The Reader March 20 - 26, 2014

PROFESSIONAL HEALTHCARE SRVCS Licensed Practical Nurse.

Contact Laura Jensen at ljensen@phcsonline.com Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

WEST CORPORATION Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

DIRECTV is currently recruiting for the following position in Omaha: FIELD SUPERVISOR. 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. 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.

OMAHA STEAKS Freezer Assembler (PartTime). 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 todd.molstad@alegent.org.

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THE GROUNDSKEEPER Foreman/Laborer. Contact Todd Lewis at ponddoctor. todd@yahoo.com. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

OMAHA STEAKS Copy Writer. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more info.

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 FITTER Sales 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.

JENSEN GARDENS Landscape Foreman and Horticulturalist. Contact Sue at sue@jensengardens. com. Go to OmahaJobs. com for more information.

ALEGENT CREIGHON HEALTH Supervisor-RN Maternal Services IMC FT. Contact Teri Prochaska @ teri.prochaska@alegent.org.

Go to OmahaJobs.com for info.

HY-VEE Floral Designer, Certified Pharmacy Technician, Pharmacy Intern, . Contact Todd Lewis at ponddoctor. todd@yahoo.com Go to OmahaJobs.com for info.

CATHOLIC CHARITIES Therapist & U/A Program Asst./Data Specialist. Bonnie Pulte at bonniep@ ccomaha.org. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more info.

ALPINE ACADEMY Family Teachers. Contact Michele at mboguslofski@ alpineacademy.org. Go to OmahaJobs.com for info.

SNELLING STAFFING SERVICES See all listings at OmahaJobs.com for more info.

OMAHA STEAKS Customer Acquisition Marketing Manager.

Go to OmahaJobs.com for info.

BETTER LIVING, INC. Direct Support Professional.

Contact Human Resources at onlineapp@bliconnect. com. 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.

THE GOOD FEET STORE Assistant Manager for Sales.

Contact Lisa at lisa@goodfeetmidwest. com. Go to OmahaJobs. com Job Fair for more info.

CONVERGYS Inbound Customer Service Sales Agents. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more info.

PREMIUM RETAIL SERVICES Temporary, Daytime Reset.

Contact Brittany Cotner at Brittany.cotner@premiumretail.com. Go to OmahaJobs. com for more information.

AUTO 1 TOWING Tow Truck Driver. Contact Kim at auto1safety.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.

KINGHORN GARDENS Gardners Wanted. Contact Dan at dan@kinghorngardens.com. Go to OmahaJobs.com for information.

ALEGENT CREIGHON HEALTH Cook Lakeside Hospital On Call. Contact Todd Molstad at todd.molstad@alegent. com. Go to OmahaJobs. com for more information.

TRADE WELL PALLETCDL A Driver - -Sawmill. Contact Doug Cheney at dcheney@ tradewellpallet.com. Go to OmahaJobs.com for info.

OMAHA STEAKS Electrical Maintenance Mechanic & Night Sanitation.

Contact Maricela Garcia at maricelag@omahasteaks. com. Go to OmahaJobs. com for more information.

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Pioneer Publishing, the parent company of El Perico and The Reader, has co-working space available near the heart of South Omaha for creative professionals looking for a great work atmosphere for as little as $75/ month, including internet service. Perfect studio space available for the right person.

Please contact Clay Seaman, clays@thereader.com or 402-341-7323 x108 if you are interested.

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MARCH 20 - 26, 2014

| THE READER |

omaha jobs

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

Resist the Roundup

G

reen grass is the American Way. Is there a greater symbol of success than a lush, manicured, tailored lawn? Okay, maybe a Tesla Model S in the circular driveway competes. But lawn green means long green to the US lawn care industry.

Americans spend $40 billion yearly to keep weeds and bugs off our grass. That’s a lot of poison and more cash than the national budget for foreign aid.

As the weather warms, legions of urban dwellers will patrol yards, sidewalks and driveways toting plastic spray bottles and slowly killing themselves, family and neighbors. And it will get worse with Roundup resistant grass.

Dandelions don’t kill. Roundup does. Roundup is a trade name for perhaps the most powerful weedkiller in history, glyphosate. Discovered, packaged, promoted and marketed by Monsanto, Roundup soon became the number one herbicide in agriculture and home use. It really took off when Monsanto genetically altered crops like corn and soybeans so they would be unaffected by glyphosate. Farmers could plant Monsanto’s patented “Roundup Ready” corn, for example, then spray as much Roundup weedkiller on the field as they wanted, annihilating every plant or weed without killing the corn. Perfect. Monsanto invents a viciously toxic herbicide then invents a seed crop that resists it. They sell both to farmers.

Closed loop with huge profits.

Worked great — for a while. Then Monsanto packaged this devastating poison for home use and now we see bottles of Roundup in garages, basements and sheds from coast to coast. Every weekend in the spring, summer and fall we see ignorant and unsuspecting dolts waddling along their sidewalks and driveways armed with spray bottles to squirt the weeds back into the dirt while exposing their skin, lungs, pets and children to a natural disaster.

Unintended consequences — again. But as Mother Nature is wont to do, she evolved weeds that became glyphosate-resistant. Uh-oh! Like antibiotic-resistant bacteria, nothing in our chemical arsenal could kill them and trouble emerged. On farms far and wide in the US and abroad, so-called superweeds are cropping up that are near impossible to kill with Roundup or any other herbicide.

The second real problem with glyphosate is that it’s not so good for humans. Remember, Monsanto is the company that gave us Agent Orange used in Vietnam and that didn’t work out too well. Glyphosate is similar in many ways.

Suspicion That colorful spray bottle promising weedfree yards is poisoning you. Here’s what we know so far.

A recent study published in the journal Interdisciplinary Toxicology links glyphosate exposure to a complex

set of symptoms known as celiac disease. The researchers state, “[Celiac disease] is a multifactorial disease associated with numerous nutritional deficiencies as well as reproductive issues and increased risk to thyroid disease, kidney failure and cancer. Here, we propose that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide, Roundup®, is the most important causal factor in this epidemic.”

In more research, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in February, 2014, glyphosate is suspected of causing a devastating kidney disease affecting those who handle it: “[Glyphosate] seems to have acquired the ability to destroy the renal tissues of thousands of farmers when it forms complexes with a localized geo environmental factor (hardness) and nephrotoxic metals.” The study found that thousands of farmers who handle the weed killer get irreversible kidney disease in a short time, especially when other factors like hard water (like some we have in Omaha) is involved.

Glyphosate and breast cancer. Another study, this time in Food and Chemical Toxicology states, “Glyphosate induces human breast cancer cells growth via estrogen receptors.” As with most research, the researchers conclude “further studies are indicated and more research should be done.” That’s always a laugh to me. Of course researchers would say “more research should be done.” It’s job security.

Don’t stop there Studies link “gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.” and “a multitude of pathologies in the brain, including autism, Alzheimer’s disease, ADHD, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and ALS.” The herbicide has already been “linked with spontaneous abortions, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma in humans; and in laboratory studies glyphosate caused liver damage in rats.” Many countries in Europe, Asia, South America have banned the use of Roundup or glyphosate.

The evidence mounts against the herbicide used daily on American lawns and driveways. It took nearly 30 years for us to realize that Agent Orange killed and is killing Vietnam War veterans. Now we are seeing the beginning of an awareness that glyphosate is taking us down the same path. The safest thing to do is to avoid it at all costs. Weed out the risk.

Opt out There are alternatives. Common household vinegar can kill most weeds. Other natural products can, too. Pulling weeds is a good exercise. Or just letting them grow can be considered smarter than poisoning them and one’s self. With some education and familiarity, you may find some “weeds” (burdock, lamb’s quarter, dandelions and others) suitable for the table. Article links at HeartlandHealing.com/news Be well. ,

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.

VISIONS FROM FIVE MINUTES INTO THE FUTURE • MARCH 20, 2014 • In the next few years, one of the topgrossing films of the year will be a film about truck drivers, set in the 1970s.

An unexpected result of this will be a renewed interest in CB slang.

Suddenly text messages will start including 10 code, and not just "10-4,"

meaning "understood," but also "10-20" for "my location is ... " Liquor will be redubbed "ninety weight," kisses will be called "forty fours," money will be referred to as "trading stamps," and police, of course, will AD 3: WEEK OF MAR once again be called "bears."

