The Tulsa Voice | Vol. 6 No. 4

PLUS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: THE VIEW FROM HERE P12

B O D Y Oklahomans on sex and dating in 2019 P24

T A L K M E N DI NG M A S C U L I N I T Y – P32

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February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

16TH ANNUAL

st. patrick’s day Celebration Begins S at u r d ay, M a rc h 16 t h at 6PM

Celebration Continues S u n d ay, M a rc h 1 7 t h at 10 A M Dow n t ow n T u l s a | M id t ow n Ok l a hom a Ci t y

THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

CONTENTS // 3

4 // CONTENTS

February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

February 6 – 19, 2019 // Vol. 6, No. 4 ©2019. All rights reserved.

BODY TALK

PUBLISHER Jim Langdon EDITOR Jezy J. Gray ASSISTANT EDITOR Blayklee Freed DIGITAL EDITOR John Langdon

P24

BY DAMION SHADE

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Madeline Crawford GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Georgia Brooks, Morgan Welch PHOTOGRAPHER Greg Bollinger

Oklahomans on sex and dating in 2019

AD SALES MANAGER Josh Kampf

MANUAL FOR LIVING

CONTRIBUTORS Jessica Brent, Kimberly Burk, Matt Carney, Alicia Chesser Atkin, Charles Elmore, Angela Evans, Barry Friedman, Greg Horton, Eric Howerton, Jeff Huston, Fraser Kastner, Jeremy Luther, Cassidy McCants, Damion Shade, Lauren Turner, Holly Wall, Valerie Wei-Haas, Brady Whisenhunt, Jerry Wofford

The Tulsa Voice’s distribution is audited annually by

P28

Member of

BY KIMBERLY BURK

Remembering Muskogee’s all-black high school The Tulsa Voice is published bi-monthly by

Tizzie is one of many young locals navigating today’s changing world of dating and relationships. | VALERIE WEI-HAAS

1603 S. Boulder Ave. Tulsa, OK 74119 P: 918.585.9924 F: 918.585.9926 PUBLISHER Jim Langdon PRESIDENT Juley Roffers VP COMMUNICATIONS Susie Miller CONTROLLER Mary McKisick DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Amanda Hall RECEPTION Gloria Brooks

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SELF CARE

BY LAUREN TURNER

14 FLOUR POWER

B Y ERIC HOWERTON

Expanding Medicaid will improve Oklahomans’ mental health

Bobby O’s tosses pizzas for all dietary demographics

8

ON AVOCADO TOAST AND JESUS

15 LATIN ORIGINS

B Y ANGELA EVANS

BY BARRY FRIEDMAN

A side of scripture in a south Tulsa restaurant

10 NEW HEIGHTS

BY JESSICA BRENT A historic neighborhood confronts its past

12 ESSENTIAL SERVICES

BY FRASER KASTNER PLUS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: THE VIEW FROM HERE P12

FOOD & DRINK

NEWS & COMMENTARY

Locals reel from the longest government shutdown in US history

Que Gusto brings ‘honest’ empanadas and more to the Arts District

16 THE VODKA WARS

B Y GREG HORTON

18 AGAINST THE GRAIN

B Y BRADY WHISENHUNT New Era Fine Fermentations revolutionizes gluten-free craft brewing in downtown Tulsa

MUSIC

B O D Y Oklahomans on sex and dating in 2019 P24

T A L K M E N DI NG M A S C U L I N I T Y – P32

ON THE COVER ILLUSTRATION BY JEREMY LUTHER THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

40 OKLAHOMA REVERIE

B Y DAMION SHADE Kalyn Fay finds closure with her new album

Does a neutral spirit deserve the scorn?

TV & FILM 44 TORCH SONGS

B Y CHARLES ELMORE

‘ Cold War’ is an elegant post-WWII romance

45 GAME CHANGER

B Y JEFF HUSTON Soderbergh’s Netflix movie is better at tech than drama

ARTS & CULTURE 30 EVERYDAY PEOPLE

B Y HOLLY WALL Human Library Tulsa puts empathy on loan at Gilcrease Museum

32 MODERN MANHOOD

B Y JERRY WOFFORD Dynamic duo talks masculinity in Tulsa

33 CONNECTING THE DOTS

B Y ALICIA CHESSER ATKIN Pointillism and performance intersect in ‘Sunday in the Park with George’

34 RUSSELLMANIA

B Y MATT CARNEY The Thunder have gone full Westbrook— and it’s good

36 BACK TO THE LAND

B Y CASSIDY MCCANTS Pulitzer finalist Margaret Verble talks ‘Cherokee America’

ETC. 6 EDITOR’SLETTER 38 THEHAPS 42 MUSICLISTINGS 45 FULLCIRCLE 46 ASTROLOGY + SUDOKU 47 THEFUZZ + CROSSWORD CONTENTS // 5

editor’sletter

S

hort days, cold nights, and prairie winds spell psychic misery during the winter months in northeastern Oklahoma.

A rare spit of snow fakes a magic feeling, but it’s otherwise undressed death and decay—Green Country, beloved, gone gray.

Aside from my usual regimen of Lexapro, cycling, meditation, and therapy, stories help me cope with dark seasons. I’m at my lowest when I feel disconnected from other people, so it makes sense that the act of engaging with someone else’s narrative would jolt me into a better space.

With that in mind, I’ve got an issue for you. First: a literal reading of this metaphor, courtesy of Human Library Tulsa (pg. 30).

Holly Wall drops by the Gilcrease Museum, whose “Americans All!” exhibit becomes the backdrop for

an intimate storytelling experience highlighting just a few of the immigrants who make our communities great. You’ll meet Sky Taing and learn about his harrowing escape from the killing fields of Cambodia to the United States, along with the local organizers who are creating “a space where people can grow in empathy.”

And we’ve got more connection in store during these lonely months. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, check out our cover story by Damion Shade, which is about sex and dating in Oklahoma in 2019 (pg. 24). He talked to locals from all walks of life about the pleasures and pitfalls of getting together in a changing technological landscape, which can both deepen and deplete our connection to each other.

Even stories about bad stuff,

like the intensely stupid and destructive government shutdown that ended (for now) last week, can strengthen our connection to each other. Fraser Kastner talks to Eileen Bradshaw, executive director at Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, who was on the front lines of the relief effort while the president held peoples’ livelihoods hostage for a racist border wall—the opposite of connection (pg. 12).

Elsewhere, to kick off Black History Month, you’ll find a story about Muskogee’s historic all-black high school by Kimberly Burk (pg.

28). We’ve also got an interview with Pulitzer finalist Margaret Verble by former TTV assistant editor Cassidy McCants (pg. 36); a look at the possible changes ahead for the Brady Heights Neighborhood (pg. 10); ‘honest’ Latin

RECYCLE THIS Plastic Jugs and Bottles

cuisine from Que Gusto (pg. 15); gluten-free indulgences from New Era Fine Fermentations (pg. 18) and Bobby O’s Slices & Pies (pg.

14); plus, to really warm you in the winter months, a story about vodka (pg. 16).

That should hold you over until we meet again on Feb. 20. In the meantime, here’s my advice for the coming weeks: Get plenty of rest. Drink lots of water. Dress for the weather. Talk to someone. Be kind to others. Be kind to yourself.

Exercise. Meditate. Read. a

JEZY J. GRAY EDITOR

NOT THAT Plastic Toys

Donate toys or throw them away in the gray trash cart.

Plastic jugs and bottles are perfect for recycling, but plastic toys are NOT acceptable for the blue recycling cart.

6 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

LEARN MORE AT

TulsaRecycles.com February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

okpolicy

O

SELF CARE Expanding Medicaid will improve Oklahomans’ mental health

by LAUREN TURNER for OKPOLICY.ORG

THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

klahoma is in crisis.

While need for mental health care climbs, Oklahomans overwhelmingly lack access to the care needed to address these sometimes preventable, always treatable conditions.

This has serious consequences: Untreated mental illness can mean increased risk for other health problems, incarceration, difficulty keeping a job and keeping up with fi nancial responsibilities, and homelessness.

Many people experiencing a mental illness enter our criminal justice system because of that illness. In 2017, 10,000 individuals with a mental illness passed through the county jail in Tulsa alone. Other outcomes are more tragic: Our suicide rate increased 45 percent between 2009 and 2016. Oklahoma ranks eighth in the nation for incidence of suicide, according to American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Accepting federal funds for Medicaid expansion is the most practical way to address this crisis. Expanding Medicaid allows states to provide access to care to adults who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($16,753 per year for an individual). More than 150,000 Oklahomans will gain access to health care through Medicaid expansion. This includes some of the 97,000 uninsured Oklahomans with a mental health diagnosis—roughly the entire population of Broken Arrow.

Oklahoma currently ranks 46th in the nation in spending on mental health care. Funding for mental health services in Oklahoma has never been adequate, but cuts over the last four years were particularly devastating.

The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS), the primary provider for low-income, uninsured adults, lost $52.6 million in state funding between 2014 and 2018, resulting in a loss of $80.4 million in matching funds from the federal government and deep cuts in services and provider rates. ODM-

HSAS will receive an $11 million increase in 2019, but this increase is only the beginning of restoring what was cut.

Without investment in health care, it is difficult—at times impossible—for people with a mental illness to get treatment. Only one in three Oklahomans who experience any form of mental illness get the care they need. People with less severe mental health problems are turned away and asked to come back when they are sicker and closer to—or actually in—crisis, at a risk of harming themselves or others. By the time they finally get the help they need, it’s far more resource and time-intensive, and often less effective than early intervention.

Mental health care is improving in states that expanded Medicaid, making it easier for people who need care to get it, compared to non-expansion states like Oklahoma. Fewer people with depression are uninsured after Medicaid expansion, and those individuals also report fewer delays in care and fewer barriers to getting medication after getting coverage. Compared to non-expansion states, expansion states cut the number of mental health hospital stays nearly in half. Medicaid expansion also reduces deaths due to suicide and substance abuse, which commonly co-occur with a mental health diagnosis.

Every year, Oklahoma accepts federal funding for transportation, education, food assistance, and health care. In 2015, federal funds comprised nearly 40 percent of the state’s budget.

Oklahomans’ federal tax dollars are being used to improve and expand healthcare in other states while Oklahomans are turned away from the care they need. It is time to accept federal dollars for Medicaid expansion and invest in the health and wellness of our own communities. a

Lauren Turner is a mental health policy analyst with Oklahoma Policy Institute (okpolicy.org).

NEWS & COMMENTARY // 7

On avocado toast and Jesus A side of scripture in a south Tulsa restaurant

by BARRY FRIEDMAN

L

ast month at a south Tulsa restaurant, on a small table across from the cash register, I saw the following sign:

PLEASE TAKE A BIBLE WE PUT THEM HERE FOR YOU ALREADY HAVE ONE? GIVE ONE TO SOMEONE ELSE.

To the right of the placard was a stack of bibles for the taking, offered by a local Lutheran church.

For the love of Two Corinthians, why does this evangelical elbowing come up every 35 minutes or so in Oklahoma? No matter how inadvertent and innocent this display (and I’m not convinced it was truly either), the Holy Scripture being pimped—more to the point, the New Testament Holy Scripture being pimped—was just another brick in the wall in the Jesusification of Oklahoma.

I should have let it go. I was going to let it go, but it kept gnawing at me.

Choose your battles, I kept hearing in mind. Choose your …

I’m choosing this one.

We’ll get to the larger problem in a moment, but let me reiterate the column’s first commandment: We’re not all Christian … nor want to be. The idea, then, that people who come into a restaurant because they have a hankering for avocado toast also have a yearning for salvation and are just waiting to be shown the way—by strangers, if need be—is a curious, maddening thing. I was not a guest at this restaurant; I was not a friend in trouble; I was not a family member who had lost his way—I was a customer, period, who wished to eat without the presumption that my spiritual DNA was so full of holes it needed to 8 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

be filled by the loving hands of south Tulsa restaurateurs.

This was not a church, not a revival, not a Christian book store.

This was a place with chicken breasts in the walk-in freezer and packets of Sweet ’N Low on the table. Would it have killed the owners to act like a restaurant?

Would it have killed the owners to leave me alone?

Far from a sweet, unobtrusive gift to lost and unmoored Tulsans, this was a stack of presumption, smugness, and intrusiveness. Even if we customers were rudderless and in need of Christianity, or estranged children of God, lost in the hinterland, how is this the proprietors’ business? How do they know my religion, or lack of it, will fail me in this life and never get me to the next one—if there is one—but their faith will succeed?

How lazy (and comical) of them to ask me to do their proselytizing for them by bringing bibles to my friends who are also destined for eternal damnation for not getting right with the Lord? The restaurant might as well have posted a

sign out front which read, “All Welcome (But We Prefer Christians)” I can hear many of you now, so let me say, I agree: The owners can put up a smiling, waving, life-sized papier-mâché Jesus by the salad bar if they so want, and of course it’s my choice not to patronize the place again—that is not the point, nor is the point that my thin-skinned political correctness (read: Jewishness) was offended.

But imagine if all the Lebanese restaurants in town placed Qurans across from their cash register.

What if their waiters greeted customers with As-salamu alaykum?

How many customers would write letters to the editor and gripe on social media about how the “Mooslems” are taking over? How many customers would be deeply offended—we’re all snowflakes when our God is the one being gored, omitted, or mocked—at being a captive audience to the joy of Allah when all they wanted was a damn meal? And how many of these customers—and their friends and supporters—would accept the explanation it was an inoffensive

greeting, not in anyway designed to highlight or promote Islam, but rather a simple wish that “Peace be upon you” or “Have a blessed day”—and why are they making such a fuss about it?

Fact is, we are uncomfortable with gods who are not our own, especially when told those gods will smite us for our inattention to them, which is why the public square—and this includes establishments that cater to the public—works better when these gods are left out of the set decorations. There are too many of us, too many faiths, and too many levels of intensity to please everyone; so, no, it’s not political correctness to acknowledge there are differences amongst peoples and that those differences demand respect and accommodation—it’s just basic, effortless decency.

Why should this matter?

Because if such displays are not pelted with rhetorical fruits and vegetables now and then—if not, at least, called out—they metastasize and become the new norm.

If “It’s my faith” gives you legal cover to not participate in a shared commonality, then why not offer bibles at restaurants? Why not allow bakers to refuse to make lesbians a wedding cake? Why not support private adoption agencies that won’t accept applications from Jews and married homosexuals? And why not applaud giant arts and craft conglomerates that refuse to supply basic reproductive health care to employees?

We’re Christians, and we run our business on Christian principles. I’ve always said that the first two goals of our business are to run our business in harmony with God’s laws, and to focus on February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

be an insider people more than money.

And that’s what we’ve tried to do. [...] We believe that it is by God’s grace that Hobby Lobby has endured, and he has blessed us and our employees. [...] But now, our government threatens to change all of that.

A new government health care mandate says that our famil y business MUST provide what I believe are abortion-causing drugs as part of our health insurance.

Being Christians, we don’t pay for drugs that might cause abortions, which means that we don’t cover emergency contraception, the morning-after pill or the week-after pill. We believe doing so might end a life after the moment of conception, something that is contrary to our most important beliefs. It goes against the Biblical principles on which we have run this company since day one.

That’s a statement from the Greens of Hobby Lobby, suggesting it is God’s grace that has caused them to succeed—not their ability to undercut Michael’s prices on scrapbooking supplies.

Fine. The Greens can spin their success any way they want. But to feign outrage, pout, and claim near-martyrdom because government has the temerity to ask them to play by the same rules as everyone else—in this case, to insure women and their bodies— is not only fatuous, it’s disingenuous. This is especially clear when you consider the company’s willingness in other instances to not only jettison their Christianity, but Christians, as well.

Watchdog groups say the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in China is at its most intense since the Cultural Revolution, as churches are shuttered, Bibles confiscated and believers arrested at rates not seen in decades. 1

Underscoring the hypocrisy of large arts and crafts stores that trumpet their faith except when it affects the bottom line, though always a pleasure, is not my point here—the company’s refusal to cover Yasmin2 for their female employees under religious grounds is.

THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

Two last things: 1) Last month, Rep. Kevin Hern, Oklahoma’s First District congressman, posted a photo on Facebook, featuring three large crosses at sundown in a barren field with the following words: “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.”—Colossians 3:16 3

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On the photo was also the seal of the US House of Representatives.

2) This is what Governor Stitt and the first lady said at a church service in Moore: “He is about to unleash Oklahoma. … We’re going to engage the nonprofits and the churches to really heal and sol ve some of these social issues, county by county, that the government can’t do, no law can do, but our Heavenly Father can do,” Stitt said at the event. Then, Oklahoma First Lady Sarah Stitt followed with similarly troublesome statements, telling Christians to use their position in elected office to convert people to Christianity: ‘ We are God’s kingdom here on Earth. It is our call to go out into our state and save people and bring people to Him.’ 4

It’s just a United States representative reminding me to praise and to sing to Jesus … just a newly elected governor asserting that God will free Oklahoma from the yoke of self-government … just a first lady promising to go door to door to ferret out sinners.

Just bibles on a table in a south Tulsa restaurant. a

1) washingtontimes.com: ‘Human rights disaster’: China’s persecution of Christians at highest level since Mao 2) zavamd.com: Yasmin 3) facebook.com/repkevinhern: Representative Kevin Hern 4) ffrd.org: Newly elected Okla. governor disregards Constitution with religious event

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NEWS & COMMENTARY // 9

community

F

liers littered the streets of Brady Heights on a windy summer day in 2013. I hopped off my bicycle to chase after the scattering papers. The message on them was unambiguous: Tate Brady, one of Tulsa’s most prominent founders, was a cold-blooded killer and Klansman. Winds of change were blowing through the streets of Brady Heights and I, president of the neighborhood association at the time, braced for impact.

