J U N E 7 – 2 0 , 2 0 1 7 // V O L . 4 N O . 1 2
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June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
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PIZZ A, HOUSE-BRE WED BEER, WINGS, 60 + T VS ELGIN & M.B. BR A DY
THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
CONTENTS // 3
ZOMBIE WARNING! THE BATTLE FOR TULSA HAS BEGUN A R E Y O U R E A DY ?
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4 // CONTENTS
June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
18 20 22 24
June 7 – 20, 2017 // Vol. 4, No. 12 ©2017. All rights reserved. PUBLISHER Jim Langdon MANAGING EDITOR Liz Blood ASSITANT EDITOR Kathryn Parkman DIGITAL EDITOR John Langdon ART DIRECTOR Madeline Crawford GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Georgia Brooks, Morgan Welch PHOTOGRAPHER Greg Bollinger AD SALES MANAGER Josh Kampf AD EXECUTIVE Craig Freeman EDITORIAL INTERN BreAnna Bell CONTRIBUTORS David Blatt, Clayton Flores, Barry Friedman, Mitch Gilliam, Richard Higgs, Hans Kleinschmidt, Fraser Kastner, Joshua Kline, David Lackey, Denver Nicks, Joe O’Shansky, Amanda Ruyle, Andrew Saliga, Jonathan Trout
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LIFE CYCLE BY MITCH GILLIAM T he plan to make Tulsa more
bike friendly
GET IN GEAR BY THE TULSA VOICE STAFF Cycling groups, events, terms,
and tips
IN TANDEM BY RICHARD HIGGS Two men on a journey between the
temporal and the divine
PAPER TRAIL BY THE TULSA VOICE STAFF We’ve mapped out your next pedal
excursion
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NEWS & COMMENTARY
FOOD & DRINK
ARTS & CULTURE
8 YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR B Y DAVID BLATT
12 GET STUNG B Y DENVER NICKS
30 INTERIOR HIGHLANDS B Y JONATHAN TROUT
State budget leaves Oklahoma services massively underfunded
10 ABOVE THE FRAY B Y BARRY FRIEDMAN Eight days in Reykjavik—not on top of the world, but close
46 BAD NEWS B Y FRASER KASTNER
40 INCLINED TOWARD THE FANTASTICAL B YJOHN LANGDON
ATTN:
Chris Blevins’ Courtyard Concert interview
ROAD WARRIORS, FELLOW TR AVELERS, CRY BABIES
42 YOU’VE BEEN SUMMONED B Y AMANDA RUYLE Tough road ahead U P D AT E O N T H E G O P L A N | P18 G U I D E T O T U L S A T O U G H 2 017 | P 2 6
MASH LOT-A-BURGER TO LOT-A-BURGER P14
RIDE WITH YOUR FRIENDS P22
CLIMB IN THE OZARKS P30
CYCLE THROUGH POP CULTURE P34
14 BURGIN’ OUT B Y MITCH GILLIAM
Got a whole Lot-A-Love
16 SOLERA SYSTEM B Y ANDREW SALIGA Cyclists revolve around West Tulsa brewery
Swill you wish you didn’t have to read
MUSIC J U N E 7 – 2 0 , 2 0 1 7 // V O L . 4 N O . 1 2
The story of Tulsa’s hottest new sauce
Heavy metal karaoke with Satanico and the Demon Seeds
Getting to know Tour de Dirt, Oklahoma’s mountain bike race series
32 A PLAY ON TRAGEDY B Y BREANNA BELL
‘ US/THEM’ tackles tough racial topics with satire
34 BRINGING UP THE END B Y JOSHUA KLINE A highly specific, defiantly incomplete conversation with Chuck Klosterman
TV & FILM 44 FOR THE LOVE OF THE SPECTACLE B Y LIZ BLOOD
Talking with the head writer of ‘The Gorburger Show’
45 SUPERHEROINE B Y JOE O’SHANSKY
ETC. 36 THEHAPS 43 MUSICLISTINGS 45 FULLCIRCLE 47 THEFUZZ + CROSSWORD
With ‘Wonder Woman,’ DC finally made a movie worth watching
PEDAL TO THE METAL P42
“Be at one with the universe. If you can’t do that, at least be at one with your bike.” — Lennard Zinn, former U.S. National Team rider and author ON THE COVER Tulsa loves cycling! THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
CONTENTS // 5
editor’sletter “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel … the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” — Susan B. Anthony
RIDE OR DIE WEEKEND I was unprepared for the throngs of wildlings pulsating and
screaming and stumbling and bonging beers and swarming the street at Cry Baby Hill, where cyclists grimace their way up the incline, gasping for oxygen or, in some cases, giving up and reaching for a beer. For three years I ran the corner marshal volunteers at
the Oklahoma City Pro-Am, my hometown’s version of Tulsa Tough. Corner marshals are the people who blow whistles and wave orange flags to keep pedestrians and cars off of the course during crit races (if you’re unfamiliar with that term, see our handy cycling glossary on pg. 20). Last year, though I was about six months into my new Tulsa life, I made one last trip to OKC to head up the corner marshal squad. We had a nice time sipping three-point beer and jangling a few cowbells. It’s a busy but decidedly civil event. The next weekend was Tulsa Tough (see this year’s guide on pg 26). I’d never been before and was fairly certain that what I had heard about it—too wild to believe, you just have to see it, a crazy weekend—was overblown. They weren’t exaggerating, I thought as I walked to the top of Cry Baby Hill. Soon I was caught up with the hundreds of sweating, heaving revelers and joining in their cheers for the intrepid athletes. (Keep track of Sunday’s hilarity yourself with our CBH Bingo card on pg. 28.) Sure, a lot of people go just for the party, but there is something disarming and winsome about the organized chaos. People in this town love biking. We love biking on the streets (soon, side paths—see pg. 18), on the trail systems, on Turkey Mountain (pg. 30), on Wednesday nights (pg. 16), to the bar (our favorite stops are on pg. 24), into the country—even across the country (pg. 22). Tulsa Tough seems a perfect amalgamation of that love—varied, wild, fun, a little frightening, hard, and worth it. a
LIZ BLOOD
MANAGING EDITOR 6 // NEWS & COMMENTARY
June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
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NEWS & COMMENTARY // 7
okpolicy
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR State budget leaves Oklahoma services massively underfunded by DAVID BLATT
8 // NEWS & COMMENTARY
A
fter months of wrangling, legislative leaders finally introduced budget bills late on the last Tuesday (May 23) of legislative session, just three days before the deadline to adjourn. This budget appropriates $6.86 billion for FY 2018—almost the same amount as FY 2017 after mid-year cuts and supplemental appropriations. But compared to the budget of eight years ago, this budget is more than 15 percent less when adjusted for inflation, a decrease of about $1.25 billion. Even as they worked to rush this budget through before adjournment, state leaders did not describe it in glowing terms. House Appropriations and Budget chair Leslie Osborne provided a blunt assessment when presenting the budget Tuesday evening: “These are horrible funding levels. We are massively underfunded in state government.” Governor Fallin said: “This plan keeps our government from shutting down ... unfortunately it leaves many agencies facing cuts for the sixth year in a row.” Lawmakers developed the budget knowing they had about $800 million less revenue for FY 2018. The burning question all session was how to raise additional revenues to fill the budget hole and avoid devastating cuts to services. Efforts to reach an agreement between Republicans and Democrats on tax increases that could clear the 3/4ths supermajority hurdle of State Question 640 fell apart in the final week. This led Republican leaders to move ahead with only revenue measures that they claim do not fall under the legal definition of a revenue bill and thus could be approved with a simple majority. The budget provides flat funding or small increases to about 20 agencies. However, even the relatively protected agencies may be forced to cut services and programs. For example, common education was given a $22 million increase to cover increased employee health care costs, but state aid
funding will remain $180 million below 2009 even as the student population has increased by 50,000 students — the deepest cuts in per pupil state aid funding in the nation. And despite the legislators’ promise to provide teachers their first pay raise in 11 years, they again failed to get that done. The Department of Veteran’s Affairs took a cut of less than 1 percent, but that will provide little chance of increasing staffing at veterans care facilities where staffing shortages have contributed to neglect and deaths of patients. The Department has seen its state funding cut by over 20 percent since 2009. Meanwhile, most agencies are facing cuts of just under 5 percent compared to last year. In most cases, the cuts are stacked onto deep cuts from previous years. Higher education will have its appropriations cut over 25 percent since 2009. The result will be program and staff cuts, and no doubt further tuition increases will be on the table. Other agencies have been hit even worse: the Health Department is now down 29 percent from 2009, the Agriculture Department is down 33 percent, the Department of Environmental Quality is down 41 percent, and the Oklahoma Arts Council is down 46 percent. Some lawmakers will claim that this budget was the best they could do given the size of the budget hole. But in fact, many reasonable revenue options were left on the table, including raising the gross production tax rate on new production, rescinding some of the income tax cuts of recent years, ending the capital gains deduction, and many others. Oklahomans deserve better than a budget announced at the 11th hour that once again fails the families and communities of this state. a
David Blatt is Executive Director of Oklahoma Policy Institute (www.okpolicy.org). June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
CELEBREMOS LA COMUNIDAD.
CELEBRATE COMMUNITY.
LA COLECCIÓN DE ARTE CHICANO DE CHEECH MARIN
CHEECH MARIN’S COLLECTION OF CHICANO ART
On view now
“Why does watching a dog be a dog fill one with happiness?”
F L O AT I N G T OY S
– J.S. Foer Boz balls
Dash Frisbee
Float Coat™
WOX Tug Toy
L AKE SNAC KS
1778 UTICA SQUARE OPEN M–SAT, 10–6 Snow Cone Treats THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
NEWS & COMMENTARY // 9
viewsfrom theplains
“B
etter weight than wisdom a traveller cannot carry” — Viking proverb at Reykjavik airport
To have been there then … As protesters streamed onto the streets in their thousands—on one occasion throwing snowballs, eggs and yoghurt at the parliament—the role of special prosecutor was created to look into rumours of epic financial wrongdoing. 1
ABOVE THE FRAY Eight days in Reykjavik—not on top of the world, but close by BARRY FRIEDMAN
This was Iceland in 2008:
The revised Republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act will leave 23 million more people uninsured in 2026 than if that act, also known as Obamacare, were to remain in place. 8
After Iceland’s three largest banks fell in the space of three days, the currency collapsed, the stock market fell 95 percent and nearly every business on the island was bankrupt. 2
The country then did something unusual. Gullfoss Waterfall in southwest Iceland | BARRY FRIEDMAN
As real wages fell 11 percent from 2007 to 2010, the government did not take a hacksaw to social services, but instead raised taxes and also offered debt relief to the country’s mortgage holders. And Iceland did what no other developed country has seemed particularly eager to do: It jailed a bunch of bankers. 3
They threw food, the Icelanders did, then raised taxes, increased social services, and found their better angels.
We didn’t do that in America. We blamed the victims. Remember Rick Santelli, the man often credited with igniting the Tea Party movement on February 19, 2009? Santelli, reporting from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for CNBC, called people in the process of foreclosing homes “losers” and said government would be promoting “bad behavior” by 10 // NEWS & COMMENTARY
Everyone who has been legally residing in Iceland for six months automatically becomes a member of the Icelandic social insurance system, regardless of nationality. The insurance contains health care that includes: hospitalization, maternity clinics … midwife assistance in cases of birth at home, dental and orthodontic treatment for children, people over 66 years, and pensioners; transport costs and travel costs, nursing in the patient’s home, aid apparatus, physiotherapy. 7
helping them. Investors and traders within earshot cheered on the floor.4 Read that again: they cheered. The operating principles of the big banks is a cesspool of greed, ethics and criminal intent and they give a very bad name to free market capitalism. During the housing bubble Wall Street was considered the heart and soul of free market capitalism, but when they were in danger of total collapse they fell on their knees as socialists, begging the government and tax payers to bail them out. 5
And we did. As things improved in America, in large measure due to the stimulus package against which the captains of industry criticized (after, of course, slurping from the government teet), they became unbridled capitalists again, telling us regulations were too tough and American exceptionalism hung
in the balance. Soon, they got the legislators they wanted, Donald Trump was elected president, and Dodd-Frank, designed to prevent such economic calamities, is being de-fanged.6 We decided our better angels were moochers.
“Honey,” I said to Melissa last November. “Iceland jailed the bankers.” “What did we do here?” she asked. “We apologized for burdening them.” “Let’s move.” “Let’s go visit.” “Yeah, right.” Melissa turned 40 last December. I had the birthday boots she wanted in the cart on Amazon— nice boots, expensive boots— boots worthy of a 40th birthday present. But they weren’t Iceland. Boots don’t get you tears in a downtown restaurant over a birthday steak.
In Iceland, they cover midwives. We have these conversations— “What about men having to purchase prenatal care?” Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) replied. “Is that not correct? And should they?”9
Reykjavik has narrow streets, small buildings, and bike lanes. On their currency, they have large women in big hats or large bearded men in robes. There’s no tipping, tax is included, and there are small glass bottles of Coke and salmon sandwiches made on soft pretzels in shops that double as bookstores with tacky Viking tchotchkes in the windows. You don’t—can’t—know a place when there’s a return ticket somewhere in your room, when your hotel serves croissants and bacon and fruit and, yes, yoghurt in the lobby every morning, but there’s something infectious about the calm of this place. A waiter we met, let’s call him Arnie, bitches about politics, rents, tourists. He could be working anywhere in Tulsa. But. June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
“Do you even think about insurance?” I ask. “No,” he says, “that I don’t worry about.” Healthcare in America: That I don’t worry about—said no one ever.
There are no tuition fees at public universities in Iceland. However, you will have to pay a compulsory, non-refundable registration fee. In most cases, the registration fee ranges from 100 EUR to 250 EUR. 10 According to Make Lemonade, there are more than 44 million borrowers with $1.3 trillion in student loan debt in the U.S. alone. The average student in the Class of 2016 has $37,172 in student loan debt. 11
The music they play during the breakfast buffet here at the Suggi Hotel in downtown Reykjavik is gorgeous and melancholy, like the musicians are all sitting by pristine waters, under the Aurora Borealis, strumming on Norse instruments and humming along with ancient spirits. The Northern Lights, as it turns out, aren’t visible in May and the days are fi lled with 20 hours of light and nights that never come. When you’re sitting in Iceland, across from a girl with platinum hair who’s smiling back at you, you find yourself forgetting about time, anyway, as well as Facebook and Jared Kushner and wonder, instead, about the shots of castor oil you just drank and the chocolate croissants you plan on stealing for later. Everyone speaks English— sure, it’s an accommodation to tourists—but nobody’s Icelandic sense of self appears compromised. In America, we bitch when listening to “Para español, presione por favor el número 1.” America is a punchline here, the fat before-photo of a loud, obnoxious relative who elbows his way to the table then spits his food. When their country’s prime minister, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, was found to be connected with—not charged, not convicted, just tainted—the THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
Panama Papers, he was forced to resign.12 Mention Trump here and they shake their heads. Criminality it gets, craziness it fears. Europe knows from despots. You sense America has let them down. We have. In the elevator the morning Emmanuel Macron was elected president of France, a German woman said to her husband, “France voted for the future. America voted for the sewer.”
The incident shocked the nation, as headlines told of the death of a 59-year old man who was shot by police in December 2013. That man himself had shot at police when they entered his building. According to local sources, the man had a history of mental illness. Still, the police believe they could have done better. 13 “Is Terence Crutcher’s death his fault?” Kevin Gray, assistant district attorney asked during cross-examination. “Yes,” Shelby said. 14
We went to the Blue Lagoon, essentially an enormous hot tub fi lled with a cacophony of languages and large guests you’ve seen naked in the mandatory pre-shower. It was about $100 per person for this shvitz that formed at the base of a geothermal power plant. As the smell of sulphur lingered in the car and rain started to fall on the way back to Reykjavik, I thought, “Geothermal. Not fracking, not coal.”
In Iceland, they feed the hungry: Everyone is welcome, and the cafeteria is visited by anyone looking for a free meal, a place to sit and read the paper or a place to meet with friends. 15
In America, we play word games: “Let me ask you this bluntly: Is every American entitled to eat?” Scott Simon asked.
“ Well, nutrition obviously we know is very important and I would hope that we can look to—” [Adrian] Smith began.
