Riverside Chats with Tom Knoblauch: Recent Episodes
Riverside Chats
Riverside Chats is a series of conversations hosted by Tom Knoblauch exploring culture of all kinds, broadcast from the Heartland. Topics include politics, film, business, history, music, and much, more more. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support
Clarice Dombeck is a candidate for the Regional Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Board of Directors in District 2. The Transit Authority, also known as Metro, is responsible for running Omaha’s bus system, including ORBT and MOBY services.
The first elected board will have seven nonpartisan members, one for each district. Prior to this year, seats were appointed by the mayor rather than elected. The change is part of Metro’s increased budget and expanded regional services. Board responsibilities include determining transit policy, overseeing the budget and handling contracts
Dombeck was born and raised in North Omaha. In addition to her candidacy, she serves on Elevate Omaha’s Board of Directors and is the urban development manager at Spark, an Omaha nonprofit that aims to transform and invest in underserved neighborhoods.
Dombeck is also an urban farmer and a founder of the Healing Roots African Diaspora Garden on North 24th Street, and she’s working on a Master of Science in Urban Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
In this conversation, Dombeck is in conversation with Michael Griffin about her family’s history of community organizing, and how it informs her own varied approach to advocacy. They also discuss transit disparities in Omaha and Dombeck’s vision for Metro.
Correction: A previous version of this podcast incorrectly identified the Regional Metropolitan Transit Authority as being responsible for the forthcoming Omaha Streetcar. It is a City of Omaha project.
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Shelley Mann is the founder and executive director of Nebraska Abortion Resources, also known as NEAR.
Mann started NEAR in 2020 with a mission of providing financial aid to people seeking abortions. That assistance can take different forms, such as paying for the procedure itself or covering travel costs. Mann says NEAR has helped 800 people access abortions in four years.
Mann has a long history of advocacy related to reproductive rights and other causes. She’s long been a fixture outside the Clinic for Abortion & Reproductive Excellence in Bellevue, escorting patients inside and shouting down anti-abortion protesters. Her TikToks documenting her experiences outside the building have amassed millions of views
Mann is in discussion with Maria Corpuz about her personal relationship with abortion and how it led to her current path. We’re also discussing the Nebraska petitions drives for three separate ballot measures related to reproductive rights.
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In today's episode, Michael speaks with Lucia Pedroza-Estrada, Elevate Omaha’s advocacy and grantmaking director.
Born in Guatemala, and a self-described lifelong lover of politics, Pedroza-Estrada’s work involves acting as a connector to elected officials and other advocacy groups. She also makes the grantmaking process more accessible to youth and develops advocacy strategies that are youth-led.
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The Omaha Summer Arts Festival is a weekend-long, annual celebration of the city’s culture. The festival includes an artist market with more than 130 vendors, a lineup of local musicians, and lots of local food. This year’s festival is June 7 through June 9 in Aksarben Village, and it’s a milestone: number 50.
Today, Michael is speaking with Maggie Winton, the Omaha Summer Arts Festival’s marketing manager. She’s here to give a rundown of the festival’s 50-year history, how it adapted during the pandemic, and the future of the festival as a bridge between artists and the wider community.
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Ja Keen Fox is an advocate from Nebraska with experience in political organizing, journalism, and media. Earlier this year, Fox began working on The Dreamland Report, a nonprofit news service expected to launch this November. Fox created the serice in an effort to close the information gap between North Omaha and the rest of the city, and to make news about the Black community accessible to readers.
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Susi Amendola is a yoga therapist, author and Ornish Lifestyle Medicine trainer. She has more than 30 years experience in yoga and stress management. Her studio Yoga Now, where she still teaches, opened in Benson in 1983. Amendola also directs the studio’s annual yoga teacher certification program, which begins this September.
Amendola’s new book is “The Centered Heart: Evidence-Based Mind Body Practices to Stress Less and Improve Cardiac Health.”
The book explores the relationship between stress management and overall health, and encourages readers to try seven yoga and other mind-body practices to reduce stress and manage chronic health problems like heart disease. “The Centered Heart” was released May 7 and is available where you get books.
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The Omaha Mobile Stage is a traveling performance venue that was built out of an 18-foot box truck. The truck is rented for block parties, markets, youth talent shows and other community-centered events as a platform for all kinds of live performance.
On this episode, Jessica Scheuerman and Keiria Marsha talk about their goals for the stage as a creative placemaking effort, and what’s planned for the venue this summer.
Scheuerman is the founder and executive director of Partners for Livable Omaha, Omaha Mobile Stage’s parent nonprofit. Marsha is a musician and the event organizer behind Pull Up and Vibe.
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Qasim Shabazz Asad is a co-founder and co-chair of the Black Agenda Alliance, a Pan-African group working to improve social, economic and cultural conditions in Omaha’s Black community
In 2019, Asad and other community members formed the Black Agenda Alliance to bring a new perspective to advocacy in Omaha. The organization’s goals include youth education, strengthening families, building economic independence and political engagement.
In this conversation, he speaks with Chris Bowling about overcoming the circumstances of his upbringing and his road to advocacy.
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Miah Sommer is the founder and executive director of Astute Coffee, formerly known as the Bike Union. The nonprofit coffee shop employs young adults impacted by the foster care system and creates programming to give them the tools to succeed in the workforce and their personal lives. Sommer was born and raised in Omaha. His mission with Astute Coffee was informed and inspired by his childhood.
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Maurtice Ivy was a record-breaking basketball player as a student at Central High School in the 1980s. She went on to play for the Nebraska Cornhuskers women’s basketball team, where was the first player in Husker history to surpass the 2,000-point barrier. Her jersey was retired in in 2011. She was inducted into the Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020.
Today, Ivy is pursuing her doctorate degree in educational leadership at Doane University. She’s also the founder and CEO ofIvy League Youth Sports Academy, which provides sports coaching and mentorship to adolescent girls in Omaha.
In this conversation, Ivy and Michael Griffin discuss Ivy's career, how the landscape has and hasn’t changed for Black women in sports, and her aspirations for the next generation of athletes.
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Today's episode features a conversation between Tom Knoblauch and Matthew Wurstner, an attorney from Omaha, Nebraska.
If you've ever watched Supreme Court proceedings, a word that you've heard a lot is "precedent." How much does precedent matter? How much should we revere the standards of the past, and how much should we look to rewrite the rules of the future?
These questions don't have firm answers, but people have strong opinions about them — particularly in an age of gridlocked Congress and a historically empowered Supreme Court.
Matthew Wurstner is back on the show to discuss the concept of precedent. What is it? Where does it come from? What are the arguments for and against it?
Wurstner is a partner at the law firm Carlson Blakeman in Omaha.
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Today's show is a conversation between Michael Griffin and Tena Hahn Rodriguez, co-interim executive director of Black & Pink National, a nonprofit prison abolition organization headquartered in Omaha.
Hahn Rodriguez is a dancer, educator and Omaha native. She’s worked at various nonprofits in Omaha, including Inclusive Communities and Heartland Pride, and co-founded the queer nightlife event Revel in 2014.
Today, Hahn Rodriguez discusses her Omaha upbringing and how it shapes her advocacy, how dance shows up in her work, what prison abolition would really look like, and Black & Pink’s mission of supporting incarcerated LGBTQ+ folks.
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Inclusive Communities is a nonprofit that uses human relations work to promote diversity and inclusion among individuals, workplaces and communities. The organization also holds public events to encourage cross-cultural dialogue, including the Jane H. & Rabbi Sidney H. Brooks Conversations for Change series. The series brings in prominent entertainment industry figures for conversation to build connections across identities.
Conversations for Change launched last year with actor Kal Penn as the featured guest. This year’s event features performer Bob the Drag Queen, who won the eighth season of “RuPaul's Drag Race.”
Today, Bennet and Wright are in conversation with Maria Corpuz about their decision to invite Bob the Drag Queen to Omaha in the wake of Nebraska’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors and attempt to ban minors from attending drag shows. Conversations for Change is Tuesday, March 26 at the Holland Center.
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Congressman Don Bacon has represented Nebraska's Second Congressional District since 2017. He is running for re-election again this year against Nebraska State Senator Tony Vargas. Today, he recounts his experience during the January 6th attack, why he thinks Republicans should regain control, and what he makes of Donald Trump's enduring influence over the Republican Party.
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If you follow Omaha politics, you likely know Dr. Erin Feichtinger--or at least her tweets. Feichtinger has a PhD in history and currently serves as policy director at the Women’s Fund of Omaha, and she has made it a mission to shine a light on the details, drama, and triumphs of our local power structures. In this time of political dysfunction, often at the national and the local level, Feichtinger talks with Tom Knoblauch about what history can offer us to understand today and what all of this means for the future.
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Filmmaker Tony Bonacci previously appeared on the show when his acclaimed short, The Headliner, made festival rounds in 2018. Even then, he was adamant that he would turn that story into a feature alongside the short’s writer, Christine Burright, and its star, Darrick Silkman. Several years and one global pandemic later, he has. Bonacci’s feature film debut, also titled The Headliner, is premiering on Saturday March 2nd at this year’s Omaha Film Festival.
On this week's show, Bonacci talks with Tom Knoblauch about putting the feature together and what to expect at this year's Omaha Film Festival premiere.
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Machaela Cavanaugh represents Nebraska's 6th District in the Unicameral. She was re-elected to a second term in 2022 and in 2023, Cavanaugh made national news when she filibustered LB574, also known as the Let Them Grow Act, which bans gender-affirming care for Nebraska children. Cavanaugh spoke on the bill up to 12 hours a day for 11 weeks. LB574 was passed by the Legislature in May and went into effect last October.
In the current legislative session, which began on January 3rd, Cavanaugh says she's focused on supporting Nebraska's working poor. She's prioritizing paid family leave, universal school meals, and securing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. On today's show, Cavanaugh is in conversation with Maria Corpuz about her historic filibuster, building relationships in a divided legislature, and her hopes for the 108th Legislative Session.
