The Tulsa Voice | Vol. 4 No. 9

IN THIS ISSUE D E B O R A H G I S T ’ S E D U C AT I O N F R U S T R AT I O N S

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RICH FISHER: MAN BEHIND THE MIC

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W H AT ’ S T H AT L I N E O N C H E R R Y S T R E E T ?

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A P R I L 1 9 – M A Y 2 , 2 0 1 7 // V O L . 4 N O . 9

C I T Y C O U N C I L O R VA N E S S A H A L L - H A R P E R mak es pro test si gns, r etur ns ph on e s c alls , an d br i n g s a g r oc e r y s t ore to N or th Tul sa | P14

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CONTENTS // 3

MOJOFest_05APR17_OKPOP_final.indd 1

4 // CONTENTS

3/31/17 10:53 AM

April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

FEATURED

14

April 19 – May 2, 2017 // Vol. 4, No. 9 ©2017. All rights reserved.

PUBLISHER Jim Langdon

TRAIN OF CHANGE

MANAGING EDITOR Liz Blood ASSITANT EDITOR Kathryn Parkman DIGITAL EDITOR John Langdon

BY MITCH GILLIAM AND HOLLY WALL

Vanessa Hall-Harper brings new enthusiasm to her city council position

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

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AD SALES MANAGER Josh Kampf INTERNS Laura Dennis, Jennifer Ratliff-Towner CONTRIBUTORS Nicci Atchley, Alicia Chesser, Barbara Crooker, Angela Evans, Barry Friedman, Mitch Gilliam, Valerie Grant, Jeff Huston, Joshua Kline, Lindsay Kline, Melissa Lukenbaugh, Mary Noble, Joe O’Shansky, Gene Perry, Michelle Pollard, Mason Whitehorn Powell, Joseph Rushmore, Andrew Saliga, Damion Shade, John Tranchina, Holly Wall, Michael Wright The Tulsa Voice’s distribution is audited annually by

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StudioTulsa’s man behind the mic

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Member of

ON THE CUFF

BY MASON WHITEHORN POWELL

The Tulsa Voice is published bi-monthly by

What’s that big line on Cherry Street?

1603 S. Boulder Ave. Tulsa, OK 74119 P: 918.585.9924 F: 918.585.9926 A protester at 750 E. Pine St. on March 25 | JOSEPH RUSHMORE

PUBLISHER Jim Langdon PRESIDENT Juley Roffers VP COMMUNICATIONS Susie Miller CONTROLLER Mary McKisick DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Amanda Hall RECEPTION Gloria Brooks

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD Send all letters, complaints, compliments & haikus to: voices@langdonpublishing.com

NEWS & COMMENTARY 7 SUSPENSION TENSION

B Y GENE PERRY SB 81 would break Oklahoma’s obligation to educate all kids

8 WALLS FALLING IN

B Y BARRY FRIEDMAN Education in the time of Gist

FOOD & DRINK

ARTS & CULTURE

10 GUTSPEED

B Y ANGELA EVANS

22 A VOICE OF THEIR OWN

B Y ALICIA CHESSER

Local chef bids adieu to Tulsa with special two-night dinner

12 B-A-T-A-T-A-S

B Y ANDREW SALIGA The Chalkboard’s spring cocktail menu is adventurous

FOLLOW US @THETULSAVOICE ON:

MUSIC 36 THE WISDOM OF GRIEF

B Y DAMION SHADE IN THIS ISSUE D E B O R A H G I S T ’ S E D U C AT I O N F R U S T R AT I O N S

Pade’s first album: ‘Best Year Ever’

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RICH FISHER: MAN BEHIND THE MIC

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W H AT ’ S T H AT L I N E O N C H E R R Y S T R E E T ?

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A P R I L 1 9 – M A Y 2 , 2 0 1 7 // V O L . 4 N O . 9

38 ONE ON ONE

B Y MARY NOBLE John Oates talks Hall & Oates’s new tour, his memoir, and playing Tulsa

ETC. C I T Y C O U N C I L O R VA N E S S A H A L L - H A R P E R makes pr otes t s i gns , retur ns phones calls , and bri ngs a grocer y st or e t o Nor t h Tu l sa | P14

ON THE COVER District 1 City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper PHOTO BY MELISSA LUKENBAUGH THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

32 THEHAPS 40 MUSICLISTINGS 45 THEFUZZ 46 ASTROLOGY + SUDOKU 47 CROSSWORD

TV & FILM 43 AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE

B Y JOE O’SHANSKY

‘ Your Name’ is wistful, more romantic than fantastic

44 KEEPING IT BROCKMIRE

B Y JEFF HUSTON New IFC series puts irreverent spin on sports anti-hero

Tulsa Ballet fosters new work and young dancers

24 SYSTEMATIC MURDER

B Y JOSHUA KLINE David Grann does the Osage murders justice in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

26 BATTER UP

B Y JOHN TRANCHINA Drillers look for more stability this year

28 SUFFRAGETTE CITY

B Y LINDSAY KLINE League of Women Voters hosts second annual Madam President event

30 PRESERVATION AND PROGRESS

B Y NICCI ATCHLEY ADFF: Tulsa celebrates architecture and design icons and forward-thinkers

31 SCRIMSHAW

B Y BARBARA CROOKER

A poem

35 FEELIN’ GREEN

BY THE TULSA VOICE STAFF

Celebrating Earth Day CONTENTS // 5

editor’sletter

Women’s work

W

hen I met Major General Rita Aragon I was 23, working as assistant editor of Oklahoma Today, interviewing veterans for a special issue of the magazine.

Aragon was—and still is to my knowledge—the highest-ranking woman military official in Oklahoma history. As the first woman and first Native American (Cherokee and Choctaw) woman to command the Oklahoma Air National Guard and be named brigadier general in the U.S. Air National Guard, she remains one of the most impressive and commanding individuals I’ve ever encountered.

Aragon relayed a story about

meeting Russian Colonel General Yuri Kalashnikov in 2003, two years before she became major general. Kalashnikov called her a “pretend general.” After a few days, he came around. “Okay,” he said. “You’re a for-real general.”

In thinking about this issue’s cover, which features District 1 City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper, Assistant Editor Kathryn Parkman and I searched the term “councilwoman.” The word, unsurprisingly, wasn’t in use until 1928. There had been no occasion to call someone councilwoman before.

When I clicked on the thesaurus tab to see related words, Merriam Webster’s site offered

an error message. “Words fail us,” it read. Perhaps it doesn’t list synonyms because councilwoman is, like editorwoman would be, a goofy term. Prefacing a title with “woman,” or tacking it onto the end feels unnatural—and implies a woman holding the position is unnatural, too.

This issue of the Voice features several of Tulsa’s standard-bearers: City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper working diligently to bring her North Tulsa community what it wants and needs (p. 14), Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist demanding new conversations about the value of education (8), and the League of

Women Voters (men are welcome, too!) engaging and informing eligible voters (28).

Elsewhere in the issue, Jill Donovan, owner of Rustic Cuff, creates a place for women to feel welcome and included (20) and Mother Nature makes an appearance as we look forward to celebrating her on Earth Day (April 22, p. 35).

It’s a happy occasion to have so many great women in these pages, but it’s no coincidence. They are for-real leaders—a term without gender. a

LIZ BLOOD

MANAGING EDITOR

BEST OF TULSA READERS’ CHOICE 2017

Best Museum Thank you, Voice Readers!

6 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

okpolicy

A

rticle 13 of the Oklahoma Constitution begins: “The Legislature shall establish and maintain a system of free public schools wherein all the children of the State may be educated.” That commitment to educate all of the children in our state is prominent in our founding document. Yet in the face of shrinking resources for schools, higher class sizes, and more inexperienced teachers, some Oklahoma lawmakers are proposing we go in the opposite direction.

To establish better control over classrooms, Senate Bill 81 by Sen. Ron Sharp (R-Shawnee) proposes to suspend more kids—effectively giving up on Oklahoma’s obligation to provide them with an education.

The bill, which passed the Senate and now awaits a hearing in the House, would extend the law allowing out-of-school suspensions from sixth grade and up all the way down to third graders. Kids as young as eight or nine years old would face out-of-school suspension for two semesters if they are “found to have assaulted, attempted to cause physical bodily injury, or acted in a manner that could reasonably cause bodily injury” to a school employee or volunteer.

Some opportunities for appeal are provided in the law, but the default punishment would be suspension, whether or not actual harm to a school employee occurred.

Expanding suspensions is a solution proven to fail. Numerous studies have found that detentions, suspension, and expulsion do not curb violent or disruptive behavior. In fact, highly punitive approaches to school discipline are shown to increase problem behaviors like rebellion against teachers, vandalism, absenteeism, and truancy. Kids who act out violently are suffering from serious emotional and behavioral problems that also make them the least likely to be deterred by a harsh punishment.

SB 81 goes against efforts to reduce suspensions in OklahoTHE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

SUSPENSION TENSION SB 81 would break Oklahoma’s obligation to educate all kids

by GENE PERRY

ma and across the U.S. Last year, Oklahoma City Public Schools settled with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights over the district’s extremely high suspension rates of black students. The district has adopted a new school discipline plan that provides a 10-day remedial program as an alternative to suspension. Tulsa Public Schools has also found serious racial and economic disparities in their rates of suspension, and Tulsa Superintendent Deborah Gist has made it one of her priorities to reduce suspensions across the district.

Other states are going even further. A 2014 law in California banned suspensions for “willful defiance,” and schools across the state have successfully focused on reducing suspensions and seen higher academic achievement as a result.

SB 81 does include language directing schools to require suspended students to complete an intervention program or meet with a mental health care provider. The problem is that while SB 81 calls for these interventions, it does nothing to fund them. Meanwhile, it does far more damage by taking kids out of school, where they are most likely to receive needed care.

Oklahoma’s obligation is to help students with serious mental health and behavior problems while they are in school. That requires commitment from lawmakers to fund the programs that work, leadership from administrators to guide school discipline policies in a constructive direction, and daily courage by teachers, counselors, and other school staff to reach the kids who need it most.

It may not be easy, but it’s a promise we made in our state constitution. Let’s fulfill that promise instead of giving up on kids. a

Gene Perry is Policy Director of Oklahoma Policy Institute (www.okpolicy.org).

NEWS & COMMENTARY // 7

viewsfrom theplains

T

he principal on the principle of the thing:

Nothing good about it.

Nothing. Students will suffer. Families will suffer.

Overworked, underp aid, unappreciated, very tired people will take a cut in p ay. While it could be much worse, it’s still disgusting. There are no good options. My four thand-fifth grade cl asses have 30 students. I don’t feel I can ask anyone to take on one more responsibility. It’s not fair.

We can’t find substitutes.

It took me nine weeks to find a teacher to fill a vacancy. How do you make a difference when the walls keep falling in?

That’s Kenneth Joslin, principal at Mayo Demonstration School.

Full disclosure: my girlfriend’s son goes there and Kenneth and I are friends, but it’s not like he’s telling me something in confidence. In fact, he’s not really even telling me.

That was his Facebook post.

Such is the frustration in education in Oklahoma that a principal takes to social media instead of the heavy bag at the gym.

What has happened here is what happens when legislators think education is a by-product of a good economy and not a catalyst for one, when horizontal drillers are more entitled to a piece of the state economic pie than social studies teachers, when parents get an extra $27 per year in tax rebates but there’s no money for jazz bands, when vouchers and charters are encouraged as alternatives to functioning and fully funded public schools, when gimmicks like lotteries and fees on haircuts, tattoos, and smokers are trotted instead of structural budgetary reform. Any wonder that teachers have to borrow money from their parents to make ends meet.1 How many years already? It’s not a rhetorical question.

Okl ahoma’s per-pupil funding of the state aid 8 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

WALLS FALLING IN Education in the time of Gist

by BARRY FRIEDMAN Deborah Gist in the Charles C. Mason Education Service Center earlier this month | GREG BOLLINGER

formul a for public schools has fallen 26.9 percent after infl ation between FY 2008 and FY 2017.

These continue to be the deepest cuts in the nation, and Okl ahoma’s lead is growing. On a percentage basis, we’ve cut nearl y twice as much as the next worst state, Al abama. 2

Governor Fallin said during her State of the State Address that our goal—our goal—should be five-day school weeks for all Oklahoma school children.

That’s not a clarion call. That’s a kazoo.

Let’s begin.

I called Deborah Gist, Tulsa Public Schools superintendent, last week—she’s held a thousand or so interviews lately—to talk not so much about it, but about her. She’s from Tulsa, a graduate of Memorial High School, earned

a bachelor’s from the University of Oklahoma, a doctoral degree in education leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, and came to us in 2013 after spending six years in Rhode Island as education commissioner.

“Do you regret it? Are you disillusioned?”

“I go back and forth,” she tells me. “Angry and sad.”

A few weeks back, she wasn’t so ambivalent. She told Newson6. com, “What we are doing to ourselves as Oklahomans? … It’s just stupid.”

Charlie Pierce of Esquire picked up the quote.3 “A question,” he replied, “for which there is no answer.”

How do you make a difference when the walls keep falling in?

Gist wishes now she was more discreet, but her frustration is palpable. She can’t, won’t call into question the motivations of

legislators, but—my words here— they’re deplorable.

“The state zeroed out the money for textbooks.”

Who does that?4 We do that.

She talks about the importance of modern education protocols, the importance, say, of added funding for classes on computer coding for each student in Tulsa Public Schools.

“But, you don’t have enough napkins in the cafeteria…” I interrupt.

“—We don’t have enough anything,” she interrupts back.

She’s about had it with claims there’s a great vat of waste, fraud, and abuse in the central office that should be cut.

“I get it. I started with cuts to the central office. I did it last year, I did it this year. That’s where we should be starting. That said, certainly I can speak for Tulsa Public Schools: our district office is too lean. It is not top heavy.”

Read that again. Too lean.

“Do Oklahoma legislators even care about education?”

“It’s not an option,” she says.

“Saying they ‘don’t care’ doesn’t mean we get a solution. We have to concentrate on the tactics we use, how to raise awareness, how do we make the case to legislators who are aware—so we just have to get smart and get organized.”

It should have been a “yes” or “no” answer.

“We have underinvested in education for so many decades, [that] we have a distorted view of what it takes to provide an excellent education—or even an adequate education. We have normalized things that would be completely unacceptable elsewhere.”

Like?

“Every year on social media, you hear these calls out about test monitors. People are great, so they do it. I have never seen that in my entire professional career. The reason for that is in other places you have counselors and social workers… and others who work April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

in the building and serve kids and teachers year-round, but we are so short-staffed, there aren’t enough adults. This isn’t fluff.”

Everyone agrees that 35 kids in the classroom, four-day school weeks, and teachers leaving the state is a bad thing, but not until a school like Jenks runs out of money for football will people descend upon the Capitol with pitchforks and torches. I ask her if we’re getting close to that point—if that’s the hardball she has to play.

“Sadly, we don’t have a choice,” Gist says. “That wouldn’t be a tactical maneuver. Unless they fix the structural deficit in this legislative session with revenue adjustments, we will literally be having this conversation next year.

We’ve already hit rock bottom, and that means we’re now digging holes. The general belief is you hit rock bottom and then people’s behavior changes. Well, we’ve hit rock bottom and we’re still having the same conversation.”

I rephrase my question: do legislators here care about public education? And what of early criticism5 of her that called into question her own commitment to public education, namely her membership in the somewhat controversial school organization called Chiefs for Change, whose website still features her.6 “First off, charter schools are public schools.”

(True, once the vig is paid.)

Let’s continue.

“I have literally spent my entire life, from the time I was five years old, in public schools … doing this work. It’s why I was put on this earth. I’m most passionate about it. Public education is why our country is so great—it’s the core.”

There it is.

Yes, Gist tells me, when she talks to legislators in Oklahoma City they agree with that sentiment. Maybe she has to say that, maybe she wants to believe that, but to hear those words— from Governor Fallin, President Trump, our senators, congressmen—“public education is why our country is so great” would be a turning point.

How does she explain the state of education in Oklahoma on her worst days?

Teacher raises come up.

THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

“We’re going to give them $1,000 this year, $2,000 next year, $3,000 the year after,” she says, somewhat mockingly. “That’s a $6,000 raise. I’m grateful for that, they deserve it, but with that said, the gap that we have for them in terms of adequately compensating our teachers is $10,000, $20,000 … in one year. I know we’re not going to do that, but I wish by, say, 2030, we are going to be at the rate of the regional average, something like that. What I’m most worried about,” she says, referring to the incremental raises, “is we get this done and then everyone in the state is like, ‘Okay, got that done.’ So the next time it comes up, it’s like, ‘We just gave the teachers a raise.’ Dallas teachers get $3,000 a year, every year, and they’re already $20,000 ahead of us.”