H E A LT H Y • A C T I V E • L I F E S T Y L E
“ Well, not just important, it’s essential for life,” Simon interjected. Smith conceded that nutrition is essential to life. “I think we know that given the necessity of nutrition, there could be a number of ways that we could address that,” Smith answered. 16
Months before we got here, I wrote the editor of an Icelandic alt-weekly about the place, the voices, the job prospects. “I read nymag.com,” he replied, “and watch ‘The Daily Show’ and its descendants to get my dose of U.S. politics. There isn’t really an Icelandic ‘viewpoint.’ We’re a wildly different country, running on really inverse principles to what guides U.S. politics, and a sensibility and culture that fosters political decisions that would never fly in the U.S. We don’t have any kind of army, we don’t have any qualms with socialist institutions like public schools and public healthcare, and social/progressive issues like abortion and homosexuality are never election issues … We trust our readers to compare and contrast by themselves.” And throw yoghurt. a 1) ft.com: Olafur Hauksson, the man who jailed Iceland’s bankers 2) nytimes.com: How Iceland Emerged From Its Deep Freeze 3) Ibid. 4) youtube.com: “Rant of the Year” 5) forbes.com: The Big Bank Bailout 6) investopedia.com: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 7) sjukra.is: Health Insurance in Iceland 8) npr.org: GOP Health Plan Would Leave 23 Million More Uninsured, Budget Office Says 9) washingtonpost.com: ‘Is that not correct?’: Male GOP lawmaker asks why men should pay for prenatal coverage 10) studyineurope.eu: Tuition fee at university in Iceland 11) forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman: Student Loan Debt in 2017: A $1.3 Trillion Crisis 12) theguardian.com: Iceland PM steps aside after protests over Panama Papers revelations 13) countercurrentnews.com: Iceland Police Grieved and Apologized After Killing a Man For the First and Only Time In History 14) readrontier.org: Shelby: Crutcher would still be alive if he would have communicated, listened to commands 15) grapevine.is: On The Outside 16) huffpost.com: GOP Congressman Declines To Say Whether Every American Is Entitled To Eat
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ARE YOU CURRENTLY PAIN-FREE BUT WANT TO LEARN HOW TO REGULATE PAIN? A TU IRB-approved research study is being conducted at The University of Tulsa that uses biofeedback to teach participants to regulate responses to pain. Participants must be healthy, currently pain-free, and able to attend 3 laboratory training sessions (3.5-4.5 hours/ day). Behavioral and physiological reactions to painful stimuli will be assessed each day to test the efficacy of the training. Up to $300 compensation will be provided for completing the study. CONTACT: Psychophysiology Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience (PI: Jamie Rhudy, PhD)
918-631-2175 or 918-631-3565 NEWS & COMMENTARY // 11
foodfile
Get stung The story of Tulsa’s hottest new sauce by DENVER NICKS
W
hen Dillon Hargrave gifted me an unlabeled glass bottle from his first batch of hot sauce—a fearsome red concoction he called Baby D’s Bee Sting—the first thing I did after tasting a droplet was write on the bottle, in Sharpie, three large Xs and the best skull and crossbones I could muster. I stood in the kitchen pensively, bottle in hand, seriously wondering if I should store it in the gun safe. This was no condiment to be trifled with, and I was afraid some unprepared person might accidentally get hurt, as though Hargrave had casually stopped by my house to drop off a case of hand grenades. I’d recently written a book, “Hot Sauce Nation,” about America’s love affair with spicy food, which Hargrave said helped inspire him to make the stuff, so he gave me a bottle. “Right now a tiny dab of the purée makes me run for the milk,” he said then of his unholy creation. Yeah, no shit, man. That first batch was a terrifying blend of Carolina reapers, scorpion peppers, ghost peppers, Fatalii chiles, and Scotch bonnets, a lineup of some of the hottest chiles in existence, like fielding a mafia crew with Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Whitey Bulger, Don Corleone, and Jack the Ripper. But damn if it wasn’t good. For those of us who relish the burn, finding new, unique, and truly hot hot sauces is a thrill unto itself, and when Hargrave turned his hot sauce into a small business earlier this year, Baby D’s Bee Sting became a bold new addition to the hot sauce canon.
12 // FOOD & DRINK
Dillon and Ashley Hargrave, makers of Baby D’s Bee Sting | GREG BOLLINGER
Owing to the use of five varieties of capsicum chinense—the hottest species of chile on earth—the sauce is not only very hot, it plays on the mouth in the peculiar way cultivars of this species do, building slowly in layers and lingering. But the sauce also strikes instantly, hence the name. “When I tried my first batch I felt the immediate sensation of a bee stinging the tip of my tongue,” Hargrave said. “That combined with the fact I am a small man with a first name that starts with D made the name just come to me almost instantly. Nobody ever called me Baby D before but it has now been added to my list of aliases.” Baby D’s Bee Sting Original blend has cooled off slightly since that very first batch, but it still
packs ferocious heat. The company now sells a lineup of three additional sauces including Yellow Jacket, a medium heat, more vinegar-heavy sauce; Okie Sunset, a mix of 80 percent Yellow Jacket and 20 percent Original; and JalaHellNo, a barely spicy but absolutely delicious sauce made from two varieties of capsicum annuum, jalapeños and serranos. Baby D’s Bee Sting isn’t just incidentally made in Tulsa, it’s fiercely local. A native Tulsan, Hargrave is a graduate of Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences and Oklahoma State University, a DJ under the name Dilation—you’ve probably grooved to his tunes before, perhaps at Guthrie Green or Cry Baby Hill—and he runs literacy programs at the small non-profit Neighbors Along the Line. All
of the sauce is made in Tulsa by Hargrave, his wife Ashley, and sister-in-law Amanda Mead. Baby D’s Bee Sting is a member of Kitchen 66, an incubator for local food startups, and the hot sauce is as much a community-building initiative as a condiment. “By the time I started the Kitchen 66 program in February 2017, I had decided that the primary goal of the company was going to be job creation to build wealth in the community,” Hargrave said. He hopes to one day source all ingredients from within a 10-mile radius of Tulsa, including neighborhood gardens that employ area kids, putting Tulsans to work from the farm to the factory to the store. For Hargrave, Baby D’s Bee Sting is a sauce—a cause, really—worth suffering for. The chiles that go into their hotter sauces are hot enough that in raw form they can be truly dangerous, capable of causing severe pain merely by touching the skin. Or, as happened to Hargrave once, splashing into the eyes, a hazard he seems prepared to endure to keep making his sauces, growing his company, and investing in his community. “I have most recently started putting Okie Sunset on my yogurt in the morning with some strawberries. I really believe there is magic in combining sweet and heat,” he said. “Baby D’s Bee Sting is made for people to experience and experiment with. I just wish I could try everything that people make with it.” You can find Baby D’s Bee Sting at Barn 66, Bodean Seafood Market, Chimera Café, Kitchen 66, Mr. Nice Guys, and at babydsbeesting.com. a June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
Party at The Max
EVERY DAY! Funday:
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Thursday: LADIES NIGHT W/ DJ MOODY 1$ COORS ORIGINAL FREE TOKENS FOR THE LADIES W/ ANY PURCHASE
Friday:
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Saturday: 6/10 & 6/17 • DJ AB OF 105.3 K JAMZ’ OLD SCHOOL SUNDAY
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Ultimately, the quality of a Lot-A-Double boils down to which employee is making it—so it may seem unfair to compare the shacks. However, Tulsa needs the truth, and the Voice is gonna give it to you. Here are Tulsa’s Lot-A-Burgers, ranked:
citybites
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
1208 N MINGO RD. HAMBURGER HOLINESS 2807 CHARLES PAGE BLVD. DOUBLE CHEESE DIVINITY 4407 S. 33RD W. AVE. BURGER BLISS 1516 E. 11TH ST. CRUNCHY BUN 928 W. 23RD ST. SOGGY BUN 4555 S. MINGO RD. GREASE BOMB
Lot-A-Burger’s double cheeseburger with onions fried in | HANS KLEINSCHMIDT
T
ulsa is a burger town, with roughly 10 places to snag the sandwich per square mile.1 When it comes to burger best-ofs, Tulsa loves possessive proper nouns, with places like Bill’s, Ron’s, and Claud’s topping lists. There is, however, a secret cabal who worship a curious local chain. I know this sect well, because I too am a member of the Lot-A-Cult. I was initiated into the Lot-ABrood several years ago by Stuart Hetherwood, a man eternally on the prowl for the perfect gutbomb. We’d debated burgers for lunch when he threw out Lot-ABurger as the best in town. “Seriously?” I asked. “Dawg,” he responded. We went to the 11th Street Lot-A (1516 E. 11th St.), which immediately stood out for its ancient promo photos, red-brick interior, and faux gaslight chandeliers. I snagged a double cheeseburger with bacon and jalapenos. It came with a shot glass’ worth of grease, and the best flavor I’d ever had in a burg. “Dawg,” was correct. There are six Lot-A-Burgers in Tulsa and three in Bartlesville, and their sole commonality is the excellence of their namesake. Tulsa’s Lot-As are dine-in, walk14 // FOOD & DRINK
BURGIN’ OUT Got a whole Lot-A-Love by MITCH GILLIAM up, or drive-through, and come in varying states of disrepair or rebirth. Lot-A-Natics all have a shack they claim is the best. The week of my conversion, I raved about Lot-A to a coworker, and she asked which one I frequented. When I said 11th street, she looked down her nose at me through her bifocals and said, “Charles Page. Go there. That one on 11th tastes different.” Indeed, no two Lot-As are created equal. The Charles Page Lot-A (2807 Charles Page Blvd.) is a walk-upand-take-a-number-style shack in an industrial zone good for catching tetanus or ditching bodies. The only aesthetic tying it to Tulsa’s other Lot-As is the faded blue-and-red logo on their weathered billboard. The windows of the joint are devoid of corporate marketing, aside from a plethora of papers pasted on like ransom
notes. Upon them are threatening phrases like “polish dog” and “cream cheese or cheddar breaded fried mushrooms.” The burger, a double cheeseburger with onions “fried in” (a Lot-A-Specialty), was perfection. The meat, cheese, onions, mustard, and bread formed a holy quintinity of flavor—each ingredient a consubstantial part of the divine burger whole. For something less blasphemous, think tres leches in burger form. I asked the girl at the counter what relation they had to the other Tulsa Lot-As. “Nothing,” she said. Current owner of the Charles Page Lot-A, Johnny Qualls, humbly confirmed this on the phone. “We get a lot of people from out of state [who] used to live here and come visit,” Qualls said. “They even come just to eat at this one ... ‘cause, from what I gather, we’re the best one. And I
don’t really like to blow my ego up that much, but that’s just what I hear.” Leo Waller started Lot-ABurger in 1951, and was later joined by his son-in-law Johnny Akers. The Akers family opened the additional Bartlesville stores and bought all of the Tulsa stores—except the Charles Page location—in 1994. In 2003, Waller sold the Charles Page store to Graciela Qualls, Johnny Qualls’s mother and a longtime Lot-A worker who Waller knew “would run it the way it was supposed to be ran,” according to Qualls. Graciela, who recently died, turned the location over to her son. Qualls’s Lot-A is the only independently owned location and is the oldest standing Lot-A in town. This independence allowed them to build an exotic menu, replete with catfish dinners and corn nuggets. But he said they buy their beef from the same place as the other guys, and stay true to the original recipes. After his claim to being the best, I knew what I had to do: case every Lot-A-Joint across town. The one just west of the river (928 W. 23rd St.) is a fresh, white-sided structure, which recently reopened. Upon my initiJune 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
ation, when Hetherwood pointed out the other Lot-As, he told me this one shut down “because they kept it too real.” When I drove by I saw “kept it too real” meant “burned to the ground.” This Lot-A is a walk-up like Charles Page, with a decrepit drive-through box in an adjacent lot. I ordered a double cheeseburger with onions fried in (which I do at every Lot-A) and was given a number, which I quickly forgot. It looked like I was the only person there. The clerk shouted, “Number 32,” but as I approached, a secret patron snagged the brown bag and retreated back into the Lot-A-Shadows. Farther south in West Tulsa (4407 S. 33rd W. Ave.) is a shotgun style, mobile Lot-A. A red shack sits out back, and is painted with a cartoon burger and Lot-A’s motto, “A Square Meal on a Round Bun.” I grabbed my double and started my car to head home. But, first, I took a bite while it was still fresh. I threw the car in park and finished the whole thing right there. There are two Lot-As on Mingo, and the one south of the B.A. (4555 S. Mingo Rd.) is the wackiest in town. The interior polka-dotted wallpaper is adorned with seemingly random film posters, including “Hairspray,” “Without a Paddle,” “Bridge to Terabithia,” and “Wolf Creek,” because nothing says “excellent hamburger” like a one-panel ad for torture porn. I nearly threw my burger all over myself when a patron blasted their car horn in the drive-through. After I ate, I drove around the corner and saw the sign: “Please honk for service.” Because Hetherwood originally welcomed me to the fold, I asked him to accompany me to the Lot-A on North Mingo (1208 N. Mingo Rd.), where the bright white building sits between Batman’s and the Turtle Church, just south of Pine Street. It could easily be mistaken for a bait shop. We each ordered the standard “DBL DBL OF,” as it is written on the greasy brown bags. As we ate our burgs, the conversation became limited to a certain four-letter word, the way Bunk and McNulty analyze crime scenes on “The Wire.” On our way out, the lady at the counter gave me contact info for THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
the owner’s daughter, Judy Gray, who handles media. “Dial 1 for the lawyer, and 2 for Judy,” she said. “If her business card doesn’t say ‘Attorney at Lot-A-Burger,’ it’s a goddamn crime,” Hetherwood said. I left a voicemail for Gray, and another one several days later, with no luck. I’d hoped to ask her about the different structures and why Lot-A-Burger’s marketing photos hadn’t changed since the early ‘90s. They’re even cruder than Braum’s vaporwave ads. Qualls told me he has no plans, or need, to advertise the Charles Page Lot-A-Burger. “It’s a very nostalgic item, believe it or not,” Qualls said. “People hear the name and just know where it’s at, so there’s no need for marketing.” He plans to use any extra revenue to gussy up the Charles Page shack and add patio seating so people don’t have to eat in their cars. Five days after my original call to Judy Gray, I was poking around a different Lot-A and an employee offered me Gray’s personal number. When I called Gray I received a cold response. “Hey Judy, this is Mitch,” I said. “Yeah?” “I left you a couple voicemails at your office number, but a worker gave me this one, and …” “Oh really?” she said. “Well then who was that?” 2 I didn’t tell her. “I’m doing payroll now, and had to work a store this afternoon, so I can’t talk,” she said. “That’s fine, I’m just a big fan and would like to schedule time to talk,” I said. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” Click. I never spoke to her again. Like Qualls, Gray seems confident in the cult nature of her product—it doesn’t need advertising, or reporters. a 1) This is a conservative, though entirely dubious, estimate. 2) This is as good a place as any to point out that Walt and Jesse often scarf Blake’s Lotaburger in “Breaking Bad.” Blake’s is an unaffiliated chain, and the franchises are sworn not to build within a certain distance of each other. Still, this phone call gave me Los Pollos Hermanos vibes.
Tulsa's unofficial carbo-loading headquarters.
6808 S Memorial Dr Ste 146 918-461-2605
www.highgravitybrew.com
FOOD & DRINK // 15
DALESANDRO’S
downthehatch
1742 S Boston Ave | 918.582.1551 dalesandros.com Welcome to Dalesandro’s. Join us on the Patio for Award Winning Authentic Italian Food. Located on 18th & Boston, Downtown Tulsa. Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are recommended.
Cyclists on American Solera’s patio after Wednesday Night Ride | GREG BOLLINGER
SOLERA SYSTEM Cyclists revolve around West Tulsa brewery by ANDREW SALIGA
W OKLAHOMA STUDY OF NATIVE AMERICAN PAIN RISK RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS NEEDED
$200 compensation ($100/day)
INVESTIGATORS: Drs. Jamie Rhudy & Joanna Shadlow CONTACT: The University of Tulsa Psychophysiology Research Laboratory 918-631-2175 or 918-631-3565
A novel research study is being conducted at The University of Tulsa to identify potential markers of risk for chronic pain in healthy (currently painfree) Non-Hispanic White and Native American individuals.
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.
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hile Tulsa Tough enthusiasts celebrate cycling on Cry Baby Hill by imbibing in excess, many of Tulsa’s cyclists prefer to pace themselves with a weekly postride stop at American Solera, one of Tulsa’s newest watering holes. The latest project from brewer Chase Healey, AS opened to the public last August and quickly took RateBeer’s 2017 title of Best New Brewery in the United States and the 2nd Best New Brewery in the World against 26,000 competitors. The brewery’s metal facade in West Tulsa would blend in with the surrounding industrial structures if it weren’t for the patio seating and large wooden foeder out front. The taproom is inviting, with natural light spilling in from floor-to-ceiling windows and warm tungsten fi lament accents hanging from the ceiling. As accommodating as it is, it’s clear from the dozens of stacked wooden barrels patiently aging beer that this is a functional workspace, too. I’d set out to intercept a few cyclists participating in the loosely organized Wednesday Night Ride to chat about their
post-ride ritual. I was nursing my way through a fl ight of barrel-aged ales, sours, and imperial IPAs when cyclists began to sprinkle in. The members of Team Tom’s Bicycles were among the fi rst to arrive. Joining them on a patio picnic table, I felt I was part of an intimate gathering of friends and family in a backyard as opposed to sitting with strangers on the patio of a brewery. “On our training rides, we go fast and we go hard, but our goal is to always fi nish together,” said Justin Davis, who has been a part of Team Tom’s for four years. “Stopping and having a great beer allows us to relax, tell stories, and laugh. It’s the best cool down there is.” American Solera rotates a selection of 10 beers on tap every three weeks (check their Facebook page for updates), with the option of taking many of them home in a growler or crowler (can growler). Several bottled beers are also available. AS’s second taproom will open in August at 18th and Boston. In the meantime, you may have to get to West Tulsa quicker than the cyclists to enjoy limited releases. a
In Oklahoma, you can legally cycle on the interstate, but not on the sidewalk. June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
RIVER SPIRIT CASINO RESORT
Welcome to Fassler Hall Tulsa. This German gem in the heart of downtown Tulsa is known for its German beer and live entertainment. Join us for the Thunder Games and Happy hour in the biergarten! Also, don’t miss the expansive whiskey and cocktail menu.
