Famous people or things from or invented in Omaha or NE

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 5:23 pm

http://www.journalstar.com/blog/gzo.php ... &tb=1&pb=1

Neal Hefti, who honed his skills playing in big bands in high school in Hastings, then went on to write the theme song for the movie "The Odd Couple" and the "Batman" television show died Saturday at his Los Angeles-area home.

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 4:56 pm

Didn't see it mentioned, but Delta Force operator and Medal of Honor recipient Randy Shughart was born in Lincoln.

He and another Delta operator (Gary Gordon) were killed in Somalia in 1993 after they went in alone to protect a crashed helicopter and it's crew. Gary and Randy were killed after holding off an angry mob, numbering in the 100s, for almost an hour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Shughart

In the movie Black Hawk Down, Randy was portrayed by actor Johnny Strong.

Linkin5 · Post by **Linkin5** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 5:53 pm

Did anybody mention Michael Ivins from Flaming Lips or Elliott Smith?

Post by **Brad** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 4:45 pm

I had forgot about this until yesterday's race

NASCAR's Harley J. Earl Daytona 500 Trophy

Each year's Daytona 500 trophy is hand made for the race winner by Omaha, NE sculptor John Liba.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:15 pm

I was surprised to hear that yesterday. I wonder how they were chosen for this privilege? Anyone know about this company?

Post by **Brad** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:50 pm

Its that same guy that did the Road to Omaha Statue:

and the Dale Earnhardt tribute statue at Daytona:

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Mon Feb 08, 2010 7:08 pm

Clarks, NE is the hometown of Evan Williams, the founder of Twitter as well as Blogger.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Williams_(blogger)

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Mon Feb 08, 2010 10:20 pm

I was thinking Evan Williams the booze.

ricko · Post by **ricko** » Mon Feb 08, 2010 10:57 pm

This week's movie box-office winner, "Dear John", is based on a novel written by Omaha native Nicholas Sparks.

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Tue Feb 09, 2010 2:07 am

ricko wrote:This week's movie box-office winner, "Dear John", is based on a novel written by Omaha native Nicholas Sparks.

I hate him.

ricko · Post by **ricko** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 1:47 pm

He doesn't like you either.

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:07 pm

ricko wrote:He doesn't like you either.

Must be all those death threats I sent his way. :lafcry:

ricko · Post by **ricko** » Fri Feb 26, 2010 1:27 am

Just finished reading 'The Face of a Naked Lady: An Omaha Family Mystery', a non-fictional memoir by Michael Rips. If you're interested in a wild romp through the seamier side of 20th century Omaha, check it out. It's the most entertaining book I've read in a long time.

ricko · Post by **ricko** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 3:55 am

I meant to post this a few days ago, but jazz singer and Omaha native Karrin Allyson was nominated for a grammy award for best Jazz vocalist. Unfortunately she lost.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:31 am

ricko wrote:I meant to post this a few days ago, but jazz singer and Omaha native Karrin Allyson was nominated for a grammy award for best Jazz vocalist. Unfortunately she lost.

Tom Ware of Omaha was also nominated for producing Lady Gaga's album this year.

ricko · Post by **ricko** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 2:47 pm

Omaha native, Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee (Book of Mormon) Andy Rannells plays the lead role (Bryan Buckley) in the new sitcom 'The New Normal'.

Also....

Omaha native Kurt Anderson (host of 'Studio 360' on NPR) just released his new novel, 'True Believers'.

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Sat May 11, 2013 1:46 am

Adam Devine (Workaholics, Pitch Perfect). Iowa native, but Millard South graduate.

Also..

Jorge Garcia (Lost)

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Sat Aug 17, 2013 12:08 pm

First Frisbee Vending Machine Invented in Omaha

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Sat Aug 17, 2013 12:47 pm

Coyote wrote:First Frisbee Vending Machine Invented in Omaha

I wonder how long it will be before that thing gets broken into?

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:39 pm

guitarguy · Post by **guitarguy** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:43 pm

Hahaha You have an idea I'm sure then what it was like living in NYC and telling people I grew up in Nebraska.. Probably was asked if I grew up on a farm from 30 different people.. to which these same people seemed to think that I was trolling them when I said that I was from Omaha which is a large city and have never lived in the country!

cp jay 07 · Post by **cp jay 07** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 9:15 am

guitarguy wrote:Hahaha You have an idea I'm sure then what it was like living in NYC and telling people I grew up in Nebraska.. Probably was asked if I grew up on a farm from 30 different people.. to which these same people seemed to think that I was trolling them when I said that I was from Omaha which is a large city and have never lived in the country!

I have had much better luck telling people I am from Omaha and leaving the Nebraska part out when meeting people when I go visit NYC. Sure some people couldn't tell you what state Omaha is in but they at least know it's a city and not a farm town.