10, MAR

A R T E X H I B I T • M A R C H 7 - 2 9, 2 0 1 4

Embrace Creativity!

March 22

10 a.m.

$35

March 22

10 a.m.

$35

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

April 5

10 a.m.

$35

Song Writing with Beth Heimann Information and Registration OmahaCreativeInstitute.org Rebecca@OmahaCreativeInstitute.org 785-218-3061

heartland healing

Macafee Paintings Originals and prints available

Artists' Cooperative Gallery 405 S. 11th St. Omaha, NE 68102

www.macafeefineart.com | THE READER |

MARCH 20-26, 2014

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HUMMUS YUMMUS

B Y TA M S E N B U T L E R

M E D I T E R R A N E A N B I S T R O I N C R E D I B LY A U T H E N T I C

L

iving on the southern coast of Turkey for a couple years made me a bit of a snob when it comes to Mediterranean food back here in the States. I often find myself making smarmy comments along the lines of, “Oh, you think this is hummus? Too bad you can’t taste the hummus I ate when I lived on the southern coast of Turkey for a couple years.”

I know, I know – it’s annoying You can understand my trepidation about trying out the Mediterranean Bistro and Wine Bar, because after all, not only was I worried that I would be disappointed by the food but I was also a little afraid I might go into smarmy mode. That’s why I went with my friend Sara; she had recommended this place and hasn’t steered me wrong yet when it comes to food, and I also know that she wouldn’t sit there and allow me to be smarmy for too long before telling me to shut up.

An unassuming atmosphere Walking into the Mediterranean Bistro I could feel my smarminess readying itself to make an appearance. This place just doesn’t look much like a Mediterranean place either outside or in, so I worried that I would spend my lunch hour sighing loudly, eating ersatz Mediterranean food.

I soon noticed that the staff was quite nice.

They moved swiftly and were ready with recommendations or answers to questions. I started off by ordering the Hummus and Baba Gounush combo as an appetizer, which arrived at our table quickly and looked amazing.

I was confused. These folks didn’t know that I was there to review their food. They didn’t know that I once lived in the Mediterranean area and am a food snob. So why did the appetizer look so perfect? One bite confirmed my initial suspicion: it tasted amazing, and incredibly authentic.

crumbs

■ GETTING UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL Kitchen Table, 1415 Farnam, is planning its first series of Summer Sunday Suppers. Every third Sunday of the month, the Table will offer a four-course dinner that will feature two honored guests — a farmer and a producer that help make Kitchen Table’s menu possible. The entire Sunday Supper menu will focus on what the guest farmers have provided with an opportunity to get up close and personal with attendees about their passions for doing what they do. Tickets to the Summer Sunday Suppers will be sold in advance starting in May. If you are interested in more information, visit kitchentableomaha.com.

■ BENSON BREWERY ANSWERS THE LENTEN SOS Even if it is the season of Lent, there is no need to put your hearty appetites away. Coming to the Lenten rescue is the Benson Brewery, 6059 Maple St., which is offering blackened Atlantic salmon with pineapple and mango salsa, also pankobreaded shrimp both with your choice of side for just $12

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MARCH 20-26, 2014

An amazing menu Choosing a main dish was tough. While I really wanted to try their kabobs or a gyro, I couldn’t shake the fact that there was a Falafel Wrap on the menu. I’m crazy about falafel, particularly when it’s prepared correctly.

The wrap was served on herb flatbread and was accompanied by a side of cucumber yogurt sauce. If you’ve never seen a person absolutely demolish a falafel wrap, then you should try to go there the next time I show up to eat lunch. I tore that wrap up. It exceeded my expectations on every level, from flavor, to temperature to consistency. Had Sara ordered a wrap too, she probably would have had to hide in the corner lest I leap out of my seat and wrestle it out of her hands.

Luckily for Sara, she ordered some spicy chicken dish that was too spicy for me. I know this because when it arrived at

each. They are also offering beer-battered fish and chips and their new fish sandwich with citrus slaw, pickle and house tartar. Sounds like a great place to eat on Friday nights or any other night for that matter.

■ OPEN TABLE NAMES AN OMAHA TOP HOT SPOT? Pitch Coal Fire Pizzeria, 5021 Underwood Ave., has been named Top 100 Hot Spots in America on the Open Table Diner’s Choice awards list. According to opentable.com, these awards reflect the combined opinions of more than five million restaurant reviews submitted by verified Open Table diners for approximately 19,000 restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Pitch is the only restaurant that was voted into the top 100 from Nebraska.

— Krista O’Malley Crumbs is about indulging in food and celebrating its many forms.

Send information about area food and drink businesses to crumbs@ thereader.com.

| THE READER |

dish

the table, I could feel the spiciness wafting up from the dish. So she didn’t have to fend me off, which probably made for a much more pleasant dining experience overall.

Yes, absolutely check this place out It doesn’t matter if you’ve never set foot near the Mediterranean or if you’ve never before tasted Mediterranean food – you should try this place.

The food is delicious and relatively inexpensive, especially for the hearty portion sizes and the quality of the food. ,

Presented by

Fun for the whole family!

April 30 – May 4

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

Parade

Saturday, May 3 10:00 AM

Omaha Performing Arts Presents

Wayne Shorter Quartet April 2 | 7:30 PM | Holland Center

Tickets start at $25 | TicketOmaha.com | 402.345.0606 All productions, performers, prices, dates and times subject to change.

Fiesta & Exhibitors

Saturday, May 3 – Sunday, May 4 12:00 - 8:00 PM Register at www.CincodeMayoOmaha.com | info@cincodemayoomaha.com

| THE READER |

MARCH 20 - 26, 2014

5

OMAHANS PUT THEIR OWN SPIN ON THE CLASSIC HORROR STORY JASON LEVERING LEADS FIRST-EVER STAGE ADAPTATION OF HORROR CLASSIC TO BENEFIT BENSON

C

B Y L E O A DA M B I G A

redit Omaha writer-director Jason Levering for possessing the temerity to not only consider adapting Stephen King’s meta horror novel The Shining to the stage but to follow through and actually get the master’s approval.

Now he’s only hours away from seeing the adaptation he and Aaron Sailors wrote make its world premiere.

The Shining, A Play, has a three-show run March 21 and 22 at Sokol Auditorium, 2234 South 13th St., the old-line South Omaha space known for live music concerts, not full-blown dramatic theatricals. Make no mistake, this will be a big, effects-laden production commensurate with the sprawling, supernatural-laced source material.

The show’s a fundraiser for the Benson Theatre Project.

Levering is artistic director of the nonprofit, which needs $250,000 to purchase the former Benson vaudeville and movie house at 6054 Maple St. before renovation work can begin.

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| THE READER |

It’s adjacent to the Pizza Shoppe and PS Collective, whose owner, Amy Ryan, is the project’s executive director. Ryan, a community advocate and arts supporter, goes way back with Levering, who’s also co-founder of the Omaha Film Festival.

An Aurora, Neb., native, Levering’s worked on short films.

He and Sailors are collaborating on a feature film adaptation of short stories from author Dan Chaon’s Stay Awake collection.

That project’s on hold while Chaon works on the Starz series Most Wanted. Levering’s stage credits include acting in the Blue Barn Theatre’s Round Midnight series and adapting Oscar Wilde fairy tales at The Rose theater.

What made him think of reworking what many consider a horror masterpiece? It starts with him being “a huge Stephen King fan.” Then there’s the fact the claustrophobic story largely unfolds in one location, the Overlook Hotel, which lends itself well to stage presentation. Finally, there’s The Shining franchise of the popular novel as well as successful film and television treatments, not to mention the built-in brand that the title and King’s own name bring to any adaptation.

“The genesis started during the 2013 Omaha Gives campaign that raised some money for the theater,” Levering says. “Afterwards we talked about doing our own production as a fundraiser and how while we don’t have our own theater troupe we know enough people that we could try and put something together.

“We didn’t want it to be something that had already been done here. We wanted it to be something special, that is our own. But we also wanted it to be something recognizable.

I suggested doing a stage adaptation of a popular book that hasn’t been adapted yet. I naturally fixed on The Shining. We

cover story

all thought it was a great idea.”

That left the not so small matter of getting the famous author to bestow his blessing on the endeavor.

“You have to get permission from Mr. King for something like that,” says Levering, who made the overture to the agency, Paradigm, that represents the legend.

The go-ahead came easier and quicker than Levering imagined.