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Keyonna King is an associate professor in the UNMC College of Public Health. She holds a doctorate in public health from Loma Linda University. King specializes in community-based participatory research, or CBPR, an approach that works with community members to make public health programs more equitable and inclusive.
King is also a co-investigator in UNMC’s BEAT Cancer study. BEAT Cancer, which stands for Black Equity, Access and Testing for Cancer, seeks to increase colorectal cancer screening and decrease mortality rates related to the disease in Omaha’s Black community. Today she is in conversation with Michael Griffin.
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Josh Tague was born and raised in Omaha and has a business degree from UNO. He’s played guitar in various bands and is a regular audience member at local concerts — including performances by the biggest local band in town, the Omaha Symphony. As director of marketing and communications at the Omaha Symphony, Tague is responsible for building and cultivating the group’s audiences and brand. Today, Tague and Michael Griffin are talking about the symphony’s history and about how classical music spaces can become more diverse and inclusive.
The Omaha Symphony could be Grammy winners after this weekend. The ensemble is nominated in three categories for its work with composer Andy Akiho, who was commissioned to pay tribute to Ree and Jun Kaneko. The resulting album, “Sculptures,” was premiered and recorded at the Holland Center in March of last year and conducted by music director Ankush Kumar Bahl.
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Jaden Perkins is grassroots community organizer from Omaha who specializes in coalition building. He currently works for the Heartland Workers Center as a policy fellow. Perkins has also worked on campaigns for local political candidates, including Dave Pantos, Cammy Watkins, and Jasmine Harris.
His event, "Politically Speaking… It’s a Drag," uses performing arts to help audiences understand political issues. Perkins previously hosted the event in October of 2022 with then–Douglas County Attorney candidate Dave Pantos. "It’s a Drag" will be held on Saturday, Jan. 27 at The Sydney in Benson.
Today's show is a conversation between Perkins and Michael Griffin.
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Mia Perales is a freshman at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Last year she won an environmental achievement award from the Nebraska chapter of the Sierra Club after leading climate work with the city-wide group Students for Sustainability and starting a lunch composting program at Omaha South High School that’s since been adopted at Central High School.
David Corbin is a longtime environmentalist in Omaha. He’s been a public health professor at UNO, a leader in the local Sierra Club and a staple at Earth Day in Elmwood Park with his guitar and extensive catalog of Neil Young songs. Currently he’s involved with a group protesting the North Omaha coal plant’s delayed shutdown from 2023 to 2026.
Omaha officials are currently working on a plan to prepare for and prevent the worst effects of climate change. On today's episode, Perales and Corbin are in conversation with Chris Bowling.
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Lee Emma Running is an artist who sculpts with animal bones, glass and precious metals. She uses her work to engage audiences in conversations about the impact of human-built systems on the natural world, and explore the intersection of art and science.
Running’s work “Opera Coat” was unveiled on Nov. 11 at Kaneko, the culmination of her year-long residency with Opera Omaha. “Opera Coat” is an enameled cast iron sculpture, embellished with copper and bronze. It’s a direct cast of a coat in Opera Omaha’s costume wardrobe, meaning each piece of the sculpture is cast exactly from the fabric. The piece is on display at Kaneko through Feb. 11 and here is Running's conversation with Michael Griffin.
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Jen Landis is an artist, author, and assistant professor of practice in graphic design at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Her organization, Pincurl Girls, started in 2009 and creates products and services to help young girls find their confidence--including a podcast, art classes, a scholarship program, and a text club that sends daily words of affirmation to members. In July, Landis published the tween and teen self-help book, 'Skip the Bad Songs: the Art of Rocking a Happy Mindset.'
On today's show, Landis is in conversation with Maria Corpuz about how the book can help youth during common challenges in that stage of life, including advice on fostering new relationships, creating healthy routines, recognizing accomplishments, and more tactile things like step-by-step instructions for making a zine. Landis also discusses her own mental health journey, how parents and caregivers can empower their teens, and why it's important for everyone to talk about their feelings.
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Omaha native Aissa Aset Bey is a loctician, artist, and entrepreneur. Her business, Loc Legacies, offers services related to Black haircare as well as education and training for aspiring locticians. Bey is in conversation with Michael Griffin about the culture and science of hair.
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Problems today rarely originate in our present context. Some problems are so deeply rooted in human history and maybe human nature that it’s a tall order to try to diagnose, let alone solve them in an hour on the radio. But we try! Today, attorney and Common Cause Nebraska advisory board member Wes Dodge is back on the show to discuss the thorny issue of religion in our political discourse–how America’s complicated relationship with Christianity has manifested and been co-opted across our history, and what it means for our future.
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On today's show, Nebraska State Senator Tony Vargas talks with Michael Griffin about the issues on his mind as he runs against Congressman Don Bacon to represent Nebraska's Second Congressional District in the 2024 election.
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Countless times on this show, guests have told stories about getting into politics or made new art or even rethouth their lives in relation to the seismic shift that was 2016. On today's show, Theodore Wheeler is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about how that year and its anxieties led him to write The War Begins in Paris--an antifascist novel about friendship, family, propaganda, and foreign correspondents in Europe in the lead-up to World War II.
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Kristine Langley Mahler is a local author who grew up all around the country. The lack of a permanent home in her childhood informs much of her current writing. In her most recent book, 'A Calendar is a Snakeskin,' Mahler excavates personal meaning from astrology, tarot, motherhood, and the past, present and future. On today's show, Mahler is in conversation with Michael Griffin about the art of memoir and the process of putting together her new collection.
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The Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, is said to be the largest bill ever to address the climate disaster. The legislation includes about $30 billion for homeowners to make energy-efficient upgrades to their houses, such as installing solar panels or a heat pump. Sounds great, right? But it’s daunting for the average taxpayer to navigate the byzantine world of tax credits to access IRA funds for those upgrades.
David Holtzclaw wants to help. He owns Transduction Technologies, an engineering firm that provides energy consulting services to commercial and residential clients in Omaha. He’s here today in conversation with Maria Corpuz to explain how local homeowners can take advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act to make their homes greener.
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The funny thing about genres like alt, punk, indie is that there was a point when these things were directly in opposition to something mainstream and corporate, but then somewhere along the way they became styles and aesthetics that could also be mainstream. It's not always clear what it means to be alt-rock or alt-country these days or even how to listen to an album in the streaming age where our music habits are changing so rapidly all the time. On today's show, Tom Knoblauch is in conversation with Julia Steiner, whose band Ratboys just released a new album called The Window, about the always-shifting music landscape, the construction of an album, and how she developed her unique style over the past decade.
Ratboys will be playing at the Reverb Lounge on October 19th. Tickets can be found here.
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On today's show, Maria Corpuz is in conversation with Andy Saladino, development director of Youth Emergency Services. Youth Emergency Services, or YES, assists youth ages 16 to 21 experiencing homelessness and near homelessness by meeting immediate needs for food, shelter, clothing and safety. YES has a street outreach team whose members distribute supplies out of backpacks and provide immediate information and services. YES’s services also include a 24-hour emergency shelter, transitional living program and maternity group home.
YES’s 'Dance for a Chance' Halloween Ball is on Oct. 12 and includes a dance contest and silent auction to raise funds for the organization.
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The Flatwater Film Festival is an annual event committed to bringing together established and first-time filmmakers from across the state of Nebraska to celebrate their art by providing a non-competitive platform that showcases their work, to develop a strong community that promotes inspiration and support, and ultimately to foster the next generation of Nebraska filmmakers. The 2023 festival will be held October 6-8 at the historic Rivoli Theatre in downtown Seward, NE.
On today's show, Tom Knoblauch talks with festival founders Joshua Weixelman and Greg Gale about the state of Nebraska's film scene, how it has changed over the past two decades, and what to expect at this year's Flatwater Film Festival.
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On today's show, Maria Corpuz is in conversation with Jewel Rodgers - a poet, artist and placemaker from North Omaha. She was a Buffett Scholar at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and went on to receive a Master’s in Real Estate Development from New York University. She was nominated for best performance poet at the 2022 Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award. Her multi-sensory poetry collection “Wax Over Water” received a Populus Fund Grant in 2023 through the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in New York, and she’s a 2023 fellow at the Union For Contemporary Art in Omaha.
Rodgers is a youth poetry coach at Culxr House with the Nebraska Writers Collective. She also founded PlaceMade, a resident-led group creating community spaces on vacant lots in North Omaha.
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Money is nice, right? It’s fun to buy things. But there are contexts where you’d hope that the equation is more complicated than dollar equals result, like medicine or politics. In particular, Nebraska has been the focus of several concerns about the line between money and political results. Today Jack Gould from Common Cause Nebraska is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about the influence of lobbyists and special interest groups in our state legislature--as well as what can be done to improve the problems of money in our politics.
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Drew Shuck sings and plays the drums in local punk band Bug Heaven. Adam Haug produces beats as Haunted Gauntlet for emcee Conny Franko in M34n Str33t. The bands recently collaborated on the remix of the song “Survived By,” written by Shuck and performed by Bug Heaven. The song, off Bug Heaven’s debut album “We Love to Live in Hell,” is about the pain of losing loved ones to suicide. Bug Heaven and Mean Street, along with rapper S1SW, will perform at The Slowdown on Sept. 7. A portion of the proceeds from the concert and the new song will benefit Youth Emergency Services, which provides outreach, shelter and other resources to unhoused youth, and the mutual aid group Omaha Autonomous Action.
On today's show, Maria Corpuz is in conversation with Drew Shuck and Adam Haug about the Omaha DIY music scene, the process of remixing “Survived By,” and what to expect at their upcoming concert. This episode comes with a content warning, as it contains discussion of mental illness and suicide.
