It was a “Love Supreme Friday” on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, and hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God made sure the energy in the room matched the name. Season four has been building toward something — a reckoning, a reimagining, a call to action — and this week’s episode felt like all of it coming together in one warm, purposeful hour.
Paul B. set the tone early, acknowledging the friction that’s been simmering in communities across the country. “There’s a lot of chatter going on,” he said, “friends breaking up, all kinds of stuff happening over politics. We have to make a decision — it’s going to be Love Supreme Friday today.” It was less an escape from the hard stuff and more a deliberate choice to approach it from a place of grounding and joy.
Buddy the God brought the season’s throughline into focus with characteristic directness. “Follow the money,” he said. “The ecosystem that we have been relying on is crumbling before our very eyes — whether it’s electoral politics, the economy, or education. We have to build ecosystems within ecosystems.” That framing set the table perfectly for the morning’s featured guest.
Dana Murray, executive director and founder of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA), joined the show to talk about what it looks like to build one of those ecosystems from the ground up — brick by brick, student by student, note by note. Formerly known as Love’s Jazz and located on the storied North 24th Street corridor, NMA is part youth music academy, part performance venue, and — if Murray has his way — part of a much larger vision for North Omaha’s future.
Murray, a South Omaha native who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home, spoke with the clarity of someone who has thought deeply about both the promise and the challenges of the community he’s chosen to serve. On the question of what the North 24th Street corridor could and should be, he didn’t mince words: “Really, the area that has the most history and the one that can claim ‘we are a cultural and arts district’ for real is the North 24th Street corridor. But we’ve been so far removed from that — not even what the rest of Omaha views it as.” He went on to outline what any thriving district requires: housing, parking, groceries, gas stations, and destinations — restaurants, entertainment, and yes, even a hotel. “With a hotel, you can throw larger attractions, music festivals, conferences right in the community. The X’s and O’s have to make sense.”
Murray also pushed back gently on what he sees as a missed opportunity in how the community showcases itself. Drawing a comparison to South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo celebration, he said, “They champion their culture and they invite everybody down to be part of that.” He has tried to do the same with NMA, and the results have spoken for themselves. “People don’t have any problem coming from wherever they are in Omaha or Iowa to come hear jazz music. That taboo about the area and its ability to be an attraction was false. We’ve proven that.”
Viewer Pops echoed the sentiment from the chat, writing: “Artists like Fats Domino used to stay at your grandfather’s home when he came to town to perform. So yes, more infrastructure for the artist around the Deuce corridor would be a godsend.” And viewer Senator KML offered a more personal note: “Thank you, Uncle Dana. You’re changing lives in big ways. We are the students.”
What makes NMA distinctive isn’t just the music instruction — it’s the philosophy behind it. Murray described teaching students about legendary Omaha-born musicians like Buddy Miles and jazz drummer Victor Lewis not as a trivia exercise, but as a method of building critical thinkers. “If you give kids context, they connect the dots for themselves,” he explained, “and they start to see the wins and losses not only in Black people’s history but in the country. Then they can see how they can be impactful within that ecosystem. Now you’ve got a critical thinking human. That’s ultimately what we’re trying to do.”
Paul B. gave that idea a name — the “secondary matrix” — describing it as the deeper, transformative purpose running beneath any community effort. “In Dana Murray’s case, he teaches kids music,” Paul B. said, “but the secondary matrix is to create critical thinkers.” Viewer Pops connected with the concept personally, writing: “I experienced my secondary matrix in junior high when I took algebra. I was gaining proficiency and I noticed that I was suddenly able to think outside the box on several different levels. Music the same.”
Beyond instruments, NMA offers electives in live sound engineering, broadcasting, podcasting, and live streaming — practical skills that put young people to work in real time. “It’s not just telling them ‘you can be this,'” Murray said with emphasis. “No — you can be this right now.“
Looking ahead, Murray announced that NMA is preparing to launch a capital campaign, with a first phase goal of $20 million and an ultimate vision of a full NMA campus. He pointed to Omaha Performing Arts as a model — not just culturally, but economically. “That is a vehicle for that area. We need a vehicle like that for North Omaha, and I see NMA taking up that space.” His confidence was quiet but unmistakable: “Money is not our issue in North Omaha — it’s transformative ideas that are going to allow us to be not only sustainable but gainfully active.”
NMA is also actively seeking music instructors with a very specific quality. “Anyone can have the X’s and O’s of teaching,” Murray said, “but unless you’re able to inspire a young person, they don’t really have the attention span for the X’s and O’s of music. The why you’re doing it is everything.” Those interested can reach Murray directly at dmurray@northomahamusic.org or assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org.
The show also touched on Nebraska’s recent primary election results, voter turnout, and the cost of civic disengagement. Buddy the God was unsparing: “None of this matters if everybody voted. Your silence is costly too — posting on Facebook is not enough. Awareness without action changes nothing.” The morning rounded out with a celebration of local entrepreneur Char Shelton, whose company Core Science Bio Diagnostics recently won a $52,000 prize — a bright community win that had the chat buzzing with pride.
It was, all things considered, exactly the kind of Friday morning this community needed — grounded, forward-looking, and full of the kind of love that builds something real. Tune in next week for more conversations that matter, right here on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning.