“Mr. King read our proposal and he was very interested in what we were doing with the Benson Theatre project and he gave us a limited option to adapt The Shining to stage.”

King also retained the right of approval over the script, the director (Levering) and the cast.

Levering next dived deep into the book and into the lore surrounding its inception and he discovered a reason why his instinct to adapt it as a play may have resonated with King.

“In my research I found out Mr. King originally conceived it as a five-act play and then he eventually turned it into a novel.”

Levering’s careful study of the book reintroduced him to the story’s great set-up. Jack and Wendy Torrance and their boy Danny become stranded in a haunted mountain hotel in a winter storm. Danny’s extrasensory gift makes him the target of evil spirits who prey on him through his weak father, intent on forever imprisoning the family there.

“It kind of has everything. The other thing it has going for it is these fantastic characters, Jack especially. He’s written as a good man, a recovered alcoholic with some anger issues but doing his damnedest to pull his family back together. To continued on page 8 y

Poseidon and the Sea

Myth, cult, and daily life

Through May 11, 2014

The life and music of Ella Fitzgerald Organized by the Tampa Museum of Art This exhibition has a $10 ticket fee.

Free for members, youth ages 17 and younger, and college students with ID.

Starring Kathy Tyree

FEB. 28 – MARCH 30

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

The realm of Poseidon encompassed virtually every aspect of life in the ancient Mediterranean world, from mythology and religious cult to daily activities. The exhibition centers around an imposing marble statue of the god from the first century AD that sets the stage for more than 100 works of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art produced over more than a millennium.

MAJOR SPONSOR: Douglas County; CONTRIBUTING SPONSOR: Peter Kiewit Sons’, Inc., Valmont Industries, Inc.; SUPPORTING SPONSOR: Mutual of Omaha; Additional Support provided by: Nebraska Arts Council and Nebraska Cultural Endowment.

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

orchestra sponsor:

media sponsor:

2200 Dodge St. | Omaha, NE | (402) 342-3300 | joslyn.org

Concert Tickets Start at $25!

402.345.0606

omahasymphony.org For Gala Dinner/VIP Concert Tickets, call Amy Jenson at 402.342.3836 x 141

APRIL 5 AT 8 PM HOLLAND CENTER Breathtaking aerial feats, gravity-defying juggling, astounding acts of contortion and strength the physical poetry of cirque meets the musical magic of the orchestra in a spectacular gala celebration.

| THE READER |

MARCH 20 - 26, 2014

7

y continued from page 6

go from that point where there’s all this hope when they first move into the Overlook to the end where he’s literally trying to kill his family it’s such an incredible journey.”

Distilling the heart of the story took Levering and Sailors some time.

“We went through the book together. Aaron broke it down into an outline so we could figure out the main beats of each scene – what we really needed to capture that was essential. We worked from that outline as we were writing the script. He took Act III, I took Act I, and we started working forward.”

They finished the remaining acts together.

“As we wrote we sent pages back and forth, editing and polishing each other’s work. We sent pages to another writer friend, Krissy Hamm, an associate producer on the show, and she gave us notes. It really helped to have that third person looking at it.”

Levering says he and Sailors abided by one operating principle.

“We both wanted to be very faithful to the book. A lot of the dialogue is pulled straight

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MARCH 20-26, 2014

from the book. There’s only a few points where the dialogue was changed or something was added so that the scene would play well on stage. For the most part though the dialogue is pretty much Mr. King’s words.”

Other things are being done to make certain story elements live on stage. For example, newspaper accounts Jack reads silently to himself in the novel are projected on a screen. Flashbacks play out on the side while the main action occurs stage center.

Creative ways were found to bring the Overlook’s topiary animals to life. Levering is intent on making the physical experience as visceral as possible for the audience and thus, William Castle-style, action and sound will happen throughout the auditorium, including the balcony.

Lighting and sound effects will cast a

| THE READER |

cover story

dark, malevolent mood.

Levering consulted Omaha theater veteran Kevin Lawler and brought in veteran scenic designer Kit Gough to help realize the horror. “I want it to be immersive. I want to give the audience the feeling they really may not go home. I want them to feel they’re sitting in the middle of the Overlook Hotel as it comes to life. From the time you walk in the door it’ll be like you’ve entered the Overlook.”

Levering had his own scary encounter with the work.

“My hardest challenge was the moment the hotel takes over Jack. I was excited to write it but I was also terrified of it because that scene is where his character shifts and becomes the monster. He’s in the Colorado Room and basically the hotel has come to life.

Lloyd the bartender manifests and pours him

a martini. That scene was difficult for me to write because it’s at that point he turns on his family and I honest to God had nightmares of wanting to hurt my wife and kids, even though I never would.

“The idea someone could turn like that is frightening. It was actually the last scene I wrote. It was the worst for me. I’m also an actor and so method-style I poured myself a martini and drank it while writing. I wanted to feel what he was going through.”

Levering feels “honored” and “thankful” King approved “the direction we’re taking.”

The cast is headed by Marc Erickson as Jack, Levering’s son Christopher as Danny and Christina Rohling as Wendy.

An invitation’s been extended to King, so don’t be surprised if you spot the king of horror among the throng. , Performances are 7 p.m. Friday and 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturday. For tickets, visit theshiningomaha. com. For more about the restoration project, visit bensontheatre.org. Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.wordpress.com.

The Bel Air

Comedy Dinner Theater

Saturday March 29th Doors/Bar Open: 6:30 Dinner: 7:00 Show: 8:00 $36 Each $64 Couple $31 Group / 6 per Featuring:

Austin Anderson

Starring: Karen Rontowski Charmingly Hysterical Seen on David Letterman

BUILD a

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From Comedy Central’s Work-A-Holics & America’s Got Talent

“World’s funniest paranormal investigator”

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| THE READER |

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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 2 0 - 2 6 , 2 0 14 WE BE LIONS

8 DAYS TOPTV Saturday, March 22

GHETTO KLOWN 9 p.m. HBO

SATURDAY 22 SUNDAY 23

TUESDAY 25

WE BE LIONS WITH VOODOO METHOD, AVIAN & JOHN KLEMMENSEN AND THE PARTY

INFLUENCE OF THE TIMES, CLASSICAL, JAZZ, ROMANTIC

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE WITH PAUL SERENO

As time moves ever onward, composers reflect the sounds that surround them, musically pointing toward the future. Leonard Bernstein and Morton Gould were moved by America’s homegrown music, jazz, merging it into symphonic dimensions, inspired by conceptions of Woody Herman and Benny Goodman. Their brilliance is evoked anew when Omaha’s Carmelo Galante picks up the challenge and his clarinet. He likewise delves into unique permutations of tango by Argentinian genius Astor Piazzolla. We don’t hear as much now from or about Belgium’s François-Joseph Gossec. He delighted in what his contemporaries Haydn and Mozart were doing and in the indigenous harmonies and rhythms influencing them. Walking in those same footsteps, he created delightful symphonies. Experience one.

About 100 years later Johannes Brahms was equally influenced by the same masters and by the folk music he cherished, flowing those sources into his Serenade No. 2. The orchestra soars and surges through these stretches of time. –Gordon Spencer

Heralded as a “modern-day Indiana Jones,” National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Paul Sereno has unearthed more than two-dozen new species of dinosaurs on five continents. His first discovery occurred in 1988 in the foothills of the Andes when his team discovered the first dinosaurs to roam the Earth, including the most primitive of all, Eoraptor. It resulted in the most complete picture yet of the dawn of the dinosaur PAUL SERENO era, some 225 million years ago. A professor at the University of Chicago, Sereno has penned several articles for National Geographic and scholarly journals, and is the focus of many documentaries. His honors include People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People, Esquire’s 100 Best People in the World, Boston Museum of Science’s Walker Prize for extraordinary contributions in paleontology, and Columbia University’s University Medal for Excellence.