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Last year, author, screenwriter, and host of Studio 360 Kurt Andersen joined Riverside Chats to discuss his two volume explanation of America, Fantasyland and Evil Geniuses. In that conversation, he mentioned that he was working on a third part to this series, which would be fictional. He wouldn’t give away any details at the time, but it turns out that he was working on Command Z, a new 8 part web series directed by Steven Soderbergh. The show follows a team from the 2050s who can transport their consciousnesses back into people today to try to reverse the trends leading to catastrophes of climate, economics, income inequality, and more. Today Andersen is back in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about how the series came to be, what Soderbergh could bring to the Andersen's diagnosis of the American present, and then how a show like this can impact viewers in a bleak political environment.
All episodes of Command Z are available now at commandzseries.com.
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If you’ve ever had Adult Swim on at night and wondered what in the world you’re watching, there’s a good chance you’ve seen something created by Tim Heidecker. He got his start making bizarre sketch series like Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show, Tom Goes to the Mayor, and On Cinema. Since then, he’s appeared in several movies, such as Us, Bridesmaids, and The Comedy and he’s extended his On Cinema universe into the film Mister America and a new subscription service called the Hei Network. His latest turn in a multifaceted career is to a live tour–but maybe not quite in the way you’d expect. Half of his show has him in character as a bumbling, awkward comedian failing to connect with the audience. Then the rest of the show is genuine, authentic music written by Heidecker and performed with his Very Good Band.
Today Heidecker is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about artifice and authenticity, how he harnesses both, and the decision to bundle them in his Two Tims Tour, which you can see at the Admiral on August 23.
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Nebraska prides itself on its Unicameral, which in theory reduces partisanship by forcing cooperation and moderation. That is, unless it doesn’t. In the headlines from this year’s legislative session, a common concern was whether partisanship had finally overtaken the body. Was this a breaking point? A sign of the future? Just a fluke year? It can be difficult to tell in a vacuum, so today's show has Tom Knoblauch in conversation with attorney Wes Dodge to parse through what happened, why it happened, and what it means for Nebraska going forward.
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Satire uses exaggeration to critique something about the world we live in, but what happens if the world is crazier than any satirist can come up with? How does one parody, as Kurt Andersen has put it, "the greatest self-parodists of all time"? On today's show, Tom Knoblauch is in conversation with Geitner Simmons, author of the new book, Android Run, a sci-fi thriller with a heavy dose of satire to discuss the societal role of fiction, journalism, and the pervasive absurdity no one can escape.
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BFF Omaha, formerly known as Benson First Friday, is a nonprofit arts organization whose mission is to build community through art engagement. BFF started in June 2012, and was named the first official Creative District in Nebraska in 2022. On today's show, Michael Griffin is in conversation with Annie Butler, production manager and the advocacy chair, and Petfest founder Zach Schmieder about the annual showcase of local and national musical acts within the Benson community.
Petfest 2023 is on August 19 at the Petshop Gallery in Benson.
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The HALLINS Corporation is a nonprofit whose mission is to stimulate constructive change in underserved communities through art and culture. It was founded in 2016, and puts on both the Omaha Jazz Experience and the LOVAM Jazz Festival. The Omaha Jazz Experience is a ticketed jazz concert that raises for the Hallins Corporation. This year’s show is this Saturday, July 22 at Stinson Park and will feature Grammy-winning saxophonist Najee.
On today's show, Michael Griffin is in conversation with Lanesa Ballew-Holt and Shontell Perkins about the event, its cultural aims, and what to expect this year.
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Think of the last fruit or vegetable you ate. Do you know where it was grown? Who cultivated it? Harvested it? Transported it to the grocery store? Could you begin to guess all of the people and places involved in making sure that apple or celery or bok choy made it to your plate? When the food production system is global, it can be easy to forget that it’s possible to grow produce right here at home.
Today Maria Corpuz is in conversation with Stephanie Finklea and Alex O’Hanlon, two urban farmers who are involved with a number of organizations promoting food sovereignty and agriculture here in Omaha. Finklea is the owner and founder of Black Chick Farm. O’Hanlon is a coordinator at Free Farm Syndicate. Both cofounded Omaha Sunflower Coop and collaborate on Blazing Star Seed Cooperative, which aims to teach seed-saving skills and provide free seeds to the community.
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In the Midwest, we love our cars: fast cars, big cars, small cars, loud cars, quiet cars, different cars for different occasions like shoes. Car culture, in other words, is often indistinguishable from Midwest culture, and has been for so long that it feels natural. But what if it's not?
On today's show, Daniel Knowles makes the case that cars are ruining the world while making us unhappy and unhealthy—the subject of his new book, Carmageddon: How Cars Make Life Worse and What to Do About It.Talking with Tom Knoblauch, Knowles outlines the rise of cars around the world, their economic and health impacts, how this warps the design of cities, and what it might look like to envision a future reliant on public transportation.
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In China, the phrase “to eat bitterness” means to persist through hardship without complaint. Artist Jennifer Ling Datchuk used the idiom to title her collection of new and recent work, comprising ceramics, textiles, video and other mediums. Datchuk is a Texas-based artist of Irish and Chinese ancestry.
In this conversation with Maria Corpuz, she discusses her work, which explores the intersections of her own identity, as well as the role of women and global labor inequality. Through material culture, the history of craft, and by championing the handmade, Datchuk challenges the social, political, and cultural systems that continue to hold women back. “Eat Bitterness” is on display at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts through September 17.
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Chalis Bristol, AKA Crabrangucci, was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She has been actively involved in the music community for years, and has played over 250 shows since 2021. She features an eclectic mix of genres from indie rock to Top 40, to house music, and K-Pop. Bristol also won the 2022 and 2023 Omaha Entertainment & Arts award for “Outstanding DJ.” Additionally, she is the Assistant Director of Sales & Marketing at the Omaha Symphony and a board member at Omaha Girls Rock.
Today she talks with Michael Griffin about her experiences finding music through the internet while growing up in Omaha, the role that DJs have in crafting an inviting space for people to hear something new, and the unlikely connection between dance and classical music.
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Alajia McKizia was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She’s had varied experiences in the local arts community, including as a studio assistant at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at multiple Nebraska galleries including the Union for Contemporary Art, Kaneko and the Tugboat Gallery. She’s also performed with African Culture Connection and .tbd Dance collective.
On today's show, Michael Griffin is in conversation with McKizia about her life, journey, and the upcoming Juneteenth Joy Fest arts and culture festival, which supports Black entrepreneurs and artists in celebration of the Juneteenth holiday. The festival is this Saturday, June 17 from noon to 10 p.m. on North 24th Street.
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Because Nebraska has been the birthplace of a relatively small number of Hollywood legends, you end up hearing the same names over and over again. And one name anyone listening to this has likely heard of, whether or not they've watched the movies, is Fred Astaire. Astaire was born in Omaha in 1899 and went on to star on stage and screen in a number of highly acclaimed musicals and Hollywood's Golden Age, such as Top Hat and Swing Time. What you may not know is that Fred Astaire had a sister, Adele Astaire, who was also a successful dancer. On today's show, Tom Knoblauch is in conversation with Eliza Knight, whose new novel is Starring Adele Astaire, delving into the life and career of this often overlooked historical figure.
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In 1919, Nebraska enacted a statute known at the Siman Act, which restricted the use and study of foreign languages in the classroom. A year later in Hampton, Nebraska, a parochial school instructor named Robert Meyer was convicted under the law for teaching German to a 10-year-old boy. The case made it all the way to the United States Supreme Court in Meyer v. Nebraska, which ruled in Meyer’s favor in 1923. The Court declared the law violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that no person shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”
On today's show, Jessica Lander discusses her new book Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Educationwith Maria Corpuz. The book, which is available now, covers Meyer v. Nebraska and other key historical moments to look at the past, present and future of immigrant education in America.
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Marcey Yates is a hip hop artist and community advocate who was born and raised in North Omaha. He won the 2021 and 2022 Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards album of the year for “Culxr House: Freedom Summer," released on Omaha’s Saddle Creek Records. On today's show, Yates is in conversation with Michael Griffin about the role of culture in establishing a relationship between art and advocacy, his artist process when making music, as well as the creation of Culxr House, an organization in North Omaha providing community space for musical entrepreneurs to enrich their talent while lessening social and economic disparities.
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Audiences are very concerned with genres–is it a comedy? Is it drama? Is there sci-fi? Especially when it comes to works of art that emulate life, it can be difficult to say our lives fit into neat genres. Life is often difficult, funny, scary, and sweet–sometimes within a few hours. Today Megan Tady is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about her new book, Super Bloom, which balances tragedy, humor, and insight on how we move forward and reinvent ourselves through art. The book follows massage therapist Joan Johnston, who is grieving the death of her boyfriend as she works at an iconic Vermont spa and finds a way forward through writing, and it is available now wherever you get books.
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Paul Thomas Anderson may be one of the last American auteurs. The term, which means author in French, grew out of the French New Wave and eventually made its way to America by the 1960s where the director asserted control and authorship over his–and it often was his–films. The concept has come to represent a kind of rebellion against the corporate content machine, a lone, independent cowboy of authenticity in the arts. And yet today, while the theory is still around, it’s difficult for a filmmaker to sustain commercial viability as a brand while the film industry finds itself shifting in the streaming age.
On today's show, Ethan Warren, whose new book is The Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson: American Apocrypha, is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about the changing landscape of American cinema, the legacy of Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed films like There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread, and Boogie Nights, and what his influence on the medium might be going forward.
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It's not unusual among educated Nebraskans to hold the expectation that, if you’re an ambitious young person in this state, you’ll leave. This is within a moment where, over the past decade, the Nebraska Examiner has reported that “more people have continued to leave than enter Nebraska from other states, and the loss is heavily those with an education level of at least a bachelor’s degree.” Today Dr. Josie Schafer, director of the Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about her research on Nebraska’s concerning demographic trends, the root causes of brain drain, and what steps may be taken to mitigate concerns as job requirements shift over the coming decades.
Later in the show, Joshua LaBure reviews 'Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda.'