Gist’s contract ends on June 14, 2018.

“If nothing has changed, nobody would blame you if you don’t renew,” I tell her. “So, on that date, you still here? I have a bet you won’t be, so let’s talk the morning of June 15, 2018.”

“I’ve got it on my calendar.”

But then she’s serious again.

“I came here to … stay, so I have no intention of that not happening.”

And then, again, about the thought of leaving.

“I can’t go there. I can’t imagine that happening. Not because of me, not because of my plans. It is unacceptable and I … I need stronger language somehow—it is unfathomable to think that we as a state would not solve this for our kids, for our collective futures.” a

1) tulsaworld.com: Departing teacher: ‘I shouldn’t have to call my mom and dad for money’ 2) okpolicy.org: However you count it, Oklahoma’s per pupil education funding is way down 3) esquire.com: North Carolina’s HB2 ‘Compromise’ Shouldn’t Fool Anyone 4) newsok.com: Oklahoma school textbook fund cuts called ‘surprise’ 5) tulsaworld.com: Teachers walk out in protest as Tulsa school board names Deborah Gist superintendent 6) washingtonpost.com: Chiefs for Change education advocacy group is headed for more change

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For catering, order online: www.t-towntacos.com NEWS & COMMENTARY // 9

citybites

GUTSPEED Local chef bids adieu to Tulsa with special two-night dinner

by ANGELA EVANS

Chef Michelle Donaldson | VALERIE GRANT

M

ichelle Donaldson— who has won numerous chef competitions, was chosen to be the Oklahoma ambassador for President Obama’s Healthy Kids Initiative, and received a special food-related fellowship with the University of Tulsa—got her start at a Taco Bueno in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.

“They do make everything from scratch, so I learned a lot,” said Donaldson. “I also learned what it looks like when taxes are taken out of your paycheck. I only had to pay my car insurance, but I really wanted to buy that Cure T-shirt, too.”

She continued working at various restaurants, both front and back of house, until landing a position in the cheese department of the now-defunct Wild Oats grocery store. She totally revamped their fromage department and the store saw a huge increase in profits. For her work, Donaldson received a 23-cent raise.

“Basically, I gave them the middle finger and decided to go to culinary school,” said Donaldson. “Funny enough, they kept me on and transferred me to Las Vegas to reshape their department there.”

Donaldson started culinary school in Vegas while working

10 // FOOD & DRINK

at Wild Oats, but she longed to work in a real kitchen. A friend and mentor secured her a summer position at André’s, a Michelin restaurant. She parlayed this experience into a position at Wynn Las Vegas, where she learned everything from baking bread to butchering meats in a high-volume, high-class hotel chain. After two years, she and her newly-wed husband moved back to Tulsa in 2008.

Donaldson learned how to prepare Thai cuisine working at KEO and high-end steaks and classic dishes while at Polo Grill. But it was her experience at SMOKE with Executive Chef Erik Reynolds that Donaldson came into her own.

“I really matured in [Reynold’s] kitchen—found my own voice and my own palate. I learned how to translate what was in my head onto a plate,” said Donaldson.

It wasn’t long until she was approached for another adventure— opening Tallgrass Prairie Table, a restaurant focused on sourcing local ingredients.

“I really fought with myself over that decision. I felt like I had a good following in Tulsa that would support the food I wanted to do, but I also wanted to remain loyal the person who

helped me discover the person I had become.”

Ultimately, she went with her gut.

“There are a lot of things we did right, a lot we did wrong,” she said. “But that’s anyone who opens a restaurant for the first time. But I also got to explore food in a way that I didn’t know I could and when Tulsa supported it in a very vibrant and outspoken way, it was very encouraging.”

Though working overtime at the new restaurant, she also devoted a lot of her time to nonprofit organizations, like Youth Services, Meals on Wheels, Women in Recovery, and the Mental Health Association.

“It was instilled in me by my mentors that giving back to the community is a big part of being a chef,” said Donaldson.

Her involvement with Tallgrass and other organizations opened a lot of doors for her career. She turned down Food Network, twice.

“Various cooking shows. That’s about all I can say,” she said.

Last year, Donaldson’s life was punctuated by personal loss: the death of a good friend, the passing of a dear aunt, and the near-death of her father.

“Unfortunately, I decided to take that stress and deal with it in

a bottle,” said Donaldson. “After a short period of time, I realized this is not at all what I want to do—this was affecting my job, my family. I knew this is not who I wanted to be. So, I got sober.”

The decision was pivotal and Donaldson and her husband decided to make another move—to Detroit to be closer to family.

“Tulsa has such a huge feeling of family, inclusiveness, progression … especially in the chef community. I have no idea what to expect in Detroit. But, I’ve got to go with my gut on this one, again.”

She plans to move at the end of May, but won’t be leaving without giving Tulsa a delicious parting gift.

On April 23 and 24, Donaldson will host Seven Moles and Seven Memories, a two-night event at Test Kitchen. Donaldson will incorporate Mexican moles into dishes that signify important parts of her life. a

A set numb er of peopl e will b e randoml y chosen to attend Seven Mol es and Seven Memories. To b e pl aced in the lottery, sign up on the Test Kitchen website (www.testkitchenok.com).

Tickets are $125 and include seven courses and seven cocktail or wine p airings.

April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

ALL DAY Shades of Brown BREAKFAST Blue Moon Café

EAT GOOD DO GOOD DINING OUT FOR LIFE One of Tulsa’s most popular eat-for-a-cause campaigns is the Health Outreach Prevention Education (H.O.P.E.) annual Dining Out for Life. On Thursday, April 27, Over 30 restaurants will donate proceeds to H.O.P.E. to continue their mission of providing safe, anonymous testing for HIV/AIDS and other STDs, counseling, prevention education and more to 26 counties in Northeast Oklahoma. Restaurants prepare special breakfast, lunch, or dinner menus and donate anywhere from 25–100 percent of the funds raised. The stellar line-up of participating restaurants is listed at right.

LUNCH Blue Moon Café Caz’s Chowhouse Dilly Diner India Palace KEO Brookside, KEO South Old School Bagel Brookside Trenchers Delicatessen DINNER Baxter’s Interurban Grill Café Olé Chimera Dalesandro’s D’Vina Elgin Park El Guapo’s Cantina El Guapo’s Cantina South Elote Cafe Hey Mambo Mainline Art Bar McNellie’s Public House McNellie’s Public House South MixCo Bar and Restaurant Mod’s Coffee & Crepes Ol’ Vine Roppongi The Tavern The Vault Yokozuna, Yokozuna South

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On the RiverWalk in Jenks – Plenty of parking, easy access, fast and delicious lunch options and all your favorite pizzas.

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Order online or see full pizza, pasta, and more menus at Andopizza.com.

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PUBLIC TOURNAMENTS An artist paints at the 2016 Empty Bowls fundraiser event | COURTESY

EMPTY BOWLS 2017

The Oklahoma Community Food Bank provides meals to thousands of Eastern Oklahomans who would otherwise go hungry. With Tulsa’s vibrant food culture, it is hard to believe that so many of our men, women, and children don’t know where they’ll get their next meal. The Empty Bowls fundraiser is a hunger awareness event meant to highlight the needs of so many who fight food insecurity daily. The concept is simple. A keepsake bowl designed by a local artist is given to each guest. It is a symbol of both emptiness and the potential for fullness. The event is set for April 25 at the Cox Business Center starting at 5:30 p.m. A single ticket of $75 will provide an estimated 300 meals to people in need. The ticket price includes a soup and salad dinner, cocktail hour, wine, raffles, and more. For tickets or more information, visit okfoodbank.org.

THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

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FOOD & DRINK // 11

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B-A-T-A-T-A-S

You don't need to bring your passport to go "Around The World" when you order our specialty pizza, The ATW!

The Chalkboard’s spring cocktail menu is adventurous

Unless your photo is, like, really super cute and you want to show it around. Totally understandable.

by ANDREW SALIGA The Garden State cocktail | ANDREW SALIGA

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12 // FOOD & DRINK

otel bars tend to be synonymous with overpriced and underwhelming cocktails. Too often they are simply the first on the list of potential tourist traps for the weary traveler. However, there is a growing list of hotels that are utilizing their bars to provide an additional layer of hospitality to both the traveler and the local.

The Chalkboard, attached to the Ambassador hotel, is one such.

While the restaurant and bar operate independently of the hotel, they have maintained a partnership for the past 15 years.

General Manager David Jeffries understands that this dynamic means his guests are a mixture of travelers and locals, and has curated the cocktail menu accordingly. Whether you’re a Tulsan looking for a light cocktail to pair with your brunch, or a traveler looking for a nightcap after a long day, The Chalkboard has you covered.

A house martini and Moscow mule riff are to be expected, but it’s their Batatas cocktail that sets their house specialties apart. The Batatas features a sweet potato-infused Jack Daniel’s whiskey. Prior to infusion, the sweet potatoes are seasoned and roasted. Served in the style of an old-fashioned, the drink’s pleasant sweetness complements the oak notes present in the whiskey.

The Chalkboard’s cocktail menus follow a theme, and the recently released spring menu’s theme is film. Names like The Good, Bad, and the Spicy, Ginpocalypse Now, and There Will Be Brandy add a playful element.

I prefer cocktails (and films) with bold and bitter notes—the Ne-groni for Old Men satisfied both requirements. Despite its name, the Negroni variant is less intimidating than Javier Bardem’s character in “No Country for Old Men.” Cucumber and floral notes in Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin counterbalance the slightly bitter Aperol, and the complexity of Carpano Antica rounds off any remaining edges.

If you want something more easygoing, I’d suggest the Jungle Birdman. This tiki-style drink contains the smooth and sippable Kirk and Sweeney 18-year rum, Aperol, pineapple juice, lemon juice, and simple syrup. The Garden State—a combination of light rum, red bell pepper and thyme shrub, and grapefruit juice—is a standout, and doesn’t taste too vegetal.

The Chalkboard’s bar offers a choose-your-own-adventure-style experience in both the spring menu and the overall atmosphere.

Whether you strike up a conversation with a traveler sitting at the bar, or enjoy an afternoon brunch date on the patio, they’ve got a cocktail to suit the occasion. a April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

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FOOD & DRINK // 13

TRAIN OF CHANGE BY MITCH GILLIAM AND

H O LLY W A LL

PHOTO BY MELISSA LUKENBAUGH

Vanessa Hall-Harper brings new enthusiasm to her city council position

T

he O’Jays’ “Give the People What They Want” blasted from an SUV, serenading the small crowd of protesters at 750 E. Pine St. on the afternoon of March 25.

The soul anthem, featuring a bridge asserting “people need food to eat,” surged on repeat, bouncing between the walls of neighboring George Carver Middle School and the Pine Street Christian Church while passing cars laid on their horns. At the back of the SUV, which was adorned with a large sticker that read, “VANESSA HALL HARPER: UNBOUGHT AND UNBOSSED,” stood Hall-Harper herself, passing out signs to the 30-plus protesters who braved the brisk spring chill to voice their opposition to a planned Dollar General store.

“I love my city councilor,” a man yelled at an evening news reporter. “She made the signs, and all we had to do was show up!”

Before honking, some of the passing traffic would slow to investigate the protest signs. “My Children Will Die 10 Years Sooner Than Yours Because We Live In North Tulsa,” read one.

“80% of Dollar General Store Products Contain Hazardous Chemicals i.e. LEAD,” read another. More to the point, a sign that said: “Dollar General You Are Not A Welcome Guest.”

One simply stated, “Hell To The Naw.” By a Google Maps count, North Tulsa—bounded by I-244 to the south, Highway 169 to the east, Mohawk Boulevard to the north, and Tisdale Parkway to the west—is already home to seven Family Dollar stores and five Dollar Generals, including two within a two-mile radius of this planned Dollar General. Many North Tulsans, including new District 1 City Councilor Hall-Harper, are sick of the poor health that comes with cheap food— and they’re making it clear that they don’t want any more discount chain stores in their community.

Hall-Harper defeated District 1 Councilor Jack Henderson last November, ending his run as the city’s longest-serving councilor with a record 14 years of service. A recent survey by The Frontier showed that many who voted for Hall-Harper did so because of their desire for a proper grocery store in North Tulsa, which was one of her platform promises. To Hall-Harper’s mind, part of bringing quality groceries to the community means opposing anything less. So when the community learned— via Hall-Harper’s devout attendance of Tulsa Development Authority (TDA) meetings—that developers planned two discount stores, a Family Dollar and a Dollar General, to be built within one month and a couple of miles of each other, they were outraged.

Kristi Williams, a local activist who spearheaded the effort to rename downtown Tulsa’s Brady Street (now M.B. Brady Street) and its namesake arts district, remembers attending a community planning meeting last year in which North Tulsans packed out a meeting room at the Rudisill Regional Library and stated clearly, with representatives of Family Dollar standing among them, that they did not want any more dollar stores built within the boundaries of their community.

But on January 5, Hall-Harper attended TDA’s first meeting of 2017 and noticed a couple of dismaying agenda items: l. Discussion, consideration and vote to approve a Resolution authorizing the conveyance of land for the proposed Family Dollar store located at 1553 North Peoria Avenue Tulsa, Oklahoma,

by Antonio Perez and Eugenia Perez to Triple C Development, LLC, to be devoted only to, and in accordance with, the uses specified in the Urban Renewal Plan/Unity Heritage Neighborhoods Plan. m. Discussion, consideration and vote to allow North Peoria TIF funds to be used for public infrastructure improvements to the proposed Family Dollar Store located at 1553 North Peoria Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Before she could stand up and speak in opposition to those, another item came up for discussion—one that blindsided her completely: i. Discussion, consideration and vote approving a Resolution authorizing entering into a Redevelopment Agreement with Rupe Helmer Group Inc., for the sale and redevelopment of TDA land located at 750 East Pine Street, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Though Hall-Harper’s testimony against the proposed Family Dollar store staved off its approval, she found the meeting disheartening.

“The representative from the developer said, ‘Well, no one else is coming.

So you all need to accept (this)’—that’s basically what she said. ‘You all need to take what you can get,’ ” Hall-Harper said. “And so they play on ignorance, and that’s why I think our leadership is so important, that we have engaged leaders who, when hearing about these types of projects, come back to the community and get the community engaged and listen to the voice of the community.”

And while she had seen item “i.” listed on the TDA’s agenda for that day, she had no idea, until nearly the end of the discussion, that the redevelop-

ment being proposed was for a Dollar General. She said that she—and the community she represents—had been deliberately misled. Hall-Harper spoke in opposition to the proposal, but it passed with only one board member, Carl Bracy, casting a dissenting vote.

Hall-Harper took the information she received at the TDA meeting back to the citizens she represents. They quickly organized, setting up a petition at Change.org and organizing protests on the site of the proposed development. She isn’t against the development of any and all dollar stores, but Hall-Harper said her community is already oversaturated with stores that offer domestic goods and prepackaged, processed foods.

North Tulsa residents say the processed foods readily available at discount stores, combined with a lack of fresh foods, contribute to their shortened life expectancies. (North Tulsans die, on average, 10 years before residents south of I-244—a chilling statistic Tulsa’s new mayor has promised to combat.) They especially don’t want to see additional processed foods made readily available to the Carver Middle School students, who attend class right next to the proposed Dollar General.

The Change.org petition, which had 250 supporters at last count, urges the TDA to reject any further proposals for Dollar General or Family Dollar stores in the area, and to prevent the development of the one they approved in January. Most of the supporters who commented on the online petition echo the sentiment that North Tulsa is saturated with dollar stores and that what residents really want—and need—are grocery stores, along with other quality retail developments.

“If you go on Rupe Helmer’s website, you can see they have some beautiful developments,” Hall-Harper said.

“But all they want to build in North Tulsa is a damn Dollar General.”

Many residents also worry about hazardous materials contained within the products on the shelves of discount stores. A 2015 report by Campaign for Healthier Solutions estimated that 81 percent of products from four of the country’s largest discount-store chains—Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar (now owned by Dollar Tree), and 99 Cents Only—“contained at least one hazardous chemical above levels of concern, compared to existing voluntary toy standards and mandatory toy packaging and electronics standards.”

