Riverside Chats

Cammy Watkins discusses her decision to run for Omaha's City Council after years of waiting for political willpower to manifest in order to fix the city's problems before finally deciding to get hands-on to enact change.

Omaha attorney Matthew Wurstner gives an overview of legal issues from the national to the local, including the recent developments at the Supreme Court and what made it to the ballot this year in Nebraska.

Kara Eastman comes back onto the show to discuss her run to represent Nebraska's Second Congressional District as she challenges incumbent Republican Don Bacon over healthcare, presidential loyalty, and the influence of corporate money in politics.  This is the third Riverside Chats conversation with Kara Eastman. You can find the old conversations in our episode backlog. 

Nebraska State Senate Candidate Terrell McKinney is running to represent District 11, which is currently represented by Ernie Chambers. McKinney speaks about the legacy of Ernie Chambers as he grew up in North Omaha as well as his personal struggles and ultimate determination to become part of the solution to problems he sees in Nebraska by running for office.

Musician, author, and professor Pascal Bokar discusses the way traditional sounds like the banjo originated in West Africa and became mainstays of Midwestern music, as well as how the center of any country represents its truest cultural expression. Check out his new album American Trails and his book From Timbuktu to the Mississippi Delta: How West African Standards of Aesthetics Have Shaped the M...

US Senate Candidate Alisha Shelton discusses her life as a practical problem solver and how she's had to forge her own path in every venture, including this particularly messy senate race against incumbent Ben Sasse and primary winner Chris Janicek.

Musician Andrew Bailie discusses his album Wasteland and how he's processing the world around him through his music and neighborhood concerts. 

Screenwriter Christine Burright McGuigan discusses her life leading up to the writing of The Headliner, the award-winning short that played in the Omaha Film Festival, the Film Stream Local Filmmaker Showcase, and won Best Narrative at the Lincoln Short Film Festival. It’s now being developed into a feature with the same core team and cast that they intend to shoot in Nebraska once COVID restricti...

Beaufield Berry discusses her evolution as a playwright leading up to Red Summer, which dramatized the life of William Brown in commemoration of the centenary of the Omaha Race Riots of 1919. Edited from the original podcast conversation in 2019. 

Documentarian Georg Joutras discusses his hit documentary, Ocean of Grass , filmed in the Nebraska Sandhills. Edited from the 2019 podcast conversation. 

Filmmakers Dorothy Booraem and Chad Haufschild talk about their journey in filmmaking, from making a streaming deal with Netflix to navigating the shifting landscape of media over the past twenty years. Check out their work on Amazon Prime. 

Fatima Flores-Lagunas discusses life as a DACA recipient in Nebraska as well as her activism toward a path to citizenship for undocumented children, which has included representing DACA youth at the Supreme Court.

Director Tony Bonacci discusses his evolution in filmmaking leading up to the award-winning The Headliner, which he is now developing into a feature that he intends to shoot in Nebraska. Later in the show, musician Hector Anchondo discusses how COVID-19 has affected his life as a musician trying to reach an audience. 

Kate Bolz discusses her role as a congressional candidate and current Nebraska state senator who is the Democratic challenger to sitting representative Jeff Fortenberry for Nebraska’s first congressional district

Filmmakers Jesse Snider and Jaz Shoeneck discuss their new Nebraskan production company, Gnarly Pioneers, their projects The Hero and The Feed, which premiered at the Prairie Lights Film Festival, and their upcoming projects that they intend to shoot in Nebraska once COVID 19 restrictions have eased.

Author, playwright, and screenwriting instructor Sally J. Walker discusses the necessity of pragmatism in a life as a writer and what techniques she has learned from decades of craft that can be found in her new book Learn Screenwriting--available wherever you get books.

Author Amy Bonnaffons discusses her new novel, The Regrets, as well as her life as a writer in isolation during the COVID 19 pandemic. Check out The Regrets as well as the short story collection The Wrong Heaven wherever you get books.

Acclaimed actor Darrick Silkman discusses his evolution from stage performances such as Angels in America and Nebraska Shakespeare to becoming a major presence in Nebraska filmmaking--most recently by starring as a seasoned comedian in the award-winning film The Headliner.

On today's episode, Riverside Chats concludes its series leading up to the Nebraska primary on May 12th in a conversation with US Senate candidate Angie Philips, who is running against sitting senator Ben Sasse.

Riverside Chats continues its look into the congressional candidates who want to represent you in the federal government leading up to Nebraska’s primary on May 12. This week, Tom speaks with US Senate candidate Chris Janicek, who is running against Nebraska’s sitting Senator Ben Sasse. Janicek speaks about his disillusionment with the political system and how his personal struggle with healthcare...

Riverside Chats continues its look into the congressional candidates who want to represent you in the federal government leading up to Nebraska’s primary on May 12. This week, Tom has a conversation with congressional candidate Kara Eastman, who is running to represent Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. Later in the episode, Nebraska State Senator Megan Hunt answers frequently asked questions...

On today’s show, we continue our look into the congressional candidates who want to represent you in the federal government leading up to Nebraska’s primary on May 12. Last week, Tom spoke with Representative Don Bacon. This week, he has a conversation with congressional candidate Ann Ashford, who is running against Bacon for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. Ashford speaks about her feeling...

Representative Don Bacon talks about his life, his journey in politics, and the inability of our current political moment to agree on a definition of socialism. Episode one of Riverside Chats produced in conjunction with KIOS Omaha.

Christine Burright McGuigan has had a busy couple of years. She's best known for writing the hit short The Headliner, which is currently being turned into a feature film from director Tony Bonacci. On today's show, she tells the story of her life as someone who didn't always want to be a writer but then found that she had a talent for it that has developed into several projects she's currently wor...

Raydell Cordell III fell in love with acting as a kid in A Midsummer Night's Dream. He has done Midsummer five different times and uses it as a way to get to know himself better and gauge how he's changed as an actor and a person. He's currently in the hit play Red Summer, which has sold out its entire run at the Bluebarn. Support Riverside Chats at patreon.com/riversidechats.