At City Hall, councilors and their constituents had been facing off in a debate about changing the name of Brady Street. It seemed it was only a matter of time before public pressure reached our neighborhood.

I wondered nervously if I would be called on to lead our neighborhood through a name change.

I felt ill-equipped for the task and was relieved when life events took me away from my post as president.

Fast forward six years: Tulsa’s Brady Street has undergone not one but two name changes. The Brady Arts District quickly and quietly dropped “Brady” from its name, and The Brady Theater announced it would follow suit.

The Lee Elementary community was embroiled in an entire year of debate before finally changing the school’s name to Council Oak Elementary, as many other confederate monuments were being removed across the country in the cover of night.

Critics might see these events as a contemporary trend in “political correctness,” but members of the Tulsa community have been reckoning with Tate Brady’s violent, racist legacy for decades.

State Representative Regina Goodwin, a longtime resident, has steadily, over the course of 20 or so years, pressed the leadership of the Brady Heights Neighborhood Association to examine Brady’s well-documented portfolio of hate crimes and consider changing the name of the neighborhood. The neighborhood leadership has, in turn, pointed repeatedly back to the neighborhood association’s origin story.

10 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

The Brady Heights Neighborhood Association is dropping ‘Brady’ from its name—a step toward changing the name of the neighborhood at large | GREG BOLLINGER

NEW HEIGHTS A historic neighborhood confronts its past

by JESSICA BRENT Founded by Wess and Cathryn Young in 1980, the Brady Heights Neighborhood Association was at the forefront of preservation and revitalization in Tulsa. Under their leadership, Brady Heights was Tulsa’s first neighborhood to receive a historical designation from the National Register of Historic Places. Proud of the progress made under the banner of Brady Heights, the Youngs resisted changing the name.

They were hardly impartial to the lasting effects of Tate Brady’s involvement in the Ku Klux Klan—Wess Young was himself a survivor of the 1921 Race Massacre. Whenever the subject of a name change was broached, neighborhood leadership had consistently deferred to the wishes of Wess and Cathryn

Young, who passed in 2014 and 2013 respectively, to keep the name.

But it was a new year, now 2019, and Brady’s time had come.

In the shadow of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, residents of Brady Heights gathered in a church basement to wrestle with a painful past and present—not just the racial atrocities committed by the neighborhood’s namesake, but also the recent injuries caused by gentrification and a changing neighborhood.

The mood was somber but supportive, and those in attendance seemed as eager to listen as they were to speak. The majority of speakers voiced support for what they viewed as a necessary

change that would remove barriers and propel the neighborhood forward. A popular argument against name changes and monument removal is that you can’t, or shouldn’t, “erase history.” Several neighbors in the room built a case against this mindset.

“The thing about history is it’s constantly being made,” Chutney Hutton said. “The history of who Tate Brady was has to be considered fully … those implications still hurt people today. The KKK exists today. It’s not just history.

It’s right now.”

One of the few dissenting voices came from Anam Sulvetta.

Having grown up in the neighborhood under very different conditions than those that exist today, he railed against the name change.

The neighborhood was bad when he was young, he admitted, but the kids stuck together and adults like his mom looked out for everyone regardless of race or class.

He and his childhood friends were cast aside, he felt, as more and more affluent white people moved into the neighborhood.

In Tate Brady’s day the neighborhood was rich, white, and racist.

Sulvetta asked those in the room to consider the ways in which the neighborhood had cycled back to those origins.

“For myself, it felt like it became a racist neighborhood,” Sulvetta reflected. “Because nobody never once, all the people that moved into this neighborhood, never once reached out to any of us kids.”

Ultimately, votes were cast in favor of changing the name of the non-profit neighborhood association entity to “The Heights Historic District, Inc”—a small, internal step towards changing the name of the neighborhood at large. The board made promises to continue working towards inclusivity and improved race relations. Sulvetta, grieving a neighborhood lost in his eyes to gentrification, cast the lone dissent and issued a challenge: “If you change the name and then you don’t make a change in the neighborhood, you did it for nothing.” a February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

NEWS & COMMENTARY // 11

community

Essential services

Locals reel from the longest government shutdown in US history

by FRASER KASTNER

T

he federal government shut down at the stroke of midnight Dec. 22, three days before Christmas. President Trump refused to sign any bill to keep the government open that did not include $5.7 billion for one of his signature campaign promises, a wall built along our border with Mexico. The shutdown lasted for 35 days, the longest in U.S. history.

Funding was temporarily restored to the federal government on Jan. 25, and will last until Feb. 15. The stopgap spending bill passed by Congress included no funding for the border wall.

Trump has threatened to declare a national emergency or shut down the government again if his demands for border wall funding are not met.

The shutdown itself cost the U.S. economy $11 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Economists predict that most of it will flow back into the economy as furloughed workers receive back pay. Almost a quarter of the total was permanently lost, however.

Nine executive departments were fully or partially closed, furloughing roughly 800,000 federal workers—including about 7,000 in Oklahoma. Additionally, vital programs for families in need were disrupted, which will affect millions of the most vulnerable Americans for weeks or months to come, even if a more permanent deal is signed before Feb. 15. Even if the government stays open, the ripple-effects of the shutdown will affect federal workers and families for weeks, months, or even years.

One such furloughed worker was Greg Woods. Woods has been an air traffic controller for 29 years, the last 17 of them in Tulsa, and usually he enjoys it.

But during the shutdown, he was 12 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

while air traffic is still safe, the FAA’s ability to carry out key functions has been hugely disrupted. Accident investigations, quality assurance, spot-checking, and other functions that support air traffic control were suspended during the shutdown. Workers now have a huge backlog of work to finish before Feb. 15.

Nationally, the NATCA has been asking for a stable funding stream. Powell says that, since air traffic controllers are essential personnel, there ought to be money available to pay them under circumstances like these.

But funding for the FAA comes through so many different budget lines that red tape has made this a long, uphill battle.

Eileen Bradshaw, Executive Director at Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, was on the front lines of the relief effort during the partial government shutdown | GREG BOLLINGER

expected to return to work one of the world’s most stressful jobs without pay.

“After a certain point I started checking with my creditors, seeing if I could defer payments, put things off like that,” he said.

Mostly people were accommodating. Greg points out that even with a deal like this, he has to pay interest on his loans, costing more than if he hadn’t had to defer.

Woods and his crew are mostly older, more experienced air traffic controllers. Some of them are eligible for retirement, including Woods, and are more financially stable. Younger ATCs are more vulnerable.

Jason Perkins, Tulsa’s National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) representative,

works with younger ATCs and says that many of them struggled during the shutdown. One of his crew members is pregnant with her second child, and her husband is also a controller. Neither were paid during the shutdown.

Others had trouble making rent. “Apartments don’t take IOU’s,” Perkins said. “They might give you a grace on the late period, but we missed two checks.”

It makes an already-stressful job that much more difficult, even for seasoned controllers.

“We’re trained to deal with work-related stress,” said Perkins.

“But when you’re walking in and you’re already stressed out, then you throw that on top, that’s tough to handle.”

Woods and Perkins say that

Eileen Bradshaw, executive director at Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, was on the front lines of the relief effort.

While most furloughed federal workers could keep themselves afloat during the shutdown, the food bank still distributed food to roughly 80 federal households from its front desk and even more through partner programs throughout the region and during a pop-up pantry event.

What really worries Bradshaw is the state of SNAP funding. “If it had gone on longer, or if it happens again, and federal nutrition programs begin to be affected,” said Bradshaw. “Then the numbers will likely become much more significant.” About 600,000 Oklahomans receive SNAP benefits, all of whom were affected.

On Jan. 20, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services issued February SNAP benefits early. The USDA, which manages the SNAP program, figured out that the continuing resolution that February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

ran out at the end of December contained a clause that any funding obligations for SNAP programs within 30 days of the continuing resolution expiration must be paid.

States were instructed to request February’s SNAP benefits early and issue them by Jan. 20.

The problem with this arrangement is that some families on food stamps will not receive more benefits until March 10, depending on when they are scheduled to receive them. Bradshaw says that families often run out of benefits about two or three weeks after they receive them, leaving later-scheduled families in the lurch.

“Our fear is that there is going to be a more pronounced need towards the end of February, beginning of March, amongst these SNAP recipient families,” said Bradshaw. And that’s if the government doesn’t shut down again, which is still a very real possibility.

OKDHS has received assurances from the USDA that funding for March benefits has been built into the temporary reopening of the government. April benefits can be paid out early like the February benefits. Funding past March does not currently exist.

A local SNAP recipient, who asked to remain anonymous, said she worries about being able to feed herself and her kids. “I’ve already used at least $100 that I was supposed to get today that I used in January.” she said. “And that’s been nice for a minute but it’s really gonna screw me over in the end.”

On top of her own children, she helps her sister-in-law take care of her two kids. As of Feb. 1, she estimates that her sister-inlaw has already used half of her February benefits. She anticipates having to help feed her and her kids in the coming weeks. “If I have this much of a break in between [benefits] then most definitely I’m gonna be going to food banks or something.”

Now that temporary funding has been restored, the government could shut down again, and no one can predict for how long.

Even with money coming in, it is impossible for families to budget for an uncertain future. “If you’re anticipating another shutdown, do I really get caught up on all THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

those back payments that I owe, or do I hold on to my money so that I can make future payments,” said Woods. “Because I can only defer like a month.” Perkins is telling his union members to act as though another shutdown is coming, just to be safe.

SNAP recipients, and people who receive other benefits have even more to be worried about.

If the government shuts down again there will be another cycle of disrupted payments at the very least. “Even if three weeks runs out and the federal government is shut down again over this political fight, we will still be able to issue food benefits just like we did in January,” Powell said. “The problem is, it creates another month where people are getting their benefits early and they could run out early in April.”

It isn’t just food stamps either.

OKDHS gets commodities, actual food items, from the federal government, which are then distributed to low-income families through food banks. They also go to places like childcare centers, and schools for lunch programs. Had the government been shut down longer, or if it shuts down again for too long, these could be disrupted. This means our state’s most vulnerable families could lose access to sources of food while the political struggle rages on.

“Wall, no wall, we don’t care,” said Perkins. “The politicians can debate that. Just leave us out of it.

Don’t hold us hostage.” The president has said that if Congress cannot agree on funding for the border wall, which he originally promised would be funded by Mexico, he will either shut down the government again or declare a national emergency—despite the fact that unauthorized border crossing arrests have been in decline for decades, and are currently at the lowest levels in nearly 50 years.

The effects of the first shutdown will already affect thousands of people across the state for a long time to come. The cost of another one is difficult to calculate. Until a more permanent agreement is reached, thousands of Oklahomans and millions of other Americans will live in flux, bargaining chips in a fight they never asked to be a part of. a NEWS & COMMENTARY // 13

foodfiles

F

or the millions of Americans who experience digestive malaise or autoimmune reactions after consuming wheat, gluten-free substitutes for traditional foods have done well to tame our cravings for ordinary, wheat-based products. While the market has provided passable gluten-free sliced breads, crackers, cereals, and English muffins, a soft, delicate pizza crust with an elastic snap is one of those delicacies that most gluten-intolerant diners agree hasn’t yet been mimicked with anything close to mastery.

Bobby Oertel, founder and owner of Bobby O’s Slices and Pies, wants to change this. Oertel doesn’t himself suffer from celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity, but he has family members who do and understands the severity of the problem. “I knew the only way to do [gluten-free] right was to have a separate kitchen,” he said of the pizzeria’s two cooking areas. The utensils, ovens, and ingredients from each kitchen are isolated from one another by multiple walls and a sizable dining room, eliminating the threat of cross contamination.

For Tulsans whose gullets don’t get along with wheat, rye, or barley, a pizzeria like Bobby O’s is a godsend. Many Asian and Mexican restaurants can nimbly maneuver around wheat-based ingredients, but American eateries and pizzerias have struggled to fi ll in the blanks between salad and steak for GF diners.

And in defense of the purists, it’s understandable why pizzerias are arriving late: well-made dough is a thing of beauty, an ancient product that balances a few simple ingredients in absolute harmony.

Shift the foundation and the entire chemical structure collapses—literally.

Made from a proprietary blend of gluten-free flours, honey, coconut milk powder, and a few mystery ingredients, Bobby O’s GF dough succeeds where most others fail. While producing an alternative crust with the stretch-

14 // FOOD & DRINK

A signature pie from Bobby O’s featuring pepperoni, mushroom, and pesto. | GREG BOLLINGER

FLOUR POWER Bobby O’s tosses pizzas for all dietary demographics

by ERIC HOWERTON iness of a traditional dough is still an industry pipe dream, Oertel’s commitment to freshness is what makes his GF crust a cut above the rest. True, Bobby O’s GF crust doesn’t have the stretchiness of its springier cousin, but this hardly detracts from the pizza’s holistic ability to please.

Bobby O’s traditional dough is used to make NY-style slices ($5), 18- and 24-inch pies ($18 and $28, respectively), calzones ($8.50), and thick pies—a rectangular, Sicilian-style pizza featuring a focaccia-like crust ($20). In a refreshing move, the gluten-free dough can also be ordered by the slice ($7.50) or in a 14-inch pie ($18). Made in-house daily, both doughs rise to the occasion—no surprise given that Oertel’s pizza slinging roots began over 25 years ago with the Kansas-based chain Papa Keno’s.

Too many GF pizza crusts— whether made from alternative flours or pureed cauliflower—are factory produced, arriving at

the point of sale pre-baked and frozen to improve shelf life. These premade crusts suffer from the effects of processing, storage, and transport, but Bobby O’s crust never deflates into a listless cracker. The freshness of the dough helps the crust stay light, soft, and airy when baked, avoiding the common pitfalls of turning dense, soggy, or gritty.

In addition to being allergy aware, Bobby O’s is also attuned to the concerns of vegans and vegetarians. The menu boasts a veritable bonanza of produce, with all the standard fare plus some unconventional options like zucchini, sunflower seeds, caramelized onions, and the Roasted Root 66 blend—a combination of red and golden beets, turnips, parsnips, and carrots that sneaks in some additional nutrition while paying homage to the restaurant’s location on the historic highway.

An industrial designer by trade, Oertel conceptualized

Bobby O’s to accommodate sensitive diners while retaining as much of the building’s original façade and style, which previously housed the Speedometer Service Company. Efforts have also been made to reduce consumer waste by eliminating single-use items like plastic cups, straws, and plates, and even the to-go boxes are recyclable. So in addition to being allergy friendly, Oertel is dedicated to supporting environmentally friendly practices.

But any review of Bobby O’s that depicts the eatery as exclusively catering to the food-allergic, the animal-averse, and the tree-hugging would be misleading.

With nine different meats and as many cheeses to choose from, the possibilities for omnivores are manifold. Choose from signature pies, like the Swamp Thang (Andouille sausage, spicy pepper mix, pepper rings, caramelized onions) and the Roasted Root 66 (root medley, caramelized onions, Italian sausage, feta cheese), or dream up your own creation.

And how does the original crust stack up against traditional NY-style? Tensile tests showed that the thin, bubbled crust had a crackly exterior and a stretchy interior with the right amount of resistance and spring. The bake was evenly brown with lots of cavernous bulges, and the mild yeastiness provided just enough aroma and flavor to balance the subtle sweetness of the wheat starch. In short, it was sublime.

Bobby O’s did not—like most pizzerias—leave this gluten-free diner feeling burned. I was not left with nostalgia for my amber-waving days, and my stomach was not left an empty and angry beast. Quite the opposite.

In truth, there was nothing to be beastly about at all.

Bobby O’s is currently open for business but will host its grand opening party on Pi Day, March 14. The restaurant will also be hosting a blood drive on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14). Those who donate will receive a free slice of pie. a February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

citybites

Que Gusto’s empanadas and yucca fries bring a taste of central America to downtown Tulsa. | GREG BOLLINGER

Latin origins

Que Gusto brings ‘honest’ empanadas and more to the Arts District

by ANGELA EVANS

O

n the northwest tip of South America, Ecuador is a petite country bursting with multiplicities—miles of Pacific Ocean coastline punctuated with the grandiose peaks of the Andes Mountains, encircled by tropical rainforest. I’ve never been to Ecuador—or South America, for that matter—but, luckily, I can easily travel to Que Gusto, a downtown eatery showcasing the diversity of traditional Latin cuisine via the humble empanada.

It’s possible you’ve strolled right past Que Gusto’s unassuming storefront nestled in the Archer Building on the edge of the Arts District. The casual café is a respite from the sometimes-hoity-toity offerings of our newly-developed downtown, boasting only a smattering of low-slung seating and small tables.

I find a cozy spot to sit and am joined by owner Carla Meneses, an Ecuador native who arrived in Tulsa six years ago.

“Ecuador is such a small country, but we have the highlands and we have the beach, so there is a variety of fruits and vegetables. Everything is fresh, no canned items,” Meneses said.

“We have very good baking, because of Spanish-Italian influence. People don’t realize that.

THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

If you go into an Ecuadorian bakery, you will be wowed.”

Meneses grew up cooking with her large family and turned that passion into a profession, capturing the comingling flavors of South America and making it her own. The empanada is the vehicle for this expression, and Que Gusto’s are unlike any I have ever encountered.

Empanadas can take many forms, but the basic concept is a hand-held pie, like a turnover, with a savory or sweet fi lling. The Colombian empanada, for example, is smaller and crunchy, made with a masa corn dough then deep fried. Que Gusto’s empanadas are larger, with a softer dough that is baked. The chubby envelope of golden dough with an egg-wash sheen is stuffed with 5 oz of all-natural, painstakingly sourced ingredients. Meneses is emphatic about using only the best available organic, grass-fed, locally-sourced vegetables, meats, eggs, oils, and flours.