The study found that 38 percent of products tested contained PVC, 32 percent contained phthalates, and 71 percent contained one or more hazardous chemical at levels that exceeded the recommendation for safety. While many national retailers are phasing out products that contain known toxins, most dollar stores are not.

The report continues: Many communities served by dollar stores are predominantly communities of color or low-income communities that are already disproportionately exposed to chemical hazards and health effects linked to chemical exposures. Residents in these areas often have reduced access to quali-

“THIS IS THE TIME FOR CHANGE. I T S TA R T S L O C A L L Y. W E H AV E T O S T A N D TOGETHER, W E H AV E T O W O R K TOGETHER, W E H AV E T O F I G H T TOGETHER.” —KRISTI WILLIAMS FEATURED // 15

Protesters at site of proposed Dollar General on March 25 | JOSEPH RUSHMORE

ty medical care, fresh and healthy food, and public services, which are critical to overall health and to withstanding chemical exposures. In many of these communities, dollar stores are often the only store selling essential household goods, including food. These factors place a higher level of responsibility on dollar stores to ensure they are not selling products that contain harmful chemicals.

being allowed to serve on the commission. All we want is to give the African American community a voice of action directly to City Hall and Tulsa County. We cannot have a healthy community if we are not at the table when decisions are being made concerning us. We are tired of being ignored!! The time for action is now. The African American community deserves it!

Additionally, North Tulsa residents worry that too many discount stores will actually depress development in their communities, rather than ignite it.

One petition commenter wrote:

In the face of community opposition to Bartlett’s proposed formation of the AAAC, the project fell dormant.

Within a few months of the election of Mayor G.T. Bynum and Hall-Harper’s win over Henderson as city councilor, the creation of the AAAC was announced. Hall-Harper says Bynum has committed to conferring with the community about what organizations and interests the 23 members of the commission should represent.

At the announcement of the commission earlier this year, Bynum praised Hall-Harper for her steadfast persistence in seeing the commission to fruition.

“It will allow our community to have the type of dialogue that we need to have to move forward as one city,” Bynum said.

The mayor is in the process of accepting applications for potential commissioners, although there currently is no deadline for applications.

“There hasn’t been a Title V commission created in some time, so no one in the city, or in the community, is familiar with that process,” Hall-Harper said. “And so we want to get it done, certainly as soon as possible, but we want to make sure it’s done right.”

A historical area such as North Tulsa needs shops that reflect the aspirations of the community and represent a standard of dignified class. Not to be saturated with discount stores that do more to deplete the community as opposed to reinvest into it. Locally owned shops that are centered upon the health and economic advancement of the citizens of North Tulsa.

“IF YOU GO ON RUPE HELMER’S WEBSITE, Y O U C A N S E E T H E Y H AV E S O M E B E A U T I F U L DEVELOPMENTS,” HALL-HARPER SAID. “ B U T A L L T H E Y WA N T T O B U I L D I N N O R T H T U L S A IS A DAMN DOLLAR GENERAL.”

Hall-Harper says the community’s demand for a quality grocery store illustrates the need for the African American Affairs Commission (AAAC), a hard-won project that finally came to fruition after Hall-Harper’s election to Tulsa City Council in November 2016.

Hall-Harper began battling for the creation of the AAAC in the summer of 2015. Tulsa’s Hispanic and Native American populations had their own commissions for decades, but an African American commission had never been established. Hall-Harper believed the ACCC would efficiently communicate the African American community’s concerns to City Hall.

When then-Mayor Dewey Bartlett announced the AAAC would be established, after months of calls and emails from Hall-Harper and others, he said it would be staffed by the mayor, city councilors, and Tulsa City commissioners. Although city charter dictates that only the mayor can make appointments to boards, authorities, and commissions, Hall-Harper and proponents of the AAAC worried it would be established without the involvement of anyone who had requested its creation.

Hall-Harper penned a letter to Mayor Bartlett, which was printed in The Tulsa Voice in March 2016.

She wrote: After two peaceful protests at City Hall and letters of recommendation in favor of creating an AAAC from the other commissions, we were unofficially informed that an AAAC will be created. However, Mayor Bartlett is attempting to create an AAAC without the input and involvement of the citizens who requested it. We are totally being left out of the process and we are not

JOSEPH RUSHMORE

Another campaign promise HallHarper is delivering on is the development of a grocery store for North Tulsa.

After her election, Hall-Harper called Rose Washington, executive director of the Tulsa Economic Development Commission.

“I need help,” she said. “We have to get a grocery store out here.”

Washington encouraged her to visit a newly opened Sav-A-Lot on Southwest Boulevard near W. 41st St. Hall-Harper nearly dismissed the idea. There’s already a Sav-A-Lot in North Tulsa, and residents have been underwhelmed. They complain the store is small, the selection is limited, and it doesn’t carry the brand names stocked on the shelves of other stores.

So, Hall-Harper was skeptical.

“It took me a while to get out there,” she said.

When she finally visited the West Tulsa store, her mind was changed. It is clean and brightly lit, with a selection of fresh fruits and vegetables on display at the front. Fresh meats, cut by an in-house butcher and bearing low price tags, line the back wall. Products feature both brand-name labels and

generic ones, and, though the store is small, Hall-Harper saw plenty of diversity in the products sold.

“I called [Washington] back and said, ‘If I’m wrong I’ll admit it. I see what you’re talking about.’ ” Then she had to sell the store on North Tulsa.

She called Honor Capital, the developer of the West Tulsa Sav-ALot, and requested a meeting. Honor Capital is a collaboration of eight individuals, seven of whom are veterans and graduated from the Naval Academy in 2006. As they were completing their service commitments, they came together with the desire to go into business together—doing what, they weren’t sure.

“We went to my dad, who is a successful entrepreneur, and basically said, ‘We want to start a company, but we don’t know what we want to do,’” said Jamie Allen, Honor Capital’s vice president of finance. “And he said, ‘Let’s look for a problem to solve.’ ” They found food deserts.

Intending to bring grocery stores to communities lacking them, Honor Capital focused on the communities they were each from—Columbia, South Carolina; Tulsa, Oklahoma.; and Winfield, Kansas—and developed three prototype Sav-A-Lot stores. The Columbia store is nestled within a housing project and serves a predominantly African American customer base. Shoppers at the West Tulsa store are mostly white and working class, and the Winfield store serves a rural community. Honor Capital, which owns all of its stores and licenses the Sav-ALot brand, thought it could emulate those three types of stores in other communities.

Hall-Harper wanted one of those communities to be hers.

“I kind of broached the topic with [Honor Capital],” said Hall-Harper, “and they were like, ‘We wanted to come to North Tulsa last year.’ And I said, ‘Huh? What do you mean?’ and they said, ‘Jack Henderson, he was the first one we reached out to, and he wouldn’t return our calls. We scheduled a meeting with him and he wouldn’t show up to the meeting.’ ” Allen confirmed that Henderson no-showed to a meeting they had set up at City Hall, but said, “I’m not sure that affected anything. It didn’t slow us down in any way.”

Honor Capital plans to open stores in 12 new locations in 2017, including Altus, Shawnee, and Oklahoma City.

The North Tulsa store, which will likely be located at the George Kaiser Family Foundation-owned Peoria-Mohawk Business Park at 36th Street North and Peoria Avenue, is one of 20 Honor Capital plans to open in 2018.

The company is currently working through the city’s zoning and planning processes.

When Allen told Hall-Harper that Honor Capital would love to open a store in North Tulsa, she replied, “Well,

MELISSA LUKENBAUGH

TO HALL-HARPER’S MIND, PA R T O F B R I N G I N G Q U A L I T Y G R O C E R I E S TO THE COMMUNITY MEANS OPPOSING ANYTHING LESS.

I need four. I’d like two in 2018 and two in 2020.”

Hall-Harper’s tenacity has produced positive results, but her zeal has recently landed her in hot water.

Hall-Harper has claimed to be chair of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce’s (GCC) membership committee, a 12-member committee designed to give voice to the 100-plus general members of the GCC. However, Rebecca Marks-Jimerson, the board director, said the GCC does not recognize Hall-Harper as such.

On February 6, Hall-Harper emailed members of the GCC to inform them of a special meeting to discuss the amendment of bylaws—an action for which she had no authority.

That email resulted in a temporary restraining order from the GCC board, with whom Hall-Harper is now in mediation.

For this story, two members of GCC’s board were reached for comment, but each requested to remain off-record while the matter is in mediation.

Despite recent hurdles with the board of directors of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, residents of North Tulsa are excited about new leadership.

Hall-Harper’s openness and insistence

JOSEPH RUSHMORE

that her constituents be informed of and involved in decision-making has inspired a surge of community activism.

“Vanessa is engaging this community,” Williams said. “I think now is the opportunity for people to stand up and get engaged and really take a part in the process that is going on.”

Part of that process is demonstrating and protesting. North Tulsa residents have demonstrated for the creation of the African American Affairs Commission and protested the actions of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, the development of discount retailers, and police brutality.

“That’s one of the easiest things you can do when it comes to fighting for your community,” Williams said. “As long as you have a strategic plan behind your protesting, it works. We would

have never gotten the African American Affairs Commission if we had not been out there protesting. It’s sad that we have to do it—we shouldn’t have to do it—but it’s nothing shameful.

“I have a respect for people who can stand up and do that for their community. It means they care, they want something different. This is the time for change. It starts locally. We have to stand together, we have to work together, we have to fight together.”

Williams predicted that, as the 100th anniversary of the 1921 race massacre approaches, global attention will be paid to Tulsa—especially to North Tulsa.

“So we need to get engaged because our community is going to be what we make it,” she said.

“Now is the time to get on this train of change.” a FEATURED // 17

inthestudio

Rich Fisher in his Public Radio Tulsa studio | MICHELLE POLLARD

PUBLIC RADIO HEAD StudioTulsa’s man behind the mic

by MICHAEL WRIGHT

I

t’s entirely possible that Rich Fisher is the first human ever cloned. How else could he do all he does?

The short list: Fisher manages the KWGS National Public Radio affiliate and KWTU’s streaming classical offerings, overseeing everything from programming to personnel, and conducts half-hour interviews five days a week for StudioTulsa throughout the year.

As a musician, he plays for Tulsa

18 // FEATURED

Community College’s Signature Symphony as principal trombonist and sits in as a replacement trombone for the Tulsa Symphony. He is also the jazz director for Starlight Concerts in the summers, musical director and conductor of the Starlight Jazz Orchestra, and has been a key member at times for various salsa groups (Salsa Rhythm Project, Salsabor), Klezmer bands, and horn ensembles. In his spare time he raised

two kids and has been married for 30 years to Holly, an accomplished saxophone player and singer.

Then again, maybe he’s a modern invisible man. After all, who notices trombone players or knows what the person on the airwaves looks like?

Quick sketch: Fisher might have been the kid in fourth grade who always had a frog in his pocket, and most certainly was a music nerd: glasses, an affable facial

expression with hints of potential mischief—perfect for the back row of the brass section or behind a microphone. In person and on the air he’s soft-spoken with slight traces of Okie inflections and a ready, easygoing laugh. He describes himself as “half radio guy and half musician”—a balance he finds essential to his sense of identity.

Raised in Jay, Oklahoma, by educator parents with strong music backgrounds, Fisher first began playing professionally in the early 1980s with a house band at the Shangri-La Resort on Grand Lake.

For an entry-level job it sounds like something out of Raymond Chandler or Damon Runyon.

“They were really great musicians who had played in Vegas and the Copacabana and the like,” Fisher said. “They told mob April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

SOFTWARE

stories and a bunch of them were Woody Herman Big Band veterans. They’d fish all day and play all night.”

He also went on the road for a time with a band led by a guitar player who called himself “B.B.” Coleman and who “stole everything, including every lick, from B.B. King.” But Fisher soon concluded that the uncertainty of a musician’s life wasn’t for him.

While an undergrad at the University of Tulsa, he worked at KWGS. He left there to work for KCMA, a classical music station, then to manage a record store called “Buttons,” part of the Sound Warehouse chain. After a few years, he returned to KWGS full-time as the music director, overseeing jazz and classical shows.

“In 1992 we switched formats to all news and information,” Fisher said. “Instead of getting a pink slip, which is what would normally happen, Bill Nole, who was the program director, said: ‘Yeah, you might be a good talk show host.’ And that’s how I got started.”

Some of his most memorable interviews include Jane Goodall, Ken Burns, Wynton Marsalis, and Paul Tsongas. Among the most challenging, Fisher lists African American writer Amiri Baraka and Native American writer and activist Russell Means. “[Baraka’s] was a phone interview and apparently I woke him up.”

Baraka was discombobulated but Fisher, still a bit of a rookie, persisted with the interview.

“He had just had a poetry collection published and while he was waking up I asked him if he would read something from the collection. I heard him put the phone down as he was getting out of bed and say, ‘That motherfucker wants me to read something!’”

Means, on the other hand, was just plain tough.

“I interviewed him two or three times. They were always very good interviews—lively and interesting—but he was a big guy and intimidating. He had a very unnerving way about him.”

Fisher usually works a day or two ahead of the interviews, doing THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

all of his own research and preparation. He likens it to cramming for exams.

“You’re reading everything you can, you’re storing everything in your short-term memory. After doing this for 25 years, you have this body of knowledge to build upon. The most important thing is to listen to the answers and catch the vibe of the guest. Not every interview is a home run, but I feel a couple times a week I’ve done a decent job.”

Originally done live, Fisher’s interviews now are pre-recorded and then edited by producer Scott Gregory for clarity and cadence.

“One of my little foibles is that I’ll ask the same question three times in a row,” Fisher explained with a laugh. Gregory trims out those repetitions and other gaffes in post-production.

In the past decade, Fisher has overseen the addition of local news segments and a shift to HD broadcast mode, giving KWGS two additional channels, including a 24-hour jazz feed, and providing the classical station, KWTU, with one extra feed, “The American Songbook.” He anticipates more changes in the near future: programming done in-house, a wider range of jazz, and a second, more adventurous classical stream.

The musician half of Fisher confesses a preference for performing classical music over jazz these days.

“I like both but I’ve become stronger in classical music as I’ve matured. I like playing jazz but I know my limitations; I can play at a higher level in classical. It’s really a matter of not finding enough time in the practice room when it comes to jazz and improvising.”

Still, it’s not hard to discover his roots. When asked if he had ever thought of a song choice for his funeral, Fisher immediately went to old-time jazz—“Oh, Didn’t He Ramble,” a New Orleans funeral staple for over a hundred years:

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This study is safe, non-invasive, and does not involve medication. Participants must be able to attend 2 laboratory sessions (4-5.5 hours/day) in which physiological and behavioral reactions to different stimuli are recorded. This is a University of Tulsa, Cherokee Nation, and Indian Health Service Oklahoma Area Office IRB approved research study.

T H E WO O DY G U T H R I E C E N T E R A N D G R A M M Y M U S E U M ® AT L . A . L I V E P R E S E N T

Didn’t he ramble, he rambled, Rambled all around, in and out the town.

It seems like the perfect song for a guy who’s never at a complete stop in his busy life. a

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FEATURED // 19

retailtherapy

On the Cuff

What’s that big line on Cherry Street?

by MASON WHITEHORN POWELL

A

line of middle-aged women, accompanied by friends and family members, snaked down Cherry Street, wrapping around the block as hundreds filtered in and out of Rustic Cuff. I saw the line consistently. I saw people waiting for hours in all climates for a chance to purchase jewelry. Then I saw the bracelets that compelled them.

Cuffs are costume jewelry— made from plastics, rubbers, alloys, glass, and leathers like ostrich hide or python skin. Price tags range from less than $10 for sale items to $38 for beaded bracelets, all the way to $138 and more for custom animal hide cuffs. Some are simple. Some are gaudy. Some are rose gold and pewter. Some are crafted with stingray skin and engraved with motivational axioms.

“To understand the craze you have to understand women—and women love jewelry,” said Jewel Kaste, a former Rustic Cuff employee and a longtime friend of its founder, Jill Donovan.

“It’s literally like being in a candy store when you’re a kid.

You know how you would go to a Baskin Robbins and want to stick your face up to the glass and go, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s so many colors, it’s so fun, I want all of it’?

That’s the way women feel when they go into Rustic Cuff.”

Jill Donovan’s obsession with cuffs turned into a business when she moved production from her home to an 800-square-foot office space at 41st and Harvard in 2013.

Though not envisioned or zoned as a retail space, shoppers started coming daily and then attending cuff launches by the hundreds.

The devoted call this office location the Mothership.

