The Reader March 2015

| THE READER | MARCH 2015 3

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4 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | omaha jobs

Anyone who’s conducted a job search in the last 15 or so years can tell you that the Internet is full of career resources.

Whether you’re looking to make a change or looking for a place to start, there are nearly countless websites dedicated to your purpose. Increasingly, online is becoming the only way to search and apply for jobs. Not to mention it’s one of the best ways to network, get resume-writing tips and fi nd practice interview ques-tions.

Sifting through the information out there can be more work than you’re reasonably able to take on. Fortunately, there are a select few

websites on which you can zero in to help make things easier when it comes time to looking for work.

Social Media, etc.Think “common sense” websites - those sites where you can easily be found. In the digital age, employers can look up who you are be-yond your resume. Carefully review these sites and make sure you’re represented exception-ally well.■ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – Make

sure you adjust your privacy settings. Then, just for good measure, clean up any inappropriate

pictures or posts.■ Google – Google yourself. What are the

results? If what you see makes you cringe or brings up bad memories, think what it would do to a hiring manager (who will almost assur-edly Google you). While you may not be able change some of your Google results, you can be one step ahead on things you can change.■ LinkedIn – Headhunters as well as indi-

vidual employers are using LinkedIn. Set up a profi le and fi ll out as much information as you can, and provide your most professional-look-ing headshot.

Blogs and AdviceThere is no shortage of blog sites, ranging in topics and author expertise. In 2012, renowned magazine Forbes compiled a list of the 75 best sites for job seekers. The Forbes list is in alpha-betical order and includes many job search en-gines, but it also points readers to what it fi nds to be the best and most reliable career advice blogs, some of which include:■ About.com/Careers – About.com holds

itself out as one of the largest publishers of ex-pert content. Almost anyone who’s searched “how to …” has read an accurate About.com article, so it should come as no surprise when Forbes put it on the list.■ Career Change Central – This subscrip-

tion service embraces the idea that people don’t stick with one company or profession for their

The World of Online Job GuidesOne of the Best Ways to Network and Hone Interview Skills

s i d e

E x p l o r e y o u rDesign, Interactivity and Media Arts

Interior Design

Photography

Studio Art

Theater

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Discover the arts at MCC: mccneb.edu/arts

omaha jobs | THE READER | MARCH 2015 5

WEST CORPORATIONNow Hiring Multiple Posi-tions. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

ALEGENT HEALTHNow Hiring Multiple Posi-tions. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

LEGACY DESIGNSTRATEGIESAdministrative Assistant. Contact Jamie Kratky at [email protected]. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information

MID-CONTINENTPROPERTIESMarketing Manager and Of-fice Associate. Contact Doran at [email protected]. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

ENVISIONSLife Skill Instructor. Contact Bridgett at [email protected]. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

NEW VICTORIAN INN & SUITESMaintenance. Contact Kristen Kotik at [email protected]. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

AURSTAFFNow Hiring Multiple Posi-tions. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

OMAHA STEAKSNow Hiring Multiple Posi-tions. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

INFOGROUPNow Hiring Multiple Posi-tions. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

MANAGEMENT REGISTRYNursing. Contact [email protected]. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information

VINTAGE FINANCIAL GROUPClient Directives Coordinator. Contact Heather Burwell at [email protected]. Go to OmahaJobs.com for information.

NELNETNow Hiring Multiple Positions. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

BUDGET CAR RENTALNow Hiring Multiple Positions. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

INSIDE SALESWe are a market leader & a high-ly respected distributor in tile & stone. We have been in business for over 50 years. Full time po-sition, compensation based on experience. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

COLD STONE CREAMERYCrew Members. Contact Cyn-thia Clark at [email protected]. Go to OmahaJobs.com for more information.

OMAHA DOWNTOWNIMPROVEMENT DISTRICTCommunications Coordinator. Contact [email protected]. Go to OmahaJobs.com for information.

DRIVER3-4 nights a week, 4:30-9:00pm. Knowledge of Millard area a plus. Personal vehicle required, good driving record a must. Go to OmahaJobs.com for informa-tion.

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entire working lives. Don’t let the name fool you – no matter where you are in your career path, you can find useful resume and cover let-ter writing tips, among other info.n Evil HR Lady – How could anyone resist

that name? This blog tackles reader questions and issues from a human resources/manage-ment perspective, giving sarcastic yet honest answers to myriad corporate problems.n Interviewing.com – Perhaps one of the

trickiest aspects of finding/getting a job is the interview. This site is dedicated to tips and technology suggestions to help both job seek-ers and employers.n Payscale – One of the most interesting sites

on the Forbes list, Payscale provides free salary data to subscribers in return for information about their salaries. It’s for both employers and employees who want to make sure pay rates are fairly priced. In addition, Payscale provides ar-ticles such as a salary negotiation guide and a best compensation practices report.

The Government Can HelpPrivately-run blogs and job boards are great, but don’t forget resources provided by the gov-ernment.

n United States Department of Labor – It’s not just about improving poor working condi-tions. The DoL is also here to improve the lives of “wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States.” Its website allows visitors to subscribe to email updates on a variety of top-ics. It also provides information on the rules and regulations surrounding working in this country.n Nebraska Department of Labor – On the

local level, the NE DoL provides important information for both job seekers and employ-ers. And just in case you’re wondering what Nebraska’s unemployment rate is versus the national, you can find that here too.

Whatever online resource you choose, try to vet the content. Many pages have an “About Us” or “Our Story” page that explains who’s providing the info and how qualified he or she may be. Not all job sites are created equal.

INFO & REGISTRATION Visit OmahaCreativeInstitute.org 1516 Cuming St., Omaha, NE 68102 (651)373-6662 Questions: [email protected]

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6 MARCH 2015 | THE READER |

The Best of the ‘70sSaturday, March 21, 2015

Matt Catingub, conductorAnita Hall, vocals | Steve Moretti, drums

The Holland Center heats up with the greatest hits of the Doobie Brothers, Paul McCartney and Wings, the Carpenters, and The Eagles. Grammy-winner Matt Catingub returns after his sold-out 2014 Symphony Rocks concert.

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Mermaids, Minions and DragonsSunday, March 22, 2015

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contents | THE READER | MARCH 2015 7

Publisher John [email protected] Director Eric [email protected] Editor Mara [email protected]

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

heartland healing:Michael [email protected]/visual: Mike [email protected]: Tamsen [email protected]: Ryan [email protected]: B.J. Huchtemann [email protected]

music: Chris [email protected] the edge:Tim [email protected]: William [email protected]

SALES

Dinah [email protected] [email protected]/DIGITAL

Clay [email protected]

Kerry [email protected]

MARCH2015VOLUME21NUMBER49

MOREINFO:WWW.THEREADER.COM

METRO BUS DESIGN BY DREW DAVIES AND OXYGEN DESIGN

08 COVER STORY THE DESIGN ISSUE

16 MUSIC MATTHEW SWEET

20 ART KRISTIN PLUHACEK

24 HEALING THE GENE BUSINESS

26 SPORTS MAVERICK HOCKEY HEATS UP

27 SPECIAL SECTION OMAHA FILM FEST

33 EAT FAMILY DRAMA AND LASAGNE

36 CULTURE SALVAGING THE PAST

40 CULTURE BOMB GIRL

42 PICKS COOL STUFF TO DO

44 FILM MOVIE POSTER MANIA

48 FILM OMAHA FILM FEST

50 HOODOO MEMPHIS MEMORIES

53 OVER THE EDGE PODCASTS

54 MYSTERIAN DOCTOR IS IN

8 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | cover story

PATRICK LEAHYDirector of planning, research

& innovation - healthcarestudio & strategy team

at Holland Basham Architects

BUF REYNOLDSFashion designer

JED MOULTONUrban design managerfor the City of Omaha

JEFF DAYMin|Day architecture practice;

director of the UNLarchitecture program

DREW DAVIESOwner/design director of

Oxide Design Co.;national co-president of AIGA

The concept of design carries different meanings in various fields, but it’s funda-mentally about what brings together the elements of form and function. From the

clothes on our back to the layout of our cities, from the smallest of logos to the most complex facilities, the work of designers in a multitude of disciplines is everywhere you look. The Reader surveyed five de-sign professionals from different disciplines to get their insight—with respect to their particular fields—on how design touches, influences or even controls our lives individually and as a community:

What drew you to your particular field?

Leahy: In college, what I liked about it is that it was always changing, the multiple skill sets, and a complex-ity that would continue to challenge and stimulate me...Now it’s even more than that: I have the ability to im-prove people’s lives.

Davies: Even as a young child I was always fascinated by icons, symbols, logos, and the like. I’ve always been interested in art, but design was the way I found to bring my need for order and direction to that aesthetic world.

Day: Beyond the enjoyment of making things and draw-ing and designing, I think that architecture spans a huge range of social and culture issues and brings together everything from philosophy through very pragmatic con-cerns like keeping the rain out of the building.

Moulton: I’ve always been drawn to very large, messy, complicated problems. Because I’m ultimately an opti-mist, I feel that through applying yourself to any prob-lem, we can come up with solutions.

Reynolds: It was something I always appreciated. I loved shopping, I loved looking at clothes and style and how

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things were worn. I remember seeing a fashion show in kindergarten, and I couldn’t look away from it; it was just the coolest thing.

What has changed most over the years in your particular fi eld?

Davies: Really just the prevalence of the digital world. When I started Oxide Design Co. 13 years ago, prob-ably 90 percent of our work was print—brochures, busi-ness cards, direct mail—and 10 percent was websites and other digital design. Now it’s probably the opposite of that ratio.

Day: At first (new) technology simply replaced an older technology...but now it’s actually changed in a much more fundamental way: the way we think about build-ings, the way buildings are made, the way they’re man-aged in terms of facilities management has become very digital, and it’s opened up a tremendous amount of pos-sibilities for architects to be able to have a much greater sense of control over their projects than they may have had in most of the 20th century.

Reynolds: The thing that has changed in the industry here locally (is) there’s an actual infrastructure building in Omaha. There are people who support it, there are other designers now, there’s this whole community that wants to see you thrive.

Leahy: We do so much more with computers, we have 3-D printers now. Environmental responsibility and sus-tainability has been a huge change. And even more in the last five or ten years, Lean planning in the family of

Six Sigma. Rapid prototyping. EDAC, which stands for evidence-based design accreditation and certification, it’s mostly for healthcare and came out of healthcare treatment, but looking at evidence of what really works; we’re not doing things just that are beautiful but really improve the outcome for patients. Another one has been Charrette (collaborative process) planning.

Moulton: It’s called the Great Inversion; for 65 or 70 years or so we moved out to the suburbs and now it’s the opposite trend, everybody’s moving back in. It’s not go-ing to be the same city: we do things differently, we have new technology, we have different understanding of how things function, we have new transportation ideas.

Where do you turn for design inspiration?

Reynolds: A lot my inspiration comes from just everyday life. Things that happened to me, experiences, memo-ries, my surroundings.

Moulton: You start by look at older cities and older parts of our city. They were all originally designed and struc-

tured for pedestrians...You can’t have a great, livable city and have only vehicular transportation.

Davies: I tend to look outside of the traditional industry-based sources, and instead get my inspiration from step-ping out of the design mind and doing other things in the world. I get inspiration from everyday activities, nature, streetscapes, interactions with close friends and family.

Leahy: There are great things in nature you can look at for innovative solutions to environmental challenges. And the other thing I do is learn from different buildings: what’s been done and what’s great and try to do it in an even better way and take it one step further.

Day: I look to contemporary art quite a lot and conceptual art—not in the way a lot of people would think, looking at art to look at different ways of making form—but more about how artists approach the world...I think architects are always looking at other architecture; it’s hard not to do that. My wife calls me the Terminator because when I walk into a building, I scan around and I instantly notice everything.

Why do aesthetic qualities matter as much as practical qualities in design?

Moulton: I think the choice between practicality and aesthetics is a false dichotomy...I think everything is aes-thetic and we just have different personal aesthetics.

Davies: Information can be as clear as possible, but it still won’t do any good if no one wants to read it. I be-lieve that in order for design to be truly effective, it must be a balance of clarity and aesthetics. The exact propor-tion depends on each situation.

Day: There’s no question that architecture has a prag-matic basis, it’s there to solve problems for people. But it also connects the culture and I think that’s through the aesthetic qualities of the building.

Leahy: We need to inspire people...If it doesn’t uplift the spirit, we really haven’t done anything out of the ordi-nary. Good architecture is all about creating that experi-ence; the lighting, the feel, not just the value and return on investment.

Reynolds: From my perspective, they’re trying to evoke a feeling or they want to make somebody feel like they’re


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different or they set themselves apart, it’s sort of a cos-tume for every day. They need to be able to live their life in the garments but they need to also make it so that they can be individual in those garments.

What are the benefi ts of good design?

Day: Whether we’re talking about a public space or a work space or a residence, architecture and design in general is really about improving lives...I think that’s why architects tend to be optimists, because we’re always thinking we can make things better.

Reynolds: You want to be able to have something you feel good in; you want to have something that is well-made and you want something that pleases your eye. It has to be appealing to all of your senses. It has to be able to last and carry over into the future; it should be transcendent and carry on through time.

Leahy: Good design does not cost more money. Often it can cost less, especially operationally and maintenance and cost-wise...It’s about brand, improving the bottom line and profits and happy more productive staff or guests, or students or patients, or whatever your building type has. People do better or come back often to great places.

Moulton: (With) good urban design, there’s physical health (walkability). There’s also economic benefits; if you actually design better, more compact, denser envi-ronments in existing parts of the city you grow the tax revenue pie and your infrastructure costs are much less.

Davies: Good design can literally increase the bottom line. It can get more people to hear an important message and take it to heart. It can drastically raise awareness.

What are the primary infl uences on design in Omaha?

Leahy: Omaha By Design. Design Alliance Omaha, and this sub-thing they do, Pecha Kucha Night, it’s from the Japanese word that means “chit-chat”. Another one is AIA (American Institute of Architects) Omaha Chapter. Design firms, enlightened clients. Metropolitan Com-munity College; I was on that board and helped them get their first comprehensive strategic plan...There’s also these great preservation groups that keep the best of the old. And then the University of Nebraska College of Ar-chitecture; that’s where I got my education.

