The Tulsa Voice | Vol. 3 No. 24

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81st & Riverside // RIVERSPIRITTULSA.COM // 2 // CONTENTS

December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

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CONTENTS // 3

4 // CONTENTS

December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

December 7 - 20, 2016 // Vol. 3, No. 24 ©2016. All rights reserved.

PUBLISHER Jim Langdon MANAGING EDITOR Joshua Kline ART DIRECTOR Madeline Crawford ASSISTANT EDITOR Liz Blood DIGITAL EDITOR John Langdon GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Georgia Brooks, Morgan Welch PHOTOGRAPHY/MULTIMEDIA Greg Bollinger AD SALES MANAGER Josh Kampf

18

INTERNS Mary Budd, Lindsay McClain

FAREWELL, LEON

CONTRIBUTORS Matt Cauthron, Alicia Chesser, DeVon Douglass, Western Doughty, Angela Evans, Barry Friedman, Mitch Gilliam, Jeff Huston, Denver Nicks, Don Nix, Mary Noble, Joe O’Shansky, Bobby Dean Orcutt, Pearl Jr. Rachinsky, Steve Todoroff, John Tranchina, Holly Wall, RJ Young The Tulsa Voice’s distribution is audited annually by

Remembering the Master

BY STEVE TOD OROFF & BOBBY DEAN ORCUTT

22

Member of

THE CRIME FIGHTER

The Tulsa Voice is published bi-monthly by

Cornel Williams ridiculed criminals, raised public awareness

BY HOLLY WALL

1603 S. Boulder Ave. Tulsa, OK 74119 P: 918.585.9924 F: 918.585.9926

Leon Russell | PHOTO BY DON NIX - COURTESY STEVE TODOROFF

PUBLISHER Jim Langdon PRESIDENT Juley Roffers VP COMMUNICATIONS Susie Miller CONTROLLER Mary McKisick RECEPTION Gloria Brooks, Gene White

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

NEWS & COMMENTARY 8 AMERICA’S RACIAL WEALTH GAP

9

AYAHUASCA IN THE OZARKS P24

THE LEGACY OF CORNEL WILLIAMS P22

PHILBROOK’S NATIVE FASHION NOW P28

14 CASA BONITA REBORN

BY DEVON DOUGLASS

BY ANGELA EVANS

It was 397 years in the making; we shouldn’t take that long to close it

Iconic Tulsa restaurant location still a wonderland – but for adults

TRUMP’S AMERICA IS DOOMED

TV & FILM

BY DENVER NICKS

America is not

10 ONE OF THE GOOD ONES

B Y BARRY FRIEDMAN Bagels with new District 70 Representative Carol Bush

TRUMP’S AMERICA IS DOOMED P9

FOOD & DRINK

41 A SHOW ABOUT NOTHING—AND EVERYTHING

BY MATT CAUTHRON

‘Atlanta’ breathes new life into TV comedy without breaking a sweat

42 NIGHT TERRORS

MUSIC

BY JEFF HUSTON

38 POLYGLOT JANKINS

BY MARY NOBLE

The artist formerly known as P.D.A. returns to Tulsa

Tom Ford’s ‘Nocturnal Animals’ is by turns powerful, cruel, ridiculous

43 MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

BY JOE O’SHANSKY

WHERE TO SHOP THIS SEASON | P32

REMEMBERING THE MASTER | P18

ON THE COVER

Illustration of Leon Russell

by Pearl Jr. Rachinsky THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

SHOP LOCAL

An American masterpiece

ARTS & CULTURE 24 THIS IS NOT ENLIGHTENMENT

B Y MITCH GILLIAM An unholy trip in the Ozarks

27 THE LARGEST RACE

B Y JOHN TRANCHINA

Grand Nationals success bodes well for BMX Tulsa relocation

28 ALL DRESSED UP

B Y ALICIA CHESSER

Philbrook’s Native Fashion Now exhibition is exuberant and expressive

30 SYNCRETISM

B Y LIZ BLOOD

Work by the 2016 Tulsa Artist Fellows is featured at 108 Contemporary

ETC. 12 BOTTOMLINE 16 DOWNTHEHATCH 17 DININGLISTINGS 36 THEHAPS 40 MUSICLISTINGS 44 THEFUZZ 46 ASTROLOGY + SUDOKU 47 CROSSWORD CONTENTS // 5

editor’sletter

The worst year

A

mong the many reasons 2016 can piss off: it’s taken from us an ungodly number of music legends. David Bowie, Prince, Sharon Jones, Leonard Cohen, Phife Dawg, Merle Haggard, Maurice White, Glenn Frey, John Berry, Paul Kantner—and we still have several weeks to go. Like Nate Silver’s election predictions, we can no longer rely on the rule of threes to make sense of the world.

