Shout! Omaha

By Augusta Olsen

In the beginning there was Brent, and Brent had a groove, and from this groove came the House of Loom. Surely the old club music anthem about the house that Jack built has continued to beat in DJ Brent Crampton’s heart over the years. The co-founder of the Loom dance party has expanded his Loom family over the last five years to include thousands of people dancing everywhere from the Joslyn lawn to Miami Beach. Now as Crampton prepares to open his own nightclub, and christen the House of Loom dancefloor this Friday night, he took some time to reflect on what the House of Loom means to him and his Omaha familia.

I met up with the 27-year-old DJ at the House of Loom last Saturday afternoon. His partners, Jay Kline and Ethan Bondelid could not attend, but the rest of the Loom crew cleaned, hammered and painted around us as we talked about his career and his latest venture.

The former home of Bones, the Goofy Foot Lodge and the Stork Club at 1012 S. 10th St. is still recognizable as the warm and comfortable nightspot it has long been, now outfitted with some choice changes. The most apparent addition is the DJ booth custom built on a small new stage on the west side of the main room. Crampton, aware of the space’s history, took it back to the Neon Goose days, the popular restaurant that operated in the building from 1979 to 1996.

“The day we took over the lease, I’m in here and my parents just happened to call me…I said ‘Why don’t you come over and check out the space.’ They show up and all of a sudden, [my mom] looks at me and says, ‘This is where you came from.’ And I’m thinking to myself, ‘What, the primordial bar ooze I’m standing on right now?’ My father behind her says, ‘You know that story that you’ve been told your whole life about the bumper sticker?’

“The bumper sticker story is, well, you know I am adopted, but before that, my parents were at a restaurant one day, and they walked outside and saw a bumper sticker that said, ‘Expect a miracle, accept a miracle.’ And that day, they got a phone call about me, and they knew to say yes, this is the baby we want. Well, it turns out, the restaurant they ate at, the one and only time they ate at that restaurant was here, the Neon Goose. So, the story I’m told my whole life, that gave me purpose, knowing I’m with the parents I’m supposed to be with, was always missing that one insignificant detail of the Neon Goose until I’m standing here…and then it means everything.

“I am doing what I’m born to do. In my mind, that’s what that meant to me,” said Crampton. This comes after 10 years of DJing, and five years of throwing Loom parties at Espana and other locations. Crampton and friends are drawing on their years of experience to move the Loom party to its permanent home.

Crampton says patrons can expect a DJ-centric nightclub that entertains Afro-beat, soul, jazz and funk sensibilities, but also furthers the Loom mission of weaving social fabric. “Our motto is we serve culture, community and libations.”

On the libations side of things, Crampton and his partners were pleased to hire bartender Chris Engles to craft their cocktail list and man up their bar. Engles comes to House of Loom after helping establish bars at both Dario’s and the Boiler Room, and he has hired many well-known faces to help out, including Roger Lewis, Boz Hicks and Alex Jochim.

Behind the decks, or the laptop as it may be, Crampton will be joined by his chosen resident DJs Kethro and Stephen Bils. In addition to the house crew, Crampton will continue to host other local and national DJs for various events, including the monthly Loom party which will continue on the first Thursday of every month. He says bands will also be welcomed to the club, along with art, fashion and performance art events.

Crampton has already gathered many artists to the new space, pulling many of the other established DJ parties in Omaha to House of Loom. Both the LOUD party and the Goo party will find new homes at House of Loom, along with a monthly night with Depressed Buttons and a special Gunk party already scheduled. Crampton says House of Loom will become the new home of Omaha’s First Friday art afterparty. Hip-hop nights with the Midtown Marauders and spoken word events are also planned.

“A lot of the programming is still in the works, the ultimate goal is to be in alignment with the social theory of Loom…what does Loom as an identity look like, apart from just a dance party, but as an institution? There are different kinds of theories or methods for creating community. Some of them being explored in the city are public transportation…redistricting the school zones so there is less disparity…reurbanization, like how can we stop urban sprawl and bring it back to the city? Those are all great things…but at the end of the day, you can have people who go to school together, work together, live next to each other–they don’t have to like each other. So, in a very small and humble way, the theory of Loom is about the celebratory aspect of that whole equation.”