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In Nebraska, it’s extremely common to be late to the party as far as pretty much all social trends go--or to miss the party entirely. But medical uses of marijuana have been legalized in 37 states, and it looks like the movement has a kind of national momentum that Nebraska will continue to grapple with in the years to come. We’ve seen proponents of medical marijuana produce ballot measures and introduce bills at the legislature for nearly a decade now. The fight isn’t going away. So what is the deal with medical cannabis? Today Crista Eggers is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about being an activist for medical marijuana here in a state whose officials often oppose and attack the concept.
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A lot of media is not especially interested in discourse. You see a lot of dramatic headlines and hours of “What’s the guy mad about today?” but today Jay Jackson, attorney and author of the new book Decent Discourse: Saving Your Country By Loving Your (Wrong) Neighbor, is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about the value of true conversation. Jackson sees a way to solving our polarized climate, and then the problems that a polarized climate cannot solve, through being decent. His book on the subject is available now.
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Eli Rigatuso was born and raised in Omaha and has more than 30 years of experience as an artist, photographer and videographer. He’s also an activist who has spent decades fighting for civil rights in Nebraska. He helped found Heartland Pride in 2010 and serves on Mayor Stothert’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. More recently, Rigatuso founded 'Frankly Speaking,' a virtual show he hosts with Avalisa Ellicott. He is also a board member of Omaha For Us, a nonprofit founded in 2021 to service and create space for queer and trans residents of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa and and created Speaking of Happy, an online platform for LGBTQ+ Nebraskans to share their stories. On today's show, Rigatuso is in conversation with Maria Corpuz about his life, activism, and mission to uplift the voices of the LGBTQ+ community.
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In 2023, journalism exists in this precarious space, driven by clicks and corporate ownership and punditry–none of which are new, but, in the social media age, what constitutes news at all has become a source of conflict. On today's show, Matt Wynn, who previously worked at the Omaha World Herald and USA Today and more recently co-founded the Flatwater Free Press, is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about the state of journalism, both in general and here in Nebraska, as well as what he sees for the future of the news. Check out the Flatwater Free Press here.
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Many episodes of this show grapple with the question of how to get people to care about issues and to inform themselves? Or really how do you get them to want to when they can instead find limitless entertainment all around them, accessible at all times from their pockets. On today's show, Michael Griffin is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about merging the hard questions with entertainment through his comedy. His new special, 27 Club, was filmed at Culxr House and is available now on YouTube.
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It’s been two-and-a-half years since Metro Transit began operating the ORBT bus system on Dodge Street. Now, the service is approaching a milestone: its one-millionth rider. The occasion comes at an interesting time for public transit, as younger generations become more vocal about their desire for a high-speed national rail system, and Omaha embarks on the controversial streetcar project. Today Metro Transit CEO Lauren Cenic and communications and community relations manager Nicole Ebat are in conversation with Maria Corpuz about the past, present and future of travel and public transportation within Omaha.
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Music is everywhere. It’s hard to imagine that there was a point where you couldn’t constantly listen to music, a time before recordings of music even existed. But there’s something in our brains that can’t resist rhythm and harmony and the way music makes us feel. Today director of the Omaha Symphony, Maestro Ankush Kumar Bahl and VP of Artistic Administration Dani Meier are in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about the power of music and what you can expect this year at the Omaha Symphony, including a world premiere from Grammy nominated composer Andy Akiho on March 17 and 18th honoring Omaha’s own world-renowned visual artist Jun Kaneko. Tickets are available here.
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Billionaires are all over our media right now, such as HBO's The White Lotus or recent hit films like Knives Out and Glass Onion, which combine the troubles of the ultrawealthy with the whodunit. Today Sean Doolittle is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about his new novel, Device Free Weekend, in which seven friends and one eccentric billionaire go on an all-expenses paid reunion on a private island where no phones, tablets, or laptops are allowed. Quickly it becomes clear that their old friend Ryan has something unthinkable planned and it’s up to the six of them to stop him before the world changes forever. Device Free Weekend is available now wherever you get books
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Meridith Dillon is the executive director of Front Porch Investments, which was founded in 2021 to work toward affordable housing solutions in Omaha. In this conversation with Maria Corpuz, Dillon talks about how housing injustice shapes the city, how systemic racism has played a role, and how we can curb its effects. She also shares her vision for a brighter future for Omaha with safe housing for all. Learn more about Front Porch Investments here.
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The Nebraska State Legislature is back in session. This is often a chaotic moment where it can be difficult have a good sense of what the agendas at play really are–what is being debated, how initial proposed legislation evolves over the course of a session, or what all of the implications are of what is passing. So Wes Dodge is back today in conversation with Tom Knoblauch to parse through the current state of the legislature, what we might expect to pass this session, and how you can get involved by contacting your representative.
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This show is ostensibly about the Midwest. The culture we create. The culture we consume. The way culture leads to art, to politics, and to history. But the Midwest can be a squishy concept without obvious shape or definition. Jon Lauck hopes to change that through his work contextualizing the overlooked cultural story and influence of the Midwest. He teaches history and political science at the University of South Dakota and is the author of The Good Country: A History of the American Midwest. In this conversation with Tom Knoblauch, Lauck outlines his mission to establish a new historical discourse grounded in fair readings of the American past by locating a middle ground in the center of the country.
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Keith Rodger is a musician, producer and audio engineer who performs as Kethro. Rodger has made a name for himself in the music industry while based in his hometown of Omaha. In 2014, he started touring as an engineer with The Faint, Tuxedo, and CeeLo Green. He honed his craft as a DJ and sound designer at local outlets including eighty-nine-seven The River, Make Believe Studios and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.
Today, he’s in conversation with Maria Corpuz about the Omaha music scene, how it can grow, and how it’s changed since the COVID pandemic.
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Mixed media artist Jeff Sedrel has a series of floral paintings in an exhibition at the Garden of the Zodiac Gallery through January 29. He was a 2017 Fellow at the Union for Contemporary Art under a collaborative multimedia project with Noah Sterba called Slowed Soul. Sedrel was nominated for two Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards in 2020. His recent work has also been featured at Project Project, Landlock Gallery and the Michael Phipps Gallery, where he exhibited with Holly Kranker. Today he and Tom Knoblauch discuss his process, the efficacy of art in today's digital world, and why he felt compelled to focus on flowers for his latest work.
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If you’ve been listening to Riverside Chats for a while, you’ve heard conversations with a lot of people running for office. Some of them got elected. A lot didn’t. The kind of people who want this platform, to have an hour on the radio, are often ones looking to break into the political scene or to move from a lower level to something more prominent. But Nebraska, just like the country at large, often instead reelects incumbents. So though this show has highlighted many visions for a significantly changed Nebraska (and country in general), the truth is that things mostly look the same here year after year. So why is that?
Today, Ja Keen Fox returns for a conversation with Tom Knoblauch about his theory of romantic activism, the lessons he has learned from organizing and working in the community in a time of Democratic defeat, and what he sees as the way out of Nebraska's political stasis.
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Jody Keisner’s new memoir Under My Bed is an exploration of anxiety, control, fear, and ritual. Keisner teaches at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and is from rural Nebraska, which sets the stage for the central ritual of the book: checking under her bed to make sure she was safe. In this conversation with Tom Knoblauch, Keisner discusses anxiety, memoirs, self-exploration, and her writing process. Under My Bed is available now wherever you get books.
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Tim Guthrie is a visual artist, art professor at Creighton, and an award winning filmmaker. His work has been included in collections at the Boise Art Museum, the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, the Plemmons Collection of Contemporary Art, and the Leigh Lane Edwards Collection of Contemporary Art. His documentary, Missing Piece, which chronicles his own grieving process after the death of his wife, has garnered significant attention and awards across the globe. In conversation with Tom Knoblauch on today's show, Guthrie discusses all of this along with his installations Extraordinary Rendition and Nuclear Dichotomies in his broader project of using art to both explore his reaction to the world around him and inspire critical thought.
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Charles Kay Jr. is a first-generation Thai-American visual artist whose work explores assimilation, identity and the American Dream. Kay’s parents immigrated from Thailand in the 1960s and anglicized their names to fit in. Much of Kay’s work explores the toll of assimilation on his own family and the immigrant experience at large. His exhibition “Unseen: Emerging from the Currents of Assimilation” is on display at Kaneko through February 5, 2023. In this conversation with Maria Corpuz, he shares his experience growing up in Omaha with immigrant parents, the racism he and his family have endured, and his changing relationship with his Asian-American identity.
Learn more about "Unseen" here.
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We talk about the climate crisis a lot on this show and a common theme that comes up is not just that we need to hope for miracle cures but that we need to rethink our relationship with the natural world. But what does that look like? Some people work to reduce their emissions through who they vote for or where their electricity comes from, and others seek to reduce the amount of plastic they consume. Another option is to embrace nature–which actually starts right in your yard. Today Tom Knoblauch talks with Aaron Urbanski, whose business Earth Sculptors converts lawns into food forests and implements sustainable lawn care services and restores diminishing wildlife habitats via sustainable local food systems.
Learn more at earthsculptors.com.
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A lot of waves have been made in the past decade regarding student loans and the sometimes predatory nature of higher education. It has become a common refrain among Democrats to support varying degrees of student loan relief and forgiveness, essentially framed as an economic stimulus and a salve for those stuck with crippling debt. Republicans generally find this kind of targeted debt relief to be ridiculous, such as Don Bacon in September lamenting that reducing the debt incurred by young people seeking a degree would be a real problem for military recruitment and retention.
Eyes now are on President Biden’s promise to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans, which has been challenged in court by several states–including Nebraska–and will be playing out over the next several months. Today Matthew Wurstner is back on the show to give an overview of the student loan program, the attempted relief, and the likely outcome in court.