Beneath palm trees and sunshine, River Spirit Casino Resort’s exclusive pool is ready for you. Soak up the sun while enjoying boat drinks and poolside dining. Whether in a private cabana or enjoying a day pass, paradise is yours.
MCNELLIE’S SOUTH CITY
ELGIN PARK
Sure our beer selection is immense, but the food’s pretty good too! McNellie’s menu is filled with fresh, reasonably priced food. Every day, our dedicated kitchen staff works hard to make a variety of items from scratch, using the best ingredients available. Enjoy brunch on the patio every Saturday and Sunday, which features a great bloody mary bar.
Welcome to Elgin Park! Enjoy our pizza, wings, burgers and brews on the patio. Pizza, brewery & sports conveniently located across from Drillers Stadium.
DILLY DINER
QUEENIE’S
Downtown Tulsa’s favorite diner. Serving up breakfast all day, housemade bread, pastries, pies & cakes, homemade soft serve, house cured meats, local produce and so much more! Come soak up the sun on our patio with a fat stack of pancakes and mimosa service. Open till 1am on weekends.
Proudly serving Tulsa since 1983. We make the freshest, tastiest food using local meat and veggies. Enjoy our Famous Chicken Salad or Grilled Cheese Sandwiches or come in and check our chalkboard for daily specials. We hope to see you soon!
EL GUAPO’S CANTINA SOUTHSIDE
IN THE RAW BROOKSIDE
Our newest El Guapo’s is located in the Walnut Creek shopping center at 81st and Harvard. Here you’ll find the largest selection of tequila and mezcal in Tulsa, a beautiful garden patio, and the same great food and service as the original.
Welcome to In The Raw Sushi! Enjoy our breathtaking view from our patio “On the Hill” or dine with us at our newly constructed Eel Bar at our “Brookside” location. At either restaurant, relax and enjoy In The Raw’s delicious sushi and boozy cocktails. Kam pai!
304 S Elgin Ave | 918.576.7898 fasslerhall.com
409 E 1st St | 918.382.7468 mcnelliessouthcity.com
402 E 2nd St | 918.938.6382 dillydiner.com
8161 S Harvard Ave | 918.728.7482 elguaposcantina.com
THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
1-888-748-3731 | 8330 Riverside Pkwy riverspirittulsa.com
325 East M.B. Brady | 918.986.9910 elginparkbrewery.com
1834 Utica Square | 918.749. 3481 queeniesoftulsa.com
3321 South Peoria Avenue | 918.744.1300 intherawsushi.com/brookside
FOOD & DRINK // 17
O DINING GUIDE • PATIO DINING GUIDE • PATIO DINING GUIDE • PATIO DINING GUIDE • PATIO DINING GUIDE • PATIO DINING GUIDE • PATIO DINING GUIDE • PATIO DINING GUIDE • PATIO DINING GUIDE •
FASSLER HALL
The GO Plan is making Tulsa more bike friendly BY MITCH GILLIAM PHOTO BY DAVID LACKEY
18 // FEATURED
TENSIONS BETWEEN TULSA MOTORISTS and cyclists reached peak toxicity in 2013, when participants in the Wednesday Night Ride were frequently targeted by angry drivers in West Tulsa and Sand Springs. One driver threw a box of thumbtacks on the road, puncturing at least 50 tires and endangering the safety of surrounding cyclists. A KJRH report on the 2013 Wednesday Night Ride incident asserted both the cyclists and motorists thought an extra bike lane along State Highway 97 could be a good idea. The GO Plan, administered by the Indian Nations Council of Governments (INCOG), is a bicycle/pedestrian master plan to improve walkability and bike safety throughout Tulsa and its neighboring cities. INCOG, which was created in 1967 by the governor of Oklahoma as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Tulsa region, aims to connect Tulsa and its neighbors to our existing trail networks through on-street treatments that that will increase safety and visibility on arterial streets. The plan includes 11 cities: Bixby, Broken Arrow, Catoosa, Collinsville, Coweta, Glenpool, Jenks, Owasso, Sand Springs, Skiatook, and Tulsa. The on-street treatments include signaled crosswalks and increased signage, side paths, which are dedicated bike lanes that run alongside car lanes, buffered bike lanes, which add several feet of space between motorists and cyclists, and cycle tracks, which utilize both space and barriers to separate cyclists from traffic. Once the GO Plan is fully executed, a cyclist could ride a side path along State Highway 97, skipping motorists (and the thumbtacks). Work on the GO Plan began in December 2013, and the project draws from both Vision and Improve Our Tulsa funds. INCOG contracted consultants from the Maryland-based Toole Design Group and held a series of public meetings in all participating cities, including walking audits where participants traveled along sidewalks to look for possible improvements, such as traffic signals at cross walks. A lack of sidewalks was the number one pedestrian barrier on streets that participants rated “poor.” Jennifer Haddaway, INCOG’s Transportation Resource Center coordinator, said the GO Plan grew out of Tulsa’s existing bike culture. “There is a big, big interest in biking in Tulsa, and I think there’s even a tourism element people don’t talk about,” Haddaway said. “There are people coming from [places like] Arkansas just to use our trail system.” JUNE 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
Like Haddaway said, Tulsa’s bike scene has been steadily growing, as evidenced by the cover of the paper you’re reading and the weekend of Tulsa Tough races and other cycling events. But the surge in biking popularity has been due mostly to competitive and recreational biking, rather than commuting. The GO Plan promotes biking as transportation. “The lanes are advertisements that say ‘we want you to bike,’” said Stephen Lassiter, member of Tulsa’s Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC). “Once these lanes get put down, in a connected way,” Lassiter said, “people that rely on the bus as a main way to get around—because a bike seems dangerous and not feasible—when they see the lanes and connected network, they are going to see biking as more appealing.” Lassiter has been a member of BPAC since 2011, and said if he heads anywhere in town under five miles, he always gets there quicker on a bike. Beyond increased connectivity, the GO Plan will make biking far safer in Tulsa. “The way it’s set up right now, you have a lot of people that use the street,” Haddaway said. “Sometimes riding on the street isn’t the safest, especially when high traffic means low visibility for cyclists. Separated bike lanes fix this.” Haddaway pointed to the buffered bike lanes recently placed under U.S. Route 412 on M.L.K. Jr. Boulevard, which place several feet of space between the designated bike lane and vehicle traffic. The lanes didn’t come from the GO Plan, but they are specifically what the plan calls for. Apart from safer transportation, the GO Plan is seen as a health initiative by city officials. “Implementing quality transportation options is an important part of our strategy to address health disparities throughout the city,” Mayor G.T. Bynum said. The largest health disparity is the 11-year life expectancy gap between North and South Tulsa residents. Bynum has said that closing this gap is one of the highest priorities for his administration. The GO Plan calls for multiple additions to North Tulsa’s infrastructure, including a bike trail connecting 66th Street North to a buffered bike lane running down North Lewis Avenue to the existing Mohawk Boulevard lane, which will now be buffered as well, in place of its simple “share the road” signage. The Osage Prairie Trail runs from the OSU Tulsa trailhead in the South, north to Skiatook, and is intersected by THE TULSA VOICE // JUNE 7 – 20, 2017
“Implementing quality transportation options is an important part of our strategy to address health disparities throughout the city.” — MAYOR G.T. BYNUM
“WHAT HAPPENED?” 1897 | A.B. FROST (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)
a shared lane marking on Mohawk Boulevard. Apart from these few features, North Tulsa remains largely hazardous for citizens on foot or bike, adding another hurdle for many citizens already living in a food desert. Additionally, Bynum said, “the GO Plan is designed to integrate with the [Bus Rapid Transit] routes planned for Peoria [Avenue] and 11th Street, connecting residents with multiple transportation options.” The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) program, part of the Tulsa Vision package, will function like light rail systems with two lines providing efficient travel between two of Tulsa’s major job and residence corridors, with 15–20 minute frequency at all stations. The Peoria Line will go from 81st Street and South Lewis Avenue to 38th Street North on Peoria Avenue. The Route 66 line will run between the 4th Street and Denver Avenue bus station to 145th East Avenue. City officials hope to have the routes running by 2019. According to Haddaway, as of fall 2016, Tulsa’s neighboring communities of Collinsville, Owasso, and Broken Arrow have adopted the GO Plan into their comprehensive plans, with other
communities working on local adoption as well. There isn’t a specific timeline for implementation of the GO Plan’s recommendations, but Mayor’s Office Chief of Performance Strategy and Innovation James Wagner said things are moving along smoothly. “The Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee has worked with the city’s Engineering Services Department to prioritize projects. They are implementing projects as streets are rehabilitated or resurfaced, and applying for grants to implement,” Wagner said. A GO Plan treatment has been completed at 3rd Street between Lewis and Utica avenues. Treatments will appear on 3rd Street between Harvard and Yale avenues, and two-way conversions plus separated bike lanes will soon run through downtown on Boulder and Cheyenne avenues. “In my dreams, [GO Plan recommendations] would’ve been done already,” Haddaway said. “It’s up to Tulsa’s surrounding communities and their budget cycles, and I’m not sure what their timelines look like, but I can tell you, the City of Tulsa has been on the ball.”
Several years back, I rode my bike to Woodland Hills Mall from my parents’ house in Coweta. “Treacherous” is not a hyperbolic description of the trip. I biked north from 131st Street toward 121st, meeting speeding motorists at the crests of backcountry hills. The gusts from their proximity nearly knocked me from my bike. Near the Elks Lodge on 101st Street, I heard slobbering and padded paws hitting the pavement. I spun furiously, racing away from two unchained pit bulls. I sped behind a church, only to see the road end in front of me. I closed my eyes, and lifted my handle bars, in hopes that I’d clear the approaching grass ditch. I ate it. I quickly hopped up, grabbed my now twisted handlebars, and used my bike as a shield. The dogs slowly approached me, but when I swung my bike at them, they both rolled on their backs. They just wanted belly rubs. I patted their tummies, and cautiously hopped back on my bike. I completed my trek after I hit the Creek Turnpike Trail near NSU-Broken Arrow, but things would’ve gone much easier if the GO Plan’s side path along Highway 51 had been implemented then. a FEATURED // 19
RIDE TO FLY
“Think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world.” — Grant Petersen, bicycle designer
USE YOUR LEGS!
OKLAHOMA FLYERS OFFERS YOUTH RIDES IN TULSA BY BREANNA BELL Oklahoma Flyers is bringing youth into the Tulsa cycling community by offering weekly bike rides. Tanner Culbreath created the group with the mission to get kids active and outdoors by riding bikes. The ages of most riders range from toddlers to 13 year olds, but all cyclists under the age of 23 are able to join for a ride. The group has four different levels based on difficulty. The more experienced racers tend to lead the groups and typically go for 10-mile rides. The slower-paced and single-speed riders are usually younger kids and can be accompanied by parents for shorter rides. Oklahoma Flyers also features opportunities for adults to volunteer with the group by leading and helping with rides. Watch the Oklahoma Flyers Facebook page for updates on upcoming Wednesday rides and Tuesday races.
Cycology terms
Lingo you may encounter this Tulsa Tough, or elsewhere on the city’s mean streets
OK FREEWHEEL IS LONG AND HOT, BUT WORTH IT BY KATHRYN PARKMAN
MITCH HARRISON
“The best rides are the ones where you bite off much more than you can chew, and live through it.” — Doug Bradbury Every year during the first or second week of June, around 400 cyclists converge near the Red River for Oklahoma Freewheel, a weeklong bike tour that winds about 500 miles from Texas to Kansas. The 2017 path (June 11–17) will follow the Chisholm Trail, a historic cattle drive that ranchers steered from Texas to Kansas 150 years ago. From Wichita Falls, Texas, cyclists will cruise through Comanche, Duncan, Chickasha, Kingfisher, Enid, and Ponca City, and at the end of the week find themselves in South Haven, Kansas. “I didn’t really think I was gonna be able to do it,” Tulsan David Duncan
said about the 2016 Freewheel, which was his first. Previously, his longest push was a daylong 24 miles, and that had been an intense physical trial. Freewheel’s daily average—close to 70 miles—makes for a week’s worth of long, hot rides. It’s tough, but Duncan said he was surprised by his own strength and endurance. The camaraderie of all those men, women, and children pedaling across the prairie together is strong. It sounds like all you need for your first Freewheel is muscle memory and a little encouragement. But, here’s what Duncan wishes he knew before his first trip: the only thing worse than the heat is the stray dogs. For this, different experts recommend different methods: retaliate with canine mace, or kill them with kindness and carry dog treats. Also, Oklahoma is much less flat than you think, and because the weather is unpredictable, you’ll
want to pack your belongings in plastic bags. Still, every year more riders continue to take comfort in the fact that their fellow travelers and volunteer SAG (support and gear) drivers won’t leave them for dead, or dog food. The end of each day’s ride parks Freewheelers in a host town where they can set-up camp, relax, eat, and revel in the local entertainment. If you’re thinking about saddling up but aren’t sure you can hack it, consider what Duncan called the “bourgeois” option. This will put you in an air-conditioned trailer for the night. OK Freewheel will also host a three-day ride in Medicine Park, Oklahoma, October 20–22. Registration includes camping, shower accommodations, meals, and live music.
CRY BABY HILL Closest thing Tulsa
CORNERING Leaning your bike to turn around a corner
GET IN THE DROPS Put your hands on the low part of the bars
CAT I, II, III, IV, V Categories based
CRIT Short for “criterium,” a typi-
GRAN FONDO Italian for, roughly,
has to Mardi Gras
on cyclist skill level; 1: best, 5: least best
cally short course on city streets
DIESEL BOMB Intentional belch
More information at okfreewheel.com
“big ride”
KEEP THE RUBBER SIDE DOWN Slang
AERO Short for “aerodynamic”
CARBACK Car behind
BACON Slang for scabs, cuts, and scars (aka road rash)
CARUP Car ahead
of exhaust (in a cyclist’s path) from a diesel truck, driven by an asshole
CHAMOIS Pronounced “sham-wah”
DRAFTING Riding behind another
cyclists hate when you call it an “outfit”)
DROPPED Left behind
LEISLE-TEISLE Left turn (use other L- and T-word combos to achieve same effect)
BROOM WAGON Vehicle following a race that “sweeps” straggler cyclists CHAINRING TAT Mark on skin from
chain grease
CHASE PACK Racers trying to catch the lead rider in front
20 // FEATURED
(most everyone says “shammy”), the pad in the seat of cycling shorts.
CHAMOIS BUTTER Cream to prevent
cyclist who is blocking the wind for you
chaffing
EAT IT Slang for “crash”
CLIMBING Going up a hill, or
FIXIE A single or fixed-speed bike,
mountain
often with no hand brakes
for “be safe”
KIT Cycling outfit (note: most
MASHING Riding in the highest gear (highest resistance) NUGSLUG Pothead JUNE 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
Tour highlights Tulsa’s Creek heritage BY BREANNA BELL Last year, KOSU radio producer Allison Herrera launched From Creek Town to Tulsa Town, a bike tour, as part of her “Invisible Nations” project. The main focus of “Invisible Nations,” Herrera said, “is to highlight modern-day Native American culture [in Oklahoma] by showcasing the rich and complex stories of our nation’s first people.” The 10-mile tour featured five stops at historical sites significant to Tulsa’s Creek founders. Plus, the tour included live entertainment from Mvskoke (Creek) musician Wotko Long. The first site was the Council Oak Tree located on Cheyenne Avenue, a significant Tulsa landmark and location of the annual ceremony honoring the Lochapoka tribe (of the Creek Nation)
who migrated to Tulsa on the Trail of Tears from Alabama and Florida, essentially founding Tulsa in Indian Territory. It’s second stop was Creek Chief Cabin of Tuckabatchee, a member of the Lochapoka tribe who came to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears and is recognized as one of the original founders of Tulsa. Other stops included Zink Park on Brookside, a former trading post location; the Perryman Cemetery, Tulsa’s first private cemetery; and Woodward Park. The park, named after Helen Woodward, was allotted to her by the Dawes Commission. While last year’s ride was held in June, this year’s is tentatively scheduled for the fall, so tour goers won’t suffer the heat and may have a chance to witness the Council Oak Tree ceremony. Other sites may be added as well. Watch the Invisible Nations Facebook page for updates and more information on registration. If you’d like to be more involved, email Allison Herrera at allisonherrera@msn.com.
MAN WORKING ON BICYCLE WHEEL, C. 1890 | F.T. HARMON (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS); G. OSCAR | GREG BOLLINGER
HISTORY ON WHEELS
Fixies
G. OSCAR
G. Oscar’s top five maintenance tips Legendary Tulsan, photographer, and owner of G. Oscar’s Bicycles, Gaylord Oscar Herron, has been maintaining and fixing up bikes for 25 years. Here are his top five tips for competitive and recreational cyclists to keep their steeds in good shape: Use a dry lubricant. You want a lubricant that’s oily, but still dries well. A good one to use would be WD-40 or just a dry Teflon lubricant spray.