In 2014, Donovan opened a showroom in South Tulsa at 106th and Memorial, dubbed the Sister-

20 // FEATURED

Patrons waiting for the opening of Rustic Cuff’s new storefront on Cherry Street | GREG BOLLINGER

ship. A second showroom opened January 2016 on Cherry Street, called the Babyship, and closed on April 14 to make way for a larger location next door called the Queenship, which opened its doors on April 15. There are also showrooms in Edmond, Oklahoma City, and Dallas.

“I never intended to do this,” Donovan said. “It wasn’t like I sat down to write a marketing plan and figure out how I can start a company. It’s intended by God, but unintentional by me.”

The popularity is partially due to B.J. Weintraub, a Broken Arrow woman who started the invite-only Facebook group “Addicted 2 Cuffs, Jill Donovan Fan Club” two years ago. A2C JDFC fosters an online community where more than 41,000 members bond over their cuff obsessions and admiration of Donovan by sharing photos and stories and information about sales and meet-ups.

Even with smart business practices, such as subscription services Cuff of the Month

Club and the Regifters Club ($48 and $38 a month, respectively), Donovan says Rustic Cuff is about more than revenue. Her business ideas often develop into philanthropic projects, such as Project Cuffway. On April 7, the event raised $204,000 for pancreatic cancer treatment through sponsors, ticket sales, and a silent auction. Donovan not only gives and pushes others to give, she employees over 200 women in Tulsa.

Kaste described Donovan and Rustic Cuff as filling “a need in a lot of women who feel sort of cut-off from other women—to have something in common that they’re all super excited about.”

When asked about her subscriber base, Donovan said, “I don’t tell, I just say something like 50 million. There are a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot.”

In early April, I ventured alone into the Babyship—an assault of what smelled like cinnamon scented candles, speakers blasting The Eagles’ “I Can’t Tell You Why,” and groups of effervescent women looking at the walls and islands of brightly colored cuffs.

I left empty-handed.

While I’ll never leave the store carrying their bag, a greenish shade off Tiffany’s blue, I’m bound by the same rusty shackles of capitalism that bind us all. To dislike Rustic Cuff is, let’s face it, nothing more than a matter of taste in accessories—and everyone’s entitled to their own.

“I will say that not everyone is going to understand it and that really is okay,” said Donovan. “I’m okay with that. But I think that if you even walked into a showroom or you met somebody that was part of Rustic Cuff you would realize that it’s not just a bracelet company. It’s a way of thinking.

It’s a family.” a April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

Would you like arts with that?

A NEW PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN ARTS ALLIANCE TULSA AND THE BOK CENTER MAKES SUPPORTING LOCAL ART EASY

by JOHN LANGDON

ARTS ALLIANCE TULSA (AAT) KICKED OFF its 2017 campaign by announcing a new partnership with the BOK Center. Established in 2015, AAT is one of 50 United Arts Funds across the country and provides financial support to 40 local arts organizations.

Alliance members include Tulsa Ballet, Gilcrease, Woody Guthrie Center, and several of the city’s other high-profile arts organizations, as well as others many Tulsans might not know about, like A Pocket Full of Hope and the Northeastern Oklahoma Woodturners Association. By giving to AAT, donors can support all of these groups at once.

Through the partnership with the BOK Center, concertgoers and sports fans can donate to AAT while buying tickets to BOK Center events through Ticketmaster, meaning your Ed Sheeran tickets can now come with a side of local arts funding. AAT ads and branding will also appear at every event at the arena.

In a press event announcing the campaign and partnership, City Councilor Phil Lakin, chairman of AAT’s advisory council, said all of AAT’s operational costs for the year have been underwritten.

“One-hundred percent of every dollar raised from today on will be going to our member organizations,” Lakin said.

Robert S. Purgason, chairman of the campaign committee, announced two fundraising events: the annual Play Your pART Brunch on May 20, which will include a keynote speech by Miss USA 2015, Tulsa-native Olivia Jordan, and a Fourth of July Celebration at McBirney Mansion.

As the event wrapped up, BOK Center General Manager Jeff Nickler surprised AAT with a $5,000 check from the arena. Nickler said the donation was to jump-start the campaign and encourage other local companies to follow suit. a THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

MOTHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE • MOTHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE • M

From left: Jeff Nickler, general manager of the BOK Center; Robert S. Purgason, Art Alliance Tulsa campaign chair; Phil Lakin, chairman of the AAT advisory council; Rebecca Marks-Jimerson, president of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce; and Todd Cunningham, executive director of AAT | JIM LANGDON

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FEATURED // 21

onstage

D

espite having just finished a grueling morning company class and rehearsal, and prepped for more rehearsals in the afternoon, Arman Zazyan, Rodrigo Hermesmeyer, and TyLeigh Baughman looked fresh and energized when they met at Tulsa Ballet headquarters to discuss the Tulsa Ballet II’s Emerging Choreographers Showcase, an annual project that cultivates new talent to send out into the world.

These dancers balance on a thrilling edge between experience and new horizons. Baughman, originally from Sand Springs, is a member of Tulsa Ballet II (TBII), the main troupe’s second company, which prepares young dancers to begin a professional career.

Zazyan and Hermesmeyer are senior dancers in Tulsa Ballet, now pushing their creativity into new territory as choreographers.

“I’ve always wanted to choreograph,” Hermesmeyer said. “But you don’t realize how hard it is until you try. It takes practice.”

The ballet he made for last year’s showcase was elegiac and mesmerizing. His new work is called “mollitiam,” which means “resilience” in Latin, and is set to music by Ólafur Arnalds.

“When we choreograph it’s a reflection of our life at that moment,” he said. “This is a poetic piece about a crisis, a boy finding resilience, realizing he always has someone to help guide him through. We find happiness when we put ourselves out there and show that we have the power to be who we are.”

For Zazyan, the chance to create his own work was one he couldn’t pass up—though he said that during his 10 years at Stuttgart Ballet he passed it up again and again.

“When Alfonso [Martin, TBII’s artistic director] asked me, it was ‘no’ without thinking,” he admitted, laughing. “But it’s better if I try.”

Zazyan’s piece for the showcase, “Scandal,” set to music by Philip 22 // ARTS & CULTURE

A VOICE OF THEIR OWN Tulsa Ballet fosters new work and young dancers

by ALICIA CHESSER

Dress rehearsal ahead of Tulsa Ballet II’s Emerging Choreographers Showcase | COURTESY

Glass, is about love and betrayal— the anxiety that cheating creates for everyone involved—with choreography that prioritizes emotion and individuality.

“Everybody has to look like what they are inside,” Zazyan said.

For Baughman, working with developing dance-makers brings challenges that make her a better artist.

“As dancers we’re often made to be something that we’re not, a fairy or a princess or an animal,” she said. “But in Arman’s piece I find we’re very human. That’s almost harder to show to the audience than portraying a character.

You really have to go inside yourself and whoever you’re dancing with to show that.”

Baughman performed an excerpt from “mollitiam” at last

summer’s Exchange Choreography Festival, where she had a chance to dig into its meaning as the piece was in process.

“I’ve been really trying to work on what Rodrigo wants to see,” she said. “You go in with a certain mindset with each choreographer, because they all want different things. That’s important for us to practice as dancers still in training.

They can do whatever they like and we will try to make it happen.

It makes it exciting for us.”

The showcase will also include “OMENS” by Jennifer Archibald, whose most recent work for TBII wowed the at-capacity audience at Guthrie Green last fall. An Alvin Ailey School graduate and an actor currently on the faculty at the Yale School of Drama, Archibald is a rising star who, in 2017, is cre-

ating sizzling ballet and hip-hop choreography for companies from Cincinnati to Stockholm, Sweden.

“I describe my process as painting,” Archibald said. “I walk into the studio and paint the movement on the dancers without having movement preset. You have to have a level of trust and belief in their ability.”

According to TB Artistic Director Marcello Angelini, this risky business of fostering new dance (rather than just showing triedand-true classics by established names) is essential to the health of the company and the art form as a whole.

“Basically the two forces [new work and young dancers] feed each other. Knowing the kind of choreographers that are growing in-house, and the ones that we are inviting from the outside, we are compelled to look all over the world to find excellent young dancers for the ensemble. By virtue of dancing challenging works, these excellent dancers grow fast in skills and artistry.”

“By virtue of working with talented, well-trained, and driven dancers, the choreographers are inspired throughout the process and make better ballets.”

Angelini added that next season about a third of the main company will be made up of dancers from TBII—including Baughman.

“I think we are in the process of creating a self-fueling artistic machine.” a

TBII: EMERGING CHOREOGRAPHERS SHOWCASE Fri., April 21, 7:00 p.m.

Tulsa Ballet’s Studio K, 1212 E. 45th St. Sat., April 22, 7:00 p.m.

Zarrow Performance Studio 1901 W. New Orleans St., Broken Arrow Sun., April 23, 3:00 p.m.

Tulsa Ballet’s Studio K Tickets are $25–$30 More information at tulsaballet.org April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

UPCOMING EVENTS

@ the PAC

April

20-23, 27-29- Annie Get Your GunSand Springs Community Theatre 21-23- Reverb Play Festival- Echo Theatre Company 21- Michael A. McFaul- Tulsa Town Hall 30- Lysander Piano Trio- Chamber Music Tulsa

May

2-28- Artists Brigid Spanier and Jean KelleyPAC Gallery 3- Brown Bag It: Strings & Pearls- PAC Trust

THE LOOP

loop

Don’t miss the bus!

Use the real time Bus Tracker App available at Scan the QR code and keep track of the Loop with the Tulsa Transit Bus Tracker App. tulsatransit.org facebook.com/TulsaDowntownTrolley

THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

ARTS & CULTURE // 23

bookworm

Systematic murder David Grann does the Osage murders justice in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

by JOSHUA KLINE

D

avid Grann has penned some of the most compelling nonfiction of the last two decades. A staff writer for The New Yorker since 2003, he’s written about everything from the Texas execution of an innocent man (“Trial by Fire”) to British explorer Percy Fawcett’s obsessive hunt for El Dorado (“The Lost City of Z”).

Grann spent half a decade on his latest book, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” which recounts the conspiracy behind Oklahoma’s horrific 1920s Osage Reign of Terror and the newly formed FBI’s investigation of the murders. In May, Grann returns to Oklahoma to discuss the book, with three different events in Fairfax, Pawhuska, and Tulsa.

KLINE: How did you piece together the narrative?

JOSHUA KLINE: You seem to pick your subjects with great consideration and spend a lot of time on whatever project you’re reporting on. I’m curious what drew you to the story of “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

DAVID GRANN: This is a story I first learned about in 2011. I heard about it from a historian. I traveled out to the Osage Nation Museum and when I was there I saw this big panoramic photograph on the wall that had members of the Osage Nation and white settlers.

It was taken in 1924, and I noticed that a panel was missing. I asked the then-museum director what had happened to the panel, and she pointed to that empty miss24 // ARTS & CULTURE

Author David Grann | COURTESY

ing space and said, “The Devil is standing right there.” They had an image of the missing panel in the basement and she showed it to me. It showed one of the lead conspirators, one of the main killers during the Osage Reign of Terror. For me that was really a turning point in wanting to try to tell this story, to begin to investigate this incredibly sinister crime or conspiracy.

The fact that the Osage were so wealthy and the fact that they had been systematically targeted because of their wealth, and that it had become one of the FBI’s first major homicide cases—all of those elements made it a story that I had a great interest in.

The next challenge became: how could I find the material to tell the story? And that began a nearly five-year process.

GRANN: The first part involved writing letters to every institution I could think of, and also doing Freedom of Information Acts to every institution I could think of that might be connected.

I spent a lot of time in the National Archives, which is in Fort Worth. It looks like an enormous football field, like something out of [the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”]. One time, I pulled out a document which was basically guardian records—this deeply racist notion that the Osage, since they had money, somehow needed to have a white guardian. But they did, and the U.S. government approved this system. So this document listed the names of the guardians and then it would have the Osage that they were in charge of, and next to the name of the Osage I started to see the word “dead”—then another name and it April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

would say “dead,” another name, “dead.” And you start realizing, even in this very forensic book that’s like a bureaucratic document, you’re seeing hints to what is a systematic murder campaign.

KLINE: It’s interesting that the FBI’s first big case was investigating a crime that in some ways echoes how our country was founded— murdering or displacing a people in order to steal their resources.

Did you think about that as you were writing the book?

GRANN: Yes. What’s incredibly unusual about the crime is how recent it is. We’re not talking about the 17th century of taking land, or even the 18th century, we’re talking about the 1900s when this is going on—all those same forces are playing out and it’s really a microcosm of those forces. I began to see the story both in terms of what was transpiring with the Osage with the oil money and with the systematic stealing of that wealth, as well as with the emergence of the FBI and the emergence of modern law enforcement. In many ways, this story has all the seeds of the formation of this country.

KLINE: How did you arrive at the title “Killers of the Flower Moon”?

GRANN: The Osage have a name for each different moon, and the month of May is referred to as this kind of flower-killing moon because the little flowers spread across the prairie and then the larger plants come and sort of steal their life. The first murder took place in May—at least one of the first murders that Molly Burkhart [the book’s central protagonist] became aware of when her sister disappeared—and there’s also another murder in that month, another disappearance, and so it seemed like a metaphor that reflected the story, and also began the story very much within the Osage tradition, which is how Molly would have seen these events unfolding.

KLINE: Obsession is a recurring theme throughout your work. It THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

appears in the subtitles of two of your books, and it’s also a word that’s sometimes used to describe your reporting process. Do you think of yourself as obsessed?

GRANN: I think I often write about obsessive characters. They tend to be people who are often doing compelling things, so I’m drawn to them. I tend to be fairly obsessive in my work in that the desire to kind of learn every dimension of a story can be very consuming.

I think there’s a certain kinship between being a writer and being a detective, and many of the stories I write about have some element of detection. And it doesn’t mean that the subjects are necessarily professional detectives, but they’re people who are trying to make sense of the world and give some meaning and order to it. I certainly feel a kinship with that.

KLINE: You’ll be in Tulsa May 1, and you’re also doing events in Fairfax and Pawhuska. How important was it for you to come back to Osage County with the book?

GRANN: It’s the most important thing I’m doing on the whole trip.

I could not have told this story without the help of the Osage.

They were incredibly generous.

They pointed me to leads, they gave me evidentiary material, they gave me oral histories, and, you know, I want them—my deepest hope is that I did this story justice.

I tried my hardest and I hope they feel that way when they read it. Over so many years I became friends with many people there.

Many people in Fairfax opened their homes to me—they would let me do interviews there, offer me a place to stay. For me, writing is really hard, but the reporting is kind of wonderful, and the nice thing about spending so much time on stories is that you really get to know the people. a

Booksmart Tulsa and Magic City Books host David Grann May 1, 7 p.m., OSU-Tulsa auditorium, 700 N. Greenwood Ave. Seating is first-come, first-served.

Open Tuesday - Sunday, 10am - 5pm Late Night Thursdays until 8pm

Music Night

Thursday, April 27, 6pm with Paul Benjaman Band

Art for Your Garden

Saturday, April 29, 10am-5pm with Garden Deva Sculpture, Tulsa Glassblowing School, and Birdhouses by Mark 3900 Tulsa Botanic Drive tulsabotanic.org 918.289.0330

SAVE THE DATE June 25, 2017 Philbrook Museum

TULSA ARTIST FELLOWSHIP

Colleen Abel Poet

Arigon Starr

Singer/Songwriter

Dan Musgrave Novelist

WRITER’S

SALON

Wednesday, May 3 Woody Guthrie Center 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

ARTS & CULTURE // 25

sportsreport

BATTER UP

Drillers look for more stability this year

by JOHN TRANCHINA

Tulsa Drillers home opener, April 13 | RICH CRIMI

T

he Tulsa Drillers kicked off their 2017 season on Thursday, April 13, dropping their home opener 7–5 to the Midland RockHounds during a steady downpour of rain in front of a waterlogged but enthusiastic sellout crowd of 8,124 at ONEOK Field.

Despite jumping out to an encouraging 3–0 lead in the first inning, during which they recorded five of their nine hits on the evening, the Drillers surrendered four runs in the third and three in the fourth.

Viosergy Rosa of Midland, the three-time defending Texas League champions, hit a threerun home run off of Tulsa starter Isaac Anderson (0–2) in the third, and J.P. Sportman hit another three-run blast off reliever Michael Johnson in the fourth.

Tulsa pulled to within 7–5 in the fifth inning on Edwin Rios’ second home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field, but the Drillers were unable to muster another base-runner the rest of the night.

