The Reader - November 2018

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RENDERING OF 120 MILLION DOLLAR PROPOSED courthouse ANNEX

N OV EMB E R 2 0 1 8 | volU M E 25 | ISSU E 11

Battle lines are drawn over cost, location of proposed youth detention center

by LEO ADAM BIGA

ART: ‘Nebraska Regionalists’ Dish: For The Perfect Pastry, Just Whisk + Measure Film: The Shaming of the Crew Heartland Healing: Forgiveness: I Can Change You... Guaranteed! HooDoo: Musical Harvest OVER THE EDGE: Cleveland’s ‘Serial’ Spotlight PICKS: Cool Things to do in November

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publisher/editor....................John Heaston john@thereader.com graphic designer.......................Ken Guthrie, Sebastian Molina assistant editor................ JoAnna LeFlore joanna@thereader.com associate publisher.............Sal S. Robles sal@pioneermedia.me

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS healing................Michael Braunstein info@heartlandhealing.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS: Contents listed in a table format

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COVER: The High Price of Juvenile Justice: Battle lines are drawn over cost, location of proposed youth detention center

arts/visual.................Mike Krainak mixedmedia@thereader.com eat........................................... Sara Locke crumbs@thereader.com film..................................Ryan Syrek cuttingroom@thereader.com hoodoo..................... B.J. Huchtemann bjhuchtemann@gmail.com music..........................Houston Wiltsey backbeat@thereader.com over the edge...............Tim McMahan tim.mcmahan@gmail.com theater....................... Beaufield Berry coldcream@thereader.com

SALES & MARKETING ................................................ Kati Falk kati@thereader.com

DISTRIBUTION/DIGITAL ......................................... Clay Seaman clay@thereader.com

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DISH: For The Perfect Pastry, Just Whisk + Measure

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PICKS: Cool Things to do in November

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ACCOUNT MANAGER

ART: ‘Nebraska Regionalists’

......................................... Tim Stokes tim@pioneermedia.me

OUR SISTER MEDIA CHANNELS

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Theater: #MeToo Moves to the Stage

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HOODOO: Musical Harvest: Dig in!

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BACKBEAT: November’s Backbeat Column

OUR DIGITAL MARKETING SERVICES

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FILM: The Shaming of the Crew

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Heartland Healing: Forgiveness: I Can Change You... Guaranteed!

CONTENTS

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OVER THE EDGE: Cleveland’s ‘Serial’ Spotlight

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Careers in Non-Profits Non-profit doesn’t mean all its workers are volunteers and don’t get paid. So if you want to earn your living working for a non-profit organization, dust off your resume and network – pursuing a non-profit job is similar to any other job.

experience. Non-profits with limited budgets may offer perks to make lower pay worthwhile, like more flexibility in work hours.

Non-profit doesn’t mean no money

Passion required

Non-profit organizations need to raise money to continue their missions. They also need money for operational expenses. So don’t be surprised if money-focused conversations happen frequently in a non-profit setting.

Most non-profit organizations prefer to hire people who are not just a good fit based on education and experience, but who also are passionate about the cause the non-profit works toward.

Non-profit jobs can be competitive, so a personal story about why the non-profit’s work is beneficial can tip the scales in your favor. For example, a non-profit that benefits a specific neighborhood may give a job to someone from that neighborhood when all other factors are equal.

Live the mission Non-profits may expect their employees to live the mission, even outside business hours. While they can’t require you to work hours that you’re not compensated for, there may be a common expectation of volunteering. If you choose a non-profit whose mission you’re passionate about, any extra effort won’t feel like work.

Being a volunteer Volunteering for a non-profit can be the best way to learn how it operates before you apply for a paid job there. Even non-profits can have toxic corporate cultures, and it’s good to know that before you take a job there. Like any workplace, if a non-profit is mismanaged, things can get unappealing.

But if you volunteer and find you love the work, that’s a good sign it might be a fine career option for you. Realize, of course, that volunteers are sometimes treated better than employees, and once you make the switch, things might change.

Working with volunteers Not all non-profit organizations are densely staffed with volunteers. But it’s likely you’ll encounter volunteers if you work at one. Working with people who are there solely because they want to be and not for a paycheck can have pros and cons.

With volunteers, in most cases, you know they have a passion for the cause. On the other hand, they can quit at a moment’s notice without the consequence of missed paychecks.

Multitasking required

Flexibility is key when you work for smaller non-profits. It’s an ideal setting for someone who wants the days to go quickly because things constantly change and move.

Since non-profits aren’t profit-driven, they often lack the ample resources available at other employers. With fewer resources, its employees may need to tackle many different tasks. This means employees must be creative to complete their daily duties.

Thursday

Perks of non-profit work Of course, working for a good cause can make employment with a non-profit very satisfying. Nothing really matches the pride that can comes with joining an organization more focused on benefitting others than on making a profit.

Once you get into non-profit work, it’s easier to stay in the field because of that

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OCTOBER 2018

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The High Price of Juvenile Justice

Battle lines are drawn over cost, location of proposed youth detention center

by LEO ADAM BIGA

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one, thereby putting detainees in close proximity to the justice system and to services supporting their transition back into society.

s Douglas County pushes for construction of a $120 million justice complex downtown, conflict and controversy have emerged over greater good and expediency versus accountability to stakeholders.

“Hopefully, this one-stop shop being imagined will be built based on the input of what kids, families and community providers who work with them say they need,” said LaVon Stennis-Williams, a county Operation Youth Success initiative committee member. Her ReConnect Inc. serves families of current and former incarcerated. “Programs that can keep kids from being detained are underutilized. That has to be factored in.”

The 10-story tower courthouse annex would house a combination of county adult and juvenile courtrooms, judges’ chambers, public defender and probation offices and related facilities.

The juvenile justice element is getting the most attention because a four-story youth detention center containing 48 to 64 beds would connect to the annex.

Services and programs for juveniles and families would be onsite. A parking garage would also be built.

She said a proposed partnership among the county, University of Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University to bring more psychologists and psychiatrists onsite “is going to be a game-changer in terms of getting the assessments done on children quicker.”

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners is charged with approving or denying the project. A majority of the seven-member board supports it. The project’s two vocal opponents, commissioners Jim Cavanaugh and Mike Boyle, take issue with its scale and location as well as the mechanism to pay for it and the private nonprofit created to oversee it. They’ve called for a reset to halt the project to review alternatives, including scaling it back.

“Then we can look for services that will keep kids at home,” she said. “On 420 S. 18th, site of A propsed $120 million 10-story courthouse annex, containing county adult any given day, most of the kids detained and juvenile courtrooms, judges’ chambers, public defender and probation offices and related are there awaiting placement and profacilities. A four-story youth detention center would connect to the annex. fessional assessment, not for their underlying offense. You’ll remove maybe two-thirds of your population with the do what we know we needed to do 20 years it allows us that chance to step back right professionals engaged and looking for ago, which was to build an annex facility,” said and take a deep breath and look at alternaalternatives to detention. There are opportuMeanwhile, the county seeks to acquire Ben Gray. an Omaha City Council member tives that exist and that will work,” he said. nities in the community to put those things a nearly century-old brick building at 420 who served on the city-county building com“We have been proposing specific alternain place.”

South 18th Street, raze it and then build the mission driving the project and now chairs the tives, which include construction of a juvenile complex. When owner Bob Perrin refused to nonprofit overseeing it. “So this was not fastjustice center courthouse on land we own Gray, who has a long history working sell last summer, the county began eminent tracked or anything like that.” adjacent to the (current) courthouse and rewith at-risk youth, said the new center will domain proceedings, only to have a court furbishment of the (existing) youth center on utilize “best practice policies for getting kids “It’s nothing new,” Borgeson said. “What order the county to back off pending further 42nd Street. We would add a courtroom facilin and out and served quickly and assessing is new is that we actually have a conceptual hearings. ity to the youth center to allow proximity. what their real needs are.” plan that puts the center across the street “There are obstacles we’re going to have from the existing courthouse-civic center.”

“Kids will have access to outdoor activi“We want to change the trajectory of to overcome now and we’re working through ties on a campus that looks more like a school how we’re doing things by enhancing service She said other locations, including the those,” said commissioner Mary Ann Borgethan a correctional center with numbers sigat the county level for our kids and families,” old Civic Auditorium site and MUD property, son, who champions the project. “I hope in nificantly lower than those proposed for the Borgeson said. “A lot of details are being were considered. the end we’ll be able to come to a resolution. $120 million project.” worked out in terms of the internal guts of the It (eminent domain) isn’t a popular thing to There’s less agreement on the need for a buildings and how they’re going to look and There’s broad agreement the current do or use, but we can’t go forth really without new detention center and how many youth it operate.” courthouse is past capacity and long overdue that (building).” should serve. for expansion.

Some observers express concern the Cavanaugh sees things differently.

Proponents tout the efficiencies of a onenew detention center will house fewer youth “We have been trying to jerry-rig judges stop shop. The current center near 42nd and (68 max) than the current average detainee “With the court having stopped eminent into cubbyholes and all kinds of things to try Woolworth would be replaced by the new domain for now and make this thing work without having to

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population of 70 to 80 and less than half the existing capacity (144).

“It doesn’t make sense why we’re reducing capacity when the average daily population has been steady for years and the county has not produced any projections on how they will reduce the number of kids in detention,” community activist Brian Smith said.

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new state-of-the-art 9/11 center, a satellite office for the Douglas County Treasurer to serve western Douglas County and West Omaha, headquarters for our emergency services and environmental services, plus the crime lab

“We don’t need a private corporation to head up construction. We’re perfectly capable doing it ourselves,” Cavanaugh said.

“There’s a better, cheaper, smarter way to go, and we’re doing that right now with the 2016 public safety bond $45 million construction project voters overwhelmingly approved after months of public hearings and discussions. It’s refurbishing a large county office building to consolidate some county services, including a

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tential players considered or asked to submit bids. It strikes some as back-room, sweetheart deal-making and incestuous political maneuvering. The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission is investigating a conflictof-interest complaint brought against some officials sitting on multiple boards involved in the project’s governance.

“It seems like HDR, Kiewit and Burlington Capital have been preselected for this program with no competitive bids,” said watchdog Smith, whose Omaha Public Meetings has convened forums on the topic. “There’s no explanation of where that $120 million number came from and why this 501c3 is going to manage it using the Double A bond borrowing status versus the county’s Triple A bond status.

“We’re perfectly capable doing it ourselves.

There’s a better, cheaper, smarter way to go,...”

“That is a valid concern,” StennisWilliams said. “But if we’re moving toJim Cavanaugh wards juvenile justice reform we should applaud reducing the number of beds – just so and sheriff’s delong as we do not have any notion of shipping partment spaces. kids to other jurisdictions when we run out of “We are also refurbishing the county corbed space. We need to address why we’re derection center downtown. We’re installing in taining the number of kids we are and what all fire stations in the city new alert systems. we’re detaining them for.”

All this new construction and equipment is Opponents question another number administered by the public property division – the price tag. It would be the largest capi– on time, on budget and no tax increase.” tal construction project in Douglas County He dislikes the apparatus behind the jugovernment history. Funding would come venile justice project because, he said, “It’s through bonds issued by the Omaha-Douglas not accountable to the people.”

Public Building Commission and likely require “Handing to a pria county property tax rate increase. Mayor vate corporation conJean Stothert said she wants no city taxpayer cocted behind closed money used for its construction. doors by private entities The 501C3 formed to develop and mancontrol over the expendiage the project – Douglas County Unified Justure of $120 million of tax tice Center Development Corp. – is based on dollars without any vote a model UNMC used to construct its Buffett of the people, without Cancer Center. The nonprofit would have the public access, hearings ability to solicit private philanthropy to fund or discussions, and withthe project. out any public bidding “We have some ideas, but we have to process, is wrong. It’s a have a more concrete plan before private dotop-down, cart-beforenors will jump on board,” Borgeson said, “and the-horse approach to that’s what we’re trying to get at.” what should be a wellthought-out, strategic, Critics assert a lack of transparency and decision-making plan in due diligence in the process that created the public,” Cavanaugh said. nonprofit, whose board is comprised of various elected and appointed officials.

