Issuu

The Reader “Omaha” 4.9“ x 2.4” 03/02/14

NOW HIRING

Coreslab Structures -manufacturer of architectural and prestressed concrete building and bridge products. FULL-TIME Opportunities: General Laborers, Equipment Operators, Mechanics, Carpenters and other skilled positions available. We offer competitive wages, health benefits, paid time off, 401K, profit sharing and advancement opportunities. Current Openings: .NET Developer Senior .NET Developer Payment Processor Technical Sales Engineer

MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

APPLY IN PERSON AT:

Coreslab Structures 802 Allied Road Bellevue, NE 68123

(North of Plattsmouth off Hwy 75)

| THE READER |

omaha jobs

NOW HIRING! Care & Sales Associates

• Competitive wage plus incentives • Variety of shifts including days & evenings

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Omaha 402.891.6600 ! doane.edu/omaha

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Caesars Entertainment is an equal opportunity employer.

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omaha jobs

| THE READER |

MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

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You’ve fallen in love with creativity and you want your work to make a difference; but you need to make a living too. How do you turn your passion into a career? Bellevue University can help you bridge the gap between art and entrepreneurship with our NEW MFA in Creativity. • Explore the true meaning of creativity. • Refine your art with the help of experienced mentors.

Art Exhibit March 7-29, 2014 Artist’s Reception March 7 • 6-9pm Original paintings and prints available for the esteemed collector Artists' Cooperative Gallery 405 S. 11th St. • Omaha, NE 68102 • 402-342-9617

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MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

| THE READER |

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AT BELLEVUE.EDU 1-877-299-0009 A non-profit university, Bellevue University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools • www.ncahlc.org • 800-621-7440 • Bellevue University does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or disabilityin the educational programs and activities it operates. Bellevue University, 1000 Galvin Road South, Bellevue, Nebraska 68005. 3883-0214M

heartlandhealing N E W A G E H E A LT H A N D W E L L N E S S B Y M I C H A E L B R AU N S T E I N

Just Hold Your Water

he Rule of Three reads that a human can live without air for three minutes; without water for three days and without food for three weeks. Of course, those are just general parameters. Who really wants to experiment to find out what his or her personal limit is? Amazingly, of those three crucial needs for survival, two of them — water and food — are relatively simple to secure. Though air and food are both certainly vital, it seems water has been in the headlines a lot recently. The most alarming news came from West Virginia where nearly a half-million people found out what it’s like to be without water. A massive chemical spill polluted tap water for the entire region, leaving the water useless for drinking, cooking, bathing or even washing the dog. People were warned to not even touch it. Within hours of the official announcement, store shelves were stripped bare of any bottled H2O. It got rough. Are you equipped to survive something like that? Too often we forget about how fragile our social infrastructure is. Storing food and water is fairly easy and is something everyone should approach responsibly. For now, we’ll leave the Snickers-stashing for another time and cover how to store water. Thirsty, my friend? “It’s relatively easy to store a safe supply of drinking water,” my friend Phil Rhodes confirmed. “You need good water for starters then the right container. In a pinch, almost any container will do, of course, but for long-term you want to be more thoughtful.” Rhodes should know. Futuramic Systems, the family business over on Saddle Creek, has been meeting the water needs and concerns of the Omaha area and surrounding states since 1969. I relied on Futuramic to install a cost-effective reverse osmosis system in our house nearly ten years ago. We haven’t bought bottled water since and I cannot calculate how much money it’s saved us in that respect. They even test our water so I know exactly what’s in it. Rhodes is also my “go to” guy when I have a question about water. “For water storage, the optimal container is a food-grade one made specifically for drinking water without anything that will leach into your storage,” Rhodes said. “You can buy them in almost any size and configuration. Usually they’re obvious as the blue plastic containers you see. You can get them in a lot

of places. You can check online and often find used 55-gallon drums that once held food syrups or things like that. Of course, you want to wash them out thoroughly in a case like that.” Futuramic also can supply them. The specialized water-safe containers are probably best and remember, if you opt for the large size 55- or 25-gallon size, you’re going to need a pump or siphon tube to get the water out when you need it. Remember this, too: 55 gallons of water will weigh over 450 pounds. You’ll need something a little bit more portable for traveling about. Each gallon of water weighs almost 8.5 pounds so consider that. The five-gallon clear plastic water bottles seen in grocery stores and delivered by the Arrowhead guy are also suitable for long-term storage, especially if you’re careful about humidity and temperature where they are stored. All water should be stored in a cool, dark, secure place. Twoliter plastic bottles, similar to soda bottles, are acceptable. Clean and pure No matter what vessels you choose to hold your water, the water should be pure to start with and the container clean. Hydrogen peroxide or bleach are both adequate disinfectants for treating water to kill bacteria and stabilize the water for long term storage. Use only unscented bleach and in very weak concentrations. Food-grade hydrogen peroxide is probably best. One tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide per gallon is an oft-quoted amount. Bleach is about 10 drops per gallon of water. “Water can be stored indefinitely in a cool, dark, dry place when properly treated,” Rhodes told me. “If unopened, it may taste flat after a year but should still be safe.” He told me that he stores water for his family and rotates it out after six months or a year. How much should you store? Well, according to government disaster scenarios, the minimum amount of water per person is one gallon per day. That amount is widely variable based on individual needs but even at that conservative figure, that means about 50 gallons for two people for just a month’s supply. A 55-gallon drum in your hall closet or basement sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Well, to a quarter-million people in West Virginia for the past two months, it’s not. That’s how long they’ve been without their regular water supply. Think in terms of Hurricanes Katrina or Sandy. Or a real blizzard. Water service could be disrupted for a long time, not just a day or two. And in some scenarios, getting it back on could take months. Do it now.

VISIONS FROM FIVE MINUTES INTO THE FUTURE • MARCH 6, 2014 • Thanks to ongoing global climate change, our winters are going to become increasingly severe, with entire months spent in below zero conditions. As a result, homelife will become increasingly important during our brutal winters, with people staring

out only for work and to purchase necessities. Events that were once public will move online, where they can be enjoyed from home, and our cities will seem like wastelands for three or four months out of the year. Get ready for the long freeze.

Embrace Creativity! March 8

10 a.m.

$35

March 22

10 a.m.

$35

March 22

10 a.m.

$35

Watercolor with Madalyn Bruning Stenciling & Stationery with Natalie Linstrom Beginning Drawing, Part II with Ann Pape

Be well. ,

Information and Registration OmahaCreativeInstitute.org Rebecca@OmahaCreativeInstitute.org 785-218-3061

HEARTLAND HEALING is a New Age polemic describing alternatives to conventional methods

of healing the body, mind and planet. It is provided as information and entertainment, certainly not medical advice. It is not an endorsement of any particular therapy, either by the writer or The Reader. Visit HeartlandHealing.com for more information.

heartland healing

| THE READER |

MARCH 6 - 12, 2014

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Building Community with Beer: THE IMPACT OF OMAHA BEER WEEK FROM 2 MEN TO 10 DAYS OF TAP TAKEOVERS by Jessica Clem-McClaren

great man once said, “There is always room for more beer.” In Omaha, it seems as though every spare nook and cranny are being filled with breweries. Craft beer demand in our city is so high, that our own Omaha Beer Week event has become a national destination for many who long for a pint of Bourbon County without Chicago prices. Things are changing in the beer scene here in Omaha, and it is incredibly exciting. Said great man is Chris Bettini, internationally recognized beer aficionado, Marketing chair of Omaha Beer Week, and the monk at most Crescent Moon beer events. “Omaha Beer Week spawned out of a discussion between Dustin Boushon, the owner of Krug Park, and Bill Baburek, the owner of Crescent Moon,” said Bettini. “They thought it would be great to organize a bus tour of all the bars in town. In 2011, Bill called several bars and breweries and organized a meeting at the Huber Haus to talk about getting a tour started.” This meeting laid the groundwork for a 7 member board, and an eventual 501(c)3 organization. “What makes Omaha Beer Week as an organization unique, is that no one person has majority share,” said Bettini. “Everyone has an equal part in making this event happen, and everyone is invested.” Omaha Beer Week is a 10 day event where bars have “tap takeovers” of unique, hard to find beer, and breweries put their best brew forward. “For our first beer week in February 2012, we had 12 bars participating in the event,” said Bettini. “We had 17 last year, and 26 this year. We’ve already gotten phone calls about next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had 40-50 participating partners.”

crumbs

■ Who Doesn’t Love Sandwich Night? The Kitchen Table, 1415 Farnam St, is running weeknight dinners with vegetarian options starting at 5pm. You can eat in or order online for meals on the go at www.kitchentableomaha.com Mondays are Soup and Sandwich Night. Tuesday is Burger Night. Wednesday is Pizza Night. Thursday is Taco Night. And Friday is Risotto Night. Also, important to note is that Monday

MARCH 6 - 12, 2014

The 2014 Omaha Beer Week Craft Beer Bus Tour had three routes this year, ensuring a wide spread throughout the community. “We had 12 buses to 21 bars. For $12, people could ride the tour from noon to midnight.” Considering the cost of the Jone-z Party Bus rentals were upwards of $16,500 for the organization, this seems like a great deal for a ride. “We had signs made, security, drivers, all the aspects that go into making sure people get around safe and had a good time.” Beer has always had an impact on the world. Fostering relationships and encouraging entrepreneurial innovations are just a few ways beer has made the world a civilized place. “The straw was invented in Mesopotamia, because early brewers didn’t want to drink the sludge at the bottom of the clay vases which held the very first beer,” said Bettini. “George Washington’s handwritten porter recipe is on file at the Library of Congress. Beer has been an influence to make people more creative.” Even here in our little pocket of the Midwest. “Krug Park was named after a brewery here in Omaha that opened in 1859,” said Bettini. “It was a great place with rides and a beer garden. There have even been Krug bottles found all along the railroad in California from the gold rush. Omaha has been a part of beer history since the beginning.” It’s no wonder why Omaha Beer Week has grown in popularity since its inception. We have the love of good beer in our blood. “It’s amazing how in 3 years an idea over a beer grew into something so successful,” said Bettini. The impact of Omaha Beer Week is seen all over the city. “We are still gathering the final numbers,

nights have a free corkage fee for those who would like to bring along their own bottle of wine for dinner. ■ Over Easy is announcing service on all days of the week. Over Easy, 16859 Q St, is now open on Mondays. Enjoy breakfast or lunch at Over Easy 7 days a week from 7am to 2 pm. They also have a drive-thru that opens at 6am.

| THE READER |

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but bars generally experience a 10-25% increase in business over the week. And it’s perfect timing, because February is a slow month for the bar business.” The bus tours are a great way to see new places and faces in a town we all call home. “The residual effect of the week is long term. People visit bars they have never heard of, to try beer they have never known existed. It is exciting to see people get into these unique beers and develop new favorites.” As the 2014 Beer Week wraps up, Bettini is already looking to plan the next 10 day event in 12 short months. “The sky’s the limit,” said Bettini. “There is such a wealth of great beer in this town. And the word is spreading. Last year I talked to a guy from Washington D.C. who had heard great things about Omaha Beer Week, and had enough frequent flier miles to fly in for one day to attend Extreme Beerfest. This year we had people from 18 states attend. That is money back in the Omaha economy.” The ripple effect of Omaha Beer Week is seen throughout the community. The restaurants in Benson experienced a push in sales. People who may have been strangers sitting on the bus turned into friends by the end of the night. “In Europe, beer halls are built with long communal tables,” said Bettini. “When you first sit down with a German pint, you may not know the person across from you. By the end, you have created a new relationship. That is the power of socializing over good beer.” Next year’s event promises new experiences with breweries that are just babies now, and recipes that will astonish and amaze. That is something spectacular about this town. The craft industry just keeps getting better. Remember, there is always room for more beer.

