As we go through this back and forth we establish these sort of rhythms.” The unfolding dance, he says, is also “an improvised drama” marked by “waves of tension” and “a building of energies. One wrestler is dominating but then the tides turn and the other wrestler comes back. It’s not something scripted but you feel your way through.” The improvisation, he adds, extends to the referee, who “plays his part,” and to the crowd, “who play their part.” Reared in the no-frills tradition of amateur wrestling, he says, “it’s been really hard to learn this completely different way of thinking or feeling reality. I’m the first to say I haven’t mastered Lucha Libre. I’m not trying to make it big as a wrestler in

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Mexico. I’m trying to learn about wrestling.” He’s also a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He’s learned about Lucha Libre’s “built-in codes of honor” and “certain ways people present themselves publicly or don’t.” The wrestlers aren’t supposed to reveal their identity outside the ring. He’s made himself an exception. “I feel OK transgressing this because I’m already marked as Other.” In his Flexing Muscles some native wrestlers halfjokingly harangue this outsider. “It’s very important to me they’re calling me gringo and saying, ‘Go back to your damned country,” he says, as it makes overt his interloper status. As deep as he’s tasted Mexican culture he knows he remains a visitor and observer. “I’m really conscious of my differences from most of the people there in terms of nationality and economics,” he says. Despite the obvious differences between Fairbanks and his fellow performers, he feels a reciprocal kinship, adding, “there’s a certain kind of camaraderie I feel with wrestlers anywhere.” Wherever he’s traveled, including Europe and Asia, he’s wrestled. Fairbanks has seen much of Mexico but is largely centered in Mexico City and Chiapas, where he teaches filmmaking. “I love to stay with families, I love to have local people to learn from and to interact with.” Moments of zen-like meditation and magic realism lend his work poetic sensibility and cultural sensitivity. Irma’s tough title character sings a ranchero in the ring while her circus performer granddaughters romp. In Pioneers, Fairbanks lays hands over his father’s ailing back in a shamanistic healing ceremony. Enigmatic stuff. “I like to make movies that invite more questions,” says Fairbanks, who participated in Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School and cut his chops working with veteran filmmakers in Brussels, Belgium. “I like to have the films be a process of discovery for the viewers — to not tell the viewers how to see this world — but also a sense of discovery for me as I’m making the films.” Authenticity is his goal. “For me it’s important I’m making movies in Mexico that convey a part of experience not covered by our news media.” As for the future, he says, “I have very specific stories I want to tell in Mexico and in other countries, some related to wrestling, other types of wrestling, some not at all related to wrestling.” ,

Irma’s Omaha Film Festival screening is 6 p.m. on March 3 at the Great Escape Theatre as part of the Striking a Chord block of Nebraska documentary shorts.

| THE READER |

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BRADY HESS

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 eight 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

My mother, sister and I had barely sat down before a hummus plate and zaalouk salad (both complementary) were on the table. Somehow, Tariqui managed to score crisp healthy cucumbers in mid-February, and decent winter tomaby Lainey Seyler toes, to go with eggplant, olives and olive oil in little Moroccan eatery appeared on the traditional salad. The hummus plate was what seems to be the ever-transforming mild and disappeared from the plate quickly. Farnam Street a few months back. I noTariqui directed us toward what he thought ticed it on my way home from class at Metropoli- were the restaurant’s best plates of the day, saytan Community College’s Institute for Culinary ing he had just received some fresh lamb. When I Arts. The restaurant occupies the corner just east went for fries as a side, he steered me away from of Midtown Crossing at 30th Street. my ridiculous craving toward a side of vegetables The restaurant had and rice, which were a soft opening three or hamid tariqui an absolute hit. He four weeks ago and plans served our orders, to open officially with a of kefta, sharwarma full menu March 13. and grilled chicken, On a recent visit I family-style on a was immediately imblue and white patpressed with the proterned platter over fessionalism of the wait a bed of rice and the staff, decked out in roasted veggies. The burnt-orange chef jacknames of the dishes ets, a pleasant surprise may be intimidatin the world of ethnic ing, but everything restaurants. The dinis appealingly siming room sports a view ple: roasted meat of the open kitchen and with herbs spices was spotless though a such as cumin, chili bit over-bright with inpowder and cilancasablanca moroccan café tense fluorescent lighttro. We ended up ing. I thought instantly with grilled beef that it must be the work (brochettes), lamb of Moussa Drissi, chef(kefta) and chicken owner of Marrakech cooked to tenderGourmet, a sandwich ness with aromatic shop in the Brandeis spices. The vegetaBuilding food court. I bles (carrots, potalearned later the owntoes, sweet potatoes, er is Drissiís cousin, parsnips and bell Hamid Tariqui, equal peppers) were the to Drissi in hospitality absolute highlight and passion. to me. My mom, Tariqui treats cuspleased that I now tomers like visitors in embrace vegetables, his home. “This is a good job,” he says. “I go to agreed and tried her first parsnip ever, which was sleep, I organize myself, and people come into my woody in texture, sweet and savory like a carrot. home. I have to have food for them.” Tariqui is in The meals were $5.50 for a sandwich, $7.50 with the dining room shaking hands with customers, a side and drink and $9.50 for a side and a salad. hugging them, making them part of the family; A Moroccan salad ($6) that we didn’t order and it starts with opening his kitchen to them. but were delighted to partake of came in a similar

Omaha’s latest ethnic eatery option, Casablanca

BRADY HESS

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

| THE READER |

dish

n Fans of African cuisine have yet another option: Sholiz African Restaurant, located at 8602 Maple St. The large white building has been home to many a restaurant, but here’s hoping Sholiz will become a fixture. The restaurant specializes in Nigerian cuisine, offering soups, stews and broiled meats including beef, oxtail, goat, chicken and fish. For more info go to sholiz.net. n Last year Subway opened 2,147 new locations around the world, bringing their total to 33,959 outlets and making them the world’s largest fast-food restaurant. According to Entrepreneur magazine, some of the reasons for their growth are being able to tell a great story (Jared), stay on top of trends, find creative locations like gas stations and Wal-Marts, and customer engagement. Numbers bear that out: research firm Sandelman and Associates ranked Subway as the No. 1 provider of healthful and nutritious food; Harris Interactive listed Subway as the highest ranked quick-service restaurant in brand equity; and the Zagat Fast Food survey ranked Subway No. 1 in service, popularity and healthful options. n Having a hard time finding the right recipe? Like most other questions, Google has an answer for that. Clicking on the “more” tab in the left margin of search results (underneath “everything”) will yield a link to Google Recipes. Once there, you can enter a main criteria, such as “chicken thighs” or “bourbon” to whittle down contenders. You can even restrict the search based on the time it’ll take to prepare a particular recipe as well as the number of calories the dish contains.

crumbs

dish

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

blue platter. The dish was a Mediterranean medley of fresh cucumber, tomato, parsley and feta cheese drizzled with balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil. The meal ended with Moroccan tea, which took a long time to brew, and a plate of fresh strawberries and plump blueberries. Tariqui said, “What we have in our refrigerator is for you.” He said something to me in Arabic and translated to English: “If God gives you a kitchen, you feed people.” Tariqui and staff embodied this friendly, open hospitality that I’ve come to expect from Mediterraneans. , Casablanca Moroccan Café, located at 3025 Farnam St., will be open 8 a.m.-11 p.m. daily starting March 15. For now, it is open for lunch and dinner.


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Painting by Omaha artist Jean Mason Old Market 11 & Jackson 402-344 - 0200 Legacy 171st & West Center 402-778- 0100 th

UpstreamBrewing.com

2011Upstream_FatTuesdayAd_Reader_4.9x4.9.indd 1

| THE READER |

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MARCH 3 - 9, 2011

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8 DAYS

TOPTV Sunday, March 6

“America’s Next Great Restaurant” 7 p.m., NBC

America’s Next Great Restaurant is a brilliant concept for a reality series, and it’s also brilliantly executed. It searches for entrepreneurs who have a viable scheme for a “fast-casual” restaurant — in other words, the next Chipotle — and takes them through the steps for making their dream a reality. They will hire chefs, design graphics, operate their own food trucks, etc. Guiding them through this process are four articulate judges with experience in the field, including Chipotle founder Steve Ells and chef Bobby Flay. In a clever twist, the judges are also the investors who will back the winning restaurant, set to open in May. That’s right — America’s Next Great Restaurant is not only a TV program, but part of the marketing plan for the new business. Who says U.S. capitalists are running out of ideas? — Dean Robbins

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THURSDAY3 March 3

“Futurama” Producer Patric Verrone

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Student Union’s Auditorium 1400 R St., Lincoln, 6 p.m., FREE, unl.edu Sometimes concepts for events couldn’t seem more meant to be. Take Thursday night, when the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Law is sponsoring a discussion about the future of film, television, music and journalism in the ever-developing world of Facebook, Netflix and Youtube. Their choice to appear as the expert guest able to surmise the future? The producer of animated series “Futurama,” of course. His name is Patric Verrone, and while those facts serve as a funny little coincidence, it’s more likely UNL called him in for this discussion thanks to industry insights gained while president of the Writers Guild of America, West, during the 2007-08 writer’s strike. As president, Verrone also led the Guild’s work on Washington, D.C. policy issues regarding an open and neutral internet — a principle otherwise known as net neutrality — that stands as a very important industry topic for creative minds moving forward. Another fun fact for Nebraskans: Verrone worked as a monologue writer for “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson” in the 1980s. The discussant for the evening will be UNL law professor Marvin Ammori. The event, free and open to the public, starts at 6 p.m. in UNL’s Main Student Union’s 2nd Floor auditorium. A reception with hor d’oeuvres will follow. — Sean Brennan

FRIDAY15

Nebraska Wesleyan’s Big Event Presents: T.J. Miller

O’Donnell Auditorium 5000 St. Paul Ave., Lincoln 9 p.m., $15 (Free for Wesleyan students), 402.465.2412, nebrwesleyan.edu Denver native and Second City alum T.J. Miller will be bringing his stand-up to Nebraska Wesleyan’s annual Big Event. Big Event has always been great about bringing in comedy up-and-comers — including Zach Galifinakis, Demetri Martin and Lewis Black. So don’t be surprised if, in a few years, you hear the name T.J. Miller. And you may

| THE READER |

picks

PICKOFTHEWEEK

Saturday, March 8

Crescent Moon’s Mardi Gras Party

36th and Farnam, 4 p.m.–2 a.m., free, beercornerusa.com

T

he Crescent Moon’s Fat Tuesday parties have become the stuff of Omaha legend. Almost everyone knows Beer Corner U.S.A. (the foursome of beer-based businesses made up of the Moon, Huber Haus, Beertopia and Max & Joe’s) is the place to go for that one last day of gluttony before the long season of Lent. In fact, the Moon even bills its own party as “Omaha’s Biggest and Best Mardi Gras Party.” The makings of the best party in the metro include the Moon’s hurricanes, thousands of free beads and tshirts, Cajun food, giveaways, surprises, and the intriguing “balcony” — a true feat for a ground-floor establishment. All three Beer Corner bars will be open, and probably packed. In 2009, the party kicked off at noon, and in 2010, start time was 2 p.m. This year, the Moon has dialed back its 12th annual Mardi Gras party until 4 p.m. If the idea of Fat Tuesday is one last feast before a long fast, the Moon is happy to comply. Its ad for the Mardi Gras party calls it “the naughtiest night of the year,” and promises the debauchery is well worth a sick day. — Patricia Sindelar have already — he’s been puttering around Hollywood a bit, with roles in Cloverfield, Get Him to the Greek, How to Train Your Dragon and ... uhh, Yogi Bear. Actually, maybe we should just ignore that last one. — John Wenz

Opens March 4 through March 25

RGb: Modern. Digital. American. Photography The New BLK Gallery 1213 Jones St., thenewblk.com

Photographer Bill Sitzmann has crazy, innovative ideas — clay prints with varnish applied to them, no glass, more of an automotive feel, shiny — things painters have done, not pho-

tographers. The Omaha-based artist is the nephew of local photographer Mike Malone and was fortunate enough to be asked to shoot The Faint in 2001. His career took off. Contributing to publications such as Rolling Stone and Time Magazine, Sitzmann is living his dream. “I’ve always been interested in photographers like Annie Leibowitz, but most of the stuff I do now is more like social commentary,” he says. “It’s not overtly political. It’s more whimsical. I have a mini-series called ‘Time Savers’ that include photos with someone smoking in the shower, stuff that makes me laugh.” Although his days of shooting bands like Wolf Parade and Bright Eyes are more limited, he is still as tenacious as day one. His new exhibit at the New Blk starts with a reception at 6 p.m. Friday. — Kyle Eustice


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SATURDAY5

TUESDAY8

March 5

March 8 and 10

Film Streams, 1340 Mike Fahey St. 4 p.m. through March 17 (Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays only) $4.50-$9, 933.0259, filmstreams.org.

University of Nebraska at Omaha Milo Bail Student Center Fireplace Lounge 6001 Dodge St. Noon to 6 p.m.; artist lecture at noon both days FREE, teresaprince.com

Three Stooges Shorts

In 1925, few would have thought that Ted Healy’s vaudeville act would become an American institution. More than 85 years later, one can’t mention great American comedy without the “Three Stooges” being among the first names to roll off the tongue. Healy’s early stage act consisted of himself, brothers Moe and Shemp Howard, as well as Larry Fine and Fred Sanborn telling jokes and slapstick. By 1930, the group was featured in their first film and shortly thereafter, the Howard brothers and Fine split off from Healy and the rest is history. While rumors continue to swirl of a possible film coming to the silver screen, nothing beats their classic black and white short films ... best when watched with a wise guy or two. — Adam Froemming

March 5

Omaha Golden Gloves Championships

Tip Top Ballroom, 1502 Cumming St. 6 p.m., $15 334.5446victoryboxingclub.org “Would you like some punch to drink? Ha, ha, ha!” The Nintendo original “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out” may be outdated by today’s high-tech video game standards, but the game’s quotes — such as the one above from Soda Popinski — you can pull from the flamboyant characters still ring my bell. The Omaha Golden Gloves Championships are bringing a few of the area’s best fighters to the TipTop Ballroom this Saturday to ring some bells, too. The matches will be determined the day of the event after the weigh-ins, which will be held between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Jim Ratcliff and John Determan, promoters of the event, said to expect a super heavyweight match this year between a couple of up-and-comers. Be sure to keep an eye on some of the lighter fighters as some are expected to be crossovers from the Omaha Victory Fighting Club looking to pit their MMA skills against traditional boxers in the stand-up ring. Allow me to leave you with one last quote to get you fired up for an evening of boxing. “Punch-Out’s” Piston Honda: “I’ll give you a TKO from Tokyo!” — James Derrick Schott

“Bitch — It’s Our Word Now”

A year ago, photographer Teresa Prince was hanging out with friends and wanting to practice using her new light kit; they thought it would be fun to pose with the blasé word “BITCH” written largely in black on a piece of paper, and found the result quite liberating. “Women and men have used this word negatively for years to describe people who are not sticking to traditional gender roles,” says the University of Nebraska-Lincoln photojournalist grad. “Women who are tough, opinionated and fearless should be celebrated. So should men who are sensitive and creative.” And so Prince’s “Bitch — it’s our word now” project began. For the last year she has been photographing men and women from college students to moms to artists and fitness gurus, all with their own proud version of the word. Thirty-four of those will be on exhibit for two days only in the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Milo Bail Student Center’s Fireplace Lounge from noon to 6 p.m. with artist lectures both days at noon. “I hope people come see the show and enjoy the images and talk about what strong qualities they prize in themselves,” Price says. — Sally Deskins

TERESA PRINCE

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THREEUPTHREEDOWN Sunday, March 20

Dan Sperry: Anti-Conjuror

Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St. Show at 7 p.m.; Tickets $29 to $44 $65 VIP tickets available includes meet-and-greet, front-row seating and autographed photo ticketomaha.com, 345.0606, dansperry.com

“A

merica’s Got Talent” season five semi-finalist Dan Sperry will bring his offbeat style of shock illusion to the Orpheum Theater Sunday, March 20. The Las Vegas-based Sperry received more than 1 million views on YouTube, and sent AGT judge Howie Mandel running into the stands as Sperry chewed up a Lifesaver and then made it re-appear out of his throat. Sperry is a one-of-a-kind-type performer, DAN SPERYY combining illusion and the bizarre with satirical macabre humor and non-stop mayhem set to an industrial musical score with razor blades, Voodoo, blood and more. What else could you ask for? We caught up with Sperry via email while he’s on the road for his “Magic No Longer Sucks Tour.” So for those of us unfamiliar with your show, can you provide us some highlights? My show is unlike anything you’ve seen before, especially unlike any magic show you’ve seen before. Everything my audience sees is a completely original approach, from a giant mechanical scorpion with five-foot buzzsaw on the tail to a spinning carcass grinder from Hormel foods that I try to walk through without getting shredded to pieces; ghosts that fly at you around the theater and other paranormal activity. And of course, up close sleight of hand effects projected onto screens so the audience can get an up close look at the demonstrations I do with razor blades, cutting my tongue off and of course the Lifesaver routine I did on America’s got talent. I don’t want to give away too much in terms of what to expect because I want it to be a surprise. I guess you can expect the un-expected. Lots of twists and turns, like a roller coaster! Who are some of your idols and inspirations? I get inspirations from everywhere. A big one is Quentin Tarantino. I’ve always been into his movies and I remember seeing Reservoir Dogs when I was really too young to see it and the scene with Michael Madsen cutting off the police officer’s ear really stuck with me. I loved the feeling of being uneasy and not knowing how to handle the scene, all mixed in together with the dichotomy of Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck In the Middle With You” really left a mark. Other than that I have to admit I am also influenced by Tim Burton’s art and film‚ ever since I was young and watching everything from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure to Batman; and then when Nightmare Before Christmas came out it really stuck with me. Other artists, too, like Dali and Brom, Edward Gorey and Gieger are big influences, along with musicians such as Nine Inch Nails, Emilie Autumn and The Dresden Dolls, too. Which member of the “Jersey Shore” cast would you like to make permanently disappear and why? Yeah ... because I watch that? But from what I hear about the show, they are very good at playing off each other and creating drama for the people at home. Don’t really know who I’d make disappear, but I am sure it would be a close tie between most of the cast! — Eric Stoakes

picks

| THE READER |

MARCH 3 - 9, 2001

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So Much To See And Do... www.oldmarket.com