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“There are a lot of unanswered questions.”

Smith and others point out that HDR has pitched doing a mega-justice complex for more than a decade.

Cavanaugh sees “real estate development, sales and construction” interests as “the driving forces behind a lot of the private discussions by a lot of private players in the way the thing has been

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nally, I started holding hearings in the Administrative Services Committee simply because it was clear something of this magnitude needed to be discussed in public. You can’t do a $120 million project like this without public discussion and a public vote really.”

Project advocates concede it could have been a more open process.

“I think some things could have easily been done in a public session,” Gray said, “but there were some concerns about prices going up and other things like that which made it more or less a better proposition to do it in executive session so as to try and preserve and not create any additional burden for taxpayers.

“So it was necessary in the beginning to start this effort in a sort of quiet way to get things started and get people on board and get things moving in the right direction. Now you can argue back and forth whether we should have done it sooner or not. We debate that among ourselves even. But at the end of the day it is what it is and we’re here now and we are telling the story that needs to be told.”

Said Borgeson, “We should have done a better job of coming out sooner with the conceptual plans, and what our thoughts are on that I can’t go back and change that, but what I can change going forward is what we’re doing and that is a monthly update at the board meeting of where we are – good and open conversation about the programs and gaps we have in the programs.”

She said she’s heard from constituents who support and oppose the plan, but she adds, “Once people really listen to what the end result is they may continue to disagree with how we got there but they’re supportive of what we’re trying to do because it’s such a need.”

“We should have done a better job of coming out sooner with the conceptual plans,...”

Mary Ann Borgeson “I’m calling for the process to result in a designed bond issue that would be voted on by the a n d public.” put forHe suspects the slated downtown locaward.” tion is more about accommodating lawyers “When they (the building commission) and judges than serving kids. originally brought it to us in private,” CavaCounty officials selected a troika of Omanaugh said, “I said we immediately should go ha power players – Burlington Capital, Kiewit public and have some discussion on this. But Construction Corp. and HDR – to manage and for months there was no public discussion. Fibuild the project without apparently other po-

COVER

ReConnect’s StennisWilliams thinks what should be the main focus has been obscured by the conflict.

“I believe some of the arguments are mere distractions when what’s lacking are quality services for our kids.

The county needs to separate the issue of having a new courthouse, which is badly needed, from the issue of renovating, redesigning, reimagining youth detention,” she said.

“When you’re talking about formulating even the design of this detention center,

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parents’ voices need to be first, not secondary.

I don’t care where it’s built, if we get it, how much it costs. My concern is what’s ultimately going to go inside the building. What is disturbing to me is that most of the people advocating for or against it have not sat down and talked with parents to see what they really do need. Most people on either side of the issue do not serve kids or represent that parent voice of having a system-involved child.

Instead of reducing the argument to sticking points, talking points, we need to throw down deep enough to see how we keep kids from even getting system-involved. That is what needs to be upfront.”

For Omaha architect Perrin, who owns the four-story, 40,000-square-foot, industrialstyle building at 18th and Howard impeding the project, his property is no side issue. He rejected the county’s $900,000 offer for it, declaring it’s not for sale because he has plans to convert it into offices or condominiums.

His attorney, David Domina, filed suit against the county’s eminent domain attempt, and a judge enacted a temporary restraining order. The suit maintains the county lacks jurisdiction alone to obtain the property and contends the City Council and county building commission must also OK seizing the building.

Perrin has led various Omaha preservation efforts. He’s also previously challenged efforts to seize his holdings. He won a nearly $2 million settlement over land he owned coveted by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents for a University of Nebraska Medical Center expansion.

Gray openly suspects Perrin’s motives in bucking community progress interests. “He wants a better price for his property. That’s what this whole thing is about.” Perrin flatly refutes the assertion and says he simply wants

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the right to retain his property for what he deems a better public use. He added that he only broke even in his lawsuit against the university.

Gray questions the current structure’s historical integrity. “Because the building is old doesn’t make it historic.”

LaVon Stennis-Williams

The Omaha Planning Board has unanimously approved the 1920 building for local landmark status, on which the Council must vote. Landmark status would not guarantee the building from being taken by the county.

Several individuals and groups have expressed support for saving the building and criticized the city’s poor preservation track record.

Gray counters that two historic buildings – the courthouse and former downtown public library – are being preserved rather than razed for the project.

The county’s aggressive pursuit of the building became the public flashpoint for the project.

“The project had been behind the scenes with Cavanaugh the only one yelling and getting no attention at all until they started to take my building and I resisted,” Perrin said.

“I feel like all the commissioners were in a dark room with their clothes off and I walked in and turned the lights on.”

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He believes the industrial building, which housed early auto dealerships and more recently U.S. Corps of Engineers testing labs, is a diamond in the rough that should not be sacrificed for a project that could be built elsewhere.

“ They’re disrespecting the history of our city. They’re wanting to demolish something that’s really important that we didn’t even know we had.”

He and other project detractors question placing a juvenile detention facility and justice center so close to the county’s adult prison.

Cavanaugh, who calls the planned center “a cellblock,” said, “It’s the wrong place to put children. Putting them downtown within close proximity of the adult jail is exactly the wrong message we want to send these children.”

Critics say the project would impose a chilling effect on the area’s redevelopment.

“They’re wanting to do the wrong thing with the site by putting in things with uses that would degrade the value of neighboring properties,” Perrin said.

“It doesn’t make any sense why we would put a detention center in an already very fragile part of downtown,” Smith said.

Backers claim the project will revitalize the Flatiron District, though they don’t say how.

Lost in all of this, some assert, is what youth and parents say they want and need.

Project advocates contend their actions are in the best interests of kids and families. Others call for more input from parents with youth in the system.

“It’s disturbing that the people most affected by this have the least voice,” Smith said.

“We have gotten so comfortable excluding the voice of parents that we proceed as a matter of course now without getting them involved,” Stennis-Williams said. “There needs to be a direct effort to reach out to parents. We have to meet them where they’re at to intentionally get them involved in this conversation.

RENDERING OF PROPOSED courthouse ANNEX

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“We have not done a good job of getting them engaged. We’ve become comfortable speaking for parents using all these different surrogates. I’d like to have it come from a closer experience than from people looking at it from a policy standpoint. These families and kids are suffering. There are things we can do, that we can fix that we’re not putting proper attention on because we’re still arguing on issues that have nothing to do with what’s best.”

She wishes Perrin’s building fight never entered the fray.

“I think the effort to locate the center downtown and the fight to preserve the building standing in its way has become a polarizing situation keeping the parties from talking to each other. Instead, they’re talking at each other,” she said. “When you get engaged in that argument you lose sight of the kids and they need to be our foremost purpose.”

Smith is alternately a realist and idealist when projecting the outcome of this fight.

“The pessimist in me says the county is going to bulldoze their way through this first part of their plan, which is a real estate acquisition, and then maybe involve people in a meaningful way in the conversation about the actual design and programming of the facility.

So the first part may be a loss. But the second part may highlight the fact people want engagement and explanation in the process.

“The optimist in me holds out hope the city, the mayor, the planning department, the city council will step in early enough in this process to prevent the demolition of the Perrin building and force some meaningful change in the way this process is planned out.”

Cavanaugh believes all is not lost.

“I think you’ve seen movement by some of my colleagues. Commissioner Boyle is now on board with stop eminent domain, rightsize the project and put it on the ballot. I think others on the board are taking another look at this to maybe open it up to the robust public discussion that it needs.

“This is going to be a big issue going forward obviously because there’s so much money involved, and it’s now gotten people’s interest.”

Meanwhile, Borgeson, Gray and Co. are confident their plan will prevail in the end, with or without a vote of confidence or approval from the public. _______ Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com

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WHISK + MEASURE IS ALL ABOUT THE SWEET THINGS Specialty bake shop in Millard known for vegan, paleo, keto options B Y K AT Y S P R AT T E J O Y C E

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SARA LOCKE is the Contributing Editor for The Reader’s Food section. She is fluent in both sarcasm and pig Latin, and is definitely going to eat the contents of her to-go box in her car on her way home. Follow her restaurant reviews and weekly what-todos online at http://thereader. com/dining/crumbs . Follow @ TheReaderOmahaDish on Instagram to find out what else she’s sinking her teeth into.

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eth Brown has always been into numbers – crunching them, analyzing them, working with them. But what doesn’t add up? Her quitting a highly paid job as an actuary to open a specialty bake shop in Millard. We caught up with this female boss lady to learn the why and hear a little bit more about her local slice of heaven, the aptly named Whisk + Measure.

TR (The Reader): How did you decide to switch careers and go out on a limb to open a bakery?

BB (Beth Brown): I had been talking about opening a bakery for a decade and finally had a moment about four years ago when I decided that I either needed to just do it or I needed to stop talking about it. I knew that I didn’t want to end up in retirement wondering what would have happened if I hadn’t been brave enough to do it. I didn’t want that regret. We only have this one life; we need to take some chances. I also knew I wasn’t getting any younger and it would only be more and more difficult to take on this adventure as my life became more complicated.

[Plus], I loved being an actuary. There just aren’t as many delicious work products in the actuarial world as there are in baking.

TR: What is Whisk + Measure known for after being open for two years?

BB: We are known for being an all-fromscratch bakery and for our vegan, paleo and keto options. We also have dairy-free and gluten-free options.

TR: What are your most popular items?

BB: Our most popular item is the vegan apple pie bar. But we are also known for French Macarons, bear claws, vegan/gluten-free donuts and happiness bars. Plus cakes, but that seems so generic.

TR: Where does most of your traffic come from?

BB: A fair amount of our sales come from cake orders since we are one of the only from-scratch bakeries in Omaha and we make traditional, vegan, or vegan and gluten-free cakes. Those are hard to come by. We also sell a lot of coffee.

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Our coffee is sourced from Reboot Roasting out of Bellevue and is some of the best coffee in Omaha.

TR: How do you give back to the community?

BB: We participate in [the] TAGG [program] and love supporting our community by allowing the customers to direct our funds to the organization of their choice.

TR: Have you enjoyed being part of Omaha’s entrepreneurial community? And have you connected with other small-business owners?

BB: I have loved getting to know other local business owners and have found those relationships to be very important. I never imagined how vital it would be to have someone to speak to who understands the challenges of being a small-business owner. Many of them have become friends I can use as a sounding board for advice, lessons learned, and recommendations/references. Omaha is such a friendly and supportive city, which makes all the difference in the stressful world of small business.

TR: Why is it important to support small businesses?

BB: Small businesses are often the most innovative and adaptable. This means that as long as consumers are understanding that there will be limitations, then the small business can often partner with them to create new experiences and products. Small businesses also tend to keep their dollars local, which means more economic impact to the community. But first and foremost, small-business owners are your neighbors, friends and family. They want to bring unique and innovative things to their community and make it a better place. They are also without a doubt some of the most passionate people you will meet. Most people don’t put in the work and time it takes to run a small business if they don’t care about what they are doing.

TR: How did you choose your location?

BB: I wanted a space where the community could gather and spend time together, which meant that it needed character and comfort.

We looked at many locations but knew that we wanted to be in West Omaha, so when we found

a space with two full walls of windows I knew we were on to something.

TR: What can we expect from you in the future?

BB: We plan to continue developing a menu reflective of our community. We currently cater to vegan, paleo and keto diets, but hope to branch out into other diets which the community wants and needs. We also plan to continue introducing new and exciting menu items. Just today we created a new caramel pumpkin bar and two new keto cookies. They might just be my new favorite thing.

TR: Thanks so much for your time, Beth. We truly can’t wait to stop by again and sample all your new offerings.

We were lucky to visit W+M on a few occasions during research for this article. Our favorite menu items include the cranberry almond energy bites, which consist of peanut butter, cranberries, oats, chia seeds, flax, coconut and almonds. We also love the cold brew from aforementioned local roaster Reboot Roasting. The beans are single origin, roasted to order, small batch, specialty-grade goodness.

Whisk + Measure earns extra points for its house-made coffee syrups, too. This time of year, we like to embrace our Inner Basic B and enjoy a skinny caramel latte.

