Paul Giamatti and Alexander Payne play catch up

Paul Giamatti and Alexander Payne play catch up

The August 25 Film Streams Feature VIII Event brought together two old collaborators and friends in actor Paul Giamatti and writer-director Alexander Payne. They worked together on Payne’s 2004 road trip romantic comedy/buddy pic “Sideways,” in which Giamatti co-starred as nebbish Miles opposite Thomas Haden Church as boorish Jack.

All of Payne’s…

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Native Omaha Days Story Compilation

Native Omaha Days Story Compilation

Native Omaha Days has been on my writing-reporting radar for more than two decades. With the 2019 Native Omaha Days underway, I thought it a good time to compile some of my work about this communty reunion and heritage celebration. My blog, Leo Adam Biga’s My Inside Stories at leoadambiga.com, contains hundreds of stories I have written over the years about…

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Kindred spirits Giamatti and Payne to revisit the triumph of ‘Sideways’ and the art of finding truth and profundity in the holy ordinary

  

Kindred spirits Giamatti and Payne to revisit the triumph of ‘Sideways’ and the art of finding truth and profundity in the holy ordinary

©by Leo Adam Biga

Appearing in the August 2019 edition of The Reader (thereader.com)

Go-to character actor Paul Giamatti brings élan to his screen gallery of nerdy sidekicks and beleaguered Everyman types. It’s rare for someone with his hangdog looks to be…

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Women still calling the shots at the Omaha Star after 81 years

Women still calling the shots at the Omaha Star after 81 years

©by Leo Adam Biga

Appearing in the August 2019 edition of The Reader (thereader.com)

Native Omaha Days is a biennial, first-week-in-August nostalgia trip for current and former residents reliving the black-is-beautiful experience of their youth. Among the many touchstones of African-American life here is the newspaper serving…

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Street prophets and poets depict ‘A Day in the Life’ of the homeless in new play by Portia Love

Portia Vivienne Love, ©photo The Mullers

Street prophets and poets depict ‘A Day in the Life’ of the homeless in new play by Portia Love

©by Leo Adam Biga

Appearing in the August 2019 edition of The Reader (thereader.com)

A new play by Omaha writer Portia Vivienne Love gives voice and face to a subject she has first-hand experience with – homelessness.

She actually wrote A Day in the Lifeb…

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Duncans turn passion for art into major collection; In their pursuits, the couple master the art of living

Duncans turn passion for art into major collection 

In their pursuits, the couple master the art of living

©by Leo Adam Biga

Originally appeared in the New Horizons

Robert and Ksren Duncan

When it comes to visual art, there are institutions devoted to its display and then there are Karen and Robert Duncan. Married 50-plus years, the Duncans are serious art collectors whose patronage extends…

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North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA) presents An Arts Crawl 8

North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA) presents An Arts Crawl 8

Who: North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA)

What: Annual Arts Crawl

When: Friday, August 9 from 6 to 9 pm.

Where: North 30th Street Corridor in North Omaha

Why: For the love of art and community

How: Walk it or drive it

 

    

 

North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA) presents An Arts Crawl 8

North Omaha Summer Arts (NOSA) concludes its 2019 season with…

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The fringe of it all: Omaha Fringe Festival fulfills founder Tamar Neumann’s dream

The fringe of it all: 

Omaha Fringe Festival fulfills founder Tamar Neumann’s dream

 

©by Leo Adam Biga

Originally appeared in the July 2019 edition of The Reader (thereader.com)

If fringe occupies the outer edge of things, then expect a grab-bag of eclectic stage work during the first Omaha Fringe Festival, July 24-27, at UNO.

Omaha Fringe founder Tamar Neumann’s inspiration for her…

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Orsi’s: Historic Italian bakery-pizzeria reaches 100

Orsi’sHistoric Italian bakery-pizzeria reaches 100 ©by Leo Adam Biga Appearing in the July 2019 edition of The Reader (thereader.com) Jim Hall appreciates what a touchtone Little Italy landmark he owns in Orsi’s Italian Bakery & Pizzeria. Though not Italian, the 60-year-old is a paisan in every other sense. He started there at 8 and became a close friend and trusted worker of the namesake Orsi…

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Jazz to the Future – The Revitalization of a Scene

Jazz to the Future – The Revitalization of a Scene

story by Leo Adam Biga

Illustration by Derek Joy

Originally appeared in the July 2019 issue of Omaha Magazine (omahamagazine.com/articles/jazz-to-the-future)

Legacy Informs Revival

Veteran drummer Curly Martin came of age in the ‘50s and ‘60s, when North O brimmed with players and venues. Today, he’s a flashpoint for shedding light on the…

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