Moulton: It’s public, it’s political, it’s regulatory. Your public governance influences (urban design) significantly.

Day: Omaha has a lot of influences from the outside. I’ve been here for about 15 years and I’ve found that the

Midwest tends to be broad as a region and we tend to look at a lot of different things.

Davies: I think that Omaha’s best design firms are in-fluenced by the same sources that influence designers nationally and even globally.

Reynolds: You’re all over the scale in Omaha as far as fashion goes and there’s no one set style.

What are some classic examples of good design locally?

Day: The repurposing of that into what the Old Market is now, in a lot of cases it’s simply an updating of the prag-matism of the original building. The specific examples kind of deviate from that, they tend to be the monument buildings like the state capitol, NBC Bank that’s now Wells Fargo in Lincoln, the Sheldon Museum in Lincoln; these are really great buildings that are nationally and internationally known. In Omaha, the Joslyn and the ad-dition to the Joslyn are important projects.

Moulton: (In) the older parts of the city, one interesting example are these little commercial nodes that are there because the streetcar lines used to run through them...all of them connected together and downtown was kind of the anchor.

Leahy: Union Station, I worked on restoration. Joslyn Art Museum, I worked on the addition and restoration there, too. The capitol/Central High School, St. Cecilia’s Cathedral and the Gold Coast neighborhood. The 1891 public library. The 1889 Omaha National Bank build-ing and New York Building. The Burlington Station—not the one that’s there now, the 1898 original design by Thomas Kimball.

What are some contemporary examples of good design locally?

Leahy: Midtown Crossing...it created a destination where the community comes together. Village Pointe, a great little commercial development. The Holland Per-forming Arts Center. SAC Federal Credit Union head-quarters. Mammel Hall. The Community Engagement Center, what goes on inside is just a really great space.


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JEFF DAY


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Davies: From a graphic design standpoint, one of the things I am proud of about being from Omaha is that there are a bunch of people doing great graphic design work here in town.

Reynolds: Fashion in Omaha doesn’t go back very far...It’s hard to draw the line between classic and con-temporary because it’s all sort of contemporary at this point.

If Omaha had a design aesthetic, how would you define it?

Davies: From a visual design standpoint, I don’t re-ally think that Omaha has a “design aesthetic”. What I’m seeing locally is a lot of good work inspired by all kinds of sources from across the country and around the world.

Reynolds: A lot of people’s knee-jerk reaction here is “Oh, yeah, Husker gear” or something like that, but I see so much more because the people I’m with every day, I see so much variation in style...How would I label it? Individual, varying.

Day: You don’t find a lot of speculation and crazy sort of experimentation like you might in Los Angeles. You find things are really rooted in a kind of pragmatism of solving the problem.

Moulton: If Omaha had an urban design aesthetic: grassroots. It starts from the ground up.

Where do you see Omaha’s designaesthetic going?

Leahy: I think part of it is individual voices--designers, community leaders, property owners, the clients--and several complementary organizations working together to preserve and improve urban spaces.

Moulton: I think we’ll improve because everything ul-timately comes to Omaha that starts somewhere else, but it takes 15 years. Do we want to continue that or actually show by example what we can do?

Reynolds: We have this growing infrastructure of peo-ple who are so supportive of current designers. It’s defi-nitely changing and turning into something where peo-ple are beginning to realize we have something here.

Davies: I believe that Omaha is right there in the na-tional mix from a design aesthetic standpoint.

Day: I hope it evolves to a point where it’s not just about an aesthetic but thinking about how we want to live in the city...I think we also need renewed understanding of the value of public space and interface between private space and public space; that’s something that has not been considered very well here.

How do the different design disciplines interact?

Leahy: To do any kind of major project well, you have to do comprehensive, strategic and facility planning. It’s the business as well as the buildings and the parking and the spaces in between them...It’s getting the right team put together, but it’s also that everybody on the team realizes how important everybody else is so we think of every aspect.

Davies: Some of the best cultural experiences we can have are when architecture, interior design, branding and graphic design, wayfinding and information design, etc., all combine to make something truly special.

Day: (At UNL) we have architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, planning, and we’re going to start an industrial design program, and all those students take the same classes in the first year. Those classes are really about creative problem solving and teamwork. We’re teaching them to interact and collaborate from a very early age.

What do you wish non-designers knew about design?

Davies: That visual aesthetics are just a small part of great design. Really successful branding and design in-volve huge amounts of thought about clarity, accurately conveying information, tactical considerations, messag-ing, and the like.

Reynolds: From a fashion design perspective, having somebody local make something for you, don’t assume it’s going to be really cheap. Fast fashion has ruined that for designers. If you want something like that, talk to your grandma.

Moulton: Cities are the way they are not because of randomness but because of very well-established sets of policies, regulations and practices.

Leahy: Good design takes longer than a 30-minute HGTV episode.

Day: Every manmade object that you touch is designed by somebody--that doesn’t mean they’re all good, but design decisions are being made every day that impact people and I think they should think more about that impact and interact with that production at some point and be intelligent about making choices. ,For the full text of the interviews, please visit thereader.com.

BUF REYNOLDSJED MOULTON

PATRICK LEAHY


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Matthew Sweet is back.

And not just in a musical way, but literally. He’s back here, in his home state of Nebraska. Sweet and his wife,

Lisa, moved to Omaha in the winter of 2013 after spending 20 years in Los Angeles. He bought a house in which he built a small studio (that he says isn’t really a studio) and with the help of a Kick-starter campaign began to pour the foundation for what will be his first new album of original material since 2011’s Modern Art.

What direction that new album will go is still a mystery to Sweet, who always has taken the road less traveled when it comes to his musical career, and it’s made all the difference. Sweet reinvented power rock in the 1990s with the release of one of the most memorable albums from that decade, 1991’s Girlfriend. The collection spawned a top-10 hit with the title track, which was nestled among 14 other songs just as good, from the grinding guitar-driven “Devine Intervention” to the soaring “I’ve Been Waiting” to the country-tinged heartbreak of

“Winona” — every track on the record was a certi-fied full-blown, windows-down sing-along.

Girlfriend was followed two years later by the harder, psychedelic sound of Altered Beast and the power rock of 1995’s 100% Fun, which featured guitar work by Richard Lloyd of Television. From there, Sweet released six more albums of original material, along with three cover albums performed alongside The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs. While do-ing all that he also was a member of supergroup The Thorns and Austin Powers’ band Ming Tea,

16 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | music

music

sweethomecomingMatthew Sweet headlines a fundraiser for Hear Nebraska March 28B Y T I M M C M A H A N

‘Sweettalk: Somewhere along the way Matthew Sweet must have gotten home sick. What drew him back to The Good Life state? The Reader caught up with Sweet to find out.


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“A meticulously researched recreation of the Swing Era” —The Mercury Review: Hobart, Australia

When my soul was in the lost and found.

and last year, alongside Lisa, was a research con-sultant on the Tim Burton film Big Eyes, that traced the life of ‘60s West Coast artist Margaret Keane.

Somewhere along the way Sweet must have got-ten home sick. What drew him back to The Good Life state? We caught up with Sweet Feb. 24 to find out.

Matthew Sweet: We had a house in Los Angeles we bought a long, long time ago and were there for 20 years. We don’t have any kids and didn’t have any family out there, and we sort of always felt like we’d sell our place and move from right in the middle of Los Angeles, where it’s really expensive.

When the (housing) market came back we looked throughout California and the West Coast -- we didn’t leave because we didn’t like it. We were excited to do something more radical, and moving here made a lot of sense because we both have a lot of family here. Lisa is from Scottsbluff. Both of us don’t come to Nebraska that often, and so it was a chance to get to know our families a little more before we become the elderly relatives that no one knows about.

My mom passed away in September and we were here for that, but I’m very much a loner and a home body, so in a way it doesn’t matter where I am. The weather here is the really awesome thing, how the weather changes and how much more you feel it. In Los Angeles there are times when it’s gorgeous, but there’s also a lot of time when it’s really hot and where it’s a monotony of unbearable things. But a lot of that is life itself no matter where you go.

Plus these days you can make music anywhere. I hear you have studio in your house here.

It’s a studio but not a real studio. I’ve been writing the new record and did a Kickstarter campaign for it last year. I’ll record the album in my house. When we do the Hear Nebraska event, I’ll keep some of my guys from my band here and we’ll start the recording.

The Kickstarter campaign was interesting. You raised more than $55,000 for recording the al-bum. Why Kickstarter?

I was curious what it would be like. I talked about try-ing it for a long time. It seemed like time to try it. I had a hard time making myself do it because I’m not that outgoing, which sounds weird doing what I’m doing. I’ve never been a look-at-me kind of person. It worked out well time-wise because I went on the road after we launched it and could talk about it. I ended up selling a lot of 30-minute Skype talks (as a campaign pre-mium). In reality it could take me three solid months to do all those. I think maybe I wouldn’t do that again.

But it’s empowering to think that you can have an idea and there’s some magical place where people can be-lieve in you and help make something happen. Some people in the music business have polarized ideas that Kickstarter is just begging or whatever, but I don’t really see it that way. If you’re going to do a project you have

to pay for it somehow, from somebody. Why not from the people who actually like what you’re doing?

The last time I interviewed you was 10 years ago. You prophetically said that things are go-ing to change in this business, and that if you could make your music and just give it away and somehow make a living that would be the best scenario. Well, we’re almost there with the “give it away” part when you consider how much Spotify pays for streaming.

The big concern early on was the conflict between commerce and art. Now there’s just no commerce, comparatively. We didn’t know how good we had it. We’re all just micro-business owners now, trying to do our thing, you know?

Which is where Kickstarter comes in.

I especially want to please all those people (who took part in Kickstarter), more so than I would a business man. With Kickstarter I feel like I can’t be willy nilly about it. I want to focus and deliver some-thing whole. They’ve already bought the record, so they probably would like it to be decent, you know?

Last year you did an intimate show with your band at tiny O’Leaver’s, which has a capacity of around 100. What was that like?

I love that we were playing to people standing and sitting right in front of us. We were coming off a grueling tour where there was a lot of long drives and our van broke down and we could never get another one so we ended up traveling in two ve-hicles. When we landed here I felt like I was going to collapse because we knew we had to go to Chicago after we did our shows here. That show was kind of a blur. I remember it being good, but didn’t know if I was good. I really wanted to be good because I was playing in Nebraska.

Tell us a little about your contribution to the film Big Eyes and collecting pop art.

We had a couple Margaret Keane prints in the early ’90s. When we got interested in her art it was the inabil-ity to find out anything about it that made it interesting. A lot of our collection is made up of artists who were working around Keane or working around that time in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s in LA and San Francisco, where Margaret was doing her work. We thought it would make a good movie for a long time, and we told a lot of people and eventually the folks we hoped most would make the movie did. We went up to Vancouver to see some of the filming right before we moved, and I swear once the movie got filmed, we thought ‘Our work was done here in Los Angeles.’

Give us an idea what your new album will sound like.

I want to do it really old school — collect a bunch of songs, make some demos, pick the best of those

closest to me and record them. I don’t get a sense of what (the album) is like until I’m into recording. It’ll be simple; it’ll be a good variety of things, but will feel like a whole effort. It’ll feel like a human being and be brave enough to say something with feel-ings. I love playing electric guitar and making gnarly guitar riffs, which I could do all day. That’s why I’m trying to not just write a bunch of riffs. I want them to be songs. The fact that I’m waiting to combine all those elements makes it fun for me.

You said in 2004 that Girlfriend was sort of an alba-tross when it came to dealing with record labels. You also said ‘92 and ‘96 were career peaks, but that they weren’t necessarily the best times in your life. How do you look back at those times now?

At the time I was really not able to see the global picture of my life and what kind of person I was. It was this turbulent, kind of crazy thing. I worked very hard. There was always something to do and some-where to go, and someone we had to talk to or sing for. And when I say ‘we,’ I really mean ‘me.’ I enjoy playing live a lot more now. Back then it was more of a crap shoot. It was just hard. It was what it was.

Girlfriend has been so great. It’s been great to con-nect with people. It’s awesome how much they care about it. It’s touching and rewarding to sing it for people, and it’s fun for me. The great thing is I never felt like ‘Oh God, I have to do Girlfriend,’ not even the song. It feels like me when I sing it.

The 20 year anniversary of Girlfriend made me think, wow, I’m actually grown up and older and I’m through the hardest part in a way. It’s always hard being a musician, I mean just the kind of person you probably are emotionally means you’ll have a hard life. And then having it as a career is also so perilous. But when you get older, you have a leg up that you don’t have when you’re young. The older I got the more I liked it, and the further you are from anyone telling you what to do.

That’s what I loved about music when I was just a kid in Nebraska in the closet, embarrassed to have anyone hear me sing, trying to make up songs. When you find something that you love, if you’re lucky enough to have that, it stays very dear to you in a deep kind of place. And understanding life and seeing where that feeling came from is very powerful when you get older.

When we play shows and people come and say, ‘My dad played your stuff all the time,’ that’s awesome. When we go out and see the crowds from back then, it’s like we all grew up. None of us have anything to be ashamed of because it happened to all of us. In a way that’s a great thing about life — we’re all headed to the same place. ,

Matthew Sweet plays with So-So Sailors Saturday, March 28, at The 1200 Club inside the Holland Center for Performing Arts, 13th and Douglas streets. Showtime is 8 p.m. General Admission is $45; VIP tickets are $100. The performance is a fundraiser for Hear Nebras-ka. For more information, go to hearnebraska.com.

18 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | music


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Omaha artist Kristin Pluhacek has a Secret Garden. No, It’s not an unknown, unseen plot of annual or perennial “city flowers.” Nor is it a hidden cache of her popular

botanical drawings that have made Pluhacek one of the most popular visual artists in the Metro.

Her “secret” is a hothouse group of figure drawings that are hardly of the garden variety. They, along with a set of her more familiar city flowers, pods and seeds are currently on display through Mar. 9 in the Garden of the Zodiac Gallery in the Old Market Passageway.

Despite their different subject matter, Pluhacek said in a recent interview that all the works seen in this ex-hibit sponsored by the Moving Gallery share a similar aesthetic and sensibility.