The shittiest year didn’t neglect Tulsa, either. In the spring, we lost beloved guitarist Steve Pryor. And

last month, Tulsa Sound godfather Leon Russell passed in his sleep. In this issue, Russell’s longtime friend and archivist Steve Todoroff offers a warm tribute (pg. 18), while music writer Bobby Dean Orcutt speaks to Russell’s friends, peers, and bandmates, who share loving memories of the man (pg. 20).

The untimely deaths weren’t limited to rock legends. On November 8, Tulsa Crime Monthly publisher Cornel Williams passed away. Williams was a prankster with a heart of gold who got

into the public shaming game way before the advent of Twitter.

Through his scrappy, homemade tabloid, he gleefully mocked and demeaned Tulsa’s murderers, rapists, gangbangers, thieves, religious charlatans and corrupt city officials with sensational headlines that were often tasteless and un-PC, but always very funny. Behind the humor was a purpose: Williams lost his best friend to gang violence in 2004, and he conceived TCM as both a personal catharsis and a public service. Holly Wall reflects on Williams’ legacy on page 22.

For all the gallows humor surrounding the misery of 2016, this year has been sobering. We’ve lost a lot of good people, not just musicians and community leaders. If you’re grieving the loss of a loved one, or loss of another kind, our heart is with you. Here’s to 2017; it can’t get here fast enough. a

JOSHUA KLINE MANAGING EDITOR

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TULSACRYSTALBALL.COM December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

yourvoice

As usual, your newest edition (Nov. 2, Vol. 3, No. 22) does a fantastic job of showcasing the immense arts talents that Tulsa has grown and attracted. Great job. However, in "Faces on the Wall," writer Liz Blood fails to identify artist Monty Little by his culture or tribal affiliation, instead lumping him under the generic ethnic group of "Native American." I would suggest that TTV writers ask Natives who are profiled how they'd prefer to be identified, and to include tribal affiliation/nationality if their indigeneity is relevant to the article.

In the case of Little, he asserts that his identity does influence the displacement theme of his artwork, yet we are not even informed what identity this is! Tewa? Oneida?

Miccosukee? Potawatomi? Ojibwe? There are nearly 600 native nations in the U.S. alone, all with distinct cultures, heritage, and place affiliations. Lumping them all together and failing to recognize an individual by their nationality (instead opting to categorize by race or ethnicity, i.e. "Native American") is dangerous as it perpetuates the myth that all Indians are all the same, and metaphorically disavows the sovereignty of each individual tribe or nation.

As you all know, words make a huge impact, so thank you for considering mine. Keep up the good work.

E CURATOR MEET THE DYLAN ARCHIV P26 S MUSICIANS ON POLITIC P28 WHAT SAY YEASAYER P30

NO. 22 0 1 6 // V O L . 3 N O V. 2 – 1 5 , 2

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share their experiences in the music scene

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P RENAISSANCE | P21

Have read the mag for years. But due to the crap you Joshua Kline, Denver Nicks and David Blatt has written in nov 16 articles I will never read this rag again. Your superior attitude and comments that Trump voters didn’t know who they were voting for is the very reason the Demorats lost and will continue to lose elections is yellow pseudo journalism like the issue published. If the Dems would have put someone on the ticket that wasn’t a crook and liar you may have won. So long sore losers. I hope someone brings you cocoa and play dough to soothe your broken hearts. You are truly pathetic.

Sharon Thomas

Two articles: Trump’s Triumph By Barry Friedman And The Morning After By David Blatt As well as The Midnight In America editorial piece

By Joshua Kline ALL POINT TO ONE REALITY!! You are all POOR POOR LOSERS!!