“I took nutrition in college. I was always very passionate about the food and the source of it— the way they grow the cattle, the pigs or chickens.” She sources most of her meat and eggs through 413 Farms, uses milk and cheese from Lomah Dairy, and

bacon from Prairie Creek Farms.

The pork and potato empanada contains tender cubes of pork coated in a light yet complex sauce. The dough of the empanada has just enough elasticity to keep the contents in place, with a tender chew that’s flakey, yet not crunchy. Filling options also include organic chicken and cilantro, or beef with olives. At $8.50 each, one empanada is plenty to fi ll one belly.

Que Gusto also features wonderful vegetarian and vegan empanadas. The deep tone of the mushroom empanada is studded with seitan—a plant-based protein that lends a dense texture to fi lling. To produce the vegetarian empanada dough, Meneses uses organic coconut oil and almond milk, and almond flour is used for the gluten-free option.

Other snacky delights include the yucca fries, which have dethroned the haughty French fry on all fronts. With an indefatigable crunch and a lush, starchy interior, the yucca fries are paired with an addictive parsley sauce that implores you to eschew ketchup, henceforth.

The gluten-free yucca bread is made with a soft yucca dough that surrounds a dollop of melted Lomah Dairy cheese—perfect for

a quick, relatively guilt-free snack.

Que Gusto’s menu also includes a slow-roasted pork sandwich, reminiscent of a torta, and arroz con pollo, a Latin-style rice and chicken dish. And save room for dessert, because the tiramisu and tres leches cookies are worth every calorie.

Open for breakfast, Que Gusto has grab-and-go options like overnight oats or muesli— apple juice-soaked oats, mixed with grass-fed yogurt, fruit, walnuts, and honey. Savory selections like omelets and breakfast empanadas pair perfectly with one of their coffee drinks, featuring organic beans from free trade farms in South America.

“Food needs to be honest,” Meneses said. “I know that I could make more money if I cut some things, but I don’t want that.

People sometimes have no idea that when they eat here, they are eating the best quality food that can be found on the market. We really try to keep our prices low because I want something accessible for everyone.”

Located at 105 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Que Gusto is open bright and early at 8 a.m. on the weekdays, 10 a.m. on Saturdays, and stays open until 9 or 10 in the evenings. a FOOD & DRINK // 15

downthehatch

N

o spirit’s reputation has suffered more during the craft cocktail movement than Vodka’s. A strong assertion, yes, but listen to what Jessica Dewane, bar manager at Laffa says of the humble spirit: “I can’t stand it myself. It should be used as disinfectant.”

Dewane is not alone. Check out the back bar at Valkyrie and see how many vodkas you spot.

The lack is part of a trend that began with the craft cocktail explosion, when bartenders began turning to gin as the base for clear-spirit cocktails, eschewing vodka both for its sketchy production and odd fascination for flavored varieties. (Sugar cookie vodka? That’s the kind of stuff you market to teens whose parents have left town.)

Jimmy Mays, partner in Roosevelt’s and R Bar & Grill, said he hopes to one day have a vodka cocktail on the menu at both places. “It’s a double neat, and we’re going to call it ‘The Diet,’” he said. So, yes, the caloric advantage to vodka is worth noting, but the product does seem to generate disdain or at least disrespect.

Still, in spite of the strong antipathy among many bar professionals, vodka remains the best-selling spirit in the world— and in America, it’s number one by a factor of two over its nearest competitor.

Tito’s Handmade Vodka is a perfect example to illustrate the divide between customers and bar professionals. In displacing Smirnoff as the number one selling vodka, Tito’s did what no other spirit had been able to do in decades. (Vodka has only been in the U.S. since the mid-1930s, a relative baby in booze years.)

Tito’s managed to rocket to astronomical success by virtue of the “Tito’s and tonic,” the rare market-saturating call-spirit cocktail that moves a product from interesting to best-selling.

Tito’s hasn’t been handmade since at least 2011. That’s the year the “craft” brand occupied a 26-acre parcel of land in Austin, and

16 // FOOD & DRINK

THE VODKA WARS

Warm up with a Russian Tea Room from Hodges Bend, featuring spicy pepper-infused vodka.

GREG BOLLINGER

Does a neutral spirit deserve the scorn?

by GREG HORTON began shipping neutral grain spirit in from Indiana by the truckload.

In fact, many popular brands have the neutral spirit shipped to them from Indiana, and they then bottle it under their own label, because “handcrafted” and “handmade” don’t mean much as far as federal regulations are concerned. Someone pushed the button that starts the machine, after all.

Vodka is a neutral grain spirit—the product that’s left at the end of the distillation process. By definition, it should be odorless, flavorless and colorless.

Quality vodka shouldn’t taste like much of anything, because it’s a

neutral spirit—but quality, highend vodkas like Stoli Elit, JeanMarc, and Jean-Charles Boisset have a distinct note of vanilla.

Perhaps it’s in the mix, or perhaps the brain searches for an analog flavor much like our eyes search for a pattern in white noise.

All that to say that drinking a specific brand of vodka doesn’t make sense because they should all taste like almost nothing, thus Dewane’s comparison to disinfectant. Yes, they should register as slightly medicinal, and rare is the person who can pick their brand in a blind tasting. Cheaper brands also tend to include the “tail” cuts of the distillation process, and

those odors and flavors are not at all pleasant.

Still, is vodka really worthy of all the scorn? Dewane allows that she infuses Western Sun Cucumber Vodka with rosemary to make Laffa’s signature Miranda’s Mule.

“We add rosemary to give it an extra layer of complexity, a punch,” she said. And that is part of the compromise bartenders make: infusing vodka in-house so that they can control the flavor profile and weed out any artificial tastes that accompany cheap brands.

An exception is Hanson Vodka from Sonoma, California. The vodka is distilled from grapes, and the infusion is done with organic ingredients. The result is a flavorful spirit that is delicious neat or in a cocktail. Inner Circle Vodka Bar has a few Hanson varieties, including the Mandarin flavor, which adds an interesting twist to a Bloody Mary.

Noah Bush, owner of Hodges Bend, is an admitted vodka drinker, and he thinks the spirit has a largely undeserved reputation among bar professionals.

“I drink Absolut Vodka at home,” Bush said. “I think it tastes like birthday cake.” (It does, actually.) “The other advantage to vodka is that its neutral character allows you to enjoy a beverage you like with an alcohol boost that doesn’t change the taste.”

Think of a Bloody Mary. It’s the tomato juice and the pepper sauce and the obligatory salad that makes the drink. The vodka should hide and make you feel a little woozy, not dominate the flavor profi le. That makes it a good mixer when it’s good quality.

Hodges Bend is also doing a traditional Russian “pertsovka.”

It’s vodka infused with peppers, and they use it in their Russian Tea Room. Bush is a fan of the Kangaroo, too; that’s the original name of the vodka martini.

“We try to let the vodka shine in all our cocktails,” Bush said.

And while they do stock popular call vodkas, it might be a good idea to trust the bartender on which one to choose. a February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

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downthehatch

J

on Neff is a pioneer. His brewery and taproom, New Era Fine Fermentations, opened downtown three months ago with a unique angle: every one of the dozen or so beers on tap are both 100 percent gluten-free, as well as made in-house using game-changing brewing methods he developed himself.

“In academia there’s always something to go off of. You have previous research to build from,” Neff said. His background in biochemistry informed his brewing research. “In this, all of us are starting from scratch. It’s a brand new science.”

Neff explains that using gluten-free grains like buckwheat or millet is a new, uncharted frontier for craft brewers. “You know, people have studied barley for years. But the first gluten-free brewery, Ground Breaker Brewing, just celebrated their seventh anniversary. Ghostfish Brewing was the first one to start brewing with the grains that I use, and they’re just going into their fourth year. It’s just, brand new, you know?”

Not only are GF grains more challenging to brew, but they’re inherently harder to turn a profit on. “The problem with the gluten-free grains is that there’s just a low efficiency. The amount of sugar you get per pound is not enough and it’s too costly,” Neff said. “I’ve now figured out a process to get much higher efficiencies, greater than theoretical. So our beer is costing us less. We’re having to put less raw ingredients into it than the others.”

So how does he coax so much more sugar out of his stubborn GF grains?

“I developed my own process to mash the grains,” he said, referring to the process where the grains are steeped in order to bring out the natural sugars. Sugar production is a critical step because when yeast eats sugar, it begins the fermentation process which yields alcohol as a byproduct.

“We want to help share this 18 // FOOD & DRINK

Owner Jon Neff thinks outside the grain at New Era Fine Fermentations. | GREG BOLLINGER

AGAINST THE GRAIN New Era Fine Fermentations revolutionizes gluten-free craft brewing in downtown Tulsa

by BRADY WHISENHUNT information with the other brewers, and help everyone grow,” Neff said. He identifies inclusivity as one of the driving principles behind New Era’s mission.

“We don’t want people to be excluded. That’s why on our menu we have some vegetarian items and vegan items, and our chef is really great at working with people with other food allergies.

We just want people to know that if you have food allergies that you

can still come out, sit around the table, have a beer, hang out, and be part of the community.”

The restaurant in New Era’s taproom is a culinary sanctuary for patrons with gluten sensitivity, but regardless of the GF status, the food is good. Their immensely popular, GF take on traditional British fish and chips is already a serious contender for a local bestin-class award. The generous portion of fi lets deep fried in sublime,

crackly crispiness are stacked high in a nest of golden brown fries, a perfect harmony of softness and crunchiness. The lack of gluten doesn’t detract from the flavor of the entrée. On the contrary, it just makes this delicious dish even more remarkable.

“People don’t really realize that people that have food allergies have social pressures on them that other people don’t really see,” Neff said. “Think about someone who’s got a peanut allergy or a gluten allergy. You wanna go out with friends to a restaurant, but you’ve got maybe one option on that menu, and sometimes you can’t have any, and you have to just sit there and be like, ‘I’m gonna hang out while you guys eat, or I’m going to eat beforehand, or after dinner.’ You’re kind of excluded from just the socialization of sitting around the dinner table and talking.”

In addition to providing such an environment for socializing, the facility has the capacity for large-volume beer production, which is rigorously tested to verify no gluten is present. From the mild bubblegum and nutty notes in their Buckwheat Saison, to Pineapple Pen, a hoppy, floral New England-style IPA, the beers on tap at New Era aim for the high-quality flavor of traditional craft beer styles, while at the same time adhering to rigorous food allergy standards and blazing a trail in a new field of craft brewing.

But the important thing is that New Era’s beers appeal to everyone. Good beer is good beer, and Neff hopes that even people with no special dietary restrictions will soon learn to appreciate the unique flavor nuances the GF grain beers have to offer.

“We just want everyone to know that you don’t have to be celiac to enjoy these things,” Neff said. “They taste good and they can stand alongside any other beer, so just come try it out and see for yourself.” a February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

FOOD & DRINK // 19

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Leonard Bernstein at 100: A collaborative exhibition between Tulsa’s

Leonard Bernstein at 100:of A Jewish collaborative Tulsa’s Sherwin Miller Museum Art andexhibition the Woodybetween Guthrie Center.

Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art and thethe Woody Guthrie Center.

Visit both museums to experience full exhibit.

Visit both museums to experience the full exhibit.

Leonard Bernstein at 100 was curated by the GRAMMY Museum in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Bernstein Family.

Presented in cooperation with the Bernstein Family, The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc., Brandeis University, and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Leonard Bernstein at 100 was curated by the GRAMMY Museum in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Bernstein Family.

Presented in cooperation with the Bernstein Family, The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc., Brandeis University, and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

1778 UTICA SQUARE 918-624-2600 OPEN MON-SAT, 10-6 TULSA ARTS DISTRICT GUIDE // 21

FOOD & DRINK BEST BREAKFAST Bramble Breakfast & Bar Brookside By Day Dilly Diner Savoy Restaurant Tally’s Good Food Cafe BEST BRUNCH Bramble Breakfast & Bar Brookside By Day Dilly Diner Doc’s Wine & Food Kilkenny’s Irish Pub SMOKE. On Cherry Street BEST BLOODY MARY Cosmo Cafe Doc’s Wine & Food Kilkenny’s Irish Pub James E. McNellie’s Public House SMOKE. On Cherry Street BEST COFFEE SHOP 918 Coffee The Coffee House on Cherry Street DoubleShot Coffee Company Fair Fellow Coffee Roasters Shades of Brown BEST BAKERY Antoinette Baking Company Bakeshop Merritt’s Bakery Pancho Anaya Ludger’s Bavarian Cakery BEST GROCERY STORE Aldi Reasor’s Foods Sprouts Farmers Market Trader Joe’s Whole Foods Market BEST FOOD TRUCK Andolini’s Pizzeria Lone Wolf Masa Mr. Nice Guys Rub BEST DELI Bill and Ruth’s Jane’s Delicatessen Jason’s Deli Lambrusco’z Trenchers Delicatessen BEST DINER Brookside By Day Dilly Diner Freeway Cafe Tally’s Good Food Cafe Phill’s Diner

THE NOMINATIONS ARE IN! Thank you for participating in our fifth annual Best of Tulsa readers’ choice awards! You really know your town. Here are the top five nominees in each category (or more in the case of ties for fifth place) as selected

by TTV readers.

Now it’s up to you again to select the best of the best.

There’s no shortage of tough choices, but we believe in you! The polls are open through Feb. 28.

Happy voting!

WWW.THETULSAVOICE.COM/BOT

BEST SANDWICH Dutch Crunch – Trenchers Delicatessen Pastrami – Trenchers Delicatessen Phat Philly – Phat Philly’s Reuben – Trenchers Delicatessen The Trencher – Trenchers Delicatessen BEST BURGER Fat Guys Burger Bar Goldie’s Patio Grill Ron’s Hamburgers & Chili Smitty’s Garage Society The Tavern BEST CHICKEN The Brothers Houligan Celebrity Restaurant Charlie’s Chicken Chicken and the Wolf Wanda J’s Next Generation BEST CHICKEN FRIED STEAK The Brook Restaurant & Bar The Brothers Houligan Charleston’s Nelson’s Buffeteria Tally’s Good Food Cafe

BEST BARBECUE Albert G’s Billy Sims BBQ Burn Co. Barbecue Oklahoma Joe’s Rib Crib BEST PIZZA Andolini’s Pizzeria East Village Bohemian Pizzeria Hideaway Pizza Pie Hole Pizzeria Umberto’s Pizzaria BEST TAKEOUT PIZZA Andolini’s Pizzeria Hideaway Pizza Mazzio’s Pie Hole Pizzeria Umberto’s Pizzaria BEST STEAK Bull in the Alley Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar Mahogany Prime Steakhouse Ruth’s Chris Steak House Prhyme: Downtown Steakhouse BEST SEAFOOD Bodean Reastaurant & Market Bonefish Grill Nola’s Creole & Cocktails Peacemaker Lobster & Crab White River Fish Market BEST TACO Calaveras Mexican Grill Elote Café & Catering Mr. Nice Guys Tacos Don Francisco Torchy’s Tacos BEST CHINESE Golden Gate Guang Zhou Dim Sum Mandarin Taste P.F. Chang’s Pei Wei Roka BEST INDIAN Cumin Desi Wok Himalayas India Palace Tandoori Guys BEST ITALIAN Dalesandro’s Italian Cuisine Mondo’s Ti Amo Villa Ravenna Zio’s Italian Kitchen BEST JAPANESE/SUSHI Fuji In the Raw Osaka Sushi Hana Yokozuna BEST KOREAN Gogi Gui Korean Garden Lone Wolf Seoul Bistro Sobahn Sura BEST MEXICAN Calaveras Mexican Grill Casa Tequila El Guapo’s Cantina El Rio Verde Tacos Don Francisco BEST MEDITERRANEAN/ MIDDLE EASTERN Laffa Medi-Eastern Restaurant & Bar Papa Ganouj Shawkat Mediterranean Grill Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe Zoës Kitchen

BEST BEER SELECTION Bricktown Brewery Fassler Hall James E. McNellie’s Public House Prairie Brewpub Roosevelt’s

BEST VIETNAMESE Lone Wolf Pho Da Cao Pho Nhi Ri Le Viet Huong

BEST WINE LIST Amelia’s Bull in the Alley Doc’s Wine and Food Polo Grill Prhyme: Downtown Steakhouse Vintage Wine Bar

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BEST THAI Bamboo Thai Bistro Keo Lanna Thai My Thai Kitchen The Tropical

OKLA

ON SEX

IN

BY D PHOTOS BY

TIZZIE

24 // FEATURED

AHOMANS

X AND DATING

N 2019

DAMION SHADE Y VALERIE WEI-HAAS

THE SUBJECT OF THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS IS SEX. Love and relationships, too—but this article is about real sex and real people. The stories that follow are from actual Oklahomans. Some names have been changed to protect their privacy.

Last spring under the I-244 overpass by Cain’s Ballroom, a curvy white woman in her late 40s wearing a shiny black latex bodysuit walked towards my sister and me, smiling like a cat with a bird in its mouth. It was around midnight. We were headed to Soundpony. I was definitely tipsy.

The woman held a leash whose bridle was wrapped around the neck of a grown man in a furry bear suit.

It may have been a dog suit. He was crawling on all fours in front of the smiling woman and wagging a bushy little tail.

“Looks like you’ve had an awesome night,” I said.

“I did,” she responded. “My husband and I found someone fun to play with tonight.” Her husband was wearing blue jeans and a baseball cap, walking a few steps behind them, absentmindedly looking at his smartphone. They hopped into a white F-150 pick up truck with a Broken Arrow Public Schools bumper sticker and drove away.