Besides offering coffee and baked deliciousness daily, W+M is increasingly becoming known for its special events and programs. In summertime, it offers kids’ baking camps for ages 8 and up. And each month, it hosts baking classes for adults and kids. Coming Oct. 28 is an especially delectable offering, a Brownie Sundae popup partnership with local sweets purveyor Coneflower Creamery. Other popular workshops have included a guide to succulent cupcakes, how to make macarons, and parent and child gingerbread house decorating.

It’s clear that whatever your need, Whisk + Measure delivers a tasty and inventive solution.

Check out this dynamic small business and be sure to say hi to Beth and her all-female team.

November 3-17

The Secret Garden UNO Theatre, Weber Fine Arts Building, 6001 Dodge Street unomaha.edu/unotheatre A heartwarming musical about discovery and friendship.

This enchanting classic of children’s literature is reimagined in brilliant musical style by composer Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of ‘Night Mother. Orphaned in India, 11 year-old Mary Lennox returns to Yorkshire to live with her embittered, reclusive uncle Archibald and his invalid son Colin. The estate’s many wonders include a magic garden which beckons the children with haunting melodies and the “Dreamers”, spirits from Mary’s past who guide her through her new life, dramatizing The Secret Garden‘s compelling tale of forgiveness and renewal.

UNO student tickets are $1. For general audiences, preview nights and Wednesdays are $7 and all others are $20. A Curtain Talk will be on Friday, November 9 - Show begins at 7:30 pm Matinee November 18 @ 2:00 pm. For tickets, visit www.unomaha.edu/unotheatre or call the box office at 402.554.PLAY.

a gentle ‘60s psych-pop sound, and Mac Demarco is moving into Harry Nilsson territory. Tatum, however, is looking forward when compared to those to acts - his music is now a love letter to the 1980s.

Wild Nothing’s fourth studio album, Indigo, is heavily influenced by the decade that gave us the Rubik’s cube, leg warmers, and Rick Astley.

The album’s first two songs could comfortably slide onto any mid-period record by the Cure.

Elsewhere, “Partners in Motion” has the bounce of the latter Roxy Music albums and there are traces of Cocteau Twins throughout.

Tatum has said in previous interviews that his intent was to make the album sound as expensive as possible despite its shoe-string budget. Indigo definitely sounds as polished as all the icons that he is nicking from, now let’s hope he puts as much effort into recreating those sounds live. Tickets are $20. ~Houston Wiltsey

November 7

Figures & Forms Connect Gallery connectgallery.net/

~ Beaufield Berry

November 6

Wild Nothing The Slowdown TheSlowdown.com

Jack Tatum, the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist behind Wild Nothing, came along at an extremely fertile time for indie pop. Along with Captured Tracks labelmates Mac Demarco and Beach Fossils, Tatum helped to pioneer the sound of the genre during the opening years of the decade. Though the artists don’t sound exactly alike, if you squint, it’s not hard to see the similarities; jangly guitars, simple drums, and a thin coat of reverb.

Since then, the artists have all gone their separate directions. Beach Fossils have adopted

The six-year old Connect Gallery has dodged a UNl Med Center reno and its traffic issues at the venue’s 3901 Leavenworth address and will not close its doors at the end of 2018 as owner Tom Sitzman once feared.

“Twenty-one months of the street being constricted by orange cones and barrels almost put us out of business,” Sitzman said. “Since construction next door is coming to an end patrons are returning and we are once more profitable and art sales are way up.”

This recent revival was first evident with Connect’s impressive October exhibit, the large group show Expressions in Fiber Art VI, open now through November 3. Sitzman promises a strong finish for 2018 with schedule exhibits featuring Susan Woodford in November in the TAG (tiny art gallery) with her steel and copper sculptures and work from abstract artist by Ken Heimbuch and paintings and photos by Bob Wigton in December.

But what might next get the most attention to the re-born space, especially as it appears in

the Window Gallery, is the provocative, Figures & Forms by artist Courtney Kenny Porto.

Kenny Porto works in a variety of media including charcoal, pencil, yarn, acrylic and mixed media.

While many artists work spontaneously or create in the moment, she acknowledges in her artist statement that “most of my work is meticulously planned…I take great pleasure when the end result matches the vision in my head.

“My creativity lies in the planning and ideas behind a piece, not the execution. I have a minimalist aesthetic. Because of this, most of my pieces center on a single focal point with simple or blank backgrounds and little or no color.”

Known mostly for her figurative works, the title of Porto’s upcoming exhibition should come as no surprise to those that know her edgy, alluring style.

Figures & Forms will celebrate the human figure both in body and the abstract.

“The movement, composition, form and gracefulness of the female figure captivate me, Porto said. “The body is so many things all at once. It is a vessel, a storyteller and a vehicle.”

But rather than mere figure painting or studies, the artist says that “the bodies in my work represent ideas and concepts rather than specific individuals.”

One of these common ideas is the familiar socio-political theme of commenting on popular norms, roles and labels, particularly as they apply to women. Several of Porto’s figures interact quite literally with boxes and frames in order to depict this concept. Others simply focus on the beauty of the female body and its candor.

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Speaking candidly, Sitzman said that though he is grateful for Connect’s revival, changes are in store for 2019.

“Connect Gallery will still exist in 2019, but we are changing the format,” he said. “Jean (coowner and spouse) and I want to spend more time creating our own art and time to travel.

Changes include fewer shows as well as adding rental studio spaces for welded art and painting, fiber, etc.”

Figures & Forms opens at Connect Gallery, 3901 Leavenworth St., November 7th and runs through Dec. 1st, with an artist reception on Friday November 9th from 5:30 – 9 p.m. ~Mike Krainak

November 7

Gary Clark Jr. The Orpheum Theater TicketOmaha.com

Gary Clark Jr. occupies a weird spot in music. He is a universally lauded guitarist who has worked with everyone from Foo Fighters to Childish Gambino, yet the casual music fan may struggle to place him. Until his 2017 cover of the Beatles “Come Together,” he had never even had a single that charted. And, if we’re being

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honest, his albums aren’t anything mindblowing.

So why go see him? The answer is simple, the guy can play the hell out of the guitar. It takes a special player to convince someone to sit through two straight hours of on-and-off jamming (though we’re nowhere close to Phish levels here) but Clark Jr. is definitely in that echelon. Expect the Austin native to bring a topnotch band and maybe even a few surprises as he returns to Omaha to play the legendary Orpheum Theater. Tickets start at $29.50. ~Houston Wiltsey

November 8 at 8:00pm

The Backline

1618 Harney St, Downtown Omaha For information: (402) 720-7670 BROAD PERSPECTIVE is a new show that invites all women, womyn, female-identifying, and gender-queer folks to band together for a monthly night of hilarity, silliness, and comedy.

Two (dude-less) teams hit the stage, with an inclusivity jam in-between, where audience members can hop up to join along in the fun. BROAD PERSPECTIVE is comprised of two teams: The Carol Brunettes and NBA (No Boys Allowed). ~Beaufield Berry

November 8

Ann Brugenhemke: Botanical Delights Hillmer Art Gallery (College of St. Mary) csm.edu/hillmer-art-gallery-0

in the show statement. “For some reason it grabs me in that way. It’s symbolic of something deeper for me.”

“I don’t think we can really know how long we will be able to see certain things in our world, on our planet,” she said. “I feel compelled to represent these things. It has to do with my own need to savor these parts of nature that are fleeting.”

The exhibit is part of an ongoing initiative at College of Saint Mary to enrich the community through art, encourage dignity of all people, and inspire lifelong learning – all within an inclusive campus environment. Brugenhemke hopes her art will connect visitors with themselves as well as inspire a deeper appreciation for all life.

“I think almost any time you have original artwork in an environment, it elevates the atmosphere,” she said. “I hope it is kind of a reminder of value of a living thing…I hope it causes people to look a little bit longer at the natural world.”

Brugenhemke holds a Bachelor in Fine Arts, with her thesis in painting, from University of Nebraska – Omaha. The exhibit is open to the public and will take place in College of Saint Mary’s Hillmer Art Gallery. ~Mike Krainak

November 9-18

THE WOMEN Chanticleer Community Theater 830 Franklin Ave, Council Bluffs chanticleertheater@gmail.com

Thru November 11

R.L. STINE’S GOOSEBUMPS: The Phantom

of the AuditoriumThe Musical

Rose Theater rosetheater.org/shows/goosebumps/

We know Rose Kids who love musical theater to death…but would you really DIE to be on stage? Best friends Brooke and Zeke could not be more excited to tackle the next big Drama Club production—this year they just know they are going to be the leads. But what’s up with that spooky script the theater director has chosen—never performed because of mysterious mayhem plaguing rehearsals? And what about that creepy trap door that leads to tunnels below the stage? And what about the strange voices that echo in the theater? With such superscary goings-on, will the show go on? Join the fright-filled fun—just in time for Halloween!—as the cast of “The Phantom of the Auditorium” tries to survive until Opening Night in this terrifying tale of musical mayhem from the mind of R.L. Stine. We’ve heard of “Stage Fright!” but— SERIOUSLY, guys—this is ridiculous! Showtimes: Fridays at 7 pm | Saturdays at 2 pm and 5 pm | Sundays at 2 pm. Tickets are $20. Reservations required – call 402-345-4849. ~ Beaufield Berry

November 13 Omaha artist Ann Brugenhemke will continue to spread her “botanical delights” across the Metro landscape with her next exhibit at College of Saint Mary’s Hillmer Art Gallery from Oct. 29th through Dec 14th. After two successful shows, Widespread Flowering at Lauritzen Gardens last spring and Flowerbombs and Other Contrasts at Harvester Artspace in Council Bluffs in 2017, Brugenhemke’s new solo will open November 8th from 5-7 p.m. with paintings and elaborate pastel drawings of floral subjects and the natural world. The artist says much of the art displayed will highlight natural beauty, gripping shapes, and nature’s reflection of human qualities.

“When I look at a flower and just the way it catches the light or is hiding its preciousness, it conjures up human qualities for me,” she said

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November 2018

This clever comedy of manners has been hailed as a commentary on the pampered lives and power struggles of wealthy Manhattan socialites. The humorous overtones of the play frequently includes boyfriends and husbands though no men ever actually appear on stage.

Join the adventures of The Women as they examine relationships and romance with the sharp tongue of Clare Booth Luce. Showtimes: Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.

Ticket prices are: Adults – $20.00; Seniors – $16.00; Children/Students – $10.0 For more information and reservations, contact the box office at 712-323- 9955, email chanticleertheater@gmail.com.

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~ Beaufield Berry

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Cloud Nothings The Waiting Room WaitingRoomLounge.com

On the band’s October LP Last Building Burning, Baldi finds the most cohesive balance yet between the power pop of his early recordings and the angsty, brick-breaking post-hardcore of albums like Attack On Memory. Album cuts like “In Shame” are somehow as brooding as a high schooler isolating themselves in a bathroom stall, but as fluidly catchy as Pinkertonera Weezer. But for the most part, the album is overwhelmingly dark, dealing in hopelessness and questioning the point of sticking around for the future. No matter the genre classifications, though, Last Building Burning proves Baldi has songwriting chops that, if it were 1992, would place him among Generation X’s most potent rock voices. Even today, Baldi’s despair echoes that of the teens and twenty-somethings who have yet to find what life has in store for them and are afraid they never will. Cloud Nothings plays The Waiting Room this month, and tickets are $15. Find more info at waitingroomlounge. com. ~Sam Crisler

November 15 at 9:00pm

Wow That’s What I Call Improv Backline Comedy, 1618 Harney St BacklineComedy.com This show will feature 3 practicing Omaha improv teams every 3rd Thursday! Hosted

by Taylor Grote and Ashley Laverty! This show is a chance for practicing improv teams to show their stuff on the Backline stage. Featuring both well-seasoned and newly-formed teams, and a mix of veteran and somewhat newer performers, so you won’t want to miss WTWICIV2!