CYCLISTS RIDE “FROM CREEK TOWN TO TULSA TOWN” IN 2016 | SHANE BROWN
Spoke Truing. Spoke truing is important because it’s largely beneficial to check and confirm that you have looked at the tension on your bicycle and know if the spokes are all aligned. Calibration. Always ensure you’re calibrating the derailers, brakes, and wheels on a regular basis.
NIGHT SPRITE Bud Light Lime OFF THE BACK Behind the peloton
RIZZLE-TIZZLE Right turn (use
other R- and T-word combos to achieve same effect)
PANNIER a basket, bag, or box,
usually on the rear wheel of a bicycle
SADDLE SORES Chaffing due to friction from the saddle (aka the seat)
PELOTON Big pack of riders in a
SKID LID Helmet
PULLING Riding at the front of a
gear
race
pace line or peloton
PURSE Prize money at a crit race RADLER A refreshing half-beer,
SPINNING Riding in the lowest STEED Nickname for a bicycle TACOING Collapsing a wheel
half-lemonade concoction; also German for “cyclist”
TURKEY An unskilled cyclist
ROADIE Nickname for a road cyclist
but never pulls
THE TULSA VOICE // JUNE 7 – 20, 2017
Bearing settings. The bearing settings on a bike can keep things loose so they’ll flow better, or you can add tension to it to make the ride different. It’s more about preference, but it’s good to be aware of your bearing settings. Tire selection. There is such a variety of tires to choose from for your bike. Tire variety can range from speed (faster or slower), different uses (mountain biking, urban cycling, etc.), tread— there’s even bullet-proof tires! Before you select your bicycle’s tires, make sure you know the purpose of the bike and find tires to match that same purpose. If you’re into bike maintenance, be sure to check the Tulsa Women’s Cycling Facebook page to see about bicycle repair classes offered by Tom’s Bicycles shop. YouTube is also a good resource, with channels like Global Cycling Network and Mountain Bike Rider Magazine. However, if the task is still too daunting, visit G. Oscar at his shop, at 1623 S. Main St., for your bicycle-related maintenance and repair needs.
WHEEL SUCKER Cyclist who drafts The bicycle market in the U.S. is a $6 billion industry. FEATURED // 21
Cycling three hours or 18.6 miles per week cuts your risk of heart disease and strokes in half.
Two men on a journey between the temporal and the divine BY RICHARD HIGGS
22 FEATURED 22 ////FEATURED
June 7 – 20, 2017 // 2017 THE//TULSA VOICE JUNE 7 – 20, THE TULSA VOICE
“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.” — Ernest Hemingway
“This feels like a thin place,” thought Tony Gehres. It was late April 2016, and Gehres and Bob McCoy had just finished the hard climb on their bicycles from the Mimbres River crossing to Emory Pass, New Mexico, elevation 8,820 feet. They had started the day in Silver City, 41 miles west. From Silver City down to the bridge over the Mimbres was 24 miles, during which they gave up 200 feet in elevation. From the Mimbres to Emory Pass was an 18-mile climb, gaining 2,700 feet. The final 900 feet were in the last quarter mile. The switchbacks were so steep that when Gehres looked back to see how McCoy was doing, he was actually looking down at the top of McCoy’s head. They were pulling on what felt like their last reserves of strength when they topped the pass. The quest for thin places is one of the reasons why Tulsans Gehres, 59, and McCoy, 74, decided to ride bicycles from San Diego, California, to St. Augustine, Florida. A thin place, Gehres said, is any place where you can shed all but the final, thin layer between your temporal world and the divine. Cycling is a way to get there—alone in thought, pedaling against that membrane, stretching it thin. Besides finding the thin places, one of the pleasures of their undertaking has been the satisfaction of executing the adventure. McCoy and Gehres collaborate for months ahead of a trip to plan the route, dates, rest stops, meals, and accommodations, aiming for a fluid balance between carefully arranged details and flexibility for weather contingencies and other unpredictable events. So far, things have gone pretty much as planned. The duo will complete their coastto-coast ride in three legs. In April 2016, they rode 774 miles, from San Diego to El Paso. Their first leg was self-contained, meaning they had no support driver to carry supplies or scout ahead for meals and accommodations. On the first day of that ride, with all their supplies loaded into their panniers and on their backs, they climbed from sea level to 5,500 feet to get over the coast range. Although they were in excellent physical condition and filled with the optimism that comes from months of preparation, it was a sobering experience. At the top of the Emory Pass in New Mexico, they pedaled past a group of THE TULSA 7 – 20, 2017 THE TULSA VOICEVOICE // JUNE 7//– June 20, 2017
TONY GEHRES (LEFT) WITH BOB MCCOY | COURTESY
20-somethings all decked out in spandex finery, milling around their support vans, guzzling energy drinks, and taking selfies. The group had been shuttled up to the pass so they could ride their $10,000 bikes back downhill. As Gehres remembers it, the young people were abashed when these two old geezers on older, heavier bikes pedaled up to the pass that they had ridden up to in a van. “They wouldn’t even make eye contact with us,” Gehres said with a satisfied chuckle. The next 35 miles were essentially downhill, out of the high country pines of the Gila National Forest and down to the Rio Grande crossing in the desert at Caballo. All that McCoy and Gehres had to do was exercise judicious use of the brakes, and enjoy the spectacular vistas.
McCoy, a life-long athlete, was a devoted runner until the stress of it began to wear on his joints. He took up cycling as an alternative, and discovered that he really enjoyed the relatively low-impact sport. He and his wife Judy, now deceased, convinced Tony and his wife Shawna to join them in Oklahoma Freewheel, an annual multi-day cycling event that charts a different course every year, but usually winds north through Oklahoma from the Texas state line to Kansas. After several years of participating in Freewheel, the four of them undertook the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route. This route starts in Mobile, Alabama, and follows the old pre-Civil War network of clandestine routes for slaves escaping to the Northern U.S. and Canada. Over three summers, 2010–2012, the McCoys and Gehreses made their way, in three sections, from Mobile to Niagara Falls. By the time they’d completed the
final leg, they were already talking about undertaking a coast-to-coast ride. The Underground Railroad Bicycle Route and the Southern Tier tour— which McCoy and Gehres are currently following coast-to-coast on their three-leg trip—are part of a network of over 45,000 miles of bicycle routes throughout the U.S. that have been pieced together by the Adventure Cycling Association. There are three major transcontinental routes that the ACA has mapped. The Northern Tier runs 4,240 miles from Anacortes, Washington, to Bar Harbor, Maine. The TransAmerica Trail runs 4,228 miles from Astoria, Oregon, to Yorktown, Virginia. The Southern Tier runs 3,053 miles from San Diego, California, to St. Augustine, Florida.
McCoy and Gehres have encountered numerous adventurers along the way. One involved a Siberian-American resting alongside the two-lane road at the Pecos River Bridge in Texas. Out of road-warrior courtesy, McCoy and Gehres stopped to check on him. Their support vehicle driver, Marcia Maxwell (who they enlisted for the second leg of the trip), was parked a little ways past the bridge, waiting. It happened to be March 8, 2017, International Women’s Day. The man told them about a Siberian tradition of giving bouquets to women on International Women’s Day. Within five minutes of meeting them, he was in the ditch gathering flowers to give to Ms. Maxwell. When McCoy asked him where he was bound, he told them he was riding his bike from Florida to Oregon. “How much time have you allotted?” McCoy asked. “One to five years,” he replied, which struck Gehres as a remarkably free-spirited answer.
In Brawley, Texas, McCoy and Gehres stopped into a McDonald’s for breakfast, where they struck up a conversation with a group of retirees gathered in a booth for their daily coffee and conversation. When Gehres told them what he and McCoy were doing, the retirees pointed to another old guy sitting across the room and said: “You boys need to go over and talk to him.” And so they did. “Well, the reason they sent you to me is because I once ran all the way across the United States.” “You ran across the United States?” McCoy asked, taking the bait. After a carefully calibrated pause, the man added, “Backwards.” He enjoyed their astonished silence for a few moments. “Well, let me explain. See, I was a Sergeant Major in the Army, and when I retired, I wanted to do something for veterans, so I decided to run across the United States, for the publicity, to raise awareness for veterans’ issues. So, I rigged up this camper, see, and I’d drive it up the road a good ways, park it, and then run back to the last place I’d parked, and then walk back to the camper and move it on down the line and do it again. All the way across the country. I say backwards. So to speak.” The second leg of their ride, from El Paso to the Mississippi River crossing, north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, took three weeks and covered 1,080 miles. They reached the river on March 22, 2017.
Now, back in Tulsa, McCoy and Gehres are arranging their final 850-mile leg of the journey, from the Mississippi River to St. Augustine, Florida. Because they will be riding along the Gulf Coast, they are planning for late fall, after hurricane season. The biggest obstacles they anticipate for the densely populated low-country route are bridges and heavy traffic. Having to fight traffic for the right-of-way on long, narrow bayou bridges is something Gehres dreads. McCoy is more blasé about the bridges, though he doesn’t look forward to the traffic. “You just plan around what believe you are capable of,” McCoy said. Though in his mid 70s, McCoy has remarkably few age-related health issues. Some achy joints, an irregular heartbeat. “I want to be just like Bob when I grow up,” Gehres said. McCoy also commented that his window of opportunity is closing a little every year—which sounds like another way of saying that sometimes you find that thin place between the temporal and the divine, and sometimes it finds you. a FEATURED FEATURED//// 23 23
BY TTV STAFF ILLUSTRATED BY MORGAN WELCH
ALLOW US TO EDITORIALIZE YOUR NEXT PEDAL EXCURSION
Paper trail
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” — Albert Einstein
Take a break at Soundpony, 409 N. Main St., where the Hamm’s is cold and the music is free.
11. Finally, see what all the fuss is about for yourself and climb Cry Baby Hill, 735–749 W. 13th St.
10. Something to look forward to: A Gathering Place for Tulsa, 2800 S. Boston Ave., will be a must-stop spot for cyclists, eventually. Check out the renderings of the wetland gardens, The Lodge, Mist Mountain, and more at agatheringplacefortulsa.com.
9. The wide streets and beautiful old homes in Brady Heights make it a great neighborhood to cruise. Then, see Tulsa’s oldest house and feed the ducks at the pond in Owen Park.
8. Whiz down downtown’s many parking garage ramps. The Vault parking garage, 620 S. Cincinnati Ave., is fun and has a good view. Be careful.
7.
6. Change a tube and a life at the same time at Tulsa Hub, 601 W. 3rd St., the non-profit that helps people in poverty with reliable two-wheeled transportation.
5. Enjoy a session cocktail (or several) at Hodges Bend, 823 E. 3rd St. You’ve earned it.
4. Covered in murals year-round, the Gateway Building, 823 E. 1st St.—just north of the East Village—is eye-candy extraordinaire. Pop inside Post for a sticker or patch to add to your gear.
3. Get your levels up at Doubleshot Coffee, 1730 S. Boston Ave., with a breakfast sandwich and rocket fuel-strength cold brew, or whatever else your body is craving. Nearby, Spoke House Bicycle Shop, 25 E. 21st St., offers other cycling snacks. (We recommend Clif Shot Bloks energy chews in margarita flavor.)
2. Accessible from trailheads at 31st and Riverside, Maple Park, and Centennial Park, Midland Valley Trail runs along a disused rail corridor once owned by Midland Railroad and winds behind Oaklawn Cemetery, which is perfect for a spooky night ride. From Midland, you can hook up with KATY Trail (easy, eight miles) and then Osage Trail (easy, 14.5 miles).
1. River Parks Trail system starts near downtown, ends near Broken Arrow, and is paved the whole way.
TOUGH ROAD AHEAD GUIDE TO TULSA TOUGH 2017
26 // FEATURED
It’s time again to watch spandexed racers lean into the sharp corners of the Blue Dome District (Fri., June 9) and feel the whoosh of air as dozens of athletes mash past you at 30 miles per hour on M.B. Brady Street (Sat., June 10). Onlookers ring cowbells. Cyclists crash. On Sunday, June 11, the costumed and halfnaked will descend upon Cry Baby Hill for Tulsa’s Best Party of the Year (you voted!), dancing and hollering and shotgunning beers as cyclists race their way up that hellish hill near 13th Street and Riverside Drive. At CBH the crowd is just as much of the spectacle as the race. In these pages you’ll find the Tulsa Tough race schedule, a Cry Baby Hill bingo card (cut it out and take it with you!), a glossary of cycling terms (pg. 20), and the official rules for reveling—written by the referees—at CBH. See you there. BY THE TULSA VOICE STAFF PHOTOS BY DAVID LACKEY
It is a felony to throw an item at a bicyclist.
STAY AHEAD OF THE
Your pocket schedule for Tulsa Tough 2017
FRIDAY, JUNE 9 MCNELLIE’S GROUP BLUE DOME CRITERIUM Third St. & Elgin Ave. Tulsa Tough festivities kick off in the Blue Dome Arts District. Cyclists take to the district’s streets (and corners) at unbelievable speeds in these twilight races. It’s an exciting night to start your weekend of spectating or competing.
Registration and packet pick-up is at 5:00pm. Purses range from $1,500 to $12,000. 6:15PM 7:00PM 7:55PM 8:50PM
Men’s Cat III Men’s Cat I/II Women’s Pro I/II Men’s Pro I
Fireworks begin toward end of men’s race. Women’s Pro I/II Awards Ceremony begins after fireworks, followed by Men’s Pro I Awards Ceremony.
SATURDAY, JUNE 10 GRAN FONDOS John Hope Franklin Blvd. & 201 N. Elgin Ave. Riders will head from downtown through Jenks, Sapulpa, Prue, Skiatook, and Sand Springs on three different routes: Piccolo (38 miles), Medio (66 miles), and Gran (103 miles). Packet pick-up starts at 6am. Course closes at 5pm. 7:00AM 7:30AM 7:40AM
GEORGE KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION BRADY ARTS DISTRICT CRITERIUM Brady St. & Boston Ave. In this second round, racers navigate an L-shaped course through the Brady Arts District. Women’s Pro I/II purse is $7,500; Men’s Pro I is $12,000. 10:00AM 10:50AM 11:30AM 12:10PM 12:45PM
Fondo rider staging Ace Peloton riders start Gran/Medio/Piccolo Fondo riders start
Men’s Masters B (Cat III/IV) Men’s Cat V (over 35) Men’s Cat V (under 35) Women’s Cat IV/V Women’s Cat III
12:45PM 1:35PM 2:25PM 3:05PM 3:25PM 4:30PM 5:35PM 6:50PM 7:55PM
Women’s Masters (over 40) Men’s Cat IV Juniors Kids (under 9) Men’s Masters A (Cat I, II, III) Men’s Cat III Men’s Cat I/II Women’s Pro I/II Men’s Pro I
Women’s Pro I/II Awards Ceremony begins at conclusion of men’s race, followed by Men’s Pro I Awards Ceremony.
SUNDAY, JUNE 11 GRAN FONDO 15th St. & Riverside Dr. Riders race west through Sand Springs, Skiatook, and Prattville. Packet pick-up starts at 6am. Course closes at 2pm. 7:00AM 7:30AM
open from 1 to 4pm in River Parks, on the west side of Riverside Drive. 1:55PM 2:15PM
Townie Ride line-up Townie Ride starts
Fondo Rider staging Medio and Piccolo start time
LOBECK TAYLOR FAMILY FOUNDATION TOWNIE Ride 15th St. & Galveston A free 8.5-mile ride for the entire family. Kids between the ages of 2 and 11 are also invited to play at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis Kids’ Zone,
NEW MEDIO RIVER PARKS CRITERIUM 15th St. & Riverside Dr. This is the one we’ve all been waiting for. Women’s Pro I/II purse is $10,000; Men’s Pro I is $15,000. Music on Cry Baby Hill turns up at 11:30am and includes Green Corn Rebellion, Count Tutu, DJ Dilation, and DJ Spencer LG. Mind the gap.
8:00AM 8:35AM 9:10AM 9:45AM 10:20AM 10:20AM 11:00AM 11:45AM 12:20PM 1:10PM 1:25PM 2:25PM 3:30PM 4:35PM
Men’s Masters B (Cat III, IV) Men’s Cat V (over 35) Men’s Cat V (under 35) Women’s Cat IV/V Women’s Cat III Women’s Masters (over 40) Men’s Cat IV Juniors Men’s Masters A (Cat I, II, III) Kids (under 9) Men’s Cat III Men’s Cat I/II Women’s Pro I/II Men’s Pro I
Women’s Pro I/II Awards Ceremony begins at conclusion of men’s race, followed by Men’s Pro I Awards Ceremony.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT TULSATOUGH.COM FEATURED // 27
If Americans doubled their bike use to 2 percent of all urban trips, they would save 92.5 billion gallons of gasoline annually.
CRY BABY HILL
Empty QuikTrip hot dog container
Your uptight coworker, totally trashed
Mermaid costume
Brightly colored wig
Andy Wheeler blowing a whistle
The last two people you slept with, making out with each other
Cow bells and the insistence for more
Bleary-eyed spectators not minding the gap
Jell-O shots
Tulsa expats who’ve boomeranged back to town
Referees’ progressive drunkenness
A dirty flip-flop
Body paint
Paul Tay trying to sneak past a ref
Spandex
Freaked out dog that should’ve been left at home
Inflatable raft and/or sex doll
A righteous sunburn
The smell of drugs
Amateur passed out in a stranger’s lawn
Complete disregard for Monday’s inevitable hangover
A bike race
String bikini top as shirt
Doll heads on a stick
PRESENTED BY
Post a photo of your bingo card at Cry Baby Hill and tag @TheTulsaVoice for a chance to win a $50 dining gift certificate.