Sereno visits The Holland Performing Arts Center on Tuesday for the National Geographic Live series. –Kyle Eustice

The Waiting Room In thisw stunning one-man show called Ghetto 6212 Maple St., Klown, John Leguizamo presents a “cautionary 8 p.m.; Tickets $8 tale.” He details his progression from a poor Lawww.onepercentproductions.com tino boy to a showbiz star to a jerk. Leguizamo may be the most appealing jerk in Broadway Although the members of local rock band We history. He gets the live audience laughing at Be Lions are fairly young, there is no shortage his colorful life story, always making himself of musical experience. Vocalist Cody “Kid” Fox the butt of the joke. With an assist from video, was part of the Omaha-based sound effects, impressions, Spanish slang and funk rock group Slang 5, expressive movement, he acts out his first which was active in the fumbling attempts at performance on a early 2000s. After Queens subway car. A series of menSlang 5 disbanded, tors encourages his theatrical talent, Fox was anxious to leading to TV and movie roles and get another project even acclaim as a playwright. Why, JOHN LEGUIZAMO going and We Be then, does his life keep bottoming Lions was eventually out? Leguizamo will explain it all formed in February for you, and rarely has failure been 2010. The first show so entertaining. With his genius for the band performed baring his soul via raunchy comedy, was on Halloween 2010 Leguizamo recalls Richard Pryor. But his at the Parliament Pub in influences stretch back even farther, to the Omaha. Several months later, philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson – that’s their debut self-titled album was released in evident in his quintessentially American selfMay of 2011 at The Waiting Room Lounge. reliance. Ghetto Klown ends with Leguizamo After extensive tours and plenty of live action, transforming himself into a better man, based We Be Lions is back with its sophomore effort, on hard-won insights from his psychic journey.

Fingerprints, due out March 22. According to And I bet, were he around, even Emerson would the We Be Lions website, “Our goal is clear, to be break-dancing to the celebratory blast of hipallow a wide variety of listeners the chance to hop music over the credits.

–Dean Robbins identify with what it is we do.” –Kyle Eustice

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| THE READER |

picks

Joslyn Art Museum’s Witherspoon Hall, 2200 Dodge St. 2 p.m.; Tickets $10-30 www.omahasymphony.org

The Holland Performing Arts Center, 1200 Douglas St., 7:30 p.m.; Tickets $54 www.omahaperformingarts.org

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MARCH 20 - 26, 2014

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Omaha Performing Arts Presents

Soweto Gospel Choir

MIKE BIRBIGLIA THANK GOD

March 27 | 7:30 PM | Holland Center

Tickets start at $20 | TicketOmaha.com | 402.345.0606 All productions, performers, prices, dates and times subject to change.

FOR JOKES TOUR 2014

Holland Performing Arts Center THURSDAY, MAY 15 7:30PM SHOW

Tickets: Ticket Omaha Box Office 1-402-345-0606 • Ticketomaha.com STEVE LITMAN PRESENTS

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

First-Run Films The Grand Budapest Hotel First-Run Dir. Wes Anderson.

Starts Friday, March 21

With Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton & Owen Wilson Child’s Pose First-Run

Dir. Cãlin Peter Netzer.

Through Thursday, March 27

Visiting Artist Go For Sisters First-Run Dir. John Sayles.

Tuesday, March 25, 7 pm

With Omaha native and Spirit Award nominnee Yolonda Ross in person!

Coming Soon Tim’s Vermeer (PG-13) Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me Under the Skin (R) Finding Vivian Maier New York Film Critics Series: Locke (R) Jodorowsky’s Dune (PG-13)

The Hitchcock 9 Generously supported by Sam Walker.

The Lodger 1927

Thursday, March 27, 7 pm Live score by The Ghosts Collective 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!

Big 1988 (PG)

Dir. Penny Marshall.

March 22, 23, 27, 29, 30 & April 3

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LOST IN AN ORGY OF MUSIC

H

ow does one summarize a week’s worth of music, madness, noise, fans, bands, booze, beers, streets of drunks and drugged and demented youth (and not-so-youthful) lost in an orgy of ideas and commerce and commercialism centered ’round hopes and dreams made by guitars, bass, drums and vocals (and sometimes keyboards) struggling to get noticed at the largest rock ’n’ roll festival on the planet?

That’s the challenge of reporting on the 2014 South By Southwest Music Festival, held last week in Austin, Texas. Want all the details? Go to thereader.com, where four days are covered moment-by-moment. Want just the highlights? Read on:

time singing from within the crowd and standing near the rooftop railing serenading folks on the street below.

PROTOMARTYR

@ FRENCH LEGISLATION PARK The Detroit-based punk band is fronted by a guy who looks like an insurance salesman, complete with a sensible haircut and full-on business attire, but who has a singing style akin to Husker Dü-era Bob

DEERPEOPLE

@ THE BUFFALO LOUNGE The six-piece band from Stillwater, Oklahoma, are Nebraska favorites having played at a number of Lincoln Calling Festivals over the years. With a flute player, two keyboards and a sometimes violinist, you might classify them as “chamber pop” except their music is too upbeat, too progressive for that moniker. Frontman Brennan Barnes has a rich, flawless voice from behind the keyboard, though he spent

Mould or Mark E. Smith of The Fall. Deadpan anger, straight-faced disgust, like an upset father holding tight his controlled rage and a back-up band that is pure Gang of Four post punk.

COACHWHIPS

@ FRENCH LEGISLATION PARK This was a reunion of sorts for frontman John Dwyer’s first band to make a mark, years before he formed Thee Oh Sees. Dwyer barked out songs into a distorted condenser microphone, while banging out chords on a beat-up metal-neck electric guitar. The crowd pushed right up to where he stood and bounced along to the brittle, good-time punk.

DESTRUCTION UNIT

@ BEERLAND PATIO The Arizona punk band’s blistering feedback-laden set proved their knack for finding sinewy melodies amidst the densest noise imaginable. It was impossible to actually see them from the street through the mob that formed outside the patio’s railing. Intense. Loud.

TWINSMITH

@ BAR 512 A crowd of 50 (with at least a third from Omaha) saw the band pull off a tight set of their best music, including a couple new continued on page 16 y

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ones. Call it a testimony to their appeal, at least a dozen fans were getting their groove on in front of the stage (which is to say, they were dancing).

EAGULLS

@ FRENCH LEGISLATION PARK Their bio says they were influenced by Dinosaur Jr. and PiL, but the only thing I could hear was the ringing/chiming guitar tones of early Cure and Flock of Seagulls, and that wasn’t a bad thing. From Leeds, the band’s 2014 self-titled debut on Knitting Factory Records is one of the hotter indie releases so far this year. If you closed your eyes you could imagine hearing a post-punk band emerge circa 1984.

FUTURE ISLANDS

@ FRENCH LEGISLATION PARK The band is riding a wave of popularity after a recent unforgettable performance on “Late Night with David Letterman” that showcased frontman Samuel T. Herring and his unique dance moves. Herring looks like a young Streetcar Brando combined with Deliverance Burt Reynolds and Kirkian Shatner, but with the intensity of a Rollins or Morrissey. The crowd went nuts not only for Herring but for the music, which recalls early Factory/New Order electronic dance. They rolled out a number of songs off their soon-to-be-released album Singles (out March 25 on 4AD).

seum (2013, Turnstyle). The uptempo songs combine post-punk and English folk, kind of like Richard and Linda Thompson music sung in a low, flat voice that recalls ‘60s siren Nico. The music can be both loopy and choppy, powered by minimal synths and Le Bon’s own economic electric guitar solos. Very avant-poppy.

EMA

@ CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH EMA, a.k.a. Erika M. Anderson, is a South Dakota singer/songwriter who had a hit in 2011 with buzz-howl droner Past Life Martyred Saints (Souterrain Transmissions). Her next album, The Future’s Void, comes out April 7 on Matador, and judging by what she played last night, will be more of a straight-forward post-rock album with just as much drama but a lot more rhythm.

ANGEL OLSEN @ CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH The red-hot indie upstart’s new album, Burn Your Fire For No Witness (Jagjaguwar), was anointed with Pitchfork’s “Best New Music” label.

The material came off better live. Olsen has a touch of Tammy Wynette in her voice, though her music is typical indie singer/songwriter fare (with a twang).

JEREMY MESSERSMITH

@ SWAN DIVE No one writes sweet-hearted hooks quite like Messersmith, each sung with a voice that puts Ben Folds to shame. His set was dedicated to songs off his new album, Heart Murmurs, released earlier this year on Glassnote. While the crowd of a hundred or so milled about during the beginning of his set, they were mesmerized by the end. Messersmith was messer-merizing.