Sex is changing in America. In fact, we may be living squarely in the middle of a new sexual revolution—but this isn’t just happening on the coasts or in the most populated cities. It’s happening right here in the middle of the country.

The sexual revolution of the 1960s was driven at least in part by new technologies at the time, like the introduction of the combined oral contraceptive (birth control) pill. This breakthrough provided women personal and economic freedoms their parents never could have imagined, changing the average age and rate at which people married.

The internet represents another seismic shift in the world of sex and dating. Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and all the other dating apps have created entirely new cultures. Each new

social network has distinct customs and taboos.

Consider, for instance, the modern phenomenon of “swooping.” This is when someone tells a Tinder date to meet them in some general part of town without giving any specific location.

Then they watch these “dates” circle the area on their phones, sometimes for hours. Sometimes they meet them.

Often they don’t. One friend of mine left a guy wandering Brookside the whole time we watched one of the “Avengers” movies. I thought she forgot about him, but she was dutifully tracking his GPS location on her iPhone.

“I’M MYSELF. I’M NOT IN A BOX. I’M NOT HETEROSEXUAL. I’M NOT GAY. I AM MYSELF.” —TIZZIE

The internet also offers new options for connecting with likeminded people. A loving polyamorous couple named Eve and Rayne who enjoy “pony play” and who both describe themselves as “kinksters” introduced me to a fetish social network called Fetlife. It’s sort of a Facebook for kink. On the site, you can see

how many people are using the online network from your state. When I last checked, there were more than 63,500 users from Oklahoma alone.

“Oklahoma is as fun as the people you know in it,” Eve said. “While exploring the BDSM community I’ve met every type of person you could imagine. These are people I may have nothing else in common with: judges and teachers and police officers. There are people with every type of fetish all around us.”

Perhaps these new changes are great. After all, some of these apps seem to be trying to empower women in a way not entirely unlike the technological advancements of the past. These brand-new American courting rituals are worthy of some discussion. To find out more, I talked to a variety of Tulsans from all walks of life to see how they’re navigating this changing landscape of sex and dating in 2019.

TIZZIE, KATE & KAT Tizzie doesn’t like labels. She was adopted and raised in Tulsa by her grandmother, and she went McLain High School before graduating from Central in 2014. “I’m myself. I’m not in a box. I’m not heterosexual. I’m not gay.

I am myself,” she said. “I’ve been with women. My last relationship was with a girl I played basketball with.

“I used to see her on the court and just notice little things about her like the way she tied her hair back. I can’t even explain how it happened that day.

She’d given me her number and I just felt like I needed to call her,” Tizzie said. “I’m led by the Holy Spirit, so when he tells me to do random shit, I don’t question it. It felt like it was supposed to happen.

A lot of people think if you’re a woman who says you’re a free spirit in relationships you’re a ho,” she continued. “I want to be able to do me. If I want to turn right don’t make me turn left. I’m a light that shines bright and some people don’t like that.”

Kate is a 24-year-old law student at TU who has had deep and loving relationships with male and female partners. She’s a natural romantic and a passionate feminist with the type of complex narrative that seems more common among the LGTBQ community in the Bible belt.

FEATURED // 25

AYILLA

26 // FEATURED

“When I look at movies I liked as a kid … I was equally attracted to the male and the female lead,” Kate said.

“The old cartoon Peter Pan was the first time I realized it. I was little, and I didn’t understand why I liked Wendy so much, but I also really liked Peter Pan too. There were tons of movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Princess Bride, and I look back on them now and I realize it was both. It was always both.”

Kate came out to her mom at Red Lobster over cheddar biscuits to ease the tension, and it took some time, but eventually her mother came around.

Today Kate has a male partner. Their relationship is one of many these days that began on Tinder.

For those who didn’t grow up in this digital ecosystem, the new realities can be disorienting to say the least. Kat is 53 and recently divorced.

She was born in Wagoner, but she moved to Tulsa with her ex-husband in the late 80s. Her divorce got pretty ugly, so it took Kat some time to try dating again.

“We split up about two years ago, and I never felt comfortable enough to go out. Everything felt tougher. Going to bars felt crazy. The idea that I’d meet someone … I tried Tinder and went on some really crappy dates,” Kat said. “The guys never seemed interested in anything real. We’d meet somewhere, and it would feel like a clock was ticking. Like they were rushing to get through drinks so they could get past the boring talking part. I just wanted to meet someone nice.”

Kat recently met someone on a different dating site. “Tinder wasn’t right for me, but there’s plenty of other places. I’m really grateful I met someone I’ve really like. The whole internet thing’s a gamble, but it pays off sometimes.”

AYILLA, BRADEN & CAROL Ayilla is a 23-year-old woman from North Tulsa. She grew up in Grove before becoming a star basketball player at Memorial High School. She’s a typical member of Gen Z in some ways. She communicates a lot of herself in Instagram stories. She’s also a young rapper/singer who bemoans the dating culture in 2019.

“Dating’s gone now. You go to college. You find one person you’re attracted to. You probably end up sleeping with them. Then you start an intense immediate relationship,” Ayilla said. “Once you’re out of college everyone just wants to Netflix and chill. My DMs are popping, which is a problem because so many people are urky.

They just keep trying to slide in, and I’m like, you didn’t notice the last five ignored messages?”

Ayilla says most of the people “sliding into her DMs” get nervous

Braden is a 19-year-old from Owasso who likes Tyler the Creator and The 1975. He feels like modern dating culture has strengthened his relationship with his partner. He says they are deeply committed to each other, and he feels like his views on relationships have changed a lot in the year or so since high school.

“My friends in high school were all guys who played sports. I was swimmer, and I think I did and said a lot of dumb things about women to impress guys on the team,” Braden said. “I like

“MY SITUATION IS COMPLICATED, BUT I’M TRYING TO BUILD SOMETHING REAL. I DON’T CARE ABOUT SOMEONE’S GENDER. IF YOU’RE NOT A PERSON WHO WANTS TO BUILD A BETTER FUTURE TOGETHER, THEN WHAT ARE WE DOING?” — AYILLA

and quiet in real life. If she actually approaches them, they freak out and run away. Ayilla describes her current relationship cryptically as a “situation” which is a reference to a song by Erykah Badu.

She’s been open to experiences that were still fairly taboo in the African American community until recent years. “I’m just glad we’re not shunning people for being gay anymore,” she said. “My situation is complicated, but I’m trying to build something real.

I don’t care about someone’s gender. If you’re not a person who wants to build a better future together, then what are we doing?”

my friends better now because we’re not so segregated between boys and girls. The group I hang out with the most are about half and half of each.”

Carol is a 58-year-old transgender woman from Sand Springs. She remained in the closet for most of her life out of fear—her father was a Methodist preacher, and Carol was always terrified of how he might react.

Today, Carol has found a partner and a community of supportive friends using the same technology that leaves so many others feeling isolated.

“I met my boyfriend online. He’s from Lawton, and even though our lives were really different we just get

each other,” Carol said. “We like to hate-watch the same shows on Netflix.

You wouldn’t believe it if you met us separately, but it just works.”

THE BIG PICTURE Some people feel like the basic structure of sites like Tinder make relationships seem more disposable, but that seems like an oversimplification.

Tinder magnifies people’s tendencies.

Since the app’s creation in 2012, the often-bemoaned hookup culture has changed a great deal.

According to a recent study in the “Archives of Sexual Behavior,” Millennials are less sexually active than Gen X and Baby Boomers. People born in the 80s and 90s report having fewer partners on average than older generations. There isn’t consensus as to why this is happening, but one of the more positive possibilities is that this new, hyper-connected environment is making younger Americans more empathetic. This might make some people more interested in a deeper emotional connection during sex.

The picture of dating in Oklahoma in 2019 is multifarious. Straightlaced PTA members have transformed their basements into sex dungeons.

Polyamorous families are raising kids. People are pursuing “non-traditional” relationships, and communities of color are beginning to see freedom that seemed unimaginable decades ago.

Each of these stories is about wonderful people who love each other. Sex is simply a part of that equation. I met a woman over 60 with six regular sex, partners, and she says she loves them all. As long as it’s consensual, whether you love monogamy or polyamory, pony play, vanilla sex or you enjoy some type of sexual expression that the internet hasn’t even named yet, you are valuable and worthy of love and respect.

Perhaps frightening to some, the boundaries of sex are always changing. That isn’t new. The nice thing about the present is that more people have the chance to safely express their real selves, their real gender identities, and their individual desires.

There isn’t a blueprint anymore. Everyone’s just building the best life they can in the world they were given. a FEATURED // 27

R

The cast of “The Adorable Imp,” presented in the 1950s by the junior class at Manual Training High School.

MUSKOGEE PUBLIC LIBRARY

Manual for living REMEMBERING MUSKOGEE’S ALL-BLACK HIGH SCHOOL B Y K I M B E R LY B U R K Muskogee Manual Training School students Nathaniel Brooks, Carolyn Roberts, Norma Porter and Charles Gray—state champion debaters, 1956. | MUSKOGEE PUBLIC LIBRARY

obert Gray’s high school insecurities had nothing to do with the fact that he was black, or that he attended a segregated campus where the textbooks were usually several years old.

“I wasn’t that popular,” he said.

“I was a little shy, because I was small. I was only about 5 feet, 2 inches tall my senior year. The girls didn’t want a little short guy.”

Football and basketball stardom weren’t really in the cards, so he became a trainer. He was a good baseball player, though getting suited up was a problem his freshman year.

“They didn’t have uniforms small enough for someone like me, so I had to wear the smallest pair of football pants they had.”

But vertical challenges aside, Gray said it was a wonderful thing to be a member of the class of 1968 at Muskogee’s Manual Training High School.

“The main thing was just the camaraderie,” he said. “You knew everyone. We were like one large family.”

Manual prepared him well for college and for life, said Gray, who retired from the City of Tulsa in 2015.

“Everybody stressed education, that no one could hold you back once you’ve got knowledge.”

He majored in accounting at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah and later earned a master’s degree in business administration. And he got his growth spurt the summer after graduation from Manual, shooting up to just over 6 feet tall.

“Our motto at Manual was SESEP—which stood for social, emotional, spiritual, economic and physical,” Gray said.

“We’ve never settled for less,” said Perline Boyattia, who graduated in 1969. “We are overcomers, and we’ve never looked back.”

“Nurturing” is the word retired educator Cedric Johnson uses to describe the campus atmosphere.

Boyattia agreed.

“We didn’t realize how tough it was to be black until we became adults,” she said. “We were in a bubble.”

ACHIEVING AGAINST THE ODDS The children of Muskogee’s first African American residents were educated primarily at churches. In 1898 the Muskogee school board was formed, and Dunbar Public School was created for black students through grade eight.

Manual Training High School opened in 1910 and graduated its first senior class in 1912.

“Without any of the fanfare given the opening of Muskogee’s white Central High School, the new Manual Training High School quietly and officially opened its doors on that same date,” Charles T. Ledbetter wrote in 2008 in his two-volume “Alliance Against the Odds: The Manual Training High School Story.”

“While having a high school was a step forward for the African American community, the facility lacked adequate equipment and furniture for its classrooms and space for most industrial/vocational education programs. Significantly, it had no books for the library, not even a set of the International Encyclopedia available at all of Muskogee’s white schools,” wrote Ledbetter, a Manual graduate who retired from West Virginia State University as professor emeritus in education.

But Ledbetter said an alliance was formed, and parents, teachers, principals, and the African American community at large “were successful in providing their students with the same quality education as Muskogee’s white students despite the issues of race, poverty, limited resources, shortage of teachers and poor facilities.”

The school was so named because students learned “manual labor” skills in addition to academics, though vocational training is the term more commonly used today. Offerings included cosmetology and barbering, culinary arts, woodworking, auto mechanics, and agriculture. Most students chose one of the programs, Johnson said, but the training did not interfere with their college-bound tracks.

Mary Oliver of Tulsa, one of 116 members of the class of 1965, said she loved “everything” about Manual teachers and administraFebruary 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

tors, though the feeling might not have been mutual.

“I was one of those kids that stayed in trouble,” she said. “I was in the office so much they thought I worked in the office. I talked nonstop. I did things to make the kids laugh.”

Still, Oliver managed to buckle down enough to be inducted into the National Honor Society and graduate in the top 10. The story of how she got to college is a familiar one for Manual alumni.

“Harry Hodges, my counselor, convinced me to go to college.

He found a way for me to go to OSU,” she said. “With work study and keeping up my grades, it cost very little money. I always give him credit for my degree.”

Oliver majored in nutrition and restaurant management, but a work study job in the Oklahoma State University library introduced her to key punch. After graduation, she lasted a week as a hospital dietician and then found a job in the fledgling computer industry. Her career led her to American Airlines, where she took full advantage of the travel benefits.

“I loved Paris,” she said. “Rome was so interesting. I loved Venice. I enjoyed London; I took my daughter when she was in high school.

Australia and Africa are on my bucket list.”

Margaret Taylor, who in recent years has immersed herself in preserving Muskogee’s history, earned an art degree from Oral Roberts University but also went in another career direction. At age 23, after her mother died, she stepped in to help her father manage the family nursing home business. It would be 35 years before she could return fulltime to her art, but she always found ways to integrate creativity into the caregiving business, from making the food service more attractive to decorating the patient rooms.

“Manual instilled high achievement,” she said. “You learned to do something and be the best at it. And to give back to the community.”

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD Class reunions are a big deal for Manual alumni. Oliver said her class THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

Muskogee Manual Training School alums Robert Gray (1968) and Mary Oliver (1965). | GREG BOLLINGER

members get together in Stroud for what they call “Spring Fling.”

“We play cards, we share, we have a great time. We dance and we sing. We play the Temptations, the Coasters, the Spinners.”

Oliver and her classmates pay $5 a month in dues, and “that takes care of the flowers if we have a classmate who transitions.

When their parents die, they get a purple and white floral spray from the class.”

Boyattia, a retired AT&T human resources director, succeeded her husband as pastor of New Jerusalem Baptist Church in

Muskogee, the first widow to take on such a role. She is now pastor emeritus and still conducts weddings and funerals. She said Manual helped prepare her for the careers she described as “callings” and for life’s heartaches, such as the death of her daughter.

“They would not let us be failures,” she said. “We helped one another. We went to the library and studied together. We had wonderful assemblies, plays and Christmas programs. Our school always went to state in basketball, football, and track. We had the best band in the state.”

Today, Beverly Dorn is the secretary at Sadler Arts Academy, the kindergarten through eighth grade magnet school that now occupies the former Manual High School building. As a child, she would run to the front porch to watch any time the Manual marching band practiced in her neighborhood.

She said it was a sad day when she found out the high schools would be merged.

“Everybody looked forward to coming to high school here,” she said. “I looked forward to singing in the choir.”

The last classes graduated from Manual and Central in 1970. The new integrated campus was named Muskogee High School.

Johnson, a 1951 Manual graduate, played junior college basketball and earned two degrees from Northeastern State. He launched his career with the Muskogee School District in 1959 as a junior high social studies teacher and was teaching history at Manual when the high schools merged.

After integration, Johnson was hired as a history teacher at Muskogee High and went on to serve the district as a principal at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels. He said he modeled himself after his Manual principals, who were firm but loving.

Johnson said he felt accepted by the white faculty that first year at Muskogee High.

“The women were nicer to me than the men, to begin with. The office staff were the most welcoming and helpful.”

Johnson recalls seeing black and white students dancing together at the first school function after integration, something he said not all parents would have approved of.

Dorn said it is appropriate that the building at 800 Altamont St. now houses an arts academy, given the musical, theatrical, and artistic talent of its first students. Sadler’s annual production of “The Nutcracker” is a highlight of the holidays in Muskogee, and tickets for the three performances sell out quickly.

“To me, it’s such an honor that I work here in this building,” she said. a FEATURED // 29

community

“Finding Refuge: Escape from Cambodia” by Sky Taing

EVERYDAY PEOPLE Human Library Tulsa puts empathy on loan at Gilcrease Museum

by HOLLY WALL | photos by VALERIE WEI-HAAS

S

“Kyrgyzstan: Communist by Upbringing but Capitalist by Heart” by Nasiba Chaboya

“More than Undocumented” by Valeria Linares Gomez

30 // ARTS & CULTURE

ky Taing was only seven years old when, at the height of the Cambodian Civil War, the Khmer Rouge stormed his village, separated him from his parents, blindfolded him, and drove them to the countryside where they were forced into slave labor. There he planted rice and cut trees with his brother and other children five to 10 years old. At night he would sneak out to where his mother was being held—when he was caught, the soldiers would whip his hands with sticks. He was eight the last time he saw his father.

“He and some other men tried to escape,” Taing remembered.

“I don’t think they ever made it because I tried to find him after.”

His father’s attempt turned his family into “the enemy,” and they were taken to the killing fields, Taing said. “The day they intended to kill us, the Vietnamese army took over our camp and we were set free.” The journey to refuge was long and treacherous, taking them back to their home village and through ghost towns where war had either driven people out or left them dead.

“We began to find comfort in dead bodies because we knew the Vietnamese had already been there,” Taing said.

Taing and his family eventually made it to a refugee camp in

Thailand and were later sponsored by a Christian group in San Diego and brought to the United States. Of Chinese descent but born in Cambodia, Taing was 11 when he came to America and in fourth grade when he started school for the fi rst time. As an adult, he studied seminary in Dallas and, after marrying his wife, moved to China to aid persecuted Christians.

Now living in Tulsa, Taing was one of the human “books” available for check-out at the most recent Human Library Tulsa event on Jan. 20 at Gilcrease Museum.

