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Home - 8 Days
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Entertainment Picks - |
Sept. 4 and 5
Applegrass Bluegrass Festival
Ditmar’s Orchard, Council Bluffs,
19475 225th St.
5-10 p.m. each night,
$10/two-day ticket $15,
kids 12 and under FREE,
applegrassfestival.com
As the oppressive heats lets up just a bit and the weather begins to hint at fall, the time is perfect to grab a lawn chair and post up in a scenic orchard to enjoy some bluegrass and old time string music. Five bands play each night from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and primitive camping is available onsite for an additional $10. The festival has some top-notch pickers, offering up Sandy Creek Pickers and Rivertown String Band Saturday night, and showcasing Golden Harvest and Bluegrass Playground Sunday. Omaha’s own Southpaw Bluegrass Band will close down the festival Sunday night.
— Jesse D. Stanek |
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Entertainment Picks - |
THURSDAY 26
Aug. 26-29
Reefer Madness
Nebraska Wesleyan, McDonald Theatre
51st and Huntington Ave., Lincoln
Thurs.-Sat. 7:30 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m.
$15, $10 seniors, $7.50 students
465.2384, nebrwesleyan.edu
“Why do you think they call it dope?” Nebraska Wesleyan University is staging a tongue-in-cheek (firmly, I expect) musical version of the 1936 propaganda film that warned America against the dangers of marijuana. Sex, violence and, shudder at the name, jazz, await those otherwise clean-cut young folk who fall victim to using the weed. Take time to look back and shake your head at our nation’s tremendously successful drug policy. Reefer Madness is not recommended for younger audiences.
— Andy Roberts |
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Entertainment Picks - |
THURSDAY 19
Aug. 19
Calvin Keys & His Trio
1316 Jones, 1316 Jones St.
$50, 7 p.m., pulseomaha.org
Calvin Keys is one of Nebraska’s unsung greats — a jazz musician who’s played with Ray Charles and Pharoah Sanders, but remains largely out of the national limelight. The Los Angeles-based guitar slinger has never forgotten his Omaha roots. In this case, he’s helping PULSE (People Uniting, Lending Support & Encouragement), a group that provides support for those who have lost someone close to them through homicide, and works on violence prevention.
— John Wenz |
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Entertainment Picks - |
THURSDAY 12
Aug. 12
Jazz On The Green
Tribute to Luigi Waites
Turner Park at Midtown Crossing
31st and Dodge, 7 p.m., FREE
jazzonthegreenomaha.com
Most locals, especially musicians and music lovers, have a personal anecdote of inspiration and/or learning that involves Luigi Waites. In the final 2010 installment of Jazz On The Green, current and former members of Luigi Inc gather for a tribute to the late Waites, a local jazz icon and helluva nice guy who passed last April. Current Luigi Inc members Curt McKean, saxophonist; Jeff Scheffler, guitarist; Steve Gomez, bassist; Steve Knight, drummer; and Doyle Tipler, trumpeter, kick things off with a first set, then will be joined in a second by Luigi Inc alums from throughout the years. Waites founded the five-piece group in 1978. The combo went on to tour regionally and to famously perform more than 1,650 consecutive Sundays at Mr. Toad in the Old Market.
— Sarah Wengert |
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Entertainment Picks - |
FRIDAY 6
Aug. 6
Voodoo Method w/
The Beat Seekers, Red Burros
and Cornerstone Dub
Sokol Underground, 2234 S. 13th St.
9 p.m., $8, 346.9802
sokolunderground.intuitwebsites.com
Voodoo Method’s funky beats and soul-driven rhythms ignited the early crowd during last week’s MAHA festival, echoing the feel-good mentality of Omaha’s summertime music seekers. With polished tracks like “Talkin’ About” and “Something Special,” the five-man band is bound to again put on a five-star performance this weekend. And if you haven’t witnessed the powerful avalanche of bluesy vocals from frontman Peedi (Pierre Minor), brace yourself for a truly unique experience. The Beat Seekers co-headline this all-ages show.
