Benson: Art, Music, Food, Dance
By Josefina Loza, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
Aug. 17–Benson’s nightlife is re-emerging. Bars and restaurants-turned-nightclubs are full of vibrant twenty- and thirtysomethings on weekends, gyrating to anything from salsa to local rock bands.
This Saturday, several business owners in the district hope to build on that at their first Benson Nite. A portion of 60th Avenue between Maple and Miami Streets will be closed off for the free community festival, which starts at 4 p.m. and goes until midnight.
The district is getting more traffic, and positive strides have occurred in Benson over the past year, said Brent Crampton, a 22-year-old DJ and party host.
Take Espana. The Spanish tapas restaurant holds a series of Loom dance parties once a month to draw clubbers to the district for a cultural experience. The event is geared toward an eclectic crowd with many ethnic, religious, cultural and social backgrounds.
To further promote Benson, several businesses — PS Collective, Espana, the Foundry and the Pizza Shoppe -discussed ways to celebrate the area’s diversity.
The result was Benson Nite, which will highlight music, visual art and dance performance.
The evening festival is different from Benson Days, the community’s annual family celebration.
Benson Nite will be more hip and aimed at young adults. Music performances will be by the Chris Saub Trio, Remedy Drive, Crampton and Shif-D, Kill Bosby, The Perfect Paradox and Breathless.
Dance groups include Blandon Joiner with Salserodalante Productions, Dare Dance Academy and the UNO Dance Troupe from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
All proceeds from food vendors will go to Mosaic Community Development.
Music shapes DJ’s world
Brent Crampton connects people through the beat of a song.
The DJ got his start as a teen mixing music at house parties. Now, at 22, he has his own Midwest tour — the Summer Drum Tour — and organizes Loom dance parties at Espana.
Growing up in Omaha limited his access to music, Crampton said. As a DJ, he hopes to give people cultural experiences by exposing them to music from outside of the city.
At Loom, he brings together people of all ethnic, religious, cultural and social backgrounds to listen to a mix of world music with Latin, African and American influences.
“Music shapes the way I look at the world,” he said, “a world that shapes the way I look at music.”
Whether he’s performing in front of a crowd or watching people lose themselves to the rhythm of music, Crampton looks for the intimate connection that crowds can feel on a dance floor.
“DJ’ing is an expression through music and a gathering of people,” he said.
The Benson Nite Festival is the brainchild of Crampton and a handful of business owners in the district. They see an enormous potential for economic growth in their small community.
Around Omaha, you can find him at Bar 415, Citrus, the Max and O’Casual Lounge.
Emotions guide artist’s efforts
Chris Bertschinger has been painting since he was 16.
Since his father died of a heart attack in 1999 and his mother died of breast cancer in 2003, he has found the need to paint more.
“It makes me calmer,” he said. “Most of my painting style derives from my theatrical painting background and allows me to portray more emotion, even when the subject may not originally carry emotion.”
Some of the titles, he said, are rather cryptic and boring. The nude is titled “Envy.” The blue piece is “Feather and Stone.” The table and chairs is, not surprisingly, “Table and Chairs.”
He displays some of his artwork at Espana Art Gallery.
“I love the small-town-within-a-town atmosphere that I get from areas like Benson,” he said. “They revere art and culture, and I always like to feel a part of something a bit bigger than myself.”
He’s originally from Creighton, Neb. Bertschinger graduated from Dana College in 2002 with a degree in English with an emphasis in theater and a minor in art.
If you go
The live-music and dance lineup at Benson Nite features modern rockers, hip-hop rappers, DJs and salsa dancers. The community festival is free and will begin at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Benson district.
Information: 706-7833.
The lineup 4 p.m.: Chris Saub Trio 5 p.m.: Kill Bosby 5:45 p.m.: A representative of Mosaic Community Development will speak. 6 p.m.: Breathless 6:30 p.m.: Adair Dance Academy 6:45 p.m.: Representatives from the Foundry and Mosaic will speak about the Benson community. 7 p.m.: Perfect Paradox 7:30 p.m.: UNO Dance Troupe 7:45 p.m.: Salserodalante Dance Production 8 p.m.: Remedy Drive 9:30 p.m.: Brent Crampton and Shif-D
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Copyright (c) 2006, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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