Some Friday mornings just feel different — and this past “Love Supreme Friday” edition of 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning was exactly that kind of morning. Hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God made a deliberate choice to steer the ship toward something positive, even as the week’s Nebraska primary election results lingered in the air. “We have to make a decision,” Paul B. told viewers. “It’s going to be Love Supreme Friday today. And we’re going to change our mindsets over to something else.” And with that, the show was off — weaving together civic reflection, community building, and one of the most compelling conversations about North Omaha’s future that this show has delivered in a long while.
Before fully pivoting to the good stuff, Paul B. couldn’t let the post-election moment pass without a word on civic participation. With a characteristic mix of warmth and challenge, he called out the gap between online outrage and real-world action. “Everybody has something to say. Everybody’s angry. Everybody’s debating policies and leadership decisions online. Everybody posting stats,” he said. “Where is that same energy when it’s time to organize, educate, mobilize, register, and actually vote?” It struck a nerve in the live chat. Viewer Kimber Snipes offered a thoughtful counterpoint: “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, community conversation that makes this show feel less like a broadcast and more like a front-porch dialogue.
The heart of the morning, though, belonged to guest Dana Murray — founder and executive director of the North Omaha Music Academy, known to many as the former Love’s Jazz, nestled right on North 24th Street. Murray, a musician and educator who spent 11 years in New York City before returning home to Omaha, brought a vision for North 24th that was equal parts reverent and revolutionary. Paul B. has long referred to that corridor as “the most important black corner in Nebraska,” and Murray didn’t shy away from the weight of that designation.
When asked what the Deuce could and should become, Murray laid out a blueprint that was both practical and ambitious. “For any district to succeed, you have to have enough housing, places of service, parking, laundromats, groceries, gas stations — all the things any area needs to be self-sustained,” he said. “And then you have to have destinations: entertainment, restaurants, lounges, things that are going to be your bread-and-butter attractions. It would be great to have a hotel. With a hotel, now you can throw larger attractions, music festivals, and conferences right in the community.” Viewer Pops connected the vision to living history, noting in the chat: “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.”
Murray was also candid about the cultural work that remains. Raised in South Omaha, he acknowledged a shared Black relationship with North Omaha as the community’s Mecca — but he didn’t soften his critique of missed opportunities. “One of the things that holds us back is a false sense of security with pride as it pertains to North Omaha,” he said. “At every opportunity, we fail at taking advantage of showcasing our culture.” He pointed to beloved traditions like Native Omaha Days as examples of events that, at their core, don’t yet fully invite the broader city in. His own work at NMA, he said, has proven that people will come — from across Omaha and even from across the river in Iowa — when there’s something compelling to experience on North 24th Street.
And what NMA is building is, by any measure, compelling. Murray described the academy not only as a youth music school and performance venue, but as a long-term economic engine for the community — modeled, in ambition, after what Omaha Performing Arts means to downtown. “If you think of Omaha Performing Arts and what it means — not only as a cultural and music entertainment entity, but as an economic vehicle that brings in $40 to $50 million in revenue every year — that’s what we’re working toward for North Omaha,” he said. A capital campaign is in the works, with a first phase goal of $20 million, aimed at eventually building a full NMA campus.
Perhaps most striking was Murray’s philosophy about the young people NMA serves. In a world of YouTube tutorials, ChatGPT, and viral content, he isn’t fighting the current — he’s swimming with it. “We can act like that’s going away, but it’s not,” he said. “What we try to do at NMA is come up with tactics and processes that meet them where they are.” And for the instructors he’s looking to bring on board, technical skill alone won’t cut it. “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 explained. “The why you’re doing it is everything, because they don’t need us for the what. They can go to YouTube and see anything we’re trying to teach them.” Those interested in joining the NMA team can reach Dana Murray at dmurray@northomahamusic.org, or his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org.
The show closed on the kind of note that reminds you why community media matters. Paul B. reflected on what he calls the “secondary matrix” — the deeper purpose running beneath the surface of everything 1st Sky does. “On the surface, we’re a couple of talking heads that talk about some news with the community,” he said. “But what we’re really trying to do is build community, build some coalition.” Buddy the God agreed, adding that while building internal ecosystems is essential, the bigger picture can’t be lost: “We got to do both. We got to build our own ecosystems and continue to do the things that we’re about to talk about. But in the long run, we do got to figure this out as far as a nation.” And amid all of it, the chat was alive with community warmth — viewer Aeros402 shared that his daughter had just given birth to his second granddaughter, and viewer Marlon Harrison celebrated a cousin graduating from Kraton Prep that Sunday.
It was, in every sense, a Love Supreme Friday. Join Paul B., Buddy the God, and the whole 1st Sky family Monday morning — you won’t want to miss what’s next.