25 Y E A R S

!"#$%&$'''''()$#$*+#

12th & Jackson Old Market 341-5827 Ice Cream made the Old-Fashioned way using Rock Salt & Ice

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Best Ice Cream Shop

| THE READER |


Entrepreneur Jason Seiden isn’t interested in career paths, he’s interested in you

J

by Brandon Vogel

ason Seiden knows what you’re thinking. Don’t be impressed. It’s not him, it’s Twitter. But he does have good ideas, his own ideas, about what businesses are thinking when it comes to the ever-changing world of social media. The Jason Seiden Chicago-based author of two books and co-founder of consulting firm Ajax Social Media will kick off the 2011 Young Professionals Summit as the opening speaker at the annual networking event March 3 at the Qwest Center. Seiden’s part of a businesssavvy slate of speakers scheduled for the annual event. Along with local business talent, the YPS will feature a keynote address from Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker. In a little over five years at the helm, the 41-year-old Booker has reduced Newark’s crime rate, turned down a plush White House job, jokingly feuded with Conan O’Brien via YouTube, wowed Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg into donating $100 million to the Newark school system, picked up more than one million Twitter followers and become the hip, young face of American politics. But can he read minds like Jason Seiden? The Reader spoke with Seiden in a refreshingly buzzword-free conversation about LinkedIn profiles, discarding career paths and, yes, Twitter. So how does Twitter help a major business? Like a lot of things in the constantly fluid world of social media, Seiden says we’re still figuring that out.

“Twitter is not a corporate entity,” he says. “It’s basically digitized telepathy. I can read what you’re thinking, and what people are thinking about a lot of the time is what they had for breakfast. But the beauty of Twitter isn’t the one tweet, it’s the flow of ideas.” Small businesses are succeeding with the help of Twitter. Soup Revolution, Omaha’s entry in the rocketing food truck trade, uses it to announce their daily location. Greenstreet Cycles organizes weekly rides using Twitter. Seiden says a human side frequently emerges with small, local businesses, but he’s not sure exactly how Twitter will evolve to help large, multinational corporations. It’s a problem he faces frequently

as he bridges the gap between new-world technology and old-world business practices. “The awareness is there, but the business structures aren’t in place,” Seiden says. “We really want to move forward but the structure that’s impeding that growth is the budget.”

Take the business networking site LinkedIn. Seiden’s company, Ajax Social Media, offers web-based LinkedIn training and profile analysis as a way for businesses to grow revenue. There are productivity benefits as well as marketing benefits. The question often comes when it’s time to pay for that training. Who foots the bill? Sales or marketing? According to Seiden the current model often doesn’t support that sort of cross-platform training. He estimates it might be five or 10 years before companies are completely comfortable shelling out for the overall benefit of a bolstered online profile. As he works to change that at the corporate level, Seiden has also taken to his blog, FailSpectacularly.com, to entertainingly and instructively thumb his nose at the prevailing business culture in an effort to help job-seekers become more marketable. In one YouTube video he exposes the absurdity of business jargon by delivering a traditional performance review of his daughter’s first year in kindergarten. In posts like “11 Ways to Make the Least of Your Career” and “Why Extroverts Can’t Lead,” he doesn’t tell you what to do but what not to do. But the most popular post on the site, and the speech he’ll deliver at the Young Professionals Summit, is “Screw your career path. Live your story.” The idea, illustrated with the aid of traditional storytelling signposts like the inciting incident and denouement, is to discard the categories hiring managers love to rely on, ignore the preordained steps that are hardwired into any ambitious individual, and focus on what’s really unique — your story.

culture

n March 2nd marks the fourth anniversary of the Naked Words Open Mic at Soul Desires bookstore at 10th and Jackson in the Old Market. There will be cake. The event starts at 6 p.m. For more info email prairiesky@gmail.com. n The Foundation for Lincoln City Libraries will host a fundraiser Thursday, March 31. The foundation’s Wine and E Event will feature an evening of comedy, wine, pizza and, uh, an “e-petting zoo” at the Lincoln Country Club, located at 3200 South 24th Street in Lincoln from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets are $40 ($35 if you’re already a friend of the library) and it’ll be another $20 if you’d like to participate in the wine tasting. All proceeds go to the Lincoln City Libraries and you have until March 21 to purchase tickets. For more information call 402.441.0164 or go to foundationforlcl.org. n Kids across the country, we hope, will be celebrating Read Across America Day this Wednesday, March 2. Held every year on the birthday of Dr. Seuss, the National Education Association encourages young readers to celebrate reading. Children can celebrate both events by reading a Dr. Seuss book and/or heading over to Seussville (seusville.com), an online resource full of activities for young readers. n According to eBooknewser.com, Barnes and Noble’s Pub-It! self-publishing software has attracted over 11,000 publishers and published more than 65,000 eBooks since its launch last fall. The bookstore is expanding the program to include a bestseller list as well as the opportunity for authors to get wider exposure via Barnes and Nobleís “Read in Store” program. “Read in Store” enables owners of the chain’s proprietary eReader, Nook, to download and read free content while browsing physical Barnes and Noble stores. — Kyle Tonniges

booked

Electronic Introduction

culture

Comments? Questions? Want more? Check out our Booked blog online at thereader.com. Or email us at booked@thereader.com.

Seiden calls it a license to color outside the lines. The trick is finding someone who’s willing to go there with you. “You have to find somebody who’s receptive to that,” he says. “You can’t just post a resume and hope somebody can airlift you out. You have to be the hero in your story. “What’s the two-word answer? Build relationships.” , The Young Professionals Summit, “From I to We: Changing the Conversation,” is Mar. 3 from 8 a.m to 5 p.m. at the Qwest Center. For more information visit OmahaYoungProfessionals.org.

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theater SNAP!’s Autistic License leads exciting weekend for area theatergoers

N

by Warren Francke

ot just another opening, another show, but four plays that offer a challenge to any theatergoer who wants to catch the full quartet on the first weekend. Even the most familiar, Mamma Mia!, which is back for a fourth touring company visit, and the oft-produced musical Nunsense, bring something new. This time the Abba hits arrive with Omahan John-Michael Zuerlein playAutistic License ing one of the three could-be dads of the title character’s daughter, and earlier treatments of those fund-raising “Little Sisters of Hoboken” didn’t come with the bigtime production polish that happens only at the Omaha Community Playhouse. But the other two openings promise Omaha premieres. SNAP! Productions presents Autistic License, the story of the roller-coaster ride of raising an autistic son, and the John Beasley Theater does what it does best, another of the August Wilson plays that spans the 10 decades of the 20th Century. This time it’s King Hedley II, set in the 1980s and in Pittsburgh as usual, with Tyrone Beasley in the title role. He’s an ex-con trying to establish an honest business but raising the money by selling stolen refrigerators. Director John Beasley will play Elmore only the first weekend, then leave for other acting assignments. Fortunately, he has the gifted Carl Brooks to take over the role and Tyrone to fill in as director. They’ll import Bus Howard, an award-winning professional, to play the role of Stoolpigeon. The characters include several from the earlier Wilson play Seven Guitars. King Hedley II, running March 4-27 at the LaFern Williams Center

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in South Omaha, won a Pulitzer and a half-dozen Tony nominations. Autistic License is directed by M. Michele Phillips who saw it during her years in Minneapolis, where she took part in a book club with its author, Stacey Dinner-Levin. The playwright will take part in Q&A sessions after the Friday and Saturday performances at the theater near 32nd and California. Her autistic son, Geordy, now 21, played himself after Stacey saw another autistic man do the role in Texas. When the drama first played in Minneapolis, her actor husband tackled the role. “He said, ‘I guess I’ll be playing me,’” but she said no, he’d be Geordy because “who knows him

like you do.” The play treats the boy’s life from ages 3 to 13 but he’s always played by an adult male. She says her son proved to be “just a natural” in the role. “It’s repetitive and he found real joy in it.” In Omaha, Michal Simpson, an actor experienced in a wide range of roles, will play the child, with Echelle Childers as the mother. David Mainelli is the father with Jerry Evert as the interviewer. The cast includes Matt Allen, Therese Rennels, Emily J. Thompson and Gina Wagner. Dinner-Levin grew up in a theater-loving family, but had only written some short scripts for puppets. “I kept bothering my husband to write about all the scary and hilarious things that had happened to us.”

| THE READER |

theater

Then, one night lying awake in bed, “A scene just came to me. The child has wandered off and the mother calls the 911 operator who asks her to describe him.” At the time, the boy was into the invisible man story, so he was wearing a fez and dark sunglasses. The mother’s fear didn’t stop her from seeing the humor, and from such real life contrasts her play was born. At the Playhouse, director Susan Baer Collins cast such award-winning women as Moira Mangiamelli, Dawn Buller-Kirke, Sally Neumann Scamfer and Lois Nemec as the singing nuns with others including Sister Mary Amnesia (Megan McGuire) and Sister Mary of Perpetual Assistance (Kim Alger). She’s aided by music director Keith Hart and choreographer Kathy Wheeldon. Meanwhile, Mamma Mia gives the Roncalli High class of 1993 a chance to see how their classmate, John-Michael Zuerlein, has progressed since being an honor student there and performing in school musicals before moving to Kansas City. Now he’s Bill Austin, the adventurous ex-lover of Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep in the film, Kay Tuckerman at the Orpheum), who returns for her daughter’s wedding. By now, most theater fans know the story: the daughter wants to identify her father so she sends wedding invites to the three men mom was dating before she was born. Six performances start March 3 with tickets starting at $28. If these four aren’t enough, you can catch The Fantastic Mr. Fox at the Rose or head west to Burke High for The Wizard of Oz. , SNAP! Productions’ Autistic License runs through March 27 at 3225 California St. with curtains at 8 p.m. ThursdaySaturday, 6 p.m. Sundays except 2 p.m. for the final performance. Visit snapproductions.com or call 402.341.2757. Tickets are $15, $12 for students and seniors. The Omaha Community Playhouse’s Nunsense runs March 4-April 3, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 2 and 6 p.m. Sundays on the Howard and Rhonda Hawks Mainstage at 69l5 Cass St. Visit omahaplayhouse.com for more information.

coldcream

License to Thrill

n It has never happened to me quite this way: I write a preview about a play and then see it with all the pros and cons dancing in my head. But it happened with Dark Play or Stories for Boys at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Director Amy Lane liked the script for her collegians, focusing on the dark underbelly of internet relationships, and her choice was a great one in that regard. It promised to be another showcase for the lighting and scenic design work of Steven L. Williams and Robbie Jones, and it was brilliant, a superb display of stagecraft from start to finish. I even found myself fascinated by the director’s notes, which I more often find distracting. And, as expected, Bill Grennan gave a compelling performance as the college student Nick describing his dark behavior as a 14-year-old deceiving Adam (Steven Hartman), the gullible one who wants to fall in love. Hartman, Olivia Saither (as Rachel the virtual girlfriend) and Brendan J.D. Reilly in varied roles create powerful moments. As long as the Carlos Murillo drama stayed in the teenage past. When it focused on Nick in the present, it became bad enough to help me relate to the critic who claimed its only lesson was “stay away from plays” by Murillo. Blame a God-awful speech, repeated over and over, with Nick ranting about the choice to reveal the truth about his scarred stomach and the air thick as “peanut butter.” So, one wonders, can you call a play a success when it so badly fails at times? In this case, it survives being like the little girl who when she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad, she was horrid. It’s hard to imagine a better treatment of the very mixed material. n With only a little room last week to talk about A Year of Magical Thinking at the Circle Theatre, the Joan Didion play with Barb Ross in a powerful one-woman performance, I didn’t mention how much it was enhanced by the original music created by Amanda Louise Miller. Bravo, bravo, bravo. n Excuse this theater writer for reverting back to his days as a media critic, but some reporting begs for comment. I’ve written bad lines in my time, but it’s hard to beat this one from Rick Ruggles in his World-Herald story about Nebraska’s Miss America: She “could charm the bitterness from a misogynist and the embalming fluid from a corpse.” — Warren Francke Cold Cream looks at theater in the metro area. Email information to coldcream@thereader.com.


lifestyle

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by Jessica Stensrud

our months ago, Omaha lost a true original. As did so many others, I walked the sidewalks outside the Old Market Passageway to see flowers, candles and farewells written in chalk. The space that was once Bellwether Boutique became a painful reminder that someone and something special had been lost. I remember Bellwether as a store unlike any other. The owner, Jessica Latham, sold vintage clothes and items by local designers and artists. She was considered one of their biggest supporters. Many thought the void could not be filled. But today, the space lives again and is born anew in Coriander. Like its predecessor, Coriander provides beautiful one-of-a-kind pieces and embraces local talent. Owner and Omaha native Cora Rasp, 27, hopes to continue the legacy Latham started in the very space she now occupies. “It was a tragedy to lose Jessica. I felt like there was this pending hole in Omaha after that happened. It was hard to just see that left open,” explains Rasp, “So I had three days to decide what I wanted to do. I had no business plan — I met, signed the papers, and hit the ground running.” Indeed, while she has no business background per se, the delightful former design student has a passion for the making of clothes. Everything else, she says, she hopes to learn along the way. And so far, the results have all been positive. Upon walking into the store, which is equally as charming as the owner, I saw Rasp seated at a table mending a garment. The first thing I noticed was her small stature and disarmingly sweet personality. She’s dressed for comfort but also showcases her personality with a black tulle pin adorning her polka dot cardigan. While the space is still coming into its own, Rasp has given Coriander its personality in art as well as clothing. She features work by local artists, which include paintings and ceramics by Caleb Coppock. He is also the man behind the huge piece on the wall — the abstract wood-panel hanging just above the shoes.

The store itself is intricately organized and provides some of Rasp’s favorite treasures including items found by her buyers in Florida and Minnesota. The space is the same size as when Bellwether occupied it. The vibe is clean and simple with white walls and racks of carefully chosen merchandise. While many stores try to bulk out their product, Rasp keeps it minimal. “Don’t buy it unless you love it,” she tells me. Rasp likes to keep her personal style simple with some standout pieces, much like her inventory. Since everything is one-of-a-kind, pieces go rather quickly. To make sure everyone is updated

“I love accessories,” she says. “Hats, jewelry, shoes. I dress pretty comfortably — simple silhouettes with great accessories. My style is comfortable and practical … with quirks.” And for a lover of garments and fashion, inspiration is key – so I have to ask, what’s hers? “I am inspired by plants,” Rasp says. “I am in love with her answer, which is honest and endearing. “Textures, pottery … practical yet beautiful items are inspiring.” It is no surprise that Rasp adores vintage and thrift store shopping for her own clothes. “Omaha has great thrift stores. I love going

cora rasp at coriander

brycebridges.com

In former Bellwether space, Coriander provides outlet to Omahaarea fashion designers

fashflood

Local Motive

GLOBAL FASH: Spring and fall, spring and fall. As it hardly seems possible that the majority of fall 2011 ready-to-wear fashion has passed with Paris Fashion Week closing next week, a few notable fashion events remain. Los Angeles’ ever-improving Fashion Week is set to begin March 15 and fashion’s wild card, Tokyo Fashion Week, is opening March 18. As Milan’s Fashion Week came to a close, John Galliano, head of French fashion house Dior was suspended from his position pending investigation of an incident that occurred Feb. 25. Indeed, the fashion world was besieged by allegations against Galliano including anti-Semitic remarks and assault. NATIONAL FASH: Buy your plane tickets now. This year’s must-see fashion exhibit, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty opens at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art May 4 and runs through July 31. This exhibit sets out to celebrate the late designer’s iconic contributions to fashion with over one hundred examples of his work on display. Visit MetMuseum. org for additional information. LOCAL FASH: Omaha Fashion Week spring 2011 events kick off the evening of Friday, March 18, at Nomad Lounge with a Fashion Week VIP Fashionista, Hair, Make Up & DJ Party starting at 9 p.m. (GA tickets are $5 at the door). The Omaha Fashion Week VIP Spring Preview Runway Show follows on Saturday, March 19 with doors opening at 6 p.m. (GA tickets are $25 with additional packages available). From more than 50 applicants, 15 designers — including local favorites such as Emma Erickson, Jane Round and Kate Walz — were selected to participate in this exclusive Omaha Fashion Week event. Visit OmahaFashionWeek.com for additional information. In honor of redheads everywhere, local hairdresser Rebecca Forsyth of Bangs Salon in Omaha, 3404 S. 144th St. is running a very special deal through St. Patrick’s Day. Clients will receive 25 percent off all red-hued color services booked with Forsyth, so those who dare should book an appointment before it’s too late at 934.5244.

on her inventory, Rasp has a Facebook for Coriander, which has pictures of all the latest garments and accessories, including prices and sizes. In addition to the vintage and thrifted women’s dresses and coats, there is plenty in stock for men. There are a great many scarves, shirts and jackets for even the most choosey male shopper to enjoy. Most noticeably is a dapper, tan men’s corduroy blazer displayed on an industrial hook that no doubt the Fantastic Mr. Fox would approve of. Rasp also offers necklaces, made by local designer Janna Nysewander, displayed on a large tree branch. Vintage heels, boots and flats lay on a shelf near the floor for the customer’s convenience to try on.

to the church thrift stores. Fashion is so cyclical. I think it’s the responsible thing to do,” she says. Practical and beautiful are the latent motifs in Coriander. With the Omaha fashion scene truly thriving in recent years, Rasp says she would love to contribute in some way to events such as Omaha Fashion Week and the like. Out of tragedy comes something new and inspiring to keep going what was started — unique fashion and constant support of local designers. ,

— Sarah Lorsung Tvrdik

Coriander is located in the Old Market Passageway at 1028 Howard St and is open Tue.-Thurs. from noon to 7 p.m., Fri.-Sat 1-9 p.m. and Sunday from 1-6 p.m. Call 889.5049 or visit hellocoriander.com for more info.

lifestyle

Sarah Lorsung Tvrdik is a stylist, costumier, wife and freelance writer based in Omaha, Neb. Her style blog can be found at fashflood.com.