— Jasmine Maharisi |
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Entertainment Picks - |
July 30
Heartless Bastards w/ Peter Wolf Crier and Builders and the Butchers
Sokol Underground, 13th & Martha, 7p.m. $12, sokolunderground.intuitwebsites.com
Peter Wolf Crier doesn’t mirror the anthemic name of its forefather, J. Geils Band lead singer Peter Wolf. While the latter played fist-pumping arena rock-by-way-of-bars boogie, the Crier duo instead opts for a jangly, low-fi folk with a poppy edge. Distorted harmonics and handclaps abound. Members Peter Pisano and Brian Moen came together after a rush of inspiration left Pisano with a handful of newly crafted songs, which he brought to friend Moen. As their college radio friendly sound soldiers on, the band is coming through Omaha to enthrall the little indie rockers while touring with Heartless Bastards, just before launching their fall tour with Rogue Wave. They do not play “Centerfold.”
— John Wenz
July 31
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Stir Concert Cove, Harrah’s Casino
Council Bluffs, $25, 8 p.m.
712.329.6499, stircove.com
You really shouldn’t need much, if any, convincing to go see Joan Jett at Stir Concert Cove this Saturday night. She’s played with everyone from Alice Cooper to Paul Westerberg and Peaches, toured with Aerosmith, Rush and Van Halen, produced the Germs’ classic GI album, and paved the way for female artists like L7, Bikini Kill, Hole and Brody Dalle of the Distillers. She’s such a badass she even kicked Chuck Norris’ ass on “Walker, Texas Ranger.” Whether she’s playing an auditorium or a small club in the middle of nowhere, Jett always puts on a terrific show. Pay homage to a true legend and check her out.
— Kyle Tonniges |
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Entertainment Picks - |
July 22
John Elliot w/ Korey Anderson and Eliza Blue
Barley St. Tavern, 2735 N. 62nd St.
9 p.m., $5, thehereafterishere.com
John Elliot has been quietly making rootsy, surreal pop-folk for six albums and is set to release his seventh, Backyards, shortly. Along with being featured on NPR, “Grey’s Anatomy” and Neil Young’s “Living With War” website, Elliot recently was featured as an Emerging Artist on the main stage at The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and was selected as the first alternate in the 2010 Telluride Troubador competition. This summer Elliot is doing a solo U.S. tour and re-releasing his two most recent acoustic efforts as a double album. The Barley Street’s intimate confines will serve as an almost perfect venue to catch this emerging American voice and contemporary folk songwriter.
— Jesse D. Stanek
July 22
Hot From Far CD release w/ The Sharks
Sokol Underground, 2234 S. 13th St.
8 p.m., $5, myspace.com/hotfromfar
Billing itself as “your favorite band’s least favorite band,” Hot From Far is an indie party-rock group that’s hard to take seriously, which is a good thing. They are playing a CD release show this Thursday in honor of their new album, Is This Thing On? which features songs that are as catchy as they are self-deprecating. This Omaha-based trio is enjoying an illustrious career … well, not quite, but two albums and a semi-regional tour isn’t too shabby. Their tunes are a little Weezer, a little Straight Outta Junior High and a lot of fun.
— Jarrett Fontaine
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Entertainment Picks - |
July 15
REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar
Stir Concert Cove, Harrah’s Casino, Council Bluffs
7 p.m., $40, stircove.com
It’s easier to think of classic rock in terms of a well-crafted appliance than it is some high and mighty art machine, as people seem to want music to be. It doesn’t have to have a higher function — it just serves its function, without hesitation. Take Pat Benatar or REO Speedwagon. There’s no grand drama or stage walk-offs. Benatar, she of “Love is a Battlefield,” isn’t there to make you confront the darker parts of your life. REO Speedwagon didn’t sing “Keep on Loving You” to incite an existential crisis. They plug into the wall, grab an emotion or two and serve it, well blended. It’s there to make you laugh, maybe cry, maybe dance, probably fist-pump … and you don’t fault something for doing its job, as long as that job isn’t like, genocide, or something.