“I don’t invent. I observe,” she said. “My biggest challenge with this body of work is keeping my focus while working so intensely. I approach all my subjects this way, so the figures speak to the flowers, as vibrant and temporary life forms, as beautiful lines, as excel-lent designs.”

Given Pluhacek’s background as a drawing in-structor at Metro Community College, it’s no surprise that her disciplined regimen, as well as powers of observation, inform all her drawings regardless of medium and subject. Add to that a distinct sense of being and creating in the moment, one shared by artist and audience.

True to this code, she continues to spend time draw-ing on site a few days a week during the exhibition, putting into practice what she teaches and what she has learned, and practices even more.

Not content to just draw as an artist, Pluhacek is the costume shop foreman for the Rose Theatre where she sows garments, knits and/or makes quilts on an almost daily basis which she says her friends call “…cross training. I think of it as relaxation.”

“I consider myself to be especially tactile for a per-son whose art is primarily two dimensional,” she said.

“To drape a form, one manipulates flat planes into patterns and forms. So, when I draw, I see the surface as dimensional, and I use the language of design to propel the act.”

“Design” is the operative word here as its principles of balance, emphasis, proportion and unity in par-ticular, inform all her work, flora and figure alike. It’s this attention to detail and one thing more that raises the former above the merely decorative and the latter beyond an academic exercise.

“For many years…in an effort to confront the cli-ché of pastel botanicals, I have been making studies of items from my garden. I address each individual or grouping as unique and consider many of these drawings to be portraits.”

In this exhibit, what’s readily apparent is that bo-tanicals and figures are paradoxically studies and portraits, as they share Pluhacek’s aesthetic of intri-cate design, grand gestural mark-making and bold, expressive palette. Her figure drawings are the real surprise here, but it’s her city flowers and more that continue to build a following.

Her series of four “Hydrangea” pastels may be the best example of what distinguishes Pluhacek from other artists who create in the same genre. As strik-ing as her sunflowers, irises and tulips are with their vibrant color and seemingly effortless representation, it’s her Hydrangea’s that raise the bar.

This grouping, along with her pods and seed ren-derings, transform ordinary botanical drawings into sophisticated abstractions of form, color, line and

20 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | art

“Georgetta” top left, a figure drawing from Pluhacek’s ‘Secret Garden’ sits in quite repose and sharp contrast to her more abstract, familiar botanicals, “Castor Pod,” top right.

Kristin Pluhacek’s figure drawings share a ‘plot’ with her familiar botanicals at Garden of the Zodiac GallerySecretGARDEN B Y M I C H A E L J . K R A I N A K

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Artist Kristin Plu-hacek at work in her studio.

art

art | THE READER | MARCH 2015 21

“Hydrangea V” one of a series of such in this exhibit, is a fine example of Pluhacek’s ability to combine the abstract and representational in a pleasing design.

22 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | art

movement. Pluhacek’s more minimal studies manage to deconstruct the essence of all things flora into mo-ments of pure sensual pleasure.

But just as Whistler famously categorized his work as “arrangements,” “nocturnes,” “harmonies,” and “symphonies,” so could Pluhacek’s studies be simi-larly titled as they too emphasize key elements of drawing and design, not to mention the senses of touch and smell.

Yet, while the artist believes her figure drawings have that same studied detachment, careful viewer attention re-veals not only a similar style but also a more personal tone and point of view consistent with her technique and pro-cess. That in itself is no se-cret. Perhaps what her figures reveal most is that while her botanicals are light, airy, even joyful, the former are moodier and mostly disengaged from the viewer.

But not from Pluhacek who freely admits that her process of observation and repetitive drawings of each of her studies is more than just technique “be-cause I know what really changes in each equation is me…and that in the end I am only documenting myself.”

Whatever these drawings say about her emotionally, Pluhacek remains true to her artistry as her figures are unified in a way that eludes many others working in the

same mode. It’s one thing to document a mood in the visage of a subject. Quite another to observe that the same emotion is reflected in one’s body language and then capture and render this connection in an evocative design that unifies all three.

For example, on the north wall of the Zodiac’s main gallery, there is an interesting study in contrast with three separate drawings. In “F,” a woman’s angst is

reinforced by her sagging breasts and shoulders and dark brow all rendered in rough patches and irregu-lar, unfinished lines. The figure is unraveling literally and figuratively before our very eyes.

Compare that with her opposite, “Georgetta,” a portrait of quiet before the storm, so to speak, whose bosom seems to well up in passionate orange—her face nearly flush with it all.

While reclined she braces herself with one hand, her trunk bathed in a cold shadow. Oblivious of the view-er, Georgetta appears on the brink of some extreme decision or action.

Not so with the regal, nearly arrogant “Sanford,” defying the viewer with nose upturned, lips curled, and muscular pose. Sanford’s mass and lines are more sculptural than drawn and the image’s vibrant palette rages more than radiates.

Two additional favorites in the gallery are another study in contrasting tone and design. One is simply

titled “Figure Study” (One wishes for less understate-ment) and the other is called “Alan,” presumably the name of the model. The first is in pastel, exclusively, the second includes charcoal in the mix.

Ironically, “Figure Study,” a female to be sure, is less of a study and may be the most finished piece in the exhibit, due in no small part to its more painterly style. The design is less reliant on line and more on colorfully nuanced shading and contouring to create character and mood. This is a beautifully expressive work, asymmetrically balanced in shades of red (her tortured torso) and preternatural green (her aggrieved face and soul). There is no escape at the top of the cramped frame for what ails her, but neither can the bottom contain whatever passion consumes her as her torso spills over the frame in this head vs. heart composition.

Lastly, we have the aloof, diffident “Alan” sitting conveniently away from the viewer. A cool blue dom-inates this minimalistic image, as the subject seems almost surprised that anyone would care enough to disturb his space. So neutral is he that the artist is careful to compose him symmetrically, and unlike others in this “garden,” she keeps him at a distance, man-spread and non-committal. It’s not that he has anything to hide.

“Alan” is a virtual study in the fine art of Plu-hacek’s mark making. That’s no secret to those already familiar with her oeuvre. Now add to that pleasure, a relatively unknown garden of delights, figuratively speaking. ,

Kristin Pluhacek: Drawings continues through Mar. 9 at the Garden of the Zodiac Gallery in the Old Market Passageway, 1054 Howard St. For details, call 402-341-1877.

y continued from page 6Top: pastel draw-ing, “Tree Seed & Clover.”

To the right: one of Pluhacek’s pastel botanical drawings that is transformed into a sophisticated abstraction of form, color, line and movement.

art | THE READER | MARCH 2015 23

“Alan” sits man-spread and at a distance from the viewer.

To the left: a figure study titled simply “F” sits with the weight of the world on her shoulders and brow.

A past piece by Plu-

hacek, “Pacific Street Lights.”

I was excited to read The Double Helix when I was young. That was the account by James Watson of the discovery of deoxyribonucleic acid as the building block of life. I was always looking for

explanations and causes in those days and it seemed Watson and Francis Crick had identified DNA as life’s foundation. It was indeed a landmark scientific moment in understanding the biological sequence over time; how worms, monkeys, insects, humans and all living things shared a blueprint.

DNA explained it all: why one person has blue eyes and the other brown, one was tall and the other short, one person slim and another hefty. Everything, including how we behaved, could be found in that coded strip of adenine, thymine, cyto-sine and guanine locked in the nucleus of each cell. Those nucleotides made up the cryptic instruction for all that is life. How they were sequenced deter-mined the function of the 20 thousand or so genes found along that double helix. Creation had a new god and its name was DNA.

It seemed like fate was predetermined. DNA was, is and shall be, from birth, the guiding force for the

human experience. Soon, scientists were looking at genes as an indelible map. But genetic program-ming may not be permanent or unchangeable. Little did we know.

Dr. Watson, I presume. A genome is an organ-ism’s complete set of DNA material, made up of all the genes that code how that organism will develop. With much ado, the United States Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health joined forces and finances to start the Human Genome Project in 1988, with the goal to map all the genes in the human genome. The project’s first Director was none other than Nobel Prize-winning Watson.

At first, HGP said humans have about 2 million genes. As of 2014, the number has revised down-ward to 19,000. That’s science for you. One de-cade it’s fact; the next it’s fiction.

OMG, TMI? One promise of knowing and isolat-ing genes is to figure out the blueprints of human life and then be able to remodel or change things. For science, the expectations were huge. Genetic medicines were predicted. Advanced knowledge of the presence of genes linked to certain diseases

24 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | heartland healing

‘nicegenesBreaking the genetic code

B Y M I C H A E L B R A U N S T E I N

and disabilities (or abilities, for that matter) could be revealed.

A modern-day example of presumed genetic prediction was made public when celebrity Ange-lina Jolie revealed she had both breasts removed because a private medical testing firm in Beverly Hills identified a gene in her DNA possibly linked to breast cancer.

Jolie chose a radical double mastectomy, also removing lymph nodes in the breast tissue. She believed that her genes predestined her fate.

A response like that assumes that the blueprint is unchangeable. That is what geneticists believed at first. Well, that, too, has been revised.

Epigenetics. Just because a gene is present in a person’s DNA sequence does not mean the re-sult of that gene’s associated reality will show up. There are literally millions of factors and though odds may appear in one direction, things change. Are genes a permanent blueprint or not?

Science initially implied that a genetic stamp was permanent. Now science says genetic predisposi-tion can be altered. What I’ve found is that, like many things, the facts lie somewhere in between.

When we’re born with a complement of genes, many things are predetermined. And some of those predetermined things may change. It comes down to what many call the new science of epigenetics.

On or off? Epigenetics confirms that having a gene is one thing. The expression of that gene’s associated trait is another. Genes exist in our DNA and there are tags that tell each gene when to “turn on” or “turn off.” For example, a gene may determine the pattern that a man’s beard will as-sume, how it grows or the shape of his hairline. But those whisker genes aren’t going to express until the tags on them are instructed to by ado-lescent hormones. Those tags themselves can be subject to environmental forces: lifestyle choices can trigger or un-trigger the expression of certain genetic traits.

For over 30 years, Dr. Dean Ornish has been re-searching the affect that changes in diet, exercise, meditation and social interaction have on disease. His findings first reached the public with the Or-nish Heart Disease Reversal Program. Now he is applying those lifestyle changes to epigenetics. In a recent interview, he summed it up.

“In most cases, our genes are only a predisposi-tion; they are not written in stone,” Ornish said. “And if we have a strong family history for diseases such as prostate cancer, breast cancer, or heart disease — ‘bad genes’ — then we may need to make bigger changes in lifestyle in order to help prevent or even reverse chronic diseases. In the centuries-old debate about nature vs. nurture, we are learning that nurture affects nature as much as nature affects nurture. It’s not all in our genes.”

So genes don’t make you look fat? Having a certain gene associated with obesity, cancer, dia-betes and other traits doesn’t always mean our fu-ture is predetermined. We may change the effect of genes by changing diet, thoughts, activity and other behaviors. The upshot is, there is much we can do to alter the predisposition of our genes.

We don’t have to cut off our nodes to spite our fates.

Be well. ,

HEARTLAND HEALING is

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describing alternatives to con-

ventional methods of healing

the body, mind and planet by

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Since launching hockey in 1997 to subsidize its non-revenue generating sports UNO’s netted a nice return on investment. Maverick hockey crowds rank among the best nationally, with

annual ticket revenues of $2 million. When the school dropped football and wrestling in 2011, it added pres-sure on hockey to be the signature sport.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha has enriched the city’s hockey legacy. The minor league professional Omaha Knights (1939 to 1975) began the love affair. The amateur Omaha Lancers (1986 through today) continued it. UNO found its niche as Neb.’s only col-legiate hockey team. Despite gritty performances and many upsets its first 18 seasons. UNO didn’t emerge as a title threat. Until perhaps now.

Coach Dean Blais, tasked with making Mav hockey nationally relevant when hired in 2009, has guided UNO through conference changes, player suspensions, stars leaving for the NHL and solid if not stellar play. Now, for the first time this late in the season, he has UNO contend-ing. His team’s defeated several highly ranked clubs, split-ting four games, three in overtime, with perennial power North Dakota, where Blais won two national titles.

His best offensive player, sophomore forward All-America candidate Austin Ortega, recently tied the NCAA single-season record with his nation-leading 10th game-winning goal.

UNO, 17-10-3 at press time, climbed to No. 4 in the Division I ratings. It’s led the powerful National Colle-giate Hockey Conference most of the year. Entering the final regular season home series versus Colorado Col-lege at CenturyLink Center, UNO hopes for momen-tum that carries into the NCHC Frozen Faceoff and the NCAA tournament.

As UNO hockey enters the local sports conversation reserved for Husker football and Bluejay basketball, it may establish itself as a must-see attraction and tra-ditional power. The timing’s apt since it gets its own facility next year when the UNO sports arena opens on the Ak-Sar-Ben campus, where the Knights played.

Touted underclassmen helping drive this special sea-son were recruited to the new venue.

Sophomore center Jake Guentzel is enjoying the ride, “We’re more on the map, more fans are coming, so it’s pretty special.” He’s not surprised by the success. “I thought we had the players to do it, I just didn’t know if we had the experience. We’re bottom-heavy with fresh-men and sophomores but we’ve adapted pretty well. We’ve been fortunate we’ve had the opportunity to play and we’ve taken advantage of it.”

He says preseason predictions of UNO finishing sixth in the league provided motivation. He credits an early road trip to Western Michigan, where UNO got a sweep. as a confidence-booster and bonding expe-rience. The right mix of leadership has team chemistry just right.

Senior goalie Ryan Massa has waited four years for UNO to break out. “It’s nice to finally see all the hard work pay off for the guys.” He feels a humbling exhibi-tion loss to Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in October was a necessary rude awakening. “It kind of opened the new guys’ eyes to understand the level we’re playing at and helped them grow and mature a little bit faster than maybe anticipated.”

Senior forward Dominic Zombo likes this team’s make-up. “I do see a component I haven’t seen in the past. We’ve got a really tight-knit group. We don’t have any passengers here, nobody’s just going through the motions, everybody’s here to get better, to win games. Every single guy’s committed to their job. That’s what makes us so competitive as a team.”