CATE LE BON

@ WATERLOO RECORDS A Welsh singer/songwriter who now lives in LA, Le Bon and her band played a number of songs off her most recent album Mug Mu-

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special report

URGE OVERKILL

@ MAGGIE MAE’S The legendary band hasn’t released anything since their self-released Rock and Roll Submarine in 2011. Still, it’s hard to pass up the band behind 1993’s Saturation, and the classic single, “Sister Havana.” The capacity crowd got the hit along with a handful of other UO classics played by two of the original members — Nash Kato looking cool as ever in his wrap-around sunglasses, and a very sweaty Eddie “King” Roeser. Blackie Onassis was MIA.

EROS AND THE ESCHATON

@ VALHALLA This rendition of the band consisted only of Katey Perdoni on keys and guitar, and former Omahan Adam Hawkins on keys and drums, and that was all they needed. The crowd of 40 or so looked entranced by the duo’s drone, including a handful of Omaha folks come to see the former homeboy.

MARK KOZELEK

@ CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH I’ve been a fan of the man behind Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon as well as his own amazing solo output for years and figured I’d never get to see him perform live. And now here he was, sitting in the dark up on that altar, accompanied only by a drummer/harmony vocalist hidden somewhere behind him.

It was a gorgeous performance of music from his latest Sun Kil Moon album, Benji (2014, Caldo Verde), which I hadn’t heard prior to this set and have been listening to ever since. Kozelek was in perfect voice, artfully playing his acoustic guitar, creating waves of beauty and despair.

Kozelek played for almost a full hour, and despite not performing any of his classic RHP back catalog, it was one of the best concerts I’ve seen not only at SXSW, but anywhere.

Every year at SXSW there’s at least one performance that stands as a “perfect moment.” In 2010 it was the Big Star All Star Concert played just days after the death of Alex Chilton.

Two years ago it was Jesus & Mary Chain, and Bob Mould performing Copper Blue. I was beginning to wonder if I would get one of those perfect moments this year. Kozelek came through. ,

BURGERS, BUZZ AND BEYOND

M

y seventh year of South By Southwest coverage is now an Austin-based memory for me, but thankfully I’m filled with a notebook of band reviews and stray observations to sift through. Making sense of SXSW has long become a job for somebody else. In between the long lines, the milling crowds of people and the constant low-level thump of hundreds of kick drums on repeat. By now, I mostly stick to the comfort of my musical wheelhouse, gorging on hordes of garage, lo-fi pop, noisy psych-rock and punk-minded acts that play places like chic, eastside dive Hotel Vegas or the dank, dark but friendly confines of Beerland.

Chasing buzz acts can mostly be somebody else’s job, as the chance of this year’s crop of highly-touted up-and-comings (Eagulls, Drowners, Temples, Thumpers) surviving more than a few years seems remarkably slim. That’s both a reality of real-time Internet buzz’s fleeting fascinations and the entrenched fickleness of the music industry in general.

BURGER TIME Fullerton, Calif.’s Burger Records has become something of its own genre, folding in all matter of garage-rocking, basement-popping heroes under its banner. They hosted shows all across Austin, but for the most part the Burger sound made its home at Hotel Vegas. Now the biggest Burger question is when one of their bands will breakthrough to become, at the very least, a major indie rock touring act. While the bet had long been on party-rockin’ band Audacity to make that leap, now there is plenty more Burger bands clamoring for attention.

THAT SMELL In past years, the faint smell of marijuana only permeated the air in the biggest open-air venues and at a select few shows. This year, it seemed as if pot smoke wafted across a good portion of the city. People felt free to light up a joint or hit a personal-sized metal bat or glass piece on patios and in the street across the city. What remains unanswered is if the mass tokings are a sign of the changing attitudes of those under 30 to smoking weed or just a symptom of festival life.

ANGER MANAGEMENT While Burger raises the banner for its brand of party-punk garage, the best sounds emanating from Red River Street club Beerland took nastier, angrier turns, highlighted by two different breeds of abrasive Detroit rock. Protomartyr, highlighted by business-attired frontman Joe Casey, pummel with their heavy, menacing attack.

The anthems lurk underneath, but Casey’s scowl and pissed-off delivery add a meaner fuel to the fire. Tyvek rip through their songs with guitar riffs that cut into the sonic din, effectively conjuring up what Devo would have sounded if marinated in the DNA of the MC5 and the Stooges. Then there was Arizona’s Destruction Unit, a garage-punk journey into heavy stoner rock, post-rock and the sort of sonic overload that previously only Swans could pull off.

folds in elements of spiky British indie rock. Tons of commercial potential, but I can’t remember a single song three days later. Eagulls, whose frontman does the disinterested asshole singer thing pretty well, also owe a lot to British music history, dropping a post-punk groove into its punk-pop smash-up. Perfect Pussy seemed a mismatch for their set at the sprawling Stubb’s amphitheatre, sounding like their chaotic volume was merely a product of a souped-up PA system. They belong in a basement or dingy DIY venue. This year’s biggest out-ofnowhere buzz act though was 4AD synthpop act Future Islands. The

band’s career seemed locked in place until earlier this month when frontman Sam Herring captured David Letterman’s attention on the CBS Late Show, thanks to Herring’s intense dance moves. This band is about to explode, especially with a stellar upcoming record Singles about to drop and a live show that shows Herring channeling the best of Morrissey and hardcore frontman in equal measure.

BEYOND EXPECTATIONS The best part of SXSW is no longer the discovery of a new act, but a chance to be overwhelmed by just how great a familiar band can be on stage. Piano-based songwriter Perfume Genius did just that at St. David’s Historic Sanctuary, a downtown church that doubles as a SXSW venue.

Mike Hadreas is Perfume Genius and his songs are simultaneously pretty, delicate, emotionally heavy, stark, and brittle. It was impossible to not be moved by such a fully-felt performance. Canadian gothdance act TRUST also delivered a set that shattered my expectations, proving that maybe touring with the Faint has helped him push his own stage show to another level. It was a sweaty, dark dance party. Finally, I saw the Coachwhips three times, each set of the John Dwyer-fronted act elevating to another level. Thee Oh Sees’ mastermind revisited his Casio keyboard-powered trio, which had dissolved right before the advent of Thee Oh Sees.

The return was welcome and ended my SXSW at Beerland with a crush-mob huddled around the Coachwhips, who always play on the floor. The Coachwhips are too good to be sterilized by some artifical raised performance platform. ,

A DOSE OF BUZZ So I did subject myself to a few of the must-see new bands -- acts that people seemed overlyeager to wait an hour or more for just a 30 minute slice of these acts. UK artist Charli XCX seems hellbent on crashing the charts next to Lorde and Lana del Rey. Her pop lean is evident in her playing a cover of “I Want Candy,”but she also

special report

| THE READER |

MARCH 20 - 26, 2014

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coldcream

■ Creighton University department of Theatre professor Alam Klem considers himself to be a big fan of playwright Arthur Kopit’s work.

“You know I thought I knew all of his plays pretty well but, to be real honest, I didn’t know about this one.” Klem said. “(Creighton Musical Theatre Director) Stephen Sheftz is the one who approached me and said ‘You know, I’ve heard this great music from Phantom’ and I said ‘Well, yeah, everybody likes that music.’ He said ‘No, not (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s) Phantom of the Opera. (Arthur Kopit’s) Phantom.’”

The show is a musical written by Arthur Kopit and composed by Maury Yeston. When the duo was working on the not-yet-completed show in the 1980s, they found out the Andrew Lloyd Webber had a finished version that was about to go to Broadway. After seeing this development, the project was abandoned.

However, in the early ’90s, Kopit was hired to adapt Phantom into a mini-series. After the success of the teleplay, Kopit and Yeston decided to finish and launch their Phantom musical at the Theater Under the Stars in Houston. While the show has never been on Broadway, it has started to gain it’s own cult following.

“As a matter of fact, Maury Yeston has labeled this the best musical to never be on Broadway.

To be real honest, I feel he is probably right. It’s a gorgeous musical,” Klem said.

The show is one of the largest undertakings ever attempted by Creighton’s Theatre Department. To go along with large scene changes and dynamic lighting by Bill Van Deest, the show features massive 30-person cast and a full 31-piece orchestra (the most ever for a Creighton production). Klem said he hopes that this show sheds light on the works of Kopit and Yeston and opens new doors for audience members to works of art they might have missed.

“It’s just incredible,” Klem said. “This really tells the complete story of (Gaston Leroux’s book) The Phantom of the Opera and it’s said so beautifully that you really have to be there to see it and feel it.

Then you’ll know what I’m talking about.”