— John Wenz
July 16
Cox Music and Movies w/ Marcos & Sabor and La Bamba
Holland Center, 1200 Douglas St., east lawn
7:45 p.m., FREE, omahaperformingarts.org
Cox Communications and Omaha Performing Arts are doing something that’s not quite a concert, but not just a movie. A local musician essentially “opens” for an outdoor screening of a quality film. Last month, it was Plain River Rain and The Princess Bride. This time around it’s Latin-popsters Marcos & Sabor and Ritchie Valens biopic, La Bamba. One is a South Omaha band playing contemporary music from across the Americas, while the other is the 1987 biopic of early rock star Richie Valens’ rise up the charts with “La Bamba,” up to his untimely death in the plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. The pair makes for a pleasant Friday evening out in the hot summer air.
— John Wenz
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This Week's Top Events - |
July 7-Aug. 1
Defending the Caveman
Omaha Community Playhouse, 6915 Cass St.
Wed.-Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m.
$35, 553.0800, omahaplayhouse.com
Apparently, there’s a Laurence Olivier Award. And apparently, Defending the Caveman won it in 2000. For 16 years, the one-man show has been making its way across the country, including a two-and-a-half year run on Broadway. Using what the play’s author Rob Becker called an informal study of anthropology, it expounds further on how we’re still reeling from our inner caveperson. A quirky show, equal parts stand-up, monologue and evisceration, it will make its home in Omaha through the end of July.
— John Wenz |
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This Week's Top Events - |
THURSDAY 1
July 1-4, 9, 11
Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare on the Green, Elmwood Park/UNO, just south of UNO Bell Tower 64th and Dodge; Events begin 5:30 p.m. performance 8 p.m., FREE
nebraskashakespeare.com
The William Shakespeare canon is so large and its universal themes so resonant that the proverbial chestnut of there being something for everyone in the playwright’s collected works is indeed true. In perhaps the most performed and best known Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet, the thorny throes of young love touch as deeply as they did centuries ago. Humankind has not changed a whit when it comes to emotional baggage; so, no matter when the play is set or how it’s dressed, the desire and the conflict portrayed in it speak to us in fervent tones. The Nebraska Shakespeare production goes multicultural this time around with Puerto Rican Noel Velez as Romeo and Filipino Kristin Villanueva as Juliet.
— Leo Adam Biga
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Picks of the Week - |
FRIDAY25
June 25
Mates of State w/
Thunder Power and The X-Medic
Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St.
9 p.m., $13 ADV/$15 DOS, theslowdown.com
Mates of State are Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, an adorable husband-and-wife duo singing harmony over keyboard and drums. They formed in Lawrence, Kan., in 1997 and have two young kids. Their super-sweet, bubbly pop music reminds me of the website Cute Overload — it makes you feel good but slightly guilty for it. They’ve also recorded covers of artists ranging from Jackson Browne to James Taylor. But their new full-length, Crushes, is entirely covers of some of their favorite bands, including Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Belle and Sebastian, and Girls. But they’ll surely throw some of their own classics into the live concert mix.
— Avishay Artsy |
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This Week's Top Picks - |
— Avishay Artsy 
June 23
Project Runway Condom
Fashion Show
Magnolia Hotel, 1615 Howard St.