After starting with six consecutive road games in which they went 3–3, the home-opening loss left the Drillers at 3–4 on the year, their third as the AA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers and 40th overall.

26 // ARTS & CULTURE

Rios had three hits and has gotten off to a strong start, batting .357 with seven RBI in the first seven games.

“I’m just talking a lot with my hitting coach,” Rios said of his early-season success. “It helps a ton when you know what you’re doing and know what you’re looking for. You get good success when you go up to the plate with a plan.”

The Dodgers’ Minor League Player of the Year last season, Rios spent 33 games in Tulsa in 2016, batting .254 with five homers and 17 RBI, and believes the 2017 Drillers can enjoy a successful campaign.

“We’re really confident,” he said. “We have a great group of guys and we all get along well, we all like to bust it. It’s going to be a good year. I see good things happening with this ballclub, we just got to keep battling.”

Rios is one of 10 Drillers who spent part of last year here and is back on the roster, along with manager Ryan Garko and his entire coaching staff. Other key players back from 2016 include third baseman Kyle Farmer, who is batting .381 this year, outfielder Tim Locastro, who is also hitting .381 after going 3-for-4 in the home opener, catcher Paul Hoenecke, and outfielders Jacob

Scavuzzo and Kyle Garlick.

Garko believes that stability will translate into a better overall performance this season.

“I think across the organization it helps,” said Garko, who played six seasons in the Major Leagues, five of them with Cleveland, from 2005–10. “We talked about a lot of us coaches coming in with this new front office [three years ago in LA] and building a culture, trying to win a World Series, and you can’t do that without a strong player development system. And it is strong.

“We have good players here, not just the same guys back, but we have good players, and there’s more on the way. I think at AAA [in Oklahoma City], here, and in Rancho Cucamonga [the Dodgers’ A farm club], especially, it’s a strong, strong roster at each spot.

It says a lot about what our farm director and our front office have really built, and our scouts—we’re drafting well, we’re signing good free agents, and we’re trying to develop them.”

The Drillers, who have not won the Texas League championship since 1998, went 68–71 last season, good for fourth in the eight-team league, and were just 62–77 in 2015, the first year as part of the Dodgers’ organiza-

tion. Both seasons were marked by massive player turnover, as the Drillers used a team-record 69 players in 2015 and the second-most ever, 63, last year.

But Garko doesn’t believe this year’s version will feature as much volatility, at least among players who aren’t relief pitchers.

“I think across baseball now, especially the bullpen, I think most big league teams are using their 40-man roster, they’re using all 40, so AAA is going to have a lot of movement back and forth and we’re affected by that,” Garko explained. “I don’t think that’s unique to the Dodgers anymore, I think that’s industry-wide. But I do think that position player-wise and starting pitcher-wise, we’re starting to stabilize it a lot more than when our current front office took over the team, which I think was the Drillers’ first year with the Dodgers. I think that core position group, that’s where you build your team around, so I think you’ll see those core guys be here for the year.”

Of course, the ultimate goal for all of the players here is to one day make it to the Majors, and, amazingly enough, a total of 27 players who suited up for the Drillers in the first two seasons of the Dodgers affiliation have already made it to Los Angeles. a April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

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P.O. Box 33137, Tulsa, Ok. 74153 THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

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ARTS & CULTURE // 27

community

SUFFRAGETTE CITY

League of Women Voters hosts second annual Madam President event

by LINDSAY KLINE

National Women’s Party demonstration in front of the White House in 1918 | COURTESY EVERETT HISTORICAL

T

ulsa’s League of Women Voters cheered from the courthouse steps as 18-year-old Iranian-born Shagah Zakerion emerged a naturalized citizen in 2006. She was greeted with congratulations and a voter registration card, and would later be heavily involved in the League.

Tulsa is home to one of the oldest chapters of the League, which elected its first president in 1923.

While the group’s initial aim was to engage women in public affairs, it has evolved into a multi-functional organization that increases voter understanding, encourages registration, and works to ensure all eligible voters have the opportunity to vote.

In 2016, the League registered voters at all 12 naturalization ceremonies held in Tulsa County.

The League’s website (lwv.org) is impressively comprehensive, featuring non-partisan voting guides and a directory of government officials, as well as League statements on issues such as immigration, healthcare, the climate, and clean energy.

“We don’t endorse candidates,” said Mandy Winton, president of the League’s Tulsa chapter. “We do support or oppose issues, but we don’t get involved unless we have a thorough study done and we’ve got consensus. They’ve put in sometimes a year or two of hard work, really studying an issue, putting together a report—if people don’t agree on it, it doesn’t get voted on.”

28 // ARTS & CULTURE

MADAM PRESIDENT Tues., May 9 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Thomas K. McKeon Center for Creativity Tulsa Community College 909 S. Boston Ave. Tickets at www.lwvmadampresident.org Portraits of Frida Kahlo, Maya Angelou, and Michelle Obama for 2017 Madam President | JOHN HAMMER

Winton emphasized that all are welcome to join the League, including men.

“Justin Trudeau, Canadian prime minister, put it well: ‘If we want equality, it takes everyone pitching in.’ If we want everyone to have a seat at the table, to move our country forward, to move our city forward, it takes everyone.

Giving all kinds of people a seat at the table is the best way for us to really embrace the possibilities. I want us to have age diversity, gen-

der diversity, racial diversity—I want us to have all those different voices because that’s how our organization is going to grow and survive and thrive.”

Shagah Zakerion’s is another voice helping the organization thrive. Last year, she was honorary chair of the inaugural Madam President—a League of Women Voters’ fundraising event. This year, she’s excited to be on the planning committee.

“This is a modern, fresh

event,” Zakerion said. “The whole committee, including the chair of the event and the president of the board, are under 40—it’s really the next generation of leaders taking the helm.”

Madam President, held this year on May 9 at Tulsa Community College’s Thomas K. McKeon Center for Creativity, honors women who show leadership qualities as members of the Tulsa community and who, according to League members, “make you say, ‘Now, SHE could be President!’ ” Ten women secured nominations, which were open to the public through March 24.

As part of the fundraiser, the League will auction one-of-akind paintings of iconic women by artist John Hammer. Primarily known for his large, colorful portraits, Hammer almost exclusively painted men until he was approached by League members with the idea of something different—painting iconic women to help draw attention to Madam President.

“The idea was a little overwhelming at first,” said Hammer.

“Once I settled in I treated them like any of my other subjects and the paint began to flow.”

Last year, his paintings of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Malala Yousafzai were striking and well received. In the April 5 issue of The Tulsa Voice, the Voice announced the 2017 Madam President portraits: Michelle Obama, Maya Angelou, and Frida Kahlo. a April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

I wish...

... to be a policeman ... to go to a Florida theme park

In 1982, wishes became reality: Make-A-Wish® Oklahoma was born. Oklahoma children with life-threatening conditions were offered hope, strength and joy. ... to have my own elephant

... to meet a real airline pilot

More than 2700 wishes later, our mission has never been stronger.

This year, as we celebrate our 35th anniversary, we’ve asked a select team of 35 former Wish kids, families, volunteers and supporters to help spread the word.

We’re calling it 35 for 35. Make-A-Wish® America has agreed to match us dollar for dollar to help us reach our goal of $350,000.

... to be a cowboy

... to have an NYC shopping spree

Marcello Angelini | Artistic Director

SI GNATURE S E RI E S 3 E XQ UI S I TE MASTER PIECES 1 S I GNATURE DA N CE EVEN T C AC TI Alexander Ek man C R I P P L E & TH E STARFI SH Adam Ho ugland A MI L L I O N K I SS E S TO M Y SK I N D avid D awso n

Be a part of our legacy.

Help us continue to make wishes come true.

Visit 35for35MakeAWish.com or call 918-492-9474. #Wish35

... to have a playset in my backyard

... to give a piano to my teacher

THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

May 1 1 -1 4 , 2 01 7 | Tic ket s St ar t at $ 20 Lor to n Pe r fo r mance Center t u l s ab al l e t .org | 918 .749.6006

ARTS & CULTURE // 29

artspot

PRESERVATION AND PROGRESS ADFF: Tulsa celebrates architecture and design icons and forward-thinkers

by NICCI ATCHLEY

“Pioneer,” a permanent, large-scale wooden sculpture by artist Stephen Talasnik, is the subject of a documentary of the same name shown at this year’s ADFF: Tulsa | COURTESY

O

ver the course of four days, Circle Cinema will host the Architecture and Design Film Festival: Tulsa (ADFF: Tulsa), the nation’s largest film festival devoted to those topics, presented by the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture (TFA).

Founded in 1995 by members of the Eastern Oklahoma Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, TFA, is an organization that encourages architectural preservation and acts as a catalyst for community development.

As public interest in local architecture and cityscape continues to grow, TFA Board President Shane Hood envisions an expansion of the organization to be more inclusive of other areas of design and art—an attitude ADFF: Tulsa seems to embrace.

“There’s a growing enthusiasm and appreciation,” said Hood.

“We’d like to grow the momentum and partner with other arts-based organizations to engage and appeal to an even broader audience.

We anticipate that this film festival will help expand that reach.”

Programs and discussions at ADFF: Tulsa will cover interdisciplinary artists, mid-century architectural icons, contemporary trailblazers, and graphic and

30 // ARTS & CULTURE

interior designers—all who shape our environments and experiences through images, structures, and words. Many of the programs will be followed by panel discussions and Q&As. Notable speakers at the festival will include Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and The New Yorker Architecture Critic Paul Goldberger: popular culture television producer and documentarian Mike Dorsey; and filmmaker and Metropolis Editorial Director Paul Makovsky.

Of the 20 films in the festival, most offer visual narratives of their subject’s illustrious careers— icons like mid-century modern masters Eero Saarinen in “Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future,” Richard Neutra in both “The Oyler House: Richard Neutra’s Desert Retreat” and “Windshield: A Vanished Vision,” E. Stewart Williams in “The Nature of Modernism: E. Stewart Williams, Architect,” and Eileen Gray in “Gray Matters.”

Festival-goers can also celebrate contemporary doyens like Frank Gehry at the screening of documentary “Getting Frank Gehry” and progressive eccentric Paolo Soleri in “Citizen of the Planet.”

Some films are interdisciplinary, including subjects like Piet

Oudolf ’s poetry of landscape in “Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall: Five Seasons with Piet Oudolf,” or the structural portraits of modernist architecture in “Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer’s Journey.”

“Our festivals have become an annual destination for all types of people enthusiastic about design,” said ADFF: Tulsa Director Kyle Bergman. “There are films profiling famous figures and stories ranging from forgotten postmodern buildings to complex urban issues. These films also explore a search for meaning.”

To Bergman’s last point, “The Happy Film” shows rock-star designer and typographer Stefan Sagmeister making himself his design project. In his pursuit to become a better, happier person through a variety of methods—including meditation, therapy, and drugs—Sagmeister explores the fundamental human experiences and entanglements of art, sex, love, and death. If we can shape our environments and objects, he wonders, is it within our reach to shape ourselves?

The festival’s emphasis on modern, postmodern, contemporary, and futuristic ideas appeal to TFA.

“While TFA has a mission of historic preservation,” said Hood, “we’re also advocates of quality future contemporary development. If architects were focused on the past and on revival styles during the oil boom in the ‘20s, we wouldn’t have all of our art deco—same thing in the mid-century with modern architecture. If we were looking back, we would have missed out. While it’s important to preserve our art deco and mid-century modern architecture in Tulsa—in future developments, to continue to relive our past over and over doesn’t leave much room for progress.”

An underlying theme of the diverse film selection at ADFF: Tulsa is the artist’s role is to disrupt the status quo and inspire the masses, acting as both documentarian and an agent of change. a

ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN FILM FESTIVAL Thursday, Apr. 20 – Sunday, Apr. 23 $35 for opening night, including a reception; $9.50 general admission, $7.50 students, seniors, TFA and Circle Cinema members www.adfilmfest.com

April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

by BARBARA CROOKER illustration by GEORGIA BROOKS

So, I live in Pennsylvania, home of potato filling, cabbage slaw, shoofly pie, apple butter, scrapple, red beet eggs, hog maw, solid starchy stuff. But when I want to go wild, overdraw my account, then I fly to Paris, change to a black lace bra, matching panties. Stop at a bistro, eat oysters in the raw with brown bread, unsalted butter, wine the color of pale straw, then stroll down a leafy street, wander gardens I could draw if I had talent. For a country girl, this is shock and awe: even a folded napkin, a work of art. I’m sure there are flaws, but I can’t see them. I prefer Pépé le Peu to Quick Draw McGraw, Gérard Dépardieu to Brad Pitt, Isabelle Hupert to Kate Capshaw, Coq au Vin to KFC, Bain de Soleil to Coppertone, scofflaw that I am. Ray Charles said, Tell your mama, tell your pa I’m gonna send you back to Arkansas, but I don’t want to go there, or to Utah or Omaha.

I want to stay in Paris for that je ne sais quois.

“Scrimshaw” originally appeared in Nimrod International Journal’s Spring/Summer 2014 issue, Reimagined: Bridging This World and Others.

Barbara Crooker is the author of eight books of poetry, including “Les Fauves” (C&R Press, 2017) and “The Book of Kells” (Cascade Books, 2019). Her work frequently appears on The Writer’s Almanac and American Life in Poetry.

THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

ARTS & CULTURE // 31

thehaps

RECORD STORE DAY Sat., April 22

O

n the third Saturday of each April, vinyl enthusiasts flock to stores to snag limited-release records only available in independently owned record stores. This year’s official RSD Ambassador is St. Vincent (aka Tulsa-native Annie Clark), and there will be releases from hundreds of artists, from André 3000 to Dolly Parton—see the full list of releases at recordstoreday.com. Participating local stores include Starship Records & Tapes, Josey Records, Blue Moon Discs, and Vintage Stock locations. Starship and Josey will also host live music from local bands during the day.

Independently owned record stores, recordstoreday.com

32 // ARTS & CULTURE

FILM FESTIVAL

PLAY FESTIVAL

The Architecture & Design Film Festival celebrates the unique creative spirit of architects with more than 20 films, conversations with filmmakers.

April 20 – 23, Opening Night: $35, all other screenings: $7.50 – $9.50, Circle Cinema, adfilmfest.com

Echo Theatre Company presents Reverb, a new play festival featuring dangerous works for dangerous times. April 21 – 23, $10, Liddy Doenges Theatre, PAC, echotheatreco.org

MOJOFEST

FLAVOR TOWN

Tulsa drummer Jamie Oldaker presents the 2nd Annual MOJOFest in the East Village District, featuring his first band The Rogues Five, gospel singer Ann Bell & Friends, The Subdudes, and Gaelic Storm.

April 22, 5:30 p.m., facebook.com/MOJOFestTulsa

Celebrate the flavors of Route 66 with eight dishes from local restaurants as well as music from Travis Linville and discussions with Matthew Gavin Frank, Michael Wallis, and Ken Busby. April 22, 6 – 10 p.m., $75, Philbrook Museum of Art, philbrook.org

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

STORY TIME

Dining Out for Life // Eat at one of over 25 local restaurants on Thursday, April 27, and at least 25% of your bill will be donated to local HIV and AIDS service organizations through H.O.P.E., Inc. diningoutforlife.com/Tulsa

The “Best Storyteller in Tulsa” will be decided in Ok, So…Story Slam’s Grand Slam. Previous Ok, So… winners will tell true stories based on the theme, “Decisions We Make.” April 28, 8 p.m., $12 – $15, IDL Ballroom, facebook.com/oksotulsa

ELECTRONIC

CRAFT BEER

OK Electric – Nature vs. Nurture features lectures, composer forums, and performances by NYC’s Warp Trio, members of Tulsa Symphony and Tulsa Camerata, Unknown Tone Records artists, DJ Afistaface.

April 28 – 29, 6:30 – 10 p.m., Living Arts, livingarts.org

Bars and restaurants around town will host tap takeovers and other special events for the annual Tulsa Craft Beer Week. Find the full schedule of events at facebook.com/TulsaCraftBeerWeek.

April 28 – May 6 April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

April 28 • 7-9 p.m. • FREE See the museum come to life with a colorful expression of dance, drumming, and song by the award-winning powwow dance troupe, the Oklahoma Fancy Dancers.

Be sure to see the exhibitions Plains Indian Art: Created in Community and Textured Portraits: The Ken Blackbird Collection while you’re here.