Tickets are $3 per person. We’ve got 19 beers, ciders, and hard sodas! Please arrive no later than 5 minutes prior to showtime. Tickets may be released for resale at that time, no refunds will be given. Free parking available 1/2 a block away at 17th and Harney. Parking also available on the street (metered until 9pm). ~ Beaufield Berry

November 17

Local H Cleveland’s Cloud Nothings infamously started in songwriter Dylan Baldi’s parents’ basement as an outlet for the high school social outcast to imagine a future as a famous musician. Signing to Carpark Records and constant touring sparked the band’s promising future that’s since traversed Replacements power pop and noisy, Steve Albini-produced punk.

The Waiting Room WaitingRoomLounge.com

Local H has been slugging it out for over two decades now as a two-man band - until now that is.

The band’s founding members, vocalist, bassist, and guitarist Scott Lucas and drummer Ryan Harding, have added multi-instrumentalists Dave Lugo and Jay Langston to fill in the gaps for their tour in support of 1998’s Pack Up The Cats. Not only does this change the dynamics of the band, it puts Lucas into a new role – that of the conductor. “There are times where I feel like I’m in over my head,” he says when discussing the experience over the phone. “But that’s part of the fun for me.”

The announcement of this tour may come as something of a surprise for fans of the band.

Local H toured extensively in over the past few years, even making a 2016 stop at the Slowdown. So why another tour so soon?

“We can’t really do a 20th Anniversary tour for this album next year,” Lucas says flatly.

“We’d done a tour to commemorate the 25th anniversary of As Good As Dead, and that made us think about this one. I like this album a little bit more than the other record and I thought it’d be kind of fun.”

Lucas says that playing the same setlist every night is not always his first choice, but that he is looking forward to doing it on this tour.

“We tried to combat that on a previous tour.

We had titles for all our records in a hat. We’d reach in, pick out an album, and that’s what we’d play.”

“Part of the fun is seeing if we’re able to pull it off,” he continued. “Can we stick the landing on this one?” - Tickets are $15. ~ Kyle Tonniges

November 17

John Prine w/Conor Oberst The Orpheum Ticketomaha.com

John Prine’s always been known to call out inept politicians and patriotic hypocrisy, dating back to his 1971 debut album, which featured tracks rejecting the Vietnam War. He does the same on his 2018 LP, “The Tree of Forgiveness,” with the Trump-and-modern-governmentshaming “Caravan of Fools.” But similarly to how Trump puts it, Prine just calls it like he sees it. On Forgiveness, Prine’s tongue-in-cheek humor is still ever-present — kicking the album off

with “If you see somebody, would you send em’ over my way?/I could use some help here with a can of pork and beans” on “Knockin’ On Your Screen Door.” At 72, he’s naturally thinking about his mortality, too, but instead of fearing death and leaving Earth behind, he idealizes the prospects of meeting his relatives who have passed and smoking a cigarette that’s nine miles long. He seems satisfied with his accomplishments, and he’s taking a victory lap. He plays The Orpheum this month. Oh, and Omaha’s native son, Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst, opens the show. Tickets start at $63.75. ~Sam Crisler

November 18

Cursive

The Waiting Room Waitingroomlounge.com

November 29

Berliner Jens Knigge: Celebrate Verse, Inc.’s 1 year anniversary!

It’s been a GREAT YEAR! We have had some amazing productions including: An Evening With Paula Bell, Lite Pole and Marcey Yates, “An Ode to Burlesque: A Tribute to Josephine Baker”, The 5th Annual Juneteenth Youth Arts Festival, “From the Ashes” Verse Play, Verse Us Poetry Crawl and House Full of Artists. We endeavor to do bigger, better productions providing opportunities for poets and other artists!

Help us bring in our next year with Verve and Verse! Join us for performances by Michelle Troxclair, Michelle Eva Becker & Anissa Lennox!

It’s also the 1 year anniversary of TAPESTRIES: The Rebirth! Come for food, libations, poetry and music! $10 Suggested donation for this one night only affair! ~ Beaufield Berry

November 20

Cannibal Corpse The Waiting Room waitingroomlounge.com Omaha indie fans can rejoice as Cursive are set to make their triumphant live return. The group released its eighth studio album, Vitriola, last month on the band’s 15 Passenger record label to solid reviews from fans and critics alike.

Recorded at Omaha’s ARC Studios with Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis - who last co-produced with Cursive on Happy Hollow - the record feels like a reunion of sorts. Original drummer Clint Schnase, who was also last with the group during the Happy Hollow sessions, has also returned to lock down the rhythm section, and touring cellist Megan Siebe returns to wax for the first time since 2003 to give the album a bit of added depth.

This will be the band’s first appearance in Omaha in over two years and while the Waiting Room is not as intimate as O’Leavers, which the band played last time out, it should still be a small enough space for the city’s emo crowd to pack in and scream its collective heart out.

Tickets are $15. ~Houston Wiltsey

November 18th at 8pm

Verse Inc

One Yr Anniversary The Omaha Lounge verseinc.org

For 30 years, Cannibal Corpse has made a living by playing the most brutal, grotesque and evil music it can summon from the pits of Hell. The band’s lyrics are constantly disgusting, challenging even the most demented horror films with their depravity and vivid depictions of necrophilia, maiming and, of course, cannibalism. If that description was tough to stomach, fear not, for it’s rare when frontman George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher’s guttural lyrics are discernible over the the band’s buzzsaw raging guitars and blast-beat drumming. The band’s latest LP, 2017’s Red Before Black, is a slashfest of songs with titles like “Shedding My Human Skin” and “Heads Shoveled Off.” Cannibal Corpse, naturally, has been the subject of much controversy, particularly for its album covers often involving anthropomorphic skeletons with flesh exuding from bone. But the band holds steadfastly that they’re only telling horror stories — none of Cannibal Corpse’s art is meant to be taken seriously. If you’re brave enough, catch the band at The Waiting Room this month with Harms Way and Hate Eternal.

Northern Lights

Garden of the Zodiac fb.com/TheGardenOfTheZodiac The Garden of the Zodiac Gallery has regularly been the place to go to see new photography. Of late, it’s been a destination to view the work of artists who are applying century-old techniques to their contemporary visions. The next show to open there on November 29 is no exception, featuring platinum/palladium prints

by Jens Knigge.

Berliner Knigge has been engaged with this darkroom process for thirty years, crafting delicate monochromatic prints that exploit the amazing range of grayscale tones achievable with this method. The objects of his lens work have included both urban architecture and the surprisingly poetic qualities of city detritus.

Recently, Knigge has also been trekking to the snowy northern reaches of Norway and Iceland, and his images of landscapes etched by ice and snow are among the highlights of this exhibition. Realized through the platinotype process, the stubby edges of vegetation and sharp edges of the occasional manmade structure read like hand-drawn lines etched into the watercolor paper.

Equally magical are Knigge’s images of the aurora borealis. This atmospheric phenomenon, which produces dancing displays of light in a sublime chromatic range, would in the hands of another photographer be fodder for brilliant color work. But Knigge prefers the abstraction created by the fleeting and suggestive play of shape and shadow when captured in monochrome.

The Garden of the Zodiac Gallery’s Jens Knigge is on view beginning Thursday, November 29 from 7-9pm and runs through January 29, 2019. The gallery, located at 1042 Howard Street in the Old Market Passageway, is open Tues-Sat from noon-8pm and on Sun from noon-6pm. ~ Janet L. Farber

November 30

Bokr Tov

Album Release Show Reverb Lounge,V reverblounge.com

~Sam Crisler

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In its most recent press bio, Omaha band Bokr Tov says they recorded their upcoming debut album “under urgent circumstances.”

Given the band’s self-titled March EP, for the band to work at anything other than a leisurely pace seems out of character. Anchored by a sound that invites comparisons to R.E.M.’s jangly, back-home guitar progressions and dazed J Mascis vocals, Bokr Tov’s previously released material is the stuff of a dreamy throwback band. But the band lives by the same principles as many bands dominating indie pop today, like Day Wave or Saddle Creek’s Twinsmith. They all hop on a vibe train and ride it to the chillest place imaginable. Bokr Tov releases its debut album, Nothing Is Immune, on November 30 at Reverb Lounge with local support from Thick Paint and Bed Rest. Tickets are $8 and are available at reverblounge.com. ~Sam Crisler

November 30

Bart Vargas: AMALGAMATIONS Fred Simon Gallery bartvargas.com

Thru December 2

‘Ascend/Descend’ Creighton University Lied Art Gallery amyhaney.com

In her latest series of art prints for Creighton University’s Lied Art Gallery, Amy Haney presents a dramatic menagerie of birds with insects and other animals in large format prints. Her exhibit Ascend/Descend is what Haney describes as “a celebration of the personalities that come across with a bird’s postures, gestures, colors and shapes.”

Haney highlights the way birds observe and soak in their surroundings, introducing a face-off with the viewer. The methodical process behind Haney’s printmaking results in work that is meditative and intricate. Ascend/ Descend opens November 2 with a gallery reception from 5 to 7 p.m. and runs through Dec. 2 at the Creighton University Lied Art Gallery, 2500 California Plaza, #101. ~Melinda Kozel

Thru December 15

Fine Art Fellows Vargas’ clay works deconstructs childhood avatars within a contemporary context As children we often see ourselves in superheroes and cartoon characters, and those identities don’t go away as we get older. But we do change and the complexities of our childhood avatars compound when given new context.

Artist Bart Vargas explores this jumbling of expectations in his solo clay works exhibit AMALGAMATIONS opening Friday, November 30 at Fred Simon Gallery.

Cast in ceramic from salvaged toys and objects, the converted characters not only highlight the way our memories tend to blend into a feeling or experience but also illustrate an intersectionality that touches on our relationship with popular culture, the discarding of objects, the cycle of consumer culture and the disassembly of mythology.

AMALGAMATIONS is on view November 30 through January 25 at Fred Simon Gallery, 1004 Farnam Street, lower level. For more information, visit artscountil.nebraska.gov or bartvargas.com. ~Mike Krainak

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November 2018

Union of Contemporary Arts U-Ca.org

painting and collage work as well as performance art.

He recently teamed with former Omahan Reggie LeFlore to complete “The Ancestor, The Identity, and The Seed,” a mural located at N. 24th and Ohio Streets.

Omaha sculptor Conyers-Hinson has worked in materials as precious as marble and as ordinary as sawdust. Based on her work with local models, she has recently completed a series of 50 painted masks exploring AfricanAmerican heritage.

Ebirim is an emerging local talent who describes his interests as multimedia art, musical production, modeling and cultural production.

Last year, he impressed the scene with the debut of several new music videos.

The founder of the theatrical troupe Kerfuffle, Laverty was determined to focus on productions for children aged 2-5. She will introduce a new play, “Nested,” described as exploring “family, home, and separation with creative movement, live music, and community interaction.”

Although Morgan’s daytime business card might read Adolescent Health Educator, he is also a prolific, recognized musician and storyteller, as well as a youth, justice and community advocate.

The 2018 Union Fellows Exhibition opens at the Union for Contemporary Art on Friday, November 16 with a reception from 6-9pm. This exhibition runs through December 15 at the Union, located at 2423 N. 24th Street with free public hours on Tuesdays-Saturdays from 11am6pm. Additionally scheduled activities may be found at www.u-ca.org. ~ Janet L. Farber

Thru Dec. 28

First Name Basis The Union for Contemporary Arts has many initiatives in service of its mission to “support the arts and strengthen the community.”

Among them is an 11-month, paid artist’s residency program, during which fellows across a variety of creative disciplines engage in both studio and social practice. The fruits of their labors will be showcased in the 2018 Union Fellows Exhibition featuring Barber, Pamela ConyersHinson, Chikadibia Ebirim, Ashley Laverty and Dominique Morgan. An opening reception will be held on Friday, November 16 from 6-9pm in the Union’s Wanda D. Ewing Gallery.

Barber is an interdisciplinary artist based in Detroit whose portfolio includes a range of

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Modern Arts Midtown modernartsmidtown.com ‘John and Catherine’ unites two established regional artists in dual exhibit at MAM Not to be missed, Modern Arts Midtown brings together two very accomplished artists for a joint showing of recent works. Catherine Ferguson and John Himmelfarb, two names well known to Omaha art patrons, present a dual exhibit in John and Catherine, opening November 2nd.