■ Tip your hat to Cupcake Islands’ March Flavors If you are looking for a St. Patrick’s Day treat, Cupcake Island, 1314 S. 119th St, is offering new cupcake flavors for March that will please any Leprechaun. First, Aunt Lois’ Blarney Stone is yellow cake frosted in powdered sugar frosting vthen rolled in peanuts. Next is the Drunken Leprechaun, which is made of chocolate Guinness cake with a chocolate whiskey filling topped with a Guinness buttercream. The Grasshop-

per cupcake is minted cake with chocolate mint pieces baked inside then topped with a minty buttercream. And lastly, the Luck of the Irish cupcake, which is a vanilla based cake made with Irish Cream topped with an Irish Cream infused vanilla buttercream. Top of the cupcake to you. — Krista O’Malley Crumbs is about indulging in food and celebrating its many forms. Send information about area food and drink

Omaha Performing Arts Presents

Christopher O’Riley March 15 | 8:00 PM | Holland Center Tickets $30 in advance | TicketOmaha.com

All productions, performers, prices, dates and times subject to change.

Adult lAnguAge. Recommended for ages 18+. All productions, performers, prices, dates and times subject to change. “MAXIMIZe YOuR lIFe tOuR” IS nOt SPOnSORed, endORSed, OR OtHeRWISe ASSOCIAted WItH “tHe BIggeSt lOSeR”

&"3-: %&7&-01.&/5 /&5803, Nebraska Childfind provides information

to parents on child development and special education for birth to age 21.

If you suspect your child has a developmental delay, contact your local school district or call 402-597-4936.

For more information visit: www.childfind.ne.gov Early Development Network Web Page: http://edn.esu3.org

1-888-806-6287

Find us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Early-Development-Network/118695294899599

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| THE READER |

MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

BY JASON KRIVANEK

hey came together from as close as Iowa and as far away as Ontario. They’ve gone face to face with Blue Devils and Blue Demons, and even battled Pirates. They’ve bonded on the beaches of the Bahamas and San Diego, and were sideswiped by a snowstorm in Peoria. They’ve won championships and set all-time records. They’ve played Madison Square Garden, and they even met Bono. It’s a senior class that’s made history, and is intent on making more. “It’s been incredible. I don’t think a lot of other teams have something that’s this close as far as having a group that’s been together for so long,” said senior guard Jahenns Manigat. “We rarely dispute over things. We’ve just really been a tight-knit group from the start, and our personalities really match well together. It’s been an awesome four years with them.” Bluejay fans will flock to the CenturyLink Center again this Saturday in what promises to be an emotionally charged scene as Creighton’s four seniors take on Providence in the final home game of their careers. Adding to the drama is the implications the game has on the league race, with Creighton and Villanova vying for the Big East lead coming down to the wire. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet that we only have one more here (CenturyLink)”, said senior forward Doug McDermott. “We have a tough Providence team coming in for our senior night, so it’s going to be a lot of emotion out there and we’re going to leave it all out there on the floor.” Creighton’s seniors have put their focus on winning a conference championship rather than taking time to reminisce too long over making their final home appearance. “I haven’t really given it much thought right now. Obviously we are trying to still fulfill our goals of winning the Big East. But for the short time that I have had to think about it, it’s hard to believe it’s almost over,” said Manigat. “I really

MARCH 6 - 12, 2014

| THE READER |

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consider these guys brothers as well as teammates. I feel like these guys have become best friends that even after basketball when all that is said and done we’ll be able to still communicate, still talk to each other, and still be as close as we are now. It’s pretty awesome that I’ve made a couple of good friends that are going to stay with me for the rest of my life.” It’s the most successful group in the history of Creighton basketball over the past four seasons, notching 104 wins and counting during that span. The previous best four year stretch came from 1999-2003 when Kyle Korver was torching the nets back at the Civic. Their current record stands at 23-5 and 13-3 in conference after a tough loss at Xavier last weekend. They captured the regular season Missouri Valley Conference title last season before going on to win the Valley tournament for the 2nd straight year, vanquishing rival Wichita State along the way and earning a 2nd straight invitation to the Big Dance. Their #9 ranking, league standing, and overall strong record virtually assures the Jays another invite this year regardless of how they finish. But it’s what they haven’t done yet that continues to motivate them... making some March Madness history with a deep run into the NCAA Tournament. “We’ve been dissapointed the past two years. We’re all competitors,” said Manigat. “Sophomore year when we lost to North Carolina, in our hearts we feel like we should have won that game. Last year against Duke, in our hearts we feel like we should have won that game, so this year we want to push it as far as it can go. I think that’s the thing I love the most about this group is that we’ve never really settled, we’ve just kept pushing ourselves to get better. Sometimes the bounce didn’t go our way, but we’ve come back each and every year wanting to improve. Since this is our last shot, we’re just going to give it all we’ve got.” Together they have 19 years of college experience under their belt. Manigat is the only Canadian to ever play for the Jays. He wasn’t heavily

recruited out of Ottawa, but former Creighton head coach Dana Altman saw something special in him. Shortly after luring the athletic guard to the program, Altman left for Oregon. Manigat weighed his options and decided to stick with the Jays, despite not being familiar with the new coaching staff. He and the new coach’s son, some kid named Doug, soon became friends and roommates. He made an early strong impression with his energy and all-out effort every day in practice. Half way through his freshman season, Manigat joined Doug in the starting lineup, and the pair have started every game since. Knicknamed the “Canadian Red Bull”, Manigat has made his mark on the team by spearheading the defense and providing an emotional spark, often tasked with slowing down the opposition’s main offensive weapons. He also knows how to pass the rock as well as take care of it, currently leading the Big East and 6th nationally in assist/turnover ratio. He’s also a heck of a piano player. Ethan Wragge, alternately know as the “Bearded Bomber” or the “Lumberjack”, has been with the program even longer. Wragge played for Altman’s last Creighton squad in 2009-2010, setting a freshman record for three pointers in a season with 68. Injuries, mainly a bout with plantar fasciitis, sidlined Wragge the next season. Playing the same position as that kid named Doug limited Wragge’s time on the court over the next 2 seasons, but he became instant offense off the bench with his deep shooting prowess. Eight games into this season, coach McDermott shuffled his starting lineup and elected to start Wragge in the post and bring junior center Will Artino off the

bench, a move credited with helping jump start the Jays’ season after losing a pair of games at the Wooden Legacy tournament in California. The unconventional lineup has proven a nightmare for opposing defenses, often faced with having plodding big men attempting to cover the sharp-shooting Wragge 25 feet from the basket. His 318 career three-pointers (and counting) rank third in school history behind Kyle Korver’s 371. The 5th year senior from Eden Prairie, Minnesota was still mostly an unknown commodity until he and the Jays lit up then #4 Villanova 96-68 in Philadelphia on Jan. 20. Wragge shot 7-7 from three-point range in the game’s first seven minutes on his way to a school record nine trifectas and a career-high 27 points. Suddenly he was trending nationally on Twitter. He was the toast of the college basketball world and being toasted at local watering holes, where “WraggeBombs” took on a whole new meaning. After starring in high school in Marion,

Iowa, Grant Gibbs’ began his college career at Gonzaga way back in 2008. Surgery to repair a torn ACL sidelined Gibbs for a season in Spokane before he elected to switch to Creighton when Greg McDermott took over the helm. Transfer rules kept him on the sidelines that season, but when he finally got on the court he made an immediate impact on the Jays. Often referred to as the “glue guy”, Gibbs’ leadership was evident from day one, having been voted a team captain before ever playing a game for Creighton. His cerebral approach, deft passing ability, and overall toughness and tenacity set a tone for the team that will continue to resonate with the underclassmen for years to come. He’s even been through this whole senior day thing before after seemingly using up his eligibility last year. However, because of the time missed with injury at Gonzaga, Creighton petitioned and was granted a rare 6th season of eligibility for Gibbs by the NCAA back in July.