Creighton University’s production of Phantom

by Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston will run from March 20-22 and March 27-29 at 7:30 p.m. There will also be a 2 p.m. show March 30. There will also be a special dinner with the playwright Friday, March 21, at Lucile’s in the Old Market. For more information on the show and special event call the Creighton box office at 402-280-1448 or email arts@creighton.edu. You can also go online to www.boxoffice.creighton.edu — Bill Grennan Cold Cream looks at theater in the metro area. Email information to coldcream@thereader.com

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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 20

SMOKIN’ JOE KUBEK AND BNOIS KING, (Rock/Blues) 6 pm, 21st Saloon, Contact venue for charge.

DURTY THURSDAY W/E BROWN, (DJ/Electronic) 9 pm, Bar 415, FREE. NEW MOON SONGWRITERS NIGHT, (Folk/Singer-Songwriter) 7 pm, Crescent Moon Coffee, FREE. GORDON LIGHTFOOT, (Folk/Singer-Songwriter) 8 pm, Holland Performing Arts Center, $50-$65.

A SOLO PERFORMED BY TIM KOEHN, (Jazz) 6 pm, Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen, Contact venue for charge.

CHIARA STRING QUARTET, (Classical) 7:30 pm, Kimball Recital Hall, Tickets: $20 ($10 Seniors; $5 Students).

JOEY ZIMMERMAN, TOMMY MORGAN JR., KEITH PAESAL, CHRIS DAMEN, GRANT PARSENS, WILL DAUGHERTY, 9 pm, Knickerbockers, Contact venue for charge.

SMOOTH JAZZ THURSDAYS AT THE OZONE LOUNGE W/CAMILLE METOYER MOTEN, (Jazz) 6:30 pm, OzoNE Lounge at Anthony’s Steakhouse, FREE. ROCK ENROLL W/ROCK PAPER DYNAMITE AND CONCHANCE, (Rock/Hip-Hop/Rap) 7 pm, Slowdown, FREE. ACOUSTIC NIGHT, 8 pm, The Tavern, FREE. ACOUSTIC MUSIC THURSDAYS!, 8 pm, Two Fine Irishmen, Contact venue for charge.

EMPIRES W/CALIFORNIA WIVES, (Rock) 8 pm, Vega, Contact venue for charge.

ALY & I W/ JOSH CLUTTER & WHOSAH, (Pop) 7 pm, Venue 51, $5.

SOAP W/KALOKO, (Pop) 8 pm, Venue 51, $6.

MIDWEST ELITE CONCERTS PRESENTS: REHAB W/ANGELS CUT & MIXED MARTIAL AUDIO, (Hip-Hop/Rap) 8 pm, Waiting Room, $12.

ACOUSTIC JAM, 1 pm, Western Historic Trails Center, FREE. TRAMPLED UNDER FOOT, (Rock) 6 pm, Zoo Bar, Contact venue for charge.

THUNDERSANDWICH W/ PRODUCERS OF THE WORD AND THE YOUNG FUNK, 9 pm, Zoo Bar, $5.

FRIDAY 21

3D IN YOUR FACE, (Rock) 9 pm, 21st Saloon, $5.

SAVE THE HERO, (Rock) 9:30 pm, Arena Bar & Grill, FREE. CHAD COX & DJ SUPER PAUL, (DJ/Electronic) 9 pm, Bar 415, $5.

MATT COX BAND W/ALY PEELER AND THE FERGESENS, 9 pm, Barley Street Tavern, Contact venue for charge.

KARAOKE THEATRE, 9 pm, House Of Loom, FREE. STREET RAILWAY COMPANY PERFORMS, (Jazz) 6 pm, Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen, Contact venue for charge.

ROJO FIASCO, THAGOMOZAR DEFENSE, PETER KAPINOS, 9 pm, Knickerbockers, Contact venue for charge.

40 SINNERS, (Blues) 8 pm, McKenna’s Booze, Blues & BBQ, Contact venue for charge.

OLD BONES WITH TIMECAT AND GOON SALOON, 9:30 pm, O’Leaver’s Pub, Contact venue for charge.

THE FISH HEADS, (Cover Band) 7 pm, Parliament Pub Downtown, Contact venue for charge.

SURVEYING THE DAMNED, SINN/FIXX & THE BLOOD OF WAR, 8 pm, Shamrock’s Pub & Grill, Contact venue for charge.

MANDOWN W/CIVICMINDED AND THE SUB-VECTORS, 8 pm, Slowdown, $7.

KARAOKE!, 7 pm, Soaring Wings Vineyard, Contact venue for charge.

AN EVENING WITH JOSH HOYER AND THE SHADOWBOXERS, 9 pm, Vega, 21+ $8 | 18-20 $10.

FACCS: WATERFRONT BLUES BAND, (Blues) 5 pm, Venue 51, FREE. ECLECTIC TUBA W/ STRING THEORY & TBA, (Rock) 9 pm, Venue 51, $5.

| THE READER |

music listings

THE MUSEUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS TOUR: SHPONGLE W/DESERT DWELLERS, 9 pm, Waiting Room, $18 ADV | $20 DOS. BAD HAT HARRY, 9 pm, Whiskey Roadhouse (Horseshoe Casino), Contact venue for charge.

ONCE A PAWN W/ RED CITIES AND LOW LONG SIGNAL, 9 pm, Zoo Bar, $5.

THE WONDERMONDS, 5 pm, Zoo Bar, Contact venue for charge.

SATURDAY 22

BROKEN EFFECT, (Cover Band) 9:30 pm, Arena Bar & Grill, FREE. DJ THE DJ & BOOTH BANGERS, (DJ/Electronic) 9 pm, Bar 415, $5.

ARETHA FRANKLIN TRIBUTE, 9 pm, Barley Street Tavern, $5.

DONNYBROOK, (Rock) 9 pm, Dubliner Pub, $3.

KARAOKE, 8 pm, Firewater Grille, Contact venue for charge.

HONEYBOY TURNER BAND, (Blues) 9 pm, Havana Garage, Contact venue for charge.

A NIGHT OF LIVE MUSIC PERFORMED BY R&B ZONE, 6 pm, Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen, Contact venue for charge.

WICKY BID AND THE ABSTRACT, 9 pm, Knickerbockers, Contact venue for charge.

LEMON FRESH DAY, (Cover Band) 8 pm, Loose Moose, FREE. THOSE FAR OUT ARROWS W/THE GARDENHEADS AND JOHN LARSEN, 9:30 pm, O’Leaver’s Pub, Contact venue for charge.

HI-FI HANGOVER, (Rock) 7 pm, Parliament Pub Downtown, Contact venue for charge.

THE WATERFRONT BLUES BAND, (Blues) 8 pm, Pizza Shoppe Collective, $5.

R STYLE, 8 pm, Shamrock’s Pub & Grill, Contact venue for charge.

1% PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS: SNOW THA PRODUCT W/CASKEY AND DISORDERLY CONDUCT MUSIC, 8 pm, Slowdown, $13.

1% PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS ARSON CITY W/ A DIFFERENT BREED AND FADED BLACK, 9 pm, Vega, 18+ $5.

SPHYNX W/ KALOKO, HANDSOMER JAWS & TBA, (Pop) 9 pm, Venue 51, $5.

WE BE LIONS CD RELEASE W/VOODOO METHOD, AVIAN & JOHN KLEMMENSEN AND THE PARTY, 8 pm, Waiting Room, $8.

WICKED FUN, (Rock) 9 pm, Whiskey Roadhouse (Horseshoe Casino), Contact venue for charge.

MARK THORNTON & THE MARRIED MEN W/ THE IN-BETWEENS, 9 pm, Zoo Bar, $5.

SUNDAY 23

SPHYNX, (Pop) 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. OPEN MIC NIGHT W/FEATURED ARTIST PEEDI ROTHSTEEN, 9:30 pm, O’Leaver’s Pub, Contact venue for charge.

SOARING WINGS VINEYARD SUNDAY MUSIC WITH JOHN STOKELY, 2 pm, Soaring Wings Vineyard, FREE. OPEN MIC NIGHT W/HECTOR ANCHANDO, 7 pm, Tracks Lounge, Contact venue for charge.

JOSHUA POWELL AND THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY W/ JACK HOTEL AND THE ROOT MARM CHICKEN FARM JUG BAND, 8 pm, Vega, Contact venue for charge.