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March 3 - 9, 2011

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10:45-11:30 a.m. EXHIBITS and NETWORKING l Lobby and Room 120 DEMONSTRATIONS l Rooms 112 and 114

OPENING RECEPTION

Friday, March 4 The Ambassador Apartments 111 S. 49th Ave. 7–10 p.m.

11:30a.m.-Noon LUNCH

Saturday, March 5 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

1-2 p.m. SESSION 2

12-1 p.m. KEYNOTE SPEAKER l Room 120

Conference Schedule Metropolitan Community College South Omaha Campus Industrial Training Center 27th and Q Sts.

8 a.m. REGISTRATION and EXHIBITS OPEN

welcome

Transformation of a 1901 Colonial Revival Annika Phillips, Homeowner

Bradbury and Bradbury Art Wallpapers l Room 120 Burt Kallendar, Designer/Production Manager

Tile Roof Restoration l Room 122 John Myers, Ludowici Tile Representative

9:45 –10:45 a.m. SESSION 1

All the Benefits of Cooling and Fresh Air without Ripping Your House Apart | Room 101 Gerry Hogan, Peerless Boiler Co. Historic Omaha Parks and Gardens | Room 123 Ann Wickenhauser, Horticulturist, Mulhall Nursery Omaha’s Historic Neon | Room 121 Cindy Tooker, AIA, LEED AP, Leo A Daly Rehabilitating Historic Storefronts | Room 122 Jennifer Honebrink, AIA, LEED AP and Martin Kluck. AIA, LEED AP Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture Graceful New Infill in Historic Districts | Room 120 Steve Laughlin, AIA, LEED AP, Leo A Daly | THE READER |

Historic Hardware l Room 101 Roger Koch, Salvage Collector

Brick Restoration l Room 123 Jim Dolby/Darien Henderson, Building Restoration Corporation

Rick Sheehy, Nebraska Lieutenant Governor

march 3-9, 2011

A Place for Trades: Cultural Changes in the 21st Century Rudy Christian, Executive Director, Preservation Trades Network

Lead Removal l Room 121 Reid Steinkraus, Douglas County Health Department

9 a.m. CONFERENCE OPENING

2

• Stucco and Plaster Repair – Dick Grace • Reglazing Windows – Don Browers • Scraping, Prepping and Painting Wood – David Lawrence • Wood Consolidation – Tim Christensen • Hanging Old and New Doors – Al Moellenbeck

restore omaha

2-2:30 p.m. EXHIBITS and NETWORKING l Lobby and Room 120 DEMONSTRATIONS l Rooms 112 and 114 • Stucco and Plaster Repair – Dick Grace • Reglazing Windows – Don Browers • Scraping, Prepping and Painting Wood – David Lawrence • Wood Consolidation – Tim Christensen • Hanging Old and New Doors – Al Moellenbeck

2:30-3:30 p.m. SESSION 3

What Does “Green” Really Mean? | Room 120 Rudy Christian, Executive Director, Preservation Trades Network The Fremont Opera House A Case Study in Exterior Restoration | Room 101 Paul Nelson, AIA, BVH Architects; David Lawrence, Lawrence Paint Co. and Aaron Bartek, Traco Incorporated


L, N  “B  W” | R  Ed Zimmer, Historic Preservation Planner

VENDOR AND SPONSOR DIRECTORY Restore Omaha is a grassroots effort. Please support these exhibitors and sponsors who make Restore Omaha possible.

R  H  Y O B | R  Gary Rosenberg, Archivist, Douglas County Historical Society

 O www.2020Omaha.net Contact: Tim Reeder 402.397.5008 | treeder@npdodge.com Preservation of Midcentury Architecture

W S  M H | R  Paula Mohr, Architectural Historian Iowa State Historic Preservation Office

A.J. M B Contact: Al Moellenbeck III 402.740.2888

3:30 – 4:30 P.M. RESTORATION JAM! | R  - AIA C E U

Restore Omaha Sponsors PARTNER Metropolitan Community College KEYNOTE SPEAKER The American Institute of Architects, Omaha Chapter A grant from the Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation OPENING RECEPTION B.G. Peterson Co. DEMONSTRATIONS SPONSOR City of Omaha Planning Dept. RESTORATION JAM! Dundee Bank

PLANNING

LUNCH reEnergize Program BREAKOUT SESSIONS Critter Control of Omaha Omaha Urban Neighborhoods Omaha by Design Traco Incorporated Tangerine Designs Urban Village UNDERWRITER Cynthia Tooker The Architectural Offices MEDIA SPONSOR The Reader

OMAHA

Restore Omaha committee

Kathy Brown Chris Foster Kay Friesen Vince Furlong Kristine Gerber Martin Janousek Michael Joyce Hanne Kruse Nicole Malone

Norita Matt Michelle Mutchler-Burns Rosemary Opbroeck Deb Peterson Julie Reilly Don Seten Clint Sloss Kara Soukup Cindy Tooker

402.345.3060 | pnelson@bvh.com Preservation is the best example of sustainable design and BVH Architects has taken a leading role in recognizing the need for and benefits of historic preservation and heritage conservation since 1968. We provide services for building analysis, feasibility studies, restoration/reuse consultation, cost estimates and architectural planning and design. C  O P D www.ci.omaha.ne.us Departments/City Planning Contact: Norita Matt 402.444.5177 | nmatt@ci.omaha.ne.us

ABC R 4202 Hamilton Omaha, NE 68131 Contact: Mike Thompson 402.598.1452 | abcroofs@yahoo.com

C S  G P C G www.omahasprouts.org www.giffordparkomaha.org/Community_Garden. html Contact: Jeanine Dickes 402.680.0118 | jeaninedickes@gmail.com

A F, I. Contact: Paul Hospodka 1537 N Broadway Council Bluffs, IA 51503 402.502.0408 | paulhospodka@cox.net

C C  O Contact: Kelly Voelker 402.339.2653 | crittercontrol2@qwestoffice.net

AIA O www.aiaomaha.org Contact: Bryan Zimmer, President 402.551.3400 bzimmer@thearchitecturaloffices.com

CSO C S  O http://omahacso.com 402.341.0235 | omahacso@lovgren.com

T A O www.thearchitecturaloffices.com Contact: Randy Palandri 402.551.3400 rpalandri@thearchitecturaloffices.com B.G. P C 2966 Harney St Omaha, NE 68131 www.bgpeterson.com Contact: Deb and Eric Peterson 402.344.4311 | deb@bgpeterson.com B P N A. www.midtownomaha.org Neighborhoods/Bemis Park Contact: Mark Peters, President 402.898.7111 | movieguy_13@yahoo.com Established in the early 1900s, Bemis Park is one of the earliest suburbs in Omaha. Most of the houses are owner-occupied and were built between the late 1890s and the early 1920s. Bemis Park residents are focused on preserving and restoring their older homes and in maintaining the historic integrity of the neighborhood. As one of the neighborhoods in the heart of downtown and midtown revitalization efforts, we are interested in providing people throughout the city a better understanding of the advantages of living in this part of town. B  B A W www.bradbury.com Burt Kallender, Designer/Production Manager 707.746.1900 | burt@bradbury.com For 30 years, Bradbury & Bradbury has offered some of the finest period-style wallpapers in the world. Our historical designs bring to life architectural styles from the late 19th- through mid-20th century: Victorian, Arts & Crafts, and Modernism. View the complete collection online. Samples and in-house design service are available. BVH A www.bvh.com Contact: Paul Nelson, AIA

restore omaha

D C H S Library Archives Center Historic Fort Omaha 5730 N. 30th St. #11A Omaha, NE 68111 www.omahahistory.org Contact: Gary Rosenberg 402.451.1013 | archivist@omahahistory.org The Library Archives Center of the Douglas County Historical Society houses resources to help you learn about your historic house and neighborhood. Specializing in hard copies of maps, city directories and newspaper clipping files. D N A - C B www.dnacb.com Contact: Nate Watson 712.326.5007 | natewatson@cox.net The Downtown Neighborhood Alliance (DNA) is a grassroots confederation of neighborhood associations and business districts in and around downtown Council Bluffs. Our neighborhoods comprise the historic core of Council Bluffs, in many cases including the only Metro-area intact-neighborhood examples of early Victorian architecture, all the way up through the immediate post-WWII era. We believe in working together to effect positive interaction and change, to help make our community an even better place to be. D B 5015 Underwood Ave. Omaha, NE 68132 www.dundeebanking.com Phone: 402.504.4000 hello@dundeebanking.com F C H’ L http://fieldclubneighborhood.homestead.com Contact: Jill Nienaber 402.926.9010 | jmnienab@gmail.com

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Gifford Park Neighborhood Association www.giffordparkomaha.org Luther Larson, President 402.330.3286 l lutherlar@cox.net Boundaries: Interstate I-480 (roughly 27th Street) on the east, 37th Street on the west, Dodge Street on the south and Cuming Street on the north Gifford Park Neighborhood Association is committed to preserving and protecting its neighborhood. In the spirit of volunteerism and teamwork, and through dedication, integrity and communication with neighbors and local government officials, their goal is to help make the Gifford Park Neighborhood a great place to live, work, learn and play. Habitat Restore 1003 S 24 St Omaha, NE 68108 www.habitatomaha.org/restore Contact: David Klitz 402.934.1033 | dklitz@habitatomaha.org Hanscom Park Neighborhood Assoc. www.hpnaomaha.org Contact: Mike Battershell, President 402.933.5855 We work to promote and strengthen our neighborhood by encouraging connections between neighbors and fostering involvement in our community. We work within the existing structures that make neighborhoods stronger including faith based organizations, public services and informal networks of neighbors. All of our meetings are open and available to interested parties. Heritage Nebraska Contact: J.L. Schmidt 402.323.7338 www.heritagenebraska.org Heritage Nebraska is a statewide not-for-profit citizens’ organization that advocates and promotes heritage in order to build stronger communities and maintain the essential character of Nebraska. We bring the nationwide network and resources of the National Trust for Historic Preservation to Nebraska. Industrial Dry Ice Cleaning www.industrialdryice.com Contact: Don Gray 402.699.1992 dbrgray@gmail.com Dry ice blasting and cleaning. Sandblasting without the sand! Non-destructive cleaning of stone and brick. Clean fire damage. Joslyn Castle Trust 3902 Davenport St. Omaha, NE 68131 www.joslyncastle.com Contact: Nano Little, Executive Director 402.559.2199 | nlittle@joslyncastle.com Joslyn Castle is a midtown landmark. Completed in 1903, it is owned by the Joslyn Castle Trust and is used for wedding and corporate rentals, group, children’s and public tours, as well as a number of other social and educational endeavors. Expert architects and designers are continually at work with restoration and renovation efforts. Joslyn Castle Neighborhood Association www.joslyn-castle.org Magan Smith, President 402.980.4716 magan368@me.com The Joslyn Castle Neighborhood Association falls between 37th Street to the east and Saddle Creek to the west; Dodge Street to the south and Cuming to the north. Their mission is to strengthen the fabric of their community, to preserve and promote the historic character of their unique neighborhood and to nurture

and participate in its economic vitality. The Kitchen Place 13013 W Center Rd Omaha, NE 68144 www.tkplace.com Contact: Greg Rishoi 402.932.7191 greg.rishoi@tkplace.com Ludowici Clay Roof Tile www.ludowici.com. Represented by: John Myers 816.536.5655 jmyers@allenconsultinggroup.net Ludowici has manufactured clay roof tiles for more than 130 years. Because of the high quality product they produce, many of the old tile roofs in the Omaha area are Ludowici tiles that have stood the test of time. Ludowici can custom match any tile design and color for restoration repairs or complete restorations. Midtown Business Association www.midtownbusinessassociation.org Contact: Craig Carlson, Vice President 402.351.2694 craig.carlson@mutuaofomaha.com Midtown Neighborhood Alliance www.midtownomaha.org Contact: Judy Alderman 402.558.3275 The Midtown Neighborhood Alliance consists of 14 midtown neighborhood associations and five atlarge members. Established in 2005, the non-profit organization supports the mission of preserving the integrity of and advocating for a vibrant community which is sustainable, secure, diverse, historically rich and economically strong. Millard Lumber Inc. 12900 I St Omaha, NE 68137 www.millardlumber.com Contact: Don Rowe 402.896.2889 | don.rowe@millardlumber.com Miller Park/Minne Lusa Neighborhood Assoc. Contact: Sharon Olson 402.455.2544 Mutual of Omaha Bank 3211 N 90th St Omaha, NE 68134 www.mutualofomahabank.com Contact: Kristi Mumm 402.573.9712 kristi.mumm@mutualofomahabank.com National Trust for Historic Preservation Mountains/Plains Office 535 16th St., Ste 750 Denver, CO 80202 www.preservationnation.org/mpo Contact: Barbara Pahl, Director 303.623.1504 | mpro@nthp.org The National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education, advocacy and resources to save America’s diverse historic places and revitalize our communities. Nebraska State Historical Society www.nebraskahistory.org Contact: Bob Puschendorf 402.471.4769 bob.puschendorf@nebraska.gov

Olde Wood Mill 20314 Roberts St. Elkhorn, NE 68022 Contact: Ron Wootton, President 402.289.4831 l oldewoodmill@hotmail.com Manufacture and repair doors, windows, moldings, cabinets and any period millwork found in homes over the last 150 years. Olk Masonry www.olkmasonry.com Contact: Michael Olk 402.332.3440 Omaha by Design www.omahabydesign.org Contact: Connie Spellman 402.554.4010 info@omahabydesign.org Omaha by Design, a civic planning organization, facilitates partnerships between the public, private and philanthropic sectors to execute projects that improve the quality of Omaha’s built and natural environments. It recently embarked on a new effort to help conserve, preserve and restore the region’s investment in its history, building stock and infrastructure. Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance 5006 Underwood Ave Omaha, NE 68132 www.omahahealthykids.org Contact: Kara Eastman, Executive Director 402.934.9700 | kara@omahahealthykids.org Our mission is to promote lead-safe and healthy homes for children and families in Omaha. We offer education and outreach around lead and other home hazards. Through our Get the Lead Out! Program we can assist qualifying property owners of pre-1978 homes a free risk assessment and free paint and supplies to address lead hazards. Omaha Public Library www.omahalibrary.org From books, magazines, and online databases Omaha Public Library provides numerous resources for old-home lovers, preservationists and restorers. Omaha Urban Neighborhoods (Omaha Main Streets Inc.) Contact: Vince Furlong 402.709.2586 | vfurlong@cox.net Join us on South 24th St. www.south24thomahatour.com PB Heat, LLC/Peerless Boiler Co. Contact: Eric Peterson B.G. Peterson Co. 402.344.4311 l eric@bgpeterson.com Preserve Council Bluffs Contact: Sheila Graham 712.256.0195 | sheilabarak@hotmail.com To promote and preserve the heritage of Council Bluffs through its architecture, sites and people. The Reader/Neighborhood News www.MetroNeighborhoodNews.com Contact: Rita Staley 402.341.7323 x100 | ritas@thereader.com reEnergize Program www.reEnergizeProgram.org 402.403.3981 Contact: Chris Stratman City of Omaha 402.444.4304 The reEnergize Program is a partnership between the cities of Omaha and Lincoln to provide residents with incentives and financing opportunities to make energy-

saving improvements to their homes and commercial buildings. In the Omaha area, the program is currently available to people who live or own buildings in the Start Zone—an area bound by 16th, 36th, Leavenworth, and Lake Streets. Restoration Solutions 16585 Hascall St. Omaha, NE 68130 www.restorationinformation.com Contact: Jeff & Nancy Spidle 402.917.7001 info@restorationsolutions.us Restoration Solutions offer 24-hr emergency water removal - commercial and residential - and mold removal (IICRC Certification) and reconstruction services. They also can provide carpet cleaning, carpet re-stretching and carpet stain removal. Experienced, professional crew. Call us for your restoration needs! Rybin Plumbing www.rybinomaha.com 402.341.5144 service@rybin.omhcoxmail.com Rybin Plumbing and Heating Co. is a third generation family owned and operated plumbing, boiler, heating, and cooling contactor having always specialized in the repair, replacement, expansion, and remodeling of mechanical systems of existing / historical homes, apartments, and businesses. We offer reliable and honest service; estimates and consultations are always free. S E Smith and Sons 1680 Front St Blair, NE 68008 www.sesmith.doitbest.com Contact: Curt Pederson 402.426.3333 | cpederson@sesmith.net SpencerWorks Inc. 716 South 4th St. Lincoln, NE 68508 402.499.7848 402.474.4214 John Spencer, President spencerwrk@yahoo.com We produce our all season (combination) wood storm windows in authentic tradition. We also build traditional storms and screens. Old world joinery and attention to matching your homes detail is standard procedure at SpencerWorks. Tangerine Designs 5008 Underwood Ave Omaha, NE 68132 www.tangerinedesigns.net Contact: Tiffany Williams 402.614.8022 | tiffany@tangerinedesigns.net Tim Reeder Real Estate Broker, Old Home Specialist 402.397.5008 | treeder@npdodge.com Traco Inc 1901 S 6th St Omaha, NE 68108 Contact: Aaron Bartek 402.345.7213 | tracoinc@aol.com Urban Village www.uvomaha.com Contact: Gerald Reimer 402.960.9202 geraldsreimer@uvomaha.com


