The Tulsa Voice | Vol. 2 No. 24

M ay o r B a

rtlett a nd the Sy rian Refu D i s p at c h gee Crisi f rom Mizz CAIR and s | p8 ou | p 24 the Okla homa Res i s ta n c e | p 28

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December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

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December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

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Dec. 2 – 15, 2015 // vol. 2 no. 2 4 N E W S & C O M MEN TA RY 10 // Vision trek Ray Pearcey, visioneer

Deconstructing The Vision 2025 gambit cityspeak

12 // M e and Joe on the line Barry Friedman, fanboy

The vice president comes to Tulsa viewsfromtheplains

FOOD & DRINK 16 // S ensory overload Megan Shepherd, psychonaut

A Tulsa expat offers an intimate look at the Mizzou protests

BY JOY JENKINS 8 // N o courage without fear

Millicent Brasserie offers intense multi-sensory dining

24

citybites

20 // A seat at Tulsa’s table Maurie Traylor, novel gardener

StoneSoup’s first wine dinner with class tulsafood

28 // R esistance

Denver Nicks, seeker

Mitch Gilliam, interloper

Searching for sanity on the refugee issue

Right-wing groups protest CAIR

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f e at u r e d

MUSIC 36 // Easy groove Matt Cauthron, congregant

Pilgrim’s long-awaited studio debut finds the sweet spot

C O V E R I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y J E R E M Y L U T H E R

albumreview

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD

38 // V iew from the top Mary Noble, hip-hop head

Steph Simon’s Visions

Send all letters, complaints, compliments & haikus to:

PUBLISHER Jim Langdon MANAGING EDITOR Joshua Kline ART DIRECTOR Madeline Crawford ASSISTANT EDITOR John Langdon GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Morgan Welch, Georgia Brooks PHOTOGRAPHY/MULTIMEDIA Greg Bollinger

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voices@ langdonpublishing.com

FILM & TV facebook.com/thetulsavoice twitter.com/thetulsavoice instagram.com/thetulsavoice

40 // A modern comedy Landry Harlan, poptimist

‘Master of None’ mines millenial anxieties for humor popradar

AD SALES MANAGER Josh Kampf AD EXECUTIVE Landry Harlan CONTRIBUTORS Matt Cauthron, Alicia Chesser, Mikkel Christensen, Phil Clarkin, Barry Friedman, Mitch Gilliam, Valerie Grant, Nathan Harmon, Joy Jenkins, Jeremy Luther, Denver Nicks, Mary Noble, Joe O’Shansky, Ray Pearcey, Megan Shepherd, Maurie Traylor

42 // L ost in America Joe O’Shansky, wanderer 1603 S. Boulder Ave. Tulsa, OK 74119 P: 918.585.9924 F: 918.585.9926 PUBLISHER Jim Langdon PRESIDENT Juley Roffers VP COMMUNICATIONS Susie Miller CONTROLLER Mary McKisick ADMIN. ASSISTANT Rachel Webb RECEPTION Gloria Brooks, Gene White

The Tulsa Voice’s distribution is audited annually by Circulation Verification Council THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

‘Brooklyn’ is modern classic, ‘Entertainment is ponderous filmphiles

REGULARS // 17 voice’schoices // 18 tulsafood // 22 boozeclues 32 onstage // 34 thehaps // 39 musiclistings // 44 thefuzz 45 news of the weird // 46 free will astrology // 47 crossword CONTENTS // 5

editor’sletter

T

his issue of The Tulsa Voice touches on themes of social justice and cultural collision. For our cover story, former Langdon Publishing employee and University of Missouri doctoral candidate Joy Jenkins offers a personal account of the Mizzou campus protests.

In collaboration with The Frontier, Mitch Gilliam visits a local anti-Muslim activist group and reports on Oklahoma CAIR’s renewed struggle for community acceptance in the wake of recent ISIS attacks. Meanwhile, Denver Nicks offers commentary on the Syrian refugee crisis and Mayor Bartlett’s letter to President Obama.

But first, we have an extended “Your Voice” letter from abortion abolitionist Alan Maricle (pg. 7).

The abolitionist movement is a small but committed group of Christian radicals who believe abortion is tantamount to “child

6 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

sacrifice” and militantly spread their message through picketing and distributing “baby carnage” propaganda—photos and posters of dead and dismembered fetuses, sometimes placed and hidden among the free press (such as this paper) found in bars, restaurants and coffee shops. They don’t believe in physical violence, but they exercise a particularly off-putting brand of psychological violence through gruesome literature and public shaming. Abolitionists refuse the term “pro-life”; they believe the mainstream pro-life movement is too moderate and pragmatic, too compromised by worldly concerns.

Their stance is hardline—no Plan B, no birth control pill, no exceptions in the case of rape or incest.

Based on the turnout at protests, most of them are men.

The Abolitionist Society of Tulsa recently picketed the Reproductive Justice Forum held at All

Souls Unitarian Church, which Jennie Lloyd covered for the Voice’s November 18 issue. Upon publication of Lloyd’s story, several readers affiliated with the protesters took to Facebook to express their disdain for the article.

In the spirit of dialogue, I reached out to the group and ended up on the phone with Maricle, who runs the Oklahoma abolitionist website and is a member of the Norman chapter. In conversation, he was polite, articulate and accommodating; he patiently and lucidly explained the abolitionist position, and gamely fielded pushback questions from me. For two hours, we went back and forth. His bottom line: scripture is immutable, life begins at conception and every life is sacred, therefore abortion is murder. If Christians are to follow the God of the Bible, he reasons, they have no choice but to loudly protest abortion.

One of Maricle’s complaints with reproductive justice advocates is a refusal to engage in debate.

Whether that complaint is real or perceived, hiding in the echo chamber does nothing to advance any cause. Maricle’s opinions and tactics are by turns perplexing and risible, but I acknowledge and respect his right to have them. In that spirit, I invited him to submit a letter to the editor.

We can only strengthen our own convictions when we hear out the other side. An open dialogue, however heated, is the only way forward. a

JOSHUA KLINE MANAGING EDITOR

December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

yourvoice

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ertain things are hard to paint. A vase of flowers, that’s simple. A beautiful sunset, maybe. How about irony?

Look no further than All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, who nailed the irony thing at the “My God, My Body, My Decisions” Reproductive Justice Forum, recently detailed in the Voice [November 18]. “Doctor” Willie Parker, a man of African descent who would have once been dehumanized and regarded as sub-human, now follows in the footsteps of those oppressors of yesteryear.

He, like them, twists the Bible to support regarding human beings that have been created in the image of God as less than human, as mere clumps of cells that can be discarded at the whim of the stronger party. The oppressed be-

comes the oppressor, not based on ethnicity, but rather on age, development, and size.

Like I said, irony.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Take the claim that a follower of Jesus crying out in public against child sacrifice “would have found themselves in the company of their own” inside this Forum to hear the image of God desecrated verbally by a man who has enriched himself by desecrating it bodily. Nothing could be further from the truth; that those who endure the scorn and contempt of their society for Jesus’ sake would be among their own when surrounded by those who applaud and endorse ripping the arms and legs off of tiny children and yet say “Lord, Lord.” Incredible.

Or take the references to “Christ’s message of love and acceptance‚” expressed (and twisted) by those who smile at the death of the most helpless and voiceless of their neighbors.

Or “Reverend” Prose’s exhortation to end life “in responsible ways” blissfully unaware of how easy it is for the killer to excuse his wicked actions because of good intentions or extenuating circumstances, none of which

is any consolation to the victim whose rights he has torn away along with all his limbs.

Or the presence of an activist against human trafficking, at a forum whose purpose was to uphold that which so easily covers up trafficking - the destruction of the child in the womb of the trafficked mother. Abortion is human exploitation of the worst order, with the most violent and final end to the victim, without possibility of rescue.

“Doctor” Parker reminded all present that life is a process, that we are born dying. That life isn’t something that is or isn’t.

Ask the babies he has killed, if that were possible, whether they would prefer to be more living than dying. Ask whether an accused murderer’s legal defense of “Hey man, we’re all dying” would be laughed out of the courtroom. Ask the Lord Jesus Christ, whom Parker falsely claims to love and worship, whether His death on the cross was just a sort of process, and whether His glorious and miraculous resurrection from the dead was just taking a step backward along the death-life continuum.

Most ironic, however, was Violet Rush’s claim that an abolition-

ist of human abortion “co-opt(s) God.” There’s a reason ASUUC didn’t invite dissenting voices, who believe the Word of God and defend it rationally against all comers, to their Forum. This is not about the false god of Rush’s and ASUUC’s own imaginations.

The true God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen Savior and Lord, the God of the Bible, says things like this: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20) and “Deliver those who are being taken away to death, and those who are staggering to slaughter, hold them back” (Proverbs 24:11).

In doing so, we may expose ourselves to the raised-pinky scorn of Kylie Shelley, who wouldn’t even engage the “protester” whom she pillories. We may be misquoted or misrepresented. So be it. God’s wrath is coming on all those who do not repent and who hate good and love evil such as abortion, but He will have mercy on all who repent. For the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, we will not rest until we have effected the abolition of child sacrifice.

Alan Maricle, native Tulsan Abolitionist Society of Norman

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No courage without fear Searching for sanity on the refugee issue

by DENVER NICKS

I

n the weeks since ISIS-affi liated terrorists murdered hundreds of civilians in Beirut, Paris and elsewhere, Americans have been treated to a display of anti-refugee hysteria from our political class that would be comical if it weren’t so dangerous.

At least 31 governors have said Syrian refugees are not welcome in their states. Candidates for the presidency compete for who can most loudly and callously stoke fear of Syrian refugees, insinuating or outright suggesting that there’s a Fifth Column hidden among them intent on murdering Americans. With this kind of overwrought panic, not only do we turn our backs on families in desperate need of our help without doing anything to improve real security, we also do harm to our own communities.

In leadership, tone matters.

Shortly after the attacks, Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett joined the chorus of leaders spreading fear with a Facebook post in which he said he would urge the president “not to accept any more Syrian refugees into our country and we should have never allowed this to begin with.” It was a low point in a mayoral administration that I be-

8 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

lieve has otherwise capably guided Tulsa through a period of cultural and economic growth.

In the letter Bartlett ultimately sent to the White House his tone and message were markedly different. He did encourage the president to “immediately improve the procedures of evaluating and approving applications of individuals claiming refugee status” and that U.S. borders be “secure and controlled” before any more Syrian refugees are settled in the United States. But he closed by saying that “Our ‘heart of the country’ values to help our fellow man are never in question. Our humanitarian outreaches to all mankind are prevalent and well documented.

We are ready to be of service, but we must have a confi dent and verifi able answer to the question, ‘are we safe regarding our national security at our borders, especially regarding the present and future infl ow of non-U.S. citizens?’”

Bartlett’s concerns are shared by many Americans, on evidence when the House of Representatives recently voted to pass legislation to toughen screening procedures for Iraqi and Syrian refugees. Critics of the legislation say it will effectively block

refugees from ever entering the country by adding signifi cant delays to a vetting process that can already last as long as three years.

FBI Director James Comey has also denounced the legislation and said the FBI’s vetting process is suffi ciently stringent.

Nevertheless, the events of the last few weeks have illustrated a new level of depravity and reach from Islamist terrorists, and it’s reasonable to question our security protocols. We can and should remain as vigilant as possible to protect our communities from attack.

But vigilance must mean more than strident and misinformed calls to keep out refugees. While fear mongering about Syrian refugees is, obviously, bad for Syrian refugees, it’s also bad for us. It has the effect of demonizing and imperiling people in our Muslim communities, who are some of the civilized world’s greatest allies in the fi ght against Islamist terrorism. It brings out our worst inclinations, toward suspicion, tribalism, cruelty and indifference to our fellow humans. And spreading terror helps terrorists achieve their primary goal, which is, unsurprisingly, to terrorize us.

Fear is understandable. Fear is human. Indeed, there can be no courage without fear. But fear also clouds our judgment. Fear is petty.

Fear is as bad for our communities as it is for our hearts. And fear is easy. Our leaders are supposed to galvanize and sensibly guide us through periods of fear—to inspire courage in times of terror—not exacerbate our worst tendencies. Despite an initial careless misstep on Facebook, Mayor Bartlett sounded more like that kind of leader in his letter to the president. One hopes he continues down that path of courage and that other leaders who’ve been stoking fear follow suit.

While we protect ourselves we should reject the politics of fear in favor of the politics of compassion. At times like these it’s especially important that our leaders remind us of our best selves and lead by example in displaying, to borrow the mayor’s phrasing, our “‘heart of the country’ values.” a Denver Nicks is a Tulsa native and a reporter for TIME magazine. He’s the author of Private: Bradley Manning, Wikileaks and the Biggest Exposure of Official Secrets in American History.

December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

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NEWS & COMMENTARY // 9

cityspeak

Vision trek Deconstructing The Vision 2025 gambit

by RAY PEARCEY

H

ow do you spin up the special sauce needed to fuel a hotter, more vibrant Tulsa?

How do you spur our in-town venture runners, retain signature hometown artists and performers, and attract outside wizards and tech boffi ns to Green Country?

Market dynamics, geopolitics, and the kinetics of the country’s economy constrain all these queries. But active local plotting, emerging street and transit needs, equity and balanced growth imperatives, aging city assets, small-area planning opportunities and meeting local imagineers on their elevated grounds have a role to play as well.

During the LaFortune administration, in the early part of this century, elected offi cials and citizen activists cobbled together the Vision 2025 process–a voter-driven framework for picking and funding a passel of heavy, city-shaping projects.

The iconic projects that have come from the Vision process are evident. Exhibit A: the BOK Arena, the Advanced Material Center at OSU’s downtown campus, the Morton Health Systems Campus and a bevy of major street and intersection efforts.

The Council is moving to slate voter approval for another round of projects in April of 2016.

The new round comes after a strange, loopy spasm of indecision by the mayor and city council, one framed by two problematic trial balloons: diverting Vision project funds to a massive police hiring effort and a questionable river-anddam development gambit. On the latter, the last two weeks brought a new round of discussions for the multi-party $250 million project.

This new river project would be a heavy recipient of Vision 2025 funding, consuming as much as 10 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

Some of my personal favorites: • Funding for Gilcrease Museum expansion. The stunning site plan could re-animate the entire Gilcrease neighborhood area and ramify the Museum’s already stellar position as a tourist attraction, as well as further bolster its reputation in anthropological and curation realms.

• Additional seed money for the under-defi ned-but-valiant effort to accelerate the 36th Street North/Phoenix Neighborhood. a fourth of available funds. The most recent see-if-it-will-fl y effort is being circulated by Councilor G.T. Bynum, a newly announced candidate for Tulsa Mayor. Bynum has long been a stout advocate for river development and is the nominal leader of Tulsa’s River Development Task Force.

Key queries How do you pick and sort tentpole projects from over $2.5 billion in submitted requests with funding less than half this sum?

The picking and choosing goes beyond the mundane by also looking at projects that impart small-place connectivity, design variety and street animation to the downtown and elsewhere. Other projects in review offer a springboard for Tulsa’s manufacturing, aerospace and service economies.

Right now, Tulsa’s elected offi cials and a group of project advocates are vetting, deconstructing and rescaling the 142 submitted projects (it may be down to less than 50 as this is written). Many of these projects have the look, feel and texture that citizens pushed for in the PlaniTulsa meetings attended by thousands in the early aughts.