Omababe · Post by **Omababe** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 9:31 am

cp jay 07 wrote:
guitarguy wrote:Hahaha You have an idea I'm sure then what it was like living in NYC and telling people I grew up in Nebraska.. Probably was asked if I grew up on a farm from 30 different people.. to which these same people seemed to think that I was trolling them when I said that I was from Omaha which is a large city and have never lived in the country!
I have had much better luck telling people I am from Omaha and leaving the Nebraska part out when meeting people when I go visit NYC. Sure some people couldn't tell you what state Omaha is in but they at least know it's a city and not a farm town.

When I was making plans to move out here, yes, there were people who had no clue where Omaha was. For some reason people kept calling it "Oklahoma."

Most common response was, however, along the line of "you're lucky" as those were not good times in the NYC area. (The Beame years)

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 10:46 am

I've gotten the Oklahoma question a lot. I also get asked if I've seen snow, how many tornados I've been through, where Nebraska is, why anyone would live there, if I'm relieved to be living in a real city, if it was hard to get used to traffic, did I have cable tv, what people in Nebraska do with their free time and my favorite, was it a short drive to Phoenix, because it was close to New Mexico. I've been asked how far my nearest neighbor was and how many were in my high school.

My favorite experiences were two: the first was when people in Omaha said to my wife when she moved to Omaha when we first got married "I bet you're glad to get out of Detroit", and when we moved to Detroit people said to me when they found out where I was from, "I bet you're glad to get out of Nebraska"

It's all in your frame of reference. Someone who lives here and is from New York asked me, and I swear this is true, "Nebraska. That's out by Utah and California, right?" Yep. That's right. You're from New York? Near Paris, right?

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 11:52 am

I would agree that saying you're from Omaha seems to get a much different response than saying you're from Nebraska. I always say Omaha and haven't gotten too many wild questions or "I bet your life sucked until you moved here" type comments here in Chicago. Mostly "oh, this must be a big change for you." Surprisingly a lot of people seem to know something about or have some sort of connection to Omaha. I met a guy recently who was originally from Philadelphia and when I told him I was from Omaha said "oh, i'm sure you get this all the time, but I'm a huge fan of Saddle Creek Records." I met another guy recently from Phoenix who had been through once and said he loved visiting the Joslyn Art Museum. I met a girl from New York at a party recently who made no comment either way about me being from Omaha but was afraid I would judge her when she said she was from the Hamptons area.

I guess there was one time when a girl approached me and my friend at a bar and began to make small talk. She asked where we were both originally from (my friend was from Madison, WI) and then promptly told us that both places are surely very boring and awful. She was from Lansing, Michigan. In my experience, the state with the least tactful citizens, which I used to think was Iowa, I now believe is Michigan.

Linkin5 · Post by **Linkin5** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:10 pm

I was in Philadelphia, told them I was from Nebraska and they didn't believe me. From that point on I was treated as if I was an indangered species that had to be coddled. It was pretty hilarious.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:13 pm

Linkin5 wrote:I was in Philadelphia, told them I was from Nebraska and they didn't believe me. From that point on I was treated as if I was an indangered species that had to be coddled. It was pretty hilarious.

How so?

Omababe · Post by **Omababe** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:26 pm

Bob from Omaha wrote:It's all in your frame of reference. Someone who lives here and is from New York asked me, and I swear this is true, "Nebraska. That's out by Utah and California, right?" Yep. That's right. You're from New York? Near Paris, right?

LOL, I remember one conversation that went like this:

Somebody: So, where are you moving?
Me: Omaha.
Somebody: Where's that?
Me: Nebraska.
Somebody: Oh, out by California, huh?
Me: No, closer to New York than California, right dead center in the US.
Somebody: Then by Wyoming, huh?
Me: Yeah, kinda.
Somebody: Aren't you afraid of Indian attacks and such?

No, I am NOT making this up!

MadMartin8 · Post by **MadMartin8** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:29 pm

Omababe wrote:
Bob from Omaha wrote:It's all in your frame of reference. Someone who lives here and is from New York asked me, and I swear this is true, "Nebraska. That's out by Utah and California, right?" Yep. That's right. You're from New York? Near Paris, right?
LOL, I remember one conversation that went like this:

Somebody: So, where are you moving?
Me: Omaha.
Somebody: Where's that?
Me: Nebraska.
Somebody: Oh, out by California, huh?
Me: No, closer to New York than California, right dead center in the US.
Somebody: Then by Wyoming, huh?
Me: Yeah, kinda.
Somebody: Aren't you afraid of Indian attacks and such?

No, I am NOT making this up!

Now I'm just depressed.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:33 pm

MadMartin8 wrote:
Omababe wrote:
Bob from Omaha wrote:It's all in your frame of reference. Someone who lives here and is from New York asked me, and I swear this is true, "Nebraska. That's out by Utah and California, right?" Yep. That's right. You're from New York? Near Paris, right?
LOL, I remember one conversation that went like this:

Somebody: So, where are you moving?
Me: Omaha.
Somebody: Where's that?
Me: Nebraska.
Somebody: Oh, out by California, huh?
Me: No, closer to New York than California, right dead center in the US.
Somebody: Then by Wyoming, huh?
Me: Yeah, kinda.
Somebody: Aren't you afraid of Indian attacks and such?