GORILLA MUSIC: BATTLE OF THE BANDS, 4 pm, Waiting Room, $8 ADV | $10 DOS.

MONDAY 24

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. JAY NASH W/WILL HUTCHINSON, 7 pm, Slowdown, $10 ADV | $12 DOS. AGES AND AGES W/BLET, 9 pm, Vega, 21+ $8 | 18-20 $10.

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 25

VIC NASTY, 8 pm, Bar 415, Contact venue for charge.

OPEN MIC NIGHT, 9:30 pm, Dubliner Pub, FREE. COYOTE UNION, 9 pm, Knickerbockers, Contact venue for charge.

THE BOTTLETOPS AND THE WIND UP, (Folk/Singer-Songwriter) 9 pm, Vega, 21+ $2 | 18-20 $4.

OPEN MIC HOSTED BY DAVE YOBLE, 8 pm, Venue 51, FREE. REEL BIG FISH W/SUBURBAN LEGENDS & BEEBS AND HER MONEY MAKERS, 8 pm, Waiting Room, $20.

CAROLYN WONDERLAND, 6 PM, ZOO BAR, $12 ADV | $15 DOS. DJ RELIC SOUL PARTY, 8 pm, Zoo Bar, FREE.

WEDNESDAY 26

JAB, 9 pm, Bar 415, FREE. DICEY RILEYS, 7 pm, Brazen Head Irish Pub, FREE. HAMBOOGER AND RUM RUNNER, 9 pm, Knickerbockers, Contact venue for charge.

COYOTE UNION, 8 pm, Shamrock’s Pub & Grill, Contact venue for charge.

WHIPKEY WEDNESDAYS W/MATT WHIPKEY, (Folk/SingerSongwriter) 8 pm, Tracks Lounge, Contact venue for charge.

BY B.J. HUCHTEMANN

Joe, Bnois, Carolyn & Hadden

S

everal Texas blues guitar stars are hitting the area this week, starting with Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King. They and their band are up at The 21st Saloon Thursday, March 20, 6-9 p.m.

The two Dallas-based artists have been playing together since 1989. Their fall 2013 release Road Dog’s Life (Delta Groove) is a follow-up to their 2012 move to Delta Groove. With a back-catalog of over 15 high-octane discs, they are one of the best acts in contemporary blues-rock. Check smokinjoekubek.com.

CAROLYN WONDERLAND: Fearless Texas singersongwriter-guitar-slinger Carolyn Wonderland rocks Lincoln’s Zoo Bar next Tuesday, March 25, 6-9 p.m. Her 2011 disc Peace Meal (Bismeaux) was in the iTunes’ Blues Chart’s Top Ten, the Americana Playlist’s Top 20 and landed her lots of press. A feature in Guitar Player magazine lauded Wonderland’s powerful singing voice as “an amazing instrument unto itself, with uncommon power, dynamics, and range” and the “attack, touch and tone” of her sizzling guitar work.

SAYERS REVS IT UP: Hadden Sayers returns for two shows next week. The Hadden Sayers Band performs Wednesday, March 26, at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar and Thursday, March 27, at The 21st Saloon, 6-9 p.m. both nights. Sayers is a 2011 Blues Music Award

hoodoo

nominee for his song “Back to the Blues,” recorded with Ruthie Foster. Sayers is also part of Foster’s band. Sayers most recent recording Rolling Soul, is his eighth recording and his best yet. The follow-up to Hard Dollar, Rolling Soul (both Blue Corn Music) showcases Sayers’ most mature and accomplished songwriting, from blues-rockers to soul-gospel with another guest appearance by Foster. Lush and heartfelt ballads round out the material. The production finds Sayers turning in even richer, more versatile vocals with no shortage of the skillful and creative guitar licks that are part of Sayers’ triple-threat attack. He pairs musicianship with crowd-pleasing live shows. Look Sayers up at haddensayers.com.

HOT NOTES: Trampled Under Foot gigs at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar Thursday, March 20, 6-9 p.m.

40SINNERS is up at McKenna’s Friday, March 21, 8-11 p.m. Matt Cox Band plays Barley Street Tavern Friday, March 21, 9 p.m. with Aly Peeler and The Fergesens. Honeyboy Turner Band brings their jumpin’ Chicago-style blues to Havana Garage Saturday, March 22, 9 p.m. A benefit to continue renting and maintaining the late MoJoPo’s Benson studio as a place for musicians and artists is Sunday, March 23, 3:30-midnight at his VouDou Lounge space, 6118 Military Ave. See mojopoplanetpower. com for information and performance schedule. ,

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.

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| THE READER |

MARCH 20 - 26, 2014

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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

Sobering Signs

I

n February, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that David Bell could not avoid being charged with DUI merely because he had been sober enough to pass all six “field sobriety tests” administered during a traffic stop. It was enough, the court said, that he had admitted drinking that night. A few days later, the Austin American-Statesman reported on Texan Larry Davis’ struggle to clear the 2013 DWI arrest from his record -- since he had blown a 0.0 alcohol reading that night and then had voluntarily undergone a blood test for other impairing drugs and come up clean on that. Davis had admitted to “one drink,” but allegedly failed a “field sobriety test” (in the opinion of the arresting officer, anyway). (Davis’ case is still unresolved, but since he has been declared an “indigent,” the state covers his legal expenses.)

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MARCH 20-26 2014

| THE READER |

weird news

The Continuing Crisis -- The firm 3D Babies has begun selling (for $800) 8-inch-long fetal sculptures developed from 3-D ultrasound images, computer graphics and 3-D printing technology (“printing” successive layers of material continuously, eventually creating a physical object). (Four-inch and 2-inch models are available for $400 and $200, respectively.) For celebrity hounds who are not planning imminent parenthood, the company sells one fetal sculpture off the shelf: the Kim Kardashian-Kanye West fetus (“Baby North West”) for only $250.

Compelling Explanations -- Briton Jack Harvey, 42, drew a threeplus-year sentence in Truro Crown Court in February following his guilty plea on drug charges. Earlier, he had insisted that police had planted the drugs they found in his house and car, and even that a stranger (maybe “some filthy woman,” he said) must be the owner of that cocaine and heroin that police found taped to his testicles.

-- Ms. Blondie Bennett (her recently acquired real name), 38, is not just a California model selling provocative “Barbie doll” photos of herself online (featuring her recently augmented 32JJ breast implants). She is at work on a longer-range project to remake herself completely as a human Barbie doll -- to include the popular critique that Barbie represents not only bodily perfection but mindlessness. Bennett said she has had 20 hypnotherapy sessions to “help” her appear more confused and vacant, according to news reports. “I want people to see me as a plastic sex doll, and being brainless is a big part of that.” She said she is doing well, in that she recently got lost driving to her mother’s house.

-- Logical: (1) John Rogers of Geneva, Fla., recently acquitted in a shooting death (using Florida’s “stand your ground” defense), convinced a judge in February to return his guns, which police had confiscated when they arrested him. Rogers said he needs the guns for protection because he is particularly vulnerable -- in that he is blind. (2) Rogerio Scotton, challenging federal charges in January that he lied to immigration officials about his “marriage” to a Cuban woman (a “sham,” said prosecutors), offered to prove the matrimony’s bona fides by showing the couple’s conjugal-bed videos in open court. (The judge instructed Scotton to find a “less intrusive” way to make the same point.)

Perspective First-World Problems: The designer Giorgio Armani is one of the most recent one-day sponsors of a United Nations project to send safe drinking water to help some of the planet’s 768 million people without access to a clean supply. The Tap Project program signs up smartphone users with a reward: that it will donate one day’s clean water to a child for anyone who can manage to refrain from picking up his or her phone for 10 consecutive minutes. Tap Project screens even feature a 10-minute countdown clock to help do-gooders remain strong in the face of anxiety over the brief loss of access to Facebook, online games, et al.

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).

The Litigious Society -- British litigant Jane Mulcahy was turned down twice recently in her attempts to sue her former divorce lawyers for negligence -- although they had won her case, defeating her husband’s contentions.

The lawyers were negligent, she said, because they never told her that if she “won” the lawsuit, the marriage would be over. Lord Justice Briggs, in the second appeal, said that Mulcahy’s Roman Catholic faith should have tipped her off that “divorce” ended the marriage.