Blais doesn’t know if UNO’s truly arrived but he’s con-fident it soon will. “I would think so but you never know from year to year. This is a special group of guys and for them I hope we win a league championship, get to the Target Center (home to the Frozen Faceoff), advance to the national tournament. Those are benchmarks for a program and our seniors know they’re paving the way for the underclassmen. Hopefully getting to the tourna-ment isn’t a big accomplishment, it’s an expected ac-

26 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | sports

‘powerplayers: UNO hockey fans have waited for a breakout year like this, when the Mavericks are contenders late in the season and perhaps finally emerging as a le-gitimate power and title threat. With the regular season winding down UNO looks to make a run in the conference and NCAA tournaments. They’ve never advanced past the NCAA’s first round. UNO plays its last home series this week-end looking for momen-tum into the postseason.

UNO hockey making bid for national relevance, program hitting its stride ‘mav’max

sports

complishment every year. “We have a new arena coming that’s going to take the program to another level.”

UNO athletic director Trev Alberts says the arena signi-fies that Mav hockey matters. “You can tell people hockey is very important to your school but if you don’t even have a place you can call home and practice in, it’s difficult to get the kind of talent in here you ultimately need.”

He says the arena will put the program on near equal footing with its stiffest competitors. “When I hired Dean I really wanted to have somebody who’d been there, done that, who knew what it took to win at the highest levels.

There’s built-in disadvantages to being in Omaha, so far from hockey hotbeds. I just feel good we’re finally able to give he and his staff some tools necessary to assemble the kind of talent we hope to have here.”

Having its own intimate space will benefit UNO, which shares the huge CenturyLink with Creighton. The average hockey crowd of 8,000 downtown still leaves the venue half-empty. That same crowd fills the new arena. It should spike demand from fans and corporate sponsors.

Die-hard hockey fan Ernie May, who’s never missed a UNO home game, says, “I can’t wait to get into our own building. I think that’s going to be fantastic and make the interest grow.”

“Clearly this will be the best opportunity we’ve ever had to have a branded-out facility of excellence our student athletes can compete in,” says Alberts.

Omaha hockey historian and former UNO sports in-formation director Gary Anderson says, “They’re going to go into an arena exactly the right size they need for the fan base they’ve created.” He says there was never any doubt Omaha could sustain college hockey. “When the program was born you still did have a lot of old-time hockey fans and the Lancers were around the peak of their success, so consequently UNO built a really good fan base right from the start.”

That loyal base bodes good times ahead. “I’ve been abso-lutely amazed and humbled by the support UNO hockey fans give to this team, even in some pretty poor years,” Alberts says. “Our fans are hungry and we’re hungry to give them what they want, which is a consistent winner on the ice.”

May enjoys that the Mavs are meshing to put them-selves in position to make history: “For me this year almost has as much excitement as the first years we had hockey.”

Blais is trying to ensure his team attends to all the de-tails heading into the intense post-season, where little things become magnified and championship teams find ways to win. Getting swept on the road at St. Cloud State (Feb. 20-21) resembled the late season swoons UNO’s suffered in past years.

“I don’t know if we have any more than we’ve given al-ready,” he says. “How many times can you go to the well? My teams at North Dakota could operate at 70 percent and still win. We’re not there yet. Our margin for error’s slim. We’ve got to be all engines going, we can’t have one engine not running. We’re darn close. It starts with recruiting and we’ve been lucky enough to land some dandies.”

Even if UNO should reach the top, he says, “it’s one thing to get there, it’s another thing to stay there.” First things, first.

Massa says, “Every single one of us believes in our potential. None of us doubts we can be playing at the Boston Garden (site of the Frozen Four) competing for a national championship this year. We’ve played against the best all year and we’ve done well against the best.”

Zombo can’t imagine what a UNO hockey title would mean. “I wouldn’t be able to explain. I’ve never been a part of anything like that that’s a dream.” ,

UNO’s dream ride continues at home Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7. Listen on 1180 The Zone 2. Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com. o the next Drew Struzan and to the next “genitalia in an animated movie poster” scandal!

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It’s the stuff truly happy stories are made of; A family opens a restaurant around one brother’s love of culinary arts and the other’s passion for vintage style and video

games. Everyone eats pizza and they all live hap-pily ever after.

It sounds like a fool proof formula, yet the own-ers of Bene Pizza and Pasta on West Maple road were calling on Robert Irvine and the cast of Res-taurant Impossible for help in late 2014.

The NightmareAfter 11 successful years in business, brothers Jon and Bobby Lanphier found the restaurant they co-owned with their mother Ginger suddenly strug-gling about 2 years ago. Bobby was in ill-health, Jon had to move back in with his parents, and Ginger and Bob Senior’s retirement fund was be-ing fed into the failing business. The seemingly volatile relationship between the brothers kept them working opposite shifts to avoid having to see one another, and the lack of communication caused further chaos. As the animosity grew, the

men did what they could from opposite corners to sabotage one another’s day.

The Final StrawIn what should be filed under the requisite heart-warming part of the story, Bobby is struck with kidney disease. Dialysis left him too weak and tired to play an active role in his own life, let alone in the business. In a made for TV twist, Jon’s wife Kelly steps in and donates a kidney. Kelly’s self-less act should have helped heal some of the bad blood between the brothers, but instead of gratitude, Bobby takes to teasingly referring to his sister in law as “Big Kel” (not that it matters, but she isn’t) and belittling her intellect. I don’t know Kelly or her IQ, but maybe he only questioned her intelligence because she was willing to donate a vital organ to someone who repeatedly sends her home in tears. You know that nobody has a “spare” kidney, right? They come in pairs for a reason. Or perhaps “Big Kel” is a reference to how she’s just a much bigger person than I would have been in a similar scenario.

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Mission: PossibleRobert Irvine, the formidable host of Restaurant Impossible, is instantly put off by the cafeteria feel of the restaurant, the noise pollution of the arcade, and the portion sizes being offered. He watches a woman fill two to-go boxes with her leftover lasagna, essentially walking away with three meals for the price of one. Robert calls out Jon for the cost and is informed that the lasagna is mostly filler. He is further turned off by the fro-zen appetizer, but the restaurant isn’t struggling because of the frostbitten mushrooms. For more than a decade people have enjoyed the food at Bene, and so he continues to dig into the cause. He thinks out loud about whether the noisy ar-cade is actually benefiting the restaurant and is met with anger and ultimatums from the family, who suddenly seem to forget that they invited

him there because they needed his help. A pat-tern begins to emerge.

Designer Tanya is the bubbly counterpart to Robert’s eye-rolling seriousness, and the spoon-ful of sugar that helps the medicine go down. She brought with her a few bold colors, some slightly more sophisticated furniture, and a bet-ter eye for the use of space. She fills the din-ing area with a fresh feel, while maintaining the retro, family-friendly vibe the owners intended the place to have all along.

Local Volunteers Shape this Ship UpArea residents who helped with the remodel worked hard during the two day shoot. Chores like painting, cleaning, and laying new floors by hand continued well into the wee hours of the morning. I spoke with Karen Mardi, who volun-teered for both days of the remodel. “Robert is as mean as you think he is, but twice as caring. There was a lot of yelling! He really wants to see this family find success again, and was very particular about the work we were doing. He had me show other volunteers how to razor all of the excess paint off of the table top without cutting into the black rubber that was already down. He told me that if someone messed up, he was coming after me! It was only because he didn’t want it to just look good for a day or for the reopening, he wanted it to look perfect and to last.” At one point, Karen was tasked with painting a long black wall with a miniature

‘MISSIONIMPOSSIBLE: Well-loved restaurant seeks help from Restau-rant Impossible. Is the Game Over for Be’ne Pizza and Pasta?

34 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | eat

paint roller. Nothing was to be done in a rush, or the easy way. After someone no-ticed that all of the work was leaving streaks on the brand new floor, the entire crew had to take off their shoes and join Robert on the floor to polish the scuffs. “It was two days of hard work, but it was gratifying to know we were helping this family.”

Food FixesI asked several people about their impres-sions of the food before the episode was filmed and didn’t hear a single criticism. I questioned these same people after the reopening and was told that the food tasted fresher, brighter, and that even with the smaller portions, they didn’t leave hungry. Rob-ert tweaked a few of Jon’s recipes and gave him a few tips to help create satisfy-ing meals without us-ing “filler” to stretch the budget. The new recipe for stuffed mushrooms included fresh mushrooms and sausage instead of their standard fro-zen pre-stuffed ap-petizer. The chicken parmesan benefited from the addition of broccolini to brighten and bulk up the dish. The changes were welcome and the clients seem to en-joy them, but again, food was never the issue. I spoke with loyal Bene diner Amy Churchill about her experiences at the restaurant. She told me that while the environment was new, she was grateful that the pizza remained essen-tially unchanged. “They still had that same great customer service. I suppose that is fol-lowing their motto: Peace, love, and family. The atmosphere was very unexpected. Very retro-contemporary.” So we hear again that the food was never the issue.

Enter Doctor RobA quick Google search of the restaurant shows that peppered among the loyal cus-tomer raves are several mentions of the brothers’ tempers. Online complaints are often followed by an offer to make things

right, and the staff generally seem to want people to enjoy their experience at the res-taurant.

It is becoming more clear that the ani-mosity between the guys is affecting peo-ple’s opinion of the establishment and Rob-ert does his best impression of an amateur family therapist in the time allotted by the sponsors. The brothers promise to try a lit-tle harder to communicate and to create a more positive working relationship.

To drive home his point, Robert decides to give Bobby a taste of his own ‘teasing’

medicine. The family is on pins and needles waiting to see if the beloved games are still in place after the remodel when Rob-ert stages a truck to pretend to pick up the machines. Bobby ver-bally lays out the in-nocent driver, sending him on his way with some choice words, some of which are not as family friendly as the restaurant wants to be. “How does it feel?” Robert asks, hoping to have scared a little of the clown out of Bobby.

Rest assured Pin-ball Fans! The games remain, not because they make the Lan-phiers money, but be-cause the Lanphiers want you to come eat, play, and feel at home.

ComfortablyCrowdedAfter several calls to speak with the own-ers were unsuccessful (due to how incred-

ibly busy they have been) I finally nailed Jon down for a few seconds to ask if he feels the family was well represented in the episode and if they were happy with the changes. “It was a great experience” he tells me over the bustle of the crowd around 1:30 pm. “Everyone at Food Network was great! We kept the menu mostly the same, but use more fresh ingredients now” His attention is grabbed by a hungry customer, which seeems a fitting answer to the question: How’s business?

Ginger sums up the problem and the so-lution in one perfect sentence: “It’s just four walls. We are the restaurant.” ,


South Omaha native Frank Horejsi doesn’t care if he’s called caretaker, curator, historian, picker, salvager, ar-chitectural remnants archeologist or

his favorite, urban miner. Just don’t call him late to a salvage site. For 30-some years he’s scavenged vintage

buildings slated for demolition. His keen eye spots ornamental details of historical and artistic value before they hit the rubble heap. He rescues carved finials, corbels, gables, cupolas, columns and assorted hand-crafted items.

He sometimes reclaims entire facades. He saved the upper two stories of glazed terra cotta on the 14-story Medical Arts Building before it was imploded. A crew working 100-plus feet off the pavement dismantled the facing piece by piece. Some was reassembled inside the atrium of the First National Bank tower that rose in the razed building’s place. Parts of the facade adorn a Lauritzen Gardens’ Victorian floral display.

“You have to have some sort of appreciation for art, history, plus you’ve got to be pretty strong and willing to take risks, too,” Horejsi says of his work.

He’s found several decorative elements for Dave Lanoha, who’s integrated many into his southwest Omaha garden center, including an

Italian imported frieze from the long-gone Ri-alto Theater.

What Horejsi doesn’t sell or donate goes into his private collection. It’s housed in a 14th and Marcy warehouse he envisions as an Omaha his-tory museum. The by-appointment facility, whose open-span layout and truss ceiling resemble the Kaneko, is adjoined by a four-story brick building he owns. It all sits directly east of the factory-stu-dio of designer Cedric Hartman, an Old Market

pioneer who champions Horesji’s single-minded focus on saving history before it’s lost.

What Horejsi describes as “a hobby” is clearly a passion,

“This is Omaha history. You can’t replace this. The stuff I’ve got is very high-end and histori-cal,” he says while giving two guests a tour of his 10,000-foot space, Its contents are like pieces to a giant jigsaw puzzle of Omaha landmarks. Item by item, he describes the objects, the buildings they came from and any anecdotes about their salvage. Each has a story. The Medical Arts proj-ect stands out for sheer audacity.

“That was a very challenging job. Cold, hard, tedious. Risky. It took two months to do it. We had to label each piece, photograph it, crate it up – so it could be reassembled. There was close to 500 pieces, some weighing 500 pounds.”

The direct, personal provenance he has with most pieces separates what he does from many other salvagers.

“I document mine. Taking pictures to me is im-portant to tell where the piece was. I like people to see a picture of the building we worked on and to know I was there to salvage it before its demolition.”


36 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | culture

‘treasurehunter: Frank Horejsi sometimes risks life and limb to rescue architectural remnants of Omaha’s past. It’s all in a day’s work for this history salvager who for more than 30 years now has been saving bits and pieces, sometimes entire facades, of old buildings being torn down. Along the way he’s assembled quite a collection of things that he stores and displays in a warehouse he dreams of turning into an educa-tional museum.

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He traces his appreciation for holding onto his-tory to his father, who junked-out old buildings. A young Frank assisted him. Downtown’s historic buildings captured Frank’s fancy as a kid.

“I grew up around it,” he says.Then, as a young man working for Anderson

Excavating, which won most bids razing Omaha’s old buildings in the 1970s and ‘80s before historic preservation took hold, Horejsi found his calling to save history.

“It was just a matter that something should be done. In some cases I went in and fought to save the stuff. It wasn’t going to be saved. I did whatever I had to do to get it. I was on my own.”

When fire gutted an old streetcar barn in North Omaha except for an ornately inscribed facade he took it upon himself to rescue the front.