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Many episodes of this show grapple with the perhaps unanswerable question: why is America the way it is? Is there something inherent in American culture that answers where we're going? Kurt Andersen has been exploring the nature of American culture throughout his varied career, from co-founding Spy Magazine, writing for Time and The New Yorker, writing several novels, hosting the public radio show Studio 360, and most comprehensively through his recent two volume history of America: Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire and Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America. He’s here today in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about his intellectual journey and the answers he has found in both our fantasies and our histories—and what this means for America's future.
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Ballot initiatives can be a pain to read and to put in context, so today's show is an in-depth look at two of the initiatives on this year's ballot, 433 and 432: their scope, the reasons why they made the ballot, and what it means for Nebraska if they pass or fail.
In the first part of today's show, Maria Corpuz talks with Senator Terrell McKinney about Initiative 433, which would incrementally increase the state's minimum wage from $9 to $15 by 2026.
Then, Tom Knoblauch talks with Heather Engdahl, director of voting rights at Civic Nebraska, about Initiative 432, which would amend Article I of the Nebraska Constitution to require voters to present valid photo identification in order to vote.
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Last year, a petition circulated which would replace the Nebraska State Board of Education, Education Commissioner, and Nebraska Department of Education with a new, ambiguous Office of Education, which would be accountable directly to the Governor. It didn’t pass, but it’s not the first time this idea has been floated here, and such proposals have passed in states like Oregon. But what is the Nebraska State Board of Education? Who is on it? What do they do? Today, Deborah Neary is here in conversation with Tom Knoblauch to tell her story and explain what the function of the Board is–as well as her vision for its future if she is reelected to her seat this November.
Later in the show, Jared Charles reviews David Gordon Green's new 'Halloween' trilogy. Check out his writing here: theburrowreviews.com.
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If you’ve ever voted before, you probably were really excited or scared about a couple of candidates at the top of the ballot. We talk all the time on this show about how a healthy democracy requires some investment in the less splashy stuff lower on the ballot too–like the county attorney or municipal board director–but another element of the ballot that can cause headaches for the average, not particularly nerdy voter is the section with initiatives. Ballot initiatives are often written in dense, complex syntax that make it difficult to decipher what exactly you’re voting for.
Even if you understand the basic argument, it’s not always clear what their implications are or how voting either way will affect you. So we thought it’d be worth taking a show to dissect to talk about that annoying, boring section of the ballot that you’ll see this November. Matthew Wurstner is back on the show, talking with Tom Knoblauch about the concept of ballot initiatives, Nebraska’s history with them, and what made the cut this year.
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Chip Davis has been making music for over five decades, scoring his first chart-topper in 1976 with "Convoy," the song he co-wrote with Bill Fries. He was named Country Music Writer of the Year in 1976 and of course you’ve probably heard of the group he founded, Mannheim Steamroller, and the label he created to release its music, American Gramaphone, both of which have captivated listeners and audiences since 1974. Today he tells his story of succeeding against the odds, making Omaha his, and the importance of creating space for art.
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The culture war these days is heavily focused on schools, with many prominent elected officials in Nebraska calling for defunding public education in favor of vouchers for charter schools. Today Rachel Gibson and Sarah Smolen discuss the education climate, how to navigate a culture war that often is intentionally vague and operating in bad faith and possible solutions they are offering through their work on the Education Policy Action Team for the League of Women Voters of Nebraska, which has just launched Schools 101: an awareness initiative for parents, neighbors, community groups, advocacy groups, and anyone impacted by public education here in Nebraska.
Learn more about Schools 101 here.
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Wes Dodge is on the boards for Rank the Vote Nebraska, Common Cause Nebraska, Represent Us Omaha, and Non-Partisan Nebraska. He sees the possibility of meaningful reforms to our political chaos through adopting ranked choice elections and moving toward a nonpartisan vision of governance instead of our highly polarized current climate. Today he and Tom talk about what ranked choice voting would look like compared to what we are used to as well as how polarization is largely rooted in monied interests obscuring what voters want and keeping the focus on culture war noise.
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Dr. Lisa Knopp teaches creative nonfiction at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and has written several books, including Bread, What the River Carries, and Field of Vision. Her latest book is From Your Friend, Carey Dean: Letters from Nebraska’s Death Row, which chronicles her friendship with Carey Dean Moore, who spent 38 years on death row before his execution in 2018.
On today's show, Knopp discusses how her earlier writing, which was largely focused on place, has come to encompass the broader political questions of why and how a place becomes what it is, as well as how she came to be a death penalty abolitionist in a state where many in the largely Christian culture support capital punishment instead of the possibility of redemption.
Check out her book here.
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Cindy Maxwell-Ostdiek is an independent candidate running to represent District 4 on Nebraska's State Legislature. She is the president of Rank the Vote Nebraska and serves on the advisory board for Nonpartisan Nebraska. Today she outlines her vision for a nonpartisan approach to governing as both a way to address hyperpolarization and to better ensure that constituent concerns get represented without the middle man of national party operations.
You can learn more about her campaign here.
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A common concern expressed on this show is about not just the climate crisis but the seeming inability that we have to talk about existential risks like global warming because so much of our bandwidth is taken up by the noise of culture wars. In previous conversations regarding updating our grids to accommodate renewable energy, a concept has come up that didn’t get much time but is gaining traction as a model for what can help undo the damage of the past: regeneration. Commonly this is employed through farming and grazing practices that restore degraded soil biodiversity – sequestering carbon and improving the water cycle. Today Graham Christensen, founder and president of GC Resolve, GC Revolt, and member of Regenerate Nebraska, discusses his work to increase mobilization of the general public in order to build regenerative, resilient communities and equip them with the tools they need to effectively make a difference within the climate crisis, ensuring a stabler, healthier future for not just humans but our ecosystems in general.
Reach out to Congressman Bacon with your thoughts on what was discussed in today's episode here.
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Sarah Slattery is running to represent district 2 in the Nebraska State Legislature, a seat currently held by Senator Robert Clements. She tells her story and vision for a legislature that looks like the populace. Her campaign is centered around small businesses, education, school nutrition, healthcare accessibility, and workers' rights. You can learn more here.
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You may or may not know that this show began as a series of live conversations in Benson, before transitioning into a podcast that was recorded at Petshop for almost a year. Petshop is the headquarters for BFF, also known as Benson First Friday, which is celebrating its tenth year of operations as a hub of Omaha artistic expression and bringing the community to the artists. BFF co-founder Alex Jochim is here with Zach Schmeider to discuss BFF’s evolution and its upcoming music festival, Petfest, which will be held on August 13th. Some of the bands and performers at this year’s Petfest include Amulets, Universe Contest, Aly Peeler, Ghost Foot, and Dave Nance. Tickets for Petfest are available now and can be purchased here.
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Matthew Wurstner returns to discuss everyone’s favorite subject: taxes. Earlier this year, the Nebraska State Legislature passed what Governor Ricketts called the biggest tax relief measures in Nebraska history. Taxes come up a lot here in assessing quality of life, what a competitive tax climate might mean for retaining young people in the age of brain drain, and in general how our taxes here look compared to similar states. Specifically, Wurstner talks about recent legislative bills 873 and 310 and what they mean for the average Nebraskan and why, even if it doesn't sound exciting, people should pay attention to the shifting tax landscape.
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Bri Full is a candidate for the Omaha Public School Board to represent Subdistrict 2. Full is an active community organizer and policy advisor at the Nebraska State Legislature. On today's show, Full discusses what she believes OPS should do following a mass exodus of hundreds of teachers this spring to ensure a stable, successful future for education in the metro area.
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Joe Pera is an comedian, actor, and the creator of the beloved Adult Swim show Joe Pera Talks with You, which just aired its third and final season and is available for streaming on HBO Max. Adult Swim is known for mature, crude programming, so Joe Pera is an unconventional fit with his show that resembles something more like Mr. Rogers than Rick and Morty and emphasizes a quiet comedy rooted in kindness and empathy. Today Pera talk about how he found his voice and where it fits into the comedy landscape of today, which is often cynical and dark, as well as how his persona does and doesn't match with his real life self. Pera will be performing in Omaha at the Admiral on August 6th. Tickets are available here.
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Dan Mirvish is an award winning filmmaker and co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival. His films include Omaha The Movie, Open House, Between Us, and Bernard and Huey. His new film is 18 ½, a Watergate thriller and dark comedy starring Willa Fitzgerald and John Magaro as a transcriptionist and reporter who find the infamous gap of tape in Richard Nixon’s White House recordings. Today Mirvish discusses the film’s thematic relevance to today, how his filmic influences, including mentor Robert Altman, played into its conception, and what the efficacy of political art is in today’s climate.
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Eileen Wirth is professor emeritus of journalism at Creighton University and the author of several books including From Society to Front Page: Nebraska Women in Journalism and A History Lover’s Guide to Omaha. Her latest book is The Women Who Built Omaha: A Bold and Remarkable History, which supplements our city’s story from what has been described as a man’s town by exploring the women who played major roles in education, health, culture, social services, and other fields since Omaha’s founding in 1854. Wirth discusses the women who built Omaha as well as what it means to reframe history by adding what she refers to as missing chapters and how cultural attitudes are impacted by both the absence and presence of women in our shared narratives.
Check out the The Women Who Built Omaha here.
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Erik Larson is the author of bestselling historical nonfiction like The Devil in the White City, The Splendid and the Vile, and In the Garden of Beasts. Today he discusses how he uses history to process his anxieties about the present and what made him turn to fiction for his latest work, a ghost story called No One Goes Alone, which is exclusively available on Audible.
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Katie Otten is an actor and writer who has worked with just about every local filmmaker and has just launched her first web series called Inner Worlds, which follows a series of friends who engage in a tabletop roleplaying game of the same name. Otten created, wrote every episode of, and stars in Inner Worlds, and every episode is streaming now. Learn more about the project (and support season 2) here.