401 E 11TH ST, TULSA, OK 74120 • (918) 295-0295
28 // FEATURED
JUNE 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
Bicycling burns an average of 540 calories per hour. That’s almost five Bud Lights.
DAVID LACKEY
THE 13
STAND UP • IMPROV • PODCASTS FILM • PARTIES • LIVE MUSIC
SKLAR BROTHERS
KYLE KINANE DAVID GBORIE GINA BRILLON
BRIAN MOSES
JORDAN ROCK NAOMI EKPERIGIN
COMMANDMENTS OF CRY BABY FLOAT TRIP
LIZA TRIGGER
BYRON BOWERS
JACQUELINE NOVAK
LATE LATE BREAKFAST
MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS COMING SOON!
FUNNIEST WEEKEND IN TULSA
The Cry Baby Hill planning committee’s entire process is based on a fundamental belief in idiocy. This year, the theme for the annual party was a toss-up between Renaissance Fair and Celebrity, so naturally they settled on Float Trip. A subsect of Tulsa heathens has announced the only float trip they’d dress up for is one on the goddamn River Styx. If you prefer that mode of party, dress accordingly—for Cry Baby Hell.
SEPTEMBER 7TH -10TH , 2017 EARLY BIRD PASSES ON SALE NOW!#BWCF2017
BLUEWHALECOMEDYFESTIVAL .COM
FREE IT ’S L E G A L
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: 1. Mind the river’s gap. 2. Your river guides on the Cry Baby Hill River are the referees. You shall listen to their commands. Any order to get off the roaring, racing river shall be abided immediately or you will lose your river pass. 3. While floating the Cry Baby Hill River, please pull yourself and all your arms and legs onto the gravel bar while the SS Tulsa Tough roars by. 4. River regulations prohibit: glass, kids, and dogs. You will be asked to leave immediately if violating. 5. Our river is the source of life. But, if you spray water or any other liquid in a racer’s face, it’s the source of you getting kicked off CBH. 6. When enjoying our aquatic activity zone, please stay hydrated— alcohol is not, repeat not, an adequate source for hydration. 7. The source waters of Cry Baby Hill River are pure. Your waste is not. Familiarize yourself with locations of all portable toilet facilities and trashcans. Use them—not the neighbors’ yards—or lose your river pass. 8. Wholesome aquatic games are fun. Touching racers or other humans without their consent is a great way to find yourself thrown off, roughed up, and/or under arrest. 9. When you first get to the Cry Baby Hill headwaters, identify where medical services are on top of CBH. Have a water safety plan. 10. This is a protected river sanctuary. Whenever you are disrespectful to the river or its occupants, it hurts us all. Please have all the fun. But please regulate yourself and others so that we can continue to enjoy its refreshing waters year after mother******* year. 11. Behold! When you hear, “Who are we?” The correct response is, “Soundpony!” 12. Dance like you’re stepping on crawdads. 13. Remember: “Life is like the river, sometimes it sweeps you gently along and sometimes the rapids come out of nowhere.” – Emma Smith THE TULSA VOICE // JUNE 7 – 20, 2017
T IL L
Tulsa’rsee F ONLY u na Marij yaer Law
Free legal representation for first offense marijuana possession. Tulsa District & City Courts only. No juvenile cases. Reasonable fees for other charges. Some restrictions apply.
Michael Fairchild • Attorney at Large • 918-58-GRASS (584-7277)
We’re giving away FREE STUFF!
Visit TheTulsaVoice.com for our June “DINE LOCAL” package featuring: In The Raw • Prairie Brewpub • R Bar & Grill Roosevelt’s • Burn Co. REGISTER FOR THIS $250 PACKAGE BY JUNE 30 T H !
FEATURED // 29
sportsreport
There is no law in Oklahoma requiring a helmet, but you must have lights on at night.
Interior highlands Getting to know Tour de Dirt, Oklahoma’s mountain bike race series by JONATHAN TROUT
“C
an you even mountain bike in the South, bro?” Honestly, a dollar for every time I get some variation of that question when I mountain bike out West would cover most of my post-ride beers. “You’ve got the Rockies, we’ve got the Ozarks,” is my go-to response. True story: the landscape of Northeast Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas makes for some great flowy and technical cross-country and enduro (timed downhill) mountain biking. The mountains here give you just enough uphill climbs to make you savor the downhill slopes. Just like other mountain biking destinations, the South puts on epic races and events. In October 2016, Bike magazine spent three weeks in Ozark Mountain Country, Bentonville, Arkansas, testing new bike models, add-ons, and gear for their upcoming 2017 Bible of Bikes issue. Weeks later, in November, the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) held its world summit in Bentonville. Just two hours east of Bentonville, in those same mountains, sits an even lesser-known mountain bike community: our own. You can mountain bike yearround here if you can handle the heat-stroke symptoms in the summer and the cold, dry air burning your lungs in the winter. Plus, Tulsa is a race location for the Tour de Dirt, one of the longest-running mountain bike race series in the region. Tour de Dirt features 10 races in 10 different locations in or near Oklahoma in the spring and fall. It got its start in 1996 and became 30 // ARTS & CULTURE
Phat Tire Outback Mountain Bike Race in Sapulpa, March 5, 2017 | JAMES GRANN
an official series in 1997. TdD operates with non-profit status through the Oklahoma Earthbike Fellowship (OEF) and uses races as a platform to bring awareness to local trails and advocate for their maintenance. This year, race organizers are trying out a new schedule, front-loading it with seven races in the spring and three in the fall. “We wanted to fi nish before cyclocross season so we could draw more of those racers and not confl ict with their season,” said Corey White, director of Tour de Dirt. Most TdD race locations are in eastern and central Oklahoma. White said the series averages around 125 to 150 racers every year, and they’re seeing an upward
trend in participants. “After four events so far this year, we’ve averaged 175 adult racers and 15 Kids Kup racers,” White said. Most of the riders are Oklahoma-based, but racers also come from Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri. Cass Willard, a Tulsa-based mountain biker, has ridden multiple Tour de Dirt races over the years. “One of the great pleasures of Tour de Dirt is the diversity of trails,” Willard said, adding that some are fast and flowy, while others have more technical climbs and descents. Each individual race in the Tour de Dirt series is sanctioned, permitted, and insured through USA Cycling, which gives the se-
ries an official structure. Though TdD uses USA Cycling’s guidelines and rules, races can be customized depending on location. Every TdD race has categories one, two, and three (Cat I, II, III) and includes various age groups. Kids from ages four to 12 can sign up for the Kids Kup series. White described the Kids Kup series as a shorter, more controlled course that’s especially designed for younger riders and even has a training wheels/striders category. At 13, cyclists can start racing in the junior category and (with their parents’ permission) participate in higher categories if they qualify. “Racing in the Tour de Dirt series is more like a family reunion,” said Heidi Blackmon, a Cat II racer who has participated in TdD for over eight years. According to Blackmon, the mountain biking community in Oklahoma doesn’t form rivalries like some road races. Everyone pulls for each other and wants their fellow racers to do well. “I’ll be the first one to show you around Turkey Mountain if you’re new to the area,” she said. No matter where you ride, the most important thing about mountain biking is the sense of community. I’ve yet to ride anywhere that complete strangers haven’t invited me along on their local trails or to grab a beer. So, yeah, as far as Oklahoma is concerned, you can mountain bike in the South. The Ozarks are here with miles of flowy, vacillating trails, and the Ouachita Mountains in southeastern Oklahoma await with technical singletracks. Tour de Dirt helps you see it all, test your limits, and ride alongside some of the nicest, grittiest people you’ll ever meet. a June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
Guthrie Green, Brady Arts District Friday, May 29th l 6pm - Midnight Visit relayforlife.org/tulsaok for info
I wish...
Help finish the fight against cancer.
... 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
Be a part of our legacy. Help us continue to make wishes come true.
relayforlife.org/ JOIN US.
It's our time to Relay For Life of Tulsa celebrate, remember RIVER WEST FESTIVAL PARK & fight back! FRIDAY, JUNE 23 6PM - MIDNIGHT ©2015 American Cancer Society, Inc.
Visit relayforlife.org/tulsaok for info
1.800.227.2345
relayforlife.org It’s our time to celebrate, remember & fight back! ©2015 American Cancer Society, Inc.
Visit 35for35MakeAWish.com or call 918-492-9474. #Wish35
... to have a playset in my backyard
1.800.277.2345
... to give a piano to my teacher
Greenwood Cultural Center presents
Legacy Award Dinner Thursday. June 22, 2017 6:30 p.m. – Reception 7:00 p.m. – Dinner
Honoring
Frank Keating Former Governor, State of Oklahoma
Sponsorship Levels Presenting…$25,000 Gold…$10,000 Silver…$5,000 Bronze…$2,500 Individual…$150 For additional information
Contact: Frances Jordan-Rakestraw @ 918-596-1025 THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
ARTS & CULTURE // 31
onstage
A PLAY ON TRAGEDY ‘US/THEM’ tackles tough racial topics with satire by BREANNA BELL
I
n “US/THEM,” playwright Machele Miller Dill uses sketch and improv comedy to discuss the different backgrounds and realities of various people in our community and other societies. Running June 9–11 as part of SummerStage Tulsa, Dill hopes “US/THEM” will make the audience hurt from laughing so much, “but also because they want to make a difference.” After hearing a sermon in Tulsa about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” Dill was inspired. She opened rehearsals with her small group of cast members by asking them, “How do you think others see you?” and “How do you see yourself?” By using a diverse cast with many different backgrounds (LGBTQIA, black, white, and Native American), Dill will use her theater experience to give a stage to marginalized people of color, gender-nonconforming individuals, and individuals of various sexual orientations so that they may express their experiences with racism, bigotry, and micro-aggressions. Dill was also inspired by Viola Davis’ acceptance speech at the 2015 Emmy Awards Show, mak32 // ARTS & CULTURE
ing her the first African American woman to win the award for Best Actress in a Drama Series. In her acceptance speech, the “How to Get Away with Murder” star said, “The only thing separating women of color from anyone else is opportunity.” Like other work from Echo Theatre Company, “US/THEM” is concerned with social justice. “We produce works that are global in scope, socially conscious in substance, and educational in outlook,” Dill said. With the timing of the play so close to the news of Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby’s not-guilty verdict, it offers a look at the deeper issues of race and social stereotypes that continue to play a role in dividing communities like Ferguson, Baltimore, and Tulsa. It is hoped by the cast that this performance will spark a conversation of unity by shining a light on the social constructs that hold us back. The play, which is mostly satire and inspired by “In Living Color,” features a myriad of skits that touch on topics such as white privilege, prejudice, a few well-known stereotypes, and what it really means to be woke. Skits comically named “You Could
Pass for That” and “I Could Get Away with That” are only half of the fun. In one portion of the show, the cast fields anonymous questions from the crowd— similar to popular ask-a-(insert minority here) skits and columns. Cast member Tara Dawn Moses says she hopes to show that race isn’t just black and white, that Latino, Middle Eastern, and Native American people are also affected by these same issues but are often overlooked. “The most educated person in America, according to recent statistics, is the African American woman,” Moses said. “But, only 67 percent of Native Americans graduate [high school].” Through creating skits based on racial situations she experienced growing up in Tulsa—like being mistaken for another ethnicity or being asked by strangers if they can touch her hair, she hopes people learn to recognize the “subtle and social oppression people partake in either consciously or subconsciously.” Dill also wants to show the difference between tolerance and diversity. “Tolerance says you tolerate people of different backgrounds in spaces, but doesn’t mean you like them or want them
there,” she said. “Diversity is acceptance.” One of the ways the play aims to help the audience do that is with an R-rated comedy sketch about the Washington Redskins football team that highlights the widespread use of a slur and the silent acceptance that allows it. By providing action items at the end of the show, Echo Theatre Company will encourage the audience to be involved in the community and with organizations like the Oklahoma Equality Center, Greenwood Cultural Center, Domestic Violence Intervention Services, Dress for Success, and Youth Services of Tulsa. While “US/THEM” is sure to be enjoyable, full of laughs and exaggeration, there is a deeper message the audience is meant to catch: There is no us or them. a
“US/THEM” June 9 and 10, 8pm, and June 11, 2pm, Libby Doenges Theatre at Tulsa Performing Arts Center. Tickets for this and other SummerStage performances are available for purchase at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center and www.tulsapac.com. June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
June 8-11 Little Shop of Horrors Tulsa Project Theatre June 8
Wow! Handbells Rock! Tulsa Festival Ringers
June 9
88 Keys & Me - Jeremy Stevens
June 9-11 Us/Them - Echo Theatre June 10-11 Silly Habits with Janet Rutland
20 17
June 15
Jazz & Blues Concert - Josef Glaude and Guitars Gone Wild
June 15
Seeking Shelter Pique Theatre Company
June 16
The Moody Dudes Garage Band Salute to the Summer of Love
June 16
Just Us Whitney Peters and Friends
P E R F O R M I N G
A R T S
gazine’ a M E M TI
Year! e h t f o #1 Show
June 17-18 The Snow Queen Tulsa Youth Opera June 17-18 Cats of Any Color Spinning Plate Productions June 17-18 Protest! A Musical Revue Shadley Arts & Sciences
MAY 25-JUNE 25 T U L S A
Matilda is wondrous. A real miracle. The best musical since The Lion King.” “
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
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THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
ARTS & CULTURE // 33
bookworm
C
huck Klosterman has opinions—lots of them. In his writing, which has appeared in numerous publications and 10 best-selling books (including the seminal manifesto “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs”), the cultural critic often muses on sports, music, television, technology, the future, and random pop ephemera through colorful analogies that are unapologetically subjective and tangential. Tulsans will have a chance to see him speak in person on June 21 at First Street Flea, where he’ll be discussing his latest collection, “X.”
JOSHUA KLINE: In your new book, “X,” you compile past essays you’ve written on topics in 21st century pop culture and re-contextualize them for now. In revisiting your writing, do you ever find yourself disagreeing with your past opinion, or thinking you missed the mark? CHUCK KLOSTERMAN: You know, I think that when I look back at some of my earlier books I will sometimes have the reaction that I was misguided in the argument that I was making, because I was a much different person in my late 20s. These were all written in the past 10 years, a lot of them were written in the past five years, so it doesn’t seem as if they are representing something that I can no longer relate to. I think I’m probably changing at a slower rate than I used to, as all people do. Also, I should say, the book is called “Ten,” actually. This is my own fault. I overlooked the popularity of Roman numerals in society. Everyone’s calling it “Ex” (laughs). It’s kind of crazy to me, it’s almost as if I expect people to keep track of how many fucking books I’ve written. Like, that’s a weird thing. How would anybody know it’s “Ten”? We should have put “Ten” on the side of the book, like, actually in words, like in letters. But, we didn’t, so that’s life. You can call it “Ex,” I guess. “X” 34 // ARTS & CULTURE
the average shows now are pretty good. There are shows on television now that I don’t watch at all, but if they’d existed in 1996 would have been universally seen as the best program happening. KLINE: Considering the acceleration of information and diminishing attention spans, plus the fragmentation of art, music, and fi lm across so many platforms—do you think meaningful art within the popular culture will continue to become more marginalized?
Chuck Klosterman | JASON BOOHER
BRINGING UP THE END A highly specific, defiantly incomplete conversation with Chuck Klosterman by JOSHUA KLINE isn’t the worst thing to be. “X” has a lot of different meanings— could be, like, how you spell your name if you’re illiterate. Could be a mathematical element. KLINE: When I first saw the title I immediately thought you had written the definitive history of X, the band. KLOSTERMAN: (Laughs) Well, that probably would have been more interesting. KLINE: What are you engaged with right now in the popular culture?
KLOSTERMAN: The thing about this acceleration and the diminishing attention spans and all these things that are all intertwined—they are not happening independent of each other, they’re happening because of each other. The thing that does seem to occur is that for every new generation, it does feel normal. When we talk about the acceleration of culture—I mean, people talked about that in the ‘70s. When you think about that, that’s insane. So, these things you’re talking about, they are definitely happening, but they only impact the people who remember the previous iteration. And as a consequence, I think valuable art will still be made—that’ll still happen—because for every new generation it won’t seem like we’re in a crazy scenario, it’ll seem like this is just how life is.
What do you find especially exciting or interesting?
KLINE: But at what point does that sort of rewire our brains in a detrimental way?