8 p.m., $10 ADV/$15 DOS, 552.9260, nap.org
Unconventional materials often pop up as a challenge on “Project Runway,” and to recognize National HIV Testing Day and Nebraska HIV Testing Week, the Nebraska AIDS Project (NAP) challenged local designers to create stunning garments out of condoms. Over 40 designers range from their teens to their 40s and from amateur to professional fashion backgrounds; and with a $100 sponsorship, each received 1,000 colored condoms to create their masterpiece for a model of their choosing, Gary Winingham, Prevention and Education Manager for the NAP, said. “Every three days, we are telling someone in Nebraska [they are HIV positive],” he said, and the fashion show is a unique way to get the public involved in preventing new infections by funding NAP’s outreach programs and materials. The show also features a silent auction of condom art and is appropriate for viewers of all ages — and the audience is encouraged to take pictures. “People who attend are going to be amazed, entertained and wowed by the creativity of these designers,” Winingham said. “I am hoping we might even have out-of-town baseball fans attend so they can return to their communities and say ‘Wow! I can’t wait to share with you what Omaha, Nebraska does for STD and HIV prevention.’”
— Layne Gabriel |
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This Week's Top Picks - |
FRIDAY21
May 21
35th Anniversary Screening of Jaws
Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge St.
7 p.m., $20, tickets available at Hy-Vee
558.1546, omahafilmevent.com
Thirty-five years ago a glorified B flick based on a potboiler novel became Steven Spielberg’s first classic. The troubled production of Jaws had its young director fearing he’d be fired. But when its wide release struck a chord with audiences, it launched the summer blockbuster phenomenon. On a pure cinema level the pic features primal fight-or-flight action and superb storytelling. However you categorize it, as action-adventure, horror or suspense, it packs a visceral punch. Carl Gottlieb, a Jaws screenwriter and author of The Jaws Log, is special guest at a revival, restored print screening by Bruce Crawford, the filmie famous for red carpet fanfare. The event is a benefit for the Omaha Hearing School for Children.
— Leo Adam Biga |
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This Week's Top Picks - |
THURSDAY6
May 6
Mutemath w/ 30 Seconds to Mars, Neon Lights & Street Drum Corps
Sokol Auditorium, 2234 S. 13th St.
7 p.m., $32.50 ADV/$35 DOS, 346.9802
Opening for Jared Leto and company this Thursday is Grammy-nominated alt-rock group Mutemath. Critically acclaimed yet still somehow underrated, these New Orleans natives play a variety of styles with a no-holds barred attitude. The end result is an electro-gospel future-pop vibe (I consider them a thinking-man’s Switchfoot). Their 2009 sophomore album Armistice almost tore the band apart while recording, but luckily instead pushed them to new heights. Mutemath went all out with the video for their single “Typical” with each member learning to play their parts of the song backwards. This creativity paid off since it got them two million Youtube views, plus it just looked cool. Though if a cat playing with yarn gets more hits than your music video, how good are you really?
— Jarrett Fontaine
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Picks of the Week - |
SATURDAY1
May 1
Free Comic Book Day w/ Ray Park
Krypton Comics, 2819 S. 125th St.
10 a.m.-6 p.m., FREE, autographs additional cost
391.4131, kryptoncomicsomaha.com
While Mr. Ray Park has been known, more recently, for getting his arse kicked in films like X-Men and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, his glory days began a long, long time ago in a galaxy, far, far away. As the scary and formidable Darth Maul, Park gained fame and cult status tormenting poor, annoying little youngling Anakin Skywalker, and brutally slaying Qui-Gon Jinn (played by Liam Neeson, the one good actor and decent character in George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels). Then again, getting diced in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi’s light saber does tend to open up one’s schedule, which is why the actor will be hanging with the fanboys and fangirls at Krypton Comics, in celebration of Free Comic Book Day. “We love our existing customers, and that’s why we do these events,” said Krypton owner, Dean Phillips. “But we’re also trying to expand the industry as much as possible and that’s why we bring in people like Ray Park, to get new faces in the door.” Clearly, after 11 years, the force is still strong with this one.