Gilcrease After Hours takes place on the last Friday of the month. Explore the museum, grab a drink, network with other young professionals, and support your local art community.

TU is an EEO/AA Institution.

GILCREASE.ORG

THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

ARTS & CULTURE // 33

BEST OF THE REST EVENTS Michael A. McFaul // Michael A. McFaul is one of the most renowned experts on foreign affairs in the country, a recent U.S. ambassador to Russia, and the former senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs at the National Security Council. // 4/21, PAC - Chapman Music Hall, tulsatownhall.com Tulsa Autism & Asperger’s Conference with Dr. Temple Grandin // Speeches by Dr. Temple Grandin, Sean Barron, and New Jersey behavioral consultant Jed Baker. // 4/21, Wyndham Hotel, fhautism.com

WOODY GUTHRIE CENTER 4TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION Sat., April 22, through Sun., April 30

E

ach year, Woody Guthrie Center goes all out to celebrate their anniversary, and 2017 is certainly no exception with over a week of planned celebrations of many kinds. Be sure to visit woodyguthriecenter.org for the full lineup of events.

Panel discussions in the WGC Theater and other locations throughout the week presented by OKPOP, the Oklahoma Historical Society, the Oklahoma Indigenous Studies Alliance, and Magic City Books will cover Woody Guthrie’s contemporary relevance, Leon Russell’s years as a session musician, books and music with Jimmy Webb, Native Americans in pop culture, Northeastern Oklahoman astronauts, and many other topics.

Concerts include: Jacob Tovar, Wink Burcham, John Flynn, and Chris Lee Becker play the music of Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs, and Bob Dylan at The Vanguard. 4/23 Saxophonist Ernie Fields Jr. and his All-Star Band pay tribute to Black Town Blues and North Tulsa Jazz at Cain’s Ballroom. 4/26

Guthrie Green will host four nights of free concerts with headliners David Amram (4/27), BRONCHO (4/28), John Fullbright (4/29), Marshall Crenshaw, and Jimmy LaFave (4/30)

Multiple locations including Woody Guthrie Center, Guthrie Green, Cain’s Ballroom, and more

FLEA MARKET

The punky-est shopping experience of the year, The Tulsa Punk Rock Flea Market returns to the American Legion Post 1 for two days of DIY vendors, music, and more. April 29 – 30, 12 – 5 p.m., $5, facebook.com/tulsapunkrockfleamarket 34 // ARTS & CULTURE

Sakura Festival // In Japan, the Sakura Festival celebrates the blooming of cherry blossom Trees.

Tokyo in Tulsa will host T-Town’s own, complete with movies on the lawn, karaoke, cosplay, video games, and a scavenger hunt. // 4/22, Guthrie Green, facebook.com/tokyointulsa Native Spring Festival // Tulsa Indian Club and Engage Life Institute host this arts and crafts festival and market to celebrate spring. // 4/22, Riverwalk Crossing, riverwalktulsa.com TU Arts and Humanities Festival // A celebration of the arts and humanities featuring music, art, dance, printmaking, and more. Free and open to the public. // 4/25, Lorton Performance Center, lpc.utulsa.edu Turkish Festival // Sample Turkish delicacies, including stuffed grape leaves, kofte, baklava, and more. // 4/29, Tulsa Raindrop TurkishHouse, turkishhouse.org Oklahoma Renaissance Festival // Journey to an age of kings, queens, and knights in shining armor. Be mesmerized as magicians, musicians, and jousters thrill and delight you on one of their many stages. // Every Sat. & Sun., 4/29 – 6/4, The Castle of Muskogee, okcastle.com

PERFORMING ARTS Gilcrease After Hours: We Dance // View the “Plains Indian Art: Created in the Community” exhibition and catch a special performance by the award-winning Oklahoma Fancy Dancers. // 4/28, Gilcrease Museum, gilcrease.utulsa.edu Tea: Myth and Medicine // Oklahoma Center for the Humanities hosts this talk by TU Professor of Nursing Merry Kelly on the use of tea as medicine, citing cultural traditions from around the world and modern science. // 4/29, 108 | Contemporary, 108contemporary.org National Theatre Live: Rosencrantz & Guilenstern Are Dead // National Theatre Live presents a live broadcast from London’s Old Vic theatre of Tom Stoppard’s brilliant

absurdist comedy, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Joshua McGuire, and David Haig. // 4/20, Circle Cinema, circlecinema.com Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 // Signature Symphony performs the U.S. premiere of Ross Edwards’ “Dawn Mantras” and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, with the Tulsa Youth Opera and Signature Chorale. // 4/22, signaturesymphony.org Pippin // A young prince searches for purpose among extraordinary acrobatics and songs by the composer of “Wicked.” // 4/23, Broken Arrow PAC, brokenarrowpac.com Dreams and Prayers — Tulsa Camerata IV // Tulsa Camerata performs Osvaldo Golijov’s” The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind” and Johannes Brahms’s String Quintet No. 2 in G, Op. 111. // 4/27, Philbrook Museum of Art, facebook.com/tulsacamerata Lysander Piano Trio // Pianist Liza Stepanova, violinist Itamar Zorman, and cellist Michael Katz perform a program of (mostly) Mediterranean music, featuring pieces by Enrique Granados, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Ilan Baran, and Franz Schubert. // 4/30, Tulsa PAC - John H. Williams Theatre, tulsapac.com Annie Get Your Gun // Sharpshooter Annie Oakley rises to the top of Buffalo Bill’s “Wild West Show” in this Broadway classic that features such Irving Berlin standards as “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and “Anything You Can Do.” // 4/20-4/29, Tulsa PAC - John H. Williams Theatre, tulsapac.com TBII Emerging Choreographers Showcase // Tulsa Ballet II, the main company’s junior ensemble, performs new works by gifted young choreographers Jennifer Archibald, Rodrigo Hermesmeyer, and Arman Zazyan (the latter are dancers with Tulsa Ballet, the former is a notable rarity, a woman in what’s historically a man’s world).

Expect extreme intimacy, risky physicality, and go-for-it boldness from choreographers and dancers alike. // 4/21-4/23, Tulsa Ballet Studio K, tulsaballet.org Spamalot // The Knights of the Round Table dance when e’er they’re able and sing from the diaphragm in Monty Python’s “Spamalot.” // 4/21-4/29, Muskogee Little Theatre, muskogeelittletheatre.com The Dixie Swim Club // Five Southern women “who met on their college swim team” convene for a long weekend each year to catch up and laugh. This play focuses on four of those weekends, spanning 33 years. // 4/21-4/30, Broken Arrow Community Playhouse

April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

Earth Day Festival and March for Science – Tulsa April 22, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. • JOHNSON PARK, 61ST & RIVERSIDE

The Tulsa Earth Coalition (comprised of The Carrie Dickerson Foundation, The Green Country Sierra Club, and All Souls Green Team) hosts this festival, which features guest speakers, information tables, craft booths, a kids zone, and live music from Annie Ellicott, Steve Liddell, Randy Crouch and Flying Horse, Susan Herndon, and more. At 12:40 p.m., science and earth lovers can show their support for scientists in The March for Science – Tulsa along the River Parks Trail.

Guest speakers at 2 p.m.

Earth Day at Chandler Park April 22, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. • CHANDLER PARK

Learn about conservation techniques while helping to beautify Chandler Park. There will be guest speakers, giveaways, a trash race, and you can take part in planting a butterfly garden.

Marshall Brewing Earth Day Celebration April 22, 12 – 6 p.m. | Marshall Brewing Company

FEELIN’ GREEN Celebrating Earth Day in Tulsa

For their inaugural Earth Day event, Marshall Brewing will release an Earth Day Amber Ale (available only at the brewery) and organize a beautification of the Kendall-Whittier neighborhood. Groups will leave from the brewery for designated locations to clean the neighborhood.

VegHead food truck and local musicians will be on site; brewery tours will be offered. Must be 21 to attend.

Green Writing: Celebrating the Earth with Poetry April 23, 2 – 4 p.m. • TULSA BOTANIC GARDEN

Whether you’re out to save planet earth, help an endangered species, connect with Mother Nature, or mitigate the impacts of climate change—you have ample opportunities to participate in Earth Day 2017.

THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

Take in the beauty of spring in the garden and enjoy nature-inspired poetry read by Nimrod editors and Tulsa Public School poetry students. Get your own creative juices flowing by contributing to a haiku tree and taking part in a group reading. Free with admission to Tulsa Botanic Garden.

People’s Climate March April 29, 2 p.m. • TULSA COUNTY COURTHOUSE PLAZA

On April 29, People’s Climate Marches will take place in over 200 cities across the nation for people to come together in solidarity to reject the proposed cuts to the EPA and other federal agencies critical to addressing climate change, protecting wildlife, our air, and water quality, and promoting energy efficiency and environmental justice.

ARTS & CULTURE // 35

musicnotes

The wisdom of grief Pade’s first album: ‘Best Year Ever’

by DAMION SHADE here have been dark days in Tulsa rapper/producer Pade’s past—the loss of close friends and loved ones and a season when he lost his own freedom to the bad decisions of his youth. These days, though, the struggle is cathartic. Pade, aka Brandon Darryle Wade, is finally releasing his first album, Best Year Ever—a genuine celebration of all his experiences.

When Pade was eight years old, around 1993, he got a boom box. His stepfather had recently opened his eyes to a whole new universe by driving him around with the windows rolled down blaring classic hip-hop.

“My step-pops had just moved into the house, and I think he started playing music for me as a way to make me trust him,” Pade said. “A Tribe called Quest was really what hit me. He was playing ‘Check the Rhime’ for me on the way home, and the way it was bumping and the way the lyrics was hitting just got me excited in that passenger seat. Then the chorus came on, and he started involving me in it. I was like, I want to do that. I want to influence other people in some kind of way.”

Young Pade would rap along with his favorite songs to memorize the rhyme schemes and structures. Then in third grade a kid moved in next door who changed his life forever.

“This kid, Verse, moved to the neighborhood from California.

He was this light-skinned kid with long hair, but he was dope on the mic. In ninth grade at Central High School he put out his first mixtape. Verse was getting serious as a rapper. When I took to rhyming I was always chasing him, but he wouldn’t let me get on a track until I was ready. I remember thinking, ‘What is it going to take for me to impress this dude?’”

T

36 // MUSIC

Rapper/producer Pade | GREG BOLLINGER

Pade did earn Verse’s respect, and the two went on to make music together. In 2006, Pade and a friend started Contraversal Music and produced songs from their home studio. Pade learned the basics of sampling and taught himself the fundamentals of mixing and mastering a record. This is where the foundations of Best Year Ever began.

Just when his music started to gain momentum, however, tragedy struck. One of Pade’s close friends was gunned down and killed at Lacy Park after a football game.

“He was shot trying to move someone out of the way,” Pade said. “I just couldn’t focus on music or school or anything after it happened, and that was the beginning of the worst part of my life. I took a ride with a little brother to Texas and ended up getting arrested for felony drug possession.”

This began nearly a decade of legal troubles with Pade in and

out of prison more than once.

The one constant in this turmoil was music.

“In the prison boot camp I had that notebook, and I would just work on it all the time. Reciting songs over and over. I would craft a beat in my head and when inspiration hit me I jumped in my bunk and started penning words,” Pade said.

Best Year Ever begins with a song written in this time of despair: “Toast to him take a shot / Pour out a little / When I get it on I’m pouring out a whole bottle / Mouk the late great / Gone but not forgotten.”

This track, “March 6th,” is an elegy, but it doesn’t sound like one.

The warm layering of soul vocals and ‘70s funk guitar and keys creates a sonic space that’s defiantly hopeful.

Best Year Ever feels like a primer on the wisdom of grief. A sample-dense texture dominates the

album’s boom-bap aesthetic, and Pade’s plainspoken East Coast delivery complements the imagery.

His North Tulsa narrative references chasing girls at QuikTrip, pizza and cookies, and Cheyenne Avenue, but he includes an uncommon depth and perspective.

On the album’s third track, “Cause and Effect,” he says, “How you supposed to act when you have an inane habit? / Drugs or the money don’t matter we all addicts… Full circle y’all / All that can will be demonstrated by Newton’s law.”

On another track, “All About the Paper,” he says, “I went through the motions of knowing / Reaping but never sowing.”

This album is filled with aphorisms and tiny affirmations that, by design, point to a better life.

“I hope people take away from this album that no matter what you’ve been through you have the power to make it better,” Pade said. “You just have to start. Day by day it becomes routine, and when it becomes natural you realize you’re rolling with the universe.

You stop striving against time. I want people to realize that I was that person born on the other side of that bridge [I-244], and now I’m here on this side doing what I dreamed.” a

Pade’s Best Year Ever album release is April 21 at The Yeti with guests Hakeem Elijuwon, Keezy, Keeng Cut, and more.

April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

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MUSIC // 37

Daryl Hall and John Oates | COURTESY

musicnotes

Y

ou may remember Hall & Oates as the duo who brought you top ‘80s pop classics, but the careers of John Oates and Daryl Hall extend much earlier and later than the 1980s.

I was able to talk to John Oates fresh off the release of his new memoir “Change of Seasons” and just before his 29-city tour with Tears for Fears. Tulsa is the first stop on the tour, a location that provides both nostalgia and convenience for Oates. He lived in Tulsa for a year in the ‘90s to help produce an album and remembers the excitement he felt playing Cain’s in 1979. Hall & Oates and Tears for Fears will be at the BOK on Thursday, May 4.

you’re in this big giant room, and it’s kind of one of those things— you try your best to be personal and connective, but at the same time you have to deal with this giant space you’re in.

NOBLE: I heard you’re taking three days to prepare in Tulsa.

OATES: Tulsa is the first show on the tour, so we were hoping to get into the arena a few days early to set up all our equipment because it’s a big tour and the first time we’re setting everything up. And it’s the first time we’re playing with Tears for Fears, so we have to have a few days to prepare and get our stuff together.

NOBLE: How did you decide to tour with Tear for Fears?

MARY NOBLE: Can you share some stories about the time you’ve spent in Tulsa?

ONE ON ONE John Oates talks Hall & Oates’s new tour, his memoir, and playing Tulsa

by MARY NOBLE 38 // MUSIC

OATES: Tulsa has been a tour stop for us for many, many years. I remember when we first played Cain’s Ballroom. That was a big deal for me. I thought that was such a cool venue with such a great music history and I loved it. We’ve just always stopped in Tulsa over the years. I had an uncle that lived in Arkansas and whenever we played in Tulsa he would always come over and visit.

So, yeah, it’s been a cool place to play. A lot of great musicians have come out of your area and Oklahoma.

NOBLE: Anything you can tell us about the upcoming Tulsa show?

OATES: Well, we bring as much intimacy as you can. It’s a big room and a big show with a lot of stuff going on. We have an amazing band … and we try to reach the audience in the most personal way we can, but at the same time

OATES: We love going on tour with people we admire and people we feel that will make a compatible package for the music we make, and I love their songs. I think they’re really good. They happen to be available and they also were preparing a new album, so it just came together in a very seamless way.

NOBLE: You’re also working on a new album, is it going to be a solo record?

OATES: Yeah, I’m working on an album called Hurt, which started out as kind of a traditional blues record. As I began to get into it I assembled this really unique band and we began to play these songs and I guess it’s become kind of a progressive Americana record.

It’s got some really old music that goes way back into the ‘20s and the ‘30s, and it’s kind of like a history of American roots music—that’s what I’m into when I do my solo work. I go back to the early days before I met Daryl and I play the music that started me out as a kid.

April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

NOBLE: Was writing your memoir therapeutic?

OATES: Yeah, in a way. It brought back memories that I thought maybe I would never think of for the rest of my life had I not gotten to this process—the more memories (that) came up, the deeper the information started to appear.

NOBLE: You went through your handwritten journals for the memoir. Was there anything not included in your memoir that you wish was in there?

OATES: You know, I’m saddened by a lot of the things I see. I’m kind of an idealist in that I would love to see this country come back together. I think we need someone to help unite this country in a lot of ways. Not only politically but socially as well.

Right now it is divided. There’s no doubt about it. There’s a lot of very strong opinions in a lot of different directions, and who knows where we’re going—but I’m not a political pundit. I don’t talk about that kind of stuff. I just

want people to be independent thinkers … If everyone can think for themselves and not just get swept up in rhetoric and hysteria, I think it would be better, if people could step back and make intelligent decisions based on what they think is right and wrong.

NOBLE: How have you and Daryl nurtured a collaborative, creative relationship over such a long time?