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New Lincoln shows display trend melding music, fashion cultures

F

By Sarah Baker Hansen

our women artists are showing work focused on two trends — fashion and music — as part of two separate shows opening Friday in Lincoln. For Lincoln artist Meghan Stratman, art and music are intertwined. So much so that each piece in her Gallery 9 show of new work “Louder than Sirens” is based on a song title. Stratman’s sweet, intricate work features delart by erika eden icate cutout female figures experiencing any variety of scenarios. “I like music that tells stories,” Stratman said, “and I like making my own stories that go with the lyrics.” That’s what she’s done here. In “Among the Roots and Baby’s Breath, I Covered Us with Silver Leaves,” a slim girl in a shift stands covered with layers of silver, gold and white flowers. Two birds perch in the floral nest. The piece’s intricacy hits first, and the details appear in layers, like the piece itself. Each section of the girl’s hat is individually sliced, and her 10 tiny toes are each separately cut. Texture comes into play through the paper, which is lined with stripes, stamped with patterns and sometimes finished with metallic. Delicate lips and dark-circled eyes are rendered with lines and smudges of black. In another piece, “Our Ghosts Who Wander All Of The Water,” Stratman mounted a delicate collage onto a background of a board; these three dimensional works, she said, are the ones she’s particularly proud of. A girl floats next to a boat — complete with studded porthole — one of her

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shoes gone. A bird flies above, its bones visible in a sort of two-dimensional x-ray. Tiny details stand out the most in this work. Stratman edges dress hems with diluted watercolor, cuts out tiny hair bows, carefully renders shiny ruby lips, eventually giving each individual woman an individual personality and character. Stratman said she didn’t think viewers would have to know the music to understand or enjoy the show, though with a diverse list of song titles used by artists like David Bowie, Muse, Neko Case, Tom Petty, Queen and the Decemberists — who show up in quite a few pieces — it won’t be a stretch, anyway. This is Stratman’s second solo show at Gallery 9 and her third in the city; she’s one to watch.

At Tugboat Gallery, three female artists — Lincoln-based Mary Pattavina, Kansas-based Erika Eden and Los Angeles- based Erica Tremblay — will show work that melds fine art, fashion and craft as part of “Whipstitch.” Pattavina has shown her handmade hats in Lincoln. This time she’s finding inspiration in magic. The hats often include glamorous materials — feathers, silk, satin, velvet and glittery bits — and her one of a kind pieces fall somewhere between wearable and whimsical. A few of the current offerings on her Web site, Pretty Good Things, include a fascinator shaped like a rain

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art

cloud complete with crystal raindrops, a pink pillow shaped fascinator adorned with rooster feathers, and a black, net-covered pillbox hat with a cascade of turquoise ruffles down the center. A series called “Animal Kingdom” features tiny birds, deer, dinosaurs and even a gorilla perched on headbands, just waiting to adorn the head of a fashionably adventurous woman. Erika Eden combines stitchery with painting, resulting in a textured and multi-leveled style. Fabric like silk and gauze meet her watercolors on paper, and she stitches it all together with a rainbow of thread colors. Animals and nature are at the forefront of her work. Owls peep out from a triptych called “Wandering, Pondering Fowl.” Floral backgrounds, leaves and seeds are stitched together in a number of her more abstract works; the more intricate she gets and the more layers added, the better the work looks. Los Angeles artist Erica Tremblay’s mother taught her how to embroider and cross-stitch at a very young age; she grew up around embroidery that her great grandmother did around the turn of the century. “As a child, I was fascinated by the stories that could be told with embroidery,” Tremblay said. “In my family, it’s a rite of passage to learn how to (embroider.)” Her work embraces the traditional old skill of stitch work and the meticulous detail that comes with it, but achieves a decidedly modern result. Images include tattooed fists, pairs of pretty girls embracing, Eames chairs, animals, robots and even the Notorious B.I.G. rendered on a tote bag. She said she seeks to preserve the beauty of the craft. “I think people have perceived ideas about embroidery and think of it as a stuffy thing that only old ladies do,” Tremblay said. “For me, it is all about redefining embroidery and making it modern, while still holding onto the nature and nuance of traditional embroidery.” , Whipstitch opens Friday, March 4 with a reception at Tugboat Gallery, 116 N. 14th St., and continues through March 26. Louder than Sirens opens Friday, March 4 with a reception from 6:30–9:30 p.m. at Gallery 9, 124 S. 9th St.

n Omaha Photographer Dana Damewood hit the road last weekend as part of her latest project: two weeks on the road with a long-haul truck driver. Damewood has been planning the project for months; she is on the road with a female truck driver, sending updates via social networks and taking photographs along the way. “Driving a truck is a job that offers freedom, independence and adventure,” she wrote on her blog, “but at the same time yields isolation, monotony and latency.” Damewood’s most recent work dove into the relationship of the worker and the office, and her desolate images of urban landscapes are haunting and uncomfortably familiar to anyone who has spent a day in a cubicle or behind a cash register. Damewood plans to not just make photographs, but also videos of her experience, which she said she will write about. She’s accepting donations to fund the project through her Web site, where she’s blogging about the experience. A $25 or larger donation promises the giver a postcard from the road. Find her at DanaDamewood.com and follow her adventure at Twitter.com/damewoodphoto. n The votes are in for the annual Visiting Nurse Association Art and Soup contest. Adam Weiss took home the people’s choice for best art exhibit, and the judges chose Herm Rauth, Curt Norman and Valerie Light Anderson as the top three artists in the Best Artist competition. Bread Oven, Noodle Zoo, 7M Grill, Vivace and Taste, were restaurant winners in various categories. n Lincoln’s 815 Gallery is partnering with Open Studio’s Artists on the Edge to show around 50 new pieces by artists living with mental health problems. Open Studio allows such artists to express themselves and is a collaborative effort between the Lancaster County Community Mental Health Center; Lincoln Parks Association and CentrePointe, an organization specializing in helping people with substance abuse and mental health disorders. More than 200 artists are part of Artists on the Edge. The group gathers each month to work on healing through artistic expression. The 815 is located at 815 O St. in Lincoln’s Haymarket district. n This First Friday in Lincoln, Omaha Artist Jun Kaneko will sit down in conversation with Sheldon Museum of Art Director Jorge Daniel Veneciano to talk about Kaneko’s new book, “Plays the Thing: Reading the Art of Jun Kaneko.” as well as his work on operas, including Madama Butterfly. Kaneko will sign copies of the book in the Sheldon Great Hall and the free event is slated for Friday from 5-7 p.m. and the book is available for purchase in the Sheldon Museum Store. (Full disclosure: I work at Sheldon.)

mixedmedia

art Sounds Like Style

— Sarah Baker Hansen Mixed Media is a column about local art. Send ideas to mixedmedia@thereader.com.


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March 3 - 9, 2011

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art

OpeningS

THE 815, 815 O. St., Suite 1, Lincoln, 261.4905, the815.org. NEW WORK: Artists on the Edge, opens Mar. 4. 9 MUSES STUDIO, 2713 N 48th St., Lincoln. PHAT FRIDAY: Flamboyant take on Carnival, opens Mar. 4, 6 p.m. A TO Z PRINTING, 8320 Cody Dr., Lincoln, 477.0815, atozprint. com. NEW WORK: Julia Lauer-Cheene, opens Mar. 3, 5:30 p.m. ANDERSON O’BRIEN FINE ART OLD MARKET, 1108 Jackson St., 884.0911, aobfineart.com. PATTERNSCAPES: Julie Phillips, opens Mar. 4-20, reception Mar. 4, 6 p.m. ANKENY ART CENTER, 1520 SW Road, Ankeny, IA, 515.965.0940, ankenyartcenter.com. K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOL EXHIBITIONS: Through Apr. ARTISTS’ COOPERATIVE GALLERY, 405 S. 11th St., artistscoopgallery.com. NEW WORK: Group show, opens Mar. 4-31, reception Mar. 4, 5 p.m. BANCROFT STREET MARKET, 2702 S. 10th St., 680.6737, bancroftstreetmarket.com. NEW WORK: Group show by South High School students, opens Mar. 5-13. THE BLACK MARKET, 1033 O St., Lincoln, 475.1033. NEW WORK: Katelyn Voigt, opens Mar. 4, 6 p.m., with music by The Betties and Orion Walsh. BLUE POMEGRANATE GALLERY, 6570 Maple St., 502.9901, bluepom.com. SPRING INVITATIONAL: Featuring Jaime Bowers and Nancy Smith, opens Mar. 4. CHADRON STATE COLLEGE, 1000 Main St., Chadron, NE, 800.242.3766, csc.edu. THEN AND NOW: Faculty art show, opens Mar. 2-25. CULTIVA COFFEE, 727 S. 11th St., Lincoln, 435.1133, cultivacoffee.com. NEW WORK: Hudson Gardner, opens Mar. 4, 7 p.m. DRIFT STATION GALLERY, 1745 N St., Lincoln, driftstation.org. ONE MARK TO THE NEXT: Group show, opens Mar. 4, 7 p.m. GALLERY 9, 124 S 9th St., Lincoln, 477.2822, gallerynine.com. LOUDER THAN SIRENS: New work by Meghan Stratman, opens Mar. 2-22, reception Mar. 4, 6:30 p.m. GRAND MANSE GALLERY, 129 N. 10th St., Lincoln, grandmanse.com. NEW WORK: Paintings by Neal R. Anderson, reception Mar. 4, 6 p.m. GRAHAM GALLERY, 617 W. 2nd St., Hastings, graham-gallery. com. NEW WORK: Janey Nottage Tacey, opens Mar. 1-31. HAYDON CENTER, 335 N. 8th St., Lincoln, 475.5421, haydonartcenter.org. UNREAL LANDSCAPES: Steve Ryan & Diane Fox, through Mar. 12, reception Mar. 4. HEART OF GOLD JEWELERS, 2634 N. 48th St., Lincoln, heartofgoldjewelers.blogspot.com, 325.0465. IMAGES: New work by L. Pete Genzlinger, opens Mar. 4, 6 p.m. HOT SHOPS ARTS CENTER, 1301 Nicholas St., 342.6452, hotshopsartcenter.com. OPEN HOUSE: Old Market Artists open house, Project Harmony is the 2011 beneficiary. ART WITH HEART: Fundraiser for American Heart Association. Both shows open Mar. 5-27. ILLUZION GLASS, 1028 O St., Lincoln. NEW WORK: Kevin Schnick and Dana Honke, opens Mar. 4, 6 p.m. INCOMMON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ILLUMINATION STREET GALLERY, 1258 S. 13th St., 933.6672, mosaiccd.org. SILENT ART AUCTION: Opens Mar. 5, 4 p.m., featuring local musicians, $5/suggested donation. INTERNATIONAL QUILT STUDY CENTER AND MUSEUM, 1523 N. 33rd St., Lincoln, 472.7232, quiltstudy.org. PUBLIC LECTURE: “The Engineer Who Could: The Quiltmaking of Ernest B. Haight,” presented by Jonathan Gregory, opens Mar. 4, 5:30 p.m. LAURITZEN GARDENS, 100 Bancroft St., 346.4002, omahabotanicalgardens.org. METAMORPHOSIS: The art and design of Jun Kaneko, opens Mar. 7-20. THE LICHEN, 2810 N. 48th St., Lincoln, thelichen.com. MARCH OF THE UNICORNS: Female-dominant group show curated by Sandra Williams, opens Mar. 4, 6 p.m. LUX CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 48th and Baldwin, Lincoln, 434.2787, luxcenter.org. NATIONAL JURIED CUP EXHIBITION: Julia Galloway juries. JURIED STUDENT ART SHOW: Group show. Both shows through Mar. 24. THE NEW BLK, 1213 Jones St., 403.5619, thenewblk.com. RGB: MODERN. DIGITAL. AMERICAN. PHOTOGRAPHY.: New work by Bill Sitzmann, opens Mar. 4, 6 p.m., through Mar. 25. OLD MARKET ARTISTS, 1034 Howard St., Lower Level of Old Market Passageway, oldmarketartists.com. FIRST FRIDAY: Reception for all members, opens Mar. 4, 6 p.m.

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march 3 - 9, 2011

PARALLAX SPACE, 1745 N St., Lincoln, parallaxspace.com. VARIOUS ENCOUNTERS: Work by matt Belk, opens Mar. 4-28, reception Mar. 4, 7 p.m. RETRO, 1125 Jackson St., 934.7443. PARADIGM: New work by Gerard Perfung, Holly Kranker, Manuel Cook and Phil Hawkins, opens Mar. 4-31, reception Mar. 4, 7 p.m. SHELDON ART GALLERY, 12th and R, UNL, Lincoln, sheldonartgallery.org. IMMIGRANT SYMPOSIUM READING: “Diverse Faces, Shared Histories: Immigrants on the Great Plains” presented by Amelia Montez, opens Mar. 4, 5 p.m. A CONVERSATION WITH JUN KANEKO & J. DANIEL VENECIANO: Opens Mar. 4, 7 p.m. THE WAITING ROOM, 6212 Maple St., 884.5353, waitingroomlounge.com. WALK - A BENEFIT FOR YOUTH EMERGENCY SERVICES: Group show & fashion show, featuring music by Kobrakyle, opens Mar. 5, 7 p.m., $8/adv, $10/dos. WORKSPACE GALLERY, Sawmill Building, 440 N. 8th St., Lincoln, sites.google.com/site/workspacegallery. SELECTIONS FROM THE FORTIETH PARALLEL: MISSOURI, KANSAS, AND COLORADO: New work by Bruce Myren, opens Mar. 4-May 5.

ONGOING

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. CATHEDRAL CULTURAL CENTER SUTHERLAND GALLERY, 701 N. 40th St., 551.4888, cathedralartsproject.org. SHARING SPACE: New work Dennis Wattier and Deborah Murphy, through Apr. 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. 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. HILLMER ART GALLERY, College of St. Mary, 7000 Mercy Rd., 399.2400, csm.edu. RECENT PAINTINGS: Jeffrey Spencer, through Mar. 4. INTERNATIONAL QUILT STUDY CENTER AND MUSEUM, 1523 N. 33rd St., Lincoln, 472.7232, quiltstudy.org. MARSEILLE: WHITE CORDED QUILTING: Through May 8. REVISITING THE ART QUILT: Through Apr. 3, gallery talk Apr. 3, 3 p.m. 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. KIECHEL FINE ART, 5733 S. 34th St., Lincoln, 420.9553, kiechelart.com. SHARED HISTORY: Anthony Benton Gude with works by Thomas Hart Benton and Dale Nichols, through Apr. 8. KIMMEL HARDING NELSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 801 3rd Corso, Nebraska City, 874.9600, khncenterforthearts.org. NEW WORK: Eric Nels Peterson, Dan Terpstra, through Mar. 3. 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. METRO COMMUNITY COLLEGE, Fort Omaha Campus, 30th & Fort St., North Building #10. LUIGI WAITES EXHIBIT: Artwork honoring Luigi Waites, through Mar. 30.