Another vantage While there have been nearly a dozen public hearings and countless on-camera city council and sub-committee talkfests on the projects that should be in front of voters this April, there has been little effort to garner insight from anyone but elected offi cials and the usual “professional citizen” suspects. Bill Leighty’s Smart Growth Tulsa Coalition (SGTC) has broken this frame by publishing the results of a recently completed online survey, the results of which offer a different take.

Here is a partial summary from the SGTC web site: “First, respondents tended to prefer initiatives that supported underfunded areas of the city’s general fund. This is reflected in the high level of support for dedicated funding for transit, parks and recreation and to a lesser, but still significant extent, public safety...”

SGTC’s survey also found heavy interest in creating a public wireless network, executing the now completed bike/pedestrian plan and the proposed Children’s Museum.

• The RAW Space project—a visionary multi-use collaborative innovation space slated to be on the abandoned Evans-Fintube site just northeast of downtown. This is a very unusual agility-building development effort that could change the path of hundreds of fi rms and thousands of workers here in Tulsa. RAW would be a campus scale “co-work” space for savvy industrial outfi ts, tiny tech and precision manufacturing fi rms and lean design studios struggling to build and aggressively price complex products, providing access to next-wave tool arrays, outsized computing power and a bevy of methods previously available only to gigantic fi rms and a handful of universities.

• Tulsa’s new bike and pedestrian plan and some kind of enduring arrangement to expand the operating budget for Tulsa’s hard-pressed bus system.

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NEWS & COMMENTARY // 11

viewsfrom theplains

Me and Joe on the line The vice president comes to Tulsa

by BARRY FRIEDMAN The past is running faster singing harmony —John Prine.

The Monday before Vice President Joe Biden came to Tulsa, Michael Whelan, who is now with the DNC Finance Committee, sent me an Instant Message, asking if I wanted to attend as his guest.

A large white awning, placed by the Secret Service, covers the entrance on 6th, between Main and Boulder. Inside, on the check-in table, different colored wrist bands: multicolor and purple, maybe one more—white, I think—for VIPs, people admitted on the rope line.

I get no wrist band.

The Penthouse at the Summit Club is as it should be. Mahogany table tops, servers with perfect hair, windows with perfect views, rooms with perfect bars and perfect food.

I see Michael.

“I can’t thank you enough for this.”

“Some day, and that day may never come, I’ll call upon you to do a service for me.”

Be my friend, Godfather.

Behind the podium and lectern, where the vice president will speak, three American fl ags.

The event is to start at 2; it is 1:45.

“Barry,” Michael asks a little after 2, “can Carol borrow your phone so she can record my introduction?”

“Sure.”

12 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

Barry Friedman and Joe Biden | COURTESY BARRY FRIEDMAN

“Better still, you do it.”

“Okay.”

“Let Barry in,” Michael tells the security guy by the rope line. I am let in.

Moments later, Michael bounds to the stage.

He talks of the vice president, not just as a great man, but a good man—Uncle Joe, he reminds us.

“This is a big … deal,” Michael says, gently mocking the time Biden told President Obama (after ACA was approved): “This is a big fucking deal.”

The vice president, we’re told, will be here soon.

I decide not to move. I am on the rope line, a place I shouldn’t

be. I am behind two women, in front of two others.

At 3 p.m., I get a text from my girlfriend. “His plane just landed.”

“I have to get back to work,” I hear one of the women behind me say.

Another half hour passes. I need a Diet Coke, a bathroom, Tylenol.

“Would you hold …?”

“Yes,” the woman behind me says.

I return minutes later. More people now. I maneuver my way back behind the same two women.

I think about loosening my tie.

I don’t.

People, who have paid big

money to see the vice president, come out from behind the curtain to the left of the podium, take seats. He is in the building.

Former Mayor Taylor comes to the podium, talks about Democrats, the party, the energy in the room.

He appears.

Thinner than you think, but the smile is all Biden—broad, white, perfect teeth—almost too many of them. He speaks from notes he doesn’t need, makes jokes he’s made a million times, gently criticizes Bernie Sanders for demonizing billionaires, and talks of his family, including Beau, his latest dead child. He sees an infant in the audience, says to her, pointing at her, “I promise you”—and here his voice is softer; he is now talking about cancer, “in fi ve years, we’ll have something. If not a cure, then manageable.” Beau died of cancer back in June. Biden’s fi rst wife, Neilia, and their child, Naomi, were killed in a car crash in 1972, a month after winning his fi rst senate victory. Naomi was 13 months old.

Biden said at the time, he knew by the ring of his phone something was wrong. “You just know.”

A cellphone goes off.

The vice president takes the mic out of the stand, leaves the lectern, hops down. He addresses those to his left, veterans in wheelchairs. “These people,” he says, pointing to everyone else, “will see more technological advancement in the next fi ve years than we’ve seen our whole lives.” He loses his place once or twice, but it doesn’t matter, for he knows more than December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

he’s forgotten. He is comfortable being Joe Biden. His gray hair combed back, the bald spot pronounced. The suit looks like it came off the rack. He comes back to his father, uncle, mother. He impersonates them; the accent is the same, regardless of gender. It’s Western Pennsylvania. He’s proud of it, proud of them. For reasons not entirely clear, I start thinking about Mario Cuomo, but not the 1984 speech at the Democratic Convention, pushing back against Ronald Reagan’s Shining City Upon a Hill, but the one in 1982, at his fi rst gubernatorial inauguration, when he talked about the nation and his father, an Italian immigrant from Queens with calloused hands, and a fallen tree in the Cuomo front yard.

“Dad, he said, “the tree’s dead, forget it. ‘Shut up,’ the father said, ‘We plant, she’s gonna grow.’”

It grew.

And in Albany that day, legislators cried.

“The Chinese premier asked me once,” says Biden, “to describe America in one word. I told him: ‘Possibilities.’”

And then he looks again at all the babies in the room.

He apologizes for going long.

“Thank you. God bless you.”

Applause.

He then jumps down off the podium, again, and moves to his right. The Secret Service swarms.

“Hands out of your pockets, please,” one agent says to me, tapping me on the shoulder.

“If he comes this way,” I say to the women in front of me, “I’m reaching between you.”

They laugh.

He poses for more pictures.

His smile lights up on cue, a smile that’s rehearsed, but not disingenuous. He holds some of those babies.

He is now fi ve people from me.

I need to say something, ask something. Don’t be a fanboy, don’t mumble.

Three people … two.

He is in front of me. Inexplicably, the women move aside. I hand someone in his detail my phone.

“You know,” I say, shaking his hand, “you’re better than Mario Cuomo at this, at what America THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

meant to that generation, to that promise.”

“Cuomo was very good,” he says, smiling.

“Yeah, but you hit another chord.”

“Thanks.”

“I have to ask you,” I say— because I, too, know about the sound of that phone call—“about fathers and sons.”

Yes, this is what I want to know.

“Go ‘head.”

“I lost a son, too, and I saw you on Colbert, talking about loss and being president and it killed me, so would you give it up—give it all back, the vice presidency, all of it—to see your children again?”

The smile is gone. He stops pumping my hand, but doesn’t let go of it. He closes it in his and pulls them both to his chest. His eyes well up.

“In a heartbeat. Just to see them one more time. Yes.” And he says it again. “Yes. How’d your son die?”

“Drugs.”

He shakes his head, closes his eyes.

I don’t know how to characterize this next moment without exploiting it, ruining it, but the vice president of the United States, this 72-year-old man—this great, good man—blindsided by memory and life and a stupid question and too many untimely funerals, is crying. His hands are now grabbing my forearms. Joe Biden, in this moment, is not a man with ten Oklahoma Highway Patrol motorcycles, three Tulsa Police Department cruisers, seven black sport utility vehicles, two vans, two ambulances and a Jeep waiting for him downstairs on a closed 6th Street. He is a father of dead children and holding on.

I can see people watching him, watching us, waiting for him. He needs to keep moving.

I hug him; he hugs me.

A look. A nod.

“Take care.”

“You, too.”

And he is gone.

The vice president of the United States, Joseph P. Biden, has a rope line to work. The smile slowly comes back. a

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NEW YEAR'S EVE will be THE FESTIVE PARTY & Balloon Drop.

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OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 303 MLK Jr. Blvd. www.gypsycoffee.com

Come Enjoy Our New Holiday Bar Menu!

18 East M. B. Brady St. 918-588-2469 cazschowhouse.com

Friday, dec. 25 at 9pm

PUB

21 E. Brady St. 918-585-8587

DEC. 4 from 6-9 PM

CE FOR BEST PLA E FIRST DAT EE CE FOR FR BEST PLA T INMEN ENTERTA

ARRIVE EARLY STAY LATE 14 // BRADY ARTS DISTRICT GUIDE

December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

Winter Break art Classes @ ZarroW

AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO THE BEST WEEKEND EVENTS IN TULSA

DECEmbEr 28, 29, 30, 31 • 9 a.m.-NooN & 1-4 p.m. $25 ($20 GilCrease MeMBers) agEs 7-12 yEars olD Customize your child’s personal winter break art experience and choose their favorite classes. New morning and afternoon classes offered daily for ages 7-9 and 10-12 years old. Every class is unique. Students should bring a lunch if they attend all-day classes. Extended day to 5 p.m. is available for $5 per student per day. Registration is required. For more information, go to www.gilcrease.utulsa.edu/winter.

The Haps is a weekly entertainment e-newsletter published by The Tulsa Voice. Make sure you know what’s happening in Tulsa each week by subscribing to The Haps.

Visit TheTulsaVoice.com/haps to subscribe

124 East M.B. Brady • 918-631-4402 • TU is an EEO/AA institution.

Lucky's on the Green

HOLIDAY MUSIC SERIES Every Saturday in December 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm Come join us for the beautiful lights in the park, drinks & food at the cafe, and tunes for your enjoyment.

12th - The Scissortails Duo 19th - Adrienne Gilley 26th - Special Set with Joe Baxter & Friends 111 MB Brady Street :: guthriegreen.com

woodyguthriecenter.org

PHIL OCHS’ 75TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION “PHIL OCHS: THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE” On SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19 at 2 PM,

join us at the WGC to celebrate Phil Ochs’ 75th birthday! A screening of the documentary about Phil’s life and work will be shown in the theater. Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune features archival footage of Ochs, interviews and more. After the film, Michael Ochs will have a Q&A session about the film and Phil’s life. Don’t miss this very special presentation!

EVENTS ALSO THIS MONTH:

WGC AFTER SCHOOL MUSIC PROGRAM – SPRING SESSION JAN. 14, 2016 Give the gift of music!

DEC. 3, 7pm Christopher Paul Stelling DEC. 11, 7pm Travis Linville

More events and details at woodyguthriecenter.org address 102 EAST BRADY STREET, TULSA, OK

74103

phone 918.574.2710

email INFO@WOODYGUTHRIECENTER.ORG THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

BRADY ARTS DISTRICT GUIDE // 15

citybites

Sensory overload

Millicent Brasserie offers intense multi-sensory dining

by MEGAN SHEPHERD

M

illicent Brasserie a bizarre curiosity. The new multi-sensory restaurant, hidden behind the humble façade of a non-descript Broken Arrow strip mall, treads dangerously close to an acid trip, with just enough over-the-top class to keep it grounded in high dining.

Chef Vincent DePaul Tran’s concept is essentially a Michelin Star-inspired discotheque with a 9-course dinner, where fog machines and strobe lights set the stage for carefully plated tasters packed with curious combinations.

The name of the game here is stimulation of all five senses, and Tran and his team make good on that promise, with A/V light shows, video reels and a loud soundtrack.

The playlist for the evening was a perplexing mish-mash of patriotic tunes, Christian anthems, Hans Zimmer-esque scores, and ‘70s favorites. “Hotel California” came right on the heels of “I’m Proud to be an American,” while vibey, Euro-club house hits broke up courses throughout the evening.

While the sensory overload will leave some scratching their heads—or worse, begging for less stimulation—it falls right in line with the restaurant’s mission: make diners feel not just something, but everything.

Twenty-two diners sit at two set tables, eating elbow to elbow and sharing conversation. The space is small and communal, and Tran makes a point to personally introduce each course. Built to resemble a quaint French bistro-café— red striped awnings, iron tables, Eiffel Tower decals and all—the sectioned space feels both decep16 // FOOD & DRINK

Perfectly Cooked Shrimp Cocktail | MEGAN SHEPHERD

tively large and confi ning. There’s a feeling of no escape, not that I want to—the textured plates and hot towels keep my hands busy, while the splashy Parisian décor allows my mind to wander as we wait for dinner.

When it comes time to present dishes, Tran raises the lights, steps into the space, shares a few key notes about the course, and presents the featured dish to a lucky diner. The food is essentially a meandering, non-linear journey across the globe, with dishes like caviar, chicken, and crème fraiche, shrimp and mango, bruléed chicken wings in red sriracha sauce, and steak simmered in chocolate. The journey is a pleasant one—what it lacks in coherence, it more than makes up for in fl avor. Gimmicks aside, the food is very good.

At our meal, the fi rst of nine courses is an amuse bouche of sumptuous gourmet baby food, or as Tran would have me write, roasted butternut squash puree.

Though strange in texture, the hearty sauce is speckled with sweet corn, and offers a nice nod to the crisp, autumnal air outside.

As we lick our spoons in anticipation of the second course, Tran explains that the night’s theme is “Cloud Nine,” an idea designed to pull us away from the minutiae of daily routine and into the heightened bliss of a delicious meal.

A projection of water droplets rolls across the wall as an ‘80s power ballad plays, and I half expect David Bowie himself to bring out the next course. I settle for the delightful and attentive server who tends our section of the table. Not Bowie, but still pretty great.

Next up is a ‘Choyster,’ Tran’s take on fried oysters. Caviar and watercress brighten up what is essentially a gourmet chicken nugget in clam sauce, while fennel offers a nice note of spice.

Another music video brings course number three: Red Wings.

Easily the best chicken wings I’ve ever had, the wings are torch-fried

to a delicate crisp, drizzled with sweet sriracha sauce, and served with a much-needed moist towelette on the side.

The portions are generous— three courses in and I’m already feeling full.

After a quick swipe of the face and a silverware change, we receive the next course: shrimp in a mango, minty, cucumber ceviche. The dish lives up to its name of “Perfectly Cooked Shrimp Cocktail,” and the curious salsa provides a nice departure from the typical horseradish-and-ketchup cocktail bath.

Other dishes include a 24-hour pork shoulder served with apple relish and a brown sugar sauce so strong, you could smell it across the table; a petite fi let in a rich port wine chocolate sauce; and a 5 hour-marinated beef Carpaccio with house made “Millichurri.”

After seven courses, Tran introduces the main event: Cuisse De Lapin Chicken, a playful take on roasted rabbit with truffl e-mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, “apple paper” (thinly sliced pommes that look and taste more like caramelized onions), sautéed portabellas, and an alfalfa-arugula salad in a brandy wine sauce.

As I taste the dish, pink curling smoke fi lls the room. A passionate symphony plays over the speakers while cascades of color and confetti and water droplets splash across the video screens.

With a bit of apple paper dribbling down my chin, I fi nally let myself give in to the experience, and wonder if this isn’t exactly the moment Chef Tran has been waiting for.

