A Wish List for 2019 by Michael Braunstein Call it “Bah, humbug” if you want and I admit that I do feel a twinge of annoyance when I consider these items. But is it too early to start looking at changes to wish for in 2019 and beyond? I didn’t think so. These are […]
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Posted inNews
Nonprofits leverage community roots-bases in attempt to register voters and get them to the Polls
With American civil discourse and liberties under assail, nonprofits are doing civic engagement around voting to get people’s voices heard. Heartland Workers Center runs a large Get Out the Vote (GOTV) machine. Center Executive Director Sergio Sosa senses great urgency from HWC’s Latino base for the Nov. 6 midterm general elections. “The current political climate […]
Posted inMusic
Get Hip!
The Blues Society of Omaha (BSO) partners with Jazz on the Green to present former Omahan and world-class blues vocalist Shaun Murphy Thursday, Aug. 2, 7:30 p.m. in celebration of the BSO’s 20th Anniversary. Murphy’s credits include working regularly in the studio and on tour as a backing vocalist for artists including Bob Seger and […]
Posted inOver The Edge
Cleveland’s ‘Serial’ Spotlight
Season 3 of the Serial podcast is under way and it’s (once again) engrossing and addictive while it shines a much-needed light on issues that are frustrating and appalling. This time listeners will be enlightened at Serial‘s deep look inside the Cleveland judicial system that also will leave them disgusted at the racism, incompetence and outright graft that […]
Posted inMusic
World Class Music on Local Stages
The annual Zoo Fest’s outdoor shows July 6 and 7 celebrate Lincoln’s historic Zoo Bar’s 45th Anniversary. The street fest kicks off Friday, July 6, with Evan Bartels (5 p.m.) followed by Zoo favorites Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials (7 p.m.). Friday night’s headliner, Tex-Mex roots-rock stars Los Lobos, plays their highly anticipated set […]
Posted inMovies
Hell Is Your Family
Toni Collette spends nearly the entirety of Hereditary playing an unopposed game of Twister using only her facial features. The film is understandably being sold as “one of the scariest movies of all time,” but that’s only because “one of the most physically unsettling movies of all time” isn’t as apt to put butts in […]
Posted inMusic
July Backbeat
The wheels at Nebraska’s largest record label, Saddle Creek, and its first cousin, Cursive’s 15 Passenger, spun swiftly in June, with both signing new artists within the past month, and the former releasing a new record. Saddle Creek welcomed Kentucky-based singer-songwriter Sarah Beth Tomberlin, or Tomberlin for short, to the ever-growing Omaha label’s roster. With […]
Posted inVoices
Rx for Disaster
“I jes watched me sum a dem dere polly-tishuns in Warshington flappin’ dere gums un tellin’ me how deys gonna bring down da cost of perscripshun drugs so’s I an’ da missus kin afford ‘em. I luvs watchin’ dem big polly-tishuns move dere lips like dat. Makes me wonder who’s really pullin’ da strings.” America’s […]
Posted inTheater
#MeToo moves to the stage
I’ve spoken many times before on the inherit politics of theater. From its very beginning theater has served as a way for the “voiceless” to be heard, for the powerless to build an audience and for the people to undermine, challenge or rail against the powers that be. Art in and of itself is a place […]
Posted inMusic
Backbeat Column – May 2018
The weather still feels like winter at this column’s deadline, but the calendar says it’s festival lineup announcement season. Nebraska’s two largest music fests came through with contenders for their most ambitious slates yet, both revealing full details within a two-day stretch in mid-April. In its 10th year, Maha Music Festival is bigger than ever. […]
