Friday mornings on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning carry a particular kind of energy. Hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God have dubbed it “Love Supreme Friday” — a weekly celebration of community, creativity, and the people quietly doing the work of building something better. This week’s edition, Season 4, Episode 53, delivered all of that and then some, anchored by a rich conversation with Dana Murray, founder and director of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA) on North 24th Street.
But before the music talk began, the hosts had something on their minds: the midterm primaries had just wrapped up in Nebraska, and the numbers were sobering. Paul B. shared a quote from Raquel Henderson of the mayor’s office that stopped the room.
“Only 339,000 out of more than 1.2 million registered voters in Nebraska showed up yesterday. Think about that for a second. And yet everybody has something to say. Everybody’s angry. Everybody’s debating policies and leadership decisions online. Where is that same energy when it’s time to organize, educate, mobilize, register, and actually vote?”
Viewer Kimber Snipes offered a thoughtful counterpoint in the chat, writing that after talking 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 nuanced pushback the hosts welcomed. Buddy the God acknowledged the complexity plainly: “We got to do both. We have 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 — whether you want to be engaged in it or not, you’re a part of it. Don’t pay taxes and see what happens.”
With civic duty firmly on the table, the show pivoted to a man who has chosen his lane and is running hard in it. Dana Murray grew up in South Omaha, spent eleven years sharpening his craft in New York City, and came back to Omaha to pour everything he learned into the next generation. The North Omaha Music Academy, formerly known as Love’s Jazz, is his vehicle — and it is far more than a music school.
“NMA is a youth music academy, a performance space, and a performance venue. If you think of Omaha Performing Arts and what it means to downtown — not only as a cultural and entertainment entity but as an economic vehicle that brings in $40 to $50 million in revenue every year — that’s what we’re building for North Omaha.”
Murray was careful to draw the distinction between raising musicians and raising thinkers. “We’re not just raising musicians,” he said. “We’re raising more critical thinking human beings, because all these young kids are not all going to become musicians by choice. Some will become doctors, lawyers, business owners. Whatever they choose to do, they’re going to be better because they were aligned with artistry.” Paul B. put his own frame around that idea, describing what he calls the “secondary matrix” — the hidden curriculum underneath the lesson plan. “They’re learning bass, piano, music theory,” Paul B. explained. “But we all know that when you learn music, your brain synapsis starts firing in different ways. You become a better student, more intelligent. The secondary matrix for him is to create critical thinkers.”
Viewer Pops connected immediately, writing: “I experienced my secondary matrix in junior high when I took algebra. I was gaining proficiency and noticed that I was suddenly able to think outside the box on several different levels. Music the same.”
Beyond instruments, NMA students learn live sound engineering, broadcast production, podcasting, and how to conduct artist interviews — right now, not someday. “It’s not just telling them they can be something someday,” Murray said. “No — you can be this right now.” He also spoke passionately about teaching history with context, making sure kids understand not just that Buddy Miles or Victor Lewis came from Omaha, but what those artists represented for the community and for the world. “If you give kids context,” he said, “they connect the dots themselves.”
The conversation turned to the corridor itself — North 24th Street, what Paul B. has long called “the most important Black corner in Nebraska.” Murray’s vision is clear-eyed and ambitious. He laid out the metrics any thriving district needs: housing density, services, parking, grocery stores — and destinations. “It would be great to have a hotel,” he said. “With a hotel, you can throw larger music festivals and conferences right in the community, and that hotel traffic becomes fuel for the corridor.” Viewer Pops added a personal note to that vision: “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 also addressed something head-on that some in the community have questioned — his South Omaha roots and his standing to lead this work on the North Side. His answer was disarming and direct. He pointed to the difference between how Native Omaha Days and South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo approach cultural celebration, arguing that one invites the whole city in while the other remains insular. “I’ve tried to be a beacon for all of Omaha to come down to North 24th Street,” he said. “People had told me that was going to be very hard, but people have no problem coming from wherever they are in Omaha or Iowa to come hear jazz music. That taboo about the area was false. We’ve proven that.”
NMA is now preparing to launch the first phase of a $20 million capital campaign aimed at building a full campus. “What we have to sell in most Black communities is our culture,” Murray said, “because if we don’t monetize it — which 99% of the time we don’t — the rest of the country will monetize it for us. The sooner we understand that our culture is equity, that our brilliance and artistic genius is equity, the better off we’re going to be.”
Educators interested in joining NMA can reach Dana Murray at dmurray@northomahahusic.org or his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahahusic.org. Murray was clear that the bar is high — technical skill matters, but the ability to inspire a young person matters more. “They don’t need us for the what,” he said. “They can go to YouTube and see anything we’re trying to teach them. So the instructors we bring in must have in their arsenal the ability to inspire another human being.”
The show wrapped on a high note, with the chat full of warmth. Viewer Senator KML wrote simply, “Thank you, Uncle Dana. You’re changing lives in big ways. We are the students.” And Buddy the God closed the way he often does — with a reminder that the work doesn’t require a grand mandate, just a decision. “All the lanes are running,” he said. “The lanes are wide open. Just get in where you fit in and make it happen. You only got to pick one.”
That’s the spirit of Love Supreme Friday, and honestly, of this show. Tune in Monday morning for another conversation worth having — right here on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning.