-- Clients Richard and Sandra Weiner filed a lawsuit in Paterson, N.J., in January against their former real estate agent, Robert Lindsay, who they said had a blatant conflict of interest while offering the Weiners’ house for sale. The agent allegedly, purposely, high-balled the asking price so that the house would remain unsold longer -- so that two agents (Lindsay and Jeannemarie Phelan) could meet there frequently, using a duplicate key to bypass the lockbox recorder, and have sexual liaisons. The agents denied the charge, but Coldwell Banker terminated their services.

Ironies -- As Americans know, Canada’s health care system, funded largely by taxes, is dramatically less expensive than America’s -- well, unless you’re a dog. The Canadian news service CTV reported in February that increasingly, pet owners in Winnipeg, Manitoba, are making the 120-mile car trip to Grand Forks, N.D., because U.S. veterinarian prices are significantly lower than comparable services by Canadian vets. One Winnipeg family, facing a $650 teethcleaning plus blood work for Jackson, their Shitzu, took him on the road trip to Grand Forks, where the bill came to $205.

-- The Internal Revenue Service might have second thoughts about suing William Berroyer to recover a $60,000 tax underpayment since, by the time Berroyer was finished with them, the federal government had been ordered to write Berroyer (now age 66) checks totaling nearly 15 times that much.

Berroyer, who was on his way out of the IRS office in Hauppauge, N.Y., after his first meeting in 2008,

tripped over a phone cord and fell against a filing cabinet, injuring himself so severely that he required a 17-day hospital stay and rehabilitation and alleged long-term confinement to a wheelchair.

The Place To Be On Fry Day!

-- In February, after a 43-year-old rape victim in Cowlitz County, Wash., missed court hearings, prosecutors, needing her testimony, filed for a rare “material witness” warrant to assure her availability -- by asking the judge to jail her. She acknowledged her anxieties, but promised to do better if the judge would dismiss the warrant. She pointed out that prosecutors were seeking to lock her up against her will -- to force her to testify that a rapist had once locked her up against her will (in addition to committing other indignities). (The sympathetic judge dismissed the warrant, but the woman has since missed another court date.)

come in for a fishbowl before or after your fish fry. drink specials all lenten season long.

Least Competent Criminals Unclear on the Concept: (1) Michael Williams, 53, was arrested in Sumter, S.C., in February after his debit card was rejected as payment at the Applebee’s restaurant. Police were called when Williams’ backup form of payment was a “U.S. currency” bill in the denomination of $1 trillion. (2) Dyonta Rose, 29, in police custody the night of Feb. 22 in Dallas for possession of narcotics, fled the police cruiser still wearing his handcuffs. Rose was tracked down a short time later when he called 911 to ask for an ambulance because his handcuffs were cutting off circulation in his arm.

It’s Your Neighborhood Bar. 4721 NW Radial Hwy Omaha • (402) 933-9300

Undignified Deaths (1) Twenty-two people were killed just north of Baghdad in February (and 15 injured) from a devastating suicide-bomb blast. The 37 were Sunni militants attending a class on how to be suicide bombers when the teacher’s vest accidentally exploded. (2) An 86-year-old man, celebrating his selection in November by the Howard Stern radio show to be treated to a fancy meal followed by a menage-a-trois session with prostitutes at Nevada’s famed Bunny Ranch, called it “the greatest day of my life.” However, he failed to make it through dinner, as he choked to death on a piece of steak. ,

Tim Jenison, the subject of the documentary TIM’S VERMEER, and producer Farley Zeigler will be appearing at the Ross on Friday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. for a Q&A with the audience following the film.

CALL OR CHECK OUR WEBSITE FOR MOVIE TIMES AND PRICES

weird news

| THE READER |

MARCH 20-26 2014

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—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).

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MARCH 20-26, 2014

D N A Y D E

SPE ITABLE T

IRR

S R I O UE K U F R R S T N O B Y RYA N S Y A F R EITHE N S I D SPEE R O F NEED

he most important thing to know before attempting to endure the lumbering bore that is Need for Speed is this: every single character in the film is unspeakably dumb. Presumably set in a world where humans never mentally evolved from an animal state, the movie features increasingly nonsensical behaviors by derpy morons whose ability to dress themselves is as impressive to us as their ability to defy physics with cars.

It nearly causes physical pain to recap the lobotomized shenanigans brought to life by writers George and John Gatins and director Scott Waugh, but here goes. Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul) is our generic, bluecollar, small-town, car-racing hero. The film wastes no time cashing in its first cliché trifecta, as we discover Tobey’s dad just died, he’s behind on his loan and his former girlfriend, Anita (Dakota Johnson), is now dating the bad guy, Dino (Dominic Cooper), who (gasp) also races cars.

This next part is gonna sound like a spoiler, but (A) something has to have once been “good” to be “spoiled” and (B) it happens early, motivates the whole plot and is so obvious they may as well have named the character “Ima Gonnadie.” Pete (Harrison Gilbertson), Anita’s little brother, is killed by Dino in a three-way race with Tobey. Despite literally hundreds of witnesses, Tobey is blamed and does two years for vehicular manslaughter.

Once out, he does what anyone seeking revenge would do: He convinces Julia (Imogen Poots), the hot assistant of a British billionaire, to let him drive a $3 million car across country to compete in a secret, underground car race run by a reclusive DJ named the Monarch (Michael Keaton) to shame Dino. This one’s for you, Petey!

It really can’t be emphasized enough how cosmically ignorant these characters are. Here are but a few examples: Dino wants to prevent Tobey from making the race, so he offers a million dollars to anyone who stops him from making it there; but when the pair run into each other in a hotel, Dino doesn’t call the cops and

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say “hey, that parole-violating guy you lost in a high-speed chase, I know where he is right now.” A character strips nude while quitting his job for no discernable reason. Dino bribes authorities to cover up Pete’s murder but doesn’t destroy the car he used to kill him. While driving cross-country, Tobey declares they are in such a hurry they can’t stop for gas and must “hot fuel,” as his posse tops him off while driving side-by-side. Then he stops for gas 20 minutes later.

And so on and so on. What the Fast and Furious movies understand is how to have fun, suspend our disbelief and get us to root for the charismatic cartoons driving gravity-defying speed machines. Despite having much more talented actors in Paul, Cooper, Johnson and Keaton, Need for Speed is a pale, inert, impotent, wholly imbecilic impression of its competitor. If you fall into the target demographic of “person aroused by car commercials,” have fun.

No one else will.

GRADE = F-

REPORTCARD

When Film Streams sent me an email with the subject The Muslims Are Coming, I figured they accidentally forwarded a chain email my grandmother got from Fox News. Instead, it let me know that on Thursday, April 10 at 7 pm, Film Streams and The Middle East Cultural and Educational Services of Omaha will present a special screening of The Muslims Are Coming, a documentary following comedians touring Middle America to fight Islamophobia. These comedians are Muslim-Americans, which is not an oxymoron, Grandma! Hopefully, the post-show discussion with Dean Obeidallah, one of the stars and codirector of the film, will help quash a completely ignorant hatred that disgustingly has been allowed to exist right out in the open.

The feud between Marvel and DC in the comic pages has become something of a 1980s-era cold war, but the on-screen battle has gone nuclear.

Marvel just announced that Captain America 3 will be released the same day as Batman vs Superman.

It’s a game of release-date chicken, and whoever moves will be labeled a pansy and will have to stand in the corner in shame during the superhero holiday party. Rumor has it, Batman vs Superman was already thinking of moving and Marvel is calling their bluff. If that’s true, it’s a pretty baller power play. You go, Captain America.

They are remaking Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I am totally okay with. The original in 1983 was solid but never really caught on, and any story that involves a dark carnival should be uber popular (especially with the Hot Topic crowd).

Plus, the original story was written by close personal friend, the brilliant and talented Ray Bradbury. By “close personal friend,” I mean I met him once at a book store. But we shared a moment.

READER RECOMMENDS

300: Rise of an Empire

B

A prequel, side-quel and sequel with the same style and carnage.

The Lego Movie B+Turns out you can make an awesome movie about inanimate plastic blocks.

Stranger by the Lake It’s a Hitchcock thriller by way of Grindr.

c+-

12 Years a Slave

ON DVD

Brutal, horrifying and difficult to watch. As it should be.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire The best sci-fi sequel since Empire Strikes Back.

A+A

Frozen A Either a throwback to the modern-classic Disney period or the start of a new one.!

Saving Mr. Banks Corporate propaganda justifying emotional theft.

D

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