KLOSTERMAN: Well, one thing is that I like the fact that streaming services like Spotify are allowing me to move backwards in time with music in a way that previously would have been prohibitively expensive. I’m pretty much engaged with television like a lot of people because it’s simply so much better now than it used to be. Maybe the idea of this second golden age of television—it might be coming to the end, but the result is that even
KLOSTERMAN: Well, that’s a more difficult question. Okay, so, how long have humans existed? Let’s take a random timeframe, let’s say it’s 25,000 years. Let’s say human life essentially began in Africa 25,000 years ago. Well, that means that for basically 24,900 years, if a person saw something moving in front of his or her eyes, it meant he was in front of it for real ... Well, then the advent of film happens in the early 20th century, then we had television, then we had the internet. June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
Biologically for thousands of years we were designed to consciously realize that seeing something meant it was there. And now we can intellectually tell the difference—we know that if we’re watching “Game of Thrones,” that that’s not real. And that if you turn and look at your wife on the couch, she is real. Intellectually, we understand that. But biologically do we understand that? Does our body understand that? I don’t know, that’s a pretty big evolutionary leap over a short window of time. KLINE: Does that worry you at all? KLOSTERMAN: Well, it worries me in the sense that—might we be doing something unnatural to ourselves? But we’re constantly doing that. Our life is constantly fi lled with unnatural things. So, I don’t know, I think this stuff—it only worries me when I have a conversation like this. I don’t think about it that much, unless I’m writing about the future or talking about it in an interview. And I will say that having kids does shift this a little bit because the kid is really actually living in the moment and doesn’t have sort of—my son, he gets distracted by things, but he gets distracted by things that just happen to interest him more in the moment; nothing’s making that happen. I think that’s probably one of the benefits to having children—however briefly, you are more engaged with the real world. But, of course, as he gets older and my daughter gets older, they’re going to get phones and be fucking crazier than I am about it and it’s going to be worse, so it’s kind of a draw. KLINE: In “But What If We’re Wrong?” (2016), your thesis is that there are fundamental truths that we take for granted today that may be disproven in the future. You wrote this before the Trump machine was in full force and before “fake news” and “alternative facts” were hashtags. How have you processed this new fact-challenged paradigm? KLOSTERMAN: That book, as it turns out, would have been much better for me if I’d published it a year later (laughs). I wrote that THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
book still under the premise of “there’s no way Trump’s going to win.” It didn’t seem remotely possible while I was writing that book. But this whole thing about fake news, it’s really the logical extension of something that happened in the ‘90s. When Fox News came out and was followed by MSNBC, there was just this collective realization that something people had been worried about in journalism was true. Which is that people do not want objective truth in journalism. It’s not that they don’t necessarily trust it; they don’t want it. What they want is news that supports their pre-existing biases. They sort of convince themselves that, well, objectivity is impossible because we’re not robots, so as a consequence we shouldn’t have objectivity at all, which is not really the way journalism should work. I think the reason there’s fake news now is because 25 years ago people decided that they didn’t want news. KLINE: Do you think there’s any hope that this will sort of naturally correct itself, that there’ll be a pendulum swing back to recognizing objective truth? KLOSTERMAN: That’s an interesting question. Would the pendulum swing back? I don’t foresee that happening. But even though I don’t see the pendulum swinging back in the direction of objectivity, I do see the possibility for some kind of self-correction, which would be that over time people will just consume news differently, and they will build in the possibility that what they’re reading is fake as they read it. I could see that happening, because people are pretty good about normalizing situations. They can just maybe figure out a way to triangulate what you believe, what the news is telling you, and what might be closer to the truth. Maybe in the future we’ll be able to read so many news sources at the same time that the composite of all that fake news will somehow level off into this middle channel that would be reality. Although I gotta say, as I’m saying this out loud it seems terrible. But who knows? a This interview has been condensed for print. Read the full interview online at thetulsavoice.com. ARTS & CULTURE // 35
thehaps SCAVENGER HUNT
Global Running Day Scavenger Hunt // Keep fit while tracking down food, drinks, coupons, and more from Brookside businesses. June 7, 5:30– 8:30pm, $10, RunnersWorld Tulsa, runnersworldtulsa.com
CYCLING
Tulsa Tough guarantees three days of two things: bike races and party faces. For more, see pg. 26. June 9–11, Blue Dome and Brady Arts districts, Cry Baby Hill, tulsatough.com
ICE CREAM
Blue Bell kicks summer off right with Taste of Summer, a.k.a all-you-can-eat ice cream. June 10, 10 am–3pm, $5, Main Street Broken Arrow, tasteofsummerba.com
JUNETEENTH
Thursday, June 15, through Monday, June 19 Greenwood District, tulsajuneteenth.org Juneteenth celebrates the abolishment of slavery, and Tulsa’s Juneteenth celebrations celebrate heritage through a weekend full of art, music, and culture. Below are some of the weekend’s highlights. See the full schedule on Tulsa Juneteenth’s Facebook page.
THURSDAY Examining Change: A Photographic Look at North Tulsa Living Arts, 1–9pm
BOOKSMART
Jonathan Safran Foer, author of “Everything is Illuminated,” “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” and “Eating Animals” comes to Tulsa in support of his new book, “Here I Am.” June 12, Congregation B’nai Emunah, booksmarttulsa.com BOOKSMART
David Sedaris returns to Tulsa to read from his book “Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977–2002” at Guthrie Green, with music from Erin O’Dowd and Count Tutu. June 14, booksmarttulsa.com
Comedy Show Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, 8pm Movie in the Park: “Hidden Figures” Guthrie Green, 8:30pm
FRIDAY Concert w/ FuZed, Darell Christopher and the Ingredients, Robert Banks and Positive Productions Band, Toni Estes, TeaRush, Written Quincey & The Prancing Pearls of Excellence, hosted by Velly Vel and Star Lyte Greenwood, 6pm
FESTIVAL
More than 50 hot air balloons will take to the skies over Green Country during Tulsa Balloon Festival. June 14–18, E. 41st St. & S. 129th E. Ave., tulsaibf.com
SATURDAY John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation Walking Tours 11am Biker Boyz Expo Show Greenwood Cultural Center 11am Concert tribute to Terence Crutcher w/ Branjae, Faye Moffett and Tammy Hamilton, Thaddeus and The Wise Men, Soul Cool Review, Steph Simon, Omaley B Bailey, and The Dance Junkies 6pm
SUNDAY
THEATRE
Broken Arrow Community Playhouse presents Steve Martin’s absurdist comedy “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” which depicts Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in 1904, just before both men changed the world forever. June 16–25, $10–$15, bacptheatre.com
Gospel Brunch Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, 12pm Biker Boyz Sunday Funday Retro Bar & Grill, 4pm Father’s Day Concert Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, 5pm
MONDAY Juneteenth Commemoration Program, Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, 6pm 36 // ARTS & CULTURE
LITERARY CELEBRATION
Drink a little, read a little, and drink a little more at the Bloomsday Pub Crawl in the Brady Arts District. Celebrate the work of James Joyce with performances, art exhibitions, drink specials, dancing, and a U2 cover band. June 16, thebradyartsdistrict.com June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
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
Gilcrease Museum and the Henry Zarrow Center for Art and Education
Summer Art Camps 2017 The Woody Guthrie Center is excited to once again offer Summer music-related activities for youth 12-18 years of age.
June 19 through Aug. 11, 2017 9:00 a.m.-Noon & 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. 5-6 years old at Gilcrease Museum 7-12 years old at Zarrow Center
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn and play with professional musicians!
JUNE 19-28 | 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Prices per week Half-Day Classes: $100 members; $125 not-yet members All-Day Classes: $200 members; $250 not-yet members
Sessions include education in different genres of music, songwriting, musical recording, and musical performance. The camp environment encourages young musicians to think independently, work cooperatively and discover their own creativity. Designed for young musicians ages 12 to 18
Register online at gilcrease.org/summercamp.
Participants will learn to work together as a band Guidance from professional local and visiting musicians to write original songs Workshops with industry professionals Opportunities to perform for the public and on local television stations Build on what you know about playing to become a MUSICIAN! Reduced tuition based on need (reduced/free school lunch approval forms qualify for half-priced tuition or a rate of $0.50/lesson)
Discounted tuition for members
TU is an EEO/AA Institution.
For more information regarding Youth Rocks, or to register, please contact jerry@woodyguthriecenter.org.
GILCREASE.ORG
102 East M.B. Brady St. | Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103 | 918-574-2710 | info@woodyguthriecenter.org
THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
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ARTS & CULTURE // 37
thehaps
BEST OF THE REST SUMMERSTAGE TULSA
Through June 25, Tulsa Performing Arts Center summerstagetulsa.org SummerStage continues with:
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS June 2–11, $25–$35 WOW! HANDBELLS ROCK! June 8, $10–$12 88 KEYS & ME With nothing but a grand piano, Jeremy Stevens tells the story of how the instrument changed his life. // June 9, $25
US/THEM A hilarious romp through that which makes us different and how we’re really all the same, this play is rooted in sketch comedy, SNL, “Chappelle’s Show” and “In Living Color.” // June 9–11, $15–$20
SILLY HABITS WITH JANET RUTLAND This musical revue takes its inspiration and name from a Janis Ian song. // June 10–11, $11–$16.50
JOSEF GLAUDE AND GUITARS GONE WILD: JAZZ & BLUES June 15, $20 SEEKING SHELTER Karlena Riggs and Pete Brennan explore the plight of the homeless through storytelling, song, and dance. // June 15, $12–$15
THE MOODY DUDES: A GARAGE BAND TRIBUTE TO THE SUMMER OF LOVE June 16, $15–$20
JUST US: WHITNEY PETERS & FRIENDS Peters will perform Broadway hits, torch songs, standards, and parodies. // June 16, $12–$15
THE SNOW QUEEN Tulsa Youth Opera presents the American premiere of this fairytale opera by Pierangelo Valtinoni. // June 17–18, $20 PROTEST! A MUSICAL REVUE Bad times call for good songs. // June 17–18, $15–$22
CATS OF ANY COLOR Rebecca Ungerman presents a night of music from the Jazz Age, Civil Rights Era, and today, celebrating the musical relationship between black and Jewish composers, performers, and music industry professionals. // June 17–18, $25
BOOKS
Boston Avenue will be lined with books by local authors for the third annual Decopolis BookFest. There will also be live music from The Scissortails, Adrienne Rosie Gilley, Marilyn McCulloch, and Rachael Bachman. June 17, 12–8pm, decopolis.net FUN FOR A CAUSE
The Boxyard’s Container Carnival will include carnival games and activities benefiting Youth Services of Tulsa. June 17, 2–6 pm, yst.org
For the most up-to-date listings
thetulsavoice.com/calendar 38 // MUSIC
EVENTS Ok, So...Tulsa Story Slam - Theme: Crime and Punishment // 6/8, IDL Ballroom, idlballroom.com Movie in the Park: Transformers // 6/8, Guthrie Green, guthriegreen.com Bags to Riches Cornhole Tournament // If you’re the best cornhole team in town, you could walk away with $700 cash, 2 $100 McNellie’s Group giftcards, an Elgin Park cornhole board, and the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a Drillers game. // 6/10, Elgin Park
Piratepalooza // The official Oklahoma Renaissance Festival after-party. // 6/9, The Venue Shrine, tulsashrine.com
COMEDY The Mic Drop // 6/10, Comedy Parlor, comedyparlor.com Sunday Night Stand Up // 6/11, Comedy Parlor, comedyparlor.com Sunday Night Live w/ Gerald “Hurricane” Harris // 6/11, Loony Bin, loonybincomedy.com/Tulsa
Second Saturday Walking Tour: Deep Greenwood // Explore the history of Black Wall Street with Tulsa Foundation for Architecture. 6/10, Greenwood Cultural Center, tulsaarchitecture.com
Bazar at Blackbird w/ Coleman Cox, Jermaine Warren, Tim Mathis, Jessica Michelle, Nick Birkitt, Laura Cook, Dave Short, Ethan Sandoval // 6/11, The Blackbird on Pearl, facebook.com/Blackbirdtulsa
Third Thursday Astronomy Night // Each month, the STEMcell will take their Celestron Telescopes up to The Boxyard’s deck to marvel at the night sky. // 6/15, STEMcell Science Shop, stemcelltulsa.com
Connor McSpadden, DeMarrio Oates, Nick Birkitt, Nicholas Osborn, T.J. Clark, Jason Redfearn, Michael Mann 6/12, The Venue Shrine, tulsashrine.com
Freak Show // 6/16, The Blackbird on Pearl, facebook.com/Blackbirdtulsa
Soundpony Comedy Hour w/ Jessica Michelle Singleton, Coleman Cox, Tim Mathis, Jermaine Warren // 6/12, Soundpony, thesoundpony.com
The Art of Manliness Book Launch Brett McKay and Ted Slampyak’s book will teach you how to dance, shave, shake a hand, pick a lock, disarm an attacker, and more. // 6/17, Fair Fellow Coffee Co., booksmarttulsa.com Decopolis BookFest // The sidewalks of Boston Avenue will be lined with books by local authors for the third annual Decopolis BookFest. // 6/17, Decopolis, decopolisstudios.com Local Hero // 6/17, The Blackbird on Pearl, facebook.com/Blackbirdtulsa American Beauty // 6/18, The Blackbird on Pearl, facebook.com/ Blackbirdtulsa Simply Sondheim // Council Oak Men’s Chorale sing show-stopping Broadway numbers by Stephen Sondheim. // 6/16–6/17, Boston Avenue Methodist Church Meet & Greet with Actor Cesar A. Garcia // Meet Cesar A. Garcia, actor known for his roles in “Breaking Bad,” Better Call Saul, and Fast &Furious. // 6/17, Mammoth Comics Ladies Clothes Swap // Bring clothes to swap, go home with more clothes. All proceeds and extra clothes will be donated to Women in Recovery. // 6/20, All Souls Unitarian Church, allsoulschurch.org
Live band heavy metal karaoke w/ Satanico and the Demon Seeds // 6/14, Soundpony, thesoundpony.com The Mic Drop // 6/17, Comedy Parlor, comedyparlor.com Sunday Night Stand Up // 6/18, Comedy Parlor, comedyparlor.com Ralphie Roberts // 6/14–6/17, Loony Bin, loonybincomedy.com/Tulsa Michael Zampino // 6/16–6/17, Comedy Parlor, comedyparlor.com Matt Sadler // 6/7–6/10, Loony Bin, loonybincomedy.com/Tulsa
SPORTS Tulsa Athletic vs Tulsa Athletic Legends // 6/15, Memorial High School - Lafortune Stadium, memorial.tulsa.schooldesk.net Xtremem Fight Night 342 // 6/16, River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove, riverspirittulsa.com Tulsa Athletic vs Demize NPSL // 6/17, Memorial High School - Lafortune Stadium, memorial.tulsa.schooldesk.net
June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
MUSIC // 39
musicnotes
Chris Blevins performing at The Tulsa Voice courtyard on May 18 | GREG BOLLINGER
INCLINED TOWARD THE FANTASTICAL In conversation with Chris Blevins by JOHN LANGDON
A
s in the tradition of all great country music, Chris Blevins is a storyteller. Over a few beers after his Courtyard Concert (performed in the early hours of a brewing thunderstorm) Blevins spoke of the people and the stranger-than-fiction stories that inspired his career in music. Blevins’ debut album will drop July 14 via Horton Records. Until then, catch him every Monday night at Mercury Lounge.