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Ross Benes wrote the 2021 book Rural Rebellion: How Nebraska Became a Republican Stronghold in which he diagnoses “a gradual shift in the types of candidates we elect to our state legislature and the US Congress." He argues that "[t]he accumulative changes over the past few decades have made it extremely difficult for Democrats to be competitive outside of certain parts of our two biggest cities, Omaha and Lincoln, and even there, it is often an uphill battle for liberals.” He came on the show last year to discuss the cultural landscape of highly loyal GOP voters and today he’s back to assess just how strong that Republican stronghold is in what appears to be a 2022 rocked with scandals, resignations, in-fighting, dark money, and the spectre of Donald Trump.
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Randy Nogg currently runs the talent agency Actors Etc. Limited and its entertainment division Theater-To-Go. He previously lived in LA where he produced the film Reefer Madness 2, which is now available on Amazon Video, before returning to Omaha to bring a bit of Hollywood back to the Heartland. Today he talks about the way Hollywood dreams entered his Midwestern life and how that brought him on the long journey to both making and distributing his film.
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Matthew Wurstner returns to the show for a history of Nebraska's unique system of governance: the unicameral. The unicameral has only one legislative house, an idea that was proposed and fought for by U.S. Sen. George Norris nearly a century ago under the belief that a unicameral legislature would cost less to the taxpayers of Nebraska and would work more efficiently than a two-house legislature. Wurstner chronicles the origin of the concept and how it came to pass in Nebraska, as well as assessing how the original aims line up with the reality in today's polarized world.
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Alisha Shelton is running to represent Nebraska’s Second Congressional District in the House of Representatives–a seat currently held by incumbent Don Bacon. Today she talks about what motivated her to run, how her legislative style offers a fresh perspective, and what her vision for America would look like.
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Craig Moody was elected to the Omaha Public Power District in 2016, served as board chair in 2020, and currently serves as the chair of the board’s governance committee. Today he tells his story and makes his case for reelection in order to continue his vision of Omaha’s response to the climate crisis by transitioning to renewable energy and participating in Nebraska’s coordinated plan to become net zero carbon by 2050.
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Jazari Kual Zakaria is in the middle of a congressional campaign to represent Nebraska’s First Congressional District in the House of Representatives, a seat held by Republican Jeff Fortenberry for nearly two decades until he resigned from the position in March after being convicted of three felonies. Zakaria is a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a founder of LNK Freedges, an initiative to provide free, fresh food to underserved people in Lincoln. He tells his story on today's show, as a child of refugees and potentially the youngest member of congress should he get elected in a vision of a more representative legislative body that understands the challenges of the average citizen and can address them from a place of understanding that he does not see in the current set of representatives.
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Nebraska State Senator Patty Pansing Brooks discusses her upbringing, the formation of her worldview, what working in the Nebraska Legislature has taught her about the process of governing, and how she'd take those lessons to the House of Representatives to represent Nebraska's 1st Congressional District--a seat held by Jeff Fortenberry for nearly twenty years until his resignation this week due to a conviction for lying to federal authorities about campaign donations.
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Earlier this year, Mayor Jean Stothert announced intentions to give the land where Omaha's downtown library sits to Mutual of Omaha so they can build a new headquarters roughly 20 streets away from their current building in Midtown Crossing. This meant finding new land to develop as a downtown library further from public transportation routes and which looks likely to cost the city considerably more than it currently spends on the W. Dale Clark Library. Many, including members of the Omaha City Council, have been critical of the process, particularly for its sudden urgency. Today, Dawaune Lamont Hayes returns to the show to discuss the process Mayor Stothert has chosen to undertake to move the library and to present an alternate vision for what to do with the space as a transit station and cultural center.
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Alvo is a small town of about 115 between Omaha and Lincoln. The kind of place you probably haven’t ever thought about unless you live near it. The kind of place that can be easy to romanticize as a typical small town in the Heartland. And where nobody is looking, sometimes it’s because there’s nothing to see. But other times, there’s so much under the surface that it can be difficult to wrap your mind around all of it. Flatwater Free Press reporter Yanqi Xu is here to look at Alvo for a story of toxic contamination and a cultural crisis that stems from a pile of tires. Read her original reporting here.
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Vice Chair of the OPPD Board of Directors Eric Williams discusses Nebraska's coordinated plan to address the climate crisis by transitioning to primary reliance on renewable energy and becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Learn more here.
Join the conversation on social media or call in with what issue is on your mind in a brief voicemail to 402-881-0089 for a chance to be featured on one of our upcoming shows.
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Jo Giles is the executive director of the Women’s Fund of Omaha, which addresses gender-based inequities in our community through collaboration that identifies, researches and creates solutions to advance, educate and fund lasting impact. Giles discusses her early days as a journalist before transitioning to her current position as well as the vision she has for implementing equity in a patriarchal world.
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Terry Sanders, publisher of the Omaha Star, explains the legacy of the institution as a good news-based model of journalism. The Omaha Star was founded in 1938 by Mildred Brown and remains the only Black owned newspaper in Nebraska. Sanders took over in 2020 and is guiding the institution into the digital age as she adapts to new models of journalism today.
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Joel Damon and Josh Powell founded and curate Project Project: an independent contemporary arts space in South Omaha. Project Project hosts new visual art exhibitions on the second Friday of every month as well as public lectures and performances.
Check them out at projectprojectomaha.com or meatloafmeatloaf.com.
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Dave Pantos served as Executive Director of the Legal Aid program in Nebraska, ran several congressional campaigns, and teaches law and policy at the University of Nebraska. He’s currently running for Douglas County attorney against incumbent Don Kleine. Today he tells his story and vision for Omaha.
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Adam Nayman is a critic at The Ringer and Cinema Scope and he is also the author of The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Room Together and Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks, which he discussed in an earlier episode of this show. His latest book, David Fincher: Mind Games is a critical and visual survey of the filmmaker behind incredibly influential works include Seven, Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Gone Girl, and more. Nayman gives context, analysis, links themes, and conducts interviews with various people involved across Fincher’s career, grouping Fincher’s work around themes of procedure, imprisonment, paranoia, prestige, and relationship dynamics. Today he talks about Fincher's career and shifting place in the cinematic landscape.
Check out David Fincher: Mind Games wherever you get books.
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Lydia Kang practices internal medicine at Nebraska Medicine and has written several novels including Opium and Absynthe, The Impossible Girl, The Beautiful Poison, and Toxic. Her latest book, co-written with Nate Pedersen, is nonfiction and incredibly timely. It’s called Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World’s Worst Diseases, which chronicles how diseases spread, the scientific race to understand them, and how we race to destroy them before they destroy us. Each chapter chronicles a particular disease or virus–such as smallpox, the Bubonic plague, polio, HIV, or COVID-19. Kang and Pederson combine the human stories behind outbreaks with historical examinations of missteps, milestones, scientific theories, and more in a darkly funny, very accessible read. In this conversation, Kang discusses the massive scientific advancements made to combat infectious diseases, how our reactions to pandemics have and haven’t changed, and what might be in store for our future.
Find the book here.
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Paul B. Allen IV runs the Allen Showcase Media Group building teams for media operations like Mind and Soul 101.3 or 1st Sky Omaha. Allen comes from a long legacy of entrepreneurship in music, art, and media with a fascinating family history right here in the metro. He also is involved in the recently relaunched Benson Theater, a multi-million dollar community theater project. He discusses about his wide-ranging career and his vision for Omaha going forward, as well as the important distinction he sees in being passionate vs. being ambitious.
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Ethan Warren, film critic and editor for the online film journal Bright Wall/Dark Room discusses his 2018 article “I Can Whistle With That: What the Stories of 2018 Show Us About Responding to Despair,” which tries to grapple with our current moment of anxiety, apocalypse, and despair and the ways that seeps into our cultural entertainment. He explains how this concept of despair was appropriate for 2018, but may have evolved since then into feelings of formless anger and longing, as well as what that means for the entertainment of 2021 and 2022. Warren also discusses his upcoming book The Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson: American Apocrypha, as well as where Anderson fits into it all.
Terror Management Theory originates in the book The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life by Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszcynski.
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Omaha World Herald reporter Paul Hammel explains the recent federal indictment against Representative Jeff Fortenberry. Forteberry has represented Nebraska’s first congressional district in the House of Representatives since 2005. On October 19, 2021, it was announced that Fortenberry was being investigated over illegal campaign contributions that his 2016 campaign received from the Nigerian-born, Paris-based billionaire Gilbert Chagoury. A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted him on one count of scheming to falsify and conceal material facts and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators. Paul Hammel has been covering the story for the World Herald and he’s here today to walk us through who Fortenberry is and what is going on with the case.
Later in the show, The Burrow Review’s film and TV critic Jared Charles gives a preview of upcoming movies to keep an eye out for this holiday season including Nightmare Alley, Licorice Pizza, Don't Look Up, The Humans, and more. Read Charles's writing on film and TV here.
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Nebraska State Senator Tony Vargas, who is currently running to represent Nebraska’s Second Congressional District in the House of Representatives, talks about his upbringing, how teaching influenced his worldview, and his vision for the country.
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Matthew Wurstner, our resident historian, returns to the show to talk about the history of legal challenges to school curriculum and its implications for the future of education in America.
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Matthew Hansen chats about his journey in journalism, from interviewing Dick Cavett to his column at the Omaha World Herald to now founding and executive editing the Flatwater Free Press as an independent, local press in Nebraska.
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Laurel Heer Dale and Michael Milone discuss the current eviction crisis and how they're addressing it through the Tenant Assistance Project--also known as TAP. The program offers free legal assistance to tenants facing eviction and is currently seeking volunteers.
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Nebraska State Senator Megan Hunt represents the 8th legislative district in Omaha, consisting of Dundee, Benson, and Keystone. Tom last spoke with Senator Hunt after she had wrapped up her first year in the legislature in 2019. This time, Hunt discusses how her first term has impacted her view of our political system and what is possible within the unicameral--as well as what her legislative goals are for a second term.