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Before suffering a dislocated knee cap (ouch!) against DePaul on Jan. 7, Gibbs was closing in on Creighton’s career assist record. His totals were limited by missing six games while recovering, but with over 500 career assists so far, Gibbs will likely finish third on the school’s all-time list. He returned to the starting lineup in early February, but is just now getting back to 100%...if such a number ever really applies to the “old man’s” battle-scarred body. Then there’s that kid they call “Dougie McBuckets”, the unassuming coach’s son from Ames, Iowa, and everybody’s all-American. Doug McDermott has earned so many awards and accolades that The Reader would need to print a special edition just to list them all, but here are a few of the highlights, Doug... ...was named 1st team all-American after both his sophomore and junior seasons by the Associated Press, Basketball Times, ESPN.com and a slew of other organizations, a feat he will undeniably replicate when honors are handed out following the season. The last players to achieve A.P. 1st team all-American status three consecutive seasons were legends Patrick Ewing and the late Wayman Tisdale nearly 30 years ago. ...is the leading scorer in Creighton history and currently 9th on the all-time NCAA charts with 2,944 points...on pace to become just the 8th player in NCAA history to score more than 3,000 points. ...is a two time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and a shoo-in for Big East Player of the Year after being named conference Player of the Week a record seven times so far this season. ...currently leads the nation in scoring at over 26 points per game despite preseason detractors

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MARCH 6 - 12, 2014

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predicting that his production would fall off once he faced Big East competition. He is the only player in Creighton history to lead the team in both scoring and rebounding in four straight seasons. ..is a finalist for and has practically already engraved his name on all of the national player of the year trophies and plaques available including the Wooden and Naismith Awards. In fact, he’s been so good it wouldn’t be a surprise if some organization named a NEW player of the year award after HIM. After the Jays pounded his team for the second time this season, Villanova head coach Jay Wright added his two cents worth... “I think he’s as complete a player, and I do not use that term loosely, with size, as I’ve ever seen. At 6-8, 6-9, there’s nothing he can’t do. He can take you off the dribble. He guards, he’s tough as hell guarding. He defends. He rebounds. He moves without the ball. He seals. He’s the best post player that we’ve played against , and he’s the best perimeter player, and maybe one of the best passers...I think he’s as good a basketball player as I’ve seen.” All this from a kid who didn’t even make the starting lineup on his high school team until his

senior year, and wasn’t even recruited by his own father. What’s even more amazing is that Creighton initially lost the recruiting battle for his services after a strong senior season at Ames. His godfather, Northern Iowa head coach Ben Jacobsen, signed Doug and he was all set to become a Panther. But when Altman bolted for the west coast and Creighton Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen convinced Greg McDermott to leave Iowa State for the greener grass of Omaha, Doug elected to join his dad, Jacobsen graciously let him go...and the rest is history. Awards and stats only tell part of the story, however, when it comes to Doug McDermott. He is the ultimate role model on the court and off. Despite his myriad of accomplishments and rock star status around town, he has never let it go to his head. He may be the most genuine, humble hero you will ever meet. “I am obviously proud of what he has accomplished on the court, but I am even prouder of the man that he has become,” said the elder McDermott. “He’s never let the attention go to his head or allowed his ego to get in the way of the team. He’s never let himself get satisfied with where he’s at and has always worked at getting

BOYS TOWN Family-Teaching Couple. Contact Melissa Craig at 402-498-1767 or Melissa.craig@ boystown.org. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. DIRECTV is currently recruiting for the following position in Omaha: Satellite Installation Technician. If you are not able to access our website, DIRECTV.com, mail your resume and salary requirements to: DIRECTV, Attn: Talent Acquisition, 161 Inverness Drive West, Englewood, CO 80112. To apply online, visit: www. directv.com/careers. EOE. NATIONAL SERVICE COOPERATIVE Customer Service Coordinators. Contact Ruth Karcher at ruthk@nationalservicecoop.com. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. WEST ASSET MANAGEMENT Net Software Analyst-SQL ETL SSIS. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. OMAHA STEAKS Direct Sales Professional, full time evenings/days & part time evenings and Electrical Maintenance Mechanic. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. WEST ASSET MANAGEMENT Senior Network Engineer, Collections Supervisor, Collection Specialist, Care/ Sales Associate, - Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. HUSKER SIDING & ROOFING Roofing Installation Manager. Contact Tom Allen at tom@huskerhammer.com. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

MARCH 6 - 12, 2014

ALEGENT HEALTH Clinic Office Specialist Adult Partial Hospitalization PT, RN Adult Partial Hospitalization IMC PT, RN Adult Partial Hospitalization IMC OnCall & Surgical Services Project Specialist FT. Contact Jakob Hughes at jakob.hughtes@alegent.org. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. TIDE DRY CLEANERS Assistant General Manager. Contact Kimberley McCutcheon at jobs@tdcomaha. com. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. UMB Transaction Specialist. Contact Tim Fields at timothy.fields@umb.com. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. TOWNE PARK Valet Parking Attendant. Contact Sara Cottrell at scottrell@townepark.com Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. WEST ASSET MANAGEMENT Multiple positions available. Please go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. OMAHA STEAKS Freezer Assembler (Part-Time). Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. COBANK SR. Relationship Manager, Leasing. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. ALEGENT HEALTH Driver II Bergan Mercy Medical Center FT Day/Evening. Contact Todd Molstad at

| THE READER |

todd.molstad@alegent.org. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. THE GROUNDSKEEPER Foreman/Laborer. Contact Todd Lewis at ponddoctor.todd@yahoo.com. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. WEST ASSET MANAGEMENT Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. OMAHA STEAKS Copy Writer. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. GRINDSTONE HARDSCAPES Foreman. Contact Josh Graczyk at metzbr@gmail.com or 308-440-9854. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. KANSAS WORKS All industries. Go to KansasWorks.com or come see us at the March 12, 2014 OmahaJobs.com Job Fair. METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE Digital Instructional Designer. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. BATH FITTERS ales Consultant. Contact Jerry Worth at jworth@omahabf.com. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. J.A. KING Account Manager. Contact Marjie Troutman at marjie.troutman@jaking.com. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information. CORESLAB STRUCTURES General Laborers, Carpenter, QA Inspector and a Mechanic. Contact Amanda Becker at abecker@coreslab.com. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

cover story

better. When your best player is also your hardest working player that sets the tone for the rest of the team.” It’s a legacy that’s sure to resonate long after this group of seniors is gone. Creighton fans have had a lot to cheer for with all the wins , but they can be even prouder with how these guys have gotten it done. If ever there was a picture of how to win with teamwork and class, it would be a framed photo of Gibbs, Manigat, McDermott, and Wragge. The matchup with the Providence Friars is scheduled for Saturday, March 8 at the CenturyLink Center. CBS Sports Network will televise the game nationally starting at 7:00 p.m. As per tradition, a ceremony honoring Creighton’s seniors will follow the game with each player taking turns addressing the crowd. Don’t be surprised if you see a grown man or two shedding some tears Saturday. It’s bound to happen when it sinks in that the greatest player in program history really has played his final home game in a Bluejay uniform. Go ahead and let it out. Thanks for the memories Dougie. Oh...and all those “McBuckets” and “W’s” were pretty cool too!

The life and music of Ella Fitzgerald Starring Kathy Tyree

FEB. 28 â€“ MARCH 30

6915 CASS STREET | (402) 553-0800 | WWW.OMAHAPLAYHOUSE.COM sponsor:

orchestra sponsor:

media sponsor:

Poseidon and the Sea

Organized by the Tampa Museum of Art Now through May 11 Curator gallery talks on March 6 & April 24 @ 6:30 pm

Major SponSor

Douglas County Contributing SponSorS

Supporting SponSor

additional Support

Statue of Poseidon/Neptune alongside dolphin (detail), Roman, 1st century AD, marble, Tampa Museum of Art, Joseph Veach Noble Collection, 1986.135

Poseidon and the Sea is a ticketed exhibition. Free admission for all Joslyn members. $10 for general public adults; youth ages 17 and younger & college students with ID are free. Special Thursday pricing (4-8 pm): $5 for general public adults.

| THE READER |

MARCH 6 - 12, 2014

8 DAYS

TOPTV

COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY Sunday, 8 p.m., Fox

Fasten your seatbelts for the greatest planetarium show of all time. The 13-part Cosmos is an update of the legendary Carl Sagan series that brought the universe into our living rooms. The new version is hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who has Sagan’s gift for explaining abstruse scientific theories to a mass audience. But Tyson has an advantage over Sagan: cutting-edge computer graphics. Not shy about hamming it up, he boards a cool make-believe spaceship to take us into the far reaches of space. He dons a pair of sunglasses to observe the Big Bang and puts his hands over his ears when an asteroid wipes out the dinosaurs. His most stunning effect is conveying the vastness of space and humans’ relatively tiny place in it. Rather than making you feel insignificant, however, his presentation fills you with awe at the wonder of the cosmos. “Now come with me,” Tyson says at the end of episode one. “Our journey is just beginning.” I can’t imagine anyone in the known universe turning down that invitation.

T H E R E A D E R ’ S E N T E R TA I N M E N T P I C K S M A R C H 6 - 1 2 , 2 0 14

DR. DOG

THURSDAY6

TUESDAY 11

THURSDAY 13

COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA

DR. DOG WITH SAINT RICH

LESLIE AND THE LYS WITH BOONE COUNTY COMEDY TROUPE AND DEAN & THE DELILAH’S

SNAP Productions, 3225 California Ave., 7 p.m.; March 6-30; Tickets $10-15 www.snapproductions.com William Inge’s often admired 1950 play comes back into the light as SNAP Productions seeks to make it shine. The impetus: the curse and refuge of alcoholism lying within the sorrowful, unfulfilled lives of middle-aged, Middle-Americans Doc and Lola. More than drink stirs this intense examination. It zeroes in on their dysfunctional marriage where unrequited sexual stirrings smolder and where Lola never ceases to need the unconditional love of her disappeared dog Sheba. The presence of that pet could have warmed their claustrophobic home. In the small confines of this theater you may be so close that you need to resist the urge to reach out and comfort them.

-Gordon Spencer

Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St, 9 p.m.; Tickets $15/ADV and $17/DOS www.theslowdown.com Philly natives Dr. Dog used to make lo-fi experimental rock, record music on eight tracks and leaned towards anything “psychedelic” when they first emerged in the early 2000s. Since then, their sound is a bit refined, but their love of ‘60s music remains at the core. Vocalists/multi-instrumentalists Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken, guitarist Frank McElroy, keyboardist Zach Miller, drummer Eric Slick, and percussionist Dimitri Manos make up the current incarnation of Dr. Dog. With seven studio albums in their catalog, Dr. Dog has amassed a vast following. Consequently, they are still touring in support of their latest effort, 2013’s B-Room. Opening for bands like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Strokes, The Raconteurs, The Black Keys, and My Morning Jacket, they’re not typically the headliners, but it’s finally their time to shine. Dr. Dog plays Slowdown next Tuesday. –Kyle Eustice

picks

The Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St., 9 p.m.; Tickets $10/ADV and $12/DOS www.onepercentproductions.com