Ferguson’s work can be found in public, corporate, and private collections across the region. She works in a variety of mediums; wresting new iconography from established symbolism of mythology and history, often incorporating found or procured objects with new imagery. She compliments her work with avid participation in local arts organizations.

Ferguson brings new works to this exhibit in the form of freestanding, graphic portraits, titled “My People,” as well as new examples of her more establish totemic sculptures.

Her friend, the Chicago-based Himmelfarb, who is well known locally and has been featured in scores of exhibits, both nationally and internationally, joins the artist. His modern take on abstraction has been described as “topsyturvy” and “outside the mainstream” stylistically.

Himmelfarb is work in sculpture, painting, and printmaking brings together calligraphic symbols, abstracted figural forms, and colorful representational shapes.

Whether simple or multi-layered, all are bound into a hieroglyph, totem, or picture of his oftenpedestrian inspirations, such landscapes, maps, or trucks.

The opening reception for John and Catherine takes place November 2nd, from 6PM to 8PM. The show will run through December 28th. Further information is available by phone 402-502-8737, or through the gallery website modernartsmidtown.com. ~ Kent Behrens

Thru Dec. 31

Dual Focus Michael Phipps Gallery Omahalibrary.com Leaverton, Fankauser express unique photo points of view in MPG exhibit Multi-media artist and educator Peter Fankhauser joins photographer Roberta Leaverton, at the Michael Phipps Gallery, in a dual exhibit of their work beginning Friday, Nov. 2nd.

Contextualizing through Content brings together these two artists, whose passions both lie with the photographic arts, but with widely different results. “Bert� Leaverton was born and raised in rural Dawson County, Nebraska.

After high school she joined the Army National Guard and remained affiliated with the Army and Army Reserve for over twenty years. Within both her civilian and military worlds, she has been making photographs.

Her deployment to Iraq in 2003-2004 allowed her to return with hundreds of photographs, documenting history through her eyes.

Leaverton graduated with high honors and a Commercial Photography degree from Metro Community College in 2014.

UPCOMING EVENTS

November 1-4 In her recent work, she combines her penchant for extensive journaling with a passion for photographing miniatures, creating 1/35th scale dioramas depicting the realities of war resulting in personal imagery about the realities of military life.

Fankhauser has held posts at Hauser Wirth (& Schimmel) in Los Angeles, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, and The City University of New York.

A recurring theme and personal passion for the artist is how our perceptions of story, information, news, and culture, mutate when delivered through varying media. He often combines still and video imagery with music, printed and spoken word, and performance In addition to his position as Programs Manager at Omaha Creative Institute, Fankhauser teaches courses in Photography and Visual Literacy at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

An Opening Reception for the artists kicks things off on Friday, November 2nd, from 4PM to 6PM. The show runs through December 31st. The Michael Phipps Gallery is located in the downtown branch of the Omaha Public Library, 215 South 15th Street. Further information is available at omahalibrary.org/ browse_program/michael-phipps-gallery/.

AN ARTS & CRAFTS AFFAIR

DECEMBER 5 - 9 TH

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! 7300 Q STREET | 402.934.6291 | RALSTONARENA.COM

~Kent Behrens

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‘NEBRASKA REGIONALISTS’

MONA2Omaha exhibit at G1516 features state artists alongside movement’s major figures

BY KENT BEHRENS

JENNE MAGAFAN - “CORNSTALKS”

SARAANN MATHILDE MCWILLIAMS LEVELL - UNTITLED (RAIN)

ART

C

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NOVEMBER 2018

oming fast to a close is the enjoyable and illuminating Nebraska Regionalists exhibit at Gallery 1516, in the heart of Downtown. This edifying and comprehensive show is the latest joint venture of Gallery 1516 and the Museum of Nebraska Art labeled appropriately MONA2Omaha.

It brings together a feast of artists responsible for a pivotal moment in the history of American art. The exhibit features many lesser known artists with a connection to Nebraska and its abutting neighbors, as well as examples from the usual cast of major figures in the larger movement; Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry.

Although Benton, Curry and Wood were not Nebraskans, gallery director Patrick Drickey felt that no Regionalist exhibition would be complete without the context provided by the most visible representatives of the movement. Benton’s work is part of the MONA collection by virtue of his illustrations of Francis Parkman’s The Oregon Trail.

Wood, who juried the first Joslyn biennial, left his artistic legacy in Iowa. Curry, the Kansas native, spent the greater part of his career in Wisconsin. But their presence on the national stage and the resonance it had for Nebraska

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artists resonates throughout the rest of this show. magazines and newspapers. The perfection of The Regionalists were a loosely knit group various printing processes allowed many to sell of artists, mostly painters and printmakers that numerous reproductions, making the art more were the midwestern delegation of the broader affordable to the wider public.

American Scene art movement. The country was The Regionalist movement is most often deep into a decades-long drive, 1930-40, for a attributed to three artists, Benton, Curry and seat at the adult table in the world art scene.

Wood. They are, by far, the most well known The new century had ushered in a of the Regionalists, and they all have quite a preoccupation with realist art, with its focus on number of works in major museums. the inner-city; imagery of prostitutes, drunks, This show features a handful of examples by laborers and crowded tenements. A group of this holy trinity. These pieces, however, are not these artists, called The Eight, were the driving the most recognizable of their works, except force behind the American Scene movement. for maybe Curry’s “John Brown” print. Curry’s More well known as The Ash Can School they, “Golden Horse,” and Benton’s “Indian Attack” along with artists of the Southwest dominated. and two lithographs, are much less known, but The country at the time, however, was primarily still show us the breadth of their talents. The agricultural, and the midwestern artists responded Grant Wood pieces “Shrine Quartet” and with art of their own, called Regionalism. It was a “Honorary Degree” are a welcome respite from rejection of the rapid industrialization in the east. the overexposure of his “American Gothic,” and It grew from fear and uncertainty of war and the exemplify his humorous side.

Great Depression. Most importantly, however, it Another featured artist here, Terrence Duren, is was a rejection of the abstraction and modernism often mentioned in the same breath as the big of European art movements. three. He was a regular in the Omaha World In the pantheon of art’s isms, Regionalism was Herald Sunday section and taught and studied positive, reassuring, and celebrated endurance both here and abroad. Duren’s piece in this show, and perseverance. It was patriotic and designed “Web Ray, is an oil portrait that could easily be for public consumption. Indeed, many of these included in the 1946 Illustrator’s Annual. Though artists sold their works as illustration for books, he is only represented by one piece, he was

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THOMAS HART BENTON - “INDIAN ATTACK” The show also features several female hugely successful as an illustrator, commercial artists. SaraAnn Mathilde McWilliams Levell artist and set designer.

Born in Kansas, artist Aaron Gunn Pyle, who is represented with two scratchboard works of lived most of his life in Chappell, Nebraska, is haunting simplicity. Though the works show the prominently featured with three exemplary ravages of time, they succinctly represent the works. His “Wheat Harvest” and “Wagon Near trials many had to deal with at this point.

The twin sisters Ethel and Jenne Magafan, Chimney Rock”, both tempera on board, are perfect Regionalist examples from this full-time who created drypoint and lithographic prints, farmer and former Benton student. It is told he only respectively, are featured here with detailed and painted after chores were done. It is not difficult to romanticized everyday situations of wash on a see the influence of Benton in his work. Pyle’s work clothesline and corn in the wind, rendered with an experienced artists touch. was often featured in the Omaha World Herald.

Another standout in the exhibit is the striking In addition to Pyle, another of the more wellknown and collected artists is Dale Nichols. From cubist watercolor by Katy Burnap Faulkner called David City, which is home to the collection of “The Barley Mill.” This and many others in the his work at the Bone Creek Museum, Nichols show are evidence that these rural artists, many is represented by his smaller print works; one working farmers, were just as knowledgeable about trends and styles of art as any others. lithograph and four woodblock prints.

The exhibit offers many lithographs and These pieces are not widely seen, but they are good examples showing rural imagery of people other print processes, like the two-color actually involved in work or classic landscape woodcut prints of Morris Gordon, evidence of images. Nichols was a big fan of Rockwell Kent, the popularity of those processes and of the and a couple of his woodblock prints show some variety of mediums.

Unlike last summer’s impressive John Steuart influence.

Also in the show you will see the large versions Curry: A Regionalist Perspective at The Kiechel of Nichol’s famous “Four Seasons“ series. These Gallery in Lincoln, this show is a wider survey were a commission from actor and art patron of what was happening at the time. This exhibit Vincent Price in the 1960’s. Price was and avid offers more than 50 works by over 20 artists art collector and had his own gallery in Chicago. known for their Regionalist work.

Several works are examples from the late Many of these artists, even the working farmers, had formal training and studied even 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s. Most of these artists with some of the masters. Others, such as Lyman continued in the same style well after the height Byxbe, had no training at all. Byxbe was born of the Regionalist popularity.

There is too much going on to cover it all here. near Pittsfield, Illinois. Though he had no formal school training, he was artistically inclined from See the show. Whether it be devoted academics a young age, and as an adult learned the art of and administrators such as Dwight Kirsch, or a successful illustrator like John Falter, who etching from Omaha architect Mark Levings.

Byxbe worked primarily in drypoint, aquatint, gave Norman Rockwell a run for his money, or and etching, but also executed works in mezzotint, primitive purists like Byxbe or Levell, this show is conté crayon, oil, pencil, and watercolor. His as much a delight as it is informative.

Gallery 1516 is located at 1516 Leavenworth etchings are formal and line work clearly shows the influence of working with an architect. He Street and is open Friday - Sunday, 11 - 5. was elected to the Chicago Society of Etchers Nebraska Regionalists will continue through and had a one-man show of sixty-some items at November 4. For more information, call (402) 305-1510 or go to, https://www.gallery1516.org. the Smithsonian in 1937-38.

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NOVEMBER 2018

17

#METOO MOVES TO THE STAGE Alyson Meads haunting sexual assault play comes to Omaha

THEATER

BY BEAUFIELD BERRY

BEAUFIELD BERRY is an accomplished playwright, novelist, theater arts educator and performer. She’s passionate about performing arts and has served on several boards across Omaha.

When she’s not covering the theater scene, you can find her creative consulting with Storytellers Collaborative and leading personal coaching sessions with many beloved clients. Check her out at BeaufieldBerryFisher.com .

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’ve spoken many times before on the inherit politics of theater.

From its very beginning theater has served as a way for the “voiceless” to be heard, for the powerless to build an audience and for the people to undermine, challenge or rail against the powers that be. Art in and of itself is a place for free thought. Theater plays by its own rules, unyielding to the pressure of other power structures. Forgoing race, age, social status, etc., theater is for everyone: That’s what makes it dangerous. It will not be shut down, censored or told to be “good.” Plays often derive from personal experience or connection to the subject, and writing can serve as a coping mechanism, a survival tool, a way to right a wrong. More truth – deep, personal truth -- can be found in the pages of theatrical works of “fiction” than in many other sources, I’d argue.

This fall, as Brett Kavanaugh’s name and college debauchery became household, millions of women across the nation returned to dark places in their minds, in their collective mind.

Listening to the searing testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford mobilized many women to fight back against an increasingly apathetic, if not hateful governmental regime, one that refuses to take women seriously, despite the large percentage that voted for them. Too many women have

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faced the kind of abuse Dr. Blasey-Ford testified it’s important. It’s what we can do. It’s what we’re against for this to NOT be A Moment. A Moment called to do. It’s what we must do. that most certainly includes theater artists and our Here in Omaha, director Amy Lane Head powerful attention to empathy and the human of Theater at Creighton saw the post and condition. immediately knew she wanted to be involved.