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art/theater listings

check event listings online! 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. OLSON-LARSEN GALLERY, 203 5th St., Des Moines, IA, 515.277.6734, olsonlarsen.com. NEW WORK: Group show, through Apr. 9. RNG GALLERY, 1915 Leavenworth St., 214.3061. 9: Group show, through Mar. 6. 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. UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD MUSEUM, 200 Pearl St., Council Bluffs, 501.3841, uprrmuseum.org. ABRAHAM LINCOLN COLLECTION: Through Mar. UNL HILLESTAD TEXTILES GALLERY, 35th & Holdrege, 2nd Floor, Home Econims Bldg., Lincoln, textilegallery.unl.edu. ADDRESSING THE BODY: LESSON IN QUILTING: Through Mar. 18. 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.

theater oPENING

ALVIN ALLEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATRE, Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St., 345.0606, omahaperformingarts.org. Opens Mar. 9, 7:30 p.m., $25-$59. LISTEN TO ME, Nebraska Wesleyan, Studio Theatre, 2710 N. 48th St., 465.2384, nebrwesleyan.edu. Opens Mar. 3-13, Thu.-Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m., $10, $7.50/ seniors, $5/students. MAMMA MIA!, Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St., 345.0606, omahaperformingarts.org. Opens Mar. 3, 7:30 p.m., Mar. 4, 8 p.m., Mar. 5, 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Mar. 6, 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m., $28. NUNSENSE, Omaha Community Playhouse, 6915 Cass St., 553.0800, omahaplayhouse.com. Opens Mar. 4-Apr. 3, Wed.-Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sun., 6:30 p.m., $40, $24/students. THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, Bourbon Theatre, 1415 O St., Lincoln, bourbontheatre.com. Opens Mar. 5, 7 p.m., $15/adv, $20/dos.

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. COMPANY, Nebraska Wesleyan, McDonald Theatre, 51st and Huntington, 465.2384, nebraskawesleyan.edu. Through Mar. 6, Thu.-Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m., 15, $10/seniors, $7.50/students. DARK PLAY OR STORIES FOR BOYS, UNO Theatre, 6001 Dodge St., unomaha.edu. Through Through Mar. 5, 7:30 p.m., $15, $10/seniors, $5/students, FREE/UNO Students.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX, Rose Theater, 2001 Farnam St., 345.4849, rosetheater.org. Through Mar. 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. Through Mar. 5, 7:30 p.m., $16, $14/seniors, $10/students. THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, Circle Theatre, 55th & Leavenworth, 553.4715, dlmarr@cox.net. Through Mar. 12, Thu.-Sat., 7 p.m., $23/show & dinner, $13/show.

poetry/comedy thursday 3

BRENT SPENCER, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Harper 3023, 7 p.m., FREE. Author will read from memoir Rattlesnake Daddy. COMEDY NIGHT AT THE SIDE DOOR, 3530 Leavenworth St., 8 p.m., $5. Every Wed. Be prepared for some laughter at this weekly event. NECC VISITING WRITERS SERIES, Hawk’s Landing, Northeast Community College Campus, Norfolk, 7 p.m., FREE. Featuring writer Jerry Wilson presenting a reading from his own work, all are welcome. PROVOKE, Benson Grind, 6107 Maple St., 7 p.m. Hosted by Jack Hubbell. (1st & 3rd Thu.) Open mic featuring only the most provoking poetry. MARK LUNDHOLM, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY 4

“BIG EVENT” W/ COMEDIAN TJ MILLER, O’Donnell Auditorium, Nebraska Wesleyan, 51st and Huntington, 465.2384, nebrwesleyan.edu, 9 p.m., $15. JEFF DUNHAM, Qwest Center, 455 N. 10th St., 8 p.m., $43.50. MARK LUNDHOLM, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7:30 p.m, 9:45 p.m.

SATURDAY 5

METROPOLITAN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR, Lauritzen Gardens, 100 Bancroft St., omahabotanicalgardens.org, 12:30 p.m. MARK LUNDHOLM, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7:30 p.m, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday 6

B MARK LUNDHOLM, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7 p.m.

monday 7

DUFFY’S COMEDY WORKSHOP, 1412 O St., Lincoln, 474.3543, myspace.com/duffystavern, 9 p.m. Free comedy workshop (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.) 12-STEP SHOW W/ MARK LUNDHOLM, Funny Bone, Village Pointe, 17305 Davenport St., funnnyboneomaha.com, 493.8036, 7:30 p.m.

tuesday 8

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.)

Wednesday 9

ACOUSTIC OPEN MIC FOR MUSICIANS & POETS, Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso, 1624 S. St., Lincoln, 8 p.m., 477.2007. Hosted by Spencer. (every Wed.) MIDWEST POETRY VIBE, Irie, 302 S. 11th St., 9 p.m., poetry, R&B, Neosoul music, live performances, concert DVD and food and drink. (Every Wed.) PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL: SILENT SCREAMS, McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Farnam, 7 p.m., FREE. A carefully calibrated broadside aimed directly at the the excesses that characterize the Global War on Terrorism. (every Wed.) WEDNESDAY WORDS, Nebraska Arts Council, Historic Burlington Place Bldg, 1004 Farnam St., Lower Level, Omaha, 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m., Featuring Richard David Wyatt. (2nd Wed.)


A SUMMER TO DISCOVER

YMCA DAY CAMPS

Camp Pokamoke

Summer Fun Club

Teen Discovery

Children ages 5-15 can choose from a wide range of camps, including horse, sports, archery and arts and crafts.

The Y’s Summer Fun Club is an all-day, state licensed child care program for children ages 5-12

Fun activities, including field trips, leadership training, swimming. Open to 7th-10th graders. Participation varies by location.

(Downtown and Sarpy YMCAs accept 4-year-olds).

For more on these programs, visit www.metroymca.org. Financial assistance is available within the resources of our organization.

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Wednesday, March 16 • 7:30 PM Orpheum Theater

TicketOmaha.com or 402.345.0606

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March 3 - 9, 2011

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March 3 - 9, 2011

| THE READER |


music

Junky Star gets to the roots of Ryan Bingham’s sound

P

By Chris Aponick

produced by ex-Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford, the set-up was essentially the same, he says. 2009’s Roadhouse Sun saw the band setting up in a room and pretty much tracking live, just as the band did with Burnett. However, the approach was all about keeping things simple during the Junky Star sessions. The laid-back feel to recording and songwriting was at the heart of making the new album, he says. “That’s about the only difference,” Bingham says. Bingham says he also wasn’t daunted by

reviously on Ryan Bingham plays Omaha: The then-soon-to-be Oscar-nominated singer-songwriter and his backing band, the Dead Horses, played a loose, fun set that ran nearly two hours, thus rewardryan bingham ing the patronage of a light Sokol Underground crowd that numbered somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 heads. It’s a show Bingham says he can’t recall after a whirlwind of success that has seen him release a T-Bone Burnettproduced album, write songs for the Jeff Bridges movie Crazy Heart and win an Oscar for his song “The Weary Kind,” featured in that film. “Everything has happened so fast. It’s hard to get a grasp on things at times,” the Texas-bred Bingham says. This time around, Bingham is likely to find a much bigger crowd, drawing people who have heard his music since that Sokol show and those who didn’t even hear about the blink-and-you-miss-it July 2009 concert. Bingham says the soundtrack’s success has created lots of opportunities for him and his band, though he hasn’t changed his approach to making music. “It’s been great, man. It’s been a hell working with Burnett, who has made a name by of an opportunity,” he says. It was because of working on Crazy Heart that producing soundtracks and by taking legends Bingham got to work with T. Bone Burnett. Bing- like Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, B.B. King and ham says the duo had such a great time doing Willie Nelson back to their roots. Bingham says Burnett is such a nice, laidthose songs that they booked additional studio time to work on Bingham’s songs with the full back guy that it made him and his band feel at band. Those quick sessions resulted in 2010’s home. Plus, the tight recording timeframe made it so the sessions were pretty much all about makJunky Star. Junky Star continues the mostly-acoustic na- ing music. Bingham’s songs have touched upon all asture of Bingham’s Crazy Heart material. The Dead Horses play on all but a few acoustic tracks. Bing- pects of his life, including life near the border in ham says the album definitely had “a guitar and a Laredo, Tex. From that view, he has seen his own version of the drug war, which has led to lines song” sort of feel to it. Despite the seeming differences between referencing “a marijuana money tree” and truckJunky Star and Bingham’s first two albums, both loads of marijuana shipped over the border.

While Bingham says legalization makes some sense to him, he’s not about to become Willie Nelson in terms of advocating for it. Instead, the views come more from just seeing what has happened around him. “It’s the same stuff you see in the newspaper everyday,” he says. For now, his focus is on the road, though Bingham says he has a growing cache of new songs for record number four. Being on the road is nothing new for Bingham, who worked the rodeo circuit and bull rid-

ing before turning to songwriting. “The road is what it is. It’s kind of a love-hate relationship,” Bingham says. He says the band is enjoying the shows, though, as they draw from all three of Bingham’s records. There’s an obvious difference between the sound of Junky Star and the sound the band creates on stage. “It’s kind of a mix of everything. We’re still kind of loud live,” Bingham says. , Ryan Bingham w/ Liam Gerner play the Waiting Room Lounge, 6212 Maple St., Tuesday, March 8 at 9 p.m. Tickets are $15. For more information, visit onepercentproductions.com.

music

backbeat

Stripped to the T-Bone

n Galvanized Tron and J. Stephens Music are holding an open casting call for Galvanized Tron’s next music video. The casting session will be at McFly’s, 4503 Center St., Saturday, March 19 at noon. You must be at least 18 to audition. Direct any questions to info@jstephensmusic.com. Glavanized Tron is a Jacksonville, Fla. hip-hop artist who now lives in Omaha. n Congratulations to Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship on what appeared to be a very successful CD release party last Friday at The Waiting Room Lounge, 6212 Maple St. The band celebrated the release of their new album Hanga-Fang, out now on Slumber Party Records. The Waiting Room was more than two-thirds full most of the night, as Yuppies, The Answer team and the Ideal Cleaners rocked the house. Then Noah’s Ark ripped through some of their best alternative rock reinventions. n The show of the week belongs to The DriveBy Truckers, who continue to expand their appeal to a cross-section of fans from classic rockers to jam band hippies and indie rock/alt. country points in-between. While Patterson Hood has cemented his role as the spiritual center of the band, Mike Cooley brought plenty of great rock moments to the Sunday night set at The Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St. The set’s highlight, however, was still Hood’s as he led into “18 Wheels of Love” with a spoken intro about how his mother inspired the song. Set opener “Used To Be a Cop” also verified its standing as the best song on the Truckers’ new record GoGo Boots; it set the blood-pumping pulse of the band’s entire 100-minute-plus show.

white mystery

n If you’ll allow me to be self-serving for a minute, I’d be remiss to not plug White Mystery and their Tuesday, March 8 show at the Barley Street Tavern, 2735 N 62nd St. I helped set-up the show for this great two-piece garage duo from Chicago, who are on their way to the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. The show is $6 and features Peace of Shit and Snake Island! — Chris Aponick Backbeat takes you behind the scenes of the local music scene. Send tips, comments and questions to backbeat@thereader.com.

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music Orchestra’s 90th Reflections on the Omaha Symphony by Patricia Sindelar

his year marks an important milestone for the Omaha Symphony and the community supporting it. In its 90th year, the Symphony is just two years younger than the youngest of the five Fortune 500 Companies headquartered in the Big O, ConAgra Foods. One of the premier architects of the Omaha Symphony and its relationship with this city was Music Director Richard Duncan. His daughter Lynne Duncan Schwabe, who lives in West Virgina, recalls her father’s commitment to the orchestra. “He came to Omaha in the late 1930s,” she says by phone. “Then he had to leave for his military service. Aside from that little interruption, he gave the orchestra its financial and creative underpinnings. When I was a little girl, and I would have been about four or five, somehow his job was to take me with him on the Sunday morning rehearsals. I got to sit wherever I wanted in the orchestra as long as I behaved myself. I sat with every section. I tested them all out.” Schwabe also remembers her father’s legendary sense of humor. “He gave the pops concerts at Peony Park in the orchestra shell. Right behind it was a railroad track, and the train would come in around 10:17 p.m., when they were right in the midst of their build up to the pops concert finale, so the train and the whistle destroyed everything. My father, I guess, put his brain to work to see what he could to ameliorate this situation. He knew

COURTESY OMAHA SYMPHONY

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OMAHA SYMPHONY CIRCA 1976-77

the train was going to come through, so they would stop playing whatever they were playing — ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ or whatever it would be — my father would whip out an en-

gineer’s cap, turn around, bow to the audience, turn back around and start into ‘Casey Jones.’ Eventually, people would come to the pops concerts just to see him do this.”

The crucial relationship between a community and its resident orchestra is important to Maestro Thomas Wilkins, who is at the helm of the Omaha Symphony. He recently signed on through the 2014-15 season, and hopes to see the organization’s continued success. “Every healthy orchestra is an ever-evolving organism,” he says via e-mail. “I look forward to continued artistic growth both in the individuals as well as the whole. I am also hopeful that we would grow in size. Currently, because of our extremely strong commitment to education and community partnerships, we are among the industry’s leaders. I envision those initiatives only becoming stronger and more far-reaching. We are also continuing to take advantage of our ability to be versatile programmatically. We look forward now to not only alternative types of music, but indeed to presentation and venues as well. It is my hope that we leave no one in the community behind, when it comes to enjoying the benefits of what we can offer.” To celebrate its 90th Anniversary, the Omaha Symphony is going big. Beethoven’s Ninth big. This one of the most, if not the most, well-known pieces of classical music. The Symphony is doing it twice, on Friday and Sunday. The celebration doesn’t take Saturday off; there’s a black tie gala to round out a weekend of anniversary partying. , The Omaha Symphony presents Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Friday, March 4 at 8 p.m. and Sunday March 6 at 2 p.m., at the Kiewit Concert Hall at the Holland Performing Arts Center, 13th and Douglas Streets. Tickets are $20 to $75 and available at ticketomaha.com or by calling 345.0606

A Benefit for the Band’s SXSW Expenses

SXSW SEND OFF PARTY

Satchel Grande WAITING ROOM

MONDAY MARCH 14 36

MARCH 3 - 9, 2011

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$5 Cover ALL PROCEEDS GO TO THE BAND!


2011 Young Professionals Summit March 3

8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Featuring Cory Booker Mayor of Newark, New Jersey Register at

OmahaYoungProfessionals.org/YPSummit Sponsors

Creighton University College of Business HDR, Inc., TD AMERITRADE

JUST SOME OF THE TALENT YOU’LL SEE AT HARRAH’S

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March 13 • 4pm & 8pm

April 21 • 8pm

Tickets on sale at HarrahsCouncilBluffs.com or by phone at 888-512-SHOW.

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2/21/11 4:52 PM


lazy-i T H E

O M A H A

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Quarterly Report: CD reviews for the first quarter 2011

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

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MARCH 3 - 9, 2011

B Y

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The Decemberists, The King Is Dead (Rough Trade) — They can no longer be marginalized as just another twangy indie band, now that they’ve broken through with a collection that defines modern-day, above-ground Americana. The rural stomp-rock of “Down By the Water,� with its soaring harmonica and squeeze-box solo, is better than anything John Mellencamp has produced since Pink Houses; while the fiddles, banjo and honky-tonk piano on “All Arise!� could get any boots scootin’ at your local two-step parlor. They’d be radio stars if radio hadn’t died a decade ago. I’ll take them over Mumford and Sons any day (but that’s not saying much). Yuck, self-titled (Fat Possum) — That the album opens with a song that could be mistaken for classic Dinosaur Jr. is no mistake at all, as these British lads are channeling the best of the ‘80s/’90s college rock scene almost note for note. Is that Pavement I hear? Yes, son, it is. How about Teenage Fanclub? Right you are. Is it a sin to emulate your heroes? Take a listen and decide for yourself. Radiohead, The King of Limbs (XL) — As Thom Yorke’s music became more and more dehumanized and faux-modern (opening tracks “Bloom� and “Morning Mr. Magpie� are prime examples), I assumed this would be just another soulless escape into sterile, forced beats and drone-tones. But Yorke pulls it off with his brilliant voice, which he layers upon the layers upon the layers, and thankfully leaves clean without electronic effects (for the most part). When he tries to make it swing (“Little by Little,� “Lotus Flower�) I wonder if he simply forgot how to rock. He still struggles to find melodies; or maybe he just isn’t looking for them any more. He comes closest when he slows it down at the end. Tracks “Codex� and “Give Up the Ghost� are the closest thing to what we loved about OK Computer (and redeem the entire collection). It’s not as good as that landmark album, but nothing he produces from now on ever will be. Toro Y Moi, Underneath the Pine (Carpark) — They’re calling one-man band Chaz Bundick’s style “chillwave,� which I guess means that it’s music to chill to, and I can see that. Both synth-y and beat-heavy, the shimmer is dreamy, the vocals breathy and echoing, the melodies intentionally loungy (a la Stereolab); it’s all very pretty and easy to listen to, and even easier to ignore. The Dirtbombs, Party Store (In the Red) — Don’t know anything about the Detroit techno scene that this album supposedly honors? Doesn’t matter. I didn’t, either, and I still don’t. Take the record for what it is — a dirty, filthy, garage-punk dance album that recreates the beats and action of electronic acid house with guitars, bass, drums and Mick Collins’ brazen yowl. As for the 21:22 rehash of “Bug in the Bassbin� that stops the album dead in its tracks at the halfway point, well, that’s what the delete key is for (but only after you’ve endured it a couple times). Coolest album so far this year. ,

LAZY-I 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.