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Author James Han Mattson discusses his new novel Reprieve: a literary novel of social horror centered around a brutal killing that takes place in a full-contact haunted escape room—a provocative exploration of capitalism, hate politics, racial fetishism, and our cultural obsession with fear as entertainment. Check out Reprieve wherever you get books.
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Gus von Roenn, founder of Omaha Permaculture, discusses his journey and vision of cities teeming with permaculture gardens where neighbors gather to harvest organic food, build relationships, and learn about the natural world. Omaha Permaculture manages 17 properties, plans a robust portfolio of programs, and maintains partnerships with the City Planning Department, Omaha Municipal Land Bank, Habitat for Humanity, and other community collaborators to address the need for sustainable land management.
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Aarron Schurevich tells his story about how he got wrapped into the world of competitive debate, coached debate for nearly a decade, and why he can't let it go. He also reflects on how debate permeates our culture today in a world full of echo chambers.
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Ben Nelson, former Nebraska governor and United States Senator, discusses his new book is Death of the Senate: My Front Row Seat to the Demise of the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body. In the book, Nelson chronicles his two terms in the Senate and what he sees as a demise of the concept of collaboration and bipartisanship, leaving gridlock and a war for power in their place. He outlines how we got here and his steps for returning congress to a functional, democratic space.
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Jeffrey Koterba, political cartoonist and author, discusses the current state of journalism and the importance of satire in today’s climate.
Check out his book here and contribute to his Patreon here.
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Matthew Wurstner discusses the history of the presidential pardon and how its evolution leaves big questions for our country going forward.
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Both Omaha natives, you probably know Amber Ruffin as the host of The Amber Ruffin Show. Her sister Lacey Lamar still lives in Omaha where she has worked in the healthcare and human services field for more than twenty-five years. The two co-wrote the book You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism, which is a recounting of the multitude of racist encounters Lacey has had living in Omaha over the years. It’s a hilarious, biting insight into the Midwest Nice culture and it’s available now wherever you get books.
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Nebraska State Senator John Cavanaugh discusses growing up with a dad who served in the House of Representatives, how he shaped his worldview, and the tricky business of trying to bring progressive policies to a senate body in a very red state.
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Adam Fletcher-Sasse has been compiling North Omaha History through articles, a podcast, and several books which are available now and aim to tell Omaha's lesser known stories to provide a fuller understanding of its culture. Check out his work at NorthOmahaHistory.com.
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Film Streams Executive Director Deirdre Haj discusses her relationship to the film industry and her vision for Film Streams as a hub of Omaha’s culture going forward.
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Timothy Schaffert discusses his journey as an author and his new novel The Perfume Thief. A Gentleman in Moscow meets Moulin Rouge in this stylish, sexy page-turner about Clementine, a queer American expat and notorious thief of rare scents, who has retired to Paris, only to return to her old tricks in hopes of protecting the city she loves when the Nazis invade in 1941. The Perfume Thief is available now wherever you get books.
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Dakota Smith AKA Bobo Jiggs talks about his new photography installation "Still-Lives," a study of relationships between pairs of seemingly unrelated photographs, which can be seen at the next Benson First Friday in Studio 62.
Find some of his other work at bobo-krejci.com
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Lauren Martin, executive director of the Maha Festival tells her story and the evolution of Maha. This year’s festival is on July 31 and tickets are available at mahafestival.com.
What issues are on your mind this week? We’re starting a new feature here--a kind of letter to the editor--where you can call in and speak your mind in a brief voicemail to 402-881-0089 for a chance to be featured on one of our upcoming shows.
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Maria Corpuz talks local activism, journalism, and hosting the live late night show Nite Caps at OutrSpaces through significant personal and societal shifts over the past few years.
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Author and Documentarian Tyler J. Kelley talks about his new book Holding Back the River: The Struggle Against Nature on America's Waterways, a revelatory work of reporting on the men and women wrestling to harness and preserve America’s most vital natural resource: our rivers.
Check out Tyler's book here.
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Inclusive Communities executive director Maggie Wood and deputy director Cammy Watkins talk about discrimination in Omaha--its causes, its effects, and ways organizations like theirs work to address it going forward.
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Racial equity consultant Ja Keen Fox tells his story and theory of persuasion as he works to bring a progressive vision to Omaha.
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Leah Cates writes for The Reader and compiled Queer Nebraska: A Timeline, which commemorates milestones in LGBTQ Nebraska history as part of The Reader’s Pride feature and seeks to broadcast voices from Nebraska’s vibrant queer community, spotlighting the struggles and strengths of LGBTQ Nebraskans. Queer Nebraska: A timeline is available on The Reader’s site and print edition, which is out now. She talks about compiling the article as well as the implications of broadening our approach to history and the types of voices that make it into the popular narratives.
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Attorney Matthew Wurstner returns to the show to discuss the constitutional obligations of the police and its formation as an institution--as well as what possible reforms might look like.
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Filmmakers Brent Scott Maze and Derek Maze discuss their new film, La Flamme Rouge, which was filmed in Fremont and recently played at the Omaha Film Festival.
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Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert tells her story and vision for a third term.
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Sarah Johnson tells her vision for Omaha and why she felt compelled to run to represent District 1 on Omaha's City Council to switch up the status quo.
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Jen Bauer tells her life story, from childhood dreams of joining the Supreme Court to her current campaign to represent District 3 on Omaha's City Council.
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Sarah Smolen tells her story as an Omaha educator running to represent District 4 on Omaha's City Council.
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RJ Neary discusses his vision for the city, including thinking bigger and addressing the interconnected nature of issues holding Omaha back from reaching its full potential.
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Author Ross Benes discusses his new book, Rural Rebellion: How Nebraska Became a Republican Stronghold--including the past 30 years moving Nebraska to the right, what went wrong for Democrats, and what the future may look like for the state.
Check out the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Rural-Rebellion-Nebraska-Republican-Stronghold/dp/0700630457
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Jasmine Harris tells her vision of shifting Omaha from stagnation to progress by addressing the interconnected nature of the city's problems from transportation to communication to health and more.
Learn more here.
And consider supporting Riverside Chats as a patron for access to the full backlog, early access to new episodes, and exclusive content for $1 a month.
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Omaha educator and mayoral candidate Mark Gudgel discusses his vision for the city and the future of politics in America.
Find more about Mark Gudgel's campaign here.
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NOISE founder Dawaune Lamont Hayes discusses his vision for changing Omaha to meet his ambitions, now including a run for mayor.
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Matthew Wurstner tells the history of America's stolen election, rife with fraud, corruption, and questionable implications for the American democratic experiment--all in the 1876 election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden.
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Precious McKesson tells her story as the first woman and the first woman of color in Nebraska to cast an Electoral College ballot for a Democrat, as well as her assessment of the current political climate.
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Critic Adam Nayman discusses his new book, Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks, as well as the state of the auteur today and the future of cinema after the pandemic and the streaming revolution.
Check out the book here.
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Critic Adam Nayman discusses his new book, Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks, as well as the state of the auteur today and the future of cinema after the pandemic and the streaming revolution.
Check out the book here.
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Naomi Hattaway discusses her campaign to represent District 6 on Omaha's City Council, including the logistics of a digital campaign, the formation of her worldview, and her vision for the city.
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Brent Crampton discusses how we can shift to a circular food system and become more conscious of waste, re-use, and regeneration, which he is helping Omaha embrace through Hillside Solutions.
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Author Theodore Wheeler discusses his new novel, In Our Other Lives, which follows a series of characters trying to make sense of the post-Patriot Act world and is available wherever you get books.
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Astronaut Clayton Anderson discusses his upbringing and dedication to following his dream of joining NASA and going to space, as well as his ability to share his experiences in his books like The Ordinary Spaceman and his newest release, Letters from Space, which is available now.
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Screenwriter Patrick Stibbs tells the story of his first screenplay, The Call, which took 20 years to make it to the screen and is now in theaters across the country, starring horror icons Tobin Bell and Lynn Shaye.
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Cammy Watkins discusses her decision to run for Omaha's City Council after years of waiting for political willpower to manifest in order to fix the city's problems before finally deciding to get hands-on to enact change.
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Omaha attorney Matthew Wurstner gives an overview of legal issues from the national to the local, including the recent developments at the Supreme Court and what made it to the ballot this year in Nebraska.
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Kara Eastman comes back onto the show to discuss her run to represent Nebraska's Second Congressional District as she challenges incumbent Republican Don Bacon over healthcare, presidential loyalty, and the influence of corporate money in politics.
This is the third Riverside Chats conversation with Kara Eastman. You can find the old conversations in our episode backlog.
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Nebraska State Senate Candidate Terrell McKinney is running to represent District 11, which is currently represented by Ernie Chambers. McKinney speaks about the legacy of Ernie Chambers as he grew up in North Omaha as well as his personal struggles and ultimate determination to become part of the solution to problems he sees in Nebraska by running for office.
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Musician, author, and professor Pascal Bokar discusses the way traditional sounds like the banjo originated in West Africa and became mainstays of Midwestern music, as well as how the center of any country represents its truest cultural expression. Check out his new album American Trails and his book From Timbuktu to the Mississippi Delta: How West African Standards of Aesthetics Have Shaped the Music of the Delta Blues.
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US Senate Candidate Alisha Shelton discusses her life as a practical problem solver and how she's had to forge her own path in every venture, including this particularly messy senate race against incumbent Ben Sasse and primary winner Chris Janicek.
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Musician Andrew Bailie discusses his album Wasteland and how he's processing the world around him through his music and neighborhood concerts.
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Screenwriter Christine Burright McGuigan discusses her life leading up to the writing of The Headliner, the award-winning short that played in the Omaha Film Festival, the Film Stream Local Filmmaker Showcase, and won Best Narrative at the Lincoln Short Film Festival. It’s now being developed into a feature with the same core team and cast that they intend to shoot in Nebraska once COVID restrictions have eased.
Edited from the 2019 podcast discussion.