Playwrights respond to the world around them “It resonated with me because activism through through their written work. Timely and historically the arts has become an increasingly central part repetitive occurrences are often challenges of my career. It seems in the face of our current accepted through art – art takes up the mantle of political climate that talking is not enough, that history all the time. It’s a way to solve a problem, action is necessary. As theatre artists we have incite more dialogue, or figuratively slay the the power to create community dialogue, to dragon. The current discussions surrounding actively engage in an issue, to tell stories that rape culture, the #MeToo movement and the matter, to engage empathy and inspire change.” onslaught of Hollywood heavyweight takedowns Along with veteran designers Steven Williams have compelled many artists who are also assault and Valerie St. Pierre Smith, Beaufield Berrysurvivors to tackle their stories on the page. Alyson Fisher producing and Beth Thompson signing Mead, is a Los Angeles based playwright who on as Assistant Director, Lane put out a casting turned her anger into action. She put a call out call to nearly all of the working women actors on a massive Facebook community of women, in Omaha. trans, non-binary and female identifying theater “My hopes were initially to gather a group professionals across the country. The call was of actors who felt as passionately about the brief and powerful: “Today, in honor of women’s topic as I did. Omaha performers exceeded my bravery, I’m offering this as a one-time deal. If you expectations. The response was overwhelmingly have a theatre company, or want to put together a positive. It probably shouldn’t have surprised reading over the next few weeks to 100% benefit me, MeToo and the issues surrounding the #MeToo, contact me. I’ll waive royalties.” The Kavanaugh hearing affected so many, and so response was as ardent as the offer, with artists many are ready to say enough.” from all over clamoring to take Mead up on her With special permission from the playwright, offer. Not because it’s free, or easy, but because the Omaha team decided to put on three

performances total, in hopes to reach a larger audience in Omaha’s segregated grid and to “spark some dynamic conversations about how we as a community can address harassment, assault, inequality, etc. by providing a safe place to share,” Lane adds.

Although Alyson isn’t local to Omaha, being able to bring her powerful play and words to our local community is a generous gift. Where so many writers work hard to earn their livings, to offer that work for the benefit of others is an incredible testament to how much sharing this piece means. When people say that “theater can save lives”, this is the theater we’re talking about.

The performances are all open to the public, with a $10 suggested donation. Give more or less, whatever you can. This means there is great opportunity for someone in that audience to experience some healing, catharsis, and an understanding that they are not alone. I wanted to share some insights from our playwright on why she felt moved to donate her work in this way.

What made your show so timely?

ALYSON: I was at the Kenyon Playwrights Conference when I heard about the Stanford rape case and Brock Turner. I remember sitting in the quad area of the campus, under a beautiful canopy of trees, and reading Emily

Doe’s courageous letter, in a scene that may have been like the one she was in, right before she went to that party that night. I was so angry, and so tired of this. But I was also moved by her bravery and grace, and resolute to use what I had – my voice – to hopefully adjust something, move a needle, something. If nothing else, I could show how women are always cleaning up the mess after sexual assault, often in confusing, loving and sometimes messy friendships.

Sometimes over many, many years. The title of the play itself is from something the nurses said to comfort Emily when they were examining her after the assault – another form of female courage and grace.

Talk to me about theaters place in politics? Shouldn’t we just shut up and entertain?

ALYSON: I have so many thoughts on this – do you have a few hours? My thinking is that politics is part of life. And my mission is to capture what it feels like to be alive today. I don’t even say “politics” or “political” much anymore.

I use the word “engaged.” To be engaged in our world today means, at some level, taking part in, and having opinions on, the stuff that shapes our social lives. That includes our elected leaders, their appointments, and legislation in general.

What’s been the response to your – Anita Hill, especially. They’d even stacked show nationwide? the galleries behind Dr. Ford with Kavanaugh ALYSON: In a word, amazing. I wrote the supporters, some of them women. I wanted her play really quickly after Kenyon, and it had a to know, so much, that she was valued, and few readings right away that fall. Then it went needed, and appreciated, just as I did with on to win the Henley-Rose Award and the Bridge Ms. Hill. I know people have made all kinds of Initiative’s New Play Award, and I had a chance gestures to thank her since then, but she’s not to do more development from there. Readings even able to move back into her home with her across the country followed, and those were great, family. That has to change, and I hope that our and started to move us toward an Off-Broadway readings of The Flora and Fauna raise money production. For this most recent iteration, I was for an important cause, but also bring women so moved on the day Christine Blasey Ford together, to raise their voices and combine their testified in the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, and talents to depict these complicated women literally couldn’t stand it anymore. I jumped into onstage. a Facebook group that day, and offered to waive The Flora and The Fauna can be found royalties if people agreed to donate all proceeds onstage in Omaha November 18th at from the readings to #MeToo, over the next few UNO, November 19th at Creighton and months.

November 20th at The Apollon on Vinton street. All shows are at 7:00pm and there is a $10 What made you decide to offer royalty- suggested donation. All proceeds from the show free readings across the country of The go to supporting victims of sexual assault through Flora and the Fauna? the MeToo movement. For more information It’s always the bravery of women or, in this please email Beau@Thereader.com and check case, one woman standing alone. Christine out our facebook event: Alyson Mead’s The Flora Blasey Ford didn’t have to do what she did. and The Fauna Staged Reading She didn’t want the attention, and it was clearly painful for her to dredge up such painful If you are interested in becoming an even sponsor, memories. Seeing her all alone in front of please contact Beau@TheReader.com. For more that microphone, facing a grim line of mostly on #metoo visit www.metoomvmt.com and for male legislators, brought up so much for me more on Alyson visit: Alysonmead.com

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NOVEMBER 2018

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MUSICAL HARVEST November is bursting with exciting musical options. Dig in!

HOODOO

BY B.J. HUCHTEMANN

HOODOO focuses on blues, roots, Americana and occasional other music styles with an emphasis on live music performances. Hoodoo columnist B.J. Huchtemann is a senior contributing writer and veteran music journalist who received the Blues Foundation’s 2015 Keeping the Blues Alive Award for Journalism.

Follow her blog at hoodoorootsblues.blogspot.com and on www.thereader.com.

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he Thursday early blues shows presented by the Blues Society of Omaha at Chrome Lounge kick off November with the return of the Heather Newman Band. Newman, now based in K.C., was just selected to represent the Kansas City Blues Society in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in January 2019.

Thursday, Nov. 8, the Michael Charles Band featuring native Australian guitarist Charles plugs in at Chrome. Thursday, Nov. 15, East Coast bluesman Bobby Messano performs. Messano is a veteran musician who has worked with a number of artists including time as music director for Steve Winwood and touring with Lou Gramm (Foreigner). Messano’s recent solo blues CDs have been recognized with a Blues Blast Music Award nomination and time on both the Billboard Blues Top 10 and the Roots Music Report’s Top 40 blues-rock albums.

Thursday, Nov. 29, the Jeremiah Johnson Band is featured.

Guitarist Johnson is a protege of Mike Zito, who produced Johnson’s latest disc Straitjacket (Ruf Records). See jeremiahjohnsonband.com.

Thursday night shows are 6-9 p.m. Mike Zito himself is up at Chrome Thursday, Dec. 6.

There is no show on Thanksgiving night, however the BSO and the team at Chrome are putting on a special Thanksgiving Eve show with blues guitar star Coco Montoya playing Wednesday, Nov. 21, 6-8:30 p.m. at the nearby Stocks n Bonds venue created by the owners of Chrome. Stocks n Bonds is in the former Brewsky’s space just south of Chrome. Stay in the know about BSO presents shows along with a curated list of many area blues and roots performances at OmahaBlues.com.

Goin’ to Memphis The Blues Society of Omaha completed its annual Blues Challenge and panels of judges following the Blues Foundation’s judging criteria selected Stan & the Chain Gang (band) and Matt Cox (solo/ duo) to perform in Memphis at the International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Jan. 22-26 2019. At the IBCs, they will have the opportunity to perform alongside over 250 acts from around the world. The event is a great platform for artists looking to expand their national touring and recording presence. Past BSO representative the Hector Anchondo Band made it to the prestigious final eight performers in the 2016 IBCs. For more information on the IBCs visit blues.org/international-blueschallenge.

Toy Drive for Pine Ridge Thursday, Dec. 6, Lincoln’s Zoo Bar partners with the Toy Drive for Pine Ridge to host a benefit show for the cause. Playing from 6-10 p.m. are Lash LaRue & The Hired Guns and the Levi William Blues Band. There are a number of events in November and early December to raise money for toys for the children on the

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HOODOO

Pine Ridge reservation at Christmas. The charity also needs donations for the emergency heat fund that keeps elders and families supplied with propane when they cannot afford to purchase their own during the bitter winter. For more about Lash LaRue’s Toy Drive for Pine Ridge, details on all the events and official drop-off sites where you can donate toys see toydriveforpineridge.org or Facebook.com/ toydriveforpineridge.

Zoo Bar Blues Bookmark zoobar.com for the latest show information for Lincoln’s historic Zoo Bar. In addition to the Wednesday regular 6-9 p.m. matinee shows, a few other highlights include keyboard virtuoso Bruce Katz Friday, Nov. 9, 5 p.m. And Kris Lager Band Friday, Nov. 16, 9 p.m. Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal showcase music from their forthcoming release Do It Now Friday, Nov. 23, and The Mezcal Brothers Thursday, Nov. 29, 6-9 p.m. Early warning note for Mike Zito returning Friday, Dec. 7.

One Percent Roundup The Reverend Peyton’s Big Dam Band brings high-energy slide-guitar-driven blues to Reverb Lounge Saturday, Nov. 10, 9 p.m.

Township & Range opens. Peyton draws from the traditions of Delta blues originators like Robert Johnson and Charley Patton.

The folk, rock and blues of The Talbott Brothers takes the Reverb stage Thursday, Nov. 15, 8 p.m. The brothers are natives of Imperial, Nebr., and are now based in Portland, Ore. Evan Bartels opens. Americana rockers The Bottle Rockets play Reverb Lounge Saturday, Nov. 17, p.m.

A highly anticipated rockabilly and roots holiday show Tuesday, Nov. 27, 7:30 p.m., brings some high octane acts to The Waiting Room when Horton’s Holiday Hayride rolls into town. The lineup features The Reverend Horton Heat with special guest Big Sandy plus honky-tonk guitar master Junior Brown and seminal American roots-rockers The Blasters with Phil Alvin front and center, Keith Wyatt on guitar and the original rhythm section of Bill Bateman and John Bazz. See onepercentproductions.com for details on all these shows.

Hot Notes American folk hero John Prine plays the Orpheum Theatre Saturday, Nov. 17, with Conor Oberst opening. See ticketomaha. com. Blues-rocker Kenny Wayne Shepherd plugs in at Lincoln’s Bourbon Theatre Saturday, Nov. 17, 8 p.m. with up and coming Austin band The Peterson Brothers opening. Seating is already sold out for this show. See bourbontheatre.com for general admission ticket availability. Chicago-based buzz band. The Claudettes throw down their blues- and jazz-inflected, eclectic rock at Growler USA Thursday, Nov. 10, 9-11 p.m.

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NOVEMBER 20188:57:29 AM21 10/12/2018

BACKBEAT COLUMN B Y H O U S T O N W I LT S E Y

VITRIOLA ALBUM COVER

BACKBEAT

A

22

NOVEMBER 2018

s summer fades into autumn there’s a shift in the artistic landscape.

Movie studios start scaling back their popcorn releases and begin to roll out their Oscar bait, and the biggest video games are released in anticipation of the holiday season. In essence, they’re saving the best for last.

While this doesn’t always translate to the music world it seems that, coincidentally, this is what’s currently happening in Omaha’s music scene.

October saw releases from two of the biggest artists in town. Both records were released on October 5, one from a pioneering group in the area’s alternative rock scene and the latter from an up-and-coming band that might be the future of it. In case you’re wondering, I’m referring to Cursive and the David Nance Group.

First, we have Vitriola, the eighth studio album from the Tim Kasher-led emo-rockers. The band released the album on their own label, 15 Passenger, and brought original drummer Clint Schnase back to record for the first time since 2006. Touring cellist Megan Siebe also makes her first appearance on an album since 2003.

For anyone that loves Cursive’s past records, I can’t see any reason to jump off the bandwagon now. Kasher is still mad at just about everything: himself, his friends, corporate America, the one percent. All the dissonant guitar stabs, cymbalheavy fills, and stormy bass lines that fans fell in love with on the early records are all still intact.