The first time you see Leslie Hall of Leslie and the Lys, most likely she will shock you. Dressed in her signature “bedazzled” gem sweaters, crazy ‘80s glasses and huge bouffant hair-do, she definitely gives new meaning to the word “unique.” The music she performs is more like a sketch comedy act. Leslie and the Lys formed in Ames, Iowa around 2004 and quickly exploded into the next big internet sensation. She released her first album in 2005 and hasn’t looked back.. Hall, better known as Mother Gem, composes all of the music herself, generally using Garage Band on her Mac computer. She’s able to concoct outrageous dance beats and ridiculous “raps” at the drop of a hat. In fact, she’s sparked a whole underground culture made of “Junior Gems” that worship the ground she walks on. Hall has since established The Mobile Museum of Gem Sweaters, which doubles both as the band’s official tour vehicle and gift shop/ museum. It often appears at her shows. Leslie and the Lys hit the Waiting Room stage for another round of awesomeness March 13. –Kyle Eustice

| THE READER |

MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

Ex-gonzo journalist-turned-Filmmaker resolved to celebrate debate BY

LEO BIGA

CROTTY DEBUTS TWO DEBATE-CENTRIC DOCS AT OMAHA FILM FESTIVAL

maha ex-pat James Marshall Crotty, co-creator of the underground Monk magazine and author of alternative city guides, gained a cult following for his irreverent dashboard reporting about America’s fringes. His arch leanings are on display in two documentaries he’s produced-directed showing at the March 5-9 Omaha Film Festival. Both films focus on a subculture subject close to his heart, competitive debate. This once itinerant gonzo MERCER, AEPPLI SHARE A journalist now based in Los Angeles was a champion DOUBLE-EDGED IN debater at Omaha Creighton PrepTHEME in the mid 1970s. This self-described “evangelist debate” passionRETROSPECT ATforGARDEN ately portrays the hyper intense activity’s transformaOF THEin ZODIAC tional power his own life and GALLERY in the lives of South Bronx kids of color. Master Debaters shows March 6 in the 8:30-10:15 p.m. block of Neb. short docs. shows and March 8 at 12:30 p.m. in the feature-length doc block. He’ll do a Q&A after each. He’s hoping his films inspire funding for an urban debate league he wants to start here as a way to motivate kids to excel in school. Those familiar with Crotty may find his new gigs as Forbes.com education reporter and crusading debate advocate a departure. It’s actually a catharsis after tiring of the vagabond Kerouac thing, dealing with a protracted lawsuit and losing his intellectual guru and most inﬂuential debate mentor – his mother. He says, Monk, “the National Geographic for freaks,” was as much a rebellion against his Catholic Republican upbringing as anything. “I was Mr. Alternative hipster subculture guy with Monk and I had this nagging sense the whole time I was interviewing people like the founder of the school for boys who want to be girls to Kurt Cobain to just any kind of an eccentric person or place across the fruited plain that I did not grasp the dominant culture conversation. “I just felt deep inside I was an uneducated man even though I’d gone to Northwestern. I felt like I was a fraud even though I was really good at spinning this alternative universe.” He could no longer square his “out there” image with the Jesuit call to be a man for others instilled in him at Prep. He resolved to improve himself and to use debate – “the most profound education experience of my life” – as a means to serve kids from disadvantaged straits. He felt the discipline of debate helped him and his Prep teammates, among them Alexander Payne (who

MARCH 6 - 12, 2014

appears in Crotty’s Kids), find success and he saw no reason it couldn’t do the same for others. “We were this tribe of academic athletes that learned through debate the ability to speak on our feet, to persuade others about the rightness of our cause. It gives you incredible confidence to tackle any subject. When you’re at the top of your game you’re spending four to five hours a day on it in addition to your schoolwork. And you’re not just reading secondary sources you’re looking up primary sources, you’re going to law libraries, you’re reading studies, you’re really digging deep and you’re able to sort fact from fiction. “When you have a finely-tuned debate brain the most innocuous statement can be broken apart and you’re able to see through poppycock almost instantly and it’s something really missing in the culture. People are easily bamboozled by false prophets who just because they have such a strong opinion people think they’re telling the truth. That is dangerous for Democracy.” He says the research skills he learned have served him well. “I’m able to look beneath the surface to find the truth. Doing Monk I was able to find these people and places that even locals didn’t know existed. That’s because debate trains you to be a geek researcher.” The sudden death of his mother in 2002 set him on a “sea change” that led him to become a high school debate coach. “I really felt the calling to help inner city kids.” But first he needed to immerse himself in education. “For years I really wanted to study the classics, the great books of civilization. I finally got the chance after we sued Tony Shalhoub and the producers of the Monk TV show in the late ‘90s for stealing our brand. It took two years. In 2000 I decided to give up the Monk (mag) hat and go back to school and study the great books at a great little school called St. Johns College Santa Fe (N.M.). “You sit around a table seminar-style and the tutors ask really good questions to help you dig deeper into the text. I really became a disciple of their method.” He emerged from his mid-life crisis with a teaching certificate that allowed him to teach the classics and to coach debate. He began at two elite New York City schools to freshen his chops. “I had been so long out of the game and I knew it had changed a lot. It’s like coming back to play any sport 25-30 years later. It had gotten so much faster.”

| THE READER |

culture

He says coaching proved emotional for him because “it gave me a way to give back during a difficult time in my life – I was mourning my mother through coaching these kids.” After joining the newly formed Eagle Academy in the mid-2000s he made his experience there the basis for Crotty’s Kids. He says the difference between a product of white privilege like himself and “a kid who grows up in the South Bronx is not as great as people might think,” adding, “The one thing that was really obvious to me is that a young man in the South Bronx does not just walk into a whole bunch of cultural capital just by osmosis.” He says his growing up in a home filled with books and dinner-time conversations about current events is a far cry from what the kids he worked with experienced. “These kids don’t have that by and large. As a result their vocabulary and basic reasoning powers are not being developed. So my job as a coach was to fill in that gap – the cultural capital piece – and the way I did that was to have adult, intellectual, fact-based conversations with them about whatever interested them. I also had my kids read the classics.” He says the process of competitive speech and debate develops critical thinking skills in youths that have “an incredible trickle down effect that enables them to excel in school at a much higher level than their peers.” He adds, “It sort of feeds on itself. Young men and women at-risk are looking to compete and win. You get them to see it as a sport and they do whatever it takes. It becomes infectious.” Sure enough, his kids became champions. One earned a full-ride. Yet the central focus of Crotty’s Kids is Crotty, not the kids. He comes off as charismatic, quirky, caring, driven. He didn’t intend being the “star” but the footage or lack thereof dictated it. “It’s not the Hoop Dreams of debate I wanted to make, it’s some other film,” he says. He’s still in touch with some of his old students, several of whom are doing well in college. “I’m a kind of surrogate father figure but I don’t push it. I had my chance to really impart as much as I could while I was with them but they need to figure things out on their own. They always know I’m there for them if they ever get in a jam.” Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.wordpress.com.

Omaha Film Festival turns nine BY LEO BIGA

he March 5-9 Omaha Film Festival has gone all digital with its move from Regal Omaha Stadium 16 to Marcus Village Pointe Cinema at 304 No. 174th Street. Besides the sharper projection offered, OFF Program director Marc Longbrake says the new site is near a higher density population area and the cineplex gets more traffic than the Regal. This marks the fourth venue change in the nine-year history of the little little festival that could, whose growth has been steady if not spectacular. Ninety-two films from around the nation and the world (20 countries), including several from Neb. and surrounding states, will be screened. Among the narrative features with a trail of buzz behind them are the opening night selection Obvious Child with its cast of bright newcomers and veteran character actors, the Friday night special Enemy starring Jake Gyllenhaal and the closing night entry Fading Gigolo with Sofia Vergara, Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Live Schreiber and John Turturro, who wrote-directed it. Documentary filmmakers from here who have work represented in the fest include James Marshall Crotty (Master Debaters and Crotty’s Kids), Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette (Growing Cities) and Elizabeth Bohart (Watchers of the Sky). Theo Love, whose family is from Neb., directed Little Hope was Arson. The live-action shorts include one, Afronauts, co-starring Omaha native Yolonda Ross, who’s drawing raves for her work in the new John Sayles film Go for Sisters (March 25 at Film Streams). Longbrake says the five-day event is not only an opportunity for filmgoers to see loads of new work but for filmmakers to get their blood, sweat and tears seen by a live audience. “As a filmmaker you work so hard to get your film made, then you sit in an editing room for a year to finish it, and it’s one thing to send it out to have people review it but it’s another thing to sit in a room with 200 people and have them react to the film and then do a Q&A afterwards.” For the second year Writer’s Theatre, under the direction of Aaron Zavitz, will showcase live readings of the 16 finalist scripts in the OFF screenplay competition. Several of the scripts are by locals. The fest’s annual conference will as usual feature guests with serious industry chops. This year’s lineup includes screenwriters Leslie Dixon (Mrs. Doubtfire) and Steve Faber (Wedding Crashers) and Oscar-winning cinematographer Mauro Fiore (Avatar). For schedule and ticket info, visit www.omahafilmfestival.org.

Death Grip Electric Movie Lighting - Equipment - Support

| THE READER |

MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

Special Screenings

Obvious Child

Trunkâ€™d

Wednesday March 5 at 6:30pm

Sunday March 9 at 2:15pm

Obvious Child is an honest comedy about what happens when Brooklyn comedian Donna Stern (Jenny Slate) JHWV GXPSHG Ä†UHG DQG SUHJQDQW MXVW in time for the worst/best Valentineâ€™s Day of her life. Forever nudged by her parents to make better choices, Donna is forced WR GR MXVW WKDW ZKHQ D RQH QLJKW VWDQG OHDGV WR D GLIÄ†FXOW GHFLVLRQ WKDW GRHV DQG GRHV QRW GHÄ†QH WKH UHVW RI KHU OLIH 7KRXJK FRQÄ†GHQW LQ KHU FKRLFH 'RQQD PXVW JDLQ WKH FRQÄ†GHQFH WR EHOLHYH in her talent, herself, and the best in those around her, especially one VXUSULVLQJO\ GHFHQW JX\ ZKR MXVW PLJKW make this the worst/best Valentineâ€™s Day ever. USA - 83 minutes Writer/Director: Gillian Robespierre Executive Producer: Stefan Nowicki, Michael Sackler, Julia Godzinskaya, Sophie Vickers, Brent Stiefel, Jenny Slate, David Kaplan, Gillian Robespierre Producer: Elisabeth Holm, Cast: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffmann, Gabe Liedman, David Cross, Polly Draper, Richard Kind www.obviouschildmovie.com

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Trunkâ€™d is an unapologetic road-trip comedy that involves four men driving from Nebraska to Texas to dispose of the body of a dead call girl whom they Ä†QG XQUHVSRQVLYH WKH PRUQLQJ DIWHU D bachelor party. USA â€“ 72 minutes Writter/Director: Jake Hull Supervising Producer: Jenna Edwards Produced by: Seth Requenez, Rhett McClure, Dan Falk, Mark Oâ€™Brien Cast: Kevin Zaideman, Dan Cummins, Eddie Pepitone, Shang Forbes with James Adomian. KWWS ZZZ DESURÄ†OPV FRP Ä†OPV WUXQNG

from content-light amateurs to critical GHEDWH LV RQO\ DQ RQJRLQJ 0F*XIÄ†Q WR the heart of the story: young men in VHDUFK RI DQ LQWHOOHFWXDO IDWKHU Ä†JXUH Coach Crotty arrives in their lives with the clock running out. In two years, the young men of Eagle are likely to become grist for a staggering statistic: 60% of urban males never graduate high school. As Crottyâ€™s Kids grow in debate, we are pulled into the struggles of their personal lives: poverty, gang violence, and rape allegation. Layer by layer, scene by scene, we also come closer to the real Crotty. Between the polar extremes of his FRQVWUXFWHG FRDFK SHUVRQD ZH Ä†QG D softer side. Our hearts break at the complete portrait of Crotty and his motives, when he openly admits to the camera, â€œI never had kids of my own; this is it, man.â€?