“That was the first time I pursued something hard. To get that was just a miracle. We had only a little area to work on top. Back then all I had was a pickup, pulleys and rope. We lowered piec-es down. I didn’t even know what I was doing back then,” he says.

He’s since graduated to cranes.He has remnants from iconic

Omaha structures, including Job-bers Canyon warehouses, the Fontenelle Hotel and the Brandeis Theater, and from vanished land-marks outside Omaha, too.

Retrieving items can be hazard-ous. He nearly lot his life on a job he prefers not to specify except to say, “I fell 25 feet, hit the cement on my side and broke my hip.”

Not everything he owns is something he’s taken off a build-ing himself. An 8,000-pound sandstone sculpture of Atlas from the old downtown YMCA build-ing razed in 1968 was saved by someone else. He says, “It got moved around here and there and it ended up in Mount Pleas-ant, Iowa on a farm in the weeds. I was aware of its travels and so I convinced the guy who owned it it needs to come back to Omaha. So then I had this problem of how am I going to get it to Omaha.”

Enter Frank’s 15-minutes of fame on the A&E Network reality series Shipping Wars that has haulers bid on oddball jobs. The trucker who won Frank’s gig, Jenn Brennan, enjoys a following for her model good-looks. Last year a crew captured her and fellow trucker Jess strutting and preening as they transported Atlas to its new home.

Horejsi welcomes any attention to his hoped-for museum. Citing City Museum in St. Louis as an attraction with a similar concept, he says, “This would be a neat thing for our community.”

There’s much work to be done though.“It’s not at the level I want it to be. Things aren’t

displayed on the walls as they should be. There’s no heat or running water in here.”

Despite its rough shape, he says “this building’s got a really good feel to it,” adding, “’I’ve hosted

parties for Restore Omaha and the Ak-Sar-Ben Foundation and people are curious, they ask ques-tions, they want to see these things. It’s really satis-fying to see people happy and that’s what this stuff does – it makes people happy.” Everyone from elected officials to celebrities – “Alexander Payne loves this place” – to students and historians are fans of what he’s assembled.

“Telling people where all this stuff came from is part of the fun for me.”

Omaha interior designer and preservationist Jill Benz admires Horejsi’s “heart and will from a very young age to save Omaha’s treasures,” adding, “We wouldn’t have these incredible fragments and facades from our past if it wasn’t for his hard work and determination.”

She first met him in the late ‘70s, when the ruins of early Omaha were being auctioned off.

“Everyone was saying someone should be saving these. Frank came through and pursued saving our heritage.”

Horejsi says, “This is all about preserving the stuff for future generations. It needs to be kept intact.” He sug-gests he’s taken it as far as his resources can. “I’ve invested a lot of time, money and sweat in this building just to get it to this point. I’m not saying I’m burned out or anything but I’ve put in a lot of effort and sometimes you wonder, Is it worth it?. I’m 60 years old, I’ve done this for a number of years, I ain’t got much time left.”

He hopes a benefactor or in-vestor shares his vision for mak-ing his warehouse into an edu-cational center. He has plans for a sculpture garden out front and a condo in back.

He just wants to know his his-tory crusade’s not been in vain

and to prove the skeptics wrong.“I’ve heard over and over, ‘What’s up with

Frank?’ When I bought this building it was, ‘Why and the hell do you want to go down there? That’s a blighted area, it’s dangerous,’ blah, blah, blah.”

He’s been stubborn enough to stick it out.“Nobody’s going to change my mind – I’m a

stupid Bohunk. Once I get onto something, I keep pushing forward.”

Besides, he likes that his 1880s building was home to Chicago Lumber when the transcontinen-tal railroad ran through.

“They’d offload lumber, stone, whatever. All these materials went to different building sites to build early downtown Omaha, so it’s ironic it came out of here and now I’ve brought it back.”

Horejsi wants to ensure this history is secure once he’s gone. With no wife or kids, his legacy is his collection. With a sweeping gesture at his bounty, he says, “I’m married to this building. I’m married to all this.” ,

To arrange tours or to rent his space, contact Horejsi at 402-699-0845. Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.

y continued from page 36

‘roadshowworthy: “Treasures” Horejsi doesn’t sell or donate goes into his private collection, It’s housed in a 14th and Marcy warehouse.



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Three-time Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards poet nominee Zedeka Poindexter envies the performing outlets high school-age poets have today. The March 17-April

20 Louder Than a Bomb is a case in point. There wasn’t anything like it when she was in school.

“I was working in a notebook, I always did, but there was no place to go with these things,” says Poindexter, 39, who’s blowing up with her person-al anthems about race, family, relationships, loss and blessings.

But as a teen her thoughts didn’t find a voice out-side her private journals. That’s a far cry from today’s young poets, who have platforms galore for their in-nermost musings. Poindexter should know since she coaches LTAB teams from Blackburn, Westside, Mil-lard West and her alma mater, Omaha North.

“These kids are doing things that blow my mind and all I have to do is facilitate a space for them to do what they were already going to do anyway and help them figure out the best way to present it. These kids are fearless, they will tell you any personal story they have. They are incredibly courageous and just all by themselves so cool. It kind of fuels you as an artist, you’re like, if you’re doing this and you’re 16, what the hell’s my excuse.”

Just as LTAB gives youth an expressive arena, Poin-dexter uses slam and other opportunities to evolve

her own work. For example, her Union for Contem-porary Art fellowship will culminate in a new collec-tion of poems that revolve around family recipes and food as focal point and bridge for familial divisions. She plans a May 2 reading and tasting.

“It’s a very different thing trying to write a series of poems that interconnect and relate to one another,” says Poindexter, who’s used to crafting slam’s more instinctive, one-off performance pieces.

In 2012 she became Omaha’s only female city slam champion.

“It has almost always been a white man. I might also be the only person of color who’s won, but I know I’m the only woman, so that’s a huge honor for me. I was a cranky woman that year because there was only one other woman and there wasn’t anybody else brown. I was like, ‘C’mon, y’all, can do better than this.’ I was pissed.”

She represented Omaha at the 2013 Women of the World Poetry Slam in Minneapolis, where she was voted an audience favorite. “It’s all women, it’s all storytelling, it’s very affirming.”

Her work appears in the WOWPS anthology, Alight. She’s not inclined to leave her slam roots. She

has a long history with the Nebraska Writers Col-lective, whose head, Matt Mason, is the godfather of Omaha slam. He considers her “a cultural treasure for our community.”

“Zedeka is a nationally-known performance poet. You wouldn’t know by meeting her as she doesn’t name-drop or talk about all she’s accomplished, but her work is among the best in the country,” he says. “It’s been great to see her expand her role by pub-lishing more lately as well as taking on the role of running Omaha’s poetry slam. She really does it all. She’s also a great presence in classrooms.”

In turn, Poindexter’s proud of her Collective family. “We’ve been a force for a good long time. We really had a pretty good run as far as accolades in the slam community. A lot of writers have grown beyond that and published work I really love.”

Beyond her Collective circle she’s studied with for-mer Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration poet laureate Stacy Dyson and with storyteller A-Nanci Larenia Stallworth. Recently, she joined novelist Joy Castro and poet Roger Gerberling for a Backwaters Press reading and paired with Nebraska state poet Twyla Hansen at the Kaneko Feedback Reading Se-ries. Being matched with Hansen gave her pause.

“Being a slam artist is very different than being somebody who’s devoted their life basically to craft and teaching, which I have not done,” says Poindex-ter, who’s a thesis away from completing her mas-ter’s in communication at UNO. “But it turned out to be amazing. I think there are some people who exist strictly in the performative world and some who


‘poetpower:Zedeka Poindex-ter is taking Omaha and other cities by storm with her work as a slam and pub-lished poet. When not coaching Louder Than a Bomb teams through the Ne-braska Writers Col-lective, she’s devel-oping collections of poems and hosting Omaha slam events. She credits poetry with saving her and as her career blows up she’s grateful for the opportunities that emerging and estab-lished poets have to express themselves.

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exist strictly in academia, but there is a lot of crossover.

“I think the bigger separation or chasm I noticed for awhile was a white scene and a black scene. Myself, I just went wherever the baddest ass readings were. They were differ-ent things but vitally important to how I grew as a writer and performer. The perception that anybody is not welcome at either place worries me.”

She appreciates the diversity of the OEAAs and enjoyed doing her thing at last year’s awards show.

“The fact I got to perform poems really important to me before a roomful of artists and everybody got quiet was absolutely one of the most magical things.”

She often writes about the dynamics of her large African-American family. The Great Migration brought her people from the South to Chicago and Omaha. She mines their rich vein of idioms and imbroglios, delighting in food as a bond that nourishes and heals.

Her poem “Poor Relations” discusses her Omaha family line being branded inferior by their affluent Chicago relatives.

“There were struggles, we had our own per-sonal dysfunctions but we were strong and we were happy. It’s been really cathartic to try to tell these stories and be honest about them.”

Born into a family of matriarchs who were “voracious readers,” Poindexter im-mersed herself in books and writing from an early age.

“Poetry’s been this thing that’s sustained me spiritually but it kind of existed outside regular life.”

She dabbled in theater and journalism but discovered her artistic home in the emergent slam and spoken word movement.

“I always wrote poems but I kind of started finding a community when Matt Mason ran readings at Borders years ago. There were Pop Tarts for prizes.”

She followed the local slam scene to the Om Center, where it’s still based.

Slam slayed her the first time she saw Def Jam. “I didn’t know what that thing was but I was going to figure out how to do that thing.”

She immersed herself in slam in Colorado, where she moved after losing her grandmoth-er and anchor. She returned to Omaha a few years ago to be close to her spoken word soul sister, Felicia Webster, and to her slam girls, Katie F-S and Sarah McKinstry-Brown.

“Slam has saved me in more ways that I can think of. It feels right. If I migrate away from performance and writing I feel the atro-phy of it. I like the fact I have a passion, that there’s this thing that drives me. I don’t know what I would do without that as a rudder.”

She wouldn’t know what to do without her creative community.

“I don’t know if I could function without having that sense of support. It’s afforded me most of the close friendships and safety nets I’ve experienced the last 15 years.”

She’s encouraged by the camaraderie LTAB students display. She’s still struck by what happened a few years ago when a Lin-coln High team member lost her mother.

“As a team they decided they wanted to come to finals with all new work, including a piece that the girl who’d just lost her mother had written. And so they scrapped every-thing. There was no strategy, they were not worried about winning, they were like, This is the work we want to feature. They believed in it and they won, and it was so good. The thing that was so cool was they were willing to sacrifice to do this thing intrinsically per-sonal to them. I’ll take that any time over people who live for the scores and stuff.”

She calls LTAB coaching “the best job ever.”She feels confident about one day support-

ing herself as an artist and teacher. She may next pursue a master of fine arts degree.

“I don’t know many artists who value themselves for the work they do because it’s always something that’s never fully sup-ported them,” says Poindexter, who works a corporate day job. “Being valued for my artistry is something I’ve learned to do a lot better.” ,

Zedeka hosts the Om Center poetry slam the second Sat-urday of every month. Visit OmahaSlam.com. View her performing at buttonpoetry.com. For Louder Than a Bomb details, visit ltabomaha.org. Read more of Leo Adam Bi-ga’s work at leoadambiga.com.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.

Friday, March 6BENSON’S SWEATSHOP AND PETSHOP GALLERY EXHIBITIONS Sweatshop, 2727 North 62nd Street, 6:00 p.m.Petshop, 2725 North 62nd Street, 7:00 p.m. www.sweatshopgallery.com and www.bensonpet-shop.wordpress.com

Spring is nearly here, and for the Benson scene that means more art shows, thawing vomit puddles and larg-er crowds for their monthly Benson First Fridays celebra-tions. So, wash those pretty eyeballs of yours and plan on more regular participating spaces to be opening their doors this March featuring new art shows from around the region.

As usual, next-door neighbors Sweatshop and Petshop Galleries have come out in front of the pack with a pair

of exhibitions that al-ready look to be two of the most intriguing and well-organized shows of the year so far. Leading the way is a group exhi-bition at Sweatshop Gal-lery featuring the work of Angela Drakeford, Carolyn Falkner, Sara Sumnick Wamsat and

Millee Tibbs. Titled deviance teaches; charm will make you sick and curated by Alex Priest, the text on this exhibi-tion leads one to believe this show will hold surprise after surprise within its work. The exhibition runs through April 27.