I should note here that I have never been on the Cursive bandwagon. Therefore, it wouldn’t feel right to pick apart an album from a genre I’ve never fully invested in, or even had a passing interest in if I’m honest.

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Despite not being a fan of the group, I still While these big records may have taken up enjoyed how the band blended a ticking guitar most of the spotlight in October, one under-theriff with cello and bells on “Free to Be or Not radar release that may have slipped through to Be You and Me.” The piano-driven post-rock your fingers is the “Knight Speed” EP from of “Remorse” was another highlight and an Omaha metal band Pro Magnum. The Omaha interesting detour from the rest of the album’s four-piece describes its music as channeling songs. “the pioneers from classic hard rock and heavy In contrast with Vitriola, I’ve been bumping the metal with its Midwest twist.” Now, I have new album from David Nance Group ever since no idea what the “Midwest twist” is, but I it dropped. Fresh off their Maha appearance can assure you that Pro Magnum is pumping last August, DNG released Peaced and Slightly out some kick-ass rock music regardless. The Pulverized on Chicago’s Trouble in Mind record band’s three-song EP draws heavily from the label. Musically, the album’s title gives you a mid-’80s heavy metal scene, in particular, Iron good idea of what you can expect. Almost every Maiden. Anyone that is a fan of well-crafted song on the album has a slightly hazy, loopy riffs and dueling guitar solos - which should be undercurrent. While the tunes’ rhythm sections everyone - should give this thing a listen. Also, slink along at a languid pace there’s some the EP’s cover features a skeleton in a leather seriously pulverizing guitar playing going on over jacket swinging a flail that is shaped like a them. Both “Amethyst” and “In Her Kingdom” are spiked skull. It’s just amazing. excellent examples of this. The former’s distortion In addition to the great releases, there was hits you immediately and the song becomes also a pair of fantastic pop-rock shows in the progressively heavier as new guitar parts seem metro this past month that I was lucky enough to appear from virtually nowhere until its hard to attend. to discern where one begins and another ends.

Peach Pit played a sold-out show in On “In Her Kingdom,” Nance takes a slightly the Waiting Room’s front room. It was an different approach. The song starts out like unexpectedly large turnout for a band that one of the sleepier numbers off of a late-career was only recently signed to a label. The fact Velvet Underground album and then ventures in that I felt borderline geriatric at 24 years of Television territory during the guitar solo. age should tell you all you need to know about The album’s final track is also it’s best. Riding the crowd. It’s understandable. The Vancouver a druggy Creedence Clearwater Revival-inspired band is a young group that counts fellow riff, “Prophet’s Profit” extends over nearly nine Canadian Mac Demarco as a key influence. minutes and showcases Nance doing everything That was especially clear in the crystalline from building scratchy washes of guitar guitar lines that guitarist Chris Vanderkooy disharmony to doing a bit of forlorn, upper-neck was expertly playing as he twitched across noodling on his instrument. the stage and made several voyages into the Nance and his band are not the most advanced crowd. There was also some truly excellent group of musicians - that’s not the point. David stage banter as frontman Neil Smith explained Nance Group is good because there’s an inspired, how “Chagu’s Sideturn” was about snorting unhinged quality to their playing. It’s reminiscent crystal meth in Indonesia and how bassist Pete of the Libertines in a way. Sonically, the groups Wilton came across naked pictures of Smith’s have almost nothing in common - Nance sounds mom on Smith’s dad’s iPad. more-or-less like Neil Young and the Libertines Liverpool threesome the Wombats made a are edgy guitar pop in the vein of the Strokes. stop at the Waiting Room to promote their new What both have in common though is that they album, Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life. Their sound like their songs might veer off the road set was heavy on tracks from that record along at any moment, or just break down completely. with tour staples like “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” However, Nance would be the equivalent of a and “Moving to New York.” While I’m not sure semi truck breaking down on the highway, slowly their music has aged terribly well - everything and methodically, while the Libertines are the sounds like it could play in a Hollister in 2008 - it musical equivalent of watching a formula one was an undeniably fun show and a reminder of driver trying to race while chock-full of meth, when a band that sounded like this had some going out in a blaze of glory. viable radio potential.

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NOVEMBER 2018

23

THE SHAMING OF THE CREW The Problems With Modern Movie Audiences

B Y R YA N S Y R E K

FILM

Attending a movie with other people is only better if those other people can contribute in some way to a shared experience. Between shushing and shaming and an evolutionary abandoning of making mouth noises like shrunken prehensile tails, seeing something in a theater isn’t quite as communal anymore. But we can fix this.

For better or worse, depending on who you ask, senior contributing writer RYAN SYREK has been reviewing movies and writing about popular culture for more than 15 years. In print, on social media (twitter.com/thereaderfilm), on the radio (CD1059.com) and on his podcast, Movieha! (movieha.biz), Ryan tries to critically engage pop content while not boring anybody. Send him hate, love or local movie news items at film@thereader.com. .

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lthough the Alamo Theater chain lays it on thicker than a snickerdoodle, stopping just short of implying punishment by literal murder, everyone hates chatterboxes and phone users in theaters. As Americans, we agree only on our collective hatred of movie disruptors and that the KFC ad campaign with different performers playing Colonel Sanders is oddly upsetting.

However, as someone who spends more time with movie-watching strangers than with my actual family members, the actual incidence of rule-breaking bad behavior in cineplexes is realistically maybe 1 in every 30-40 flicks. If it happens once, it becomes an anecdote that looms incredibly large, but in fact, the pendulum seems to have swung too far the other direction.

Hear me out.

Screening for Jerks Admittedly, the dawn of the smartphone era was quasi-bedlam. Suddenly, everyone had magic devices in their pocket that connected them to all of everything, and the temptation to set it down for two hours took self-control, our smallest national export. Although common sense should have established solid social norms for using these tools in public, that’s our second smallest national export. Over time however, we kinda figured it out.

Yes, some dinguses (dingii?) still fire up their screens mid-film. Every once and a while, grandpa forgets to shut off a ringer that is set to “WWII-era bomb siren.” But for the most part, audience disruptions have settled way the

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hell down. You wouldn’t know it given all the thinkpieces still being thunkparted or the new policies being policed by various phone-banning theater chains. But honestly, I don’t know anyone who keeps their ringer volume set to make audible sound by default anymore. And again, by the time a major corporation actually gets around to making a policy about something, that thing has already resolved itself.

The reality is, as someone who has a pretty big theater-going relative sample size, the actual incidence of smartphone disruptions is as exaggerated as a CBS comedy’s laugh track.

It’s Quiet…Too Quiet…

Last year, movie theaters recorded a 25year low in terms of attendance. Without a doubt, advances in streaming and home theater equipment have shrinky-dinked audiences.

However, lost in the discussion of how to get butts in seats again is any element of communal participation. That is to say, we need to learn to laugh again.

A rarely discussed side effect of watching everything in our basements is that we have forgotten how to audibly chortle. We have replaced laughing out loud with LOLing. It doesn’t help that studios have abandoned the comedy genre like the Democrats have abandoned the south, but a big problem no one seems to be discussing is that people aren’t used to making sound with their faces in public anymore. Horror movies, also sweetened by collective gasping and screaming, don’t produce much of a peep these days either.

Crying Lets the Sad Out of You One of my most favorite things is when a person ugly cries during a movie. Allowing for undiagnosed sadism, the main reason is because emotional responses to art beget other emotional responses to art. It is a beautiful thing to watch people be moved to tears, and yet everyone tries to cover it up. I say enough!

It is time for us to unite behind our criers, to celebrate our scaredy cats who squeal and jiggle at every jump-scare, to spell out every letter in LOL with actual laughter. I have tried, honestly.

I have conducted mini-experiments wherein I let myself dare to make sounds in public. It works every time. The people I’m with tend to like the movies more than when I haven’t been making such a concerted effort. I’ve started listening for the sounds of other active audience members, allowing them to fuel the fire of my reactions.

We can’t do this with a policy. Theaters can’t put out a statement that says “We encourage you to participate” without having bro-chuds turning the whole thing into an unbearable extravaganza of self-importance. I’m just asking you to consider it, to remember that being a better audience member isn’t only about the things you avoid doing.

I am a huge advocate of the accessibility and affordability that streaming services and digital distribution have provided. I am also a huge believer in empathetically regarding people around you at all times and not causing discomfort in others. I am also asking you, begging you, to return to the days when seeing a blockbuster movie meant “oohs and ahs,” when seeing a comedy meant missing lines of dialogue because people made too much laughter, when seeing a horror movie felt like the terror was all around you.

I want to say “Make Audiences Great Again,” but I also hate myself for that thought. So I’ll just say, try actively thinking about how you participate in movie theaters. There are less of us, and we need you more than ever.

WHAT IS THIS, A SPACE RACE FOR SNAILS? First Man Gets Bogged In Boring Biography

B Y R YA N S Y R E K

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bviously, the most exciting part of retelling humanity’s mad dash to set foot on the moon is Ryan Gosling quietly rage blinking. First Man is sizzling history told ice cold, a stuffy biopic that dreams itself an arthouse meditation when it actually just traffics in snoozy cliches. Having also penned The Post and Spotlight, screenwriter Josh Singer has now completed his unofficial “trilogy of movies about essential cultural moments told with as little vim and vigor as can be vimmed or vigored.” Director Damien Chazelle’s followup to La-La Land is too tepid to call an outright misfire, but he won’t have to worry about anyone pulling another “Lucy and Charlie Brown playing football” moment on him at the Oscars this year.

Ryan Gosling plays Neil Armstrong, the astronaut chosen to be the first person to walk on the moon. It cannot be understated that part of the reason Armstrong was chosen for the role was his even-keeled demeanor and outwardly boring persona, two characteristics that don’t inherently scream “dedicate a movie to my inner strife!” Starting in the early 1960s and continuing until his fateful “small step/giant leap,” First Man spends considerably more time watching Neil pensively pout in the vicinity of his wife, Janet (Claire Foy), than it does building tension about the America v Russia moon contest.

The reductive and gross “virgin/whore” dichotomy that dominates most roles for women should really be updated to “virgin/ whore/anguished-wife-who-worries-about-herhusband-doing-dangerous-things.” Foy does her captivatingly understated damndedst, but you don’t get more paint-by-numbers than scenes of her demanding that Neil to talk to their kids or scenes where she weeps while listening to a radio account of a test flight. Does a movie pass the Bechtel test if two women talk to each other without explicitly mentioning a man’s name but both characters are clearly only thinking about dudes? Asking for 51% of society…

For his part, as a grade-A emotional simmerer, Gosling can drop bombs of suburban ennui

NEW RELEASE with the best of them. As potent as sparse and intimate storytelling can be, there is a limit on how long one can watch any performer silently stare in close ups before actively rooting for a spaceship to blow up. Even those moments— when the raw danger of NASA trying to pull a lunar McGyver is palpable—are often muddled by shaky-cam and incomprehensible lighting and framing. Chazelle clearly meant to simulate the real-life tension and confusion experienced by the astronauts but actually just made watching his movie often unpleasant.

This week saw a staggering report that concluded, without a massive and unprecedented human achievement, the planet is screwed. What a horrid time for Chazelle to frame a movie about a massive and unprecedented human achievement in the most banal and uninspiring way possible. First Man is substantially worse than its grade here indicates because films shouldn’t be graded on what they could have been. Still, just imagine how transcendent a movie about overcoming political obstacles to celebrate our shared humanity and recapture a sense of purpose and wonder might have felt right about now.

Beautiful Boy

Dundee Theater — Starts Friday, November 2, 2018

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SHOWING IN NOVEMBER

Two stars Synopsis: This is more of a biography of Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) than a movie about the space race. That would be fine, if Neil Armstrong weren’t legendarily boring and stoic. The end result is an attempt that misses the mark as both intimate and epic.

FILM

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CUTTING ROOM

TOMMY WISEAU & GREG SESTERO

• The question “Remember when the president incarcerated a bunch of people in horrific fashion?” can now be answered with “Which president?” So it seems like a good time for Film Streams and The Middle East Cultural and Educational Services (MECES) of Omaha, the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Omaha Chapter and the Immigrant Legal Center to present a screening of And Then They Came for Us. On Tuesday, Nov 13 at 7 pm, the documentary about the time we locked 120,000 Japanese Americans in cages will be shown, with a post-show discussion that’s likely to be as depressing as it is important.