No, I am NOT making this up!

Now I'm just depressed.

It's actually quite astonishing how little elementary geographical knowledge of our own country many people possess...

MadMartin8 · Post by **MadMartin8** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:34 pm

RNcyanide wrote:
MadMartin8 wrote:
Omababe wrote:
Bob from Omaha wrote:It's all in your frame of reference. Someone who lives here and is from New York asked me, and I swear this is true, "Nebraska. That's out by Utah and California, right?" Yep. That's right. You're from New York? Near Paris, right?
LOL, I remember one conversation that went like this:

Somebody: So, where are you moving?
Me: Omaha.
Somebody: Where's that?
Me: Nebraska.
Somebody: Oh, out by California, huh?
Me: No, closer to New York than California, right dead center in the US.
Somebody: Then by Wyoming, huh?
Me: Yeah, kinda.
Somebody: Aren't you afraid of Indian attacks and such?

No, I am NOT making this up!

Now I'm just depressed.
It's actually quite astonishing how little elementary geographical knowledge of our own country many people possess...

If I could have found a job in the field, I actually graduated with a Secondary Education Degree with a Social Sciences endorsement....so this sad fact isn't lost on me.

guitarguy · Post by **guitarguy** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:39 pm

I started saying I was from Omaha and hoping they had heard it after being shown just how bad NYers are at US geography and have been asked.. ' oh thats near |fill in any state other than Nebraska no matter how far from Nebraska|' or another classic.. after telling people over and over and over I was moving back to Nebraska ' I don't know why your moving back to |fill in any state between the west/east coast except for Nebraska| why don't you just stay in NYC its so much better than those places'

So yes.. This proves than within the NYC area the majority of people have never been out of the state of NY most vacation upstate and think this is 'traveling' haha

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:52 pm

I don't know how you could live around those people for so long lol.

guitarguy · Post by **guitarguy** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 1:02 pm

Well at the time I was making 45k a year and living in a cheap apartment so it was a minor annoyance when you count in the money factor. 8)

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 1:08 pm

I do get comments about Warren Buffett along the lines of "Hey do you know Warren Buffett?". I have met quite a few people here in Detroit that have ties to Nebraska and the Lions for some reason had a nice pipeline to UNL with Dominic Raiola & Suh and a few others.

There does seem to be a very Michigan-centric attitude here. Very into buying Michigan products. Lots of people, especially the Uof Michigan grads, have an attitude that there is Michigan & there is the rest of the world. Not sure if they teach it in the schools or they just pick it up but its there. There is also this whole Ohio Sucks! thing. When I drive to Columbus Ohio I have to put a Huskers magnet on the car. The Ohio State Police near Columbus give tickets to Michigan plated cars if you go 1 mile over the speed limit.

As for arrogance, I find it a lot more in the northeast and to a lessor extent Texas, but it could just be pride in your home state.

But Hey! Detroit. First in Bankruptcy!

(I'll always be a Nebraska guy. I like my life here and have made lots of friends. My business thrives and there is no shortage of qualified employees and I'm close to a lot of customers but I still have ties to Nebraska)

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 1:35 pm

I forgot about Texas. Essentially a plains state like all other plains states and yet somehow their |expletive| smells better. It's one of those places where the execution didn't follow the idea. The old west cowboy culture is alluring, but the execution is more Honey Boo Boo meets Dolly Parton than John Wayne.

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 3:22 pm

Everyone in Michigan says that they're going "up North" when traveling.

Omababe · Post by **Omababe** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 9:09 am

MadMartin8 wrote:Now I'm just depressed.

In all fairness, I daresay that there are many here in the Omaha area, otherwise well-educated, who could not immediately identify such states as Delaware and New Jersey on a blank map!

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 9:15 am

Omababe wrote:
MadMartin8 wrote:Now I'm just depressed.
In all fairness, I daresay that there are many here in the Omaha area, otherwise well-educated, who could not immediately identify such states as Delaware and New Jersey on a blank map!

This is true. On the show "How the States got their Shapes," They'll hand people a cutout of a state and ask them what it is and people will struggle to name it and then ultimately come out wrong.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 9:22 am

RNcyanide wrote:This is true. On the show "How the States got their Shapes,"

That is a great show. Love to watch it - when I remember and see it on...

But in all fairness, growing up in Omaha in the 60's/70's - I really do not remember (maybe for other reasons) much history concerning the East Coast beyond the American Revolution, or Civil War, - if much of that at all... I visited friends in Hartford 20 years ago and they were surprised how little about their cities history I knew. He was on the Board for the Mark Twain House and other civic entities... They had a cabin in Vermont - I didn't know that the name Vermont came from the French Ver-Mont 'Green Mountain' and all sorts of other trivial matters...