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USA - 87 minutes Writer/Director: James Crotty http://www.crottyskids.com

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Crottyâ€™s Kids Saturday March 8 at 12:30pm

Told with humor and suspense, and VKRW LQ D JULWW\ YÂŤULWÂŤ VW\OH UHÄ‡HFWLQJ its unvarnished South Bronx milieu, Crottyâ€™s Kids IROORZV Ä†YH (DJOH Academy debaters as they evolve

Omaha Film| Festival | THE READER

Growing Cities Thursday March 6 at 6:15pm

From rooftop farmers to backyard beekeepers, Americans are growing

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food like never before. Created by 2PDKD ĆOPPDNHUV 'DQ 6XVPDQ DQG Andrew Monbouquette, Growing Cities tells the inspiring stories of these intrepid urban farmers, innovators, and everyday citydwellers who are challenging the way this country grows and distributes its food. From those growing food in backyards to make ends meet, to educators teaching kids to eat healthier, viewers discover urban farmers are harvesting a whole lot more than simply good food. USA - 59 minuntes Director: Dan Susman Producer: Andrew Monbouquette, Dana Altman, Dan Susman www.growingcitiesmovie.com

Fioravante decides to become a professional Don Juan as a way of making money to help his cash-strapped friend, Murray. With Murray acting as his "manager," the duo quickly finds themselves caught up in the crosscurrents of love and money. USA – 98 Minutes

Fading Gigolo

Sunday March 9 at 5pm

Rated R for some sexual content, language and brief nudity Writer/Director: John Turturro Stars: Sofía Vergara, Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Liev Schreiber, Max Casella, John Turturro

2014 FILMMAKER’S CONFERENCE

MARCH 8 Writer’s Theatre, Dir. by Aaron Zavitz MARCH 8-9 Conference (See website for Conference Schedule)

Scheduled to Attend:

ete s, mera, s it,

d ing

Leslie Dixon - Writer Mrs. Doubtfire, Pay it Forward, Hairspray, The Thomas Crown Affair, Limitless

Enemy Friday March 7 at 6:15pm

A man seeks out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie. USA – 90 minutes Rated R for some strong sexual content, graphic nudity and language Director: Denis Villeneuve Writers: Javier Gullón Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Mélanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon, Isabella Rossellini, Stephen R. Hart, Jane Moffat www.imdb.com/title/tt2316411

March 5-9, 2014

Steve Faber - Writer We’re the Millers, Wedding Crashers, Married with Children

Mauro Fiore, ASC - Oscar winning Cinematographer Avatar, Training Day, The Kingdom, Real Steel | THE READER |

MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

| THE READER |

8 DAYS

TOPTV

COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY Sunday, 8 p.m., Fox

T H E R E A D E R ’ S E N T E R TA I N M E N T P I C K S M A R C H 6 - 1 2 , 2 0 14

DR. DOG

THURSDAY6

TUESDAY 11

THURSDAY 13

COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA

DR. DOG WITH SAINT RICH

LESLIE AND THE LYS WITH BOONE COUNTY COMEDY TROUPE AND DEAN & THE DELILAH’S

-Gordon Spencer

picks

The Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St., 9 p.m.; Tickets $10/ADV and $12/DOS www.onepercentproductions.com

| THE READER |

MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

Presented by

Fun for the whole family! April 30 â€“ May 4

Family fun-filled day of live entertainment, carnival rides, food, games, parade, booths & much more!

Parade

Saturday, May 3 10:00 AM

Fiesta & Exhibitors

Saturday, May 3 â€“ Sunday, May 4 12:00 - 8:00 PM

MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

| THE READER |

halfpageforReader3_6_14_Layout 1 2/21/14 11:25 AM Page 1

y b r e D r e l l o R MARCH 15 • APRIL 19 MAY 10 • JUNE 7

with special guest

Ticketmaster.com on tour

SUMMER

2014

On sale this Saturday at 10AM

©Jeff Lonowski Pixels Photography

PINEWOOD BOWL THEATER

JUNE 24

Pioneers Park in Lincoln • A food drive event

OMAHAROLLERGIRLS.ORG

WIDESPREADPANIC.COM • PINEWOODBOWLTHEATER.COM TICKETS AVAILABLE AT PINNACLE BANK ARENA TICKET OFFICE, ALL TICKETMASTER LOCATIONS AND TICKETMASTER.COM

| THE READER |

MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

coldcream

Omaha Playhouse Announces 90th Season

The Omaha Community Playhouse announced with upcoming 90th season on Tuesday with a variety of shows old and new. The Hawks Mainstage will feature five productions in total, starting in September with the Five-Time Tony Award-winning musical The Drowsy Chaperone, a musical within a musical taking the audience inside the narrator’s favorite shows of years past. Following that in January will be a musical adaptation of the classic tale Little Women. The show will be in partnership with the Playhouse’s professional touring wing The Nebraska Theatre Caravan. In March, the classic Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that has entertained audiences for the last 40 years Jesus Christ Superstar will find its way to the Playhouse Mainstage. The Mainstage will take a break from musicals in April as the contemporary comedy I Hate Hamlet is presented. The show follows and an aspiring actor taking on the iconic role of Hamlet, while dealing with the ghost of acting legend John Barrymore. The Hawks Mainstage season will close out in May with the Tony Award-winning, Monty Python-inspired musical Spamalot. The Playhouse’s second stage, The Howard Drew Theatre, will feature 4 productions overall, beginning in August with a play featured in last year 21 & Over series, Enron. The show takes a heightened and comedic look at the corporate corruption behind the collapse of Enron in 2001. Following in October is the play The Whipping Man, a tale about a Jewish Confederate Soldier returning to his desolated home after the Civil War. After learning his family has fled, the main character Caleb attempts to connect with two of his family’s former slaves. In February, the Playhouse will feature the musical Hands on a Hardbody about a group of Texans trying to win a competition with one simple rule, don’t take your hands off of the truck. Finally, the Howard Drew season will conclude in May with the Edward Albee classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The play centers around George and Martha, whose marriage is falling apart, as they play cruel mind games with their new friends Nick and Honey. Along with the new seasons, the two winter Playhouse traditions will continue on each stage, with A Christmas Carol once again taking Holiday spot on the Hawks Mainstage and the Beatles Tribute show Yesterday and Today being featured on the Howard Drew. Cold Cream looks at theater in the metro area. Email information to coldcream@thereader.com

MARCH 6 - 12, 2014

livemusiccalendar

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

THURSDAY 6

JOE LOUIS WALKER, (Blues) 6 pm, 21st Saloon, Contact venue for charge. GONZO & J. EXPO, 9 pm, Bar 415, FREE. THE TALBOTT BROTHERS CD RELEASE PARTY, 8 pm, Barley Street Tavern, Contact venue for charge. NEW MOON SONGWRITERS NIGHT, (Folk/Singer-Songwriter) 7 pm, Crescent Moon Coffee, FREE. GAROTED, BOREALIS & FEEDER/GAINER, (Metal) 9 pm, Duffy’s Tavern, $5. SMOOTH JAZZ THURSDAYS AT THE OZONE LOUNGE WITH ED ARCHIBALD, (Jazz) 6:30 pm, OzoNE Lounge at Anthony’s Steakhouse, FREE. ACOUSTIC MUSIC THURSDAYS!, 8 pm, Two Fine Irishmen, Contact venue for charge. BARS UP ENTERTAINMENT W/ TREV TAYLOR, RAS DEGA, LOVELESS AND BC, (Hip-Hop/Rap) 8 pm, Vega, Contact venue for charge. KING BUZZO W/GERALD LEE JR., 9 pm, Waiting Room, $13. ACOUSTIC JAM, 1 pm, Western Historic Trails Center, FREE. THE SOUL OF JOHN BLACK, 9:30 pm, Zoo Bar, $10. BILLY BACON, 6 pm, Zoo Bar, $6. JANET STALEY TRIO, (Jazz) 5 pm, Zurlo’s Italian Bistro, FREE.

FRIDAY 7

3D IN YOUR FACE, (Rock) 9 pm, 21st Saloon, $5. PAT O & THE SHOW, (Cover Band) 8:30 pm, Ameristar Casino, FREE. HI-FI HANGOVER, (Cover Band) 9:30 pm, Arena Bar & Grill, FREE. SWEETLIFE & KRONEN, 9 pm, Bar 415, $5. SATURN MOTH W/MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRLS AND CARL MILLER & JOHN WILWERDING, 7 pm, Barley Street Tavern, Contact venue for charge. KARAOKE THEATRE, 9 pm, House Of Loom, FREE. ECKOPHONIC, (Cover Band) 9:30 pm, Loose Moose, FREE. JOHN KLEMMENSEN & THE PARTY W/THE PHOTO ATLAS, (Rock) 9:30 pm, O’Leaver’s Pub, $5. TAO: PHOENIX RISING TRADITIONAL JAPANESE DRUMMING MARTIAL ARTS, (Live Theater) 8 pm, Orpheum Theater, Tickets start at $20. ODINSON, JOHNNY LEGION, & STEREO ROCKET, 8 pm, Shamrock’s Pub & Grill, Contact venue for charge. “ALL I WANNA DO TOUR” STARRING T. MILLS, 8 pm, Slowdown, $15. ZAPP - LIVE IN CONCERT, (Blues) 8 pm, Sokol Hall & Auditorium, $25 GA / $45 Reserved Table Seats. BRAD HOSHAW AND THE SEVEN DEADLIES ALBUM RELEASE W/ GUILTY IS THE BEAR AND A FEROCIOUS JUNGLE CAT, (Indie) 9 pm, Vega, $7. EARLYTOWN W/ MATT COX & THE WILLARDS, (Folk/SingerSongwriter) 9 pm, Venue 51, $5. FACCS: BACK ALLEY, (Blues) 5 pm, Venue 51, FREE. THE BIG DEEP ALBUM RELEASE SHOW W/ROCK PAPER DYNAMITE & MICHAEL WUNDER AND THE UNINSPIRED, (Rock/ Indie) 9 pm, Waiting Room, $10. MEZCAL BROTHERS, 5 pm, Zoo Bar, Contact venue for charge. BILLY BACON, 9 pm, Zoo Bar, $8.

