It was a Love Supreme Friday on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, and hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God made good on that promise — steering the conversation away from post-election frustration and straight into the heart of what community building in North Omaha can look like when the right people show up with the right vision.
The show opened with Paul B. setting the tone with characteristic grace. “We have to make a decision,” he said. “It’s going to be Love Supreme Friday today. And we’re going to change our mindsets over to something else — because it’s real easy to let your emotions take over when there’s so much to be emotional about.” It was a gentle but deliberate pivot — from the weight of Nebraska’s primary results toward something more generative. And the chat room felt it immediately. Viewer Aeros 402 opened with a personal note that set the warmth of the morning: “On a love note, my only daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter. They are both new and good. I feel blessed.” The room celebrated right along with him.
The hosts didn’t sidestep the civic moment entirely, though. Buddy the God offered a grounded reminder about why elections — even imperfect ones — still matter. “None of this really matters if everybody voted,” he said. “They use all of that data and information to inform those decisions and draw even the gerrymandered racist maps, and it’s still based on who’s registered, who’s of age, and actually who comes out to vote.” Viewer Kimber Snipes added a nuanced perspective from the chat: “I’ve been having conversations with people between the ages of 20 and 35. What I hear the most is most of them don’t really know what to do and know nothing about the candidates. I don’t think we should be slamming people for not voting when the system is really what has caused this. I think we need to have more education and deep dive discussions.” It was exactly the kind of layered, honest exchange the show consistently makes room for.
But the morning’s true centerpiece was an extended conversation with Dana Murray, founder of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA) — and if you haven’t heard of NMA yet, consider this your introduction. Murray, a South Omaha native who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home, has planted something remarkable on North 24th Street, and he came to the 1st Sky platform ready to talk about why that corridor matters, what NMA is building, and what’s coming this summer.
Murray didn’t mince words about the challenge facing the “Deuce.” “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,” he said. “And we’ve been so far removed from that — not even what the rest of Omaha views North 24th Street as. I’m more talking about the people that are there being so far removed from what that was, that it is hard to build momentum from within when a lot of the community can’t relate to the power of what was.”
Paul B., who has long called North 24th Street “the most important black corner in Nebraska,” leaned into that point with urgency. Murray’s prescription for the corridor was both pragmatic and ambitious — sustainable infrastructure first (housing, eateries, parking, services), then destination anchors like entertainment venues, restaurants, and eventually, a hotel. “With a hotel, now you can throw larger attractions, music festivals, conferences right in the community,” he said. NMA, he made clear, is meant to be one of those anchors.
The Academy is already more than a music school. Beyond instrument instruction, NMA teaches live sound production, live streaming, and broadcasting. Students conduct actual interviews with visiting artists. “So it’s not just telling them, ‘Oh, you can be this someday,'” Murray said. “No — you can be this right now. Once you remove those barriers, sky’s the limit.” The chat responded warmly. Viewer Pops connected it directly to the show’s broader “secondary matrix” concept: “I experienced my secondary matrix in junior high when I took algebra. I was gaining proficiency and noticed I was suddenly able to think outside the box on several different levels. Music the same.”
Murray was equally direct about what he’s looking for in educators. The credential isn’t enough. “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,” he said. “They don’t need us for the what — they can go to YouTube and see anything we’re trying to teach them. So the instructors we bring in have to have in their arsenal the ability to inspire another human being.” Music instructors interested in joining the NMA team can reach Dana Murray at dmurray@northomahusic.org or assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahusic.org.
Looking ahead, Murray described a $20 million capital campaign and a vision for a full NMA campus — something that could do for North Omaha what Omaha Performing Arts does for downtown, an entity he noted generates $40 to $50 million in annual revenue. “Money is not our issue in North Omaha,” he said plainly. “It’s transformative ideas that are going to allow us to be not only sustainable but gainfully active.”
He also offered one of the morning’s sharpest cultural observations, one that lingered long after it was said: “What we have to sell in most black communities is our culture. Every music in America has been built off of our experience — from the hardest rock music to the jazziest jazz to the poppiest pop music, you trace it all the way back to the music brought over from Africa. And that’s equity. The sooner we look at it not as ‘oh, that’s a cool little music thing’ but as equity to build and monetize for our community, the better we’re going to be.”
Buddy the God closed the philosophical loop the show had been building all morning: “We got to do both — build our own ecosystems and continue to engage in the political structure, because whether you want to be engaged in it or not, you are a part of it. Don’t pay taxes and see what happens.” It got a laugh, but the point stood firm.
Viewer Mark Manor reminded the chat not to sleep on NMA Fest, flagging the upcoming appearance of Mono Neon — a bassist with deep ties to Prince’s legacy — with a simple endorsement: “He’s awesome. Do not miss that.”
It was that kind of Friday. Real talk, real community, real vision — and a reminder that the work of building something lasting starts right where you are. Tune in Monday morning and bring a neighbor with you. 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning is right here waiting.
