the Wordherder Online

The Good:

I had the great fortune of seeing 30 Seconds to Mars live. Opening acts included Neon Trees and Mute Math which both rocked surprisingly hard and sounded amazing. Right up center in the crowd was my chosen spot as dealing with the moshpit and constant pushing back and forth of a sea of people is usually annoying but hardly enough to distract from having excellent bands (and this time an excellent Hollywood actor singing his heart out as well).

Mute Math, 2nd opener for 30 Seconds to Mars. the drummer was absolutely insane… came out and started duct-taping his headphones to his head. i counted at least 2 broken drum sticks. I loved the way they ended the show, by breaking down their instruments but jamming on them at the same time… eventually everyone had part of the drum set and the song turned into a tribal beat with the entire band banging on whatever they could grab. at one point the singer threw a weird theramin into the crowd which i was able to grab and play a few notes as it was passed around.

Neon Trees, first opener for 30 Seconds to Mars. Decent band — singer is like a high-energy, punk version of Mick Jagger. Getting a non-blurry picture of anyone in that group was impossible… made even more so that I was close enough to wonder if I would be nailed with a swinging microphone which would have been awesome, haha.

well… I survived 30 Seconds to Mars. Was one person deep in center pit until some dick stole my camera right out of my hand… chased him down, got punched in the face and another guy nailed me in the kidney but I got the camera back. Spent the rest of the next couple songs gasping for breath amidst the sea of people. But eventually the fun came back to me and the rest of the show rocked!

The Bad:

The next day, I went to the old market in order to play my own music for the masses. The night wasn’t the best for street busking so soon after the sun went down I began making my way back home. Unfortunately I was jacked on my way back up what I thought was 13th St but was 16th street. Five black dudes tried to take my guitar but I beat them back. Thankfully my only injuries were minor wounds where I impacted with the assailants: cut knuckle from a punch, and sides of both palms where I blocked their hits. After I knocked one guy’s wind out of him the rest took off running away allowing me to dart into an opened door that just happened to be backstage at the same venue that I saw 30 Seconds to Mars the night before.  After a song or two by the band on stage, a roadie spotted me and asked for credentials. He surprisingly believed me when I lied that I had lost them but when he asked who I was with, I drew a blank.

Rule 1: If you find yourself one step away from a Roadie letting you stay backstage, it is always a good idea to have at least some clue as to which bands are playing.  I voluntarily left, caught a ride with Shera to home where I nursed my minor scrapes and cuts.

F*ing Hell:

I went back to the Old Market the next night because I found myself playing guitar and realised that I might as well make a few dollar bills while I practice. It was a very slow night so I ended up chatting and jamming with other buskers, eventually just putting instruments away and babbling about music on the porch of Billy Frogs Tavern.  It was after 2 when I took off knowing that I had borrowed a car this night so as not to worry about having an attempted mugging once again on the way home.  Instead, I got lost on the way home driving down 10th street while thinking it was 13th street.  10th ends going south as soon as you approach Rosenblatt Stadium and the Henry Doorly Zoo campus to which I discovered too late. While attempting t o turn around quickly in the narrow one way street, the car hit the curb and possibly a sign. The airbag went off and knocked me out.  I have no recollection of at least an hour after that. I know a policeman issued me a ticket for the collision because I have the ticket. The blankness off the accident and at least an hour after is what is worrying me.  Unfortunately, I have no visible head injury and no seatbelt bruise. My only injuries are still those from the mugging the night before. I say this as unfortunately because at least some physical sign except for a broken car might spur memory or at least show a clue.

I just learned that the car is technically totalled due to the repair cost. It certainly didn’t look totalled but in the end it is better, at least insurance-wise.

from omaha.com

LINCOLN (AP) – Police say a 24-year-old Lincoln man is missing a chunk of his right ear that was bitten off by a woman who didn’t like being called “fat.”

Police spokeswoman Katie Flood says officers were called to a Lincoln hospital around 3:25 a.m. Wednesday to talk to the injured man.

He told them that he’d been bitten at a party.

Flood says officers later learned that the injured man and two others had been arguing with other people at the birthday party. Flood says the man told 21-year-old Anna Godfrey that she was fat.

Officers say Godfrey then tackled the man and took a bite.

Flood says the ear chunk was not found.

Godfrey was arrested on suspicion of felony assault and remained in custody Wednesday. Case records don’t yet list her attorney’s name.

From Action 3 News KMTV.com:

Omaha’s War on Crime: North & South Join Force

Omaha, NE – On the heels of bloodshed and bullets, dozens of community members try to get a handle on the danger.  That includes Grace United Methodist Church Pastor Alberto Silva,

“There’s a lot of graffiti in South Omaha, there’s a lot of gang activity, there’s a lot of things that can be addressed if we’re just willing to help one another,” says Pastor Silva.

Silva and his church group “El Puente” are joining forces with Pastor John Voner and “Enough is Enough.”  The coalitions train volunteers how to confront violence on the streets and fight it.  The pastors hope, with word that north and south join forces, the city will unify in the fight against crime.

Pastor Silva says, “Whatever they’re doing in North Omaha that’s working, we should do in South Omaha.  Whatever we’re doing in South Omaha that’s working, they should mirror in North Omaha.”

Armed with prayer and programs, the coalitions take first steps to help each other and the community.  A prayer march is planned for this Saturday at South High School.  “El Puente” means “The Bridge” in Spanish.

Pastor Silva believes the march will help bridge a gap between communities.  “I think the unique quality of it all is the coalition of African Americans and Latinos and people from South Omaha and North Omaha, ” says Pastor Silva.

*shakes head*  Idiots!  Lately violence has surged in North Omaha to the point that every night there is a shooting victim and more often than not there are multiple shootings with most of them lethal.  It has gotten so bad that the area where I used to live, up until January of this year, is now part of “places you dont want to find yourself at night” and that was a wealthy and predominantly safe neighborhood (72nd and Blondo).

I now live in South Omaha which is overwhelmingly populated by Latinos. There is no violence except for scattered reports of gas-station robberies that are usually committed by North Omaha residents venturing south. A white person — hell, a white 8-yr old girl — could walk around after dark and feel reasonably safe.  The contrast between these two communities is ridiculously noticeable… and yet the white community of Omaha that usually avoids both minority populated areas always proves to be oblivious to such stark differences between a latino and a black neighborhood. To ignorantly assume they are even remotely similar in safety is just so embarrassingly racist.

I attended the Cinco de Mayo festivities last year that transformed South Omaha into one gigantic carnival. The police presence was ridiculous. There were snipers positioned on rooftops and not only local police scattered throughout the crowd but also the most amount of federal agents (they wear bullet-proof vests with “Federal Agent” imprinted on them so we all are fully aware who they are) that I have ever seen outside of Washington D.C..

Why?    Nothing even remotely dangerous happened.

I remember living in Detroit and attended the mass Fourth of July fireworks show at Hart Plaza which usually draws close to a million or more people into that tiny park in the heart of Downtown Detroit.  Detroit is famously bad… its been the murder capital for so many years and only recently misses that top spot due to its vastly shrunken population in recent years. Everyone felt perfectly safe… though smartly prepared should anything bad actually happen.

It just seems odd and very troubling to me how bigoted and ignorant people in power still exist to be in America. It’s ridiculous how flighty, paranoid, and wimpish white americans have become. It really is embarrassing.