“Are we having fun yet?!” he asks his guests with shameless enthusiasm.

Yes, Chef, we are. a December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

voice’schoices C O L D - W E AT H E R B E V E R AG E S Valkyrie 13 E. Mathew B. Brady St. | 918.295.2160 | valkyrietulsa.com Can the aroma of a drink be even more pleasant than the drink itself? One whiff of the rich spices and raisins of Valkyrie’s mulled wine might just make you inhale it rather than sip it. Also, it’s the preferred drink of the Night’s Watch. Order a couple for the warmth, dear readers. Winter is here.

-Landry Harlan IRISH COFFEE

Kilkenny’s Irish Pub 1413 E. 15th St. | 918.582.8282 TulsaIrishPub.com Irish coffee is always my winter drink of choice, and Kilkenny’s has one of the better in town. It’s a simple combination, but where many restaurants will spike your coffee with Jameson and call it good, Kilkenny’s makes a little more effort, adding sugar to the mix and then a generous crown of whipped cream.

-Joshua Kline

GINGER BREWSKY

MULLED WINE

SAVE THE DATE

Baker Street Pub 6620 S. Memorial Dr. 918.286.2227 bakerstreetpub.com/tulsa Call me a Scrooge, but hot toddies aren’t my thing. Too sweet, too heavy–one sip and I’ll go right to sleep. That’s not always a bad thing, but I have a lot of Christmas shopping to get done! I’ll take a Ginger Brewsky from Baker Street Pub instead. Its crisp alchemy–whiskey, ginger beer and lemon, topped off with Miller Lite–make it a holiday refreshment that truly refreshes. For something a bit sweeter, try the Sailor’s Strawberry Mule.

CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR AT THE MAYO HOTEL MIDNIGHT AT THE MAYO PRESENTS A

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-Georgia Brooks THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

FOOD & DRINK // 17

Autumn favorites The best fall comfort dishes of 2015

by MAURIE TRAYLOR | photos by VALERIE GRANT

Dilly Diner

Ike’s Chili

Charred Cauliflower

Three Way

Juniper

Kilkenny’s Irish Pub

Lamb Cassoulet

The Cornyeal Boxty

FIND THIS AND OTHER DELICIOUS MORSELS AT TULSAFOOD.COM, COVERING RESTAURANTS, PRODUCTS, EVENTS, RECIPES—EVERYTHING A TULSA FOODIE NEEDS 18 // FOOD & DRINK

December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

Lambrusco’z

Lassalle’s

Meatloaf Sandwich

Roast Beef Po’ Boy

Lone Wolf

The Rub

Thai Green Curry

Smoked Salmon Benny

Sisserou’s

SMOKE.

Oxtail Stew

Goat Cheese Gnocchi

Tallgrass Prairie Table

White Lion Pub

Stuffed and Grilled Quail

Fish & Chips

FOOD & DRINK // 19

A seat at Tulsa’s Table Hope Egan and Girouard Vines deliver StoneSoup’s first wine dinner with class

by MAURIE TRAYLOR

I

n keeping with her passionate approach to culinary excellence, Hope Egan developed a fi tting fi ve-course meal for the fi rst Tulsa’s Table wine dinner, held November 14 at Girouard Vines.

Egan, owner of Red Thistle Catering Company, graciously created and executed a meal that wonderfully refl ected autumnal themes and local freshness. Her deft ability to balance fl avors and textures made the meal beautiful, fl avorful and unique. Egan’s creativity was accompanied by the music of local jazz artists Sarah Maud and Sean Al-Jibouri.

Of course, the venue is lovely; Girouard Vines is an exceptional place to host any event. Located at 3rd and Lansing in Tulsa’s burgeoning East Village, Girouard Vines is a 50-plus-year project that has yielded Tulsa’s very own homegrown wine.

The occasion was a benefi t for Tulsa’s Table, a pay-what-you-can pop-up café borne out of StoneSoup Community Venture, Inc., a nonprofi t that seeks to nourish at-risk youth.

“Our long range plans include the café to be fully operated by youth to assist them in developing a sense of ownership and personal pride,” Christy Moore, founder and CEO of StoneSoup, said. “We’re also looking forward to developing a garden which will support the café for youth to gain experience and knowledge in growing their own food.” The idea is to equip them with the life and job skills necessary to become self-suffi cient adults.

Current statistics indicate that one in four Oklahoma youth go

Short rib with seasonal vegetables | VALERIE GRANT

hungry every day. This is not specifi c to any particular zip code or neighborhood, and the volume of the need overwhelms local and state agencies alike.

Only 18 months in the making, Tulsa’s Table is already seeing its impact refl ected in those they serve.

“There’s a double insult to those that go hungry,” Moore said.

“Not only is there a physical side to hunger, there’s an emotional side, too. The societal shame that accompanies hunger is perhaps the most damaging to a child’s development. When we show youth they can gain control of what they eat and participate in its creation, there’s an inherent nurturing component and increase in self-esteem that is gained.”

For Moore, who grew up impoverished in California, StoneSoup’s mission resonates deeply.

Her background has given her a passion to help those in need. You

can learn more about Tulsa’s Table and StoneStoup by visiting TulsasTable.org.

The fi rst course, Raw, Roasted & Pickled Roots, featured lemongrass and fenugreek vinegar mixed with celery seed and ricotta, an unusual but effective selection. The L iving Kitchen Dairy & Farm, Tria Yang and Middle Mountain Dairy made this course a reality.

Next, the Winter Squash Fritto was set off by a brown butter vinaigrette and splashed with vanilla bean along with crisp apples. It paired nicely with the Tulsa Deco Atlas Life Chardonnay. On top of being one of my favorite courses, this dish taught me a new term: “fritto,” which is a fried Italian pastry. McCain’s sponsored this course.

The third course, Caldo Verde, was my favorite of the evening.

Pork shoulder and belly sit atop charred shishito pepper, butter beans and gingered radish. Complementing the dish was Tulsa Deco’s Goddess of Oil Grenache.

It was a splendid union.

The Intermezzo was a pleasantly presented Cranberry Phoenix. A refreshing concoction from guest Chef “Mad T’s” imagination, it was a colorful and tasty palette cleanser.

Short Ribs with seasonal vegetables (including caulifl ower, yams, oregonzola and port cherries) rounded out the fourth course. Living Kitchen, Year V., and Moua’s Farm provided the components for this dish, which was complemented by Tulsa Deco Fire Alarm Red Petite Syrah, one of my favorite reds.

Finally, a Goat Cheese Tart with preserved fruit, honey and pecans completed the meal.

The delicate and tasteful dessert was perfectly paired with Bliss Late Harvest Chardonnay. Middle Mountain Dairy and Gold Standard Honey sponsored this dish, which completed a visually appealing, fl avorful and meaningful evening. a

STONESOUP COMMUNITY VENTURE 918.640.8345 | TulsasTable.org

RED THISTLE CATERING 918.728.0168 RedThistleCateringTulsa.com

GIROUARD VINES 817 E. 3rd St. | 918.585.8463 TulsaWine.com

FIND THIS AND OTHER DELICIOUS MORSELS AT TULSAFOOD.COM, COVERING RESTAURANTS, PRODUCTS, EVENTS, RECIPES—EVERYTHING A TULSA FOODIE NEEDS 20 // FOOD & DRINK

December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

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THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

FOOD & DRINK // 21

boozeclues

Lucky’s 1536 E. 15th St. | 918.592.5825 | luckysrestauranttulsa.com

THE BARTENDER: Kayla Stasinopoulos THE DRINK: Kayla’s Hot Buttered Rum THE INGREDIENTS: Mount Gay Rum Myers’s Rum Cinammon Orange zest THE LOWDOWN: A h ouse-made vanilla ice cream mix is the base of this decadent signature cocktail, perfect for jump-starting your holiday cheer.

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Garlic glaze topped with mozzarella and a generous helping of prime rib beef, then asiago cheese, red bell peppers and red onions, feta cheese crumbles and our parmesan shake. Baked, then drizzled with horseradish sauce in a criss-crossed pattern over the top for the ultimate flavor combination!

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THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

FOOD & DRINK // 23

“Over the past few months, these st their university, changes spurred who decided the time had come inequalities that had been prevalen around the countr Dispatch from Columbia A Tulsa expat offers an intimate look at the Mizzou protests

by JOY JENKINS

E

ditor’s note: In September, long-simmering racial tensions at the University of Missouri in Columbia reached a boiling point when student government president Payton Head wrote a post on Facebook outlining the acts of racism and bigotry he’d experienced and witnessed while attending the majority-white school. After repeated requests from students for University officials to address Head’s complaints were largely ignored, a series of protests began—including a hunger strike by graduate student Jonathan Butler and a game and practice boycott by the MU football team—that ultimately led to the resignations of University of Missouri System president Timothy Wolfe and Mizzou-Columbia chancellor R. Bowen Loftin.

The Mizzou upheaval has inspired similar protests on college campuses across the country, including Yale, Amherst and Ithaca.

As a doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Joy Jenkins—a Tulsa expat and former Langdon Publishing employee—witnessed 24 // FEATURED

the months-long tumult happen in real time.

The evening of Tuesday, Nov. 10, was the most challenging I’ve faced as a professor-in-training at the University of Missouri. It was the day after two university leaders—University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin—announced their resignations in light of a group of concerned students and supporters protesting racial injustices. That night, however, jubilation turned to fear and threats.

I sat on the couch at the home of a fellow journalism doctoral student and watched the emails stream in from undergraduate students in my Journalism 1000: The News Media course.

At fi rst they were somewhat subdued. One student wrote that he had seen “violent anonymous threats” circulating on the social networking app Yik Yak and, as a result, did not feel safe attending

Wednesday’s class. The student also sent a screenshot of one of the posts: “I’m going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black person I see.”

I, of course, was disturbed by this message and let the student know I was seeking out additional information. I emailed some journalism faculty members, asking them whether they were aware of the threats and requesting their advice about how to respond.

The student emails continued.

An African American student said she had seen several threats online and would not attend class because she feared for her life. Another student, also African American, said he felt “the campus is very hostile right now and unsafe.” Yet another African American student said that because of the threats, “I personally do not feel safe here anymore.”

I read and responded to each of these messages, assuring the students that I understood their concerns and was doing every-

thing I could to gather more information. I followed MU Alert on Twitter, scrolled news reports, and waited to hear from faculty members. I, too, was scared and worried, not for my own safety but for the safety of my students, particularly my African American students, many of whom were in their fi rst semesters at MU. Over the past few months, these students saw signifi cant changes at their university, changes spurred by a passionate group of students who decided the time had come to challenge the institutional inequalities that had been prevalent at MU—and, indeed, universities around the country—for decades.

A few headline-grabbing events, including racial slurs yelled at the Missouri Students Association president, a clash between student demonstrators and Wolfe at the homecoming parade, and a swastika drawn from human feces, contributed to student activist December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

tudents saw significant changes at by a passionate group of students to challenge the institutional nt at MU—and, indeed, universities ry—for decades.”

MIKKEL CHRISTENSEN

group Concerned Student 1950 setting up tents on Mel Carnahan Quadrangle and graduate student Jonathan Butler’s hunger strike.

But the challenges they and other students of color faced had deeper roots. So, as my students feared for their safety that night, I considered how the members of Concerned Student 1950—their moniker referencing the year black students were fi rst admitted to MU—and others whose concerns they represented had questioned their safety, access, and representation for much longer.

I recognized that change was in the air at MU the previous week during the Nov. 3 Graduate Professional Council (GPC) meeting. The GPC meetings up to this point had been peppered with discussions of the obstacles graduate students faced over the previous few months, starting with the cancellation of their university health insurance in August. This event sparked walkouts, a rally, and the beginnings of the formation of a graduate student union. By the November meeting, GPC had a slate of resolutions to pass, including supporting the underfunded MU Libraries, resuming MU’s recently severed partnership with Planned Parenthood, and encouraging THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

graduate student engagement in unionization efforts.

The resolution that most captured my attention, however, focused on the many social justice movements that had been active on campus, including MU for Mike Brown, Black Lives Matter, Racism Lives Here, Concerned Student 1950, and others, as well as the problematic administrative responses. GPC representatives voted to stand in solidarity with these students and organizations as well as their fi ghts for social justice.

Other doctoral students in my program were similarly struck by the shift on campus. First-year doctoral student Rokeshia Ashley said that while attending the University of Delaware, she witnessed black students protesting in light of the death of Michael Brown and ensuing events in Ferguson, Mo. However, once she saw the video from the homecoming parade, she recognized how serious MU’s situation had become, and she realized that the university was not immune from the institutionalized racism plaguing other universities.

“This is a real, real problem for these students,” Ashley said.

“As a grad student, I see myself as an investment for the universi-

ty. They pay me to be here. They have a vested interest in me versus undergraduate students … they’re moved around like cattle. I saw that and thought, wow, it’s unfortunate other students have witnessed these things, even though I haven’t directly witnessed them.”

Over the next few days, I followed news reports focused on Butler and Concerned Student 1950, as well as statements from faculty members and other student organizations expressing concerns about MU leadership. On Sunday, Nov. 8, I learned through my husband, a minister at Missouri United Methodist Church, that the protesters held a prayer service each night at 10 p.m. When we arrived at the Quad that night, dozens of students had already gathered in concentric circles with their heads bowed in prayer.

Different voices emanated from the center of the circle, lifting up prayers and later leading chants and songs.

Nearby, I noticed a TV reporter and crew setting up cameras and lights in preparation for a segment. It was diffi cult to ignore the sounds of the equipment and the reporter’s booming voice as he spoke to the camera. Refl ecting on

that moment, I could more easily understand the protesters’ frustration with the media, ruminations that would become deeper and more complex as I heard the perspectives of fellow doctoral students and faculty in the School of Journalism.

Later that night, members of the Forum on Graduate Rights called for graduate students to cancel their classes on Monday in solidarity with Concerned Student 1950. I hesitated to cancel my class, but prodding from one of my doctoral classmates, who’d been heavily involved in the unionization movement, convinced me that cancelling would send an important message about graduate students’ support of Concerned Student 1950.

The next morning, I watched on Periscope as Wolfe announced his resignation at an emergency MU Board of Curators meeting.

A few hours later, Loftin announced that he would transition to a new position as director for research facility development.

Celebrations erupted on the Quad as the students and allies of Concerned Student 1950 reacted to the sea changes occurring at their university.

Soon, though, the narrative shifted. A video by student Mark FEATURED // 25

Schierbecker showed student Tim Tai, who was on assignment for ESPN, attempting to take photos of Concerned Student 1950’s reactions. The video, which circulated widely online, showed Director of Greek Life Janna Basler and Melissa Click, assistant professor in the Department of Communication, attempting to prevent the journalists from covering events at the protesters’ campsite. As the video spread, conversations broke out among my fellow doctoral students about the faculty members’ actions, particularly those of Click, ranging from anger at what they saw as clear First Amendment violations of the student journalists to understanding of the emotional distress she was likely experiencing to uncertainty over how to respond at all. At times, the conversations became heated as we— students who are passionate about journalism as well as understanding its context and implications for marginalized groups—grappled with our views on this incident and potential ramifi cations for the faculty members involved.