Human Library Tulsa was founded by Steve Denton and Lily Owens, who met as classmates of Thrive Tulsa, a program of Leadership Tulsa that aims to improve participants’ leadership skills while also helping them hone and develop a social change project they can implement in Tulsa.

Owens is a stay-at-home mom and writer. She has written a series of children’s books based on 90s hip hop hits and volunteers with Poetic Justice, which uses poetry to help incarcerated women find their voice and tell their stories. Owens was looking for an opportunity to bring the concept of Poetic Justice to a broader, public audience.

February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

E V E N T S @ T PA C

sented their own unique culture, as well as the part of the city they represented.

Most recently, Human Library Tulsa had a selection of books available at Gilcrease Museum’s Funday Sunday, a monthly free event for families. The January event was inspired by the museum’s ongoing exhibition, “Americans All!,” which draws from its permanent collection to showcase works by American immigrants and their contributions to the country.

In addition to Taing, whose title was “Finding Refuge: Escape from Cambodia,” other books included: “Kyrgyzstan: Communist by Upbringing but Capitalist by Heart” by Nasiba Chaboya; “A New Identity: Indian, Tswana, or Tulsan?” By Ipe Paramel; “More than Undocumented” by Valeria Linares Gomez; and “Living the American Dream: A Venezuelan in the USA” by Frank Kiulkaitis.

Human Library Tulsa provided readers with a list of titles as well as suggested questions intended to help readers and their books break the ice and gain a better understanding of one another.

“Most people feel like they’re empathetic or feel like they’re understanding, but until they’ve actually met somebody who deals with that issue that they’ve been charitable about, like my story working with the homeless—here I show up thinking I’m doing a good thing, passing out food, and suddenly I’m in a relationship— and my daughter’s in a relationship—with this guy,” Denton said. “It’s like, I had no idea. I just had my own perceptions when I saw a homeless person.

“We’re so quick to make judgments; this is about, how can we create a pause? When you sit in front of another person, it creates a pause.”

Owens and Denton say they’re working with local art galleries and nonprofits to schedule more Human Library Tulsa events, and they’re also in talks with Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences to create a Human Library at their school with a focus on breaking down stereotypes in order to stop bullying.

“We want to create space where people can grow in empathy,” Denton said. a

The Green Book Theatre North Now - Feb. 10 Jambalaya Jass Band Brown Bag It Tulsa PAC Trust Feb. 6 The Resurrection of Black Wall Street Tulsa Project Theatre Feb. 8-10 The Little Prince Tulsa Opera Feb. 8-10 Sunday in the Park with George American Theatre Company Feb. 15-24 The Sleeping Beauty Tulsa Ballet Feb. 21-24 My Fair Lady Theatre Tulsa Feb. 22 - March 2 The Play That Goes Wrong Celebrity Attractions Feb. 26 - March 3

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Denton, Director of New Student Programs and Services at the University of Tulsa, wanted to find a way to make Tulsa a more empathetic city. “Empathizing with someone doesn’t mean you have to give up something like your convictions, your ideas, or beliefs,” he said. “It simply means that you are seeking to understand what it is like to be in their shoes or understand their perspective or view of reality whether or not you agree with them.”

Denton has seen the power of connection to change your opinion of something, someplace, or someone—most notably by developing a relationship with a homeless man he met through charity work. Now that person has become like a grandfather to his daughter, Denton said.

Denton found the Human Library online, and thought it could be a vehicle for empathy.

Owens loved that it did that by encouraging people to tell their stories.

Founded in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2000 at the Roskilde Festival, the Human Library offered 50 different human “books,” available eight hours a day for four days straight. To check out the books, readers simply approach one and begin asking questions.

“The idea is to bring people together to hear other people’s stories—people who are potentially different from you,” Owens said. “So you have human books, which are the people, and they tell their stories. They pick their own titles, and that’s typically what they want to talk about. You have them all in one room, and people go in and say, ‘I want to check out that book.’ And you would sit with them for 15 minutes and ask questions.

“But for 15 minutes you’re able to have conversations and break down barriers and presumptions you may have had. That’s the concept—building community and a better understanding between people you might think you know, but have never actually sat down and had a conversation with.”

The first Human Library Tulsa event was last September during 918 Day, a citywide scavenger hunt hosted by the Mayor’s Office.

Different books were stationed at locations throughout Tulsa, each with a diverse story that repre-

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community

Modern manhood Dynamic duo talks masculinity in Tulsa

by JERRY WOFFORD

P

erry “Vision” DiVirgilio and his partner in poetry education, Kavindu “Kavi” Ade, noticed similar discussions coming up again and again during their marathon practice sessions.

DiVirgilio is a large, tall, cisgendered heterosexual male, and Ade is a shorter, transgender, queer person. Their differences are their strength, which led to questions about masculinity: what it means, how it works, and how it shapes their own experiences in the world. “It caused really great conversations,” DiVirgilio said.

“We thought we needed to really broaden this conversation.”

That conversation was broadened widely, with the pair taking their work on the road for the Mending Masculinity spoken word tour. Their program of poetry and conversation comes to the University of Tulsa’s Tyrrell Hall on Feb. 8.

The topic of masculinity has been in the national spotlight lately, most recently thanks to a viral ad from the shaving brand Gillette encouraging men to critically examine their behavior.

“Toxic masculinity” has become a common term to describe the motor mechanism behind male violence and regressive ideas about gender, and many are now examining its effect on men and boys themselves. The American Psychological Association recently released guidelines to tackle the issue, saying that “traditional masculinity—marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression—is, on the whole, harmful,” leading to an increase in risky behavior like drug and alcohol abuse, as well as inadequate health care stemming from a reluctance to admit vulnerability.

32 // ARTS & CULTURE

Perry “Vision” DiVirgilio and Kavindu “Kavi” Ade explore masculinity and vulnerability through spoken word performance. | DARRYL COBB

DiVirgilio and Ade’s work with students through the Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement and Brave New Voices connected them to discussions and challenges faced by students.

But it also led to a realization: If students are having these conversations and doing the work to understand their world and each other, why weren’t other generations or groups having these discussions?

“If our young people are feeling this way … if they’re confused and have questions about this, we really need to take this on the road,” DiVirgilio said.

But even for the two friends, it took some learning, under-

standing, and—most importantly—listening. “For me, it’s been a lot about listening to Kavi’s narrative,” DiVirgilio said.

“I’ve known Kavi since 2008.

Watching Kavi’s evolution, hearing Kavi’s story, that’s been the biggest growing-up for me.”

Those conversations dug into the ideas of masculinity as we experience it today, its pressure on men to conform, and the effect on those who exist outside those confi nes. It led to a poem that DiVirgilio performs about street harassment, and it resonates with many who hear it. “I get a lot of feedback about that. A lot of people have talked about that,” he said. “In places

I’m comfortable, my best friend is not. And I’m like, yo, the fight continues.”

The two have performed at more than 75 colleges and universities across the country.

Their work includes a performance and often workshops and other interactive events, all meant to spark conversation about our world, the people in it, and how we can best interact with them.

Since they’ve been taking Mending Masculinity on the road, DiVirgilio said they have seen more people open to having those difficult discussions and listening to those around them.

Those changes have come more with younger generations, and the duo still hopes to reach more men with the discussions.

“They’re becoming comfortable with their emotions and their vulnerability,” DiVirgilio said about young men he’s encountered through their work. “There’s nothing more manly than being vulnerable, having the courage to be vulnerable.”

While the poetry and the discussions carry some weight, DiVirgilio said the program is not an uptight lecture or stiff presentation. They bring a dynamic quality and humor to their performance. “We talk about some heavy topics. But we’re super silly on stage,” he said. “We’re very honest and vulnerable. If you come in there with an open mind and an open heart … you’re going to have an amazing time.” a

MENDING MASCULINITY: SPOKEN WORD TOUR Feb. 8., 7 p.m.

University of Tulsa - Tyrrell Hall 800 S. Tucker Dr. February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

onstage

Connecting the dots

Pointillism and performance intersect in ‘Sunday in the Park with George’

by ALICIA CHESSER ATKIN

T

he musical gesture opening Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George” is a prismatic arpeggio that ripples like the upswing of a paintbrush, culminating in a single bright note that leads into the musical’s first words, spoken by the 19th-century French painter Georges Seurat: “White. A blank page or canvas. The challenge: bring order to the whole. Through design, composition, tension, balance, light, and”—as the chord resolves—“harmony.”

The real Seurat’s famous style, called pointillism, depends on the mystery of connection that happens somewhere between dots of color on a canvas and the human eye. Sondheim, a legendary figure in musical theater, takes that mystery of connection as deep as it goes.

“It’s layer upon layer upon layer,” said director Meghan Hurley, who noted that the 1984 musical’s intimidating reputation might be one reason it has never been produced in Tulsa until now.

American Theater Company, for which Hurley serves as executive director, takes on the task with a cast of 17, a live orchestra, custom-made costumes, sets, and lighting design, and a massive scrim that will feature shifting projections throughout the show.

Sondheim’s acidly funny, heady, heartwrenching musical (recently revived on Broadway with Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role) is a work of art about “the art of making art,” in the words of its best-known song, “Putting It Together.” In the first act, the audience looks through the eyes of Seurat at the figures in his gigantic painting-in-progress, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island

THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

Sam Briggs steps into the role of legendary Georges Seurat in American Theatre Company’s production of “Sunday in the Park with George.” | ANDREW NICHOLS

of La Grand Jatte,” famously featured in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Simultaneously, the figures find their own voices and look, mostly with disdain, back at him.

In Act Two, another George, Seurat’s great-grandson, battles cynicism and cocktail trays as he shows his experimental art among a 1980s New York elite that’s already jaded by his previous efforts.

Throughout the show, the artist’s relationship with his art pushes against his relationships with other people, particularly Dot, his lover and model (whose name itself plays on Seurat’s pointillist technique). A repeated refrain of frustration—“connect, George, connect!”—puts us inside the difficult mind of a man who can easily connect to color and light but not always to feeling and loving.

“This show is not easy.

Dramatically and musically it’s

huge,” said Sam Briggs, who tackles the daunting role of the two Georges, originally played by Mandy Patinkin, a part he said has been on the top of his dream list for a long time. “I think what I'm taking away most from George right now is the sheer force of concentration and focus it takes to create as an artist. You have to commit to the process.

You have to show up. And, I think he's constantly reminding me that it's alright to ‘go there,’ ‘create there.’ Don't be afraid.”

Just as in the canvas that inspired the musical, there’s a lot going on onstage. Even the dogs in the painting have a voice: Georges imagines them discussing their everyday lives in one of the show’s funniest songs, “A Day Off.” (“With splinters in your ass, you look forward to the grass on Sunday,” sings one whose master is the mean captain of a garbage boat.)

“It’s a directorial challenge,” Hurley said. “We’re in this park and there are 20 different things going on. Where is the focus? At the same time, there are simple words sung that will cut you to the core.”

It’s truly an ensemble production all the way through the creative team, Hurley said. “For instance, Ed Durnal, the lighting designer, says his instructor at NYU Tisch taught him to ‘paint with light.’ He’s doing that, while the music is painting this masterpiece, these simple chords that repeat themselves, so that by the end of each act’s finale, they’re combined together to create this huge effect.”

For artists and audience both, “Sunday in the Park with George” is a master class in musical theater, a gorgeously crafted journey that’s not afraid to go all the way to the edges of the emotional landscape.

“Theater is a way to connect with ourselves again,” Hurley explained. “This show is written so that the songs come directly out of the conversations, the arguments. That’s Sondheim in a nutshell. I told the actors, it’s OK if your voice cracks! I care about your connection to the emotion of the songs. Showing emotion is so much a part of what makes us human.

“Theater is not just ‘sit back, relax, enjoy the show,’” she said.

“It can also be: sit up and take notice. I think this show is a good blend of both.” a

“SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE” Feb. 15–24 Liddy Doenges Theater / PAC 110 E. 2nd St. Tickets at tulsapac.com ARTS & CULTURE // 33

sportsreport

Russellmania

The Thunder have gone full Westbrook—and it’s good

by MATT CARNEY

W

hen I worked at the newspaper in Oklahoma City, I’d play basketball sometimes with Thunder beat reporters. It was dope. They knew stuff about the team they’d often just hint at in their reporting, but let loose in between pickup games, when the sweat and endorphins got up.

Every so often, former Thunder forward Desmond Mason would come around too. By then it’d been 15 years since he won the NBA Dunk Contest with the SuperSonics, but he was still a monster. For our sakes, Dez would play at about 13 percent of his capacity, which was enough to completely overwhelm us schlubby guys with office jobs.

Once I sprinted directly into his right ass cheek, which he very cannily stuck out in perfect time to screen for his teammate, whom I was defending. I wound up on the ground, he wound up grinning on his way back to play defense. It was an honor.

I bring Dez up because he’d talk too. One thing he said that always stuck with me was that his college basketball days at Oklahoma State were his favorite because his teammates played to win every night. He didn’t fi nd the same level of intensity in the NBA. Guys there were all talented, he said, but too many of them were collecting paychecks and not enough played to win.

This lack of enthusiasm that Dez described is not a problem for this year’s Thunder team.

Their preferred style of play— dunk fi nishes on fast breaks, suplexing opposing power forwards for rebounds, and betting the house on momentum-swinging steals and blocks—thrives in its own chaos. We’ve gone full Westbrook, and it’s good. (I’m sorry, but if you don’t like the

34 // ARTS & CULTURE

MIDSEASON REPORT CARD A DA M S DIALLO FERGUSON GR ANT WESTBROOK

violent, damaging way that Russ and his team play basketball, then maybe you should get into something less exciting, like railing cocaine in between motorcycle stunts, or picking knife fights at CIA black sites.)

And crucially, while this Thunder team most resembles the playing style of Russell Westbrook III, its offense isn’t completely dependent on his usage the way that scrappy and delightfully flawed first post-Kevin Durant team was a few seasons back. Paul George has made himself into the rare ego-checked superstar, content to be the best player on a roster that doesn’t necessarily belong to him, and backup point guard acquisition Dennis Schröder has settled comfortably into Oklahoma City’s usage pecking order, hounding

opposing guards on the perimeter when he shares the court with Westbrook and keeping the offense afloat when Russ rests.

George in particular has been playing out of his mind this season. In the theater of modern NBA basketball—the league’s heavy marketing of its superstars and emphasis on eye-popping statistical production has reached the level of burlesque spectacle— he’s become a premier leading man, making 20 shot attempts a game look easy and forcing opposing turnovers seemingly at will.

Shipping out a late-career Carmelo Anthony in the offseason to free up minutes for the springier Jerami Grant was the last step for the Thunder to form an honest-to-god identity—that rare

agreement of talent, coaching, and management that can elude NBA franchises for years, even decades.

Unfortunately, part of that identity is not consistently making shots. Coming off a September knee surgery, Russ’s shooting start to the season’s been particularly sluggish (a career-low free throw percentage and an abysmal 25 percent from three), leaving the Thunder in the middle of the pack in offensive rating.

But the floor beneath Westbrook’s shooting woes is firm.

The Thunder’s starting lineup draws a ton of fouls, rebounds like a pack of demons, and are among the NBA’s elite in defensive rating. Opponents who lack a top-tier ball handler often don’t even bother testing Steven Adams’ pick-and-roll defense, for fear that Adams or one of his long-armed teammates will pop the ball loose for an easy transition bucket. And this year’s bench is deep with versatile players ready to contribute. The return of a healthy Andre Roberson, meanwhile, would present an interesting wrinkle for Billy Donovan’s coaching staff to smooth.

It doesn’t feel crazy to have confidence that the former MVP’s shooting will come around. The question now is whether or not the Thunder’s bruising, tireless style can propel them deep into the playoffs after last year’s disappointing first-round exit courtesy of the Utah Jazz.

Having watched every game so far this season, this Thunder team passes my eye test. I doubt that the Warriors’ All-Star starting lineup can be stopped by natural means, but this team at least looks like they’re capable of fucking them up pretty bad in a second-round series or conference fi nals. There’s enough to hope for the best here.

February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

WHAT TO WATCH STEVEN ADAMS’ FLEXIBILITY. Watch this man defend in the pick and roll. His fingers scrape along the court.

Every season he adds something new to his game, incrementally making the Harden look at least, ah, defensible?

Maybe that isn’t the word. Anyway, Steven Adams is a legit NBA bruiser and the All-Star Game would be softer without him.

WESTBROOK’S “ROCK THE BABY” TAUNT. Love it. He’s a new father. It’s funny and clever. Also the ongoing stream-of-consciousness arguments he picks fresh each night with the referees makes great theater.

TERRANCE FERGUSON’S QUICK TRIGGER. He gets his shot up fast and confidently enough to be a problem for playoff defenses. The second-year pro from Tulsa shot 46 percent from three in January, and he’s plugged in so nicely for the defense-first Andre Roberson that Roberson’s return integration to the lineup (should it even happen this season) presents a tough decision for the Thunder braintrust.

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JERAMI GRANT’S SHOOTING. Here’s a stat: Grant’s shooting a smidge better (nearly 37 percent) from three so far this season than Anthony did last season (nearly 36 percent).

Billy Donovan could juice the Thunder offense in the playoffs by playing small ball lineups with the freakishly athletic Grant at center, something he did in spots last season.

WHO IN THE NBA IS HAVING MORE FUN RIGHT NOW THAN HAMI DIALLO? You’re 20 years old, come out of the NBA Draft’s second round, crack the rotation of a contender, and now you’re throwing down transition dunks two nights a week on one of the NBA’s most hype home courts. No wonder these guys don’t hang around in college anymore.