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e’re headed towards the end of the first quarter of 2011. If there’s an early, detectable trend in the world of indie music, it’s a subtle move away from “static-y, vibe bands� (as one local genius put it) like Animal Collective and Sleigh Bells to more-classic songwriting. Music auteurs will confuse this shift with retro or rehash, and in some cases they’re dead right, but the healing has to start somewhere. Poor But Sexy, Let’s Move In Together (self-released) — Self-proclaimed re-inventors of “Yacht Rock� (their first misstep), this combo of D.C. post-punk veterans (including members of Dismemberment Plan) do their darnedest to translate Steely Dan to these Modern Times, but wind up sounding more like Pablo Cruise or Leo Sayer or Gino Vannelli, which ain’t necessarily a bad thing if you’re into that sort of whiteguy disco funk (attention, Satchel Grande fans). It has its moments, like the roller skate handclap groover “You’re Hotter than a Poptart,� which sums up the lyrical deftness of the entire collection. Imagine what they could have done with a horn section. Destroyer, Kaputt (Merge) — The band hasn’t remade its sound (you heard this coming on Trouble in Dreams) as much as given into its influences. “Savage Night at the Opera� is the best clear-cut homage to New Order you’ll ever find, right down to the “Bizarre Love Triangle� guitar cues. Other, more disco-y moments will make you think you picked up a Pet Shop Boys album, while the dreamy stuff is pure Roxy Music. The differentiator is the gorgeous trumpet and saxophone that slides in and out at the best moments, like the title track, where frontman Dan Bejar croons “Wasting your days, chasing some girls all right / Chasing cocaine to the back rooms of the world all night� over a warm, twilight LA summer disco melody he calls his “song for America� (circa 1988). MEN, Talk About Body (IAMSOUND) — Fronted by Le Tigre’s SD Samson and Johanna Fateman, this thump-thumpthump electronic dance collection with a feminist edge would have benefited from a tad more (or a lot more) variety, but who’s looking for variety on the dance floor (other than Peaches, who did this better with I Feel Cream)? Chikita Violenta, Tre3s (Arts & Crafts) — From Mexico City by way of Canada’s Dave Newfeld (Broken Social Scene, Los Campesinos!) you won’t find a hint of south-of-the-border flavor. Instead, they sound like another member of the Arts & Crafts clan, hashed out and shimmering, complete with strutting vocalists that Feist and Stars’ Torquil Campbell ain’t got nothing on. Hot center track “ATPG� feels like revved up Yo La Tengo, while opener “Roni�� is revved up Jesus and Mary Chain. Kick those influences to the curb and you have something that could be glorious.

S C E N E

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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

Big Head Todd and the Nebraska Blues Challenge

M O R E

B Y

B . J .

H U C H T E M A N N

Band of Joy roots project. Miller is also celebrated for his writing and recording collaborations with his wife Julie Miller. Their recent CD Written in Chalk (New West) is one you should own if you appreciate heartfelt Americana. Find out more at BuddyMiller.com.

LIVE THEATRE

#74 No commercials. Nebraska Blues Challenge A ! Get Real

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

Reasons to experience

Reasons to experience

new project that may help bridge the gap between old-school blues and new roots fans is the celebration of Robert Johnson’s music by Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Recording under the name Big Head Blues Club, the band drops 100 Years of Robert Johnson (Ryko/Big Records) March 1. The disc is a collaboration between Big Head Todd, some icons of the blues world and some rising stars. Appearing on the CD with Todd Mohr and the band are Charlie Musselwhite, B.B. King, Honeyboy Edwards and Ruthie Foster. Several other artists featured on the disc are touring with the band. Blues at the Crossroads: The Robert Johnson Centennial Concerts hits the Holland Performing Arts Center March 5. Hubert Sumlin, who was Howlin’ Wolf’s guitarist for many years, is part of the March 5 show. Also performing are Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm, whose music is rooted in the North Mississippi Hill Country style. Chicago harmonica master James Cotton has been added as a special guest to this leg of the tour. Johnson is considered one of the fathers of the blues, with a real-life story that played out like a movie script. Johnson only left recordings of 29 songs, made in 1936 and ’37. Those songs are blues standards and some became popular again through artists like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. Part of Johnson’s story is that he supposedly sold his soul to the devil at a highway stop called the Crossroads in exchange for his ability to play the guitar. Johnson died at 27, allegedly poisoned by the jealous husband of a woman he’d been flirting with. That’s the blues. Check BigHeadYodd.com for more on the project and OmahaPerformingArts.org for tickets to the Saturday, March 5, performance by Big Head Todd and friends at the Holland Performing Arts Center.

The Blues Society of Omaha is participating for the first time in the International Blues Challenge sponsored by the national Blues Foundation. Information and entry applications are online at OmahaBlues.com. Please note that all band entrants must be submitted to the BSO by March 15, so bands should get those entry forms in as soon as possible. See Blues.org for more on the Blues Foundation and the IBC, which is a showcase and competition that gives many up and coming regional bands a springboard to the national spotlight. The winner of the Nebraska Blues Challenge will represent the BSO in the 28th International Blues Challenge in Memphis from Jan. 31 through Feb. 4, 2012.

#151 No two shows are alike!

! l a e R Get

Fashion & Art

The Waiting Room hosts a special fundraiser for Youth Emergency Services Saturday, March 5. A visual art show begins at 7 p.m. followed by a fashion show at 9 p.m. and a DJ dance party featuring Kobrakyle.

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21st Amendment Blues

As noted last week, the New Lift Lounge is under new ownership and a new name: The 21st Amendment. The Thursday blues matinees will continue at the venue, so long as the audience supports them. This week’s show features sizzling guitarists Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King and their band Thursday, March 3. Excellent guitarist Debbie Davies plugs in Thursday, March 10. Thursday, March 17, it’s the horn-driven New Orleans funk and blues of Josh Garrett & The Bottomline. The Thursday shows start at 5:30 p.m.

www.theatreartsguild.com

Reasons to experience

LIVE THEATRE Lucinda and Buddy

Two top Americana artists also release new discs March 1. Lucinda Williams’ newest CD, Blessed (Lost Highway), co-produced by Don Was, is out Tuesday. The disc was previewed in its entirety on npr.org. It offers music in the haunting vein Williams is known for, but also finds her reflecting on some positive themes. Guitar great and wonderful songwriter Buddy Miller releases Majestic Silver Strings (New West) March 1. Miller is the long-time guitarist for Emmylou Harris. He most recently was part of Robert Plant’s

#10

Hot Notes

Josh Garrett & The Bottomline are also scheduled for Lincoln’s Zoo Bar Wednesday, March 16, 6-9 p.m. Roots fans should be sure to check out Austin Americana artist 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. Lincoln’s Lil’ Slim Blues Band plays Gator O’Malley’s Thursday, March 3, after 9 p.m. The Mezcal Brothers rock the 5-7 p.m. set at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar Friday, March 4, and the Brad Cordle Band gets funky after 9 p.m. The OK Sisters’ Kate and Karen have a duo show at Havana Garage Friday, March 4. ,

Julia Roberts doesn’t need another million dollars.

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.

! l a e R t Ge

SLAUGHTER MARCH 3

www.theatreartsguild.com KELLER WILLIAMS MARCH 11

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

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

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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 3

thu 3/03/2011

fri 3/04/2011 sat 3/05/2011 sun 3/06/2011

tues 3/08/2011

wed 3/09/2011

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 rush one CD release ParTy w/ The GalanTz, eye hearT BulleTs, Guerrilla X, GalvanizeD Tron, anD The one Doors @ 7:00, show @ 8:30 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

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march 3 - 9, 2011

READER RECOMMENDS

SMOKIN’ JOE KUBEK, (blues) 5:30 p.m., 21st Amendment, $10. DIM LIGHT, DAMON MOON & THE WHISPERING DRIFTERS, SOUTH OF LINCOLN, (rock/folk) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern, $5. DR. ZHIVAGO, (DJ) 9 p.m., Bricktop, FREE. NEW MOON SONGWRITERS NIGHT, (singer-songwriter) 7 p.m., Crescent Moon Coffee, FREE. SHITHOOK, (karaoke) 9 p.m., Duffy’s, FREE. WIN LANDER, (island) 9 p.m., Firewater Grille, FREE. LIL SLIM BLUES BAND, (blues) Gator O’Malley’s. NOVAK & HARR, (jazz) 6 p.m., Jazz Louisiana Kitchen. EDISON, QUARTERFLY, AGAINST THE ARTIFICIAL, (rock) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers. CHRIS SAUB, (acoustic) 9 p.m., Myth, FREE. DARRYL WHITE, (jazz) 6:30 p.m., Ozone, FREE. SWAMPJAM, (blues) 8 p.m., Perry’s, FREE. ACOUSTIC JAM W/ JASON LEE, (acoustic) 6 p.m., Prestige, FREE. THE BENNINGTONS, SUN SETTINGS, SOUR BABIES, (indie/rock) 9 p.m., Slowdown, $7.

READER RECOMMENDS

GLASSJAW, (rock) 7 p.m., Sokol Underground, $15/adv, $18/dos. JOSH ABBOTT, NATHAN WADE, (country) 9 p.m., Uncle Ron’s, $10. BLU SIMON, (blues) 9 p.m., Your Mom’s Downtown Bar, FREE. JR HOSS, (acoustic) 9 p.m., Two Fine Irishmen, FREE. SLAUGHTER, (rock) 8 p.m., Whiskey Roadhouse, $20. ACADEMY OF ROCK, (rock) 6 p.m., Zoo Bar, $4. MATT COX BAND, THE BETTIES, (folk) 9:30 p.m., Zoo Bar, $5.

FRIDAY 4

AVARICIOUS (cover) 9 p.m., Arena, FREE. JOHN WALKER, (blues) Bagels and Joe. GROOVE GOV’NORS, LYMPHNODE MANIACS, ANDREW BAILLE, (rock/jam) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern, $5. CARNAVAL, (DJ/world) 9 p.m., Bourbon, $10. STEPHENS GREEN, (celtic) Brazen Head. LEMON FRESH DAY, (cover) 9 p.m., Brewsky’s Park Drive, FREE. FUNK GROOVES, (DJ) 9 p.m., Bricktop, FREE. JOHN DOE, (rock) 9 p.m., Chrome. OPEN MIC W/ JES WINTER, 4 p.m., Clancy’s, FREE. PAUL SCOTT HOAGBIN TRIO, (blues) 6 p.m., Crane Cafe. BLUES ORCHESTRA, (blues) 5 p.m., Duggan’s. ACOUSTIC GROOVE, (rock) 9 p.m., Firewater Grille, FREE. K9 SUITE, (rock) 8:30 p.m., Grove. KATE & KAREN DUO, (blues) 9 p.m., Havana Garage. BEETHOVEN’S NINTH SYMPHONY, (classical) 8 p.m., Holland Center, $20-$75. NIGHT SHAKERS TRIO, (jazz) 7 p.m., Jazz Louisiana Kitchen. AFROMAN, VIBENHAI, (hip-hop) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers, $15. BLUE HOUSE AND THE RENT TO OWN HORNS, (blues) 9 p.m., Loose Moose. GOSPEL EXPLOSION, (gospel) 7 p.m., Milo Bail Student Center. THE PERSONICS, (cover) 9 p.m., Ozone, FREE. HIFI HANGOVER, (cover) 9 p.m., Prestige, FREE. D*FUNK, (cover) 9:30 p.m., red9.

READER RECOMMENDS

GRIMER, THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, (rock) 9 p.m., Sandbox, $5.

| THE READER |

music listings

MARDI GRAS FOR THE FOOTBANK W/ COLD STEEL, GIANT RUBBER SHARKS, DEATH OF A TAXPAYER, STEPHEN MONROE, (various) 9 p.m., Slowdown, $7. AFTON LIVE PRESENTS: J-DUB-N, MARCUS HU$STLE, THE BANKROLL BOYS, MYKE GETTEM, BT, S TOLKS G, CAMELOT, DIGGA DJ, KEEMIE MANN, BIG D, CRUCIAL, DONNIE J, JOKEETEE, RED CITY, ASKARII ZIKI, NEALO, SCRU FACE JEAN, CALAGE, KU$H, LIL DICE, KILLA BARZ, TEEKEEBAR, (hip-hop) 6:30 p.m., Sokol Underground, $10. GROOVE PUPPET, (cover) 9 p.m., Two Fine Irishmen, FREE. NATHAN WADE, (country) 9 p.m., Uncle Ron’s.

READER RECOMMENDS

ELI MARDOCK, PHARMACY SPIRITS, THUNDERPOWER, HONEYBEE, (rock) 9 p.m., Waiting Room, $7. THE MEZCAL BROTHERS, (blues/rock) 5 p.m., Zoo Bar, $4. BRAD CORDLE BAND, (blues) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar.

SATURDAY 5

TAXI DRIVER, (cover) 9 p.m., Arena, FREE. JOHN LEFLER, FLIGHT METAPHOR, UNDERWATER DREAM MACHINE, (singer-songwriter/rock) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern, $5. STEPHENS GREEN, (celtic) Brazen Head. MONSTERS IN THE BASEMENT, (rock) 9 p.m., Chrome. CULTIVAROKE W/ JOE YOUNGLOVE, (karaoke) 7 p.m., Cultiva. THE MACHETE ARCHIVE, IDEAL CLEANERS, BLACK HUNDREDS, (rock/instrumental) 9 p.m., Duffy’s, $5. DR. BOMBAY AND THE 5 SIMPLE FOOLS, (rock) 8:30 p.m., Grove. THE ROBERT JOHNSON CENTENNIAL CONCERTS W/ BIG HEAD TOOD AND THE MONSTERS, JAMES COTTON, HUBERT SUMLIN, CEDRIC BURNSIDE & LIGHTNIN’ MALCOLM, (blues) 8 p.m., Holland Center, $19. NOVAK & HARR TRIO, (jazz) 7 p.m., Jazz Louisiana Kitchen. MIDLIFE BOY, THE MATERIAL, TOPPER GO!, (rock) 6 p.m., Knickerbockers. DUSK BLED DOWN, CYNGE, SHADOW OF INDRA, THE NIGHTMARE PARADOX, (metal) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers. BLUE HOUSE AND THE RENT TO OWN HORNS, (blues) 9 p.m., Loose Moose. ROUGH CUT, (cover) 9 p.m., Ozone, FREE. MOONJUICE, (cover) 9 p.m., Prestige, FREE. RED HOTT BAND, (cover) 9:30 p.m., red9.

READER RECOMMENDS

COWBOY INDIAN BAIR, SO-SO SAILORS, BLUE BIRD, (folk/rock) 9 p.m., Slowdown, $5. AFTON LIVE W/ RED VIBE, THE MINNAHOONIES, EVERYTHING GOES, THE PLASTIC HIPPIES, THIRD OF JULY, (rock) 6:30 p.m., Sokol Underground, $10. COVER ME BADD, (cover) 9 p.m., Two Fine Irishmen, FREE. NATHAN WADE, (country) 9 p.m., Uncle Ron’s. JERRY PRANKSTERS, (tribute) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar, $5.

SUNDAY 6

SUNDAY GOLD W/ GREG K, (DJ) 9 p.m., 415, FREE. THE BRIDGE, (rock) 8 p.m., Bourbon, $6/adv, $8/dos. STEPHENS GREEN, (celtic) Brazen Head. THE AWKWORDS, ECID, CLIMATES, (hip-hop/rock) 6 p.m., Duffy’s. MANNY COON, SOUTH OF LINCOLN, THE BETTIES, ALL YOUNG GIRLS ARE MACHINE GUNS, (folk/acoustic) 9 p.m., Duffy’s. BEETHOVEN’S NINTH SYMPHONY, (classical) 8 p.m., Holland Center, $20-$75. THE STREET DOGS, THE HAVE NOTS, LENNY LASHLEY’S GANG OF ONE, THE KILLIGANS, (rock) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers, $12/adv, $15/dos.

SWAMPJAM, (blues) 3 p.m., Millard VFW.

READER RECOMMENDS

NELLY, 30H!3, BIG REENO, CALI SWAG DISTRICT, SICK PUPPIES, (hip-hop) 6 p.m., Pershing Center, $35/adv, $40/dos. RUSH ONE, THE GALANTZ, GUERRILLA X, EYE HEART BULLETS, THE ONE, GALVANIZED TRON, (hip-hop) 8:30 p.m., Sokol Underground, $7. GENITORTURERS, HANZEL UND GRETYL, ARMY OF IN BETWEEN, CURSED BY MOONLIGHT, (rock/metal) 9 p.m., Waiting Room, $11/adv, $13/dos.

MONDAY 7

SONGWRITER SHOWCASE & OPEN MIC, (singer songwriter) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern, FREE. ACOUSTIC OPEN STAGE, (singer-songwriter) 7 p.m., Bourbon, FREE. MONDAY NIGHT BIG BAND W/ DEAN HAIST, (jazz) 7:30 p.m., Brewsky’s Jazz Underground, $6, $5/students. JOSHUA JAMES, ORION WELSH, (singer-songwriter) 8 p.m., Waiting Room, $10. PIANO HAPPY HOUR, 5 p.m., Zoo Bar, FREE. FUNKOTRON, H.E.M.P., GREAT PLANES, (jam/rock/funk) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar, $5.