Another show to look out for is Ben Swift’s The 1%ers at Petshop Gallery. Swift plans to exhibit new paintings, prints and objects that imagine a world where the fat cats of the financial industry wear their affiliations as proudly as Hell’s Angels. Based off of the promotional image used by the gallery-- a blue suit coat back covered in patches boasting the wearer as a swindler and featuring a skulled-out Monopoly Man, this exhibition looks like a seriously good time poking fun at two groups of criminals in our country from both ends of the spectrum. — Joel Damon

Friday, March 6MICHAEL CAMPBELL’S CD RELEASE PARTY & RECEPTION WITH KOREY ANDERSON & VERN KATHOLOld Market Healing Arts Center1216 Howard Street, 7:30 p.m., Freewww.michaelcampbellsongwriter.com

Omaha’s Michael Campbell is a life-long musician, steeped in the classic acoustic folk-pop singer-songwriter tradition. Friday, March 6, he’s hosting a cocktail recep-tion and musical party for his long-awaited new disc. On My Turn Now, Campbell showcases some of his most eloquent and thoughtful songwriting yet. The lyrics are served up with helpings of Campbell’s sharp, snappy hu-mor. The production features some of Omaha’s best mu-sicians in supporting roles. Expect a variety of musical styles from ballads, waltzes and zydeco to a bossa nova. Performing with Campbell are Korey Anderson and Vern Kathol. Campbell is also an accomplished writer and in 2010 released a book of humorous essays. His love of music led him to open Mick’s Music & Bar devoted to acoustic singer-songwriters. From 2003-2009, it was one of the early venues that helped revitalize Benson as a mu-sic destination. — B.J. Huchtemann

Saturday, March 7CASSANDRA WILSON: COMING FORTH BY DAY: A CELEBRATION OF BILLIE HOLIDAY Holland Performing Arts Center,1200 Douglas Street, 8:00 p.m., $17.75-$39www.omahaperformingarts.org

Cassandra Wilson, “America’s Best Singer” said Time Magazine when she was 46, keeps on exploring new realms of American music. She has a new project explor-ing the legacy and the soul of Billie Holiday. With the 100th birthday of that Lady but one month on the near

horizon, Wilson seeks to invoke and honor the spirit that became a legend in a concert called Coming Forth by Day, a “collection of musical spells, prescriptions for navigating the myths surrounding her life and times,” Wilson says. She’ll perform in “…iconic songs associat-ed with this incomparable, charismatic, and revolution-ary tone master, inspired by the Kemetic texts that give guidance through the afterlife.” By “Kemetic” Wilson, no doubt, refers to afrocentric-based spiritual training seeking to reconnect with traditions. It may be that Wilson doesn’t aim to sound like Billie. But rather, with the what the New York Times describes as “…the earthy majesty of her voice, a contralto as rich and supple as vintage leather.” Hearing is believing. — Gordon Spencer

Sunday, March 8 SYMPHONY JOSLYN CONCERT SERIESJoslyn Art Museum’s Witherspoon Hall2200 Dodge Street, 2:00 p.m., $33www.omahasymphony.org

What the Devil? The Omaha Symphony performs “Con-ga-Line In Hell”? Huh? The answers to these questions and more lie in wait at the next Symphony Joslyn con-cert. Re that title, it comes from Uruguayan composer Miguel del Aguila who wrote the piece in 1994 evidently just for kicks. It’s bound to seem grotesque and wild be-cause, given where the dancers are “they have no reason to hold back” says program-book annotator Paul Schi-avo. As for what this item is doing here, something by Franz Schubert may prompt it. On tap is his overture to a spooky opera Des Teufels Lustschloss (“The Devils Plea-sure Castle”) which concerns a young bride and groom trapped in such a haunted place where a temptress tries to get her claws on the young man. The music can get rather intense. No surprise there. — Gordon Spencer

Tuesday, March 10OMAHA FASHION WEEKOmar Arts & Events Building, 4383 Nicholas Street6:00 p.m., $40-80www.omahafashionweek.com

The Midwest’s Premier Fashion Event debuting Fall/Winter Collections will take place March 10-15. Omaha Fashion Week was founded in 2008 and this new idea quickly grew into a tradition that has not only stuck around, but grown. Each night of the week has a theme, the full schedule and more information about the event can be found on their website. Here is a quick look into the week, the first night kicking off the fashion shows is Student Night. The second is something special as 80 cancer survivors take the runway for the Methodist Hospital Survivor Show. The third, fourth and fifth night are dedicated to the Designer Showcases where new col-lections will be presented. The final night is the Develop Model Management Beauty Show. The doors open at 6:00 p.m. with the shows starting at 8:00 p.m. and con-cluding at 10:00 p.m. If you miss this event, do not fret because you will be able to attend the next Omaha Fash-ion Week debuting the Spring/Summer Collections in August of 2015. — Mara Wilson

Tuesday, March 10THE KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW WITH MILK LINES, AND SUCETTESThe Slowdown, 729 North 14th Street9:00 p.m., $15www.theslowdown.com

Arish Khan and Mark Sultan are masters of low-brow garage rock and own their unique stylistic tics. Khan is a maestro of translating his simple songs into full soul band excursions with his band King Khan and the Shrines, while Sultan is a prolific song machine, contort-ing 60s pop in twisted lo-fi rock as BBQ. But there’s a strange, wonderful alchemy that ensues when the two join forces as the King Khan & BBQ Show. The doo-wop colored garage punk is a direct hit of melody, delivered with loose limbs but knowingly precise songcraft. The interplay between the duo’s vocals, BBQ’s simple drum beats and two broke-ass guitars is a rock’n’roll treat. The two just ended a six-year layoff between album’s releas-ing Bad News Boys earlier this year. There’s still a vibrant heartbeat in the body of garage rock as long as Sultan and Khan are kicking out this stuff. — Chris Aponick

42 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | picks

MICHAEL CAMPBELL

CASSANDRA WILSON

PETSHOP

Sunday, March 15THE OMAHA CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY PRESENTS “CONNECTIONS” Jewish Community Center, 333 South 132nd Street7:00 p.m., Freewww.omahachambermusic.org

Omaha Chamber Music Society has assembled nine art-ists to perform youthful pieces by two famed composers plus something by one of our time, something new. The concert embraces more than 225 years, demonstrat-ing “…inspiration, transformation or redefinition” the

Society’s press release says. The contemporary element is from 2010 by then-31-year-old Judd Greenstein. Born in Greenwich Village, his career began while a teen-ager, turning out Hip Hop. He believes that what he has penned since reflects that time as well as his training as a pianist “combining an urban, beat-oriented sensibility

with a late Romantic classical harmonic language.” As for transformation, you can hear a wind and string quintet by Sergei Prokofiev derived from his own ballet Trapèze which he was commissioned to write not long after his move to Paris in 1920, age 29. His 1924 quintet Opus 39 spins off from that and has been described as having an almost eerie circus feel. Inspiration-wise Joseph Haydn’s groundbreaking string quartets causing Wolfgang Ama-deus Mozart to express his admiration in similar ways, in fact, dedicating six quartets to the older Austrian genius. Among them is the so-called “Spring” quartet, K. 387. It’s interesting, isn’t it, that these three composers created such remarkable pieces at nearly the same age? — Gordon Spencer

Through March 15ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST Chanticleer Theater, 830 Franklin Avenue Opens Friday, March 6 Fri.-Sat. 7:30.pm., Sun. 2:00 p.m., $10-$20www.chanticleertheater.com

What happens when the inmates take over the asylum? The answer lies in wait within Ken Kesey’s outstanding, brilliant and original 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuck-oo’s Nest. But, for Kesey, that was not the major question nor the impulse to write it. And, although he considered himself a countercultural link between the Beat Genera-tion of the 50s and hippies of the 60s, he was not trying to make points about tuning in, turning on and dropping out, nor about revolution for the hell of it. Rather, after spending much time as an aide in a veterans hospital where psychoactive drugs were experimentally used on residents, and talking extensively, privately with many of them he concluded that they were not insane, that society had pushed them out because they did not fit conventional ideas of human behavior. That prompted his book. In it Randle McMurphy, an anti-authoritarian criminal, is transferred to a mental institution for evalu-ation where he soon bonds with men confined there. Be prepared for strong language, disturbing developments and crazy laughter should you commit yourself to being confined in your seat. — Gordon Spencer

Monday, March 16OF MONTREAL WITH DEERHOOFThe Waiting Room Lounge, 6212 Maple Street9:00 p.m., $18 ADV/$20 DOSwww.onepercentproductions.com

Kevin Barnes, the ringleader of the long-running psych-pop act Of Montreal, is guided by a restlessly creative spirit. It’s been the force that’s kept Of Montreal relevant since its inception in 1996 through this year’s new album Aureate Gloom, the band’s lucky thirteenth album. The discography, while anchored in indie pop signifiers, has incorporated tons of stylistic shifts and lineup changes as Barnes’ whims have dictated. It’s also led to an impres-sive prolificacy. There’s lots of Barnes’ material but rarely anything worth ignoring, even as he’s shifted from bed-room pop to layered orchestral pop, incorporating trips to dense electronics and straight up 60s psych-folk band set-ups in-between. So it makes sense that Aureate Gloom marry heavy riffage with shimmering psychedelia. In Of Montreal’s world, it all makes sense mixed together. — Chris Aponick

Through March 28KEEN OBSERVATIONSModern Arts Midtown (MAM), 3615 Dodge StreetOpens Friday, March 6 at 6:00 p.m., Opening Free to the publicHours: Tues.-Sat. 11:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.www.modernartsmidtown.com

Modern Arts Midtown will open Keen Observations, March 6th, 6-8 p.m. Artists showcased in this show are Iowa-educated Merrill Peterson from Lincoln and in-clude Justin Meyer from Blair with graphite drawings, Omahan Charles Novich with both drawings and paint-ings, and Jane Pronko from Kansas City with painting.The common thread through the work of all these artists is a dedication to the careful rendering of subject matter with painted or drawn means. Peterson is the focal artist in this exhibit. His goal is to challenge what he initially sees. Then by repeatedly observing his subject, “the odd and unexpected shapes and color on a reflected surface, almost nothing is what it first appears to be.” Rendering carefully in a trompe l’oeil oil technique, these unexpect-ed, even paradoxical shapes and colors within objects seem to become the subject of the paintings, and quite beautiful to behold. — Eddith Buis

Through March 29 HARBOR SNAP Productions, 3225 California Street Opens March 5Thurs-Sat. 8:00 p.m., Sun. 6:00 p.m. and Sun. March 29 2:00 p.m., $10-$15www.snapproductions.com

Broadway musicals books and lyrics writer Chad Beg-uelin has had lots of praise and award nominations. In 2013 he tried his hand at social satire off-Broadway in Harbor. Critics praised the play’s character development and its transition from lightness into darker zones. In the New York Times Rachel Saltz called it “biting and touch-ing comedy about the constantly shifting nature of the meaning of family.” The title refers to the upscale Long Island town of Sag Harbor where a newly married gay couple, Ted and Kevin, get a visit from Kevin’s uninvited, pregnant, gay-baiting sister Donna and her 15 year old daughter Lottie. You can predict bitchiness, right? But evidently things become less obvious the more these people tangle, with solid ideas about relationships and compromises surfacing. Michal Simpson is the director of this production at SNAP. The cast: Noah Diaz, Kaitlyn McClincy, Joshua Mullady, Ryleigh Welsh. “This ‘Harbor’ is not safe for anyone,” Saltz said. — Gordon Spencer

Through April 4JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAROmaha Community Playhouse, 6915 Cass StreetOpens Friday, March 6Wed.-Sat. 7:30 p.m., Sun. 2:00 p.m., $20-$40www.omahaplayhouse.org

This musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice will be directed and choreographed by Kimberly Faith Hick-man, and music directed by Jim Boggess. The rock opera that’s traveled the world since 1970 arrives in Omaha with John Gajewski as Jesus and Roderick Cotton as Judas. The raw treatment of Christ’s last seven days on earth including his betrayal by Judas Iscariot and his cru-cifixion and ascension features such memorable songs as “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” by Mary and “Super-star” by Judas and the ensemble.

— Warren Francke

Through April 11 THOMAS PRINZ AND HIS SONCHRISTOPHER Gallery 72, 1806 Vinton StreetOpens Friday, March 13 at 5:00 p.m. Hours: Wed.-Sat. 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.www,gallery72.com

An exhibition of works by well-known Nebraska artist Thomas Prinz and his son Christopher, opening March 13, provides a litany of quiet moments in which to pon-der the expressive potential of material and form. Trained as an architect and occasionally employed as an adjunct instructor of visual literacy at UNL, the elder Prinz’s work suggests an effort to squeeze as many di-mensions and layers as possible into the space of a single work. Often this is accomplished with strips of paper (sometimes newsprint or fragments of digital images) layered upon one another in colorful geometric patterns that sometimes recall the abstracted California land-scapes of Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993), but I dare say with more going on to engage the eye. The younger Prinz shares his father’s interest in form, but he explores it via industrial materials, such as metal and corrugated cardboard, and emphasizes variations in texture more than color. The pairing of these two artists would seem natural even if they weren’t related. There will be a gal-lery talk Wednesday, March 18 at 7:00 p.m.

— David Thompson

picks | THE READER | MARCH 2014 43

THOMAS PRINZ

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTARPHOTO BY ANDREW MARINKOVICHLEFT TO RIGHT: JOHN GAJEWSKI AS JESUS AND RODERICK COTTON AS JUDAS

“CONNECTIONS”

OF MONTREAL’S NEW ALBUM AUREATE GLOOM

Not to get all Running Man up in this joint, but considering how many of y’all strap on Fitbits that measure and record, like, every

bodily function, it’s safe to say that technol-ogy has officially gotten downright “Jetson”-ian. And yet, somewhat implausibly, the pa-per-based, luddite-beloved movie poster has survived, remaining largely unchanged in the last hundred-plus years. Hell, even the size of the theater-display “one sheet” has only changed a whopping one inch (going from 27” x 41” to 27” x 40”) since Thomas frickin’ Edison set the standard back in the day. Why have these posters endured? I have no idea. So let’s try and figure it out.

HistoryHollywood may be top cheese in cinema

now, but it was the French who first delivered “le movie poster.” Until the promotional im-age for L’Arroseur arrosé arrived, theaters didn’t advertise individual films in their lob-bies; they promoted the technical features of cinema because it was such a novelty.

“Come, watch soundless footage of people falling down while you sit in a smoke-filled room!” or something like that. But Marcel-lin Auzolle’s poster changed everything, depicting an audience watching L’Arroseur and having whatever the French version of a “good time” is.

Viola, the movie poster was born.Using the same logic that has allowed us

to have five Scary Movie installments, studios quickly figured “if one is good, more is better.” Thus, the singular movie poster gave way to a series of movie posters, beginning with a teaser poster, which is typically just the movie’s logo or title and some suggestive but vague image.

Then comes the main one sheet (or mul-tiple one sheets, depending on the marketing budget), followed by character posters, which have gotten freakin’ ridiculous. Seriously, for some big-budget franchise films, like The Hunger Games series, everybody including “guy eating at table behind heroes” gets their own promotional image. Nothing gets me less hyped for a movie than a poster for “guy eating at table behind heroes.”

44 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | film

Floating heads and butt shots:The enduring legacy of movie posters‘poster’passion

FILM

B Y R YA N S Y R E K

CompositionIt used to be that movie stars were all you need to fill seats with butts. Hence, from the silent era onward, the bulk of post-ers simply showed you a movie star, slapped their name above the film’s title and figured “that’s that! Time for a union-mandated break!” Gradually, the framed shots of casts gave way to more artistic endeavors. Patterns arose, and suddenly posters could be divided into crazy fun categories. These are not officially sanc-tioned categories mind you, just what us ridonkulous cinephiles call them. Let’s take a look at a few, shall we?


fi lm | THE READER | MARCH 2015 45

Katharine Hepburn:Icon, Iconoclast

February 14 - March 30

March 1 & 4Holiday 1938

March 7 & 9Woman of the Year 1942

March 8 & 11Adam’s Rib 1949

March 14, 15 & 17The African Queen 1951

A repertory series celebrating an icon in the worlds of film and style, presented with

The African Queen 1951

March 21 & 23Suddenly, Last Summer 1959

March 22 & 25Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner 1967

March 28 & 30The Lion in Winter 1968

All showings at Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater. Info & tickets at filmstreams.org.