Ashley also followed the conversations and said they spurred her to visit the campsite of Concerned Student 1950. She said the School of Journalism, by nature of its prestige not only on campus but also nationally, could serve as a champion for these students and their perspectives on how news organizations could and should respond to the events occurring on campus.

“I felt like the students needed an advocate on their side from the same faction,” she said. “[I thought] let me go and see what this atmosphere is like, what it feels like to be on this campsite. It felt like a very sacred place to me.”

She said she expected to be met with chants and energy. Instead, the students discussed their concerns about walking around campus safely without fear of retribution.

“It was just a different kind of feeling for me,” Ashley said. “It was a sacred space for everybody to come together and feel safe in that space.”

On Wednesday, I made my way to my class, unsure how many students would attend in light of 26 // FEATURED

Jonath an Butl er | MIKKEL CHRISTENSEN

the online threats. Only about 40 seats were fi lled, and I thanked the students for their fl exibility during what was clearly an unprecedented few days. I then presented a lecture on new models of journalism in the Internet age. I considered discussing the events of the week with the students but decided that regaining a semblance of normalcy might also be valuable.

For Ashley, Wednesday was far from normal. Although I could safely travel to campus and work in my offi ce, which I share with Ashley and several other doctoral students, she remained at home, unsure whether she would become a target of racism-fueled hatred. She said she had awoken to multiple text messages, calls, and Facebook messages inquiring about her safety, which reinforced the severity of the situation. “[I realized] somebody may really try to take my life,” she says. “I’m black, and I can’t change my skin.

Someone is really vying for me.”

As one of only two African American doctoral students in our program, Ashley said she saw the importance of reinforcing to the rest of us that the threats were real and scary for students of color, particularly in a place like a university, where safety should be an expectation.

“Being a black person, I’m a moving target,” she said. “ … This is a very real thing. These students are not making this up.”

On Friday, journalism doctoral students and faculty were invited to a meeting to discuss the events of the previous days and the journalistic, legal, and ethical debates they sparked. Faculty members discussed the meeting that Tuesday in which they addressed Click’s courtesy appointment with the School of Journalism.

We discussed the video of Click and Basler and how to balance First Amendment protection and journalistic access with the need to critically assess why student and faculty protesters reacted the way they did. We considered ways we, as instructors, can provide opportunities for our students to thoughtfully consider these issues.

The discussions continued the following week as I attended “Why Black Lives Matter: Race, (In)Justice, and Struggle in the 21st Century,” an interdisciplinary forum focused on the Black Lives Matter movement. We considered the need for journalists to provide context and address lived experiences when covering African American and other marginalized communities; opportunities for the works of people of color to be taught in classrooms; how students of color feel unsafe in the classroom and the need for professors to “unpack” our own privilege and participate in activism; the grief students of color are experiencing in response to recent events; and the spread of the “Mizzou Effect”

as other students launch protests around the country.

I also attended “Teaching in Times of Change,” a panel inviting faculty members to discuss how they had addressed challenging topics in their classrooms. I listened to the panelists discuss the need to consider our own teaching strengths and “growth opportunities”; the need to bring the real world into our classrooms through discussing current events; the value of a respectful and inclusive campus community; the importance of addressing white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, and other diffi cult topics; the imperative to participate in student movements; and the need to learn about “black Mizzou” and other “hidden communities” on campus.

Each of these meetings and discussions sparked questions, concerns, fears, and doubts. I wondered whether I had handled my own class and students appropriately, whether I had adequately considered the needs and fears of my African American students, and how I could foster more open and meaningful dialogue among all the students in my classes.

For Ashley, real and tangible change should come via action, such as incorporating courses in the School of Journalism addressing race issues from a critical perspective. Beyond that, though, she said she would like to see a shift in the culture of the program in how students talk and are taught about race.

“It’s still something you need to learn, especially as a journalist, getting context, getting real facts ... and understanding the population you’re dealing with,” she said.

Although I can never fully understand the challenges and barriers that students of color and others on this campus have faced, I also recognize that I can and should play a role in how we, the MU community, move forward.

We have a long way to go, but I think we’re moving in the right direction. a Joy Jenkins is a doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Her research focuses on the evolving roles of editors in newsrooms, the potential for local media to facilitate social change, and magazine journalism.

She formerly served as senior editor at TulsaPeople Magazine and copy editor at the Oklahoma Gazette. She lives in Columbia, Mo., with her husband, Hank.

December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

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FEATURED // 27

A confederate and American flag patch sewn onto a biker’s vest to support the flag at recent national rall y | JASON GRINDLE | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

RESISTANCE Right-wing groups protest CAIR

BY MITCH GILLIAM I made my way down Highway 51, to the southeastern edge of Coweta. Through several twists of dirt road, above a beautiful 50 acres, I saw the first confederate flag at the Oklahoma Resistance rally.

Similar to other nationwide resistance groups, the Oklahoma Resistance is a right-wing group whose members like guns, dislike cops, and absolutely hate Muslims. Many also support marijuana legalization and nearly all fly the rebel flag. Their most recent rally was held less than 24 hours after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris.

28 // FEATURED

December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

O

klahoma Resistance leader Allen Branch — on this day wearing a confederate pattern cowboy hat and playing Dixie through his truck speakers — also co-leads a group called Confederate Veterans’ Lives Matter Oklahoma.

The group, formed last summer, recently made waves at the Tulsa Veteran’s Day parade.

When Dylann Roof stormed the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., killing nine black church members, the killings reignited the national debate over the confederate fl ag.

That debate led to the fl ag being retired from South Carolina’s capitol and removed elsewhere.

Confederate Veterans’ Lives Matter formed in response to what its members called an assault on freedom of speech.

The group hoped to raise its visibility in this year’s Veterans Day parade, but was denied a fl oat.

Offi cials say the group fi led its application far too late and clearly pushes a political agenda — both grounds for denial.

Confederate Veterans’ Lives Matter Oklahoma fi led a complaint with the city and began protesting the inclusion of another group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in the parade. Group members said that CAIR, a religious organization, was pushing the sort of agenda their own group was accused of.

Group members also alleged that CAIR was a terrorist group, although CAIR’s Oklahoma chapter hasn’t been specifi cally connected to terrorist allegations.

Footage of the parade shows members of the confederate group, and other Tulsans, booing CAIR as its fl oat passed by. The head of CAIR’s Oklahoma group, Adam Soltani, approached the confederate group’s co-leader, Arlene Barnum, and put his hand on her.

“I don’t agree with you,” he told her, “but I respect you.”

Barnum looked uncomfortable, but told Soltani that a peace talk of sorts may be in order. That was two days before ISIS’ assault on Paris.

In the days after the attack, cross table discussions went out the window for Barnum and her followers.

THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

“Not only did I have to suffer an Islamist terrorist supporter at Tulsa vet parade taking unwelcomed liberty of putting his hands on me;” she posted on Facebook, “I feel HORRIFIED & horribly sickened over it!”

More than a co-leader of Confederate Veterans’ Lives Matter Oklahoma, Barnum is a black Oklahoma woman who fl ies the rebel fl ag at every opportunity.

She uses the moniker “ArleneArmy Black Rebel” on Facebook.

Posts like “Stack those Isis bodies up! ... the enemy is already inside the border” receive upwards of 100 likes. These sentiments aren’t just fringe thoughts.

They’re common fears that politicians are playing on nationwide.

Several days after the Paris attacks, Mayor Dewey Bartlett wrote a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to suspend the Syrian refugee resettlement program, fearing that ISIS members could enter the country through the program. Although over half the nation’s governors wish to refuse Syrian refugees or halt the program while procedures are reviewed, it’s a federal program and they are essentially powerless.

Most of the polarized debate has been online, but groups like the Oklahoma Resistance have held demonstrations against the refugees. At the heart of the back and forth is a large pool of misinformation.

The demographics of the refugees have been one target of obfuscation, with many saying the majority are “fi ghting age males.”

This simply isn’t true. Women and children make up 76.6 percent of the registered refugee population. Of those who have made it through the vetting process already, only 2 percent are combat-age males.

Oklahoma state Rep. John Bennett has claimed there are more than a dozen Syrian refugees in Jenks, when there are only 3, who are living with family members.

Some people believe there are already terrorist training camps in the country, including one in Talihina. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently told a man asking about the camps that he would look into it.

Theories of such camps stem from a 2005 report by the White

Collar National Crime Center. The report showed that training camps indeed existed in the U.S., mainly in the 1980’s and 90’s though, and before the Patriot Act and creation of Homeland Security.

Other worries stem from the idea that there will be large camps of refugees clustered together in our neighborhoods. YWCA Tulsa CEO Vanessa Finley says that’s absolutely not the case.

Although the YWCA refuses to comment on political matters, a press release claiming “YWCA ready to serve Syrian refugees,” made their response to Bartlett clear. When I arrived at Finley’s offi ce I could hear her sighing into her phone, “no, we don’t currently have any Syrian refugees.”

Finley told me that refugees undergo a rigorous vetting process that can take between 18 months to 2 years, before they even arrive in the U.S. Also, the YWCA helps them fi nd jobs (which they must do within 90 days), helps them fi nd housing and provides them transportation.

Migrant workers in Europe have faked refugee status in hopes of entering more economically stable countries though, so the fear of impostors isn’t completely unfounded. Authorities believe one or two of the men who carried out the Paris attacks may have also posed as refugees.

Still, refugees are only matched with locations that have cultural or familial ties to them, and Finley, whose group deals largely with Burmese refugees, says there’s hardly any reason to send Syrians to Tulsa.

Apart from arguing that sheltering refugees is the moral thing to do, others have claimed it’s strategically intelligent.

U.S. Rep., Steve Russell, R-Okla., claimed recently that denying refugees is a win for ISIS. ISIS said itself that these attacks “compel the Crusaders to actively destroy the grayzone themselves … Muslims in the West will quickly fi nd themselves between one of two choices, they either apostatize … or they [emigrate] to the Islamic State and thereby escape persecution from the Crusader governments and citizens.”

In the face of all of the anti-Islamic rhetoric, CAIR has remained unfl inching.

Oklahoma Muslims endure occasional vandalism (pork products being the weapon of choice for hate groups visiting mosques), but apart from boos at the parade, and threats online, the group has seen little of the anger manifest.

Soltani said the only thing that has hurt him is that some Tulsans asked “why are we allowing ‘the enemy’ to march in the veterans parade?”

In 2009 the FBI placed CAIR on a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation trial, accusing them of aiding Hamas and Hezbollah.

Other missteps, like the 2009 letter from CAIR’s executive director to Muammar Gadhafi , and the 2003 arrest of its communications director, Randall Royer, on terrorism charges, have created backlash nationally.

Soltani pointed out that his organization was just one of “300 unindicted co-conspirators” in the Holy Land Foundation trial, and that their group publicly denounces terrorism.

For groups like the Oklahoma Resistance and Confederate Veterans’ Lives Matter Oklahoma, being unindicted doesn’t let CAIR off the hook.

When I met with the Oklahoma Resistance in Coweta, it was the day after the Paris assault.

Tensions were high, and Muslim sympathy non-existent, but talk was mainly light-hearted.

“If you shaved your mustache, you’d look like a Muslim,” one man said to another, prompting him to feign suspicion and point to my bearded, un-mustachioed face. Other conversations centered on family crests, the current climate of political correctness, and lots of misinformation.

Though Branch bought hot dogs for 100 people, only six showed up to the event, held less than 24 hours after the worst European terror attack in ten years. a editor’s note:

This story is a collaboration between The Frontier and The Tulsa Voice.

FEATURED // 29

Holiday Hints From Tulsa Nonprofits…

• • • • •

Gas cards for our free transportation services Hats/turbans New children’s hats Bottles of water Monetary donations

• Children’s art supplies - markers, pencils, paper, glue • Adult art supplies - paint, brushes, canvases, aprons • Office supplies/gift cards • Volunteers • Monetary donations

To donate contact Hillary Parkhurst at 918-584-3333 x211, hparkhurst@ahct.org or visit ahhatulsa.org.

To donate contact Jayne Meyer at 918-633-6297, jayne.meyer@cancer.org or visit cancer.org.

• • • • •

$150 – Support one scout for a year $300 – Support two scouts for a year Copy paper Gift cards to toy stores Other monetary donations

• • • • •

To donate contact AnnaBeth Williams at 918-743-6125, awilliams@okscouts.org or visit okscouts.org.

• • • • •

Stuffed animals (new) Children’s books or journals (new) Children’s blankets (new) Baseball caps (new) Monetary donations

New towels and washcloths Gas cards Winter gear Baby wash/shampoo Blankets

To donate contact Caroline Devonshire at 918-508-2709, info@dvis.org or visit dvis.org.

30 // FEATURED

Storage containers in various colors and sizes Early education activity workbooks Art supplies – markers, pencils, paper, etc.

Lightweight bath & hand towels Monetary donations

• • • • •

Women’s cotton nightgowns (M, L & XL) Men’s t-shirts (M, L & XL) Canned or bottled juice Individually packaged snacks Grocery store gift cards

• • • • •

Diapers Formula Winter Coats (sizes Newborn - size 7) Toddler clothing (sizes 2T - 7) Monetary donations

To donate contact Tom Taylor at 918-582-2469, tom@eistulsa.org or visit eistulsa.org.

5 & 10 gallon Gott coolers Pop up tents/shade covers White folding tables (6 ft) Multi-colored cardstock Craft supplies (glue, glue sticks, crayons, markers, construction paper)

To donate contact Amy Hilligoss at 918-592-2267, ahilligoss@tulsacampfire.org or visit tulsacampfire.org.

• • • • •

To donate contact Stacy Haggard at 918-893-6150, shaggard@clarehouse.org or visit clarehouse.org.

• • • • •

$275 gift of music lessons for a child $275 gift of music lessons for a senior citizen iPad Copier paper Monetary donations

To donate contact Bill Andoe at 918-794-0330, bandoe@thebart.org or visit thebart.org.

To donate contact Karie M. Jordan at 918-592-3333, kjordan@thebridgesfound.org or visit thebridgesfound.org.

To donate contact Lindsay Sparks at 918-624-0201, events@childabusenetwork.org or visit childabusenetwork.org.

• • • • •

• • • • •

Two 5-gallon shop vacs Commercial vacuum cleaner Single-use Instant cold packs Diaper wipes 4 hand-held dust busters

To donate contact Debbi Guilfoyle at 918-582-1457, dguilfoyle@crosstowntulsa.org or visit crosstowntulsa.org.

• • • • •

Toiletries Winter coats HUGS - hats, underwear, gloves, scarves New, unwrapped children’s gifts Monetary donations

To donate contact Jessica Wiist at 918-560-1115, development@fcsok.org or visit fcsok.org.

December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

Needed Items You Can Give In The Giving Season Space donated by The Tulsa Voice

• • • • •

• • • • •

$15 - Girl membership $30 - Uniform and Girl membership Gift cards, monetary donations Individually wrapped snacks or juice boxes Medical Gator - Camp Tallchief

• • • • •

To donate contact Susan Kenny at 918-745-5202, skenny@gseok.org or visit gseok.org/give.

To donate contact Rachel Mouton at 918-664-6746, rmouton@littlelighthouse.org or visit littlelighthouse.org.

To donate contact Elizabeth Edwards at 918-382-2409, eedwards@mhaok.org or visit mhaok.org/donate.

• Children’s books (ages 0-5) • Developmental toys (ages 0-5) • Safety items (baby gates, outlet plugs, cabinet locks, etc.)