SATURDAY 8

FEVER & THE FUNKHOUSE, (Rock) 8:30 pm, Ameristar Casino, FREE. CHARM SCHOOL DROPOUTS, (Cover Band) 9:30 pm, Arena Bar & Grill, FREE. MYTH & DANNY APARO, 9 pm, Bar 415, $5. SCOTT SEVERIN’S “GOING AWAY PARTY” W/TWO SHAKES AND MARK IRVIN, (Rock) 7 pm, Barley Street Tavern, Contact venue for charge.

| THE READER |

music listings

JANET STALEY TRIO, (Jazz) 8:30 pm, Dort’s Bar & Grill, FREE. DONNYBROOK, (Rock) 9 pm, Dubliner Pub, $3. KARAOKE, 8 pm, Firewater Grille, Contact venue for charge. HI-FI HANGOVER, (Rock) 9:30 pm, Loose Moose, FREE. GO MURPHY, 9:30 pm, O’Leaver’s Pub, $5. THE BOTTLE TOPS W/ THE MEZCAL BROTHERS & BILLY BACON, (Rock) 8 pm, Pla Mor Ballroom, $7 ADV / $10 DOS. BLAMESHIFT, BREAK MAIDEN, FALLIBLE, & TBA, 8 pm, Shamrock’s Pub & Grill, Contact venue for charge. ESENCIA LATINA, SALSA BAND, 10 pm, Shark Club, $10. THE BIG DEEP ALBUM RELEASE W/ ELI MARDOCK AND THE ALLENDALES, (Rock/Indie) 9 pm, Vega, $10. THE BROKE LOOSE, PANCHO AND THE CONTRABAND & THE AUTONOMICS, (Rock) 9 pm, Venue 51, Contact venue for charge. BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME W/DEAFHAVEN, INTRONAUT AND THE KINDRED, (Rock) 7:30 pm, Waiting Room, $17 ADV | $20 DOS. LUCAS KELLISON, 9 pm, Zoo Bar, Contact venue for charge. BILLY BACON’S 50TH BIRTHDAY BASH!, 5 pm, Zoo Bar, $8.

SUNDAY 9

SOLEB THEORY W/ THUNDERSANDWICH & TATONKA, (Punk) 9 pm, Duffy’s Tavern, $5. SALSA SUNDAY W/ LATIN MADNESS, 7 pm, House Of Loom, $5. O’LEAVER’S OPEN MIC NIGHT, 9 pm, O’Leaver’s Pub, FREE. SEE THROUGH DRESSES W/WHAT MOON THINGS, (Rock) 9:30 pm, O’Leaver’s Pub, $5. OPEN MIC NIGHT, 8 pm, Red9, FREE. STUDENT ENSEMBLES: CHAMBER SINGERS, 3 pm, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, FREE and open to the public. AGAINST ME! LAURA STEVENSON & THE CANS, CHEAP GIRLS, SAINTSENECA, 7 pm, Slowdown, $15. SOARING WINGS VINEYARD SUNDAY MUSIC W/JON SUNDERMEIER, 2 pm, Soaring Wings Vineyard, FREE. PLEISTOCENE W/ DARREN KEEN, POWERFUL SCIENCE AND MARSHALL POOLE, (Rock) 9 pm, Vega, $5 21+ | $7 1820. CHERUB W/CAROUSEL & PROBCAUSE, (Rock) 9 pm, Waiting Room, $15. BIG HEAD TODD & THE MONSTERS, (Rock) 8 pm, Whiskey Roadhouse (Horseshoe Casino), $28.

MONDAY 10

OPEN MIC NIGHT, 6 pm, 402 Arts Collective/Aromas Coffeehouse, FREE. OPEN MIC & SONGWRITER SHOWCASE, (Folk/Singer-Songwriter) 9 pm, Barley Street Tavern, FREE. FIRST CUT INDUSTRY NIGHT W/ DJ DRDRIGGS, (DJ/Electronic) 9 pm, House Of Loom, FREE. GOOCH & HIS LASVEGAS BIG BAND, 8 pm, OzoNE Lounge at Anthony’s Steakhouse, FREE. MODEL STRANGER W/ REX MANNING & PER ASPERA, (Rock) 8 pm, Venue 51, $5. THE UNLIKELY CANDIDATES AND THE VEGABONDS, 8 pm, Waiting Room, $8. WAITING ROOM MUSIC QUIZ, 8 pm, Waiting Room, FREE. PIANO HOUR W/ EMILY BASS, 5 pm, Zoo Bar, Contact venue for charge. ZOO BAR HOUSE BAND, 7 pm, Zoo Bar, $3.

TUESDAY 11

VIC NASTY, 8 pm, Bar 415, Contact venue for charge. OPEN MIC NIGHT, 9:30 pm, Dubliner Pub, FREE. STUDENT ENSEMBLES: SYMPHONIC BAND, 7:30 pm, Kimball Recital Hall, General Admission $5 | Students/ Seniors $3.

MODEL STRANGER (CHI), NAKED SUNDAY, & TBA, 8 pm, Shamrock’s Pub & Grill, Contact venue for charge. SAINT RICH & DR. DOG, (Rock) 8 pm, Slowdown, $15. $2 TUESDAYS W/MAGMA MELODIER AND THE MARK THORNTON BAND, 9 pm, Vega, $2 21+ | $4 18-20. OPEN MIC HOSTED BY DAVE YOBLE, 8 pm, Venue 51, FREE. SAMANTHA FISH, 6 pm, Zoo Bar, $10. DJ RELIC SOUL PARTY, 8 pm, Zoo Bar, FREE.

WEDNESDAY 12

DICEY RILEYS, 7 pm, Brazen Head Irish Pub, FREE. MODEL STRANGER W/ ANSWER ME & TBA, (Rock) 9 pm, Duffy’s Tavern, $5. STUDENT ENSEMBLES: WIND ENSEMBLE, 7:30 pm, Kimball Recital Hall, General Admission $5 | Students/Seniors $3. SCREAMING FOR SILENCE W/THE MATADOR, WHITE PONY & SILVERSYDE, (Rock) 8 pm, Waiting Room, $7. NICK MOSS, (Blues) 6 pm, Zoo Bar, Contact venue for charge. LEFT-HANDED KINGS W/ MEGAHERBS, SPUTNIK KAPUTNIK AND MOSS, 9 pm, Zoo Bar, $5.

BY B.J. HUCHTEMANN

Playing With Fire, Soul & Blues

romoter Jeff Davis announces a change in venue and dates for Playing with Fire as part of the free concert series’ 11th year. Two free concerts will be presented at Midtown Crossing’s Turner Park with 5:30 p.m. starts. Thursday, June 26, Davis hosts Ben Poole and Jonas & The Massive Attraction. Thursday, July 3, spotlights Randy Oxford Band and The Madame Louise Project. Soul of John Black One show you might not have on your radar is the Soul of John Black at Lincoln’s Zoo bar Thursday, March 6, 9 p.m. Frontman John Bigham aka John Black has worked with Miles Davis, Dr. Dre and was guitarist/ keyboard player for Fishbone for eight years. The band’s 2013 disc, A Sunshine State of Mind (Yellow Dog Records), won rave reviews from tastemakers like The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and National Public Radio. Their vibey, genre-crossing music was called “retro soul tinged in country, funk and blues…a whole new brand of soul,” by Rolling Stone magazine. See yellowdogrecords.com/ sojb. More Zoo Music Lincoln’s Zoo Bar features a three-night run by Austin’s Billy Bacon. The Zoo favorite has shows Thursday, March 6, 6 p.m., Friday,

hoodoo

March 7, 9 p.m., and celebrates Bacon’s 50th birthday with a 5 p.m. show Saturday, March 8. Filling out the Zoo schedule are the always rockin’ Mezcal Brothers Friday, March 7, 5-7 p.m., and Lucas Kellison Saturday, March 8, 9 p.m. Coming up next week are two great young players. Samantha Fish plays a special Tuesday early show Tuesday, March 11, 6-9 p.m. Her fall 2013 disc, Black Wind Howlin’ (Ruf Records), was her latest collaboration with Mike Zito as producer. Nick Moss is up on Wednesday, March 12, 6-9 p.m. Moss is a 16-time Blues Music Award nominee with a new disc, Time Ain’t Free (Blue Bella), out March 18. Notable coming artists include Valerie June Saturday, March 15, Davina & The Vagabonds March 19, Carolyn Wonderland March 25 and Hadden Sayers March 26. 21st Saloon The 21st Saloon presents electrifying guitarist and band leader Joe Louis Walker & The Boss Talkers Thursday, March 6, 6-9 p.m. and Samantha Fish with fellow Kansas City band Old No. 5s Thursday, March 13, 6-9 p.m. Hot Notes The Sower Dance Party brings a 1950s style dance to Lincoln’s classic Pla Mor Ballroom, 6600 W. O St., Saturday, March 9. It’s a CD release for The Bottle Tops and features guests Billy Bacon and The Mezcal Brothers. See thebottletopsmusic.com.

101630 – Omaha Reader – TBD

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. Follow her blog at hoodoorootsblues.blogspot.com.

BIG HEAD TODD AND THE MONSTERS MARCH 9

GREAT WHITE AND SLAUGHTER MARCH 28 Tickets available at whiskeyroadhouse.com, Ticketmaster.com or by phone at 1-800-745-300

I-29 South, Exit 1B | horseshoe.com Must be 21 years or older to attend shows or to gamble. Know When To Stop Before You Start.® Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-BETS-OFF (Iowa) or 1-800-522-4700 (National). ©2014, Caesars License Company, LLC.