REMEMBER WHEN THE THUNDER WERE RELYING ON QUALITY BACKUP MINUTES FROM NAZR MOHAMMED? Nerlens Noel is way outperforming a cheap contract, flushing pick-and-roll dunks from Schröder and protecting the bucket from second-team scorers to the tune of 3.7 blocks per 36 minutes. a THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

ARTS & CULTURE // 35

bookworm

Back to the land

Pulitzer finalist Margaret Verble talks ‘Cherokee America’

by CASSIDY MCCANTS

M

argaret Verble, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, was born in Muskogee County, raised in Nashville, and now lives in Lexington, Kentucky. Her first novel, “Maud’s Line,” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016. Verble will visit Magic City Books in Tulsa on Feb. 19 to celebrate the release of her second novel, “Cherokee America,” a prequel to “Maud’s Line.” Both novels are set in Oklahoma, where much of Verble’s family still lives.

Verble talked with me about both books, Native issues today and of the past, and the combination of struggle and luck inevitable in a successful writing career.

culture—I don’t find it that interesting. And I’m not interested in writing about the future, so the only thing left to me was the past.

MCCANTS: I’ve seen “Cherokee America” described as a comic story. What kind of tone can we expect in this prequel?

VERBLE: The novel is comic in two ways: one, in a sort of Aristotelian way, in that things sort of work out in the end. Second, it’s sort of funny. I think every Indian I’ve ever been around is funny, and it’s my nature to prefer humor.

The novel is about serious things, but you can write comically about serious things and make your point just as well.

MCCANTS: Could you talk a little about Cherokee America Singer, or Check—what was the inspiration for this “Cherokee America” protagonist?

CASSIDY MCCANTS: Hi, Margaret.

Looking forward to having you in Tulsa. When’s the last time you were in the state?

Novelist Margaret Verble reads at Magic City Books on Feb. 19 | MARK KIDD STUDIOS

MARGARET VERBLE: August, I think. I’m there once or twice a year, at least.

MCCANTS: You do have family in Muskogee, and “Maud’s Line” is set in that same area of Oklahoma, right?

VERBLE: I do. Both novels are set on that same land.

MCCANTS: So “Maud’s Line” is set in 1928, on an allotment, and “Cherokee America” is set in 1875. Before Oklahoma was Oklahoma. What made you choose these particular time periods for the novels?

VERBLE: Well, I actually wrote “Cherokee America” before I wrote “Maud’s Line.” It got 36 // ARTS & CULTURE

turned down a lot. It was too Indian. Indians are hot right now, but at the time nobody would buy a book about Indians. And nobody would buy a [first novel] that had a lot of characters in it.

This notion of one major character that rises above, that’s a real white notion. It’s antithetical to the way Indians think about things. I was told, if you’re gonna write a first novel, you need to center it on one character and follow that character through.

So I wrote “Maud’s Line,” and I had to set it in a low point in the history of the tribe—the 1920s, after the allotments, when the tribe virtually didn’t even have a chief. The whole idea of the allotments, other than the idea of statehood, was the idea

that we’re gonna make these people white—and after all the original enrollees die, there will be no more Cherokees. Young people were [struggling] with not having a tribe. So it was a good time to set a novel about an individual. Also, 1927 is a year that has been extensively written about, which gave me a good idea about 1928.

MCCANTS: It’s interesting that your first impulse was to write about the late 19th century—did historical fiction come naturally to you?

VERBLE: I don’t know if it comes naturally to me, but it does not come naturally to me to write about the times in which we live.

I don’t follow a lot of popular

VERBLE: She’s based on a real-life person named Cherokee America Rogers. … She’s buried in the Citizens Cemetery outside of Fort Gibson, which used to be the old Cherokee National Cemetery.

She’s got a beautiful headstone. I stumbled across it when I was in my early 20s—I was visiting [the grave of] my grandfather. I told my grandmother I had run across this wonderful name, Cherokee America Rogers, and she laughed, said, “You found Aunt Check.”

Aunt Check had given [my Grandma’s] father and his brother work and a place to live when they came to Indian Territory as orphans of the Civil War. Through the years I tried to find out more about her.

It was difficult because part of our family is one of these Rogers families, the one that produced Will Rogers. I assumed we were blood February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

kin to her, but that didn’t turn out to be true. It took me years to track that down.

MCCANTS: I wondered how much your personal experiences, family stories, affect your writing. It sounds like you did a lot of reading and research, but it also sounds like you’ve got lines of history that inform your work.

VERBLE: Well, I did do a lot of reading and research. I did that for decades, but I’m very familiar with the land on which these novels are set. I roamed it all the time as a child. When I was growing up and on into my college years, the Army Corps of Engineers was stealing the gravel out of the Arkansas River bend, when they dredged that river to make Tulsa a seaport. The gravel belonged to the Cherokees and the Chickasaws. They were stealing it in big trucks going down our section line. My mother’s first cousin was the tribal attorney— he was suing the United States government for doing that, and he won that case. The money he

won is what laid the foundation for the modern Cherokee Nation.

So I got a pretty good dose of the injustices that were going on.

MCCANTS: This brings me to the Supreme Court’s Carpenter v. Murphy case—I think this brought to light, for people who beforehand had never considered it, the idea of whether or not Oklahoma really deserved its statehood. I’m curious about your thoughts on this.

VERBLE: You know, I am not qualified to answer that. Indian law and treaty law [are] very complicated. I don’t think there’s any doubt the allotments and the statehood—that’s well-established crime. What went on at the time of allotment—it was awful, and in my opinion, as a Cherokee, should not have happened. But I imagine Oklahoma will continue to be a state.

MCCANTS: You’ve written about how luck is key in this field, but reading your story—you endured cancer while trying to put out

your first book—it sounds like you’ve just worked really hard. Do you still believe luck is crucial?

VERBLE: I think luck is really important. But a lot of people don’t realize that if you’re gonna be a successful writer, [you] have to learn a craft. They start writing sentences when they’re in grade school, and they keep writing papers in college, so they think they’re writers. Writing fiction is entirely different. You have to really work to learn it. I’m still learning every day. But there are an awful lot of people who work like dogs [at] it, and they don’t get any breaks. For everybody who’s successful, there’s a lot of people that didn’t get their break.

Or they got it and didn’t move on it. You can’t just sit back, say, I don’t know, I’ve got cancer, yadda yadda—a break comes along, you’ve got to take it, and that’s what I did. But there are many people who are really good writers [and] never get good breaks, so it’s a lot of luck. That’s true of everything. We gotta work hard, but we all have to have help, and we all

have to have some lucky breaks.

MCCANTS: I think in a way that’s encouraging and in a way kind of puts you on edge, wondering when and if those breaks might come. In wrapping up, do you have any tips for writers who are struggling or afraid—first steps to getting stories on the page?

VERBLE: Well, I believe that if you’re gonna write fiction—I think most young writers start out trying to fictionalize their own lives. I think that’s necessary for young writers. Then it needs to be put in a drawer and not looked at again.

MCCANTS: [Laughs] That’s a perfect practical first step. Thank you for speaking with me, Margaret.

VERBLE: You’re welcome. Take care. a

“CHEROKEE AMERICA” WITH PULITZER FINALIST MARGARET VERBLE Tues. Feb. 19, 7 p.m.

Magic City Books (221 E. Archer St.)

BOK CENTER February 18 TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT TICKETMASTER.COM

: ANOTHER BEAVER PRODUCTION : THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

ARTS & CULTURE // 37

THE RESURRECTION OF BLACK WALL STREET Feb. 8–10, $10–$20 John H. Williams Theatre – Tulsa PAC

COURTESY

This new play by Rebecca Marks Jimerson and Henry Primeaux and produced by Tulsa Project Theatre is based on childhood memories of Greenwood from Tulsa Race Massacre survivor Lassie Benningfield Randle. tulsaprojecttheatre.com

MUSIC

Horton Records’ fundraiser for The Oklahoma Room at Folk Alliance International will feature more than two-dozen artists, including Levi Parham, Kalyn Fay, Wink Burcham, and Jared Tyler.

Feb. 8–10, $10–$30, Soul City, hortonrecords.org

GIFTS

Mother Road Market’s SweetheART Show will feature Valentine’s gifts from ten local artists.

Feb. 9–10, motherroadmarket.com

ON STAGE

ART

A small but brave cast will perform the Bard’s entire catalog in just one night (to farcical and hilarious results) in “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [Abridged].” Feb. 8–17, $13–$18, Broken Arrow Community Playhouse, bacptheatre.com

Philbrook Museum of Art’s exhibition Making Modern America will include works from 1900 to 1960 exploring a range of social, political, and environmental responses to the rise of American industry. Feb. 10– May 26, philbrook.org

PERFORMANCE

FILM

Spoken word artists Kavie Ade and Vision perform pieces that explore masculinity and the toxicity of gendered binaries in a patriarchal world in Mending Masculinity. See pg. 32. Feb. 8, Tyrrell Hall University of Tulsa, humanities.utulsa.edu

The inaugural Crash Landed Independent Film and Science Fiction Festival will feature three days of movies, speakers, authors, artists, music, and vendors in the East Village District. Feb. 15–17, crash-landed.com

38 // ARTS & CULTURE

February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

BEST OF THE REST EVENTS

Works by Mery McNett // 2/7-28, Dennis R Neill Equality Center, okeq.org

Oklahoma Author: Constance Squires // 2/6, Magic City Books, magiccitybooks.com

Whose Line Rip-Off Show // 2/8, Rabbit Hole Improv, rabbitholeimprov.com

Crissle West // 2/7, Rudisill Regional Library, tulsalibrary.org/aarc

Sondra Slade, Jyl Johnson, Tom King, Laura Christian, Lauren Turner // 2/8, The ReVue, therevuetulsa.com

Til Death Do Us Inn Haunted Attraction // 2/8-16, Psycho Path Haunted Attraction, psychopathhaunt.com

Busted! // 2/9, Rabbit Hole Improv, rabbitholeimprov.com

Black History Celebration // 2/9, Chimera Cafe, chimeratulsa.com Tulsa Women’s Living Expo // 2/9-10, River Spirit Expo - Expo Square, womenslivingexpo.com Black Wall Street Exchange // 2/10, Greenwood Cultural Center, greenwoodculturalcenter.com Families: Given & Chosen w/ Brandon Hobson and Robin Benway // 2/12, Central Library, tulsalibrary.org Think & Drink: Clean Energy // 2/14, Heirloom Rustic Ales, stemcelltulsa.com Mixed Signals: A Pro and Anti-Valentine’s Day Event // 2/15, Cabin Boys Brewery, cabinboysbrewery.com Leon Russell | COURTESY

LEON RUSSELL PIANO DEDICATION & TRIBUTE CONCERT Feb. 9, 2–5 p.m., $25–$50 Will Rogers High School, leonrussell.yapsody.com Music historian John Wooley will host the dedication of the restored 1938 Baldwin Piano Leon Russell played while enrolled as a student at Will Rogers High School. Paul Benjaman will lead a tribute concert featuring musicians who played and toured with Russell, and the event will also include interviews and memorabilia from Russell’s Church Studio collection.

VALENTINE’S

Celebrate all things romantic, sensual, naughty, and nice with poets, rappers, singers, and dancers at Living Arts’ annual Valentine’s show, Love & Lust.

Feb. 16, 8 p.m., $11–$15, livingarts.org

Tulsa Remodel and Landscape Show // 2/15-17, Cox Business Center, coxcentertulsa.com Vintage Tulsa Show // 2/15-19, Exchange Center - Expo Square, vintagetulsashow.com Darryl Starbird’s National Rod & Custom Show // 2/15-17, River Spirit Expo Expo Square, starbirdcarshows.com Luchatines // 2/16, Elote Cafe, elotetulsa.com

PERFORMING ARTS

The operatic adaptation of Anoine de SaintExupéry’s beloved book “The Little Prince” was composed by Oscar-winner Rachel Portman (“Emma,” “Chocolat”). Feb. 15 & 17, Chapman Music Hall, $35–$130, tulsaopera.com AUTHOR

Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Bill John Baker will introduce Pulitzer finalist Margaret Verble to discuss her new novel, “Cherokee America.” See pg. 36 for more information. Feb. 19, 7 p.m., Magic City Books, magiccitybooks.com THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

Chris Killian // 2/13-16, Loony Bin, loonybincomedy.com Comedy Open Mic // 2/13, VFW Post 577, facebook.com/ vfwcomedyopenmic Jeff Dunham // 2/14, BOK Center, bokcenter.com Valentine’s Hipnosis w/ Michael Mayo // 2/14, Elm Street Pub, facebook.com/ elmstreetpub Dating Before The Internet // 2/14-16, Rabbit Hole Improv, rabbitholeimprov.com Love & Laugh w/ Andre Price // 2/16, Aloft Tulsa, facebook.com/ v2entandmgmt

SPORTS ORU Women’s Basketball vs Denver // 2/6, Mabee Center, oruathletics.com TU Women’s Basketball vs SMU // 2/6, Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane.com Harlem Globetrotters // 2/7, BOK Center, bokcenter.com ORU Men’s Basketball vs Denver // 2/7, Mabee Center, oruathletics.com USA BMX Sooner Nationals // 2/8-10, Expo Square, usabmx.com

Concerts with Commentary: Love Songs and Dances // 2/7, Lorton Performance Center, utulsa.edu

Ancient Trail Trek // 2/9, Keystone Ancient Forest, runsignup.com

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike // 2/8-16, Muskogee Little Theatre, muskogeelittletheatre.com

TU Men’s Basketball vs Temple // 2/9, Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane.com

Second Sunday Serials // 2/10, Agora Event Center, hellertheatreco.com

TU Women’s Basketball vs Tulane // 2/10, Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane.com

Eurydice // 2/14-17, Kendall Hall University of Tulsa, utulsa.edu Breaking Good // 2/15-16, Van Trease PACE, signaturesymphony.org The Vagina Monologues // 2/16, Chimera Cafe, vspot.vday.org

OPERA

The Roast of Roy Johnson // 2/10, Loony Bin, loonybincomedy.com

Jersey Boys // 2/18, Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center, brokenarrowpac.com

COMEDY Shang // 2/6, Loony Bin, loonybincomedy.com Comedy Open Mic // 2/6, VFW Post 577, facebook.com/ vfwcomedyopenmic Roast Battle w/ Shawn Singleton, Danielle Balletto, David Jordan, Chris Carter, Jonathan Nickson, Brian Joseph, Laura Cook, Terrell Norton // 2/7, Renaissance Brewing Company, renaissancebeer.com

Tulsa Oilers vs Wichita Thunder // 2/15, BOK Center, tulsaoilers.com ORU Baseball vs Murray State // 2/15, J.L. Johnson Stadium, oruathletics.com Tulsa Oilers vs Worcester Railers // 2/16, BOK Center, tulsaoilers.com Sweetheart Run // 2/16, Fleet Feet Blue Dome, fleetfeettulsa.com ORU Baseball vs Murray State // 2/16, J.L. Johnson Stadium, oruathletics.com Tulsa Oilers vs Worcester Railers // 2/17, BOK Center, tulsaoilers.com ORU Baseball vs Murray State // 2/17, J.L. Johnson Stadium, oruathletics.com ORU Baseball vs Missouri State // 2/17, J.L. Johnson Stadium, oruathletics.com ARTS & CULTURE // 39

musicnotes

Singer-songwriter Kalyn Fay explores home and heartbreak on ‘Good Company.’ | JUSTIN RUCKER

Oklahoma reverie Kalyn Fay finds closure with her new album

by DAMION SHADE

K

alyn Fay’s sophomore album, Good Company, is rooted firmly in the present. The 28-year-old Cherokee songwriter has moved past the heady spiritual questions that dominated her 2016 debut, Bible Belt, and now she’s just trying to figure out what the word ‘home’ means.

The cover of Good Company features a polaroid of Fay next to the lake by her parents’ house in Verdigris, brushing the hair away from her face under a grey-blue sky. A storm is coming. The dark trees behind her bend in the wind.

Depending on your first impression of the photo, she seems either very tired or very calm.

There’s a softness and focus in the tone of the picture which matches the feel of the music on this new record. The songs are steeped in the past three years of Fay’s life, revealed in brief imagistic flashes, like a dream. Good 40 // MUSIC

Company marks the end of part of Fay’s life. She’s not the same person anymore.

The album was recorded live to tape at Fellowship Hall Sound in Arkansas. This studio has become a mainstay for singer-songwriters in recent years, home to recordings by notable Oklahoma performers like John Moreland, John Calvin Abney, and Lauren Barth, to name a few.

Fay’s band recorded the album in just three days with a list of remarkable players. Jesse Aycock is on lap steel and electric keys, and he also mixed and produced the project. Cooper Waugh plays lead guitar; John Fullbright adds some keys; Bo Hallford plays bass; and Paddy Ryan rounds the album out on drums and percussion. The cumulative effect is a record which pushes closer to the rock side of Fay’s folk-rock formulation.

Good Company is a gentle indie

folk-rock record, but the drums and pulsing bass riffs still push many of the songs. Fay’s voice is smoky but melodic. There’s a more direct pop sensibility to the placement of her alto voice in the mix of these tracks. The sweetness of her voice is on full display in these live performances. Fay credits Jessie Aycock’s production choices as a big inspiration in this musical direction.

“I write most of my songs sitting alone with my acoustic guitar,” Fay said. “Jessie sees music so differently from most people. I feel like his perspective really contributed to this record. He’ll take a random chord or an odd change in a song and get the whole band to focus on it and turn it into something really interesting.”

The production on this record is warm and muted. You can hear the analog texture of the tape and the room. Much of the sonic

direction on Good Company was inspired by the work of Canadian singer songwriter Doug Paisley.

His 2010 folk record Constant Companion was what Fay gave the band as a template when they first started working out the new songs. The band had to work quickly to generate this sound.