• QuikTrip gas cards • Grocery gift cards (Target, Walmart, Reasors)

• Adult towel sets (white, pink, yellow, blue) • Adult twin sheet sets (white, pink, yellow, blue) • Yoga mats • Toiletry items • Gas gift cards

Baby Formula Diapers Gas/gift cards Batteries Monetary donations

To donate contact Stephanie Haddock at 918-832-7764, shaddock@palmer-tulsa.org or visit palmer-tulsa.org.

• • • • •

Diapers (size 5 & 6) Breakfast cereal and peanut butter Bar soap and feminine hygiene products Volunteers Monetary donations

To donate contact Michelle Reagor at 918-582-5766, mreagor@restorehope.org or visit restorehope.org.

Copy paper Rolls of butcher paper Rolls of duct tape Velcro Rolls of laminating paper

To donate contact Nancy Moore at 918-699-0528, nmoore@parentchildcenter.org or visit parentchildcenter.org.

• • • •

Used hearing aids Colored copy paper White copy paper Craft supplies (crayons, glue, glitter, construction paper, etc.)

• Printer toner for HP LaserJet 1020, Cartridge No. 12A, Q2612A

• • • • •

Winter coats Blankets Hats, gloves, scarves, and socks Athletic shoes or work boots Monetary donations

To donate contact Debbie Gordon at 918-587-3888, dgordon@resonancetulsa.org or visit resonancetulsa.org.

• • • • •

Underwear, socks and white tees Twin Bed sheets/blankets Towels and other bathroom supplies Sports/recreation equipment Books/DVDs

To donate contact Lucy Willis at 918-245-0231 x5055, lwillis@tbhinc.org or visit tulsaboyshome.org.

To donate contact Pamela D. Dose at 918-832-8742, pdose@tsha.cc or visit tsha.cc

At

equipping youth for success

• • • • •

Baby board books Crayons Colored pencils Coloring books New children’s toys

To donate contact Kyle Wilkes at 918-645-4412, kwilkes@ymcatulsa.org or visit ymcatulsa.org.

THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

• • • • •

Monetary donations for curriculum & supplies Gas cards Craft supplies 5 computer tablets for staff Cases of paper

To donate contact Jocelyn McCarver at 918-493-7311, events@youthatheart.org or visit youthatheart.org.

• • • •

Blankets Backpacks Socks (men’s and women’s) Men’s boxers (all adult sizes, especially XXL and larger) • Women’s underwear (all adult sizes, especially Plus sizes)

To donate contact Brian Young at 918-382-4457, byoung@yst.org or visit yst.org.

FEATURED // 31

onstage

Last year’s TuMM Gathering | NATHAN HARMON

Craft and intuition The grit and grind of making art

by ALICIA CHESSER

W

hat we see onstage is the thrill that emanates from the alchemy of performance, the gleam of the fi nal polish. What we don’t see is the gathering of ingredients, the try and try again of formulas (before throwing them all out, most likely), the sitting and wondering, the work. Behind the scene—the show, the promotions, the excitement of everything that’s going on around here—is the process.

Part of our job as informed citizens is to understand not just the glitz, but the grit that makes it happen. For this column, I spoke to working artists who are in the thick of exactly that.

You might have guessed that I’m not exactly an example of pearly-white objectivity on this issue. That work? It’s my work, too, as founder of the blog Tulsa 32 // ARTS & CULTURE

Dances and as a dancer, choreographer, and artistic director at Tulsa Modern Movement.

For the last four years, TuMM has welcomed people into the choreographic process at a donation-based event called the TuMM Gathering. It’s my favorite event of our season, a chance for creative communication to go both ways, before audience and performers get separated by the enchantment of costumes and curtains. The company will show excerpts from its work-in-progress, improvise and create dance on the spot, and engage questions from viewers.

Why invite people to see work that’s still rough around the edges?

“Watching the way we work and think out loud as we create demystifi es dance a little bit,” TuMM executive director Ari Christopher

explains. “[And it] educates our audience about what we value and how we make choices in art making. I hope it gives audiences a deeper personal connection with dance and new tools for making meaning for themselves as they experience future dance performances.”

For Christopher, making dance starts with something anyone can connect to: a personal experience or feeling.

“I know it can be a dance when I have a couple of dance-specific ideas that connect directly to the initial idea,” she says. “For instance: how space will be used or which parts of the body are heavily involved. Then there’s a ton of just letting my mind wander, brainstorming and making connections, improvising, writing, drawing, plotting.”

(The completely absorbed mental meandering Christopher describes turns out to be a highly advanced state. The psychologist Mikhail Csikszentmihalyi dubbed it “fl ow.”)

“I use craft to bring out what my intuition wants to see,” she continues. “Right now, I’m interested in making choreography in a specifi c state of being for an extended period of time. The section we are currently working on is driven by the torso. Hip, chest, rib cage and belly will strain, reach, pulse, and collapse in a tight formation of fi ve women in unison.”

She says she was inspired by the “shaping” of Martha Graham’s Lamentation. “[The TuMM Gathering] is our most powerful way of showing what it really takes to make an original dance work and why we December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

rely on charitable support,” Christopher says.

Her biggest challenge?

“Time. Dance is a group effort, and due to basic safety issues it can’t be done in just any space.

I also have ten people’s personal schedules to consider, complicated by the fact that we all work other jobs. We need enough time together to let the work develop.”

Two other artists—Michael Wright in theater, Marianne Evans-Lombe in performance art—spoke to me about the “how” of their making.

They’re both currently deep in the sometimes Sisyphean, sometimes fl ow-state process of creating new original pieces.

“Process is the heart and soul of any work I undertake,” Wright, who teaches creative writing and fi lm studies at the University of Tulsa, says. “Ultimately, the heart of the process is about what it means to be human in the twenty-fi rst century, how the lives we’re leading now fi nd expression through theatre.”

Wright created two fascinating performance installations at the TAC Gallery and is developing another based around the image of a door. Making work in a non-traditional space allows him to focus, he says, “on what really close proximity to actors creates in the audience’s experience, since they’re not merely safe in their seats in the dark, but virtually on stage.”

His work-in-progress expands on these questions. “The recent events in Paris have already had an impact on my thinking about doors,” he explains. “How we assume we’re safe behind them, on the one hand, and how we don’t know who’s on the other side of any door, on the other hand.”

His process is organic. “I love the exploration and discovery that comes from not having a fi xed image of the fi nal product in mind but coming in with a gut feeling about the subject I’m undertaking and then digging in with actors.”

Evans-Lombe is thinking about boundaries, too. Her “Colorline” is part deep community research, part challenging performance art.

It consists of interviews about THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

race in Tulsa (“I couldn’t speak for the community without speaking to the community,” she says) and a dance set at the intersection of North Greenwood Ave. and East Archer St., choreographed for “rollers” (performed by eight artists of color) and “steppers” (eight white artists).

She drives daily across Tulsa’s actual color line. “Everyday, I carried this image of black, brown, white—and the reverse—white, brown, black. So stark. I couldn’t get it out of my head. So, I did what I always do to process what’s hard—I decided to create work.

The concept was simple: to replicate the color line of Tulsa, to make the invisible visible.”

“I learned in art school that process is the art to me,” she continues. “In fact, I had to work very hard when I was young to care about the end result. That was a developmental milestone for me in a way: part of how I became a ‘grown-up’ artist was to get out of the making and into the world.”

Like Christopher and Wright, Evans-Lombe emphasizes how much she learns from her performers.

“This is a hard piece,” she says.

“I fi eld a lot of questions, emotions, a lot of process from them after each rehearsal. None of us want to be what we are in this ‘dance’ but the truth is that we all are. I ask them not to censor their impulses—no matter how ashamed, shocked, sad, angry they might be about [them].”

Process means fl ow. Process means questioning. “I follow my instincts fully. I don’t question them, though I do question everything else. And I mean everything,” Evans-Lombe says.

Process means “up-close,” and intimate, and raw. Process means losing some comfortable distance and gaining new awareness.

Maybe even new motivation to go make art yourself. a

The Nutcracker featuring the tulsa symphony

December 11-13 & 18-20, 2015 Tulsa Performing Arts Center

THIS SEASON, LET YOUR HOLIDAYS DANCE! See the magic unfold as over 100 local children join Tulsa’s acclaimed ballet company in the holiday spectacular that will delight audiences young and old.

TICKETS START AT $25 (918) 749-6006 | (918) 596-7111 www.tulsaballet.org

A TUMM GATHERING: WORK-IN-PROGRESS SHOWING + CONVERSATION Sun., De c. 6 4 p.m.-5:15 p.m.

Flyloft, 117 N. B ost on Ave. ARTS & CULTURE // 33

thehaps

The Kurt Vonnegut Experience Tues., Dec. 8, 7 p.m.

Circle Cinema, booksmarttulsa.com Booksmart Tulsa presents this celebration of all things Kurt Vonnegut. Special guest author Ginger Strand will discuss her new book, The Brothers Vonnegut: Science and Fiction in the House of Magic, a dual biography on Kurt and his brother, scientist Bernard Vonnegut, which focuses on the late ‘40s and early ‘50s when both brothers worked at General Electric. Strand is a contributing editor for Orion, and has written for Harper’s Magazine, The Believer, The New York Times, and This Land. After the presentation, Circle Cinema will screen the 1972 film adaptation of Vonnegut’s most famous novel, Slaughterhouse Five.

Ragtime The Musical

Tues., Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m., $25-$65 Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center brokenarrowpac.com Terrence McNally’s turn of the 20th century musical tells the stories of three New Yorkers with vastly different cultural experiences: an upper-class suburbanite, a Harlem musician and a Jewish immigrant from Latvia. The three disparate worlds are connected only through the celebrities and notable people of the day: Booker T. Washington, Harry Houdini, JP Morgan and Henry Ford, among others. The musical won four Tony Awards in 1998, including Best Book and Best Original Score. This production comes to Broken Arrow PAC for one night on the 19th anniversary of the musical’s first opening.

New Noir: An Evening with Vu Tran Thurs., Dec. 10, 7 p.m.

This Land Press, booksmarttulsa.com

Vu Tran returns to Tulsa to discuss his critically acclaimed debut novel Dragonfish. Tran grew up in Tulsa and now teaches creative writing at the University of Chicago. The novel tells of Suzy, a Vietnamese woman living in Las Vegas who is unable to reconcile her past and present selves. When Suzy goes missing, her husband blackmails her former husband, Robert, an Oakland cop, into searching for her. In the thriller that ensues, Robert is introduced to the Vegas underbelly, Suzy’s haunted past, and Mai, the daughter she abandoned over twenty years previous, just after arriving in America.

A Christmas Carol

Dec. 10 through Dec. 20, $13-$26 John H. Williams Theatre, PAC American Theatre Company presents its annual production of the musical story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the ultimate one percenter.

34 // ARTS & CULTURE

The Alliday Show

Dec. 11, 6-10 p.m. & Dec 12, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.,Retro Den, theallidayshow.com Eleven Designs, Okie Crowe and many more come together for the Sixth Annual Alliday Show.

Friday is a ticketed holiday party ($15 per ticket or $20 for two) featuring live music from Hey Judy, The Fabulous Minx and The Loaded Dice, food from Mangiamo food truck and Antoinette Baking Co., a bar provided by Elote, and holiday portraits.

Saturday is free and open to the public, and in addition to the 14 makers booths, a Community Quilt will be made, benefitting The Tristesse Grief Center. Foolish Things Coffee Co. and Succulent Sara will have pop up shops and Mr. Claus himself will make an appearance.

The Nutcracker

Fri. Dec. 11 through Sun., Dec. 20, $25-$100, Chapman Music Hall, PAC, tulsapac.com Tulsa Ballet’s annual performance of Tchaikovsky’s beloved classic is a Tulsa tradition. Over 100,000 people have seen the Tulsa production, for which more than 100 local children join the company each year to create Clara’s larger-than-life dream world. This year’s production features a newly choreographed Nutcracker March in the first act.

For the most up-to-date listings, visit

thetulsavoice.com/calendar December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

thehaps

EVENTS Tulsa Talks // Tulsa Talks is a oneday conference including more than 24 workshops and two keynotes on digital experience in four areas: Digital Conversation, Conversion, Tech/Trends and Creativity. The sessions are designed to help industry and nonprofit marketing and communication professionals explore time-tested strategies using new tools and technologies. // 10/29, CityPlex Towers, $95-$175, tulsa-talks.com/ The Taming of the Shrew // Tulsa Ballet takes on Shakespeare’s comedy about the stormy relationship between a fiery woman and her arrogant suitor. // 10/2310/25, Tulsa PAC - Chapman Music Hall, $25-$105, tulsapac.com/

COMEDY John Evans, Curt Fletcher // 10/21, 7:30 p.m., $5, 10/22, 7:30 p.m., $2, 10/23, 7 p.m., 10 p.m., $10, 10/24, 7 p.m., 10 p.m., $10, Loony Bin, loonybincomedy.com/ Lip Sync Riot // 10/22, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $5, comedyparlor.com/ Blue Dome Social Club // 10/23, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com/ Scary Stupid Improv // 10/23, 10 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com/ News Junkie // 10/24, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com/ Comfort Creatures // 10/24, 10 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com/ The Distraction // 10/25, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $5, comedyparlor.com/ Laugh It Off - Mental Health Awareness Fundraiser // 10/25, 7:30 p.m., Loony Bin, $15, loonybincomedy.com/ Jarrod Harris, Ben Moore // 10/28, 7:30 p.m., Loony Bin, $5, 10/29, 7:30 p.m., Loony Bin, $2, 10/30, 10 p.m., Loony Bin, $10, 10/31, 7 p.m., Loony Bin, $10, 10 p.m., loonybincomedy.com/

By George! // 10/29, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $5, comedyparlor.com/ Unusual Suspects // 10/30, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com/ THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

UPCOMING

Tulsa Comedy Massacre 2 // 10/30, 10 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com/ Jarrod Harris, Ben Moore // 10/30, 7 p.m., Loony Bin, $10, loonybincomedy.com/ Spooky T-Town Famous // 10/31, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com/ Tulsa Comedy Massacre 2 // 10/31, 10 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com/ Sunday Night Stand Up // 11/1, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $5, comedyparlor.com/

SPORTS

ORU Women’s Soccer vs South Dakota State // 10/22, 3 p.m., Case Soccer Complex, oruathletics.com/ TU Football vs Memphis // 10/23, 7 p.m., H.A. Chapman Stadium, $13$55, tulsahurricane.com/ TU Volleyball vs Memphis // 10/23, 3 p.m., Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane. com/ ORU Volleyball vs South Dakota // 10/23, 7 p.m., Cooper Aerobics Center, oruathletics.com/ TU Men’s Soccer vs UCONN // 10/24, 6 p.m., Hurricane Stadium, tulsahurricane.com/ ORU Men’s Basketball Blue/White Scrimmage // 10/24, 10am, Mabee Center, oruathletics.com/ TU Volleyball vs Cincinnati // 10/25, 1:30 p.m., Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane.com/ ORU Volleyball vs South Dakota State // 10/25, 1 p.m., Cooper Aerobics Center, oruathletics.com/ ORU Women’s Soccer vs Omaha // 10/25, 1 p.m., Case Soccer Complex, oruathletics.com/ ORU Men’s Soccer vs Central Arkansas // 10/27, 7 p.m., Case Soccer Complex, oruathletics.com/ TU Volleyball vs SMU // 10/28, 6 p.m., Reynolds Center, tulsahurricane.com/ Tulsa Oilers vs Missouri Mavericks // 10/30, 7:05 p.m., BOK Center, $10$53, tulsaoilers.com/ TU Women’s Basketball vs RSU // 10/30, 7 p.m., Reynolds Center, $5, tulsahurricane.com/ ORU Men’s Soccer vs IPFW // 10/31, 7 p.m., Case Soccer Complex, oruathletics.com/ Tulsa Oilers vs Allen Americans // 11/3, 7:05 p.m., BOK Center, $10-$53, tulsaoilers.com/

ARTS & CULTURE // 35

albumreview

Easy groove Pilgrim’s long-awaited studio debut finds the sweet spot

by MATT CAUTHRON

I

n the latter half of the previous decade, Tulsa singer-songwriter Beau Roberson and his band Pilgrim had a standing weekly gig at the Colony. My friends and I never missed it—and though I’m not the fi rst (and I won’t be the last) to refer to the Colony this way, it was our church. Every Sunday night was a time for fellowship and jubilation and release. For our rowdy, ragtag congregation, full-throated shouts of “All right!” rang out as frequently as exultations of “Amen!” in a southern Baptist tabernacle.