46 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | film

Giant Floating Head Beware! Beware! It’s a giant floating head! For some reason, studios believe that this is

appealing and not horrifying and creepy. The formula is always the same: take a major star, decapitate them, stretch their face out to haunting proportions and slap some inspir-ing quotation that sounds vaguely ominous on it. Giant floating heads are only used for films with mega-watt superstars.

Butt Shot with WeaponryA celebration of both tush and impending

carnage, the “character facing away from the camera while holding a weapon” is a staple of action endeavors.

For some reason, studios feel that danger-ous, bad-ass characters have no time to ac-tually look into a camera, not when there’s so much killin’ to be done…

Back to BackIt’s practically a legal requirement that all

romantic comedies must feature the leads posed back to back.

It shows that they are not quite on the same page but will likely, at some point, totally bone. Never mind that this is a position from which sex is physically impossible, the pose allows them to touch (implied intimacy) while reminding audiences there’s much work to be done first.

Between a Woman’s LegsEasily the classiest subgenre, nothing says

“wacky fun” like grown men posing where babies come out.

It’s obviously an effort to squeeze in both sex appeal and star power, but it comes off as trashy and amateurish. They keep making them, though…

Terrifying Mega EyeA close cousin of giant floating head, ter-

rifying mega eye is typically used for serious drama or horror.

There are almost always huge words print-ed on the eye (which would have to hurt). There aren’t any stats to back this up, but I have to believe this is the least collectible genre. Who would hang this in a house? “Let me give you the tour! That’s the bathroom. Over here is the kitchen. Oh, and this is the living room, where everything we do is under the watchful eye of Lord Sauron.”

There are so many other subgenres out there. There’s “Ensemble Cast Standing in a Line,” “Yellow-tinted Indie Poster,” “Hero Stand-ing on Top of Rubble” and many many more.

Legends Right, so back to our original question: What has allowed movie posters to survive and thrive? Part of that answer has to be Drew Stru-

zan. In the 1970s and 1980s, right when emerging computer tech-nology should have sent the movie poster packing, Struzan became a living legend. If you loved a movie poster from that era, chances are that Struzan did it.

Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Back to the Future, Blade Runner, Goonies… In his prime, Struzan produced as many as 10 airbrushed works a year. His work was epic and enthralling, capturing cinema’s ability to use your imagination as a chew toy.

I know that no less than five of his works have graced my walls at various points in my life. Although he can’t solely be credited for saving the medium, he undoubtedly played a massive part. Not only did his popularity at the height of the initial modern techno-boom stave off any changes, nostalgia for his work is likely still at play in preserving the practice today. For more on this underrated talent, check out Drew: The Man Behind the Poster, a documentary that’s currently on Netflix.

That said, Struzan was by no means alone in his influence.

I guarantee you know the work of Tom Jung.

Jung created iconic work for legendary films like The Deer Hunter, Dr. Zhivago and Apocalypse Now.

Saul Bass, whose poster for Vertigo may be the single greatest movie poster of all time, sparked a minimalist trend that remains pop-ular to this day.

Robert McGinnis brought smoldering pulp to even the classiest of films.

The list of legendary poster artists goes on and on, from Frank McCarthy (The Ten Command-ments) to Boris Vallejo (National Lampoon’s Vacation). Even today, while some studios take the easy way out and cobble together Photo-shopped tripe, manipulating existing images

with sometimes goofy, physics-de-fying results, there remains a vibrant culture of movie poster art. Mondo, a company dedi-cated to celebrat-ing and preserv-ing this medium of artistic expression, offers high-quality, alternate posters for films past and present.

The Internet, in all its grody glory, has al-lowed for the widespread distribution of al-ternate posters, some sanctioned by studios and some simply the product of rabid fans. Even if theaters or executives were to do away with this century-old practice in favor of some techno-voodoo in which 3D images of characters assault your senses, the genre will survive and thrive online forever.

Controversies But where’s the fun in ending on such a posi-tive note? This is America! We end on scandals, dammit! Over the last century, scores of mini-controversies sprung up in response to various movie posters. Here are a few of my favorites:

The OutlawWhile the poster for Howard Hughes’ The

Outlaw is less titillating than an Old Navy catalogue these days, when it came out in 1943, pearls were clutched.

Jane Russell’s illustrated bosom desperate-ly attempting to free itself from the tyranny of clothes caused an uproar...which only helped fuel ticket sales.

The Little MermaidIf you don’t know this somehow, allow me

to shatter your world: A “clever” animator at Disney drew a schlong into the movie poster.

It wasn’t noticed for quite some time, long after VHS cas-settes were in practically every American home. It’s still funny to me. I don’t care how juvenile it is. “Man junk” smuggled into a castle illustration is just the best.

Spider-manThis one was

just incredibly awful, unfortu-

nate timing. I also own it. Reflected in our hero’s eyes are the twin

towers of the World Trade Center. Where-as today the image would be positively received as a celebration by one of New York’s most famous fictional characters, there was a time in 2001-2002 when you couldn’t even make a glancing reference to the incident.

Many controversies stem from uninten-tionally hilarious sexual innuendo (seri-ously, seek out the original poster for Yogi Bear) or intentionally explicit fare (every Saw poster). Regardless, any scandal that arises from a poster still does the work it was set out to do, raising awareness for the associated film.

Sorry Darwin, without evolving hardly at all in the last century, movie posters remain a beloved outlet of cinematic art destined to continue into the foreseeable future. Here’s to another hundred years, to the next Drew Struzan and to the next “genitalia in an ani-mated movie poster” scandal! ,



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The metro’s work-in-progress cin-ema culture has lately come of age due to a montage of things. Alex-ander Payne making movies and

bringing world-class film artists here. A surge of indigenous indie filmmakers. The advent of Film Streams. The slate at Omaha’s “origi-nal art cinema” – the Dundee Theatre.

Often overlooked as contributing to this invigorating mix is the Omaha Film Festival, celebrating 10 years with the March 10-15 edition at Marcus Village Pointe Cinema. OFF showcases work by indie writer-directors from near and far. Three short film blocs are dedicated to Neb-made films. To commemo-rate the fest’s history there’s a separate bloc screening audience favorite shorts from the first nine years,

Among the feature-length documentaries is a moving and provocative work about the death penalty, There Will Be No Stay, by Omaha transplant and former stuntwoman Patty Dillon. The pic recently had its world premiere at the Big Sky (Mont.) Documentary Film Festival and will be making the national festival circuit rounds. CNN’s Death Row Sto-ries will feature Dillon and her project in an

upcoming segment. Series narrator Susan Sarandon champions Dillon’s film, calling it “a powerful and unique perspective on the death penalty.”

The film flips the typical death penalty de-bate by profiling two men, Terry Bracey and Craig Baxley, who worked as executioners in the same state prison and by charting the trau-ma that carrying out those awful duties caused them. They’re still paying the price today.

This is Dillon’s debut film as a director and getting to its premiere was a five-year en-deavor. About the experience of Big Sky, she says, “It was truly a warm and gentle place to birth a first film. It was a bit surreal. You work on a project for so many years, revolve your life completely around it, then let it go for the world – hopefully – to see. You have taken your subject’s trust and just hope you have served their stories. It is such a controversial issue and I think the assumption is agenda or activism and that is certainly understandable. The foundation of the film is really more about dissolving human opposition, period. I was pleasantly surprised how receptive the audiences were. It’s intense watching peo-ple watch your film. They laughed, gasped,

shook their heads and greeted me with many unexpected hugs and hand shakes.”

On getting the blessing of Sarandon, whose role in the death row dramatic film Dead Man Walking earned her a Best Ac-tress Oscar, Dillon says, “Susan and her camp have been incredible. She was initially going to narrate the film and after the final re-writes she insisted I do it. She felt it served the story better. I had just received two festi-val rejection letters when I got the email from her assistant she had posted the trailer on Facebook and Twitter. Irony. It’s been a crazy ride indeed and I intend to keep riding it with loads of gratitude.”

OFFs roots are squarely in the state’s small but robust and ever expanding indie film scene. Founders Marc Longbrake, Jeremy Decker and Jason Levering have a history making or working on indie projects. A de-cade ago they saw a gap in the Omaha film scene, which never really had a full-fledged annual festival before, and they filled it.

Now that Omaha has its own version of bigger, better known festivals, area resi-dents can see work unlikely to play cine-plexes otherwise.

48 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | fi lm

‘indieaction: The metro’s maturing cinema scene includes the Omaha Film Festival. It sometimes gets lost in the shuffle amid Alexan-der Payne doings and Film Streams programs, but OFF has a niche all its own. Ten years run-ning. The March 10-15 fest at Village Point Cin-ema features a diverse lineup of features and docs highlighted by Patty Dillon’s new documen-tary “There Will Be No Stay” about the trauma exacted on two executioners.

Omaha Film Festival offers showcase for indie writer-directors from near and farfi show’off

FILM

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

fi lm | THE READER | MARCH 2015 49

Festivals are the take-what-you-get buffet of cinema-going. There are choices repre-senting different cultures, styles, genres and influences. But the menu wholly depends on what films are entered and curated for this screen feast. Some entrees (features) and sides (shorts) are safer bets than others. Some come with a track record and others are unknowns. With upwards of 100 films in play there are hits and misses, and so the operative advice is watch-at-your-own-risk.

However, if you’re a film buff with an ap-petite for something different, then you owe it to yourself to try this cinema smorgasbord. You can always design a sampler menu of your own choice.

Longbrake says there is a place for a mid-size festival like OFF that lacks world pre-mieres of marquee industry and indie titles.

“There’s a ton of people out there mak-ing movies that aren’t part of the Hollywood system,” he says. “The only way to really see independent films in a theater, except for the off-chance they’re picked-up by a Hollywood distributor, is by going to film festivals. So you’re seeing a dif-ferent kind of mov-ie. Sometimes low budget, sometimes without a recogniz-able star, although familiar faces do turn up.

“People some-time think indie-low budget are code words for lesser quality. I would ar-gue independent filmmakers tend to worry a bit more about the art and the story than the makers of big budget Hollywood pictures. Indie film-makers are putting their passion, their guts, their heart, their soul and their grandpa’s money into making a film that’s personal to them as opposed to Hollywood studios that tend to be motivated to make something that needs to make them money back.”

The fest’s not all about the voyeuristic ritual of viewing movies either. The art and craft is explored at the OFF Filmmakers Conference and Writer’s Theatre program. A slate of OFF parties bring film geeks, fans and artists together for celebrating and networking.

In addition to Dillon’s film, others to check out include:

DocumentariesShoulder the LionThis self-conscious art film portrays three disparate people whose physical disabilities don’t stop them from being fully engaged artists. Alice Wingwall is a much-exhibited Berkeley, Calif-based photographer and filmmaker who happens to be blind. Gra-ham Sharpe is a musician with a severe audi-tory condition. In his native Ireland he writes

and performs music and runs a major music festival. Katie Dallam is a Spring Hills, Kan. visual artist who suffered traumatic brain in-jury in a boxing match that inspired Million Dollar Baby. Her art before and after her in-jury is markedly different.In the spirit of Errol Morris, filmmakers Patryk Rebisz and Erinnisse Heuer-Rebisz use asser-tive techniques to create a visually stunning if sometimes overdone palette that gets inside the head of its subjects.

On Her OwnMorgan Schmidt-Feng’s portrait of the disso-lution of a Calif. farm family, the Prebliches, plays like a dramatic film as tragedy and ill-fate befall the clan. The troubles of these salt-of-the-earth folks symbolize what hap-pens to many small farm families. The story’s emotional heart belongs to Nancy Prebilich, who carries on despite losing it all.

Narrative FeaturesThe Jazz FuneralWhen an unhappy man fears his adult son

may be turning into him, he concocts a scheme to spend a week with him in New Orleans to set him straight. As the pair’s insecurities and resentments come tumbling out, their relationships with the women in their lives come un-done. James Mor-rison and Bobby Campo find the right notes as this

awkward, strained yet loving father and son, respectively.

Slow WestThis opening night film debuted at Sundance. It follows the adventures of 16-year-old Jay, who travels from Scotland to the 19th century American frontier in search of the woman he’s infatuated with. Newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee stars as Jay. Co-starring are Michael Fassbender as Silas, the mysterious man Jay hires to protect him, and Ben Mendelsohn as one of the hard characters Jay confronts.

Cut BankThe closing night film is another young man in peril story, this time set in contem-porary Montana. In his rural town Dwayne (Liam Helmsworth) captures something on video he shouldn’t have and bad men with mean intentions come after him and his girl. Co-starring Teresa Palmer, Billy Bob Thornton, John Malkovich, Bruce Dern and Oliver Platt. ,

For tickets and festival schedule details, visit omahafilm-festival.org. Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leo-adambiga.com.

Here are some things on the horizon for live shows this month. Remember you can check out my weekly updates with more shows and late-breaking news in

the online-only Hoodoo updates at thereader.com.

Zoo Bar Blues Lincoln’s Zoo Bar was recognized for the second year in Austin musician Dale Watson’s Ameripoli-tan Awards in the venue of the year category. The honors went to Austin’s own Continental Club. See ameripolitan.com for all the winners and nominees. The Zoo Bar was also recognized in Detroit’s Big City Blues magazine’s “20 Years of Nightclubbing the Blues” issue (February-March 2015). The magazine is celebrating 20 years of publication. See bigcity-bluesmag.com.

This month the Zoo has some great shows. The big blues trio sound and wicked slide guitar work of Eric Sardinas hits the Zoo stage Tuesday, March 3, 6-9 p.m. The always party-starting Bel Airs are up Friday and Saturday, March 6 at 9 p.m and March 7 at 6 p.m. The great Webb Wilder is back March 8, 6-9 p.m.