TUESDAY 8

WHITE MYSTERY, PEACE OF SHIT, SNAKE ISLAND, (rock) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern, $5. THE BODY, HOMINOID, DOPE POPE, (rock/metal) 5 p.m., Bourbon, $5, $7/under 21. JIMKATA, (rock) 10 p.m., Bourbon, FREE. FARUQ, (DJ) 10 p.m., Duffy’s. BLIND DOG FULTON, (blues) Dinkers. TIM KOEHN, (acoustic) 11 a.m., Jazz Louisiana Kitchen. NIGHT SHAKERS TRIO, (jazz) 7 p.m., Jazz Louisiana Kitchen. ATHEL, (rock) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers. WILDFIRE, (blues) Nifty Bar and Grill. WANNA BE HEARD OPEN MIC, (acoustic) 6 p.m., Oasis. UNCUT, (acoustic) 6:30 p.m., Ozone, FREE. STUDENT BRASS CHAMBER ENSEMBLES, (classical) 7:30 p.m., Sheldon.

READER RECOMMENDS

THE ATTICUS METAL TOUR III W/ DARKEST HOUR, BORN OF OSIRIS, THE HUMAN ABSTRACT, AS BLOOD RUNS BLACK, (rock/metal) 5:30 p.m., Sokol Underground, $15/adv, $17/dos. RYAN BINGHAM & THE DEAD HORSES, LIAM GERNER, (country/rock) 8 p.m., Waiting Room, $15. JAZZOCRACY, (jazz) 6 p.m., Zoo Bar, FREE. TROUBADOUR TUESDAY, (rock) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar, $4.

Wednesday 9

ROCK PAPER DYNAMITE, SECONDARY MODERN, (rock) 9 p.m., Barley St. Tavern, $5. SWAMPBOY BLUES, (blues) Brass Monkey. THE DICEY RILEYS, (celtic) 7 p.m., Brazen Head. CAPITAL CITY DIXIELAND PRESERVATION SOCIETY JAZZ BAND, (jazz) 7:30 p.m., Brewsky’s Jazz Underground, $6, $5/students. WINDPANTS, BROTHERS FAMILY TEMPLE, (experimental) 9 p.m., Duffy’s. DIAFANES, ERIC MATERN, (rock/singer-songwriter) 9 p.m., Knickerbockers. BILL CHRASTIL, (oldies) 6:30 p.m., Ozone, FREE. ALPHA REV, (rock) 9 p.m., Slowdown, $8. WITHIN THE RUINS, SUFFOKATE, THE CONTORTIONIST, BYLETH, FACE THE TYRANT!, (rock/metal) 5:30 p.m., Sokol Underground, $10/adv, $12/dos. JONATHAN FRIEDMAN, (acoustic) 9 p.m., Two Fine Irishmen. JOHN KLEMMENSEN & THE PARTY, KYLE HARVEY, HONEY AND DARLING, DRONE CITY, (rock/singer-songwriter) 9 p.m., Waiting Room, $5. BLU SIMON, (blues) 9 p.m., Your Mom’s Downtown Bar. E.C. SCOTT, (blues) 6 p.m., Zoo Bar, $12/adv, $15/dos. MOONER, SWEET DIRTIES, SHARP, (blues) 9 p.m., Zoo Bar, $4.


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

For some artists, winning an Oscar would represent reaching a pinnacle. For Ryan Bingham, who took home the Academy Award? for “The Weary Kind,” his hauntingly beautiful theme song for the acclaimed film Crazy Heart, it instead represented a crossroads and a decision about which path to take.

Tuesday, 3/08/11 8:00PM @ THe WaITIng rooM

RYAN BINGHAM & THE DEAD HORSES

SPOtlIGHt SHOW

w/ Liam Gerner

sunday, 3/06/11 9:00PM @ THe WaITIng rooM genITorTurers

FrIday, 3/04/11 9:00PM @ THe WaITIng rooM

saTurday, 3/05/11 7:00PM @ THe WaITIng rooM

w/ Pharmacy Spirits, Thunderpower, & Honeybee

A Benefit for Youth Emergency Services

w/ Hanzel und Gretyl, Army Of In Between, & Cursed By Moonlight

Monday, 3/07/11 8:00PM @ THe WaITIng rooM JosHua JaMes

Tuesday, 3/08/11 5:30PM @ sokol underground THe aTTICus MeTal Tour III

Wednesday, 3/09/11 9:00PM @ THe WaITIng rooM JoHn kleMMensen & THe ParTy

Wednesday, 3/09/11 9:00PM @ sloWdoWn alPHa reV

THursday, 3/10/11 9:00PM @ THe WaITIng rooM sugar & gold

FrIday, 3/11/11 9:00PM @ THe WaITIng rooM Funk Trek

ELI MARDOCK

WALK

w/ Born Of Osiris, Darkest Hour, As Blood Runs Black, & The Human Abstract

w/ Yip Deceiver

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

w/ Kyle Harvey. Honey And Darling, & Drone City

3/22/11 THE DODOS 3/22/11 NOW, NOW 3/24311 SATURN MOTH 3/25/11 THE ENVY CORPS 3/26/11 SATCHEL GRANDE 3/27/11 TOM RUSSELL 3/28/11 RAILROAD EARTH 3/30/11 STATE RADIO 3/31/11 MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS 3/31/11 OLD 97’S

More Information and Tickets Available at

WWW.ONEPERCENTPRODUCTIONS.COM

music listings

| THE READER |

march 3 - 9, 2011

41


HONOR. INTEGRITY. PRINCIPLES. EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE. “SPACEY’S

“IT'S A TOUR DE FORCE

BRAVURA PERFORMANCE IS ONE OF THIS YEAR’S PLEASURES!”

FOR SPACEY.”

JOY TIPPING, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

“UPROARIOUS!

RIVETING! WICKEDLY HILARIOUS!”

DAVID DENBY, THE NEW YORKER

“SPACEY

IS

JOHN H. FOOTE, THE WRAP

BRILLIANT!”

KAREN DURBIN, ELLE

A FILM BY GEORGE HICKENLOOPER

CASINO

JACK

WRITTEN BY NORMAN SNIDER DIRECTED BY GEORGE HICKENLOOPER DUNDEE THEATRE 4952 Dodge Street, Omaha (402) 551-3595

STARTS FRIDAY, MARCH 4TH CASINOJACK-MOVIE.COM

4.7” X 3.5"

THUR 3/3

OMAHA THE READER

CREIGHTON

Emmett

Artist: (circle one:) Jay Trevor

Freelance 2

Heather

Staci

Freelance 3

AE: (circle one:) Angela Maria Josh

Welcome to Our House!

Steve

Tim

McCool

ART APPROVED AE APPROVED CLIENT APPROVED

BASEBALL

Deadline:

nfirmation #:

u Creighton vs. South Dakota State Friday, Mar. 11 @ 3 p.m. Saturday, Mar. 12 @ 2 p.m. Sunday, Mar. 13 @ 1 p.m. Baseball home games played at the Creighton Sports Complex (22nd & Burt 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

42

MARCH 3 - 9, 2011

| THE READER |


E D I T E D

The Farrelly Brothers break old ground with Hall Pass

I

by Justin Senkbile

If Hall Pass were funny — purely and consistently funny — we could overlook the fact that we’ve seen this before, from the Farrellys themselves and at least a dozen other filmmakers. If it were funny, it wouldn’t feel like Wilson’s wit and talent has again, and perhaps finally, been misunderstood and wasted. And likewise, it would have utilized more from Sudeikis than just his most annoying abilities. But of course Hall Pass isn’t as funny as it needs to be, which is particularly bad because

t’s a time-tested formula: take some stars, sex, a bit of compassion and an absurd plot device, filter it through the mind of a 12year-old boy, and you’ve got a Farrelly brothers picture. Bobby and Peter, creators of There’s Something About Mary, are back HALL PASS with Hall Pass. Depending on how you like your jokes, that’s mildly good or very bad news. Rick (Owen Wilson) is a mostly content, completely domesticated husband, but his impulsively wandering eye has prompted his fed-up wife Maggie (Jenna Fischer) to take drastic measures. On the advice of her psychologist friend (a clearly uncomfortable Joy Behar), she gives him a “hall pass,” or a week off from marriage. Not to be outdone, Rick’s longtime buddy Fred (Jason Sudeikis) manages, through more dramatic means, to secure a pass from his wife, Grace (Christina Applegate). The boys don’t quite know what to do with these hall passes at first, and the girls seem even less sure whether it was a good ideaa to grant them in the first place. But that’s no big deal, and the movie rushes to meet its promise of stale jokes and canned sentimentality.

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

funny is all it needs to be. It has a bit of a heart (the obligatory, sickly sweet kind), but ultimately it is so utterly disposable and forgettable that even Richard Jenkins, as a busted up Keith Richards-esque womanizer named Coakley, isn’t able to brighten things up. Stephen Merchant (aka the brains behind Ricky Gervais) is underused and poorly written as well. On a more positive note, notice this: Hall Pass is a low-grade sex comedy, but its characters are, for the most part, written pretty honestly. The boys’ obsession with sex is clearly described as a symptom of something larger, and not totally dismissed as the product of a hopelessly confounding masculine psyche. And the women are, well ... present. Once the hall passes are issued, the wives don’t disappear. We actually get closer to them and learn they have some longings of their own outside the house and the daily routine. It isn’t much, but a brain-dead comedy featuring real, or at least semi-real people, is worth mentioning. This kind of comedy quite simply isn’t for everyone. But if you’ve laughed at the Farrelly’s bodily-fluid based humor before and you think you can stomach it again, Hall Pass might be your best bet at the multiplex. ,

GRADE: D

B Y

R Y A N

S Y R E K

■ Of all the ways to stuff a piggy bank, a discussion with director Steven Soderbergh is the most enjoyable way to plug the pork. Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater (filmstreams.org) turned Feature III, their annual can’t-miss fundraising gala, into a wickedly profitable venture. The event raised more than $217,000 and some interesting questions regarding Soderbergh’s retirement. Soderbergh told the crowd, “I just need to step out. I’ve been running really fast in a certain direction for a while, and I want to change.” Unquestionably, retirement for the brilliant filmmaker doesn’t mean parttime shifts as a Wal-Mart greeter, but it doesn’t sound like he’s abandoning us altogether. Big bucks for a brilliant nonprofit art house and confirmation that we may not lose Soderbergh forever? That’s double money. ■ Viggo Mortensen may encourage you to kneel before him, as the latest rumors have the oft-hilariously-mustachioed thespian on the short list to play General Zod, Superman’s fellow Kryptonian nemesis in the upcoming reboot. Now that casting is super, man. Sorry, that had to be done. ■ After years of rumor, it looks like Quentin Tarantino is finally following through on a bloody promise, as he’s booked Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair for a week at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. Packed with additional animation and other tiny bits and changes, the theatrical release of the staggering two-part opus into one massive endeavor may mean a DVD release after all. About bloody time. — Ryan Syrek

CUTTINGROOM

Middle-Aged Kids

film

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 And Everything is Going Fine First-Run

Biutiful First-Run (R) Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. Academy Award Nominee: Javier Bardem. Through Thursday, March 17

“Both an invaluable portfolio of [Spalding Gray’s] talent, and a tribute rendered in the style of its subject.” —Village Voice

Steven Soderbergh’s Pick: A Hard Day’s Night 1964

Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Friday, March 4 - Thursday, March 10

Film Club screenings: Monday, March 7, 4pm & 7pm, with post-show discussions. Open to everyone, and FREE for full-time students.

Directed by Richard Lester. Friday, March 4 - Thursday, March 10

Student Night! Monday, March 7 - FREE shows for fulltime students with valid school ID.

film

Family & Children’s Series Three Stooges Shorts: An Ache in Every Stake, Micro-Phonies, In the Sweet Pie and Pie 1941-1945 March 5-17 (Saturdays, Sundays, Thursdays)

Last Chance! Oscar Shorts! First-Run Out of Sight 1998 A Day at the Races 1937 Through Thursday, March 3

| THE READER |

MARCH 3 - 9, 2011

43


film M O V I E

R E V I E W S ,

C O M M E N T A R Y

A N D

DVD Discovery: Glass Case of Emotion Fish Tank churns angstfilled waters

I

By Ryan Syrek

f Miley Cyrus were around 12 times as edgy as her calculatedly smutty videos suggest, Mia Williams (Katie Jarvis) would still eat that priss for breakfast and put a cigarette out on her eye. With a tongue that links staggering expletives into a nonstop chain of filth, Mia is 15- FISH TANK year-old trailer-trash living in an Essex estate in not-sogreat Britain. Dispelling the concept that the oversexualization and emotional torment of tweens is a purely American phenomenon, writer/director Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank is a gutwrenching sucker punch composed as a painstaking character study. It’s realistic cinema dynamite of the sort that doesn’t explode near often enough. With a mother (Kierston Wareing) who makes maniacal pageant parents look downright admirable, Mia dresses like she just rolled a homeless man who was convinced he was a 1980s breakdancer. Troublemaking and unloved, Mia has an affinity for hip-hop dancing and cheap booze, harder traits that protect a broken heart. When she sees a sickly horse chained in a trailer park, she repeatedly risks life and limb in an attempt to free him, unaware that doing so would probably kill him. She can’t think that far ahead; she only knows that sad, unwell creatures shouldn’t be caged. When her mother brings home yet another boyfriend, Connor (Michael Fassbender), things get complicated. He’s no saint, content to get coital with Mia’s ma in cramped quarters, but his

REPORTCARD

127 Hours (ON DVD) Boyle’s film is so good, it deserves more than the sound of one hand. clapping. READER RECOMMENDS

Biutiful It’s pretty ugly … but it’s a pretty kind of ugly.

A-

MARCH 3 - 9, 2011

| THE READER |

film

E D I T E D

B Y

R Y A N

S Y R E K

seeming good nature makes him near Godlike to a child unfamiliar with the smallest kindness. When he begins encouraging Mia’s dancing and starts speaking to her as though she has value, the confused kid can’t filter her feelings, blending gratitude for any kind of affection with her nascent sexuality … and Connor envisions himself as powerless against that pull. From there, it’s a slow burning fuse torching its way towards a horrifying kaboom. The sophistication of Arnold’s artistry is comprehensive, from the way she deploys bursts of slow motion and harsh shadows to her willingness to let her actors smolder and not burst into hot, obvious flame. Jarvis is breathtaking; she is delicate broken glass, as capable of violent slicing and slashing as she is softly beautiful. Moving from youthful innocence to wise-beyond-her-years heartbreak in the space of a scrunched-up glare, she is a talent who should not be forgotten. Fassbender is also key in a troubling role requiring enough charisma to power through some truly staggeringly icky choices. Even Rebecca Griffiths, who plays Mia’s younger sister, is one tiny toddler powerhouse. This complete cast dominance is but one reason why the film won top honors at this year’s BAFTA Awards (“the British Oscars”). Fish Tank is captivating and harrowing simple drama at its finest, borrowing its brilliance from the sort of unpleasant reality that’s easier to ignore. As uncomfortable as it is exceptional, it isn’t a “cautionary tale of youth gone wild” like Catherine Hardwicke’s Thirteen so much as a sophisticated glimpse into an intimate hell. Wherever Jarvis and Arnold go next, there’s no question it will be a place worth visiting. ,

GRADE: AJust Go With It On second thought: Don’t.

D

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

Black Swan A It’s like Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” … only with more sexytime.

44

M O R E

Monsters (ON DVD) This low-budget indie sci-fi flick shares a title with a Kanye West track. Baller.

B

Unknown Those expecting Taken may get took.