If you were a Colony regular in those days, Pilgrim’s debut studio record, Easy People, will feel as cozy as a roaring fi replace, a bag of popcorn and a tray of miniature High Life drafts.

But you needn’t have ever set foot in the Colony to be hooked immediately by Pilgrim’s distinctive, propulsive groove.

And “groove” is the key word.

It encapsulates this band, sets it apart from your ordinary alt-country-folk-rock outfi t. With them, it’s something like magic.

Don’t get me wrong: There’s plenty to like about Pilgrim. Roberson is a skilled songwriter and a one-of-a-kind vocalist. His lyrics are gritty and countrifi ed, delicate and introspective. His rockers will make you stomp your feet, and his ballads will stir your soul. When he suddenly shifts from a dulcet baritone to a snarling roar, you will know his power.

The songs themselves, if stripped away of everything but Roberson’s voice and his acoustic guitar, would stand on their own.

But the spellbinding alchemy that materializes when this band gets locked in—it borders on the sublime.

Pilgrim has seen its share of lineup shuffl es over the years.

36 // MUSIC

Beau Roberson | PHIL CLARKIN

Guys have left town, gotten busy with other musical projects—typical band stuff. But Roberson managed to round up the classic lineup to record at Fellowship Hall Sound in Little Rock, AR. Cody Clinton on lead guitar, Eric Arndt on bass, Chris Kyle on keys, Paddy Ryan on drums; with bonus appearances by Jesse Aycock on lap and pedal steel guitars and Michael Staub on saxophone.

The results of this reunion are unmistakable: the Pilgrim groove is alive. It crashes into existence from the opening note of the album’s fi rst track, “Get Me Outta This City,” as if the band had spent the previous 20 minutes slowly nurturing it, tightening it, until fi nally unleashing it onto the listener.

After the up-tempo intro, the band plunges into a swamp groove for “NE OK,” taking its sweet time to savor every slinky blues guitar riff as Roberson sings about a “Tin fl ask of whiskey / And a roach to smoke / My spotted dog at my heel.”

With its mission statement fi rmly identifi ed, the band gradually eases into a more melancholy run of tunes, the best of which, “My Heart Is Mine,” is one of Roberson’s most soulful vocal performances. It benefi ts from a less-is-more approach, with a beautiful piano part tastefully complemented by subtle sax fl ourishes that lend the song a certain quiet grandiosity. It reminds me of The Band, in the best way.

Second-half highlights include the beloved Pilgrim staple “Bad Bad Man,” the lumbering “Bomp Bomp” (titled “Awful Tone” back in my day), and the slow-building and uplifting “Field Day Afternoon.”

The 12-track record is capped by what is arguably the quintessential Pilgrim tune. “Heartbreaks and Guitars” showcases everything this band does best. It features heartfelt lyrics with a dose of downhome poetry, and Roberson injects the vocal with genuine, longing emotion. The entire song teeters on the brink between somber and hopeful, like a tug-of-war between those states, until a major-key build eventually tips that balance in exactly the way you want it to. It has that Pilgrim feeling, which is simply an extension of its leader’s best musical instincts. And despite the tune’s quieter fl avor, every instrument, every rhythm, every note is in glorious sync, fi rmly entrenched in that otherworldly realm that can hardly be explained, much less learned.

It’s called the groove, and this band seems to fi nd it effortlessly.

They live in it, and we get to go inside and visit. a

Pilgrim Easy People Available on iTunes, Amazon, HortonRecords.org and at select local retailers December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

MUSIC // 37

musicnotes

Steph Simon | COURTESY

View from the top Steph Simon’s Visions

by MARY NOBLE

W

ithout Tulsa, there would be no Visions from the Tisdale. The album is a product of Steph Simon’s relationship with his city in the same way Illmatic is a product of Nas’s relationship with Queensbridge.

“I really like to tell my story of growing up out north and growing up out south, that’s my big thing,” Simon told me. “I wanted to make an album for people to feel like they’re in Tulsa.”

Visions is littered with rich memories and bright images of Simon’s time living in north Tulsa and his eventual transition to the Union school district his freshman year of high school.

“All the way up until [moving], Tulsa stopped at Wal-Mart on Admiral and Memorial,” he recalled.

“We never went around that highway unless we went to Woodland Hills for Christmas.”

Simon found much of his inspiration for Visions sitting atop a hill directly above the L.L. Tisdale Parkway sign near his old neighborhood. “To me, it’s the best view of Tulsa.”

The 13-track LP opens, fi ttingly, with “Visions,” which begins

38 // MUSIC

with Simon namedropping streets and local landmarks (“I can see Pine Street, lemme go to Lacy . . . Swing down Virgin, headed to Apache”). The second verse takes us back to the 1921 race massacre, to Simon’s vision of what Greenwood would’ve looked like from the hill—“I can see the smoke in the air, I can see the fi re burnin’/I can see the kids crying cuz they mom ‘n’ daddy dyin.’”

With beats adapted from Outkast’s Dirty South classic “Funky Ride,” “TulsaxWorld” is a standout track, packed with clever bars and head-nodding bass lines. Guest rappers Dialtone and Young DV fl oat over the beats with rhythmic ease. Simon closes out the song with dialogue discussing old feelings of shame towards his hometown (“It feel good to rep the town nowadays, niggas used to be ashamed of that shit”).

Simon’s powerful lyrics, coupled with a smooth delivery over feather-light beats, make his intense message easily palatable.

By using his music to provide a portal to life on the north side, Simon hopes to ignite an interest among listeners who may not be

familiar with that part of the city.

As a high schooler, he witnessed curiosity about the area. “Going to Union, I had friends that would ask me about how it was out north all the time because they had only heard about it on the news.”

Lately, Simon’s creative interests have expanded beyond music into writing books and screenplays. His pen stays busy even during his day job at a call center, where he’s able to complete job-related tasks on autopilot as he writes. “They tell me to put my pad up all the time, for security reasons,” he confesses.

In addition to being a song title, TulsaxWorld is the name of a brand of local hip-hop artists including Simon who share the mutual dream of promoting their music around the world and providing artists with a solid platform and backing. By collaborating with other MCs, DJs, producers, graphic design artists, writers, etc., the TulsaxWorld group boasts great potential to expand. It’s a lifestyle that’s rooted in Tulsa but doesn’t limit itself to just Oklahoma.

“Because of the Internet, we can reach anywhere,” Simon said.

“[Visions is] the album that’s gonna get us over the hump,” Dialtone, AKA Antonio Andrews, predicted. “It’s like we been all getting on our hands and knees for one another to get over this fence and Steph is the one that’s gonna jump over the top and open it up for us.”

“It’s a Tulsa masterpiece,” fellow rapper Devin “Young DV” Vann added. “He paints the picture vividly to where out-oftowners would be able to envision what he’s talking about. It’s just a great piece of art and an Oklahoma classic.” a

Steph Simon Visions from the Tisdale Available for download at tulsaworldorder.com December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

musiclistings Green Corn Rebellion’s Halftime Album Release Dinner Party Our second-ever Courtyard Concert guest, the behemoth nine-piece swampy groove machine Green Corn Rebellion, is releasing its third album in style, with a fancy Creole dinner party. An étouffée dinner, locally sourced and provided by Lunabread will be accompanied by music from Mike Gilliland and live art by Chris Mantle, then the Rebellion, dressed to the nines, will play into the night.

Sat., Dec. 12, 6-11 p.m., $25, Garden Deva Sculpture Company, greencornrebellion.com

Wed // Dec 2 Brady Theater – King Diamond, Exodus – 8 p.m.

– ($34) Fur Shop – Garner Sloan, Rachel La Vonne – 9 p.m.

Mix Co – Mike Cameron Collective – 9 p.m.

On the Rocks – Don White – 7 p.m.

Soundpony – King Diamond after party w/ Dr. Rock Doctor and the Malpractice – 10:30 p.m.

Tin Dog Saloon – Open Mic/Jam – 8:30 p.m.

Thurs // Dec 3 Billy and Renee’s – The Punknecks, The Normandys, The Dirty Mugs – 8 p.m.

Boom Boom Room – DJ MO Cain’s Ballroom – An Evening with Gaelic Storm – 8:30 p.m. – ($18-$33) Centennial Lounge – Paris Horner – 8 p.m.

Fur Shop – Songwriter Night w/ Rachel La Vonne & Ethan Smith – 9 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Cabin Creek – Chad Lee – 8 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – nighTTrain – 7 p.m.

Mercury Lounge – Chad Sullins – 10 p.m.

River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Zodiac – 7 p.m.

Soundpony – Earthling – 10 p.m.

The Colony – Honky Tonk Happy Hour w/ Jacob Tovar Vanguard – Will Hoge, Angaleena Presley – 8 p.m. – ($15-$18) Woody Guthrie Center – Christopher Paul Stelling – 7 p.m. – ($15-$17) Woody’s Corner Bar – Tequila Kim

Fri // Dec 4 Centennial Lounge – Steve Pryor Band – 9 p.m.

Fur Shop – Hanna Wolff – 10 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Cabin Creek – Chad Lee – 9 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Uncrowned Kings – 9 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – The Hi-Fidelics – 5:30 p.m.

Mason’s – Jim Tilly – 8 p.m.

Mercury Lounge – Crooks – 10 p.m.

Osage Casino – Wanda Watson – 9 p.m.

Pepper’s Grill - South – The Zigs – 8:30 p.m.

River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Annie Up – 9 p.m.

River Spirit Casino - Event Center – Lyle Lovett and his Quasi Cowboy Band – 8 p.m. – ($60-$90) Soundpony – Lessons in Fresh – 9:30 p.m.

The Colony – Samantha Crain The Venue Shrine – The Plums CD Release Party w/ Sovereign Dame, Skytown, Grind, Machine in the Mountain – 9 p.m. – ($5) THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

Vanguard – Horse Thief, Nuns, Helen Kelter Skelter – 8 p.m. – ($7-$10) Woody’s Corner Bar – DJ Mikey Bee

Sat // Dec 5 Boom Boom Room – DJ MO Centennial Lounge – Blues Society of Tulsa Christmas Party feat. Dustin Pittsley – 9 p.m.

Cimarron Bar – Seven Day Crash – 9:30 p.m.

Fur Shop – Difuser, American Shadows – 9:30 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Cabin Creek – Merle Jam – 9 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Members Only – 9 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Travis Kidd – 5:30 p.m.

Lennie’s Club – David Dover – 9 p.m.

Lucky’s on the Green – Kalyn Barnoski – 6:30 p.m.

Osage Casino – Wanda Watson – 9 p.m.

River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Annie Up – 9 p.m.

Sandite Billiards & Grill – Conway Jackson – 9 p.m.

Soundpony – Soul Night w/ DJ Sweet Baby Jaysus – 10 p.m.

The Venue Shrine – Bageyes Reunion – 9 p.m. – ($5) Vanguard – Justin Adams, Lower 40 – 8 p.m. – ($10) Woody’s Corner Bar – Wayne Garner

Sun // Dec 6 BOK Center – TobyMac, Britt Nicole, Colton Dixon – 7 p.m. – ($15-$69.50) Dirty Knuckle Tavern – The Blue Dawgs – 3 p.m.

East Village Bohemian Pizzeria – Mike Cameron Collective – 5 p.m.

The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing

Mon // Dec 7 Cain’s Ballroom – The Neighbourhood, Atlas Genius, Wolf Alice – 7:30 p.m. – ($25-$40) Hodges Bend – Mike Cameron Collective – 9 p.m.

Lucky’s on the Green – Open Mic Night – 7:30 p.m.

Soundpony – Idre, Senior Fellows, Beneath Oblivion – 10 p.m.

The Colony – Singer/Songwriter Night

Tues // Dec 8 Cain’s Ballroom – August Burns Red, Everytime I Die, Stick to Your Guns, Polyphia, Wage War – 6 p.m. – ($22.50-$37.50) Gypsy Coffee House – Open Mic Night – 7 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Great Big Biscuit – 7 p.m.

Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams – 5:30 p.m.

King Diamond In the years since Oz and the boys pulled the Truth from beyond the wall of sleep, countless hordes have blasted, belted out, and bastardized their own take on Heavy Metal. In a mansion in darkness, weathering the several decades of groove, grunge, Nu, “Black Gaze,” and whatever other dumbass genre has come along (and gone), is a Danish soccer-playing med-school dropout named King Diamond.

On December 2nd, at the Brady Theatre, the King will channel the moment heavy metal’s seeds were planted: when on July 7th, 1777, an unlucky countess fell down some stairs and broke her neck. He’s devoted his life to defending the faith, and if the King is playing “Abigail” in its entirety, which he is (in Tulsa no less), even the lowliest peasant must pay tribute. Exodus will open, so why don’t you have tickets yet?

Wed., Dec. 2, 8 p.m., $34, Brady Theater, bradytheater.com

Wed // Dec 9

Sat // Dec 12

Baker St. Pub – John Dempsy – 3 p.m.

Brady Theater – Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience – 8 p.m. – ($25-$35) Cain’s Ballroom – Hot Club of Cowtown – 7:30 p.m.

– ($15-$18) Dusty Dog Pub – Scott Ellison Band – 8:30 p.m.

Mix Co – Mike Cameron Collective – 9 p.m.

On the Rocks – Don White – 7 p.m.

Soundpony – Busty Brunettes – 10 p.m.

The Colony – Tom Skinner’s Science Project Tin Dog Saloon – Open Mic/Jam – 8:30 p.m.

Billy and Renee’s – KRASHKARMA, Artifas, NoMara – 8 p.m.

Boom Boom Room – DJ MO Centennial Lounge – Michael Upgrove Band – 9 p.m.

Fur Shop – Acoustic Freight Train – 9 p.m.

Garden Deva – Green Corn Rebellion’s “Halftime” Album Release Dinner Party – 6 p.m. – ($25) Hard Rock Casino - Cabin Creek – River’s Edge – 9 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Thomas Marinez – 9 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Darren Ray – 5:30 p.m.