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| THE READER |

MARCH 6 - 12, 2014 2/12/14

5:48 PM

overtheedge LIFESTYLE COLUMN BY TIM MCMAHAN

BRAIN DRAIN OR BRAIN GAIN?

he names seemed to be piling up. One after another I kept hearing about young, talented musicians moving away from our great city — our great state — to find lives elsewhere. In most cases, “elsewhere” is Los Angeles. The first two names that come to mind are Laura Burhenn and Jenna Morrison. Burhenn moved to Omaha four years ago from Washington, D.C., and formed the indie rock band The Mynabirds. The band released two dynamite albums on nationally respected record label Saddle Creek (based here in Omaha, its roster includes indie stars The Thermals and Cursive among others) and proceeded to make a name for themselves by touring around this great country of ours. I found out last month that Laura moved to Los Angeles. Jenna Morrison was the lead singer of indie band Conduits, who released an album in 2012 on East Coast label Team Love Records (a label founded by Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst). Conduits debut was a head-spinner, and the band seemed to be on the verge of getting to “the next level,” when out of nowhere they broke up. I found out in December that Jenna also moved to Los Angeles. They were not alone. A few years back, Chris Senseney and Stefanie Drootin of the band Big Harp, also on Saddle Creek Records, moved to LA. Then last year came word that Tim Kasher of the band Cursive was now living in Chicago. And last month you read an interview in this column about singer/songwriter now poet Kyle Harvey. Once a Benson fixture as indelible as the neon Louis sign, Harvey now lives in Fruita, Colorado. There was a time in the early 2000s when Omaha and Nebraska in general was a magnet for musical talent, all driven to the Heartland

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

MARCH 6 - 12, 2014

like moths to a lightbulb by a burgeoning indie music scene driven by the international success of Saddle Creek Records. And while Saddle Creek is still pumping out albums (the new one by Nashville native PUJOL drops in May), the label’s fame has waned over the past few years, due in part to a flailing music industry and the exodus of its core artists like The Faint and Bright Eyes (who has “reportedly” called it quits, with frontman Oberst now signed to Nonesuch Records). Surrounded by this dark, lonely news, I was ready to declare the beginning of the end. There had to be a way to slow down the “brain drain” happening right before our eyes. Part of the answer is Hear Nebraska, a nonprofit cultural organization whose mission is to cultivate the state’s vibrant, fertile music and arts community. Through its website (hearnebraska.org), HN provides resources and a voice for musicians and members of Nebraska’s creative class and the people and businesses that support them. Full disclosure: I’m a founding board members of Hear Nebraska. As I was contemplating writing this column (and in the depths of my despair), I reached out to Hear Nebraska Executive Directory Andy Norman to get his take on this perceived brain drain epidemic. It was Norman who talked me off the ledge by pointing out that he believed none of the recent flights from Nebraska reflected any sort of trend. “When I look at who has left, all are still really

First-Run Films Stranger By the Lake First-Run

Dir. Alain Guiraudie. Starts Friday, March 7

“Abounds with precision and detail, evinced not just in the spectacular visual composition but also in the observation of behavioral codes in carnally charged spaces. “ -- Melissa Anderson, Village Voice

Oscar Shorts! The Academy Award Nominated Short Films 2014 First-Run Last chance!

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over the edge

connected to Omaha,” Norman said. “I think that honestly the bright side is that they’re telling the story of Nebraska music wherever they’re at. I see them more as ambassadors. All have positive things to say about the city and its music scene.” Wise ol’ Norman explained that young people need to see other places and take on new challenges. “Obviously we want everyone to move here and stay here forever, but that doesn’t always happen,” he said. “I don’t think these people leaving are a reflection of Omaha or the scene. They all had individual reasons (to leave). For some, it was time to get out of town. It just happens.” Meanwhile, new talent continues to move to Omaha, talent like Dan Scheuerman, frontman of indie rock band Deleted Scenes. He and his wife, Jessica, moved to Omaha from Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2012. “My wife is from here and we wanted to start a family, and both our parents are from the Midwest,” Scheuerman said, adding that he stayed in D.C. for a long time only because of his band. Now at age 31 and with a son, he said it was time to make the move. “Our lives are getting bigger than being in a band.” No, Scheuerman hasn’t given up music. In fact, Deleted Scenes has an amazing new album called

Lithium Burn coming out April 15 on Park The Van Records. He said Omaha’s music scene played a role in his relationship from the start. “Funny enough, it’s kind of how Jessica and I bonded,” he said. “She was in D.C. doing an internship, and we met talking about Omaha; we talked about Saddle Creek all night. She said the city was a great place to raise a family and a great place to live. It had a romantic appeal to me.” And besides, living in D.C. wasn’t easy. “D.C. doesn’t have a culture that supports music,” Scheuerman said. “I don’t feel like it’s a part of the city’s identity the way it is in Omaha.” Also a freelance writer, Scheuerman is involved in both Hear Nebraska and music website Omahype. “You can do cool shit in Omaha,” he said. “Maybe brain drain is OK, because there’s a little bit more room to do cool things. If everyone was coming here to show off their creativity, it would be a higher barrier for entry.” Norman agrees with the cool shit part. He pointed out that though Kasher and Oberst have flown the coop, both are involved in local businesses -- Kasher co-owns O’Leaver’s and Oberst co-owns Pageturners. “Isa Moskovitz (who is big in the culinary world) is opening a restaurant next to O’Leaver’s,” Norman added. “(Music venue) Vega opened in Lincoln. These are pretty awesome trends. “Bands can come and go, but as long as the infrastructure continues to develop, I’m not worried at all,” Norman said. Now that you mention it, neither am I.

OVER THE EDGE is a weekly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, music, the media and the arts. Email Tim at tim.mcmahan@gmail.com. And be sure to check out his blog at Lazy-i.com

The Past First-Run (PG-13)

Dir. Asghar Farhadi. Through Thursday, March 13 “Another brilliantly mounted drama concerning fracturing families, hidden motives and the difficulties of attaining stability in a rapidly changing world.” -- Godfrey Cheshire, RogerEbert.com

Coming Soon Child’s Pose First-Run The Grand Budapest Hotel First-Run (R) Tim’s Vermeer First-Run (PG-13)

The Hitchcock 9 Generously supported by Sam Walker. Blackmail 1929

Thursday, March 13, 7 pm Live score by Joe Knapp, Jim Schroeder, Luke Polipnick & Amanda DeBoer Bartlett Tickets: $12 general, $10 for students, seniors, teachers and military, and $8 for Film Streams Members.

Forever Young Admission just $2.50 for kids 12 and under! Paper Moon 1973

Dir. Peter Bogdanovich. March 8, 9, 13, 15, 16 & 20

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MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

newsoftheweird

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

Prison Blues

orway’s prison system is regarded as among the most inmate-friendly in the world, but convicted mass murderer Anders Breivik is still not impressed. Breivik, serving 21 years for the 2011 bomb-and-gun attacks that killed 77 people, may already enjoy amenities unheard of for a comparable American murderer, but he sent wardens 12 demands in November, including an upgrade of his manual typewriter and his PlayStation 2 (to a PS3, with better access to game selection). He also demanded that his weekly government “allowance” (equivalent of $49) be doubled, and said if the “torture” of his living conditions is not relieved, he would be forced into a hunger strike. (Breivik threatened a similar strike in 2012, citing “inhumane” conditions such as cold coffee, lack of skin moisturizer and insufficient butter for his bread.)

The Continuing Crisis -- Following alarming reports, the Ohio attorney general’s office began working with the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association in December to be vigilant for pet owners who might be commandeering their dogs’ and cats’ pain killers -- for their own use. Worse, other reports suggested some owners were deliberately injuring their pets just to obtain the drugs. -- The Super Bowl may be the “holy grail” for Las Vegas sports gambling, but outside the United States, horse-racing, soccer and, surprisingly, pro tennis dominate. Tennis provides bettors with 19,000 matches a year (compared to 1,200 NBA games, 2,400 Major League Baseball games and fewer than 300 NFL games), with betting on 400,000 individual games and even on individual points, of which there are nearly 2.5 million, according to a January New York Times dispatch from Melbourne, Australia. In January’s Australian Open, a routine fourth-round women’s match between play-

MARCH 6 -12, 2014

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weird news

ers ranked ninth and 28th in the world attracted more than $4 million in wagers -- on just the first set. -- Grrrrr! (1) In Chedzoy, England, in January, the border collie spaniel Luce was “re-homed” after Royston Grimstead, 42, learned that she had chewed completely through a wheel arch on his $120,000 Aston Martin. Said Grimstead, “(S)he had this guilty look on her face.” (2) A magistrates court in Aberystwyth, Wales, convicted Ms. Rhian Jeremiah, 26, of criminal damage in January for biting into the roof of a Fiat 500 during an alcohol-fueled incident last year. Said the car’s owner, “I could hear metal crunching” (but, said Jeremiah’s lawyer, “not quite like” the scene in a James Bond movie featuring the character “Jaws”). -- When a brand-new, exhaustively itemized medical coding system debuts in October (planned long before “Obamacare,” by the way), doctors will find, for example, dozens of separate numbers to describe dealings with a patient’s big toe (left one, right one, with or without nail damage, blisters, abrasions, critter bites, fractures, dislocations, sprains, amputation, etc.). Among the odder listed “origins of injury,” reported The New York Times in December, are codes for “burning water skis” and injuries incurred in opera houses, or while knitting, or as a manifestation of sibling rivalry. The current system has about 17,000 codes, but the new one totals 68,000 for diagnoses plus 87,000 for procedures.

Close Enough for Government Work Clare Lally, weary of her three-flight front walk, demanded a wheelchair ramp on her government-subsidized house in Duntocher, England, for her daughter, 7, who has suffered from bulbar palsy since birth, and the West Dunbartonshire Council came through promptly. A front-yard-dominating concrete platform was built in January (costing the equivalent of $67,000), consisting of a 10-level “snake”-style series

COPYRIGHT 2014 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).

of ramps with steel railings. Not only does navigating the “snake” take time, but Lally now complains that the ramp has been taken over by neighborhood kids as a skateboard run.