The recording sessions for the album were 10 to 15 hours a day for two days. On day three she and the band overdubbed parts.

Their ability to craft an album this pretty and musically dense so quickly is a testament to the talent of these players.

The rich production on Good Company mostly serves as a backdrop to Fay’s topical songwriting and plainspoken imagery. The topic here is Fay’s life, and the incident that occasioned these songs is Fay growing up. She tells that story with simple images: the Arkansas River and smokestacks, February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

pale moonlight and the Oklahoma hills. The album’s opening track begins with Fay singing: “Staring out the window of this beat up old Camry wondering how I get anywhere at all and I’ve been working really hard but the money don’t come easy So I’m looking for a new job in the fall...

I’m getting tired of these of all these flashing TVs, the flicker of my iPhone screen.”

while writing towards this record.

“I knew that he and I weren’t good for each other, but it was like we’d known each other for so long and been in each other’s lives so long I couldn’t imagine living without him,” she said. “I couldn’t let it go. When I finished making this record, though, I honestly feel like I’d left all of those things behind me. I’m ready to move on.”

On one of the album’s strongest tracks, “Fools Heartbreak,”

Fay explores the challenges of moving on: “Feels like I’ve been working hard but I’m not sure what for.

What’s the point of fighting if you don’t want the war.

So I’ve been thinking on redemption I could use a glimpse of grace because you’ve been on my mind oh God every single day.”

She paints an honest picture

of herself here: a workaholic 20-something stuck between past relationships and an uncertain future. With Good Company, Kayln Fay has managed to peel back the curtain of expectations and demands that shaped her identity, and to simply be herself. a

KAYLN FAY GOOD COMPANY RELEASE SHOW Sat. Feb 16, 8 p.m.

The Colony, 2809 S. Harvard Ave.

In the next verse Fay describes a conversation with a friend who dreams of fi nding a husband and starting a big family. Fay responds simply: “I’d rather not.” Here Fay treats marriage and family like another job, another identity that doesn’t seem to fit in a way that’s exhausting. Lonesome lovers and limitless highways are the images that persist in these songs.

On her second album, Kalyn Fay seems to be looking at her life in Oklahoma without the lens of her parents’ mythology. Her earlier music was often lively with the metaphor and language of her father’s Cherokee traditions or her mother’s Christian faith, but this album isn’t about the past. Good Company is Fay’s attempt to let go of a bunch of former selves and embrace the person she’s become.

Through these 11 tracks Fay is a feminist, a cynical romantic, an artist, and sometimes she’s a person who wants nothing more miraculous than friends.

The past few years of her life have required a lot of growth.

Fay and her family have had to confront some serious challenges.

“Last year was really tough …

My dad was hospitalized for high blood pressure, and the treatment they gave him was like chemotherapy. It weakened his immune system pretty badly. So he got meningitis. It was definitely rough seeing him struggling, but now he’s doing better,” Fay said. “That situation was really terrible, but it brought me a lot of clarity. Going through all of this really made it clear who the people are who really care. There’s the family you’re born with and the people who prove they’re your family over time.”

Fay also ended a relationship she described as pretty unhealthy THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

MUSIC // 41

musiclistings Wed // Feb 6 Cabin Boys Brewery – Gypsy & Me Cellar Dweller – Grazz Trio Duet – Green Country Youth Jazz Ensemble Fundraiser – ($10) Juicemaker Lounge – Jared Tyler, Seth Lee Jones, Jake Lynn, & Casey Vanbeek – ($5) Mercury Lounge – Beau Roberson Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Eicher Wednesday w/ Travis Fite, Monica Taylor – ($10) River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Travis Fite Soundpony – 2 Litty Show w/ Mr. Burns, KG, Showstopper, Mike Da Don The Colony – Tom Skinner Science Project w/ Robert Hoefling

Thurs // Feb 7 Bad Ass Renee’s – The Salesman, Ghost Cities, The Noise Estate, ESC CTRL Blackbird on Pearl – Zac Wenzel Duet – Shelby Eicher Quartet – ($5) Juicemaker Lounge – All-Star Jam w/ Bobby Moffett, Malachi Jacob Burgess, and Tori Ruffin Mercury Lounge – Paul Benjaman Moose Lodge #862 – Don Morris & Mike Peace River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – DJ 2Legit Sisserou’s – Booker Gillespie Trio Soul City – Don & Steve White Soundpony – DJ Chicken Strip The Colony – Jacob Tovar’s Western Night The Hunt Club – Brandon Clark

Fri // Feb 8 American Legion Post 308 – Valentine’s Dance w/ Joe Harris Blackbird on Pearl – Tennessee Jet – ($10) BOK Center – Kelly Clarkson – ($22-$96) Bull & Bear Tavern – The Dirtboxwailers Dead Armadillo Brewery – Matt Sanders Dennis R Neill Equality Center – Love Wins Silent Disco Duet – Michael Fields Jr. Sextet – ($10) Fassler Hall – Dilla Day w/ Darku J Flyloft – Ensemble Pamplemousse IDL Ballroom – Rico Act & Friends – ($15-$20) Juicemaker Lounge – Fly City DJs Mercury Lounge – Deltaphonic Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – At the End of the Night…Singers vs Poets – ($10) Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – *Dope Patrol, Destro, Carlton Hesston River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Jesse Joice River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Travis Fite Soul City – Susan Herndon Soundpony – Afistaface The Colony – Dane Arnold & The Soup, And Then Came Humans – ($5) The Colony – Adrienne Gilley - Happy Hour The Hunt Club – Ben Neikirk Band The Max Retropub – DJ Kylie The Vanguard – Dischordia, Lucid Awakening, Disparity Gospel – ($10) The Venue Shrine – Flavio Cutatore Valentine’s Show w/ Keeng Cut, Steph Simon, Dialtone – ($10-$25) Woody Guthrie Center – Scott Mulvahill, Stephen Day – (SOLD OUT)

Sat // Feb 9 Bad Ass Renee’s – BlackThorne Elite, Alterblood, Perseus, Gadgets Sons – ($5) Blackbird on Pearl – Calliope Musicals, Pearl Earl, Zunis – ($7) 42 // MUSIC

Blue Rose Café – Ronnie Pyle BOK Center – Elton John – (SOLD OUT) Chimera Cafe – Black History Celebration w/ Keeng Cut – ($5) Duet – Leon Rollerson – ($12) Jumpin J’s – G-Force Mercury Lounge – *Gum, Helen Kelter Skelter MixCo – Feelers Open Container – Grazz Trio Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – The March Divide River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Sugarpill River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Jacob Tobey Soundpony – High & Tight Spinster Records – Girls Club, Sylvia Wrath The Colony – American Shadows, The Shelter People – ($5) The Hunt Club – Bandelier The Max Retropub – DJ AB The Vanguard – The Odyssey EP release w/ Manta Rays, Future Tapes, New Time Zones – ($10) The Venue Shrine – Holotafest w/ Killing Katie, Razorwire Halo, Murderous Mary, Thirteenx, Arjuna, Spook, Dixie Wrecked, Zen Hipster, Fist of Rage – ($10) The Willows Family Ales – Roger Jaeger Tulsa Air and Space Museum – The Cynthia Simmons Trio: Live at the Planetarium – ($15) Will Rogers High School – Leon Russell Piano Dedication & Tribute Concert – ($25-$50)

Sun // Feb 10 BOK Center – Winter Jam – ($15) East Village Bohemian Pizzeria – Mike Cameron Collective Mercury Lounge – Brandon Clark River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Brent Giddens Soul City – Blues Brunch w/ Dustin Pittsley & Friends Soul City – Bruner & Eicher The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing The Colony – Singer Songwriter Open Mic Matinee w/ David Hernandez The Hunt Club – Preslar Monthly Music Showcase The Starlite – The Saddest Music in the World w/ Liz Greuel, Jillian Holzbauer, Hector Ultreras, Eric Strauss The Vanguard – Embracer, Tell Lies, Cicadia – ($10)

Mon // Feb 11 BOK Center – Travis Scott – ($27-$130) Hodges Bend – Brian Haas, Matt Edwards, Alex Massa, and Mike Cameron Mercury Lounge – Chris Blevins Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – Chris Foster River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Travis Kidd Soundpony – Black Magic Flower Power, Acid Queen The Colony – Seth Lee Jones

Tues // Feb 12 Juicemaker Lounge – Faye and Bobby Moffett – ($5) Mercury Lounge – Wink Burcham Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – The Tuesday Night Show w/ Evan Hughes, Dismondj, Afistaface River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Faye Moffett The Colony – Dane Arnold & The Soup The Colony – Deerpaw - Happy Hour

Wed // Feb 13 Bad Ass Renee’s – BKR, Lights of Alora, Omni Zero, RivalEmpire Cellar Dweller – Grazz Trio Duet – Collective Improvisation w/ Chris Combs IDL Ballroom – Saxon – ($25) Juicemaker Lounge – Jared Tyler, Seth Lee Jones, Jake Lynn, & Casey Vanbeek – ($5) Mercury Lounge – Beau Roberson Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Eicher Wednesday – ($10) River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Travis Fite Soundpony – DJ Noname The Colony – Tom Skinner Science Project The Vanguard – Guys on a Bus, CÆZAR, Kat Lock, All for More – ($10) The Venue Shrine – The Iceman Special – (-$10)

Thurs // Feb 14 Duet – Annie Ellicott – (SOLD OUT) Hard Rock Casino - The Joint – The Commodores – ($29.50-$49.50) Mercury Lounge – Paul Benjaman Moose Lodge #862 – Don Morris & Mike Peace Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – Rozlyn Zora, Mandias, Lauryn Hardiman River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – DJ 2Legit River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove – Styx – ($55-$349) Soul City – The Begonias Soundpony – Lyrical Smoke w/ Rachel Bachman, Damion Shade, Afistaface The Colony – Jacob Tovar’s Western Night The Hunt Club – Zene Smith The Max Retropub – DJ Moody The Willows Family Ales – Happy S.A.D. w/ Casii Stephan

Fri // Feb 15 American Legion Post 308 – American Strings Bull & Bear Tavern – Disco Slice Cabin Boys Brewery – Nightingale Cain’s Ballroom – Young the Giant, Sure Sure – (SOLD OUT) Dead Armadillo Brewery – Morningstar & Wadsworth Duet – Ashlee Elmore – ($10) Hard Rock Casino - Track 5 – Sammy Kershaw IDL Ballroom – Liquid Stranger, LSDream, Champagne Drip, G-Rex, Lucii – ($25-$30) Jumpin J’s – The Without Warning Band, TC Love, Oklahoma Alibi Mercury Lounge – The Trapps River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Brent Giddens River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Chris Hyde Soul City – Susan Herndon Soundpony – Nomad The Colony – Share the Love: Benefitting Iron Gate The Colony – Adrienne Gilley - Happy Hour The Hunt Club – Dante and the Hawks The Max Retropub – DJ Moody The Vanguard – Darku J – ($5) The Venue Shrine – Ben Miller Band, Trashcan Bandits – ($7-$10)

Sat // Feb 16 Bad Ass Renee’s – Mudd Flux Barkingham Palace – Yung Trunkz, Yung Halloween, Dylvn, Howell, Dick Lips (Blink 182 tribute) Blackbird on Pearl – Dustin Pittsley Band, The Scissortails – ($5) Cain’s Ballroom – Shane Smith & The Saints, BC & The Big Rig – ($15-$30)

Colorfeed A/V – Hey Judy, Plush, w/o Adjectives, Plush Duet – Bria Skonberg – ($35) Gathering Place – Hot Toast Lennie’s Club & Grill – Gear Dogz Mercury Lounge – Bringer, Oddfellas, Fabulous Minx MixCo – Christine Jude & The Gentlemen Callers Osage Casino Tulsa - Skyline Event Center – The Goo Goo Dolls, Better Than Ezra – (SOLD OUT) River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Zodiac River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Travis Kidd Soundpony – Pony Disco Club The Colony – Kalyn Fay Album Release w/ Paul Banjaman & Jacob Tovar – ($5) The Hunt Club – Hosty The Max Retropub – DJ AB The Vanguard – Maximus Spears, Alexis Onyango, EMRLD BOI, Wolf Ugly – ($10) The Venue Shrine – Let’s Zeppelin: A Tribute – ($10)

Sun // Feb 17 Bad Ass Renee’s – Mr. Burns, 24K Astall, Savvy Kray Micki Ronnae, Drag Dinero, Bille The Kid,, Joe Morey, GxThree, DJ Wallie Mayne Colorfeed A/V – Rei Clone, Plastic Psalms, My Heart and Liver are the Best of Friends, Imgunnadie – ($5) Hard Rock Casino - The Joint – Willie Nelson & Family – (SOLD OUT) Mercury Lounge – Brandon Clark River Spirit Casino – Brent Giddens Soul City – Blues Brunch w/ Dustin Pittsley & Friends Soul City – Bruner & Eicher Soundpony – Schwein, Geranium Drive, The Dull Drums The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing w/ Josh Westbrook The Colony – Singer Songwriter Open Mic Matinee w/ David Hernandez The Starlite – Input Outpout w/ Darku J, Ject, Beta Betamax The Vanguard – Tony MacAlpine, Jacky Vincent, LoNero – ($20)

Mon // Feb 18 BOK Center – James Taylor & His All-Star Band, Bonnie Raitt – ($68-$102) East Village Bohemian Pizzeria – Mike Cameron Collective Mercury Lounge – Chris Blevins Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – Chris Foster River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Travis Kidd Soundpony – Crimespree, Loose Wires, Radical Operations The Colony – Seth Lee Jones

Tues // Feb 19 Hodges Bend – Mike Cameron Collective Juicemaker Lounge – Faye and Bobby Moffett – ($5) Mercury Lounge – Wink Burcham Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams Rabbit Hole Bar & Grill – The Tuesday Night Show w/ Evan Hughes River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Faye Moffett The Colony – Dane Arnold & The Soup The Colony – Deerpaw - Happy Hour The Vanguard – Amarionette, SteelyFace – ($10)

February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

MUSIC // 43

onscreen

Melvin Gregg and Zazie Beetz in “High Flying Bird” | PETER ANDREWS

GAME CHANGER Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot in “ Cold War” | OPUS FILM

TORCH SONGS ‘Cold War’ is an elegant post-WWII romance

IN HIS FOLLOW-UP TO THE 2015 OSCARwinning film “Ida,” director Pawel Pawlikowski leaves behind the taciturn exploration of devotion and historical sin, drawing instead from his own parents’ love story.

And while the story of a nun uncovering a dark family secret certainly made his last film enthralling to follow, it ultimately felt too aloof. Pawlikowski and “Cold War” excels where “Ida” ultimately felt too rigid, in its celebration of a stormy romance set to the tune of traditional Polish folk songs.

And while the Polish filmmaker’s precise camerawork and formalism remain, it’s the mercurial romance between the two leads that makes “Cold War” a shot to the heart.

Set against the backdrop of Europe after World War II, the film opens with a protracted sequence of composer Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and companions traveling the Polish countryside, recording and gathering a compendium of traditional, peasant-style songs for what will soon become a traveling roadshow. These folk songs frequently entail the travails of broken hearts and tragic love—a beautifully composed primer on the chaotic, inward love story that follows.

Soon after Wiktor grows infatuated with Zula (Joanna Kulig), a protean peasant girl who wiles her way into an audition for a Polish folk singing troupe. The budding romance is passionate early on, a frequent respite from the rigorous song and dance routines they perform across Poland, yet as time marches on the troupe is pushed into performing more propagandistic material on bigger stages and for more Com44 // FILM & TV

munist-leaning dignitaries. The trajectory strains the already volatile relationship between composer and songstress. As their desires draw them closer, they’re torn apart by a choice that haunts them throughout the turbulent decade following the end of the war.

Zula and Wiktor’s love flowers in the blissful fields of Poland’s rural countryside.

It’s soon battered and provoked by the tempestuous storm immediately following the downfall of the Axis Powers. It wilts in the shadow of Soviet dominance and Communist rule over Poland, yet blossoms anew in the vibrant glow of the Parisian nightlife and jazz scene Wiktor flees to rather than play conductor to a Communist propaganda machine. It is put to the ultimate test when Wiktor choose love over freedom, both artistic and physical, in order to be with Zula.

Photographed in striking black and white by frequent collaborator Lukasz Zal, Pawlikowski commands every minute with gorgeous compositions that are assured and formalistic without ever feeling overly rigid. Joanna Kulig is arresting as the tumultuous Zula. Her portrayal a roiling, raw-nerve tour-de-force to Tomasz Kot’s perspicacious Wiktor.

A film so elegantly composed, so restrained, yet so slight and brief, has left this critic saying something not often said of today’s films and their overly bloated two hour-plus runtimes: “Cold War” left me longing for more in all the best possible ways. — CHARLES ELMORE

Soderbergh’s Netflix movie is better at tech than drama

FOR HIS ENTIRE CAREER, DIRECTOR Steven Soderbergh has been as much a revolutionary as a filmmaker. Now, perhaps even more so.

An industry disruptor from the start— his 1989 watershed “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” was a catalyst for independent cinema—Soderbergh refuses to coast on Oscar-winning success (“Traffic,” “Erin Brockovich”) or blockbuster hits (the “Ocean’s” trilogy).

Lately, however, he’s seemed more fascinated by process and form than by story.

Technology evolutions and testing distribution norms have driven Soderbergh’s recent work. “Logan Lucky” (2017) usurped studio marketing conventions (albeit to box office failure), then 2018’s “Unsane” made Soderbergh the first major filmmaker to shoot a movie entirely on an iPhone.