The documentary is framed through the perspective of Japanese American activists speaking out against the recent Muslim registry and travel ban. As the saying goes, history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme, mostly with curse words…

Thanksgiving, bringing out the best in family dysfunction since 1863

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FILM

• On Tuesday, Nov 13 at 7 pm, you can head to the Alamo Drafthouse and ask “Why would you do that again on purpose?” to Greg Sestro, an actor who has now made two movies with Tommy Wiseau. Best F(r)iends, which Sestro also wrote, seems like it should prompt a Q&A session with a therapist, but you’ll have a chance to ask him all the questions a licensed medical professional probably should. I kid. I’m sure that watching all 203 minutes of both volumes of this film is not anything like the definition of insanity.

Netflix tickles my license to kill, I believe it’s going to happen about as much as I believe Madden will put on either of the double Os. Madden would be a boring, expected choice for a franchise that needs to get modern or get left behind. That said, the producers came out and said they basically want to keep their misogynistic money pig exactly the same in terms of casting, so maybe Madden will don a tux and confuse women for plot devices soon.

At least it can’t be any worse than what Piers Morgan said after seeing Craig carrying his baby in a papoose.

• The latest rumors have Richard “Don’t Google Him If You Aren’t Caught Up on Game of Thrones” Madden as the favorite to take over for Daniel Craig after this next 007 jaunt, set to be directed by Cary Fukunaga for now. Although the thought of Fukunaga directing Bond after watching Maniac on

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 podcast, catch him on the radio on CD 105.9 on Fridays at around 7:40 a.m. and on KVNO 90.7 at 8:30 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Twitter.

HEARTLAND HEALING HEARTLAND HEALING is a metaphysically-based polemic describing alternatives to conventional methods of healing the body, mind and planet by MICHAEL BRAUNSTEIN. It is provided as information and entertainment, certainly not medical advice. Important to remember and pass on to others: for a weekly dose of Heartland Healing, visit HeartlandHealing.com and like us on Facebook. .

FORGIVENESS: I CAN CHANGE YOU… GUARANTEED!

BY MICHAEL BRAUNSTEIN

I

t’s a bit of a detailed thread of logic so if I bore you, either hang in there and be rewarded or bail and have a nice day. However and within whatever paradigm you choose, I believe you will find the stream of logic hard to defy. So, here we go.

“It’s about forgiveness…” — Don Henley We are each created. We exist, if only under the premise of “Cogito, ergo sum.” If each of us or the whole exists, we didn’t create ourselves. We are the “created” and created by some entity. If one chooses the “God made me” paradigm, by the dictum that “like creates like” and the definition of God being a perfect Being, then we are created indeed in the image and likeness of a perfect Being and a perfect Being can do no wrong and is therefore innocent. That means we as a creation are conceived with the same perfection and our intrinsic nature is one of innocence. Our true nature is being innocent. (Now, for those who dismiss the “God made me” paradigm, then even if a human being is no more than a conglomerate of random molecules assembled by a base twist of fatal organic chemistry known only as the “energy of the Universe,” then we are imbued with that same neutrality that the Universe has. What is neutral, devoid of judgement, is still to be considered “innocent.” Get it? Whichever way you want to slice your reality, innocence is our essence.)

Now, given that, we each long for our true selves and the consummate evaluation of that true self is as an innocent. (Again, in the words of Don Henley, “Are ya with me so far?”) And like any conscious being, we crave being who we truly are. Though we have the ability to stray far from who we truly are, we never forget it and long for it. We mourn for it.

Learning Human beings learn by watching other humans. In fact, observation of like kind is how all living beings learn. No human, no animal at all, ever truly learned by being told verbally how to do something. It’s either observation or experience. Mom didn’t say, “Now Debbie, here is how you walk. Move that left foot forward a bit. Now the right. Oops, don’t forget to balance.” No, talk is not how infants learned to walk. Seeing another human being walking is how we learned to walk. It’s the same with speaking or water skiing or anything else. When we see another human do something or exist in a certain way, we realize that, “Hey, that’s a human. I’m a human. I can be like that.”

So it follows that if our core desire is to reclaim our innate innocence, to be as we were created, then we must relearn the truth about ourself.

We must learn our innocence by observing innocence in another human being. There is a sure-fire method to do that.

Why choose innocence? Because guilt kills. Guilt poisons. Guilt makes dis-ease. When was the last time you enjoyed feeling guilty?

When was the last time you embraced guilt? I don’t mean when was the last time you made a mistake. That’s human. To err is human. It’s the nature of being imperfect in an imperfect world. But we are not of this world though we keep a body in it.

I see you. I can change any person in the world that I want to. I can make them entirely different if I so choose. Your very essence is under my control. Your core being is what I choose it to be and you are powerless to stop me. What is it that I can do that you are powerless to stop? I can make you innocent. By my forgiving you, you become innocent.

The best, surest way for me to learn innocence is to make you innocent so I can observe innocence in you, my human analog. And the guaranteed methodology that will succeed in making you innocent is to forgive you. When I forgive you, you instantly become what I long to be: innocent, free from guilt.

And though your actions may or may not be intentionally designed to attack or harm, I will always be able to forgive them if I so choose.

Many have come to us over the arc of time who demonstrated that immeasurable power to forgive. They have taught that those who offend are doing so in error, out of fear or sickness only. No matter.

I am still able to forgive. When we see another human in the light of forgiveness, it reminds us of our essence, our innocence. We remember that we are, as our Creator/Energy of the Universe is, a perfect energy being only but a human body. We remember that to err is human. To forgive is divine. And that our reward is the bliss of innocence.

Be well.

Heartland Healing is a metaphysically based polemic describing alternatives to conventional methods of healing the body, mind and planet. It is provided as information and entertainment, certainly not medical advice. Important to remember and pass on to others: for a weekly dose of Heartland Healing, visit HeartlandHealing.com. and like us on Facebook.

HEARTLAND HEALING

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OVER THE EDGE OVER THE EDGE

is a monthly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, music, the media and the arts. Tim has been writing about Omaha and the local indie music scene for more than two decades. Catch his daily music reporting at Lazy-i.com, the city’s longest-running blog. Email Tim at tim.mcmahan@gmail.com.

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CLEVELAND’S ‘SERIAL’ SPOTLIGHT Season 3 of the acclaimed podcast takes on the judicial system

BY TIM MCMAHAN

S

eason 3 of the Serial podcast is under way, and it’s (once again) engrossing and addictive while it shines a much-needed light on issues that are frustrating and appalling.

This time, listeners will be enlightened at Serial’s deep look inside the Cleveland judicial system that also will leave them disgusted at the racism, incompetence and graft that seemingly permeates the halls of its Justice Center. And then they’ll wonder if it’s like this everywhere else.

First, some background on Serial. The podcast series, developed by the folks who brought you National Public Radio’s This American Life, was all the rage among the in-the-know crowd when the first season launched in the fall of 2014.

Waitaminit. For those of you living in a hollow tree who still proudly carry a flip phone, podcasts are downloadable audio programs and/or series that you listen to on a smart phone or via the web. Podcasts, which have been around for a decade, continue to be red hot for long-form story-telling in this micro-attention-span era in which 280-character tweets are considered extravagantly verbose.

Fun fact: The average number of weekly unique users who download NPR podcasts rose from 3.5 million in 2016 to 5.4 million in 2017, according to NPR data.

Back to Serial. The series launched in 2014 with a 12-episode story that investigated the 1999 murder of an 18-year-old Baltimore high school student and the case surrounding her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Masud Syed, who was found guilty of the crime despite facts that seemed to prove otherwise. Syed was granted a new trial two years ago but remains in prison while awaiting a decision on the State of Maryland’s appeal. If Syed gets the new trial, Serial may well have helped produce that outcome.

During the height of Season 1, people feverishly waited for Thursday to roll around for the next episode. Serial Season 1 was downloaded more than 80 million times, and you can still download it and become engrossed in the story today.

Season 2, launched in the fall of 2015, was somewhat less engrossing but no less impactful. It investigated the case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been charged with desertion after leaving his post, being taken prisoner by the Taliban and then held captive for five years. Listeners not only heard a dissection of the case but received a new understanding of what it was like to be a U.S. soldier in the Afghan war. Season 2 was honored with an Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding achievement in electronic journalism.

And now Season 3, which began Sept. 20. This time, host and executive producer Sarah Koenig is telling a different twisted story every week about people lost in the justice system by way of the Cuyahoga County Court, located in the Justice Center in beautiful downtown Cleveland.

Episode 1 follows attorney Russ Bensing as he provides a defense for “Anna,” a woman charged with assaulting a police officer. It’s kind of a “he said-she said” story underscored by security cam and police body-cam footage that appears to exonerate Anna. Through the hour-long episode we not only learn the ins and outs of misdemeanors, felonies and plea deals, but how something so obvious can be interpreted a dozen ways, especially when cops and lawyers are involved.

While Episode 1 was mildly unnerving, Episode 2, titled “You’ve Got Some Gauls,” left me floored. It examined the sentencing practices of colorful Judge Daniel Gaul, who, in one instance, told the man he was sentencing that if he

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OVER THE EDGE

had a child out of wedlock during his probationary period he’d send him to jail. Unconstitutional? Uh, maybe.

But that was only the tip of the Gaul iceberg. Koenig and fellow reporter Emmanuel Dzotsi give more examples of how Gaul pressured people into plea bargains, acting like a judicial Monty Hall (for the young folk, Monty was the host of TV game show Let’s Make a Deal, which in many ways resembled Gaul’s hearings).

While Episode 1 was mildly unnerving, Episode 2, titled “You’ve Got Some Gauls,” left me floored. It examined the sentencing practices of colorful Judge Daniel Gaul, who, in one instance, told the man he was sentencing that if he had a child out of wedlock during his probationary period he’d send him to jail. Unconstitutional? Uh, maybe.

But that was only the tip of the Gaul iceberg. Koenig and fellow reporter Emmanuel Dzotsi give more examples of how Gaul pressured people into plea bargains, acting like a judicial Monty Hall (for the young folk, Monty was the host of TV game show Let’s Make a Deal, which in many ways resembled Gaul’s hearings).

Things get much darker with Episode 3 — the story of Erimius Spencer, a man beaten by two police officers in the hallway of his Euclid, Ohio, apartment building. Spencer was kicked in the face, tasered multiple times and arrested on a misdemeanor pot possession charge. The seemingly obvious police brutality led to a civil suit by Spencer, and the outcome will leave you angry and frustrated.

Episode 4 is the heart-wrenching story of a murdered child, a man falsely accused of the crime, and the moral quandary faced by the dead child’s father, who thinks he knows the real killer.

Episode 5 examines the role (and power) of prosecutors, how plea deals are made and a murder trial in which security camera footage again plays a central role.

Episode 6, the most disturbing so far, takes place in the urban decay of East Cleveland — a story of extreme police brutality and false imprisonment that borders on kidnapping and torture. According to testimony, the defendant/ victim, Arnold Black, was punched so hard by cops he required surgery to drain fluid and blood from his skull. That surgery wouldn’t take place until after Black spent three days in a makeshift holding cell/broom closet with no food, water or toilet. Black’s crime was, well, there was no crime. The madeup charges in the case were dropped.

There’s more. Lots more. And this is only Episode 6.

After listening to each episode, I checked the web to gauge public outcry. I figured the fine citizens of the City of Cleveland would be marching down to the Justice Center with torches and pitchforks in hand, but no. There has been little, if any, coverage online about what Serial is reporting. Is it because the cases, in some instances, are a year old and there are newer horror stories happening in the Cleveland courts?

Or is Cleveland just waiting for the “other shoe to drop.” With at least a half-dozen episodes left in Season 3 (as of this writing), the city may be holding its collective breath to see what horrors Serial uncovers next. I know I am.

Over The Edge is a monthly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, music, the media and the arts. Email Tim at tim.mcmahan@gmail.com