C-


Consistently Inconsistent

I

by Jason Krivanek

in the season finale. The Panthers will be hungry for revenge, and also hope to rekindle some of their magic from last season’s Valley tournament title and subsequent run to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament. “Its just a matter of not outthinking yourself,” says Creighton head coach Greg McDermott when assessing the rematch. “I’m not sure if there is any advantage, but it should be a little easier to prepare. I won’t have to stay up all night watching film on Northern Iowa … I’ve already done that.” One film that coach McDermott is unlikely to tire of watching is the highlight reel his son put together this season. Freshman forward Doug McDermott has exceeded even the most rosy of expectations after beginning fall practice as a candidate to red shirt. He finishes his freshman campaign as

f there was one thing the Creighton basketball team was consistent at all season it was being inconsistent. Momentum came and went. Close losses dot a 2010-11 schedule that saw them finish 18-13 overall and 10-8 in the league. The Missouri Valley Conference title came down to the last game of the regular season with Missouri State capturing its first-ever league championship by taking down Wichita State. The Bears and Shockers were a step ahead of the pack all season and will head to St. Louis for the conference tournament as the creighton’s Antoine Young favorites. Indiana State was the league’s surprise squad, finishing third. The Valley slipped a bit this season with a sub-par record against non-conference competition and a lack of marquee wins. The league is expected to receive only one invitation to the Big Dance, the automatic bid that goes to the winner of the conference tournament. The bad news for the Bears is that despite their first-place finish and 23-7 record, they could still be on the outside looking in when the NCAA hands out bids. The good news for the Bluejays and the rest of the pack is that they all start with a clean slate come Friday. Win and you’re in. Creighton’s inconsistency wasn’t unexpected. Their roster is loaded with youth while the experienced players had to adjust to a new system brought in by a new coaching staff. Picked fourth in the preseason conference poll, the Jays did in fact finish tied for fourth with Northern Iowa after Creighton tamed the Panthers last Saturday in the final regular season game at the Qwest Center, 63-55. For the second consecutive season Creighton gets a rematch in the opening round of the tournament against the team it beat to end the season. Last year Bradley knocked the Jays out early after falling

a solid candidate for first-team all-conference honors. McDermott led the Jays in scoring and rebounding, averaging 14.3 points and 7.6 boards per contest, good for fourth and second best in the league, respectively. His 443 points on the season are the most by a freshman in Creighton history, topping Rodney Buford’s total of 421 from the 1994-95 season. McDermott was named conference newcomer of the week a record five times. His consistency for a freshman was as uncanny as his ability to finish shots around the rim. Creighton fans have every reason to feel a bit giddy when they think about having that guy on their side for the next three years. Junior point guard Antoine Young was equally valuable. He led the Valley in assists with 4.5 a game as well as in assist-to-turnover ratio while logging over 36 minutes a game; his 13.6 points-per-game scoring average was seventh best in the conference. But his true value to the team can’t be measured in statistics. Young is the team’s floor general, quiet leader and barometer. When he’s good the Jays are good; when he struggles, so do the Jays. If they make some noise in St. Louis, it will be because Young’s “A-game” did the talking. The MVC Tournament will be the last chance for senior Center Kenny Lawson Jr. to prove that his preseason conference player of the year selection wasn’t a total fluke. Lawson’s lack of production and the emergence of new big man Gregory Echenique, a sophomore transfer from Rutgers, cost him the starting job he held for three years. Fellow seniors Kaleb Korver, Darryl Ashford and Wayne Runnels have all experienced their share of highs and lows in their careers. None has quite lived up to expectations, but like Lawson, they have one final chance to leave their mark on a Creighton program that hasn’t reached the NCAA Tournament or captured the Arch Madness title since 2007. , eric frances

Jays look to salvage upand-down season with success at Arch Madness

sports

thejump

sports

n It’s still early in 2011 but I’m ready to call the 57th Annual B’nai B’rith Charity Sports Banquet the biggest non-game sporting event of the year. Sure there’s the first College World Series downtown and hopefully some good things still to come from UNO hockey, but as far as speakers go the B’nai B’rith organizers know what gets this city moving — college football. Big 10 commissioner Jim Delany and former Florida coach Urban Meyer will serve as co-headliners. By the time May rolls around there may not be a bigger man of the moment in the state than Delany. As the guy who plucked Nebraska from the expanding power of Texas and the assumed collapse of the Big 12, he could simply read the latest Nielsen ratings for the Big 10 Network and I’d be ecstatic. And regardless of what Meyer says — a dramatic reading from the playbook he used to win two national titles at Florida is good — I’m positively giddy at the idea that maybe he and Pelini, along with new offensive coordinator Tim Beck, will get together at some point to talk shop. Tell us, Urban, how do we make Kyler Reed the new Aaron Hernandez? Tickets for the banquet, which will also feature local sports figures from Creighton and UNO, are $110 or $160 for the VIP treatment which gets you into a private reception with the guests of honor. Call 334.6443 for more information. n With the prospects for local hoops action late into March looking unlikely, is Omaha ready to become a hockey town for a few weeks? It should, because everything’s still on the table for the UNO Mavericks in their surprising first season in the WCHA. The Mavs will host the first round of the conference tournament at the Qwest Center Marcg 11, 12 and 13 (if necessary) in a bestof-three format. Win there and it’s on to St. Paul, Minn. for the WCHA Final Five on March 17 through 19. Tickets for the first round games are available now at OmahasTeam.com or at the Qwest Center and Sapp Fieldhouse box offices. n Fun fact: Creighton’s Doug McDermott broke Rodney Buford’s freshman scoring record of 421 points against Wichita State on Feb. 23. Buford is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,116 points. — Brandon Vogel The Jump takes you behind the local headlines. Email jump@thereader.com and look for daily updates at twitter.com/brandonlvogel.

The action starts in St. Louis with the lowerseeded games Thursday night. Creighton and Northern Iowa’s match-up is set to tip off at 2:30 p.m. Friday. All games will be played at the Scottrade Center for the 17th straight season with the action televised by Fox Sports Midwest. The championship game will be shown nationally by CBS and is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.

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ack Smeltzer broke a record in the tractor pull championships in Columbus, Ohio, in January — doing a “full (track-length) pull” of 692 pounds. Jack is 7 years old. The National Kiddie Tractor Pullers Association (holding 80 events a year for ages 3 through 8) uses bicycles instead of motors. Ms. Brooke Wilker, 5, was the youngest champ, lugging 300 pounds 28 feet. Walmart announced in January that it would soon offer a full line of makeup especially for 8-yearolds (and up), by GeoGirl, including mascara, sheer lip gloss, pink blush and purple eye shadow, all supposedly designed for young skin. (An executive of Aspire cosmetics said her research revealed a potential market of 6-year-olds.)

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Government in Action! Everyone washes hair, but those who want a license to apply shampoo in Texas need 150 hours of training, with 100 hours in “theory and practice of shampooing,” including a study of “neck anatomy.” A February Wall Street Journal report on excessiveness of state regulation highlighted California’s year-long training to be a barber, Alabama’s 750-hour schooling standard for a manicurist’s license, and Michigan’s 500 practice hours for performing massages. (By contrast, many less-tightly regulated states seem not to suffer. Connecticut, without licensing, fielded only six complaints last year against manicurists — four of which involved disputes over gift cards.) Next up for licensing, perhaps: cat groomers in Ohio. What Budget Crunch? The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported in January that despite an

array of pressing problems, the Broward County public school system has paid about $100,000 per year since 2004 to build and maintain special gardens at selected schools in order to lure butterflies for pupils to study. Government That Works: The 2009 federal stimulus program came through just in time with $34,000 for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Kearneysville, W.Va., laboratory. Work on the recent dangerous increase in Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs was in jeopardy because money had run out for design of a workable air distribution system for the offices.

The Continuing Crisis New Zealand traffic officer Andy Flitton cited an unnamed speeder recently for the second time in two years — 11,000 miles from the spot of the first ticket. Flitton had moved from the U.K. to New Zealand, and unknown to him, the motorist himself had relocated to New Zealand last year. When Flitton stopped the man in Wellington in December 2010, the motorist recognized Flitton as the one who had ticketed him on the A5 highway near London. Rap singer Trevell Coleman, trying to bring “closure” and “get right with God” for having shot a man in 1993 (since he was never caught), confessed the assault to New York City police in December, hoping that his humility might impress a judge. However, police checked and then booked Coleman — for murder. Said Coleman, “(F)or some reason, I really didn’t think that (the victim had) died.”

Least Competent Criminals Laconic Perps: A female motorist in Kitsap County, Wash., reported in January being motioned by another driver to pull over, but she

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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).

ignored him. The man then tried to ratchet up his credibility, motioning her over again but this time holding a hand-scrawled sign reading “sheriff.” (She remained unimpressed.) Seattle Weekly reported that a similar incident had occurred several months earlier. Robert Michelson was arrested in Farmington, Conn., in February, after calling a 911 operator to inquire about the lawfulness of the marijuana plant he was growing. The operator informed him that it was illegal. (All 911 calls are automatically traced, and Michelson was soon arrested.)

Great Art! David Morice, of Iowa City, Iowa, a teacher at Kirkwood Community College, was best known for a series of “Poetry Comics” until he decided last year to write 100-page poems every day for 100 days, until he had a book totaling 10,000 pages (actually, 10,119). For some reason, the University of Iowa Libraries has published the finished poem, online and in a 2-foot-high hardcopy stack. (Strangely, in a 480word article describing Morice’s feat, the Iowa City Press-Citizen included not even a hint about the poems’ subject matter.) In January, Toronto sculptor-photographer Lisa Murphy added to her reputation for devising “porn for the blind” by producing four more handmolded erotic figures generated by using clay to replicate photographic scenes of nude and lingerie-clad models (accompanied by descriptions in Braille). “The butt was the hardest to sculpt,” she said. “I wanted to get it nice and even, and give it a feminine softness so it would actually feel like a woman’s butt.” Her first book, Tactile Mind, with 17 such raised erotic works, sells for $225 (Cdn). Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum is already home to an artist’s rendition of da Vinci’s

“The Last Supper” made from burned toast, and now comes a recent version by Laura Bell of Roscommon, Mich.: da Vinci’s masterpiece made with clothes-dryer lint. Bell said she did about 800 hours of laundry of various-colored towels to obtain lint of the proper hues, and then worked 200 more hours to construct the 14-foot-long, 4-foot-high mural.

Recurring Themes People Who Ran Over Themselves: A transit driver was hospitalized in December after his idling bus slipped out of gear and ran over him as he walked around it in front of Waikato Hospital in New Zealand. A 37-year-old woman in Melbourne, Australia, was hospitalized in November after forgetting to engage her parking brake. The car rolled backward down her driveway, knocking her over, then hitting a fence, thrusting forward and running her down a second time. A 67-year-old golfer died on the Evanston (Ill.) Golf Club course in November, apparently run over by his own electric cart. (He was discovered underneath, and the medical examiner ruled the death accidental.)

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A News of the Weird Classic (November 2004) Patricia Frankhouser filed a lawsuit in Jeannette, Pa., in November (2004) against the Norfolk Southern railway as a result of being hit by a train 10 months earlier as she walked on the tracks. Most such injuries nowadays involve pedestrians distracted by earphoned music players, but Frankhouser claimed merely that Norfolk Southern was negligent for not posting signs warning that the railroad tracks are sometimes used by trains. ,

weird news

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planetpower w ee k l y

H

appy New Moon in Pisces. One more month of this season of introspection and survival. Still plenty of room/time to dream. Use it. Somewhere, somehow, some kind of war is about to raise its ugly, purple head. One month from now, on April 3rd, the Sun, the Moon, Mars (the planet of war), Jupiter (Bigness), the planet Uranus (the planet of the unexpected) and a retrograding Mercury (to help confuse the issues) are all in Aries — and all in opposition to Saturn in the sign of harmony, Libra. Meanwhile, back at the farm … peace and love shall conquer all. There are no mistakes… — MojoPlanetPower.com l PISCES (2.20-3.20) Now, you can start — in your mind. You’ve got the brains (Mercury), the energy (Mars), and your deep mystical knowledge begging to be reborn (your ruler Neptune on the Pisces/ Aries cusp). Just don’t “jumpstart” it. Slowly engage the dream phase on your spring project, so that it has intrinsic meaning for your deeper self. The Pisces New Moon is on Friday, March 4, at 2:46 in the afternoon, Omax time. Get ready to wake up and be REBORN! The money shows up a month from now. That always helps. Meaning now — money then. a ARIES (3.21-4.20) Any crybabies out there? There will be. Time for you to explore the depths of your subconscious. It’s a good time to explore the roots of your motivation. Let me offer an analogy: Your body is your chariot. The horses that draw it are your emotions. The reins are your intellectual capacities, held by you, the driver. You must use the reins to channel your emotions to carry your vehicle through life in tandem, or the chariot is/will be destroyed and you’ll cry. In other words, Mars is in Pisces until April. b TAURUS (4.21-5.20) Give yourself up to a project designed “for humanity” for these next three weeks (Venus in Aquarius), and love will start to come to you by the end of March, manifesting by the Full Moon in Scorpio in mid-May. I’m sure there must be more than just one way to show your love for someone else; I just can’t think of any others, either. Look up Tantra. What people do religiously, they do best. c GEMINI (5.21-6.21) You’re already moving ahead of us (Mercury already in Aries), but you’re going to have to regroup during an exciting, exotic, erotic, psychotic, robotic, quixotic April. Your input starts on March 10 and things seem to progress smoothly … until Mercury moves retrograde, making you the April Fool. Hey, everybody plays the fool sometimes, right? Set yourself up during March. April’s guaranteed to be caarrraazzzy… d CANCER (6.22-7.22) The Pisces New Moon is on Friday, at 2:46 in the afternoon. Mars is included in the mix, sparking your 5th House of creativity and children. Write/read a children’s book, meditate by the river or a lake, hit the park, take turns reading to each other with someone you love, sleep more so’s you can dream more, watch “Water World” with the sound off, hit the ballet

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h oroscopes

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and dance the night away. Love is lookin’ fer ya. Your “reputation” (?) is a month away… e LEO (7.23-8.22) Work on completion (not your best suit?). How does the MoJo know? Think in terms of harmony, sympathy, empathy, texture, phrasing, and passages. Think musically, as an analogy. As a Leo, your key is “E.” We’re traveling through Pisces, which is/rules the “B” note. (OK, you can always have the Virgos — rulers of the “F” key — take care of the details for you.) Can you feel the violins eddying? Here comes your theme song. f VIRGO (8.23-9.22) Please read Gemini. Along with your new and exciting romance in April (!), your 8th House of other peoples’ money is filled to the brim with exciting, vibrating vigor and vim! Work on your partnerships (7th House) for the rest of March. It’s going to get crazy in April — plus a Mercury retrograde! But for you, there’s money somewhere, hidden behind or underneath the crazy. I $ee you “cleaning up!” g LIBRA (9.23-10.22) New program. Do you love humanity? Can any sane person? Show me a sane person. Always? Or most of the time? A new paradigm? A new rhyme; but this time what we’ll find is the truth — as soon as we can cut loose from our/any (economic?) insecurities. Why are we mean to each other? Insecurities — that’s why. Discover your intrinsic securities. Expand upon them and then share them, and thus attain a new program based on more truth — starting now (Venus in Aquarius). h SCORPIO (10.23-11.22) Back in your element. Let’s hear a little psychic traveling music … Aloha aloi nui to you, tooie. Exotic, erotic waves lap at your island shore and have you begging for more. How ya gonna beat this snow and sleet? Escape to a Hawaii of the mind? You don’t really have to be back to work until April, do you? How does the MoJo know? i SAGITTARIUS (11.23-12.21) By the morning of March 16, you’ll have heard the word. On April 3rd, you’ll get the word. On April 3rd you’ll ingratiate and initiate the herd with what you’ve heard. You are the speaker, and this is your year to initiate. j CAPRICORN (12.22-1.20) Prepare. Do your yoga. Hide your nest egg. Tighten up while everybody else is trying to loosen up. They don’t/won’t have your karma to deal with in one short month from now. Figure out the part you wish/will/must play, and pray and meditate before it’s too late. Develop your quiet, unassuming strength now … and remember that I love you. k AQUARIUS (1.21-2.19) Gone, but not forgotten! Here comes Venus. “In a circle of magique, in a circle ‘round the Sun. In a circle of love, while the Sun and Moon are one (the New Moon in Pisces is on Friday, March 4). With the planet of love ascending, forever rising to its zenith, in a circle never ending, let Venus come between us…” From the “ZODIAC,” by MoJoPo. Venus visits Aquarius until March 26. Enjoy. Avalokite vara — look it up. ,


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Meet this year’s nominees for Omaha’s Best Bartender. Help Your Favorite Bartenders, Waitstaff and Door People Get Their Shot at Local Fame by voting at OmahasBestBartender.com.

Jessi Gofta Mic’s Karoke

Tara Goodman

The Island Bar & Grill

Lindsay Wilson Club Irie

Jessica Newhouse

LaVerne Thraen

Allison Dunlap

Ryan Kiger

Scott Sutera

Rob Rutar

Cindy “Mom” Galus

McFosters Natural Kind Cafe The Foundation

Stella’s

Mr. Toad

Cigarro’s

Leavenworth Bar

Aaron Becker

Jen Rychly

Karrie Kelly

Patrick Capecci Sullivan’s Bar

Beer and Loathing

Rachel Tew

Jodi Caniglia

Jarret Klenda

Crystal Smith

Caroline

Carrie Jean Weyerman

Ashley Vachal

Kyle Hanten

Elite Lounge

Office West Lounge Firewater Grille Musette Bar

Cody Heanue Bones Bar

Voodoo

Mitch’s Pub Arthurs

Two Fine Irishmen

Pipeline Tavern

Shon

Redeye Tavern

Tori Wilson Flixx

Bones

Flixx Lounge

Brass Monkey

O’Connor’s Irish Pub

Kevin Patten

Scotty Tarascio

Dave Peters

Dezirae Thrower

Jen Rudnick

Katie Dorsey

Terrance Mclean

Maria Tworek Goofys

Ian Rodgers Barry O’s

Tyler Marts

Wet Lounge

Firewater Bar and Grille

Teresa Kremer

Dundee Dell

Nomad Lounge

The Loose Moose

Shanti Psota

Addy’s Sports Bar and Grill

Penthouse Lounge

Rose and Crown Pub

Jordan Schott

Dan Roney

Jacob Sutherlin

Tabby Stukenholtz

Michaela Danielson

Jessica Sunderman

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