Lennie’s Club – David Dover – 9 p.m.

Lucky’s on the Green – The Scissortails Duo – 6:30 p.m.

Mercury Lounge – Vandoliers – 10 p.m.

Nitro Lounge – Illusions w/ Ject&Svenchen, Darku J, KREWX, Nomad – 10 p.m.

Osage Casino – Dustin Pittsley Band – 9 p.m.

River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – The Groove Pilots – 9 p.m.

Soul City – Mark Gibson – 8 p.m.

Soundpony – The Strange Fellas, Dead Shakes – 10 p.m.

Woody’s Corner Bar – Jumpshots

Thurs // Dec 10 Boom Boom Room – DJ MO Fur Shop – Songwriter Night w/ Casii Stephan – 9 p.m.

Greenwood Cultural Center – Ugandan Kids Choir – 7 p.m. – ($5) Hard Rock Casino - Cabin Creek – Darrel Cole – 8 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Chris Hyde – 7 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Darren Ray – 3 p.m.

River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Another Alibi – 7 p.m.

The Colony – An Evening with Jared Tyler The Venue Shrine – Obie Trice – 9 p.m. – ($8-$10) Vanguard – Edge Low Dough Show w/ Dreamers, Admirals, When the Clock Strikes – 8 p.m. – ($5) Woody’s Corner Bar – Patrick Winsett

Fri // Dec 11 Baker St. Pub – Drive – 9:30 p.m.

Cain’s Ballroom – Tyler Farr, Tennessee Jet – 8:30 p.m.

– ($26-$41) Centennial Lounge – Gypsy Cold Cuts – 9 p.m.

Four Aces Tavern – David Dover – 9 p.m.

Fur Shop – Dear Saint Isaac – 9 p.m.

Gypsy Coffee House – John Paul Ratliff – 9 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Cabin Creek – The Tiptons – 9 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Jump Suit Love – 9 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Darren Ray – 5:30 p.m.

Osage Casino – Dustin Pittsley Band – 9 p.m.

Pepper’s Grill - South – Hydromatics – 8:30 p.m.

River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – The Groove Pilots – 9 p.m.

Soundpony – Cherry Death – 10:30 p.m.

The Campbell Hotel – Leah and the Blackland Ballad The Colony – Carter Sampson The Venue Shrine – An Evening of Tom Petty feat.

Bellevue – 9 p.m. – ($6-$8) Vanguard – The Capital Why’s, Sleewalking Home, Bury the Doubt, Roots of Thought, The Young Vines – 7 p.m. – ($10) Woody Guthrie Center – Travis Linville – 7 p.m. – ($15-$17) Woody’s Corner Bar – DJ Spin

Sun // Dec 13 Dirty Knuckle Tavern – The Blue Dawgs – 3 p.m.

East Village Bohemian Pizzeria – Mike Cameron Collective – 5 p.m.

Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Sheridan Road Christmas Concert – 5 p.m. – ($5-$20) Soundpony – Senior Fellows, Lament Cityscape – 10:30 p.m.

The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing The Venue Shrine – Tulsa Divas Merry Christmas w/ Julie & The Retrospex, Wanda Watson, Jennifer Marriott, Black Kat Benders, Pattie Taylor, Heather Buckley, Kim Key & Kemistry – 1 p.m. – ($5)

Mon // Dec 14 Hodges Bend – Mike Cameron Collective – 9 p.m.

Lucky’s on the Green – Open Mic Night – 7:30 p.m.

The Colony – Singer/Songwriter Night

Tue // Dec 15 Gypsy Coffee House – Open Mic Night – 7 p.m.

Hard Rock Casino - Riffs – Bill Holden – 7 p.m.

Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams – 5:30 p.m.

Soundpony – Woolly Bushmen – 10:30 p.m.

Tin Dog Saloon – The Blue Dawgs – 9 p.m.

MUSIC // 39

popradar

A modern comedy ‘Master of None’ mines millenial anxieties for humor

by LANDRY HARLAN

G

ood comedy makes us laugh. Great comedy makes us think—take Amy Schumer’s critique of female beauty standards in her brilliant boy band music video parody “Girl, You Don’t Need Makeup.”

Or Louis C.K.’s now-legendary stand-up “Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy” about the miracle of air travel. Both use humor to tackle hypocrisies of the modern age, with Schumer going after pop music’s idea of conventional beauty, and C.K. our inability to be satisfi ed.

Contrary to the title, Aziz Ansari’s new Netfl ix comedy “Master of None” shines largely because he is a master of observation. Ansari understands the neuroses of millennials like few others, honed from years of stand-up (“Buried Alive,” “Live at Madison Square Garden”) and a book on the subject (“Modern Romance”). In each “Master of None” episode, the subject matter is introduced in neon right out of the gate, and Ansari mines the topics—“Parents,” “Indians on TV,” “Plan B”—for humorous hijinks and unexpected poignancy.

Ansari portrays Dev, a charming-yet-aloof New Yorker just entering his 30s. As many in the real world can attest, a new decade doesn’t necessarily bring much clarity to life, specifi cally where relationships are concerned. Friends are married now. Some have kids.

It doesn’t help that Dev is another struggling actor in the Big Apple.

In a particularly hilarious, excruciating turn in the second episode, Dev auditions for the “black virus” movie “The Sickening” in the middle of a crowded coffee shop.

40 // FILM & TV

Aziz Ansari in “Master of None” | COURTESY

Screaming and cursing and public humiliation ensue.

Ansari is a fi rst-generation American, which makes him uniquely suited to enlighten the rest of us on the topic of immigration. In episode two, titled “Parents,” Dev and his Taiwanese-American friend, Brian (Kelvin Yu), plan on meeting for a movie.

Before each leave their parents’ houses, their respective fathers (Dev’s played by his real-life dad, Shoukath Ansari) ask them to perform a small favor before they go.

Both sons refuse their fathers’ requests; they’re in a hurry to answer the pre-movie trivia questions.

Cinematic fl ashbacks show both fathers growing up in poverty in their home countries – India and Taiwan. The men are eventually able to immigrate to America to seek better opportunities for their children. Once in America, Dev’s father struggles every day working in a zipper factory to

provide for his family. In sharp contrast, Dev’s greatest struggle is the poor Wi-Fi in his apartment.

The disconnect between the two generations injects both humor and pathos into the plot. It takes a dual family dinner to bridge that gap, with Brian and Dev fi nally asking meaningful questions and their fathers responding with stories such as their shared fear of answering the phone when they fi rst arrived in America. I actually called my parents after the credits rolled.

While it’s Ansari’s curious eye that makes the show so fresh, he knows that collaborations can add layers to even the most routine storyline. “Parks and Recreation” fans will notice Alan Yang as a co-creator, helping infuse “Master of None” with a familiar warmth and optimism.

Director James Ponsoldt brings knowledge of the aches of life in transition from his Sundance

crowd-pleasers “The End of the Tour” and “The Spectacular Now” to the fi rst episode, “Plan B.” Most illuminating is Noël Wells’ turn as Dev’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, Rachel.

Woefully underused in her one season on “Saturday Night Live,” Wells’ character doesn’t fall back on stereotypes—she plays a witty, sweet, vulnerable, fl awed human. Kind of like real-life humans.

Unfortunately, not all of the jokes land. The opening episode especially has a few clunky scenes that seem more like a sketch gone wrong than narrative TV. (Dev’s large friend Eric [Eric Wareheim] pushing kids around to make room in a bounce-house at a birthday party). A few storylines settle a little too nicely, detracting from the admirable realism of the show. Still, these things feel forgivable and don’t linger long enough to signifi cantly mar the plot.

“Master of None” is the perfect encapsulation of why singular voices in comedy should be given the opportunity to bring their visions to life. Schumer does it in her Peabody-winning Comedy Central show, “Inside Amy Schumer.” C.K. did it in the autobiographical FX show, “Louie.” Ansari didn’t put his name in the title, but that doesn’t make “Master of None” any less his own. It’s about romance, race, immigration, entertainment, the Internet, and growing up. Simply put, it’s about life in the modern age, and all of the humor and heartbreak it entails. That’s not what makes “Master of None” a comedy; it’s what makes it a great comedy. a December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

s t f i G e n t o ea ery r !

G Ev t s i l r fo the on

3336 S. Peoria Avenue • 918-949-6950 • www.idaredboutique.com facebook.com/idaredtulsa • Mon-wed 10am-7pm, thur-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 12pm-4pm

Breakfast with Santa December 12

8-9:30 a.m. | 10-11:30 a.m.

tulsawinterfest.com THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

presented by: FILM & TV // 41

filmphiles

Saoirse Ronan in “Brooklyn” | COURTESY

Lost in America

‘Brooklyn’ is a modern classic, ‘Entertainment’ is ponderous and unfunny

by JOE O’SHANSKY Stranger in a strange land Despite being set in the ‘50s during a somewhat hagiographic era when New York was the greatest city in the world, and despite being about an angelic Irish immigrant, it’s diffi cult to look at director John Crowley’s “Brooklyn” without thinking about the complexities of modern immigration.

Though Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) is on a journey far less fraught with misery and peril than that of many

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

42 // FILM & TV

desperate people seeking shelter in the U.S. today, her story tells of a country of immigrants who’ve become natives, and sometimes nativist. It’s the story of America, then and now.

Eilis, an Irish teenager living with her sister Rose (Fiona Glascott) and aging mother (Jane Brennan), longs to escape the staid tradition and suffocating people of her small town. Opportunity presents itself when Father Flood (Jim Broadbent, delightful as always) offers Eilis a chance to emigrate from Ireland to Brooklyn to attend an all-girls boarding school run by Flood.

It’s over a half-century after the bloody battles of Five Points, and the Irish are in the club. “We need more Irish girls,” Flood assures the newly-arrived Eilis, poised and distant even as she’s in the throes of terrible homesickness. She fi nds a job at a high-end department store, and her obvious intellect compels Flood to pay for bookkeeping classes.

The homesickness evaporates when she meets Tony (Emory

Cohen), a working class Italian kid in business with his father but lacking book smarts, at a church-sponsored dance. Tony, infatuated with Emerald Isle girls, is immediately smitten by Eilis, who is happily overwhelmed by her budding good fortune.

But just as she begins to believe Brooklyn is home, the old one calls her back.

Based on Colm Tóibín’s critically-acclaimed novel (adapted by Nick Hornby), “Brooklyn” is a modern classic, infused with larger themes of actualization that go beyond the tropes of the immigrant experience—here, Eilis is trying to shed her Irish-ness, not hold onto it.

The entire cast is a buffet of delights, but Saoirse Ronan is miraculous. Her beauty is almost alien, recalling Audrey Hepburn in her best moments, while defi ning the rest on her own. She’s in practically every scene, and carries the fi lm with a sense of composure and attention to detail that feels beyond her years. She was already the best thing about

the otherwise awful “The Lovely Bones” and she kills (literally) in Joe Wright’s under-seen action fantasy, “Hanna.” If she isn’t up for an Oscar now, something is wrong with this world.

Crowley’s direction indelibly captures the seminal cornerstones of Eilis’s journey in a new world from wallfl ower to womanhood, while fashioning a tangible universe for the rest of us.

The beautifully executed period setting offers an evocative look at an era when America was still a proud beacon of hope for those escaping the castes they were born into.

Eilis’s story isn’t just a character arc, it’s a statement about why these tales are told, ensconced in a crowd-pleasing character drama about the possibilities life can offer anyone when they give it—and themselves—a chance.

The one about the sad comedian Neil Hamburger is the Neil Hamburger of comedy. If there’s such December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

Gregg Turkington in “Entertainment” | COURTESY

a thing as an acquired taste, that’s its name. I say that more as an admirer than a fan. I just can’t help but have respect for any serious comedian. No matter how much (or little) I like the material, they are still doing something that I only dream of doing.

To adherents of the absurdist sketch comedy of “Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show, Great Job!” or to anyone who’s been paying attention to the hinterlands of that realm since the ‘90s, Neil Hamburger (Gregg Turkington) is probably best known as an Andy Kaufman-esque anti-comedian.

A loser in a sad tux and granny glasses, hair plastered in a combover of Brill cream branches, he looks for laughs through making the crowd as uncomfortable as possible. His shtick boils down to telling shitty jokes with the assurance of a man who can barely exist in society, while scolding the audience over their lack of appreciation for the obvious gift he’s giving them—a gift they’re likely too dumb to understand anyway. Which often turns out to be surprisingly funny.

But if that’s what you’re looking for in “Entertainment,” writer/director Rick Alverson’s exploration of life on the road with a super depressed comedian, you should look elsewhere.

Hamburger/Turkington plays The Comedian. All we ever learn about him comes during his 3rd act life, touring across the Mojave Desert (where he fi nds that the prison crowds are more forgiving than barfl ies). He has a daughter who he’s desperately trying to reconnect with through a series of unreturned phone messages. He runs across a sweet-natured cousin (John C. Reilly) who’s supportive, even though he doesn’t quite get it. And then there’s the private party gig in the Hollywood Hills that is sure to be his big break.

THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

And that’s kind of it. There’s essentially no plot to “Entertainment”—an obvious anti-title—which would be fi ne if it amounted to any kind of catharsis on a comedic or dramatic level.

The theme, at least, is hammered home. Being The Comedian sucks.

Obviously.

In fairness, the track record for good movies about comedians is pretty spotty. At worst you get fi lms like “Punchline” which unrealistically glamorized the craft (thanks to the explosion of stand-up at the time) without writing funny material for its actors. At best you get Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy,” which actually understood how ruthless that world can be and turned it into blazing satire.

“Entertainment” lies somewhere between the nihilism of Bobcat Goldthwait’s superior “Shakes the Clown” and the existential pondering of a wannabe Jim Jarmusch fi lm .

Alverson (writing with three others, including Tim Heidecker) seems intent on hammering home the parallels of the literal desert and The Comedian’s internal desolation. But we never fi nd out why his daughter will have nothing to do with him. Vignettes in sterile roadside bathrooms— one where The Comedian helps a pregnant woman who heckled him, another where he seems like he might want to kill Michael Cera (who I’d hoped was trying to blow him for gas money)—are largely pointless and, like the fi lm itself, offer no resolution to any of the ideas they introduce. While Alverson evokes an often-dreadful vibe thanks to Turkington’s solid performance, Robert Donne’s tense score and Lorenzo Hagerman’s chilly cinematography, I kept expecting the simmering tension to build into a cathartic moment that, ultimately, never takes the stage. a

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FILM & TV // 43

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 and hoarding and puppy mill situations.

Animals live on-site or with fosters until they’re adopted. All SPCA animals are micro-chipped, vaccinated, spayed/neutered and treated with preventatives.

THE FUZZ THE TULSA VOICE SPOTLIGHTS: TULSA SPCA

Learn about volunteering, fostering, upcoming events, adoptions and their low-cost vaccination clinic at tulsaspca.org.

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

MONKEY and CASSIDY came to us as a pair, surrendered by their previous owner. These ten-month-old Australian Shepard/Lab mixes are house-trained and past the chewing stage. They play very well together outdoors and are not destructive. They are excellent running or walking partners. Monkey is the goofy one and Cassidy is a lady. Both are super loving and would happily curl up with you by an evening fire.

They are both very independent so they can be adopted separately or together.

REMINGTON and RUGER are one-year-old Australian cattle dog mixes with fun and loving personalities. After years of neglect, they’re learning to trust humans.

