It was a Love Supreme Friday on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, and hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God were determined to keep it that way. Even as the conversation touched on the Nebraska primary results and the frustrations that come with civic life, Paul B. set the tone early. “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 — and it’s an effort, because it’s real easy to let your emotions take over when there’s so much to be emotional about.”
That spirit of intentional positivity carried the whole show — and it found its perfect vessel in the morning’s featured guest: Dana Murray, executive director and founder of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA), the youth music and performance institution anchored on the historic North 24th Street corridor.
Before Murray took the virtual stage, the hosts paused to celebrate a few community wins worth shouting about. Charell Shelton’s diagnostic lab recently received a $52,000 prize. Omaha North’s engineering program earned national recognition. And the Heart Ministry Center is moving forward with plans for a community grocery store — the kind of infrastructure that North Omaha neighborhoods have long deserved. Viewer Aeros 402 added a personal note of joy to the mix: “On a love note, my only daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter. They are both new and good. I feel blessed.” The chat, as always, felt like family.
Then came Dana Murray — and the conversation shifted into something deeper.
Murray is a South Omaha native who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home to build something lasting on the Deuce. When asked what North 24th Street could and should be, he didn’t hesitate. “The area that has the most history and the one that can truly claim to be a cultural and arts district is the North 24th Street corridor,” he said. “But we’ve been so far removed from what that was — not even what the rest of Omaha views it as — that it is hard to build momentum from within when a lot of the community can’t relate to the power of what was.”
Murray laid out a clear-eyed vision: housing, services, parking, grocery stores, transportation — all the building blocks of a self-sustained district. And then the crown jewel: destinations. “You have to have entertainment, restaurants, lounges — things that are going to be your bread-and-butter attractions to draw people into the community,” he said. “It would be great to have a hotel. With a hotel, you can throw larger attractions, music festivals, and conferences right in the community.”
He also pushed back gently on a tendency he sees holding the community back — the instinct to celebrate inward rather than invite outward. Using Native Omaha Days as an example, he compared it to South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo celebration. “It’s a festival that brings them together but invites everybody down to be part of it,” Murray said. “One of the things I’ve tried to do was reach out and be a beacon for all of Omaha to come down to North 24th Street. People told me that was going to be very hard. But people don’t have any problem coming from wherever they are in Omaha or Iowa to come down North 24th Street to hear jazz music or whatever we present.”
Viewer Mark Manor jumped in to second that motion: “Mono Neon is bringing one of the last relevant connections to Prince. I saw Mono Neon a few years ago — he’s awesome. Do not miss that.” Paul B. echoed the sentiment, noting that “people are going to have to come to North Omaha to see the likes of Mono Neon and Moini Day” — exactly the kind of magnetic pull NMA is working to build.
But Murray was quick to make clear that NMA is about far more than concert bookings. The academy teaches youth not only how to play instruments, but also live sound engineering, broadcasting, podcasting, and media production — skills students put to use in real time. “It’s not just teaching them, ‘Oh, you can be this someday,'” Murray said. “No — you can be this right now. Once you remove those barriers, the sky is the limit.”
Paul B. gave that idea a name: the “secondary matrix.” “In Dana Murray’s case, he teaches kids music — but the secondary matrix is to create critical thinkers, create people that can go further in their fields because they have the discipline of musical training.” Buddy the God extended the thought, calling NMA part of something even bigger: “It’s not just building a system that works in tandem as far as North 24th Street, but that looks forward and builds the next generation — an ecosystem that lives on and perpetuates itself.”
Murray’s long-term vision is nothing short of ambitious. A $20 million capital campaign. An NMA campus. A North Omaha answer to what Omaha Performing Arts means for downtown — an economic and cultural engine, not just a venue. “The sooner we understand that our culture is equity, that our brilliance and our artistic genius is equity,” Murray said, “the better off we’re going to be.”
For those who want to be part of that mission, NMA is actively seeking music instructors with one non-negotiable quality. “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,” Murray said. Interested instructors can reach him at dmurray@northomahamusic.org or his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org.
Viewer Senator KML wrapped it up simply: “Thank you, Uncle Dana. You’re changing lives in big ways. We are the students.” And viewer Kimber Snipes reminded the room that the work extends beyond music — noting that younger generations need more education and “deep dive discussions” to feel empowered in every arena, from civic life to community building.
It was, in every sense, a Love Supreme Friday — full of big dreams, honest conversation, and the kind of community pride that doesn’t just look back at what North Omaha was, but forward to everything it’s becoming. Tune in Monday morning and bring a neighbor along for the ride.