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Beaufield Berry discusses her evolution as a playwright leading up to Red Summer, which dramatized the life of William Brown in commemoration of the centenary of the Omaha Race Riots of 1919.
Edited from the original podcast conversation in 2019.
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Documentarian Georg Joutras discusses his hit documentary, Ocean of Grass, filmed in the Nebraska Sandhills. Edited from the 2019 podcast conversation.
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Filmmakers Dorothy Booraem and Chad Haufschild talk about their journey in filmmaking, from making a streaming deal with Netflix to navigating the shifting landscape of media over the past twenty years. Check out their work on Amazon Prime.
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Fatima Flores-Lagunas discusses life as a DACA recipient in Nebraska as well as her activism toward a path to citizenship for undocumented children, which has included representing DACA youth at the Supreme Court.
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Director Tony Bonacci discusses his evolution in filmmaking leading up to the award-winning The Headliner, which he is now developing into a feature that he intends to shoot in Nebraska.
Later in the show, musician Hector Anchondo discusses how COVID-19 has affected his life as a musician trying to reach an audience.
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Author David Philip Mullins discusses his new novel The Brightest Place in the World, which traces the lives of four characters haunted by an industrial disaster, and is available wherever you get books.
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Kate Bolz discusses her role as a congressional candidate and current Nebraska state senator who is the Democratic challenger to sitting representative Jeff Fortenberry for Nebraska’s first congressional district
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Filmmakers Jesse Snider and Jaz Shoeneck discuss their new Nebraskan production company, Gnarly Pioneers, their projects The Hero and The Feed, which premiered at the Prairie Lights Film Festival, and their upcoming projects that they intend to shoot in Nebraska once COVID 19 restrictions have eased.
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Author, playwright, and screenwriting instructor Sally J. Walker discusses the necessity of pragmatism in a life as a writer and what techniques she has learned from decades of craft that can be found in her new book Learn Screenwriting--available wherever you get books.
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Author Amy Bonnaffons discusses her new novel, The Regrets, as well as her life as a writer in isolation during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Check out The Regrets as well as the short story collection The Wrong Heaven wherever you get books.
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Acclaimed actor Darrick Silkman discusses his evolution from stage performances such as Angels in America and Nebraska Shakespeare to becoming a major presence in Nebraska filmmaking--most recently by starring as a seasoned comedian in the award-winning film The Headliner.
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On today's episode, Riverside Chats concludes its series leading up to the Nebraska primary on May 12th in a conversation with US Senate candidate Angie Philips, who is running against sitting senator Ben Sasse.
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Riverside Chats continues its look into the congressional candidates who want to represent you in the federal government leading up to Nebraska’s primary on May 12. This week, Tom speaks with US Senate candidate Chris Janicek, who is running against Nebraska’s sitting Senator Ben Sasse. Janicek speaks about his disillusionment with the political system and how his personal struggle with healthcare inspired him to take the leap to run for office and influence the country with his ideas for improvement. Later in the show, Nebraska State Senator Megan Hunt addresses frequently asked questions about mail-in voting.
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Riverside Chats continues its look into the congressional candidates who want to represent you in the federal government leading up to Nebraska’s primary on May 12. This week, Tom has a conversation with congressional candidate Kara Eastman, who is running to represent Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.
Later in the episode, Nebraska State Senator Megan Hunt answers frequently asked questions about mail-in voting.
This is episode three of Riverside Chats produced in conjunction with KIOS Omaha.
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On today’s show, we continue our look into the congressional candidates who want to represent you in the federal government leading up to Nebraska’s primary on May 12. Last week, Tom spoke with Representative Don Bacon. This week, he has a conversation with congressional candidate Ann Ashford, who is running against Bacon for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.
Ashford speaks about her feeling that, after growing up as a Republican, the party left her, so she left the party and became a Democrat who prioritizes individual views over forced consensus.
This is the second episode of Riverside Chats produced in conjunction with KIOS and has been edited from a July 2019 conversation.
Music featured: No Good Layabout by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4140-no-good-layabout License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Representative Don Bacon talks about his life, his journey in politics, and the inability of our current political moment to agree on a definition of socialism. Episode one of Riverside Chats produced in conjunction with KIOS Omaha.
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Connor Brandt and Jordan Gaul talk about the founding of their band, The Real Zebos, and the story of their new album, Strictly Platonic.
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Christine Burright McGuigan has had a busy couple of years. She's best known for writing the hit short The Headliner, which is currently being turned into a feature film from director Tony Bonacci. On today's show, she tells the story of her life as someone who didn't always want to be a writer but then found that she had a talent for it that has developed into several projects she's currently working on--including a spec and multiple pilot scripts. Support the show at patreon.com/riversidechats.
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Raydell Cordell III fell in love with acting as a kid in A Midsummer Night's Dream. He has done Midsummer five different times and uses it as a way to get to know himself better and gauge how he's changed as an actor and a person. He's currently in the hit play Red Summer, which has sold out its entire run at the Bluebarn. Support Riverside Chats at patreon.com/riversidechats.
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Beaufield Berry doesn't know how to be bored. She does know how to jump headfirst into her passions and create all sorts of projects that both entertain and explore the human condition. Her latest project is Red Summer, a play which is currently opening the Bluebarn Theatre's 31st season. Red Summer explores the life of William Brown, the butcher lynched in downtown Omaha 100 years ago last week. On today's show, Beaufield discusses how she became interested in theater and how this show came to life. Tickets are available at bluebarn.org. Red Summer runs through October 20th.
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Morgann Freeman is running for congress on a simple mission: she wants to serve constituents by placing their interests above her own. She sees congress losing its ostensible purpose as public servants, and she wants to make that the new reality by embracing the democratic ideal of the Founding Fathers over the current political climate. On today's show, she explains her political ideology and how she felt compelled to run for office.
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Senator Megan Hunt has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. From getting kids in her third grade class to submit creative writing to a website she'd created as an eight year old to running a successful business in Omaha (Hello Holiday), Senator Hunt has always had diverse interests and works hard to achieve whatever she sets her mind to. In 2018, that meant running for state legislature. On today's show, Senator Hunt discusses how she ended up getting involved in politics as well as her pitch for an honest legislating philosophy. Support Riverside Chats at patreon.com/riversidechats
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Caitlin Little is always processing the world through her art, but that doesn't mean she wants the commentary to be obvious. On today's show, she explains her philosophy of adjacency and her experiences with performance art in Omaha.
Support Riverside Chats at patreon.com/riversidechats
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In 1978, Tim Lohmeier turned his family’s fried chicken restaurant, The Drumstick, in Lincoln, Nebraska into a rock n’ roll club that would go on to be frequented by bands such as REM, Joan Jett, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. On today's show, Tim's sister Cathy Lohmeier and filmmaker Sharonda Harris Marshall discuss the tragic story of The Drumstick and how they are turning its legacy into an upcoming documentary: Remember the Drumstick. Support Remember the Drumstick at rememberthedrumstick.com.
Support Riverside Chats at Patreon.com/riversidechats. Music by Kevin Macleod.
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Jessica Mizaur just wants to save the world. She is one of the first graduates of Creighton University's Sustainability Studies degree and has started Dryad Sustainability Consulting to help businesses find ways to cut back on waste and practices that harm the environment. On today's show, she discusses her journey in eco-awareness and how she sees a path forward for the world if it commits to sustainability.
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Justin Schacht is happy, and he wants to help you get there too. He tells the story of being a child questioning his own existence to a troubled adolescence that eventually led him to a philosophical awakening about how to release the negative energy in life and embrace the middle way.
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Mary Oliver is doing it all: she acts, writes, does martial arts, plays viola, and is working on a narrative podcast. She tells the story of how she went from pretending to be cat to writing ambitious plays like SOS, acting on the fly in Level Up, and creating a post-apocalyptic narrative podcast set in Benson.
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Ehren Parks went from small-town Nebraska kid to film industry professional in Los Angeles as a producer and writer before making it back to Fremont to produce the new film, La Flamme Rouge. He tells the story of bringing his career full circle back to Fremont to help create a local film industry.
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Diana Martinez discusses her path in getting a PhD in film, teaching film, and creating a podcast exploring the less publicized history of people of color within film history. Diana hosts the show Hollywood in Color, which is available on all your favorite podcast apps, and she is the education director at Film Streams, where you can sign up for her education series.
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Comedian Matt Wedlock talks comedy, improv, the military, addiction, and how his time in federal prison helped shape the kind of comedy he hopes to share with the world.
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Michael Burns Jr. tells the story of how he went from ambitions in wrestling to screenwriting and becoming a successful actor on the brink of outgrowing the Omaha scene.
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Fisheye Kombucha Brewers Jason Miller and Sara Hinrichs tell the story of founding Nebraska's first kombucha company, including explaining to the state what kombucha even is in order to get licensed.
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Danny Machado, writer/director of CHIT and assistant director Aly Larimore discuss their path in filmmaking.
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Abigail C. K. Lill discusses her new play, Rumors in the Kitchen, as well as how she came to work in the entertainment industry and her initiative to create the Grandin Test--an inclusion test for writing characters with disabilities.
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Congressional candidate Kara Eastman discusses her journey in politics and her view of the current state of our political system. Recorded live in front of an audience at the Benson Theater.
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Rachel Jacobson, Founder and Executive Director of Film Streams, joins Riverside Chats to discuss the story of Film Streams and making an unlikely dream come true in a city previously lacking an art film market.
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Documentary Filmmaker Brigitte Timmerman discusses her new film, The Omaha Speaking, about the remaining speakers of the Omaha language within the Omaha Tribe.
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Eddy Quintero and Brent Lubbert of Big Muddy Urban Farm join us to discuss urban farming and how to reduce Omaha's wasted space. This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience at Benson Theater.
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Cameron Logsdon joins host Tom Knoblauch to discuss comedy, creativity, and culture in Omaha. This conversation was held at the Benson Theater in front of a live audience.
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