FIRST SONG LEARNED: “Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground” by The White Stripes. I am an enormous Jack White fan. I saw him in downtown Tulsa not too long ago. I was about to pass him and I put my hand up and was like: “Are you Jack White?” And he was like, “Yeah,” and I was like, “Cool!” 40 // MUSIC
And then I just kept walking. It was the most absurd, reflective moment of my adult life. GUILTY PLEASURE SONGS: A guilty pleasure song to play is that “Tennessee Whiskey” rendition by Chris Stapleton. I pretend like it’s a big deal, like pulling hens’ teeth to get me to do it, but really it’s kinda fun. Guilty pleasure to listen to would be a band called Chronic Future. They’ve got this album called Lines in My Face. It was the only good album they put out, ever. It was like a rap, thrash-metal, hip-hop, funk, weird thing. None of the rest of that shit, but Lines in My Face is a great record. I still listen to it driving down the road. DESERT ISLAND DISCS: Harry Chapin’s Greatest Hits, Rage Against the Machines’ Evil Empire,
and then White Stripes’ White Blood Cells—no, Elephant. ANTICIPATED UPCOMING SHOWS: In July in Oklahoma City, Samantha Crain is opening up for The Mountain Goats. December 19, 2016, I quit my job and started doing music professionally. And I’m still an absolute novice. But The Mountain Goats have this tune that goes, “I am going to make it through this year if it kills me.” It’s my anthem right now and I am so stoked to get to see that show, especially to see an acquaintance opening up for people that I look up to so much. MOST MEMORABLE SHOW PLAYED: The Monday before last at the Mercury Lounge. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. The guy who produced my record, Chris Combs, was playing lap steel and guitar, one of my heroes, Stephen
Lee, was playing guitar, and then John Fullbright sat in on keys, Michael Kendall was on the drum kit, and Paul Wilkes was on upright bass. Afterwards we were all like, “It doesn’t matter if we all get together on this stage next week just like this, this is probably never going to happen again.” It was just awesome. Absolutely the most memorable show to date. John didn’t even tell me he was showing up. I talked to him the week before, and he was like, “Yeah, totally, I’ll come play any time you want me to.” He means that, I’m sure he does, but he’s busy as shit. But he and Stephen Lee had just gotten back from a gig that they had together, and they both, like, took a nap, and then Stephen was like, “I need to get my shit out of your car.” John was like, “Nah … just get in the car, let’s go.” It was really cool. I’m a total fucking fanboy June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
and I’m fi ne with admitting that. John Fullbright’s a big influence on me, man. MUSICAL INFLUENCES: There are two guys in Tulsa I can draw a direct line to involving me wanting to play music for a living. Jerry Wofford, who used to write for the Tulsa World, was a judge for this shitty talent show in Okmulgee three or four years ago. It was set up like “The Voice” and he turned his chair around, and I’m up there singing my amateur ass off. We got to talking afterwards and he was like, “Man, I don’t know if you’re doing this for a living or not, but it doesn’t seem like you’re giving this much time, like you’re doing it like a hobby. And just my opinion, but I think you should pursue it.” And that gave me enough confidence to start pursuing it. Maybe a month after that, I was listening to NPR and John Fullbright had an interview. I had listened to a couple of his tunes and thought, this guy’s pretty fucking good. When he explained where he was from, I was like, “Wait a minute.” I Googled him and found that he’s my age. We had to have gone to basketball games together. Our schools played each other. I started thinking … if he’s my age and doing this, this is totally attainable. So he became, like, one of my little idols. And up to December 2016, he was an idol, and then I met him and it was like, oh … he’s just a normal guy. I owe those two so much. John, not so much for what he said, but what he did, and Jerry absolutely for the faith that he had in me. How badly am I blushing? Can you tell?
but I’m serious, that’s what it is. Russian history has always been pretty neat to me. You draw a line all the way back to the House of Hapsburg, like how they conquered all of Europe—a single family. That’s a neat story, man. That’s just as good as King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table, but it’s real. It’s historical. That was some of my fairy tales when I was younger. Even down to who killed Ken-
nedy. Like, how much nonsense and fabrication popped up off the assassination of one president? That’s essentially in our lifetime, most of the conspiracies anyway. Or right now, with our president. I don’t care if you’re a fan of him or not a fan of him. I’m personally not a fan of him and I want to see him investigated, but I don’t give a shit which way the investigation goes. I’m not looking for a witch hunt. If he’s actually guilty,
I want him tried. If he’s not guilty, well, he can be a shit stain and still be free. We have an unwitting inclination toward the fantastical, as a species. We just do. That might be the core realization that made me want to write. We have a fantastical bent and we want to explore it. MUSIC IS: Music is the visceral interpretation of an amalgam of human emotion. a
A NON-MUSICAL INFLUENCE: This is gonna sound strange—the bourgeois society that propelled itself out of World War I in Russia. Watching the parallels in a capitalist society, they mirror each other pretty well. When I made the realization and the connection how, that impacted me as a person; it made me start listening to the people I needed to be listening to to cultivate the voice that I have. It sounds fucking ridiculous. I’m not an educated man at all, THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
MUSIC // 41
YOU’VE BEEN SUMMONED
musicnotes
Heavy metal karaoke with Satanico and the Demon Seeds by AMANDA RUYLE
Satanico and the Demon Seeds: Russell Moore, Mitch Gilliam, Jacob Fuller (aka Satanico, in foreground), Charles Hesting, and Robert Gutierrez. | CLAYTON FLORES
U
nder the crimson glow of the 13th blood moon, Satanico Sr. composed a text message: “We need to do live band karaoke.” “Cool,” Mitch Gillam said while shotgunning a beer. “I have a band called Dr. Rock Doctor and we cover gnarly hesh stuff like Omen and Manowar. Would that work?” “I kinda thought y’all would know more Miley, but okay,” Satanico Sr. replied. Soon after, beneath the Soundpony Bar, the gates of hell opened and Satanico and the Demon Seeds emerged, riding a crest of battle jackets and empty cans of Hamm’s beer and carrying a binder full of song lyrics. Their arrival on the music scene has been a reason for Tulsa’s metal heads and rock and rollers to celebrate. Often belonging to the crooners, showtuners, and balladeers, traditional karaoke nights tend to stick to the hits, or at least avoid songs with names like “Kill the Poor” or “Raining Blood.” But that’s the thrash Satanico and the Demon Seeds live for. 42 // MUSIC
Despite being the founding father of the group, Satanico Sr. (Josh Gifford) recently retired from his role as main demon and passed the torch to Jacob Fuller, or Satanico Jr., as he has been christened. Gifford still makes an occasional appearance, but now it is Fuller’s job to be the hype-man when he comes to the stage as Satanico in red body paint, a blackand-red cape, and a hat with horns made out of ice cream cones. He truly leaves it all on the stage, or all over the Pony, as he races from one end to the other, leaping off of walls and in and out the front door like a demonic rodeo clown. “I’ll run around until I cannot breathe anymore,” Fuller said. “My whole thing is to be there to support the singers.” The energy Fuller brings, along with the talent of the members of the band (Mitch Gilliam on drums, Russell Moore on guitar, Robert Gutierrez on guitar, Charles Hesting on bass), has made the monthly event a favorite for many metal heads who show up to participate and spectate. Garrett Schmigle has become a regular, both because of the
band and because of the community that has sprung up around it. “I’ve done karaoke at a couple of places around Tulsa, and what really sets this one apart is the audience,” Schmigle said. “There is a lot of interaction. People come up to help if you forget the lyrics and join in during choruses—they love the music as much as you do. There is also a lot more energy. We get some head-banging and there has even been mosh pits started. When was the last time you heard about a mosh pit at karaoke?” It’s not just for the hardcore though. The band takes requests and will try to learn the song before the next outing. They have also been making an effort to learn songs outside of the metal genre. “Now we are learning more karaoke stuff. We learned Heart, Pat Benatar, Blondie, Boston, Cheap Trick … but we still play it like rockers because we want to keep it in the theme of edgy, rock n’ roll karaoke,” Gilliam said. Jessica Hermann, another regular, has taken advantage of the request option and asked for more songs originally performed
by female leads, which the Demon Seeds have happily learned. “I love metal karaoke. Singing with a live band gives me such a rush. It kind of makes me feel like my own version of Debbie Harry,” Hermann said. They may be demons, but they aim to make the experience of singing a metal or rock song with a live band the absolute most badass (and easy) thing you’ll do all month. All the song lyrics are organized in a binder at a table directly in front of the singer; Gilliam is at the ready, shouting vocal cues to keep you on track; Fuller bounces around the bar keeping the energy high and the audience engaged. What was once a hellish fever dream is now an odd, lovely reality. “It blows my mind. It has to be the only place on the planet you can do karaoke with a band and do ‘The Axeman’ by Omen,” Gilliam said. And for the non-metal heads? “We’ve got Blondie.” a
The next Live Band Heavy Metal Karaoke is June 14 at Soundpony. June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
musiclistings Wed // Jun 7
Brady Theater – Bush, The Kickback – ($30-$35) Mercury Lounge – Travis Linville Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Eicher Wednesdays – ($10) On the Rocks – Don White River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Wink Burcham, Chris Blevins River Spirit Casino - Paradise Cove – Sammy Hagar – ($75-$85) The Colony – Tom Skinner’s Science Project
Thurs // Jun 8
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Rivers Edge Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Jump Suit Love, The High-Fidelics Hunt Club – The Blues Ball River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Jake Flint, Chris Foster Sisserou’s – Cynthia Simmons Trio Soundpony – New Berlin, The Beaten Daylights The Colony – An Evening with Jared Tyler The Venue Shrine – The Silent Buddha, C.E.N., Cillz Trill, D2Rich, J.J. The Rapper, Juan C. & Fam* – ($12)
Fri // Jun 9
American Legion Post 308 – Joe Harris Blue Rose Cafe – Geena Brady Theater – Norah Jones, The Candles – ($52.50-$68) Cain’s Ballroom – Miike Snow – ($24-$39) Fassler Hall – Darku J Gypsy Coffee House – Marilyn McCulloch Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Milton Patton Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – FM Live, Jesse Joice Hunt Club – Ben Neikirk Band Mercury Lounge – The Prof. Fuzz 63, Los Eskeletis* River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Randy Brumley, FuZed River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Dane Arnold & The Soup Soundpony – My Brother and Me* The Blackbird on Pearl – Whirligig – ($5) The Fur Shop – The Taylor Machine Vanguard – Al About a Bubble, Sleepwalking Home, Keeping Secrets, Good Villains – ($10) Yeti – Infinite Emparaw, Alan Doyle Zin Urban Lounge – Jim Tilly
Sat // Jun 10
Billy and Renee’s – Fist of Rage, Steamshovel, Nameless Society BOK Center – Luke Bryan – ($49.75-$79.75) Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Pumpkin Hollow Band Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Annie Up, Darren Ray Hunt Club – The Brothers Moore Mercury Lounge – Charley Crockett, Whiskey Myers River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Caleb Fellenstein, The Hi-Fidelics River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Don White Trio THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
Soundpony – Afistaface The Colony – Dustin Pittsley Band The Venue Shrine – Reeve Carney – ($12-$15) Vanguard – NeoRomantics, The Young Vines, Sam Westhoff, New Time Zones, Ryan McLaughlin – ($10) Woody’s Corner Bar – The Rumor Yeti – Mr. Burns Presents: Cry Baby Hill Pre-Party w/ Baconomics, Surron the 7th, St. Domonick*
Sun // Jun 11
Hunt Club – Anthony Pierce and the Arrows Mercury Lounge – Brandon Clark River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Chris Blevins, Chris Foster Soundpony – Cry Baby Hill After Party w/ DJ SwangEm, DJ Trigger Warning* The Colony – Malcolm Holcombe, Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing The Venue Shrine – A Live One (Phish Tribute) – ($7-$12)
Mon // Jun 12
Cimarron Bar – The Blue Dawgs Mercury Lounge – Chris Blevins* River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Jacob Tovar, The Marriotts The Colony – Seth Lee Jones
Tues // Jun 13
Cain’s Ballroom – SoMo, Sincere Grant – ($20-$299) Cimarron Bar – Pan Complex Gypsy Coffee House – Open Mic Night Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Bobby D Mercury Lounge – Wink Burcham, Jacob Tovar and the Saddle Tramps Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Scott Musick, Dos Capos, Erin O’Dowd Smitty’s 118 Tavern – Scott Ellison Band The Colony – Singer/Songwriter Night Vanguard – The Homeless Gospel Choir, Joe Myside, Hector Ultreras – ($10)
Wed // Jun 14
Gypsy Coffee House – Marilyn McCulloch Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Carl Acuff Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – 80s Enuf, Dan Lavoie pH Community House – Nicka Flora River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Jake Flint, Brent Giddens The Colony – Honky Tonk Happy Hour w/ Jacob Tovar The Fur Shop – Doc Holiday, Class Zero, The Beaten Daylights Tulsa Performing Arts Center – Josef Glaude and Guitars Gone Wild: Jazz & Blues – ($20) Vanguard – Martial Law, Fortunes Fool, Low Roads, Gutter Villain – ($7-$10) Yeti – The Earslips, Contra
Thurs // Jun 15
Billy and Renee’s – Contingency Plan Cain’s Ballroom – Shane Smith & The Sains, Flatland Cavalry – ($12-$15) Downtown Lounge – The Many Colored Death, Bringer – ($10) Fassler Hall – Oilhouse, Damion Shade, Marie Curie* Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Great Big Biscuit Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Poison Overdose, Caleb Fellenstein Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - The Joint – Bret Michaels – ($55-$65) Hunt Club – Christian Cheyenne Love-Hatbox Sports Complex – G Fest w/ NEEDTOBREATHE, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, J.J. Grey and Mofro, and more* – ($15-$319) Mercury Lounge – Paul Benjaman Band Savage Space – Mike Frazier, Dad. The Band, Carlton Hesston, New Time Zones, SPRNRML – 7 p.m. – ($5-$7) Soundpony – North by North, Animal Names The Colony – An Evening with Jared Tyler Vanguard – The Virus, Corrupted Youth, Merlin Mason, Loose Wires – ($10-$15)
Fri // Jun 16
American Legion Post 308 – Double “00” Buck Cain’s Ballroom – Jon Wolfe CD Release w/ Sunny Sweeney* – ($10-$35) Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Travis Marvin, Scott Ellison Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - The Joint – Jamey Johnson – ($30-$40) Hunt Club – Wink Burcham Love-Hatbox Sports Complex – G Fest w/ NEEDTOBREATHE, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, J.J. Grey and Mofro, and more* – ($15-$319) Mercury Lounge – The Peculiar Pretzelmen, Freight Train Rabbit Killer River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Randy Brumley, Brent Giddens River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Vashni Duo The Blackbird on Pearl – Freak Show – ($5) The Fur Shop – Whiskey Misters, Chloe Johns The Run – Deuces Wild Tulsa Performing Arts Center – The Moody Dudes: A Garage Band Tribute to the Summer of Love – ($15-$20) Vanguard – Another Alibi – ($5)
Sat // Jun 17
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Mayday By Midnight, Travis Kidd Hunt Club – Eric Himan Band IDL Ballroom – Dion Timmer, KrewX, P.C.P., Noizmekka – ($17.20) Love-Hatbox Sports Complex – G Fest w/ NEEDTOBREATHE, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, J.J. Grey and Mofro, and more* – ($15-$319) Mercury Lounge – Thieves of Sunrise River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Caleb Fellenstein, Zodiac River Spirit Casino - LandShark Pool Bar – DJ Noodles River Spirit Casino - Volcano Stage – Jake & Blake Soul City – Travis Fite & Friends: Songs of Freedom - Celebrating Bob Marley*
The Blackbird on Pearl – Local Hero* – ($5) The Colony – Kalyn Fay The Venue Shrine – Joyride Blues Band – ($10) Vanguard – Montu, Linear Symmetry – ($10) Woody’s Corner Bar – Wayne Garner Band Yeti – Kill Vargas Zin Urban Lounge – Randy Brumley
Sun // Jun 18
Enso – Don White, Stephen White River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Chris Blevins, Chris Foster The Blackbird on Pearl – American Beauty – ($8) The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing The Fur Shop – Ike Fonseca Vanguard – The Happy Alright, Emma, County Lights, Lucid Reality - Matinee Show – ($7-$10) Vanguard – The Kung Fu Vampire Tour, Locksmith – ($10-$25)
Mon // Jun 19 Mercury Lounge – Chris Blevins River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Jacob Tovar, The Marriotts Soundpony – The Rotten Mangos* The Colony – Seth Lee Jones Vanguard – Petty Thief – ($7-$10)
Tues // Jun 20 Guthrie Green – Starlight Band: Made in America – 8 p.m. Gypsy Coffee House – Open Mic Night Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Allison Arms Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Scott Musick, Dos Capos, Erin O’Dowd The Colony – Singer/Songwriter Night
Your VOICE For
Live Music Send dates, venue and listings to John@LangdonPublishing.com MUSIC // 43
popradar
S
ometime back in 2012 (and documented on funnyordie. com) a large, furry, blue alien named Gorburger invaded and commandeered a Japanese variety show, murdering and eating half its staff and enslaving the rest to run his new talk show. Gorburger desperately wishes to know what it means to be human, is a great lover of pop culture, and though he has bloodlust, promises to never eat a guest. After two seasons at Funny or Die and a 2015 pilot bought and then released by HBO, “The Gorburger Show” premiered this April on Comedy Central. M. Miller Davis, a Tulsa native and cousin of comedian T.J. Miller (the voice and creator of Gorburger), is head writer for the show. LIZ BLOOD: How long have you been a writer for “The Gorburger Show”? MILLER DAVIS: I started as a writer’s assistant on the second season (2013). The Director Brothers and T.J. [Miller] and Sean Boyle have always let me be really involved in pitching and the creative process. [After HBO] decided to pass on the pilot, then getting the series to Comedy Central, I took on the lead duties of other writers, then became the head writer. BLOOD: What does a day in the life of “TGS” head writer look like?
Tulsa’s independent and non-profit art-house theatre, showing independent, foreign, and documentary films.
44 // FILM & TV
show and the juxtaposition of the trivial questions. One of the coolest sides of “The Gorburger Show” is to see the musicians come on. Every song is an original expression of a previously done song, usually syncing up two bands of different sensibilities. The Reggie Watts/ Thundercat song (season one, episode one) was totally improvised. Getting to watch cool musicians and see how they do something together, to see them come in and screw around, is fun. BLOOD: I love the field pieces Gorburger does. He’s been to an animal rehabilitation center, a marionette theater, among other places. If he came to Tulsa, where would he visit?
Gorburger, created and voiced by T.J. Miller | COURTESY
FOR THE LOVE OF THE SPECTACLE Talking with the head writer of ‘The Gorburger Show’ by LIZ BLOOD DAVIS: We work on it for a number of weeks in preparation and then they start shooting the show. When they’re actually shooting, we do three or four days of field pieces. I stay back with the other writers and work on beating out the stories of the episodes. We come up with an idea and think about where it could fit. Does the story feel right for the guest? How much do we think the guest will get the bit versus how much hand-holding will they need? There’s certainly an absurdism to [the show], but we’re playing with a world that embraces and loves pop culture and also saying this is really silly … so, let’s all have a good time. We sit in a big room for most of the day. I like to go off and work in my little office by myself and then come back with a script. The writing room is super fun but it can also be a little distracting.
