ONTD

Hey, parents, want to motivate your kids to get good grades?


Michelle Hope

Promise to take them to Omaha.

At the start of the school year, 16-year-old Michelle Hope of Lake Worth, Fla., made a deal with her mom, Dawn. If she got A's in honors English and history, would Mom take her to Omaha?

Dawn agreed, thinking the chances were slim.

Michelle earned the A's, all right.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Dawn said this week during a three-day trip to Nebraska's largest city.

So why would a teenage girl leave the beaches of sunny south Florida for the Big O?


Conor Oberst

Because it's the hometown of another Big O - indie-rock superstar Conor Oberst.

Before flying back to Florida, Dawn and Michelle cruised around town in a silver limousine, visiting places where Conor has been: Creighton Prep; his childhood home, where his parents still live; Sokol Auditorium and a random stretch of Saddle Creek Road. At each stop, Michelle had the driver pull over so she could take pictures.

They went to the Antiquarium, an Old Market bookstore and record shop, where Michelle spent $200 on Bright Eyes records. She already owns the CDs but wanted the vinyl versions. She was thrilled to learn from an employee that Conor bought his first record player at the shop.

They went to Drastic Plastic, another Old Market music store, where Michelle bought five Bright Eyes T-shirts. It didn't matter that she already owns the same shirts. She wanted the ones from Omaha "because they're from his hometown," said Michelle, who wears an "I (heart) Conor Oberst" bracelet around her wrist. From her neck hangs a locket with a picture of - you guessed it - Conor.

OK, by now you might think Michelle is a little obsessed, maybe a little too into Conor. But the soft-spoken teen says she's not a stalker. She's simply a fan.

Other Conor groupies have made the pilgrimage to Omaha, where they wind up on the doorstep of his parents, hoping to catch a glimpse of the 25-year-old. He now spends most of his time in New York when he's not touring the world with his band, Bright Eyes.

It's one thing for out-of-town fans to come to Omaha for a Bright Eyes show or to hunt down the headquarters of Saddle Creek Records while passing through, but it's another to travel thousands of miles specifically to see Conor's hometown, said Jason Kulbel of Saddle Creek Records.

"It's a little weird that they would come this far," he said.

Michelle's mom - who allowed her daughter a budget of $6,500 for the trip - said she would have liked to have seen some of the city's more notable attractions, like the Henry Doorly Zoo, but she's happy that her daughter had such a blast in Omaha.

"I can't even get her to see the big dome," Dawn said, referring to the zoo's desert attraction. "She's only into Conor country."


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