OATES: There was a period of time when I think we were very, very inspired. We were living the same kind of life, experiencing the same kind of things being on tour, struggling, making records, spending a lot of time together, and that really is what inspired this output of music we’ve made over the years.

Since the late ‘80s, early ‘90s we’ve only recorded a few times, and so our lives have gone in separate directions, but we still enjoy playing together and we love playing the songs that we created. a

OATES: No. I mean, I wrote the book that I wanted to write. Sure, I could have written four or five different versions of that book.

One of the hardest things for me to do was tell my personal story and tell my side of the Hall & Oates story without speaking for Daryl because I don’t have any right to speak for him. That was a real tight-rope walk that I had to figure out how to do, and I think I did a good job with that. I reveal a lot about what it took to get Hall & Oates together in the late ‘60s early ‘70s, and I really detail a lot about the music, but at the same time I tell a very personal story about what it took for me to grow up.

NOBLE: You and Daryl have garnered a significant multigenerational fan base. What do you think is the secret to that other than the timelessness of your music?

OATES: I think that is the secret …

It’s the timelessness of the songs.

These songs for some reason are still resonating with not only our older crowd who’ve been with us for years, but a whole new generation of music fans.

They’ve rediscovered us, and for some reason they like the music.

That’s why we’re playing these big venues now, because a lot of older fans don’t necessarily like to go to big arenas because it’s not the experience, perhaps, that they’re looking for in their life. But young fans love to have that big, giant, communal experience, and so if you look at our audience now it’s considerably younger in general.

NOBLE: Does the divisive political climate in the U.S. affect your creativity?

THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

MUSIC // 39

musiclistings Wed // Apr 19

Cimarron Bar – Chuk Cooley On the Rocks – Don White Soundpony – Live band heavy metal karaoke w/ Satanico and the Demon Seeds IDL Ballroom – Pegboard Nerds – $18 pH Community House – Pocket Vinyl, Damion Shade, Jhohn Arlie Zin Urban Lounge – Randy Brumley The Blackbird on Pearl – Sexy Wednesdays w/ T. Graham The Blackbird on Pearl – Sloppy Joe Fiasco Acoustic Happy Hour The Beehive Lounge – Tanner Miller The Colony – Tom Skinner’s Science Project Mercury Lounge – Travis Linville Cain’s Ballroom – Umphrey’s McGee, Big Something – $25-$40

Thurs // Apr 20

Billy and Renee’s – AlterBlood, Scorned, Smoking Crow, FETALJUICE, Black JellyBean And The Peeps Hunt Club – Baylor Wilson and Jordan Shellhart The Beehive Lounge – Bill Crane Boom Boom Room – DJ MO Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Darrel Col The Fur Shop – Green Country Fest w/ Stinky Gringos, The Monday Situation, Had Enough, TFM & more – $12-$30 The Colony – Honky Tonk Happy Hour w/ Jacob Tovar Chandler Park - Shelter 3 – IV:XX w/ Gary Buffalo, Frequency, Kudos, DJ Teddie Stevie Cain’s Ballroom – Kane Brown, Bailey Bryan – SOLD OUT Billy and Renee’s – Let Slip the Dogs, Chuk Cooley, Scorned Vanguard – Magnet School, Honeyrude, Dad. The Band – $10 Soundpony – Mr. Burns Highlife Hip Hop Show The Blackbird on Pearl – Noches Tropicales w/ DJ Pez & DJ Brody Mercury Lounge – Paul Benjaman Band Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Riker, Darren Ray Zin Urban Lounge – Sean Al-Jibouri River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove – Smokey Robinson – $65-$75 Yeti – Turnt Up Thursday: Cuatro Veinte The Venue Shrine – Gregory Alan Isakov – $22.50-$28

Fri // Apr 21

IDL Ballroom – Chance Anderson Band, Doc Fell & Co. – $30-$40 The Fur Shop – Coatie Pop VFW Post 577 - Centennial Lounge – Dan Martin Hunt Club – Dante and the Hawks Fassler Hall – Darku J American Legion Post 1 – Double “00” Buck The Beehive Lounge – Finches in the Attic, SPRNRML The Colony – Gogo Plumbay – The Fur Shop – Green Country Fest w/ Pocket Full of Shells, SKytown, Colouradio, Exit 34 & more – $12-$30 Cain’s Ballroom – Hayes Carll, Band of Heathens – $20-$35 40 // MUSIC

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Hook, Todd East Vanguard – Much Less Record Release w/ Fossil Youth, Class Zero, Upland, Lilac Kings – $10 The Fur Shop – Ragland!

Soul City – Red Dirt Rangers Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Rivers Edge CJ Moloney’s – Ronnie Pyle & The Drivers Westbound Club – Rusty Grove Band Cimarron Bar – The Addiction Mercury Lounge – The Eric Tessmer Band Soundpony – The Grits

Sat // Apr 22

Hunt Club – Ben Neikirk Band Billy and Renee’s – Big Tops Burly Q Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Carl Acuff 727 Club – Chuk Cooley Boom Boom Room – DJ MO Yeti – Dead Mockingbirds, Hey Judy, Golden Ones The Fur Shop – Green Country Fest w/ Audic Empire, The Driftaways, Slick Grip Casual Six, Pawn Shop Heroes & more – $12-$30 Keel’s Lounge – JJ Hall Zin Urban Lounge – Jim Tilly The Colony – Katy Guillen & the Girls Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Mayday By Midnight, Scott Eastman The Beehive Lounge – Rookie of the Year, City Under Siege, A Brighter Poet, The Autumn After – $7-$10 Westbound Club – Rusty Grove Band Cimarron Bar – Seven Day Crash Centennial Lounge – Sloppy Joe Fiasco Soul City – Soul City BEarthday Celebration w/ Dustin Pittsley Band, Desi & Cody, Robert Hoefling, Mark Gibson, Rachel Bachman, Randy Brumley Vanguard – The Choir, The Lonelys – $13-$50 Soundpony – The Daddyo’s Mercury Lounge – The Shame, The Penny Mob, Loose Wires Woody’s Corner Bar – Wayne Garner Band BOK Center – A Perfect Circle – $49.50-$85 The Venue Shrine – Saving Abel – $15-$18

Sun // Apr 23

Guthrie Green – Amy LaVere & Will Sexton, Annie Oakley, Harumph Vanguard – Be the Machine w/ Wink Burcham, John Flynn, Chris Lee Becker – $10 Mercury Lounge – Brandon Clark Soundpony – Heavy Handed PDX, On Drugs The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing

Mon // Apr 24

Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams The Beehive Lounge – My Memory Remains, All That I Am – $5-$7 The Fur Shop – Poison Rites, The Normandys, Loose Wires – $5 The Colony – Singer/Songwriter Night Yeti – The Situation

Tues // Apr 25

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Rod Robertson The Colony – Seth Lee Jones Cain’s Ballroom – The Flaming Lips – SOLD OUT The Blackbird on Pearl – The Pearl Jam Gypsy Coffee House – Tuesday Night Open Mic Mercury Lounge – Wink Burcham, Jacob Tovar and the Saddle Tramps

Wed // Apr 26

Cain’s Ballroom – Black Town Blues and North Tulsa Jazz – $25 Cain’s Ballroom – Black Town Blues and North Tulsa Jazz w/ Ernie Fields Jr. & His All-Star Band – $25 On the Rocks – Don White pH Community House – Pocket Vinyl, Damion Shade, Jhohn Arlie The Blackbird on Pearl – Sexy Wednesdays w/ T. Graham The Blackbird on Pearl – Sloppy Joe Fiasco Acoustic Happy Hour The Colony – Tom Skinner’s Science Project Mercury Lounge – Travis Linville

Thurs // Apr 27

Billy and Renee’s – AlterBlood, Scorned, Smoking Crow, FETALJUICE, Black JellyBean And The Peeps The Colony – An Evening with Jared Tyler Boom Boom Room – DJ MO Crow Creek Tavern – Dan Martin Guthrie Green – David Amram, Red Dirt Rangers Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - The Joint – Easton Corbin – $25-$35 Hunt Club – Ego Culture The Blackbird on Pearl – Noches Tropicales w/ DJ Pez & DJ Brody Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Phil Vaught, Scott Ellison Zin Urban Lounge – Randy Brumley Mercury Lounge – Scott H. Biram Vanguard – The Digitour, Loren Gray, Harvey, Nathan Triska, Tyler Brown, Nate Garner – $25 Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – The Hi-Fidelics Billy and Renee’s – The Punknecks Blue Rose Cafe – Zene The Blackbird on Pearl – Calliope Musicals – $7

Fri // Apr 28

Yeti – American Shadows, The Girls Room, Acidqueen American Legion Post 1 – American Strings Guthrie Green – BRONCHO, Levi Parham, Emma’s Revolution Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Boogie Fever, Chad Lee Pepper’s Grill – Brick Fields, Danny Timms The Blackbird on Pearl – Brujoroots, Jankins, Saganomics, Dab The Fur Shop – Casii Stephan, Jamey Hooper – $5 The Fur Shop – Coatie Pop Mercury Lounge – Dirty River Boys River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove – Kenny Rogers – $55-$350 108 | Contemporary – Lysander Piano Trio – $25 Soul City – Multiphonic Funk CD Release Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Phil Vaught

Soundpony – Pony Disco Club The Venue Shrine – Pre-Rok Party w/ Red Devil Lies, Caliber Theory, Switchbach, Grave Technique – $5 The Fur Shop – Ragland!

Westbound Club – Rusty Grove Band Hunt Club – The Lonelys, NeoRomantics, Bringer The Beehive Lounge – The Veer Option, Trials, Within Waves – $5-$7 Vanguard – The Young Wines, Roots of Thought, Manta Rays, The Brothers Moore – $10

Sat // Apr 29

Soul City – Desi & Cody Savage Space – Ghostcat, Tapwater Shrimp – $5-$7 Cain’s Ballroom – 80s Prom – $19-$50 Mercury Lounge – Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy 727 Club – Chuk Cooley The Beehive Lounge – Crow Boom Boom Room – DJ MO The Colony – Dane Arnold and the Soup Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Duke Mason Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – FM Live, Ayngel & John Savage Space – Ghostcat, Tapwater Shrimp – $5-$7 The Blackbird on Pearl – John Del Toro Guthrie Green – John Fullbright, Black Lillies, Griffin House, HoDost, Birds of Chicago Hunt Club – RPM Westbound Club – Rusty Grove Band Cimarron Bar – Seven Day Crash Soundpony – Sweet Baby Jaysus The Fur Shop – Tulsa PRFM After Party w/ Class Zero, When the Clock Strikes, MERLINMASON, Loose Wires Vanguard – Up Next Fest w/ Jay Red, Tha Supa, Had Enough, Rich Maserati, Young Life, Mugen Syndicate – $10-$40 Woody’s Corner Bar – Wayne Garner Band

Sun // Apr 30

Cain’s Ballroom – Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Atlas Genius, Night Riots – $25-$27 Mercury Lounge – Brandon Clark Soundpony – DJ Trillary Guthrie Green – Jimmy LaFave, Marshall Crenshaw, Ellis Paul, Sam Baker, Steve Poltz The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing

Mon // May 1 Cain’s Ballroom – Machine Gun Kelly – SOLD OUT The Colony – Singer/Songwriter Night Yeti – The Situation

Tues // May 2 The Colony – Seth Lee Jones The Blackbird on Pearl – The Pearl Jam Cain’s Ballroom – Trey Anastasio Band – $40 Gypsy Coffee House – Tuesday Night Open Mic Mercury Lounge – Wink Burcham, Jacob Tovar and the Saddle Tramps

April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

MUSIC // 41

REAL COLLEGE RADIO

Tune into Tulsa’s ecletic, uniquely programmed, local music loving, commercial free, genre hopping, award winning, truly alternative music station. @RSURadio | WWW.RSURADIO.COM 42 // FILM & TV

April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

filmphiles

A BRIEF RUNDOWN OF WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE CIRCLE CINEMA “Free Fire” | COURTESY

“Your Name” | COURTESY

AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE ‘Your Name’ is wistful, more romantic than fantastic

by JOE O’SHANSKY THE INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS of writer and director Makoto Shinkai’s arresting, mysterious, and sweetly romantic new film, “Your Name,” is a good sign—at least when it comes to the idea that a foreign-language (or any) animated film has to appeal to some four-quadrant, lowest common denominator paradigm in order to connect with audiences.

The surprise Japanese hit has as much name recognition for being the highest-grossing anime film in history as it does for its distinctive story. But that’s how snowballs, thankfully, get made.

Mitsuha (Mone Kamishiraishi) is a bored high school girl in rural Japan on the verge of graduation. Living with her grandmother and her sister, there’s nothing to do, and no place to hang out with her equally restless friends.

That is until she wakes up one morning in the body of a Tokyo high school boy named Taki (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who conversely finds himself inhabiting Mitsuha’s body. Both struggle to wrap their heads around what must be an incredibly realistic dream, and promptly grasp the disconcerting reality of their new naughty bits.

The pair, apparently without the benefit of having seen “Freaky Friday,” deduce that they, instead of dreaming, really have swapped bodies—a curiosity that is perhaps made possible by a comet that’s passing by on a 1,200-year orbit.

Once the comet moves on, their transpositions cease, leaving them both with a nagging sense of loss that compels them to try and find one another again.

That’s as far as I can get into the story because where “Your THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

Name” begins only hints to where the wistful narrative wanders—a mystical, dream-like love story that tugs on heartstrings both figurative and literal.

Based on Makoto Shinkai’s novel of the same name, which he released a mere month before the film’s premiere, “Your Name” is something different, aimed squarely at a YA crowd inundated by dystopian action stories, sparkly vampires, bespectacled boy wizards, and disaffected youth in search of meaning in an often indifferent and cruel world.

Shinkai’s film also reminds us how the rural pace of life can open one’s eyes to the quiet truths of the world, while the bustle and artificiality of urban life often obviates them with modernity. Love and death are reasons to live. Time is at once finite and infinite. Shinkai weaves these ideas together into a Möbius-like narrative.

While Shinkai’s film certainly dabbles in the fantastic, he is a romanticist at heart. The sincerity of emotion he evokes in “Your Name”—whether it’s joy or sadness, wonder or serenity— satisfy on almost every conceivable visual and narrative level.

It’s the kind of movie that is less of something you watch, as opposed to experience.

This isn’t Studio Ghibli, and it’s not Miyazaki (who is much more of a fantasist). The art and amination from CoMix Wave Films are stunning in their level of attention to detail—some shots look nearly photo-real—and the beauty of it all is soul-soothing in the way that slice-of-life stories set in the bucolic mountain forests of Japan tend to be.

I’d step through the screen, were that possible, and never return. a

OPENING APRIL 21 THE PROMISE An epic early 20th Century love triangle set in the last days of the Ottoman Empire. Stars Christian Bale, Oscar Isaac, and Charlotte Le Bon. Directed by Terry George (“Hotel Rwanda”).

Rated PG-13.

FREE FIRE Set in the late 1970s crime underworld, this featurelength genre shootout unfolds in high octane Tarantino-esque style.

Stars Brie Larson, Sharlto Copely, Cillian Murphy, and Armie Hammer.

Rated R.

OPENING APRIL 28 COLOSSAL This quirky independent sci-fi movie is about a woman (Anne Hathaway) who suffers a nervous breakdown while being psychically connected to a rampaging monster.

Co-starring Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, and Tulsa’s own Tim Blake Nelson. Rated R. THEIR FINEST A married woman and screenwriter fall in love during World War II while making a propaganda film for Britain about the evacuation of Dunkirk, France.

Stars Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, and Bill Nighy, from director Lone Scherfig (“An Education”). Rated R. A VERY SORDID WEDDING Special opening night event on Thurs., April 27. Reception at 6 p.m. with director Del Shores & actor Emerson Collins; 7 p.m. screening.

This indie comedy examines questions, concerns, and bigotry when marriage equality comes to a small Texas town, with characters from Del Shores’ popular film “Sordid Lives”. Co-stars Bonnie

Bedelia, Leslie Jordan, Caroline Rhea, Dale Dickey, & Whoopi Goldberg. Not Rated.

DECONSTRUCTING SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND This new documentary by Beatles expert Scott Freiman examines the making of the landmark album from multiple perspectives. Not Rated.

SPECIAL EVENTS FRIGHT NIGHT (1985) The popular horror classic about a teenager who learns that his nextdoor neighbor is a vampire. Rated R. (Fri. Apr. 21 and Sat. Apr. 22, 10 p.m.)