— Hal G. Senal |
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Picks of the Week - |
THURSDAY22
April 22-May 20
Mrs. Warren’s Profession
Brigit St. Brigit at The Downtown Space 614 S. 11th St., Thurs.-Sat. 7:30 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m., $22, $18 students/military/
seniors, 502.4910, bsbtheatre.com
Given the second-class citizen status historically assigned women, it’s a revelation when an 1893 play turns a critical eye to it. This dramedy revolves around an upper crust mother and daughter whose actions expose the hypocrisy and double standards of Victorian England. Mrs. Warren has made her fortune as a high society madame, a fact she’s kept from her Cambridge-educated daughter, Vivie, who’s eager to start an actuarial career. Each dismisses feckless male admirers. When the secret of mother’s profession gets out, the headstrong women clash, even though their independence and ambition make them more alike than different. Propriety be damned.
— Leo Adam Biga |
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This Week's Top Picks - |
THURSDAY15
April 15
Faith and the Muse
w/ Strap On Halo
Sokol Underground, 2234 S. 13th St.
8 pm, $12 ADV/$15DOS
sokolunderground.com
Alternating between Delerium and Enya-like ethereal instrumentals and up-tempo drums and guitar riffs, epic would be the only adjective fitting of L.A.’s Faith and the Muse. Composed of Monica Edwards and William Faith, the duo has been a thriving force in new wave/gothic rock since their debut Elyria in 1994. Not content with being tied down to just one genre, the evolution of Faith and the Muse’s sound effortlessly blends Monica Edwards’ airy and wispy voice, over the blend of world, jazz, punk and rock. The duo comes to Omaha to promote its latest release ankoku butoh, alongside Omaha’s local industrial trio Strap On Halo.
— Chalis Bristol
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This Week's Top Picks - |
FRIDAY9
April 9
Omaha Entertainment and
Arts Awards 2010
Spring Music Showcase
100 Block of West Broadway, Council Bluffs
8 p.m., $10 cover for five clubs,
oea-awards.com
We could joke about the name — which features Omaha while the event itself is scheduled to take place on the east side of the Missouri — but why waste time on that with so much good music to be seen and heard? This is a blossoming new entertainment area in the heart of Council Bluffs that boasts five great clubs: Barley’s, The Venue, Fiddlin’ Monkey, Glory Days and T’z, with more than 20 of the metro area’s live music acts set to play. The price is right and you can get an early start. What’s not to like? That’s a rhetorical question, of course. Everybody knows that answer.
— Andy Roberts |
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This Week's Picks - |
THURSDAY1
April 1
Murder By Death w/
Ha Ha Tonka and Linfinity
Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St.
9 p.m., $12, onepercentproductions.com
Bloomington, Indiana’s Murder By Death has been quietly and unassumingly making some of the most beautiful and interesting music out there today. With its fifth record coming out this month on Vagrant Records, the band is able to transcend musical genres, moods and places — oftentimes within the same song. The sound varies from bombastic to vaudevillian with rich Americana undertones and often haunting flourishes. Bloodshot Records’ artist Ha Ha Tonka will open the show along with Linfinity.
— Jesse D. Stanek |
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This Week's Top Picks - |
THURSDAY25
March 25
The Daredevil Christopher Wright w/ Godsham GOD, Adam Robert Hauge and Ties
Slowdown, 729 N 14th St.
9 p.m., $6, theslowdown.com
The Daredevil Christopher Wright is a band, not a circus performer, though it does juggle delicate vocals with melodic guitars and strings pretty well. These Wisconsin natives are a classically trained trio of musicians, featuring brothers Jon and Jason Sunde on guitars and vocals, as well as Jesse Edgington handling the percussion. The band plays folk pop that’s introspective without being depressing, artfully examining things without leaving a pretentious taste in the listener’s, um, ears. The debut album, In Deference to a Broken Back, is full of stories — some true, some made up — that reflect on life’s curses and gives a dramatic flair to fun places like hospitals. The album was mixed by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, and earned the group a band of the week nod from Paste Magazine. I recommend you check out the show and let the music speak for itself.
— Jarrett Fontaine |
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