Friday mornings have a way of feeling a little lighter, and on this particular Love Supreme Friday, the crew at 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning leaned all the way into that spirit. Hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God welcomed a guest whose work sits right at the intersection of music, community, and legacy — Dana Murray, director of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA) on North 24th Street. It made for one of those conversations that lingers with you long after the stream ends.
Paul B. set the tone right out of the gate. “We’ve been talking a lot of politics for a while and it’s time for a little break after the primaries,” he said. “Love Supreme’s going down today for sure.” And with that, the show shifted gears — though not entirely away from community matters, because with this crew, it all connects.
Before Dana Murray took center stage, the chat was already buzzing with local energy. The previous day’s primary election results had people fired up. Viewer Raquel Henderson put it plainly: “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. Awareness without action changes nothing.” Buddy the God echoed that urgency while also pointing toward what the show was about to dig into. “We got to do both,” he said. “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.”
Then came Dana Murray — and the conversation opened up in a big way.
A South Omaha native who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home, Murray now runs NMA out of the historic North 24th Street corridor, a stretch of Omaha that once hummed with jazz clubs, Black-owned businesses, and cultural life that rivaled any American city. His vision for what that corridor can become again is ambitious, grounded, and deeply personal.
“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,” Murray 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 to the people that are there, who are 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.”
He didn’t shy away from the hard truths, either. When asked about NMA’s role in the broader ecosystem of the corridor, Murray was candid. “One of the things that holds us back is this 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 and highlighting the excellence of who we are. I love Native Omaha Days at its core — anything that can bring us together — but it’s a failed opportunity to showcase our culture because none of that is trying to invite the rest of Omaha down to partake in what we have to offer.”
The chat lit up in response. Viewer Pops offered a slice of living history: “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.” That kind of intergenerational memory is exactly the connective tissue Murray is trying to restore — especially for the young people walking through NMA’s doors.
Murray described teaching students about local legends like drummer Buddy Miles and jazz great Victor Lewis not as a history lesson, but as a mirror. “They’re not hearing someone say, ‘Oh, Buddy Miles is from here and he used to play with Jimi Hendrix.’ That doesn’t mean anything to young people,” he explained. “We’re teaching who he was, what he represented for the community, what he represented for the world. If you give kids context, they connect the dots for themselves and they start to see the wins and the losses in not only Black people, but the rest of the country. Then they can see how they can be impactful within that ecosystem.”
The academy, Murray made clear, is about far more than producing musicians. “We’re not only raising musicians, but more importantly we’re raising more critical thinking human beings,” he said. “Some will become doctors, some lawyers, some business owners. Whatever they choose to do, they’re going to be better because they were aligned with artistry.” Paul B. put a name to that idea — the secondary matrix — the deeper purpose running beneath the surface of any community effort. “In Dana Murray’s case, he teaches kids music, but on the surface that’s what it is,” Paul B. explained. “The secondary matrix for him is to create critical thinkers — create people that can go further in their fields because they have the discipline of musical training and the mind-expanding benefits of musical training.” Viewer Pops knew exactly what that felt like: “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.”
As for NMA’s future, Murray is dreaming at scale. The academy has plans for a capital campaign — with a first phase of $20 million — aimed at building a full NMA campus on the North Side. “I brought up Omaha Performing Arts because that is a vehicle for that area,” he said. “We need a vehicle like that for North Omaha, and I see NMA taking up that space. Money is not our issue in North Omaha really. It’s transformative ideas that are going to allow us to be not only sustainable but gainfully active.” Paul B. had already seen enough at NMA Fest to be a believer. “When I’m comparing festivals, I’m saying this one to me is the one,” he said. “If I was going to put a festival together, it’d be this — and it’s going to be huge.”
The show closed on a note as warm as the May morning outside. Viewer Aeros 402 shared a personal joy: “On a love note, my only daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter. They are both new and good. I feel blessed.” That’s the kind of moment that reminds you what Love Supreme Friday is really about — community in all its forms, from a new grandbaby to a $20 million dream rising on North 24th Street.
For anyone interested in getting involved with the North Omaha Music Academy — whether as an instructor, a supporter, or a curious neighbor — Dana Murray can be reached at dmurray@northomahamusic.org, and his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org.
It was, in every sense of the word, a Love Supreme kind of Friday. Tune in next week to 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning — your neighbors will be there, and so will the conversation that matters most to this city.