The second week of March the Zoo hosts some of the great up and coming women of roots mu-sic. Samantha Fish continues to hone some

serious guitar chops that are making her a con-temporary blues force to be reckoned with. In De-cember, the K.C.-based Fish joined high-profile artists Tommy Castro and Tab Benoit for the “Six Strings Down” tour. Fish plugs in Tuesday, March 10, 6-9 p.m.

Smokin’ rockabilly and R&B artist Nikki Hill hits the Zoo stage Wednesday, March 11, 6-9 p.m. The Russian-inflected rockabilly showmanship of The Red Elvises heats up the Zoo for St. Patrick’s night, Tuesday, March 17, 6-9 p.m.

The 24th Street Wailers knocked me out with their first appearance here last fall. The Canadian band is hard-charging and straight-up, with influ-ences ranging from old-school rockabilly to the late, great Nick Curran. Catch the 24th Street Wailers Wednesday, March 18, 6-9 p.m. And on Friday and Saturday, March 20 and 21, the great Earl Cate from The Cate Brothers brings his band Earl & Them to the Zoo stage. The band fea-tures Baby Jason Davis and The Cate Brothers’ and the band’s drummer Terry Cagle. Their reper-toire includes some of the tunes that were part of the classic Cate Brothers playlist. Davina & The Vagabonds play the Zoo Wednesday, March 25, 6-9 p.m., in a date postponed from February due to inclement weather.

50 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | hoodoo

National touring bands heat up local venues this monthrootnews

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‘doubletrouble: Davina & The Vagabonds swing into the metro with two local gigs at the end of March.

hoodoo

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21st Saloon Music Too many people still don’t know that The 21st Saloon presents top touring blues and roots acts every Thursday, 6-9 p.m.

This month’s shows include guitar wizard Chris Duarte Thursday, March 5. Thursday, March 12, the marvelous and seriously bad ass guitarist Sa-mantha Fish is up. Her musical sister Amanda Fish, who has been leading her own band in K.C. opens the show. Be there on time to catch another young, rising star of the blues. See re-verbnation.com/amandafish. Oklahoma blues-rockers Dustin Pittsley Band are back Thurs-day, March 19.

Hoodoo favorites Davina & The Vagabonds return to The 21st Saloon March 26 for their first Omaha show since the release of their latest CD, Sunshine. This band shines with a joyous mix of jump-blues, swing and New Orleans jazz that is irresistible. See davinaandthevagabonds.com.

Rising star and Alligator Records’ artist Jarekus Singleton plugs in Thursday, April 2. Singleton has been called “a musical trailblazer from Missis-sippi with a bold vision for the future of the blues.” See facebook.com/TheJarekusSingletonBand.

Rockabilly Night Rockabilly Night hits Chrome Lounge Wednesday, March 18, 7:30 p.m. with The Red Elvises. See more about the monthly event at facebook.com/groups/omaharockabilly. ,

‘singledout: Guitarist Jarekus Singleton “blends modern-day blues and emotionally intense soul with melodic, hot-toned lead guitar” (artiste-card.com). Check him out at 21st Saloon April 2.

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HOODOO focuses on blues,

roots, Americana and occa-

sional other music styles with

an emphasis on live music per-

formances. 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.

CHIP

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MARCH 5-8 CHRIS FRANJOLAChris Franjola is a writer/comedian born and raised on Long Island who now lives and works in Los Angeles. He’s currently a writer and a regular performer on E!’s hit show “Chelsea Lately.” Chris also starred on the critically acclaimed scripted comedy series “After Lately,” which aired for three seasons on E! He is also the host of the Sons of Anarchy aftershow Anarchy Afterword, airing live on FX. When he isn’t busy writing and acting, he’s performing stand-up on the road, headlining venues all over the country. Before Chelsea Lately, Chris wrote for other shows, including Family Guy, the MTV Video Music Awards, and the original Chelsea Handler Show.

MARCH 12-15 UNTAMED SHREWS Susan Smith and Marge Tackes are the nastiest of nasty girls with a brutal sense of humor.They cover topics from street signs to sex, all with a wicked slant. While their perspective is definitely feminine, they’re not out to bash men. “In fact”, Su-san says, “some of our best customers are men...” While the Untamed Shrews are full of fun, they maintain a high caliber of professionalism and never disappoint.

MARCH 19-22 BRAD WILLIAMSBrad got his start by attending a Carlos Mencia’s live comedy show. While in the crowd Mencia made jokes about dwarfs. The people sitting close to Williams were scared to laugh. Mencia noticed this and asked Brad to join him on stage. Brad cracked a few jokes and impressed Mencia so much that he asked Brad to be his opening act on both the “Mind of Mencia” Tour and the popular “Punisher” Tour. Brad’’s ability to make hu-morous observations that make everyone comfortable with the differences in people is winning over audiences and proving that anyone can overcome their shortcomings.

MARCH 26-29 TAMMY PESCATELLIComedian Tammy Pescatelli is the kind of woman you wish was your sister or your best friend. Like a good sister, she‘s always ready with a good joke or lively quip. Tammy learned her funny skills growing up in a large, crazy, Italian family outside of Cleveland. She went on to marry into an even larger, crazier, Italian family. Her most recent 1 hour special, “Finding the Funny” was released recently in an exclusive deal with the trailblazing company, NETLFIX. Her eye for actually finding the funny in all situations, is what is already bringing the project critical acclaim from fans and peers alike.

APRIL 1-4 MIKE MALONEBest known for his Top-10 selling comedy album debut on iTunes and his “rubber face,” Malone is a force to reckon with. His blistering humor and irreverent views on life, love and personal tragedy have earned him recognitions such as Campus Activities Magazine’s Top Comedy Performer of 2013 and “Hot Comic to Watch in 2013,” and winner of the prestigious 33rd Annual Seattle International Comedy Competition in 2012. Malone’s been featured on Bob and Tom Radio and TV, made appearances on WGN TV, National Lampoon’s Operation Comedy Tour, NBC TV, XM Sirius Satellite Radio and the CW. Additionally, Malone has two top selling comedy albums on iTunes and Amazon.

MARCHSHOWS


3/6 Old Man Trucker3/7 Polka Police3/8 Pangea, Before the War3/11 Weathered, Township, Waking the Neighbors, Scotchrocket3/18 Moonraker, DSM-5, Cordial Spew, Suburban Crisis3/20 DJ Essential6 & Cemetery Gates3/21 New Leverage, Super Moon, Dogs That Hunt3/27 Final Friday Comedy3/28 - Dance Floor Tragedy from Noir Omaha with DJ Augustine Strange & 99 Golems

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The first question that came to mind when I con-templated putting together a weekly podcast: Is it worth my time?

Case in point: Turn around wherever you’re reading this column and ask the person next to you

if s/he ever listens to podcasts. Most will say no. Some will ask what a podcast is, even

though they’ve been around almost as long as blogs and certainly as long as

iPods (out of which the word “pod-cast” evolved) -- we’re talking somewhere around 2004, more than a decade ago.

And yet, most people don’t have a clue what they are. For the ones that do, the con-

cept of podcasting is so eye-rolling they probably didn’t make it this far into the column or didn’t get past the headline. The only thing that kept some of you reading was

the prospect of picking up even the tiniest morsel of new

information about Serial.Serial is the National Public Radio-

produced podcast that swept the country last fall in a media tidal wave. The series, hosted by

Sarah Koenig (one of the producers of NPR’s This American Life), delved into the facts behind the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, a Baltimore high school student who went missing before turning

up buried in a city park. Throughout the course of Serial’s 12 episodes —

one new episode was released each week beginning Oct. 3 — we met the guy convicted of the crime, Lee’s ex-boyfriend Adnan Masud, who is either com-pletely innocent or the most charming sociopath since Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The difference, of course, is that unlike Lecter, Adnan Masud is a real person,

rotting away somewhere right now in a state prison. Serial already had finished its run by the time I got

swept up in the hype. So many people were talking about the podcast in the media and on Facebook that I had to at

least try to listen to an episode to see what the fuss was about. I got hooked in the first 10 minutes, and by the end of the first episode had committed to binge-

listen to the entire series over the next two days. Though the series was criticized for producer and narrator Koenig’s inability to tie up all (or any) of

the story’s loose ends, listeners got more than enough info to draw their own conclusions.

If you’re a fan of true-crime detective stories, you really need to seek out Serial. Despite the 15-year gap since the murder, Koenig brings the dreadful story to life thanks to countless interviews with Lee’s classmates and friends, the suspects and the legal experts, as well as recounting all the testimony that led up to the trainwreck of a trial. All the while, Koenig weaves in her personal take on every bit of evidence as she desperately tries to get to the truth -- or at least the truth she wanted to hear. The jury is still out as to whether Serial was a podcast about a murder case or a journalist’s obsession with finding the truth.

Before Serial went online I pretty much ignored podcasts. The only one I listened to regularly was The Dan Patrick Show, which isn’t so much a podcast as a recording of the former ESPN anchor’s daily radio broadcast, which I miss because it airs while I’m at work. But the fact is, most of the top podcasts aren’t created exclusive-ly as podcasts. Six of the 10 most downloaded podcasts in 2014 were NPR radio shows like Fresh Air, hosted by Terry Gross, and the amazing Radiolab from WNYC.

If you look at those statistics, it’s easy to conclude podcasts are merely a convenient way to listen to what you missed hearing on the radio. Serial, which never aired on NPR, was and is the game changer. The series became the fastest downloaded podcast in the history of iTunes, with more than 5 million downloads, according to an article in last weekend’s edition of The Independent that talked about new ways to listen to podcasts.

Because after all, isn’t that podcasts’ biggest problem? People don’t know how to use them or where to find them, even though every smart phone is equipped to bring podcasts right to their ear-buds.

Another problem -- podcasts require listeners’ time and attention. Unlike a printed article that can be skimmed over in a few minutes, a podcast demands listeners pay attention for an extended period of time — more time than it would take to simply read the content. And podcasts require focus — you can’t soak in a podcast while clicking around on the internet or watching TV, but you can listen to them while driving to work or making dinner or going for a run, which is when I listen the most.

What I learned from Serial is that if the content is compelling enough, people will obsessively seek it out and find it. Lord knows I did. So much so that it inspired me to create a music-focused pod-cast for The Reader, which, if everything goes as planned, will be available every Wednesday at thereader.com.

The podcast’s reporting, recording and editing is easy. Listening to myself over and over during the editing process is hard. Pain-fully so. Perhaps the only thing harder is finding fresh content every week. Certainly that is a problem for Serial.

After Season 1 concluded, Koenig asked listeners to speak up if they wanted a Season 2. The response was overwhelming, and NPR quickly agreed to sponsor another season. But as of just a few weeks ago, Koenig had yet to identify a topic for her next story. It would be a shame if the Serial serial left us without another cliffhanger. ,

Over The Edge is a monthly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on cul-ture, society, music, the media and the arts. Email Tim at [email protected]

over the edge | THE READER | MARCH 2015 53

serialdilemma B Y T I M M C M A H A N

To Podcast or Not to Podcast? And does anyone listen to those things, anyway?

overtheedge

54 MARCH 2015 | THE READER | mysterian

A New Way for Fast Food to Bug YouFast food will continue to be popular for the near future, but will become both more adventuresome and healthier. A slew of “foodie”-style fast food restaurants will spring up, dedicated to making great food quickly and affordably. Often this will mean using unusual ingredients that manage to be both low price but highly nutritious, and, with great frequency, these additives will be insect protein. Moth flour will find its way into most American foods, and, to a lesser degree, supplements made from meal worm, ant, and the like.Initially, all but the boldest diners will find this unappealing, but it will so quickly become an accepted dietary staple people will regularly purchase insect protein for home cooking. The Skin I’m InThe next few years will see an enormous break from the past in terms of skin color. Inexpensive dyes will come on the market that will make it possible to have any skin color you like. At first, this will simply

allow people to lighten or darken their skin, but soon bright primary colors will become available, as will complex dying processes that allow people to put multicolored patterns on their skin. The dyes will be semi-permanent, in that they will change a person’s skin color until the next time they get their skin dyed. People will start to dye their skin to identify with peer groups, sports teams, or even popular bands, many of whom will perform in signature dye jobs.The Age of HarassmentWe are now in what future historians will call the Age of Harrassment. This will be looked at as a time when the explosive growth of social networking and online communications, coupled with primitive moderation technology, joined forces to create a toxic online environment. This is a world of online culture wars, where people who disagree make use of the new technology to bully, badger, belittle, and threaten those they disagree with. These online skirmishes have, and will continue to, become deadly.

Those who are bullied have and will continue to take their lives. Some online harrassment is genuinely dangerous, such as “swatting,” which involves fraudulently sending a SWAT team after someone you have targeted. Some is life-destroying, such as the publishing of intimate photos, or private information, or financial records. The only cure for it is advances in technology that make it easy to report and remove harrassing behavior, and stricter laws that make online harrassment just as criminal as other kinds. These changes will come, but they will be slow to do so, as too many people refuse to take online harrassment seriously, treating it as mere pranking.On the Road to NowhereThe era of the automobile is about to end. Within 15 years, 95 percent of the cars on the road will be gone, replaced by self-driven options. Cities will be finned with tiny, self-directed electric vehicles, some just big enough for one person, that can be summoned from a cell phone and will

drive commuters to their destination for just pennies. The sort of cargo that trucks used to drive across the country will, instead, drive itself, commuting thousands of miles without a single person involved. Packages will be delivered by self-directed drones. Millions of jobs will cease to exist -- the big auto manufacturers will crumble, as will the long-haul trucking industry, the car insurance industry, and hundreds of other industries that are reliant on human-driven vehicles. But the economy will boom -- without needing to pay for a car and insurance, the average consumer will find themselves with $9000 per year that would otherwise have gone into their cars. The end of the automobile will solve many of our planet’s gravest environmental issues. When cars have ceased their dominion, the people of the future will look back and wonder why we ever used them.

For more on these predictions and others by Dr. Mysterian visit www.thereader.com.

Bugs, Skin, Internet Bullies and Life Without CarsIn the future we eat bugs, dye skin, harrass, and refuse to drive

Documents

The Reader March 2015