Smooth Reactions Higher-Intellect Confrontations: (1) Following an evening of heavy drinking, according to police in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region in January, a former schoolteacher, 52, was charged with fatally stabbing his host, 67, during a dispute over whether poetry or prose is the more important literary form. (2) One Russian man shot another (nonfatally, with rubber bullets) in the town of Rostov- on-Don in September in an argument over theories of German philosopher Immanuel Kant. (3) Nadja Svenson, 22, was charged on Christmas Eve in Londonderry, N.H. (a night with clear skies, apparently), with stabbing her father in the chest during bickering over the position of the Big Dipper. Perspective The lukewarm prosecution of two Steubenville (Ohio) High football players for an August 2012 rape was foundering until Internet hacker Deric Lostutter, 26, raised the incident’s profile, but now Lostutter faces a vindictive prosecution and the possibility he could serve a prison sentence five times longer than the wrist-slap detention the now-convicted rapists served. When Lostutter took interest, many Steubenville students and residents had been hoping to quiet the case or even blame the victim, but (according to November reporting by Rolling Stone) apparently one Steubenville High official managed to convince the FBI that Lostutter’s hacking of the official’s personal emails was a greater national threat than the rapes and provoked a SWAT raid on Lostutter’s modest farmhouse. (Besides the football players, the city’s school superintendent was indicted for tampering with evidence and three other officials for false statements and failing to report child abuse.) Inexplicable The first-ever skydive by Makenzie Wethington, 16, in Chickasha, Okla., in January was a catastrophe --

a tangled parachute that opened “halfway” with the girl unable to reach the emergency chute. She fell into a spiraling free fall from 3,500 feet and landed with a thud, but somehow survived. Mackenzie had shattered vertebrae, a split-in-half pelvic bone, two broken ribs, tooth loss and various internal injuries. Said her sister Meagan, to incredulous doctors and nurses, “She, obviously, she hit the ground, but she did not hit the ground. God’s hand caught her.”

The Aristocrats! An alcohol-hammered Troy Prockett, 37, was arrested in January near Hudson, Mass., after his car spun out of control on Interstate 290 and he fled on foot, pursued by state troopers who followed him to a tree, which he had climbed to about 30 feet up. Playing innocent, Prockett asked if the troopers had yet “caught the guy who was driving.” The driver was still loose, Prockett said, even though only one set of footprints led to the tree (but, Prockett explained, that was because the real driver was carrying him piggyback!). Finally, as firefighters were arriving to climb after him, Prockett (according to the troopers’ report) “rambled on about being an owl.” Least Competent Criminals Not Ready for Prime Time: Andre Bacon, 21, was arrested in February in the Cragin neighborhood in Chicago after, police said, he tried to carjack a woman who was about to get in the car in her garage. The woman gave up her keys, but ran out and closed the door as she left, locking Bacon in the garage with no way out. Police arrived minutes later to find Bacon sitting meekly in the driver’s seat.

CALL OR CHECK OUR WEBSITE FOR MOVIE TIMES AND PRICES

Readers’ Choice RiDQulous: The headline read “Man Arrested Allegedly Trying to Sell Stolen Brains at Dairy Queen.” David Charles, 21, was charged in Indianapolis in January with arranging the deal involving 60 jars of mental patients’ brains (some from the 1800s) stolen from the Indiana Medical History Museum. The buyer (actually, an undercover cop) had agreed to meet at the restaurant. COPYRIGHT 2014 CHUCK SHEPHERD

weird news

| THE READER |

MARCH 6 -12, 2014

Sheepskinned Con Dumb Wolf of Wall Street is all excess and sex by Ryan Syrek

o review of The Wolf of Wall Street at this stage of the game is to enter into an ongoing narrative feud with able critical champions on both sides. Does the film’s dramatization of real-world douchehammer Jordan Belfort’s drug-fueled depravity lend tacit approval, implicitly embracing harmful excess for entertainment? Or does it offer a back-handed critique of “Wall Street executive as modern Caligula” and our apathy about prosecuting it. Um…neither? Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) is depicted as the aspiring asshole’s Horatio Alger. He starts at ground zero with a firm led by a chest thumping madman (Matthew McConaughey) that quickly dissolves. Instead of giving up, he leads a ragtag band of misfits to success selling “penny stocks,” in a less-than-savory-or-legal scheme. With the help of the ridiculously-toothed Donnie (Jonah Hill), Belfort soon starts his own firm that uses beyond-shady practices. Before you know it, Belfort and his boys are snowboarding on cocaine drifts and putting their business wherever they want in both literal and euphemistic senses. As comes the rise to riches, so comes the inevitable fall to conviction and despair. Those who see The Wolf of Wall Street as the modern bookend to Goodfellas aren’t wrong, as once more greed and criminality befall the charming but crooked. But there’s the rub: the comeuppance in director Martin Scorsese’s earlier movie was palpable. The last line in Goodfellas is Henry’s admission that he’ll spend the rest of his life “as a shnook.” The last thing shown in The Wolf of Wall Street is Belfort looking healthy

REPORTCARD

When The Lego Movie caught lightning in a bottle and turned a potentially horrid cash grab into an entertaining flick, the studio reaction was predictable: We should try hitting that hole-in-one miracle shot again! Warner Bros. bought the rights to Minecraft, which you should have your kids explain to you. The ugly, chunky animated game is also largely narrative free, which is still a bad thing but now Warner Bros. thinks it is a good thing so look out for falling box office. There won’t be an Anchorman 3. This is good news to people who thought the sequel was bad, bad news to people who thought the sequel was news and not news of any kind to grandparents around the world. Adam McKay, who directed both films, said that the latest gigantic re-cut version of Anchorman 2 that is being re-released in theaters is the last hurrah, complete with 700 new jokes and added footage. Seeing as how Ron Burgandy was almost as omnipresent recently as Kevin Hart, it’s hard to be too sad to see the mustachioed newsman ride off into the sunset. Seth Rogen, who starred in a movie last year where a gigantic Satan had his penis cut off, spoke to the US Congress this week. He shared a personal story about his mother-in-law and called for increased awareness and funding for Alzheimer’s research. He did so in his charming, self-deprecating way before taking his argument online, where he pointed out the hypocrisy of representatives who took photo ops with him but failed to attend his session. Good for Rogen to leverage his fame into a cause he believes in. If he can oversee the severing of the devil’s penis, I believe he can do anything. —Ryan Syrek Cutting Room provides breaking local and national movie news … complete with added sarcasm. Send any relevant information to film@thereader.com. Check out Ryan on Movieha!, a weekly half-hour movie podcast (movieha.libsyn.com/rss), catch him on radio on CD 105.9 (cd1059.com) on Fridays around 7:30 a.m. and on KVNO 90.7 (kvno.org) at 8:30 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/thereaderfilm).

MARCH 6 - 12, 2014

| THE READER |

film

and happy having reinventing himself as a seminar-leading sales strategy teacher. That ending, combined with unnecessary and wholly redundant sequences of debauched extravagance, have led to a critique of the film as a “secondary exploitation” of all the victims of Belfort’s real-life crimes. But that reading completely ignores the repeated shaming and emasculation of Belfort; Scorsese shows him to be a feeble coward and a flat-out depraved criminal. The problem is that the film drops the ball when it comes to FBI agent Denham (Kyle Chandler). The easiest way to stick a middle finger at Wall Street would be to depict Denham as a hero, the white knight champion of the 99%. Instead, he mostly gets ignored, save for a weird final shot on the subway that almost suggests he wishes he were Belfort himself. DiCaprio gives his best performance yet, seductively selling when not frantically yelling. That alone redeems an experience that is a wolf in sheep’s clothing: it is a film that appears to be about something but really has little to say. One more note: Margot Robbie crackled as Belfort’s wife, a fascinating character that is largely ignored. It sure would have been nice to see more of her. More of her character, that is, we see plenty of her physical form and those of scores of other women paraded about and copulated with relentlessly. Trim an hour of the repetitive smut and insert a cohesive thesis for DiCaprio’s performance to rely on and maybe this would have earned all the praise it has received.

READER RECOMMENDS

The Lego Movie = B+

Turns out you can make an awesome movie about inanimate plastic blocks.

GRADE = BON DVD

Blue Jasmine = B+ A show-stopping performance for Cate Blanchett.

Nebraska = B-

Austenland = BA criticism of fanatics that winds up feeling a bit like fan fiction.

Her = B+

Ender’s Game = C This is one tame, lame video game.

Another nice, quiet, muted film from the master. Love between a man and his computer can be beautiful.

American Hustle = B

Solid, slightly odd, con film with great female performances.

Rush = B+ True story about a sport we don’t care about that you’ll actually care about!

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| THE READER |

MAR. 6 - 12, 2014

3119

“ABSOLUTELY THE NO. 1 SHOW IN THE WORLD... No other company or of any style can match this!” —Kenn Wells, former lead dancer of the English National Ballet

BEFORE THE DAWN OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, A DIVINELY INSPIRED CULTURE BLOSSOMED IN THE EAST… EMBARK ON an extraordinary journey across 5,000 years of Chinese civilization! From ancient dynasties to the modern day, witness inspiring stories and legends come alive on stage. Featuring classical Chinese dance, a full orchestra, exquisite costumes, and dazzling animated backdrops, Shen Yun will transport you to another world. Experience a performance that can truly touch your soul. Experience Shen Yun.

ALL-NEW SHOW WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA

aerial masters THROUGHOUT the 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, martial arts techniques— tempered on the battlefield—were incorporated into classical Chinese dance in what has become a vast repertoire of jumps, spins, and tumbling techniques. Over the centuries, each dynasty instilled profound wisdom and different aesthetic principles into classical Chinese dance. Today, authentic classical Chinese dance is one of the most demanding and expressive art forms in the world. Experience what dance can be.

“Mesmerizing!”

T N

SHEN YUN “Shen Yun” is an elegant Chinese name that can be translated as “the beauty of heavenly beings dancing.” Shen (神) means “divine” or “divine being,” and Yun (韻) refers to a dancer’s bearing and the meaning behind his or her movement. Together, the name expresses what Shen Yun aspires to achieve: an experience so beautiful and joyous that it evokes a sense of the heavens.

watch ancient myths & legends come alive

—Donna Karan, creator of DKNY

“I was in heaven watching it!” —Andrea Huber, veteran dance critic

5,000 YEARS OF CIVILIZATION. LIVE ON STAGE!

BRAVE GENERALS, heavenly maidens, mischievous monks, and, yes, even a flying pig! China’s 5,000 years have yielded an endless trove of legends, myths, and literary classics. Through the wonder of classical Chinese dance, Shen Yun brings these stories to life in vivid detail. Experience a performance that not only entertains, but also educates and inspires.

hear two classical traditions in one glorious sound

MARCH 8—9 ORPHEUM THEATER

Witness legends, myths, and literary classics come to life through the artistry of classical Chinese dance.

ShenYun.com/Omaha TicketOmaha.com | 402-345-0606

2 DAYS ONLY

Order Tickets Now!

FROM THE MOMENT the gong is struck to herald the beginning of the show, you know you are in for something memorable. The Shen Yun Orchestra masterfully blends two of the world’s greatest classical music traditions, Chinese and Western. Ancient instruments like the soul-stirring erhu and the delicate pipa lead the melody on top of a full Western orchestra, creating an exhilarating sound. A refreshingly new musical experience.

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