Thank goodness, most OKLAHOMANS voted Correctly.

You shd move to California and take your liberal Left winged mixed up publication with you!!

Kerry Freeman

Colleen Thurston

I am grateful for your excellent coverage of the important DAPL pipeline protest. Keep up the good work!

THANK YOU… I found The Tulsa Voice newspaper just a few months ago at the Atlas Grill where I sometimes go for breakfast.

Where I work, being a woman, I am definitely in the minority on my political and environmental views, but it’s so refreshing to see a Tulsa publication speak so openly, honestly, and passionately about all the worldly and stately doings and wrongdoings.

I voted for Hillary. And yes, to me, it felt like Decency had died when Trump was elected, I couldn’t even get out of the bed the next day to come to work. I was in mourning and I’m still working through the grief, and what I feel like is America’s loss. When I did come in to work, the white men were all smiles and slapping each other on the back.

It’s even hard for me to continue to work for this company, but I only have a few more years before I retire, so I bite my tongue a lot. You see, I’ve been ignorant to a lot of the issues for a long time, but I’m catching up. Guess I’m just a late bloomer. I’m a member of The Unity Center of Tulsa, and the Sunday service after the election was very emotional for a lot of us. Our minister, Rick Belous, reminded us of what Ghandi said, “Be the change you want to see.”

I have to keep reminding myself of this.

But, again, just wanted to say THANK YOU, for your wonderfully crafted articles, I’ve enjoyed reading them and it has also enlightened me! Rock on! ...And here’s to my retirement in a Blue State!

Bill Breckinridge

Name withheld

Normally I wouldn’t send a complaint or a response to the media. After reading your article in the Voice regarding the election I decided that my voice should be heard also. Anyone that voted for Trump has been called a racist, a bigot and stupid and uneducated. I am not of these things. A lot of people voted for Trump because they were tired of the establishment. We didn’t riot, we voted. The media needs to stop the Trump bashing. Give the man a chance. The media should be reporting news and not their personal agendas. I didn’t agree with a lot of the things Trump said, however I didn’t believe anything Hilary said. After reading this article I wanted you to know that you are doing the same things that you are accusing Trump off.

3 NO. 23 6 , 2 0 1 6 // V O L .

N O V. 1 6 – D E C .

D I S PAT C H E S

DING F R O M S TA N P 22

ROCK

-ELEC T LED THE PRES IDENT HOW OKLAH OMA ENAB TRUM P’S TRIUM PH:

| P14

Jimmie Mosher

THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

NEWS & COMMENTARY // 7

okpolicy

S AMERICA’S RACIAL WEALTH GAP It was 397 years in the making; we shouldn’t take that long to close it

by DEVON DOUGLASS

8 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

lavery of African-Americans lasted for 246 years, from when the first slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619 to when it was finally abolished in 1865. Another 99 years passed until the 1964 Civil Rights Act ended Jim Crow laws that had systematically denied equal opportunity to African-Americans. Even after the end of Jim Crow, discrimination against African-Americans has continued in numerous well-documented ways, and all people of color in the United States continue to lag well behind whites when it comes to income and wealth.

The impact of this history is very much with us today. As a recent report from the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) points out, if the wealth of average black families continues to grow at the same pace as it is growing today, it will take 228 years to reach the wealth of average white families today — nearly as long as the 246-year span of slavery. And that’s just to reach the current wealth levels of white families, not to catch up with white family wealth that is still growing at three times the rate of the black population. For the average Latino family, it would take 84 years to reach the amount of wealth that white families have today.

That means without major changes, the legacy of slavery, discrimination, and the racial wealth gap will be with us for centuries to come. This racial wealth gap is a national problem that will require nationwide efforts to fully address it. However, Oklahoma policymakers can take some steps to improve economic justice in our state.

One of the keys to shrinking the racial wealth gap is access to jobs that pay a living wage — enough money to move out of poverty and become more self-sufficient. In Oklahoma the minimum wage is currently $7.25/ hr. That’s barely half the amount

needed for a living wage that could provide food, clothing, and shelter for 2 adults and 2 children ($13.85/hr). The low minimum wage affects all Oklahomans, and African Americans and Latinos are especially likely to be in these jobs. Increasing the minimum wage would be a step in the right direction to give these workers a path out of poverty.