Ruger is a cuddle bug. Remington is a little shyer than Ruger but once you pet him he’s all yours. They both love plush squeaky toys. They know how to sit and are eager to learn more. Remington won’t sit in your lap but will happily lay next to you. They need someone who can spend time with them, but for the right owner, these two are well worth it.

MISSY has medium length fur and is a polydactyl (she has six toes instead of five). This two year-old Manx is a little overweight but don’t tell her that. She’s not a huge fan of being picked up, but will tolerate it for a short period of time.

All loving and petting is done on her terms. When it’s nap time, she loves to stuff herself into a box.

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◀ Dog toys in a canvas Good Dog tote December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

news of the weird

by Chuck Shepherd

First-World Spending According to estimates released by the National Retail Federation in September, 157 million Americans “planned to celebrate” Halloween, spending a total of $6.9 billion, of which $2.5 billion would be on costumes, including $350 million dressing up family pets.

Leading Economic Indicators At a ceremony in Kabul in November, prominent Afghan developer Khalilullah Frozi signed a $95 million contract to build an 8,800-unit township and was, according to a New York Times dispatch, toasted for his role in the country’s economic rebirth.

However, at nightfall, Frozi headed back to prison to resume his 15-year sentence for defrauding Kabul Bank of nearly $1 billion in depositors’ money. Because he remains one of Afghanistan’s elite, arrangements were made for him to work days but spend his nights in prison (in comfortable quarters). Said one Western offi cial, laconically, “(I)f you have stolen enough money, you can get away with it.”

Cultural Diversity Before the terrorist murders gripped Paris, President Francois Hollande and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani had been trying to arrange a formal dinner during Rouhani’s planned visit to the city to celebrate the two countries’ role in the recent accord limiting Iran’s nuclear development.

France’s RTL radio news reported that “dinner” is apparently more vexing than “nuclear weaponry” — as Rouhani demanded an alcohol-free meal, which was nixed

by Hollande, who insisted that the French never dine without wine.

Compelling Explanations Skeptics feared it was just a THE TULSA VOICE // December 2 – 15, 2015

matter of time, anyway, until the “political correctness” movement turned its attention to dignity for thieves. San Francisco’s SFGate. com reported in November on a discussion in an upscale neighborhood about whether someone committing petty, nonviolent theft should be referred to by the “offensive” term “criminal” (rather than as, for example, “the person who stole my bicycle,” since “criminal” implies a harsher level of evil and fails to acknowledge factors that might have caused momentary desperation by a person in severe need).

Reginald Gildersleeve, 55 and free on bond with an extensive rap sheet, was waving a gun as he threatened a clerk and tried to rob a store in Chicago on Halloween night — until a customer (licensed to carry) drew his own gun and, with multiple shots, killed Gildersleeve. Closer inspection revealed Gildersleeve’s weapon to be merely a paintball gun, leading the deceased man’s stepson to complain later that “Some people (the licensed shooter) don’t actually know how to use guns. They go to fi ring ranges, but it’s not the same ... as a bullet going into fl esh. ... Someone’s got to answer for that.”

Least Competent Criminals Nicholas Allegretto, 23, was convicted of shoplifting in Cambridge, England, in October (in absentia, because he is still at large). The prosecutor knows Al-

legretto is his man because, shortly after the February theft, police released a surveillance photo of Allegretto leaving the store with the unpaid-for item, and Allegretto had come to a police station to complain that the suddenly public picture made him look guilty. In fact, he claimed, he intended to pay for the item but had gotten distracted (and besides, he added, his body language often looks somewhat “dodgy,” anyway).

Zero Tolerance The 6-year-old son of Martha Miele was given an automatic three-day out-of-school suspension at Our Lady of Lourdes in Cincinnati in October after, emulating actions of his favorite Power Rangers characters, he pretended to shoot a bow and arrow at another student. Principal Joe Crachiolo was adamant, insisting that he has “no tolerance for any real, pretend or imitated violence.” An exasperated Martha Miele confessed she was at a loss about how a 6-year-old boy is supposed to block out the concept of a super-hero fi ghter (and instead imagine, say, a super-hero counselor?).

Joe Jerry — who actually has four fi rst names: Larry Joe Jerry Jr. (He was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to 42 years in prison.)

Cavalcade of Fetishes Among the approximately 100 arrests Seattle police made in an October drug sting were of a man, 63, and woman, 58, accused only of retail theft of $150,000 worth of goods — including about 400 pairs of jeans. Police said the couple “ordered” items from shoplifters and seemed to have an “insatiable appetite for denim.”

In November, police in Bethel, Connecticut, arrested Nelson Montalvo, 50 — accused of taking about 30 items of underwear from one particular home. Montalvo’s motive is being investigated, but police said his modus operandi was to remove items, cut holes in them and return them to the home. a

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A News of the Weird Classic (January 2011) Sought as a suspect in a convenience store killing in Largo, Florida, in December (2010) (and an example of the highly revealing “Three First Names” theory of criminal liability), Mr. Larry ETC. // 45

free will astrology

by ROB BREZSNY

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21):

“Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what’s out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it.” Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön said that, and now I’m telling you. According to my divinations, a new frontier is calling to you. An unprecedented question has awakened. The urge to leave your familiar circle is increasingly tempting. I don’t know if you should you surrender to this brewing fascination. I don’t know if you will be able to gather the resources you would require to carry out your quest. What do you think? Will you be able to summon the necessary audacity? Maybe the better inquiry is this: Do you vow to use all your soulful ingenuity to summon the necessary audacity?

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Once I witnessed a windstorm so severe that two 100-year-old trees were uprooted on the spot,” Mary Ruefle wrote in her book Madness, Rack, and Honey. “The next day, walking among the wreckage, I found the friable nests of birds, completely intact and unharmed on the ground.” I think that’s a paradox you’d be wise to keep in mind, Capricorn. In the coming weeks, what’s most delicate and vulnerable about you will have more staying power than what’s massive and fixed. Trust your grace and tenderness more than your fierceness and forcefulness.

They will make you as smart as you need to be.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aztec king Montezuma II quenched his daily thirst with one specific beverage. He rarely drank anything else. It was ground cocoa beans mixed with chili peppers, water, vanilla, and annatto. Spiced chocolate? You could call it that.

The frothy brew was often served to him in golden goblets, each of which he used once and then hurled from his royal balcony into the lake below. He regarded this elixir as an aphrodisiac, and liked to quaff a few flagons before heading off to his harem. I bring this up, Aquarius, because the coming weeks will be one of those exceptional times when you have a poetic license to be almost Montezuma-like. What’s your personal equivalent of his primal chocolate, golden goblets, and harem?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Unfortunately, I’m pretty lucky,” my friend Rico said to me recently. He meant that his relentless good fortune constantly threatens to undermine his ambition. How can he be motivated to try harder and grow smarter and get stronger if life is always showering him with blessings? He almost wishes he could suffer more so that he would have more angst to push against. I hope you won’t fall under the spell of that twisted logic in the coming weeks, Pisces. This is a phase of your cycle when you’re likely to be the beneficiary of an extra-strong flow of help and serendipity.

Please say this affirmation as often as necessary: “Fortunately, I’m pretty lucky.”

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Charm is a way of getting the answer ‘yes’ without having asked any clear question,” wrote French author Albert Camus. I have rarely seen you better poised than you are now to embody and capitalize on this definition of “charm,” Aries. That’s good news, right? Well, mostly.

But there are two caveats. First, wield your mojo as responsibly as you can. Infuse your bewitching allure with integrity. Second, be precise about what it is you want to achieve — even if you don’t come right out and tell everyone what it is. Resist the temptation to throw your charm around haphazardly.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I suspect that in the coming days you will have an uncanny power to make at least one of your resurrection fantasies come true. Here are some of the possibilities. 1. If you’re brave enough to change your mind and shed some pride, you could retrieve an expired dream from limbo. 2. By stirring up a bit more chutzpah that you usually have at your disposal, you might be able to revive and even restore a forsaken promise. 3. Through an act of grace, it’s possible you will reanimate an ideal that was damaged or abandoned.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): To the other eleven signs of the zodiac, the Way of the Gemini sometimes seems rife with paradox and contradiction. Many non-Geminis would feel paralyzed if they had to live in the midst of so much hubbub. But when you are at your best, you thrive in the web of riddles. In fact,

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

NOVICE

your willingness to abide there is often what generates your special magic. Your breakthroughs are made possible by your high tolerance for uncertainty. How many times have I seen a Gemini who has been lost in indecision but then suddenly erupts with a burst of crackling insights? This is the kind of subtle miracle I expect to happen soon.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In September of 1715, a band of Jacobite rebels gathered for a guerrilla attack on Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. Their plan was to scale the walls with rope ladders, aided by a double agent who was disguised as a castle sentry. But the scheme failed before it began. The rope ladders turned out to be too short to serve their intended purpose. The rebels retreated in disarray. Please make sure you’re not like them in the coming weeks, Cancerian. If you want to engage in a strenuous action, an innovative experiment, or a bold stroke, be meticulous in your preparations. Don’t scrimp on your props, accouterments, and resources.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): If you give children the option of choosing between food that’s mushy and food that’s crunchy, a ma jority will choose the crunchy stuff. It’s more exciting to their mouths, a more lively texture for their teeth and tongues to play with. This has nothing to do with nutritional value, of course. Soggy oatmeal may foster a kid’s well-being better than crispy potato chips.

Let’s apply this lesson to the way you feed your inner child in the coming weeks. Metaphorically speaking, I suggest you serve that precious part of you the kind of sustenance that’s both crunchy and healthy. In other words, make sure that what’s wholesome is also fun, and vice versa.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Your mascot is a famous white oak in Athens, Georgia. It’s called the Tree That Owns Itself. According to legend, it belongs to no person or institution, but only to itself. The earth in which it’s planted and the land around it are also its sole possession. With this icon as your inspiration, I invite you to enhance and celebrate your sovereignty during the next seven months. What actions will enable you to own yourself more thoroughly? How can you boost your autonomy and become, more than ever before, the boss of you? It’s prime time to expedite this effort.

MASTER

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Police in Los Angeles conducted an experiment on a ten-mile span of freeway. Drivers in three unmarked cars raced along as fast as they could while remaining in the same lane. The driver of the fourth car not only moved at top speed, but also changed lanes and jockeyed for position. Can you guess the results? The car that weaved in and out of the traffic flow arrived just slightly ahead of the other three. Apply this lesson to your activities in the coming week, please. There will be virtually no advantage to indulging in frenetic, erratic, breakneck exertion. Be steady and smooth and straightforward.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You will generate lucky anomalies and helpful flukes if you use shortcuts, flee from boredom, and work smarter rather than harder. On the other hand, you’ll drum up wearisome weirdness and fruitless flukes if you meander all over the place, lose yourself in far-off fantasies, and act as if you have all the time in the world. Be brisk and concise, Scorpio. Avoid loafing and vacillating. Associate with bubbly activators who make you laugh and loosen your iron grip. It’s a favorable time to polish off a lot of practical details with a light touch.

What’s the most selfish, narcissistic thing about you?

Do you think that maybe you should transform it? t h i s w e e k ’ s h o m e w o r k // T E S T I F Y AT F R E E W I L L A S T R O L O G Y. C O M .

46 // ETC.

December 2 – 15, 2015 // THE TULSA VOICE

ACROSS 1 ___ in the back (betrays) 6 Digital junk mail 10 Bills and coins 14 Speaks like King James?

19 Monetary unit of Nigeria 20 “The Last of the Mohicans” girl 21 Turkish honorific (var.)

22 Skylit central courts 23 The “A” in James A. Garfield 24 Safecracker, slangily 25 Ball game delayer 26 Wanders here and there 27 Like most office phones 29 New York city 31 High school department 32 Mortise inserts 34 Put forward as truth 35 Trials and tribulations 38 Decade number 40 Cures, as hides 41 Commotion 42 Opposite of “Dep.” on a flight board 43 Change decor 44 Shellfish dish 48 Place to store food 50 Persona ___ grata 52 Emailed a file 55 Follower of Zeno 56 Uncle of rice fame 57 Erstwhile Russian rulers 60 Act like a nomad 61 Andrew Jackson’s home (with 62-Down) 63 Kauai strings 64 Commas signal them 66 Reveals

70 Leg wrap for soldiers 74 Feel under par 75 The worm catcher?

80 Emollient ingredient 81 Indecisive response 83 In ___ event (regardless) 84 Type of space 85 Party decoration 88 Printer liquid 89 More than risky 90 Sumatra native 94 Soarer over Atlantic City 96 “Back to the Future” star Thompson 97 Au ___ (French dip’s dip) 98 Priestly vestments 99 Grammy category 100 North Pole explorer 101 A rotor turns on it 105 German diacritical mark 107 “Bye bye” 109 “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” author Irving 111 American Revolutionary leader Robert R. 116 “Dumb & Dumber” destination 117 “All ___!” (court phrase) 118 Helmsman’s direction 119 Hole ___ (golfer’s dream) 120 Gatherers in gaggles 121 “What a bummer” 122 Golf ball props 123 Blair of “The Exorcist” 124 Made a goof 125 G.I.’s hall or kit 126 Before now, before now 127 Art prop

DOWN 1 Click the fingers 2 Cologne that is off-limits?

3 Broadcasts 4 Famous lullaby composer 5 Ballroom activity 6 Cut down in the field 7 Burns or Byron, e.g.

8 Shop talk 9 Attraction unit 10 Typists’ copies, once 11 Hostile to 12 Climbs, as a pole 13 Display, as a picture 14 City south of St. Petersburg 15 Items in physics 16 Boiling mad 17 Island east of Java 18 Word before “a prayer” or “a clue” 28 Express audibly 30 Owned, in the Old Testament 33 Roll-call dissent 35 John who hosted “America’s Most Wanted” 36 Deliver an impassioned speech 37 Baseball misplay 39 The external world 41 Crafts’ counterparts 43 Speak from memory 45 Listening device 46 Light tan 47 “___ there?” (part of a knockknock joke) 49 Lacking brightness 51 Street sign with an arrow 53 Dec. 24, for one 54 ___ Plaines, Illinois 56 Form of candy 57 Wedding dress fabric, sometimes

58 59 62 64 65 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 76 77 78 79 81 82 86 87 88 89 91 92 93 95 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 108 110 112 113 114 115

Enjoy the slopes Sea off Turkey Title starter, often Campaign pro Volunteer-seeker’s query Bro or sis Have a longing Attempt Faux ___ (blunder) Consultants, at heart?

Spelling of “Beverly Hills, 90210” Between 12 and 20 Commuting option Boot of Europe Send, as for treatment View with anxiety Restroom sign “How ___ things?”

Shared a boundary with Opposite of celebrate Make heatproof Take off, as a brooch Indian appetizers The flu, for one Attorney’s grp.

Risque to the max Balkan War participant Metal-bending tool Electric dart shooter “___ your instructions ...”

The things here Serving a purpose Floor layer, at times Quick on one’s feet .035 ounces Neckline shapes This puzzle’s theme Wave to Paris?

“A Face in the Crowd” actress Patricia

Universal sUnday Crossword Edited by Timothy E. Parker

THoUsands oF PoUnds

By George Pompey

© 2015 Universal Uclick

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Pleas e re cycle this issue.