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Register to Win Tickets for Blind Melon - |
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Register to Win Tixs for Tilly & the Wall - |
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Register to Win Tixs for BoDeans - |
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Register to Win Tixs for Beres Hammond - |
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Register to Win Tickets for Los Lonely Boys & Los Lobos - |
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Register to Win Tickets for G.Love & Special Sauce - |
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Bartender of the Week
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Walking the Walk - |
How a diverse group of concerned residents put on a march for change in North Omaha
by Bryan Cohen
Black and white pictures of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. surrounded the group of some 20 people gathered in the back of the AfraAmerican Bookstore. An older man wearing traditional African clothing sat quietly. Another donned a black beret. Former gang members sat with former police officers as Willie Hamilton and Cheryl Weston faced the crowd.
It was the first public meeting to discuss a mass demonstration in north Omaha. A police action to disband a celebration in north Omaha combined with accumulating gun violence and lack of independent police oversight sparked the meeting.
Hamilton and Weston listened as parents complained the community needed to do something. A younger man voiced concern that the message of older community members would not reach the youth. But when someone suggested the group should hold additional planning meetings, Hamilton was quick to respond.
“We need to set a date and move,” said Hamilton. “We can do this — I know we can do this.”
According to Hamilton, Tariq Al-Amin was an indispensable resource when he met with the Omaha Police to discuss the event. Al-Amin is a former Omaha Police officer and long-time public access television show host and community activist.
“Some cops have a problem with me, so they attack the messenger more than the message,” said Al-Amin. “But they can’t BS me like they can with some other people. I know their history and processes.”
On July 10, Hamilton and Al-Amin met with four OPD officers to discuss the demonstration. Al-Amin said the police suggested demonstrators walk down Florence Blvd., a predominantly residential throughway compared to 24th Street.
“They wanted us to hide the march — that’s ridiculous,” said Al-Amin. |
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Feel the Burn - |
by Joshua Hoyer
Tab Benoit
A voice from the wetlands of Louisiana
Whether playing music or lobbying for social justice, you can be sure Tab Benoit speaks from the heart and has made the most of the fame his music has brought him.
Following Hurricane Katrina, Benoit thought a long national conversation would ensue concerning his native south Louisiana, which historically has dealt with floods and natural disasters. It’s a place, he said, where people will give their last bit of food or clothing to someone who needs it more. A place where culture is rich because people realize color, religion and economic/social status don’t matter. Unfortunately, he said, more people know about Brittney Spears and Lindsay Lohan than New Orleans.
“In New Orleans and south Louisiana everyone has the opportunity to help somebody and be what they want to be,” he said. “It’s the real American way. It’s like the one place that did it right, and look how it’s being treated.”
Benoit briefed Congress in June on the situation in south Louisiana. He is also scheduled to play the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, some atypical venues for a blues musician.
A resident of Houma, La., just south of New Orleans, Benoit understands the importance of having a voice that government listens too. In south Lousiana, he said, the people’s wishes have been disregarded because the public has no voice.
“It’s a good time for artists to step in and help be communicators,” he said. “It’s an important time and we’ve got big decisions to make.”
Benoit founded Voice of the Wetlands in 2003, long before hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He heads the organization that seeks global attention for south Louisiana and the world’s coastal erosion problem. Benoit said the state’s coastal wetlands are eroding at a rate of one acre per hour. In addition to endangering 40 percent of the nation’s refineries and the nation’s largest port, he said culture and music are at risk. |
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When Laura Met Alex - |
Payne/Dern event an occasion to recall Citizen Ruth collaboration
by Leo Adam Biga
When Alexander Payne and Laura Dern chat on the main stage of the Holland Performing Arts Center for Films Streams’ first annual fundraiser July 13, they’ll naturally get around to Citizen Ruth. The 1996 abortion comedy he co-wrote with Jim Taylor marked Payne’s directorial debut. Dern’s portrayal of title character Ruth Stoops earned critical acclaim.
Sixteen years ago Payne was an aspiring feature filmmaker. His UCLA graduate thesis project from a few years before, The Passion of Martin, turned heads. The newcomer showed enough promise to land a studio development deal, comparable to a college baseball star getting drafted by a major league franchise, inking a fat contract and getting assigned to the high minors. But he hadn’t broken through.
He and Taylor finished their collaborative script, then titled The Devil Inside, that fall. They wanted a deal to let Payne direct. The script made the rounds, generating heat, but nobody would finance it. Too risky. Too political. Too controversial. It didn’t help that Payne was untested in features.
Cut to Dern, already established as an edgy screen actress for bare-her-soul performances in Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, Peter Bogdanovich’s Mask, David Lynch’s Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart and Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. She was Oscar-nominated as the free spirit title character in Martha Coolidge’s Rambling Rose, for which her mother, Diane Ladd, was also nominated. Her acting genes extend to her father and fellow Oscar nominee, Bruce Dern. |
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