Of course, a higher wage by itself does not build wealth unless the worker has opportunities to save or invest those wages.

Unfortunately, many Oklahomans don’t have those opportunities.

Oklahoma currently has the one of the highest rates of unbanked and underbanked people in the nation. While the unbanked and underbanked state average is 10.9 percent, African Americans’ and Native Americans’ unbanked rates are 20.9 and 15.7 percent, respectively. Not having full access to or awareness of traditional banking pushes families into asset-draining products like predatory loans.

Payday loans and other predatory loan products strip wealth from Oklahomans who have the least. To counteract these problems facing people of color in Oklahoma and across the country, state legislators could strengthen consumer protections by capping payday loan interest at the reasonable rate of 36 percent.

Closing the racial wealth gap is a problem too big for Oklahoma to solve on our own. However, Oklahoma does have opportunities to be part of the solution. It has taken almost four centuries for us to get here. With the right steps, it will not take as long to repair the injustices of our past and open up the wealth of our society to all of its members. a

DeVon Douglass is a policy analyst with Oklahoma Policy Institute (www.okpolicy.org).

December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

openletter

A

fter the 2016 election, The New York Times published two helpful maps illustrating the utterly disconnected worlds we now live in.

The map of Trumpland—in which parts of the U.S. that went for Trump comprise the landmass and Clintonland is water—looks roughly similar to the U.S. map as it is, vast swaths of the country dotted with little water features like Dallas Pond and big bites taken out of the coast in places like Los Angeles Bay and the Connecticut Strait.

By contrast, Clintonland looks like a ghost, the rough outlines of the familiar map like parentheses bracketing an archipelago nation of tiny islands speckled throughout vast interconnected seas. In Clinton’s America, denizens of Oklahoma live at the center of a landless waterworld called the Great American Ocean.

The maps illustrate just how bifurcated our country has become.

As liberals sift through the election results searching for answers about how they lost to a punchline with a fake tan, one thing is crystal clear: more than by gender, race, or class—the country is starkly divided between urban and rural. Cities went for Clinton. The pattern even holds within Tulsa County, where Trump won with nearly 60 percent, but Clinton did gangbusters in precincts surrounding the denser urban core. Clinton did better in precincts around downtown Tulsa than she did in California.

A related divide was also revealed in the election results: college graduates voted Clinton and the less-educated voted Trump. Whereas Trump did about as well as other recent Republican nominees with blacks, Latinos and women, people without a college degree broke hard for the THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

AMERICA IS NOT • BY DENVER NICKS

EVERETT COLLECTION - SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

GOP this year. Trump won by a gobsmacking 39 points among one group in particular: non-college-educated whites.

College graduates are clustered in cities and even within cities in denser urban areas, like north Brooklyn or midtown Tulsa.

Young people in general are also expressing a similar though less-pronounced preference for cities. Clintonland, by any objective metric, has a younger, better-educated population than Trumpland. And although Trumpland represents 85 percent of the country’s landmass, Clintonland holds 54 percent of the population. And that’s not even con-

sidering Clinton’s margin of two million in the popular vote.

In other words, Trumpies may have the guns, but liberals have the numbers. And the brains.

And the money. And the future.

And in Middle America Trumpies don’t even have all the guns.

Lined up next to each other, these facts begin to paint a fearsome vision of the future for the working class people who got scammed by Donald Trump this year.

The multiculturalism and cultural liberalism that Trumpies rejected in the latest election emanate from cities, and cities aren’t going anywhere. Urban areas will continue to be cauldrons of

creativity where wealth is created and concentrated and the future of the United States is decided.

Trumpies voted to make America great again because they feel like they’re losing their country, and they are. And it’s the thankless job of liberals to keep inviting them with open arms into a future that is already here. The country needs unity but there will be no meeting in the middle on white nationalism or contempt for democratic norms. We’ll unify around the same place Americans have always unified: small-L liberalism and an inclusive, hopeful, smart and bright-eyed vision of the future.