As with those two films, it’s Soderbergh’s behind-the-scenes experimentation that proves more interesting than the drama itself in “High Flying Bird,” his second iPhone feature and first to debut exclusively on Netflix on Feb. 8.

“High Flying Bird” follows Ray Burke (Andre Holland, “Moonlight”), a sports agent looking to shake-up the NBA power structure during a labor dispute lockout.

Burke, using his star No. 1 Draft Pick client as a pawn, challenges the league’s quasi-serfdom that, via million-dollar salaries, ends up owning most players’ long-term autonomy and volition.

Dynamics of money, power, and corruption are themes that Soderbergh has explored before—now laced with provocative parallels to real-world corporate racism—but here that mix feels like a familiar formula that Soderbergh autopilots through as he focuses on the tech he’s obsessed with.

The result is a labyrinth scheme that becomes a chore to track. But to Soderbergh’s credit, in terms of a high visual

quality achieved through low-tech gear and accessible software, “High Flying Bird” is substantially superior to the blurry blownout grit of “Unsane” from just one year ago.

This is a legitimate breakthrough.

“High Flying Bird” is the most advanced, substantial step forward we’ve seen yet in digital, democratized filmmaking. Its sharp, vibrant images were captured and produced on three iPhone 8s, the FiLMiC Pro app, the Moment 2X Tele lens, and the Moondog Labs 1.33x anamorphic adapter, all shot over a brisk two weeks with an initial rough cut completed in less than three hours. That is what makes this film exciting.

Thankfully, even as the story strains, there’s interesting character work from the cast—especially Bill Duke’s old sage, Jeryl Prescott’s manipulative self-righteous mother, and Zazie Beetz agent protégé— set to impressive visual artistry that places the dense, talky narrative against an eye-popping metropolitan backdrop. There are well-aimed indictments at professional sports, too, but it’s too bad that the bullet Soderbergh aims at his corporate target is such a blank.

The “game changer” that could flip the script on the NBA doesn’t occur until nearly an hour in, and when it does (in the form of a viral video) it plays like an implausible stretch, from public reaction to business implications, almost as if Soderbergh and Netflix are openly workshopping a financial venture for themselves. (Yes, Netflix becomes a lynchpin in Ray’s subversive strategy.) The movie asks the right questions and pushes the right buttons, but through a far-fetched hypothetical.

This sports business parable isn’t likely to strike fear in the hearts of major league execs, NBA or otherwise, but the film’s veracity is beside the point. The evolution of modern moviemaking is what matters here. — JEFF HUSTON February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

A BRIEF RUNDOWN OF WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE CIRCLE CINEMA

OPENING FEB. 8 COLD WAR Nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Foreign Language Film, this Polish drama set behind the Iron Curtain follows the story of star-crossed lovers pulled apart by the forces of Communism.

Also nominated for Best Director and Best Cinematography. Rated R. THE IMAGE BOOK The latest work from legendary filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard.

This avant-garde essay film is part cinema and part art instillation, examining the history of movies, historical tragedies like the Holocaust, and the modern Arab world. Not Rated.

OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORT FILMS: LIVE ACTION A feature length collection of the five Oscar-nominated live action short films. Not Rated (discretion advised).

OPENING FEB. 15 CAPERNAUM Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, this Lebanese drama follows the riveting story of a boy who, after a struggle for survival on the streets, sues his abusive parents to stop them from having more children. Rated R. OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORT FILMS: ANIMATED A feature length collection the five Oscar-nominated animated short films, plus other finalists.

Not Rated (discretion advised).

SPECIAL EVENTS JONI 75: A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION A lineup of music all-stars gather at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles to pay tribute to legendary singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell.

(Thurs. Feb. 7, 7 p.m.)

THE BLACK PIRATE (1926) Second Saturday Silents presents silent era movie star Douglas Fairbanks as a young man who joins the band of pirates that killed his father, all in order to wield his revenge. Bill Rowland accompanies on the Circle’s 90-yearold pipe organ. $5 admission; $2 for 16 & under. (Sat. Feb. 9, 11 a.m.)

TIMETALKS AT SUNDANCE: JACKIE CHAN New York Times pop culture reporter Kyle Buchanan talks with Jackie Chan about his storied career, from the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. (Tues.

Feb. 12, 7 p.m.)

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The spirit of God hath MADE ME, and the breath of the Almighty hath GIVEN ME LIFE. FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 924 S. Boulder Church & Sunday School • 10:30am Wednesday Meeting • 6:00pm Reading Room • Mon. & Wed. • 11am-1pm

TELL US WHAT YOU’RE DOING So we can tell everyone else Send all your event and music listings to voices@langdonpublishing.com

Tulsa’s independent and non-profit art-house theatre, showing independent, foreign, and documentary films.

MIRAI Nominated for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Academy Awards, the Anime Club presents this Japanese adventure about a boy who time travels from a magical garden, meeting relatives from the past while guided by his sister from the future. (Fri. & Sat. Feb. 15 & 16, 10 p.m.)

TIMETALKS AT SUNDANCE: ASHTON SANDERS & KIKI LAYNE New York Times pop culture reporter Kyle Buchanan talks with the stars of the acclaimed new African-American indie film “Native Son,” from the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. (Tues. Feb. 19, 7 p.m.)

2019 OSCAR

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Michael Fairchild • Attorney at Large • 918-58-GRASS (584-7277) THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

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free will astrology

by ROB BREZSNY

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): Can you sit on your own head? Not many people can. It requires great flexibility. Before comedian Robin Williams was famous, he spontaneously did just that when he auditioned for the role of the extraterrestrial immigrant Mork, the hero of the TV sitcom Mork and Mindy. The casting director was impressed with Williams’ odd but amusing gesture, and hired him immediately. If you’re presented with an opportunity sometime soon, I encourage you to be inspired by the comedian’s ingenuity. What might you do to cinch your audition, to make a splashy first impression, to convince interested parties that you’re the right person?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Twitter wit Notorious Debi Hope advises us, “Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assho--s.” That’s wise counsel for you to keep in mind during the next three weeks. Let me add a few corollaries. First, stave off any temptation you might have to believe that others know what’s good for you better than you do. Second, figure out what everyone thinks of you and aggressively liberate yourself from their opinions. Third, if anyone even hints at not giving you the respect you deserve, banish them for at least three weeks.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Climbing mountains has been a popular adventure since the nineteenth century, but there are still many peaks around the world that no one has ever ascended. They include the 24,591-fot-high Muchu Chhish in Pakistan, 23,691-foot Karjiang South in Tibet, and 12,600-foot Sauyr Zhotasy on the border of China and Kazakhstan. If there are any Aries mountaineers reading this horoscope who have been dreaming about conquering an unclimbed peak, 2019 will be a great time to do it, and now would be a perfect moment to plan or launch your quest. As for the rest of you Aries, what’s your personal equivalent of reaching the top of an unclimbed peak?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Eminem’s song “Lose Yourself” was a featured track in the movie 8 Mile, and it won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2003. The creator himself was not present at the Oscar ceremony to accept his award, however. He was so convinced his song would lose that he stayed home. At the moment that presenter Barbra Streisand announced Eminem’s triumph, he was asleep in front of the TV with his daughter, who was watching cartoons. In contrast to him, I hope you will be fully available and on the scene for the recognition or acknowledgment that should be coming your way sometime soon.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): While enjoying its leisure time, the peregrine falcon glides around at 50 miles per hour. But when it’s motivated by the desire to eat, it may swoop and dart at a velocity of 220 miles per hour. Amazing! In accordance with your astrological omens, Gemini, I propose that we make the peregrine falcon your spirit creature for the next three weeks. I suspect you will have extraordinary speed and agility and focus whenever you’re hunting for exactly what you want. So here’s a crucial question: what exactly do you want?

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Now and then the sun shines and rain falls at the same time. The meteorological name for the phenomenon is “sunshower,” but folklore provides other terms. Hawaiians may call it “liquid sunshine” or “ghost rain.” Speakers of the Tangkhul language in India imagine it as “the wedding of a human and spirit.” Some Russians refer to it as “mushroom rain,” since it’s thought to encourage the growth of mushrooms. Whatever you might prefer to call it, Cancerian, I suspect that the foreseeable future will bring you delightful paradoxes in a similar vein. And in my opinion, that will be very lucky for you, since you’ll be in the right frame of mind and spirit to thrive amidst just such situations.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): A study by the Fidelity financial services company revealed that in 43% of all couples, neither partner has an accurate knowledge of how much money the other partner earns. Meanwhile, research by the National Institute of Health concludes that among heterosexual couples, 36 percent of husbands misperceive how frequently their wives have

Place the numbers 1 through 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once.

NOVICE

orgasms. I bring this to your attention in order to sharpen your focus on how crucial it is to communicate clearly with your closest allies.

I mean, it’s rarely a good idea to be ignorant about what’s going on with those close to you, but it’ll be an especially bad idea during the next six weeks.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Torre Mayor is one of the tallest skyscrapers in Mexico City. When workers finished its construction in 2003, it was one of the world’s most earthquake-proof buildings, designed to hold steady during an 8.5-level temblor. Over the course of 2019, Virgo, I’d love to see you erect the metaphorical equivalent of that unshakable structure in your own life. The astrological omens suggest that doing so is quite possible. And the coming weeks will be an excellent time to launch that project or intensify your efforts to manifest it.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Multitalented Libran singer and actor Donald Glover uses the name of Childish Gambino when he performs his music. How did he select that alias? He used an online random name generator created by the rap group Wu-Tang Clan. I tried the same generator and got “Fearless Warlock” as my new moniker. You might want to try it yourself, Libra. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to add layers to your identity and expand your persona and mutate your self-image. The generator is here: tinyurl.com/yournewname. (P.S.: If you don’t like the first one you’re offered, keep trying until you get one you like.)

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Salvator Mundi sold for $450 million in 2017. Just twelve years earlier, an art collector had bought it for $10,000. Why did its value increase so extravagantly? Because in 2005, no one was sure it was an authentic da Vinci painting. It was damaged and had been covered with other layers of paint that hid the original image.

After extensive efforts at restoration, the truth about it emerged. I foresee the possibility of a comparable, if less dramatic, development in your life during the next ten months, Scorpio.

Your work to rehabilitate or renovate an underestimated resource could bring big dividends.

MASTER

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): We can behold colors because of specialized cells in our eyes called cones. Most of us have three types of cones, but a few rare people have four. This enables them to see far more hues than the rest of us. Are you a tetrachromat, a person with super-vision? Whether you are or not, I suspect you will have extra powerful perceptual capacities in the coming weeks. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you will be able to see more than you usually do. The world will seem brighter and deeper and more vivid. I urge you to deploy your temporary superpower to maximum advantage.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): There are two kinds of minor, boring little tasks. One is when you’re attending to a detail that’s not in service to a higher purpose; the other is when you’re attending to a detail that is a crucial step in the process of fulfilling an important goal. An example of the first might be when you try in vain to scour a permanent stain on a part of the kitchen counter that no one ever sees. An example of the second is when you download an update for an existing piece of software so your computer works better and you can raise your efficiency levels as you pursue a pet project. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to keep this distinction in mind as you focus on the minor, boring little tasks that are crucial steps in the process of eventually fulfilling an important goal.

What is the best gift you could give your best ally right now? t h i s w e e k ’ s h o m e w o r k // T E S T I F Y AT F R E E W I L L A S T R O L O G Y. C O M .

46 // ETC.

February 6 – 19, 2019 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE FUZZ THE TULSA VOICE SPOTLIGHTS: TULSA SPCA

2910 Mohawk Blvd. | MON, TUES, THURS, FRI & SAT, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 918.428.7722

Two-year-old TUCKER is a happy guy who loves to hang out. He also loves long walks and does well on a leash.

If you take this handsome man home, you have to agree to bring him back for his heartworm treatments, but SPCA will cover the cost!

ACROSS 1 Go on incessantly 4 ’60s activist grp.

7 One of 11 for “Titanic” 12 Few and far between 18 Letter-shaped joint 19 Tailor’s line 20 Appliance brand 21 Esoteric 22 She tries to raise a star 25 Constitution’s approval process 27 Speech about oneself 29 Criminal flight 30 Be nosy 31 ___ Fields cookies 32 Back, at sea 33 Popular Belgian brew, casually 35 Goes easy (on) 37 “Minecraft” tools 40 Stay true to 42 Very, musically 43 Release, as classified info 44 Insta upload 45 Enter quickly 47 Basic skateboard trick 51 Mr. ’iggins 52 Old-timey OMG 54 Pelted biblically 56 Charged particles 57 Rapids boat 59 Defendant’s excuse 61 Eye drop?

62 Old pal 63 Work from home?

65 Common Vietnamese surname 66 Upstate N.Y. school 67 Simplicity 68 How juicy bits may be acquired, or how this answer runs?

BEXLEY is one of a kind!

She loves to play and is still learning manners. She likes to jump when excited; however, she can easily be disengaged and redirected to a toy. She would be better in a home with older kids over age 13.

74 Be idle 75 Lower digit 76 Barking marine animal 77 “Star Wars” villain Kylo 78 Gillette brand 79 Sundance Film Festival state 81 PowerPoint part 83 Katniss’ “Hunger Games” chaperone 87 Attentive, and then some 88 Green film on bronze 90 Brooklyn 102-Down team 92 Goblins’ relatives 93 Kona greeting 95 Treatment 97 Bake sale grp.

98 Yanks’ foes 99 Poet Poe 101 Make smooth 103 Cat image with a caption, e.g.

104 Italian sports car 107 Totes ___ (so cute) 108 Massage therapist’s workplace 110 Baton Rouge sch.

111 Existed 112 iMovie computer 113 Carrier with a maple leaf logo 118 “I’m relatively sure ...”

122 Show within “Home Improvement” 123 Honeymoon destination 124 Muse of lyric poetry 125 Humerus’ limb 126 God, in Genova 127 Movie cliches 128 Pepe who adores Penelope 129 ___ Moines

130 Landers of advice DOWN 1 Huck Finn’s assent 2 Harmony singer’s voice, often 3 Blueprint 4 Perch for a toy elf 5 Sony submission 6 Unhealthy air 7 Galley propeller 8 Little shop champion (see letters 2, 3, 5, 6, 11 and 18) 9 It’ll cause a reaction 10 Jungian principle 11 Brit. WWII heroes 12 Of religious rites 13 Worships 14 Bit of legislation 15 Director Sam 16 Nasal guffaw 17 Tiny, informally 23 Parental deferral (4, 6, 9, 11, 13) 24 It has songs and dialogue (1, 2, 3, 5, 11, 12) 26 One may not have an Android version 28 Takeoff guess (Abbr.)

34 Always, poetically 36 Unpopular singer?

(1, 4, 8, 10, 15) 37 Baldwin of “Still Alice” 38 Lucy Lawless princess 39 Bring home the bacon 41 Angel Stadium nickname 42 Ore locale (1, 4, 5, 7, 11, 14) 46 ___ link (spicy sausage) 48 Actress Lindsay 49 Occupied, as a bathroom

The Tulsa SPCA has been helping animals in our area since 1913. The shelter never euthanizes for space and happily rescues animals from high-kill shelters.

They also accept owner surrenders, rescues from cruelty investigations, hoarding, and puppy mill situations. Animals live on-site or with foster parents until they’re adopted. All SPCA animals are micro-chipped, vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and treated with preventatives. Learn about volunteering, fostering, upcoming events, adoptions, and their low-cost vaccination clinic at tulsaspca.org.

GRADY is affectionate and playful. Barely one year old, he still is learning manners and enjoys running, sniffing new things, and walking on a leash. This smart, athletic boy weighs 46 pounds and will need a privacy fence or monitored yard time.

50 Salinger girl 53 Gossip 55 Comparatively arid 58 Punk subgenre 60 “___! Humbug!”

64 Build, or house 68 Amount to 69 Oprah’s company 70 Increased one’s paycheck 71 Hair goo 72 Reason for indoor recess 73 Letter-shaped neckline 74 Croft of filmdom 80 That guy 82 Accusatory Latin words 84 Out of jail 85 Long-range nuke carrier 86 To be, to Claudius 89 Require on the double 91 1600 is the highest one 94 Antivirus software choice 96 “___ out!” (baseball cry) 100 Plant transplants 102 Lakers’ org.

104 Be coy, perhaps 105 Perfume ingredient 106 “Nightcrawler” actress Rene 107 Love, in Livorno 109 Date sites?

114 Rocky ___ ice cream 115 Egyptian Verdi heroine 116 Key of Beethoven’s Ninth (Abbr.)

117 Seemingly forever (var.)

119 Absorb, with “up” 120 Bus. card no.

121 “That’s painful!”

Sweet MAE loves everyone!

She is two and half years old and weighs 53 pounds.

She doesn’t mind most other dogs, as long as they give her some space. Mae tends to get anxious if she’s left alone, so she’ll need a good crate.

UNIVERSAL SUNDAY CROSSWORD YOU'RE GROWIN' DOWN

by Jim Quinlan, edited by David Steinberg

© 2019 Andrews McMeel Syndication THE TULSA VOICE // February 6 – 19, 2019

SNOWFLAKE has been well-socialized with people and is ready to find a forever home of his own. He’s not a fan of dogs but tolerates respectful cats and children well. Snowflake is about nine years old.

2/10 ETC. // 47

THURSDAY

2.14

COMMODORES

SUNDAY

2.17

THURSDAY

3.07

WILLIE NELSON

8PM

8PM

BRUCE BRUCE

8PM

TURN IT ON, TURN IT UP SCAN TO PURCHASE TICKETS

Schedule subject to change.

CNENT_62990_HR_Feb_Ent_TulsaVoice_PrintAd_1924839.indd 1

Pleas e re cycle this issue.

1/28/19 2:36 PM