Writer M. Miller Davis | COURTESY
A lot of people really like it—the group feeding off of ideas. BLOOD: In this first season on Comedy Central, you’ve had as guests Reggie Watts, Larry King, Kenny G, Tig Notaro, Danny Brown, and others. Who does Gorburger hope to get next? DAVIS: Gorburger’s greatest hope would be to get Usher on the show. He views Usher as the pinnacle of human existence, mostly for his dancing ability. But there are a lot of people we want on the show and a lot of people who wanted to be on the show but scheduling didn’t work out. I think the most fun guests are ones who are really down to embrace the idea and play the talk show guest role—the ones who treat Gorburger like a host, like a Conan or Jimmy Fallon. Then we can play with the weirdness of the
DAVIS: He would probably have a great time with Hanson. Their music seems so earnest and like they’d get down with playing around with him. I also think he’d find the bison on the prairie fascinating—and maybe a little sexy. There’s not a lot of stuff close to him, but they’re closer than human beings. And the fanfare of Cry Baby Hill at Tulsa Tough— Gorburger loves spectacle. BLOOD: Gorburger was just on Conan. How was that? DAVIS: And Larry King, today. You know, the normal alien puppet circuit. King was totally down and played around. He didn’t miss a beat interacting with this big puppet. BLOOD: How does the puppet work? DAVIS: The guy inside of it, Brian Hillard, is a professional puppeteer. He can only stay in it for about 15–20 minutes—it just gets too hot and cramped. There are so many pieces of machinery and servos that control the eyes, eyebrows, mouth, and lips. It actually takes three puppeteers to control the facial features. And then Brian is inside doing the mannerisms. a June 7 – 20, 2017 // THE TULSA VOICE
filmphiles A BRIEF RUNDOWN OF WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE CIRCLE CINEMA
SUPERHEROINE Gal Gadot in “Wonder Woman” | CLAY ENOS / COURTESY WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.
With ‘Wonder Woman,’ DC finally made a movie worth watching THERE’S NO SHORTAGE OF trolls in the rivalry between DC and Marvel comics. Or man-children getting offended by the legitimacy of female-centric genre properties. What’s amazing is how much of the conversation about comic book cinema gets mired in tribal inanities—especially when we’re talking about the potential (and deserved) success of something like “Wonder Woman.” With the disappointment of “Suicide Squad” in the rearview mirror and Zack Snyder stepping away from Warner Bros. for “Justice League,” indie darling Patty Jenkins gets in the director’s chair for her first feature since 2003’s “Monster.” And she better come back, because “Wonder Woman” is the best DC movie yet. The shortcomings of the DC Expanded Universe are well known. Even before the current DCEU, with Christopher Nolan’s wildly successful “Batman” trilogy, the films possessed a humorless, self-righteous tone, and crushingly dour takes on their characters that bordered on the absurd. Based on a script by DC Comics vet Allan Heinberg, “Wonder Woman” has a playful sense of, well … wonder. Mostly bereft of the bad decisions that plagued the era of Nolan and Snyder, DC has improbably planted one foot firmly in Marvel’s optimistic backyard and have, for once, beaten their archrival to the creative punch. Sure, it’s another origin story—a template that has grown tiresome over a decade of comic book franchises. But what makes “Wonder Woman” different is that I didn’t really know her story. THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
The broad strokes from the ‘70s television series, which I ate up as a kid, are all here. Diana is an Amazonian princess, born to a society of benevolent warrior women living on the “Lost”-ish island of Themyscira. She rescues a downed WWII fighter pilot named Steve Trevor. The Amazons decide to return him to the real world and send Diana to protect him. In the show, she becomes Trevor’s secretary, Diana Prince, concealing her true identity like Superman with a pair of nerdy glasses. When the need arises, she transforms into Wonder Woman and kicks the shit out of a bunch of Nazis. We initially meet Diana (Emily Carey) as a child. Years later, when she has become a powerful warrior, Diana is played by Gal Gadot, who is great— possessed of a defiant charm that’s utterly genuine. She sells the fight scenes with concussive gusto, which Jenkins directs with surprising emotion and a keen spatial eye. Chris Pine, who plays Trevor, is equally charming and hard to look away from. Aside from a telegraphed twist near the end and a half-assed attempt at romance between Trevor and Diana (who both have charisma to burn but feel more like siblings than lovers), “Wonder Woman” treads confidently with thrilling action sequences, a pulpy story, and engaging performances. Jenkins, while largely adhering to the visual aesthetic established by the previous DC films, directs with a thoughtfulness and sense of excitement that was glaringly absent from Snyder’s work. So breathe easy, geeks. You can believe the hype. “Wonder Woman” is a marvel. —JOE O’SHANSKY
OPENING JUNE 9 IT COMES AT NIGHT A man protects his wife and son in the woods from an unnatural threat terrorizing the world, but their delicate security is put at risk when a desperate young family comes seeking refuge. This new horror thriller is the highly anticipated sophomore effort from famed young director Trey Edward Shults (“Krisha”). It stars Joel Edgerton (“Loving”). Rated R. MY COUSIN RACHEL Based on a novel by Daphne Du Maurier (whose books “Rebecca” and “The Birds” were turned into Hitchcock classics), this is a twisted 19th century tale of murder, revenge, and passion. Starring Academy Award-winner Rachel Weisz, written and directed by Roger Michell (“Notting Hill”). Rated PG-13.
OPENING JUNE 16 PARIS CAN WAIT The directorial debut of Eleanor Coppola, wife of Francis Ford Coppola, this Euroset travelogue romance follows Diane Lane as the neglected wife of a movie producer who takes a trip to the south of France with one of her husband’s colleagues. Co-stars French actor Arnaud Viard and Alec Baldwin. Rated PG.
SPECIAL EVENTS KUNG FU HUSTLE (35MM presentation) The Circle’s Kumite Theatre presents this 1940s Shanghai-set gangster movie. Stars Stephen Chow, shown on a 35MM film print. Rated R. (Fri., June 9, and Sat., June 10, at 10pm) PETER PAN: NT LIVE Special kids’ rates and group ticket discounts for this matinee event of the JM Barrie classic about Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, from Britain’s
Old Vic theatre. Pre-show hosted by Theatre Tulsa’s Nick Cains, featuring trivia and giveaways. (Sat., June 10, 2pm) REAL BOY—INDIE LENS POP-UP A documentary about a family in transition, “Real Boy” follows the journey of trans teen Bennett as he navigates the ramifications of changing gender identity, from addiction to the bond between a mother and child. Presented in partnership with Open Arms Youth Project. Pre-film activities start at 6:30pm, and post film discussion led by OSU Tulsa counseling director Dr. Al Carlozzi. (Tue., June 13, 7:30pm) MONTEREY POP (1968) Before Woodstock, there was Monterey. This 1968 documentary from famed filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker chronicles the California music festival that launched the careers of Jimi Hendrix and others, and includes performances by Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, and more. Not Rated. (Fri., Sat., June 16–17, 7pm; Sun., June 18, 1:30pm) SOMM: INTO THE BOTTLE The Circle’s Wine & Film Series presents this documentary about the history, politics, and pleasure of wine, as well as the BS. Told through opening 10 very different bottles. Jarrod Jordan, proprietor of Mixco and certified sommelier, will join for discussion and tasting. (Tue., June 20, 7pm) SALOME: NT LIVE From London’s Olivier stage, this production turns the infamous biblical tale on its head. Pre-show hosted by Theatre Tulsa’s Nick Cains, featuring trivia and giveaways. (Thur., June 22, 6pm) TWIN PEAKS VIEWING SOCIETY Showing episodes of the original two seasons. Every Monday night from 7 to 9pm, in the Screening Room.
FILM & TV // 45
LOTTERY PAYOUTS INCREASE! (BUT EDUCATION FUNDING DOESN’T.) … AND OTHER SWILL YOU WISH YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO READ • BY FRASER KASTNER
DON’T WORRY, BETTY GOT PAID
In the aftermath of her much-publicized manslaughter trial, Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby has returned to work, albeit not as a patrol officer. Shelby will receive roughly $36,000 in back pay from her time on administrative leave, by the way. Shelby was put on administrative leave in September 2016 following an incident where Shelby killed Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man. Shelby has since returned from her leave, presumably stopping by payroll first in order to collect her salary from the last nine months, during which she did not do her job. Following Shelby’s trial, the foreman of the jury released a letter stating that “many on the jury could never get comfortable with the concept of Betty Shelby being blameless,” but that, since Shelby had apparently followed her training, she could not be considered guilty. Please do not think about the fact that it is possible for a police officer to follow their training to the letter and still gun down an unarmed civilian. Retraining our police officers would be more expensive than the occasional legal fees and backpay. An unnamed juror was quoted in the Frontier, saying, “I don’t think she’s a bad person, she just shouldn’t be a cop.” But we’ve been assured of Betty’s good intentions, and that’s more or less the same thing as being competent. The occasional dead civilian is just the price we pay for excellent police work.
MEDDLING BUREAUCRATS SHUT DOWN SHADOW MOUNTAIN JUST BECAUSE IT POSES A ‘RISK TO LIFE’ A bunch of panty-waisted know-nothings at the Joint Commission, a nonprofit that accredits hospitals, have temporarily revoked Shadow Mountain’s accreditation because a few videos surfaced showing the director using Judo holds on mentally ill children. Also there was a riot and a few allegations of misconduct. Okay, fine, “sexual” misconduct. Now, before you jump to conclusions and start blaming people, let’s just set the record straight on a few things: • It has been said that Shadow Mountain has an insufficient number of nurses. This makes it sound like Shadow Mountain is woefully understaffed. However, children are typically smaller than adults, so it stands to reason that they shouldn’t hire as many nurses. The fact that the children in question are mentally ill just makes their job easier. 46 // ETC.
• While it is true that there have been 30 confirmed cases of neglect or abuse at the facility since 2014, it’s also true that a lot of those kids are really irritating and probably had it coming. • The current head nurse once lost a job at SouthCrest because she was shooting up in the bathroom when she was supposed to be working in the ICU. The Joint Commission would probably rather they hire some nerd, but whatever. We all party. • Video shows Mike Kistler, CEO of Shadow Mountain, restraining disruptive students in unsafe ways, as well as ignoring children who are attempting to hurt themselves. Look, Kistler isn’t a nurse or a doctor, but he does have a black belt, so he probably knows exactly how much pressure to put on the kids without leaving any marks. Plus, everyone knows that the best thing for a child in crisis is to be physically dominated by a grown man until they internalize that violence is only justified when it is used against them. All in all, Shadow Mountain probably doesn’t suck more than your average Tulsa middle school. Outsiders may feel that’s a bad thing, but here in Oklahoma we know that when the system lets you down, well, you just haven’t lowered your standards enough.
OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE FEELS PRETTY GOOD ABOUT SKIDDING ACROSS THAT FINISH LINE Following a session wherein very little got done and the state remains hundreds of millions of dollars under budget even under optimistic projections, members of the Oklahoma legislature stated that, all things considered, things went pretty well this time. Sure, they didn’t do anything to raise teachers’ salaries, but Mary Fallin signed an order to raise lottery prizes! That way, people will buy more tickets and education will get funded by the free market, as God intended. We are given to understand that this arrangement is a good thing, and not the act of desperation it appears to be. Also please ignore the fine print where the lottery no longer has to give 35 percent of its earnings to education. But hey, it isn’t all bad! They finally completely eliminated all wind energy incentives in Oklahoma. Now all those greedy wind-barons will have to open their treasuries. We are sure they’ll get around to the incentives the oil and gas industry gets next time, right? Plus, they added $575 million in recurring annual funds! Well, unless the new cigarette fee gets struck down in court. In this case, a fee is like a tax, but a tax requires a supermajority to pass and a fee does not. After a judge listens to this argument and agrees that it makes sense, all of our problems will be over. One of them, anyway. Well, part of one. a June 7 – 20, 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
JUBILEE is a curious, outgoing, and loving cat. We don’t pick favorites… but, if we did, Jubilee would be at the top of the list. Whenever visitors enter our cat colony room she likes to greet them and will take all the love they are willing to give. She has a great personality. Jubilee is a year and seven months old.
ACROSS 1 It’s earthshaking 6 Wee troublemakers 10 “___-daisy!” 14 Chowderheads and birdbrains 19 Smell that whets the appetite 20 Famous shipbuilder 21 Kitchen necessities 22 Dodge, as a posse 23 Smaller relative of a guitar 24 Souvenir for a fan behind a dugout 25 Wild plum of a gin fizz 26 On the ___ (soon to occur) 27 Like many databases 29 Film with a very sad ending 31 “What happened next was ...” 32 It activates airbags 34 Where wedding vows are exchanged 35 Loud rackets 38 Sinai and Everest (Abbr.) 40 Hippy bones 41 One’s short life story 42 Prefix for one 43 Flat-topped plateau 44 Old-fashioned sound detector 48 Heavy artillery weapon 50 Grapefruitlike fruit 52 Torches on poles 55 Type of pear 56 Mil. designation 57 Type of blockade at sea 60 Chick’s quick sound 61 Perforated magazine page 63 Type of coldweather boot 64 Friday, for many 66 Some police-led groups or posses 70 Who to win one for?
All cats enjoy a good nap, but LEGACY really enjoys getting the most beauty sleep she can. Legacy is just under two years old and is absolutely gorgeous! She can be a standoffish with new people and would need time to adjust to a new home. Legacy is a year and eight months old.
74 Shed item that breaks ground 75 Clutch activator 80 Pained look of a pouter 81 Swahili form of address 83 Suffix with real or manner 84 Bald or golden bird 85 University founded by Booker T. Washington 88 Philosopher Immanuel 90 Stable worker on a horse farm 91 Successor to 44-Across 94 Common breakfast items 96 Blade that splashes 97 Director Howard 98 Orange coat 99 Morse code bit 100 Too inquisitive 101 African antelope hunted by lions 105 Joined together, as two companies 107 In need of resupply, as a cupboard 109 Be aware of 111 Close calls 116 Van Halen on guitar 117 Apple tree spray no more 118 Place to grab a quick lunch 119 Comedic Martin 120 Right hands, in business 121 Decorate in an entirely new style 122 Use persuasion 123 Fudd with a big gun 124 Might, to King James 125 Sand on a golf course 126 Breakfast, lunch or dinner 127 River of Paris DOWN 1 Lip a parent doesn’t appreciate 2 An American canal
3 Insignificantly small amount 4 Brilliance or intelligence 5 It comes in like a lion 6 Babies 7 Fatty man breast, of slang 8 St. ___ Girl (German beer brand) 9 Awkward, inept bumbler 10 One-way step? 11 Mammal known for smelling horrible 12 Summer ermine 13 Belgian river to the North Sea 14 Grows and matures 15 Apparent and out in the open 16 Coat for extreme winter weather 17 Landscaper’s neatening tool 18 Futurists 28 Macho dudes 30 Pressly of “My Name Is Earl” 33 Like Midwesterners, stereotypically 35 Old gold coin 36 Idiotic and silly 37 Warrior in black 39 Part of a china set 41 Folk singer Ives 43 Type of chocolate dessert 45 TV brand 46 Award given by a cable sports network 47 Propped up a pigskin 49 Word often linked with “neither” 51 “You’re mine now!” 53 Bagged leaves’ creation 54 Undercover infiltrator 56 Grant-awarding org. 58 Police blotter initials 59 Olive-oil bottle word
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.
VINCENT has been at our shelter for a while now and we are doing our best to get him adopted! He is a great cat and would be a wonderful addition to any home. He gets along well with other cats and really enjoys the company of people. Vincent is a year and three months old.
62 That girl 64 ___ diem (daily allowance) 65 Charge, as with a fine 67 Baltimore darlin’ 68 Tried out 69 “___ the Walrus” (Beatles tune) 70 Clock standard (Abbr.) 71 Something from a tapped-out gambler 72 Sell aggressively 73 Lap dog, for short 76 Chapeau 77 White northern abode 78 Dog biters 79 Robe cloth 81 “You oughta ___ pictures” 82 Common skin cyst 86 The first to arrive 87 Moan go-with 89 Supplement to a book 90 Old Irish alphabet 92 Island state in the West Indies 93 Deliver by parachute 95 Heavenly horn blower 100 Get cozy, as a couple 101 Type of steel girder 102 News reporters, collectively (with “the”) 103 Rice field 104 Sign of one born on April 7 105 Certain distance runner 106 John of farm equipment 108 Gets out of bed in the morning 110 Mini-store 112 Blue-green birdbath growth 113 Prefix meaning half 114 All tied up 115 Like desert ground
HOOLIO gets along well with people and other animals and is a quick learner. He is a Saint Bernard mix and, like a lot of big dogs, seems to be unaware of his size and thinks of himself as a lap dog. If you are looking for a large family dog, Hoolio is the one for you! Hoolio is a year and a half old and weighs 65 pounds.
The first thing people notice about JAX is that he is missing his back right leg. Because his leg had already been removed when we found him, we can’t say with certainty what happened. You may think missing a limb would slow a dog down—not this guy! He enjoys walks, playtime, and giving big sloppy kisses just as much as any dog. Jax is a happy four-year-old border collie mix and can’t wait to meet his future parents.
UNIVERSAL SUNDAY CROSSWORD STUFFED EARS By Timothy E. Parker
© 2017 Andrews McMeel Syndication THE TULSA VOICE // June 7 – 20, 2017
6/11 ETC. // 47
Pleas e re cycle this issue.