BANDELIER & BEER/PETE SEEGER: THE POWER OF SONG Part of the Woody Guthrie Center’s 4th Anniversary Festival. Live music and reception at 6 p.m. with director Jim Brown, followed by his film about folk artist Pete Seeger at 7 p.m., featuring artists like Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and more (Tue. Apr. 25th, beginning at 6 p.m.)

BILL EVANS/TIME REMEMBERED A documentary about the music and times of jazz pianist Bill Evans.

Features interviews with Tony Bennett, Jack Dejohnette, Billy Taylor, Paul Motian, Jon Hendricks, Bobby Brookmeyer, and more. Q&A with director Bruce Spiegel follows.

(Sun. Apr. 30, 2 p.m.)

TED CINEMA EXPERIENCE Experience TED2017 with extraordinary speakers, risk takers, visionaries, celebrities, and emerging thought leaders.

(Mon. May 1, 7 p.m.)

FILM & TV // 43

popradar

Hank Azaria and Amanda Peet in “Brockmire” | COURTESY

Keeping it Brockmire New IFC series puts irreverent spin on sports anti-hero

by JEFF HUSTON

M

ost sports fans, at one time or another, have probably wondered if professional announcers (for baseball especially) actually speak with the exaggerated style in real life that they use behind the microphone. The assumption, of course, is that they don’t.

“Brockmire” has fun with one washed-up sportscaster who proves that assumption wrong.

He goes so far as to use the job’s specific lingo in his everyday vernacular, occasionally referring to himself in the third person through real-time play-by-plays.

But “Brockmire” also goes beyond

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

44 // FILM & TV

that surface quirk, following the title character as he attempts to get his life back on track after a rather public fall from grace and decade-long hiatus.

Based on a popular “Funny or Die” short, “Brockmire” is IFC’s latest half-hour comedy. It stars Hank Azaria, whose voice is instantly recognizable to any fan of “The Simpsons” (he’s behind multiple characters in that pop culture staple).

It’s 2007, and Jim Brockmire is having a meltdown in the middle of a Kansas City Royals game he’s announcing. In a whiskey-fueled stupor, Brockmire describes how he caught his wife having sex with another man, weaving the graphic details between balls and strikes, all in his iconic voice. Suffice it to say, it’s his last game as a professional.

Fast-forward 10 years to the present day. After wandering the earth in a prolonged personal descent, he discovers that his infamous last call has been a viral Internet sensation and he’s become a cultural touchstone. “Keeping it Brockmire” means something akin to “keeping it real.” To capitalize on that notoriety, the owner of a barely-professional D-league baseball team (Amanda Peet) hires

Brockmire as announcer. She hopes his unfiltered candor will attract fans and boost the prospects of the team, which is close to folding.

Politically incorrect, adults-only comedy ensues.

The construct is essentially “Bull Durham” for TV (likely the show’s logline pitch, pun intended), but instead of a past-hisprime catcher at the center it’s an announcer at the same stage of life. The team is called the Frackers, that censor-free option de jour for the F-word, and it’s a blatant tip to the profane nature that the series embraces. Clueless Brockmire, who hasn’t been on a computer once in the last decade, spews sexism, misogyny, and homophobia, even during games, but that allows for edgy humor without a mean or bigoted streak.

The first three episodes show steady growth. The pilot has a good deal of setup to do, and it’s a bit uncertain of how dark it wants to go. It focuses on its three central characters: Brockmire, Jules (the team owner), and Charles, a young happy-go-lucky Frackers assistant and self-branded Internet nerd with no acumen for baseball.

The second episode keeps that focus, but also prematurely leaps

into territory one would’ve expected a bit further down the road.

Episode 3, “Kangaroo Court,” expands into the clubhouse, and this is where “Brockmire” starts to find its groove both as a show and a character. Brockmire lacks a family, and when tension escalates between two sides of the team, it creates an opportunity for an ad hoc family to be forged, while also tapping in to the broader ensemble’s potential.

Azaria and Peet are first-rate talents who work well together, but they don’t quite have the chemistry the show needs (although that could change). As Charles, Tyrel Jackson Williams has a natural charisma that’s instantly endearing, and Hemky Madera is the show’s clutch DH as Pedro Uribe, the Frackers’ fat, aging veteran.

There are other layers, too, from cold-open flashbacks of Brockmire’s troubled history to a billion-dollar oil company run by Jules’ ex-boyfriend that looks to squeeze the Frackers out of business and acquire their land. IFC has already ordered Season 2, and it’s easy to see why. The show’s creative team has laid a foundation that expands a one-note sketch into an exploration loaded with comic, character, and possibilities. a April 19 – May 2, 2017 // 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

BILLIE HOLIDAY is reserved and shy at first, but she warms up and is very affectionate once she gets to know you. She’s not aggressive at all and will definitely blossom if she gets comfortable in a home. Her gentle personality makes her a great lap cat. She gets along with other cats and is declawed, though she might not do as well with kids.

ARDEN is a year-and-ninemonth-old pit bull-boxer mix.

She was one of several dogs that we helped rescue from Louisiana during the flooding last year. This sweetie adores people, but she gets nervous around strangers and is picky about other dogs. Once you properly introduce yourself and give her enough time to feel comfortable around you, she will become your best friend!

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.

KANDI sure knows how to make an impression! She’s full of energy and absolutely gorgeous. Kandi is a yearand-a-half-old mixed breed and weighs about 40 pounds.

She is picky when it comes to other dogs but absolutely adores people and children.

KIP is a nine-year-old shorthair mix. He was surrendered to us because of his last owner’s allergy problems, and is now looking for a forever home. Currently Kip lives in our upstairs office and spends the day with our director and another employee. He is an easygoing cat who does best in a calm environment.

Because of his age, you can set your own adoption fee.

GYPSY has a big personality, is very social with people, and loves attention. She’s playful (loves wand toys!) and good with kids. Don’t let her funny little underbite fool you—she’s the opposite of grumpy and just wants to be the queen of your home! She also loves sitting on your lap and getting brushed. Gypsy is two years old.

GIVE YOUR DOG A

Beach Vacation with our plush, durable sea and sand creatures.

1778 UTICA SQUARE • OPEN M–SAT, 10–6 THE TULSA VOICE // April 19 – May 2, 2017

ETC. // 45

free will astrology

by ROB BREZSNY

ARIES

(MARCH 21-APRIL 19):

Be interested in first things, Aries. Cultivate your attraction to beginnings. Align yourself with uprisings and breakthroughs. Find out what’s about to hatch, and lend your support. Give your generous attention to potent innocence and novel sources of light. Marvel at people who are rediscovering the sparks that animated them when they first came into their power. Fantasize about being a curious seeker who is devoted to reinventing yourself over and over again. Gravitate toward influences that draw their vitality directly from primal wellsprings. Be excited about first things.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Are you weary of lugging around decayed guilt and regret? Is it increasingly difficult to keep forbidden feelings concealed? Have your friends been wondering about the whip marks from your self-flagellation sessions? Do you ache for redemption? If you answered yes to any of those questions, listen up. The empathetic and earthy saints of the Confession Catharsis Corps are ready to receive your blubbering disclosures. They are clairvoyant, they’re non-judgmental, and best of all, they’re free. Within seconds after you telepathically communicate with our earthy saints, they will psychically beam you eleven minutes of unconditional love, no strings attached. Do it! You’ll be amazed at how much lighter and smarter you feel. Transmit your sad stories to the Confession Catharsis Corps NOW! GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Now is an excellent time to FREE YOUR MEMORIES. What comes to mind when I suggest that? Here are my thoughts on the subject. To FREE YOUR MEMORIES, you could change the way you talk and feel about your past. Re-examine your assumptions about your old stories, and dream up fresh interpretations to explain how and why they happened. Here’s another way to FREE YOUR MEMORIES: If you’re holding on to an insult someone hurled at you once upon a time, let it go. In fact, declare a general amnesty for everyone who ever did you wrong. By the way, the coming weeks will also be a favorable phase to FREE YOURSELF OF MEMORIES that hold you back. Are there any tales you tell yourself about the past that undermine your dreams about the future? Stop telling yourself those tales.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): How big is your vocabulary? Twenty thousand words? Thirty thousand? Whatever size it is, the coming weeks will be prime time to expand it. Life will be conspiring to enhance your creative use of language… to deepen your enjoyment of the verbal flow… to help you become more articulate in rendering the mysterious feelings and complex thoughts that rumble around inside you. If you pay attention to the signals coming from your unconscious mind, you will be shown how to speak and write more effectively. You may not turn into a silver-tongued persuader, but you could become a more eloquent spokesperson for your own interests.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): We all need more breaks from the routine — more holidays, more vacations, more days off from work. We should all play and dance and sing more, and guiltlessly practice the arts of leisure and relaxation, and celebrate freedom in regular boisterous rituals. And I’m nominating you to show us the way in the coming weeks, Leo. Be a cheerleader who exemplifies how it’s done.

Be a ringleader who springs all of us inmates out of our mental prisons. Be the imaginative escape artist who demonstrates how to relieve tension and lose inhibitions.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): People in your vicinity may be preoccupied with trivial questions.

What’s more nutritious, corn chips or potato chips? Could Godzilla kick King Kong’s ass? Is it harder to hop forward on one foot or backward with both feet? I suspect you will also encounter folks who are embroiled in meaningless decisions and petty emotions. So how should you navigate your way through this energy-draining muddle? Here’s my advice: Identify the issues that are most worthy of your attention. Stay focused on them with disciplined devotion. Be selfish in your rapt determination to serve your clearest and noblest and holiest agendas.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I hope that by midMay you will be qualified to teach a workshop

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

called “Sweet Secrets of Tender Intimacy” or “Dirty Secrets of Raw Intimacy” or maybe even “Sweet and Dirty Secrets of Raw and Tender Intimacy.” In other words, Libra, I suspect that you will be adding substantially to your understanding of the art of togetherness. Along the way, you may also have experiences that would enable you to write an essay entitled “How to Act Like You Have Nothing to Lose When You Have Everything to Gain.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): If you have a dream of eating soup with a fork, it might mean that in your waking life you’re using the wrong approach to getting nourished.

If you have a dream of entering through an exit, it might mean that in your waking life you’re trying to start at the end rather than the beginning. And if you dream of singing nursery rhymes at a karaoke bar with unlikable people from high school, it might mean that in your waking life you should seek more fulfilling ways to express your wild side and your creative energies. (P.S. You’ll be wise to do these things even if you don’t have the dreams I described.)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): If you’re a Quixotic lover, you’re more in love with love itself than with any person. If you’re a Cryptic lover, the best way to stay in love with a particular partner is to keep him or her guessing. If you’re a Harlequin, your steady lover must provide as much variety as three lovers. If you’re a Buddy, your specialties are having friendly sex and having sex with friends. If you’re a Histrionic, you’re addicted to confounding, disorienting love. It’s also possible that you’re none of the above. I hope so, because now is an excellent time to have a beginner’s mind about what kind of love you really need and want to cultivate in the future.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Your new vocabulary word is “adytum.” It refers to the most sacred place within a sacred place — the inner shrine at the heart of a sublime sanctuary.

Is there such a spot in your world? A location that embodies all you hold precious about your journey on planet Earth? It might be in a church or temple or synagogue or mosque, or it could be a magic zone in nature or a corner of your bedroom. Here you feel an intimate connection with the divine, or a sense of awe and reverence for the privilege of being alive. If you don’t have a personal adytum, Capricorn, find or create one. You need the refreshment that comes from dwelling in the midst of the numinous.

MASTER

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You could defy gravity a little, but not a lot. You can’t move a mountain, but you may be able to budge a hill. Luck won’t miraculously enable you to win a contest, but it might help you seize a hardearned perk or privilege. A bit of voraciousness may be good for your soul, but a big blast of greed would be bad for both your soul and your ego. Being savvy and feisty will energize your collaborators and attract new allies; being a smart-ass show-off would alienate and repel people.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Here are activities that will be especially favorable for you to initiate in the near future: 1. Pay someone to perform a service for you that will ease your suffering. 2. Question one of your fixed opinions if that will lead to you receiving a fun invitation you wouldn’t get otherwise. 3. Dole out sincere praise or practical help to a person who could help you overcome one of your limitations. 4.

Get clear about how one of your collaborations would need to change in order to serve both of you better. Then tell your collaborator about the proposed improvement with light-hearted compassion.

Who’s the person you’d most like to meet and have coffee or a drink with? Why? 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.

April 19 – May 2, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE

ACROSS 1 Pop up out of nowhere 7 49-Down explosion 12 Film classifications 18 Wider in scope 20 Butler on “The Addams Family” 21 Most off-tasting, as meat 22 Wordplay is not free (Part 1) 25 Blvd. relative 26 Isaac’s firstborn 27 Sicily’s volcano 28 The devil 29 Church instrument 33 Fact-checker’s find 35 Place for slopping 37 Absorbed, as the cost 38 Scientific egg 40 Basra native 42 One spelling for “made tough by habitual exposure” 45 Fruity bread spread 50 Arrogant or presumptuous people 52 Praises highly 53 Confessions during confession 54 Not feeling 100 percent 55 ___ and crafts 56 Accomplishment 57 Arriving after the due time 59 Per 63 One who drinks too much 64 Serve milk from a pitcher 65 Lively and cheeky 66 Iran-___ Affair 68 Wordplay is not free (Part 2) 73 Kind of view 74 Inscribe on a trophy, e.g.

75 Creation from a shovel 76 What the police uphold 77 Loch ___ Monster

78 Comb go-with, often 80 Tripped 81 Automatic start?

82 Right-arms link 85 Dressed 86 Type of ego 87 Shoe with a super-thin heel 89 Buttonhole flower 91 Werewolf at midnight 92 ___ probability (very likely) 94 Penultimate rating, sometimes 95 It’s big at the zoo 96 What boys become eventually 98 Walk too heavily 101 Wearing less clothing 104 “Lady and the ___” 107 They can be big in Hollywood and boardrooms 109 Historical Parks 111 It can be glossed over 113 Wordplay is not free (Part 3) 119 War participants 120 Inspire, as with feelings 121 More coarse-grained 122 Mouse or rat, e.g.

123 Tops off a room?

124 Gliding dance step DOWN 1 Title for a Turkish military leader (var.)

2 City in Utah 3 Obnoxious, hands-on date?

4 This-up link 5 Shakespeare’s “Much ___ About Nothing” 6 King, in Spain 7 Make indistinct 8 Posh items 9 Dada father 10 Cornea’s companion

11 “Name ___ Tune” 12 Word with generation or gender 13 Big birds in herds in Australia 14 One of Columbus’ ships 15 Computer instruction requiring a boot 16 Expansive landed properties 17 High on weed 19 Fish eggs, collectively 21 Little pesky fly 23 Waste not 24 Lacking taste or flavor 30 Olympic tallies that bring pride 31 Blvd. relatives 32 Little pencil 34 “Bobby Hockey” of the NHL Hall of Fame 36 Subject of Himalayan legends 39 The Louvre, e.g.

41 Some milk units 43 Little Ms. Bobbsey 44 Like ASAP memos 45 Nome resident 46 One who didn’t finish a sentence 47 Some golf clubs 48 Miss America’s headgear 49 It can bring down the house 51 Cunning 56 April 1 honoree 57 Be an educator 58 Heel’s neighbor 60 One in sports attire, often 61 Dairy section selection 62 Crazy, as a malfunctioning machine 64 Grp. meeting after school 65 Cherry parts

66 Jail unit 67 Word before “Liftoff!”

69 Female part of a flower 70 Impulse transmitter 71 Plains harvest 72 “Wait just a second!”

78 Make a wager 79 G, PG, PG-13 and others 80 Illness that often strikes in winter 81 Less forward 83 Miss of Mississippi?

84 Shoulder of a road 85 Not black-andwhite 86 “The King and I” lady 87 Tony of the mob, on TV 88 Changed slightly 89 Iceberg place?

90 Pen part 91 “Mad” milliner?

93 Take on, as responsibility 97 Slithery Sargasso Sea creatures 99 Some secretive infiltrators 100 Unit of pressure (Abbr.)

102 New York island 103 Stirs the pot 105 Viral web phenomenon 106 What a toothache creates 108 Ear-related 110 Thing with ready cash 112 Combustible funeral heap 114 Be permissive 115 Justice Department org.

116 Common Market, briefly 117 A bit of cheer?

118 Chicken ___ king

Universal sUnday Crossword are yoU sTeal THere?

By Timothy e. Parker

© 2017 Andrews McMeel Syndication

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