Floating as they are deep in the Great American Ocean, family to Trump voters and more familiar than any Manhattanite with defending liberalism in argument, liberals in Middle America are positioned to lead this country out of the dank, willful stupidity of Trumpism. The GOP will have to be rebuilt into a party with real conservative principles that embraces change but preserves what is best in our culture, including liberal values like individual liberty, honest debate, and free markets.

And the Democratic Party will need to be rescued from the identity politics of the regressive left and the shrieking sensitivity of pointy-headed social justice warrior types. People in Middle America with liberal ideals, whether Republican, Democrat or something else, are the ones to step up and inject decency and common sense back into our politics.

And it will take both sides.

As the great Tulsan Daniel Patrick Moynihan once put it: “The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.” a NEWS & COMMENTARY // 9

viewsfrom theplains

Carol Bush and Barry Friedman met at Old School Bagel Café for an interview Nov. 29 | GREG BOLLINGER

One of the good ones

Bagels with new District 70 Representative Carol Bush

by BARRY FRIEDMAN

D

isclosure: Carol Bush and

I have been friends for 35 years, ever since she owned Beach Party, a surf shop on Brookside, in the 80s.

She arrives at Old School Bagel Cafe singing.

Beach Party, baby Make you feel good Lots of funky clothes Coming straight from Hollywood.

“What the hell is that?” I ask.

“It’s your jingle. You wrote it 30 years ago. Here,” Carol Bush says, and hands me a bag consisting of a Beach Party hand fan, a refrigerator magnet, an old business card, and a fake $10,000 laminated bill.

She’s now a Republican state representative. She defeated Ken Walker, a conservative Republican, an incumbent, in District 70, and she did it from the center. That doesn’t happen in Oklahoma. In10 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

cumbent Republicans do not lose to moderation, do not lose to candidates who leave party-affiliation off campaign material, as Bush did, do not lose to candidates who once went by—I check the card— Carol “Tuna-Woman” Bush.

She’s been an advocate, volunteer, headed the Tulsa Crime Commission, sold real estate for 35 minutes, and did a stint with the Tulsa Health Department, where she eliminated Coke machines from area schools.

“Could that happen today or would the state GOP claim liberals were dictating what to feed our kids?” I ask.

“It took four years to get those machines out,” she says. “What I learned is sometimes these aren’t R&D [Republican and Democratic] issues, but human issues— health and wellness, education. So how do you create win-win across the aisle?”

“Carol, c’mon, your party doesn’t have to work across the aisle. Your party doesn’t have to

acknowledge the aisle. There is no aisle, actually.”

“I know, but I see a shift moving more towards the middle.”

I nearly choke on my lox.

She calms me down and brings up the party’s new leader, Rep. Charles McCall from Atoka.

“This is a good guy,” she says.

“Did you support the education tax?”

“No. It was the wrong way to fund it,” she retorts.

“Everyone agreed with that.

David Boren agreed. But it wasn’t being done any other way.”

“But I think we can do it another way.”

“When the party in power has not been motivated to do anything for public education and isn’t punished by voters, why would it do it now? Because Carol Bush thinks it’s a good idea?”

“Because there is a push from those like me who say, ‘By God, we, as a party have to’—excuse me—‘get our shit together and do right by the people of Oklahoma.’

I still don’t know why 55 percent of our budget goes to public education and we can’t fund it. I would still like to know where the hell all that money goes. I think we have too many school districts, we’re too top heavy, too administrative.”

“But that’s a smokescreen,” I respond. “We’ve cut more from education than any other state since 2008.”

“Yes, I agree,” and tells me she has submitted a proposal to her party’s leadership to concentrate on education and long-range budget planning. “Everything else is on the back burner.”

“Back burner? All right,” I say, “let’s play the lightning round.”

“Go.” Ten Commandment Monument?

“Separation of Church and State. Move on.”

Death Penalty?

“I believe in capital punishment and that comes from ten years working at the Crime CommisDecember 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

sion, but [State Question 776] was poorly written.”

Abortions for rape, incest, life of the mother?

“Of course.”

Charter Schools?

“No—well, there’s a place for them. But I’m not for the vouchers because public funds should not be spent on private schools.”

Affordable Care Act? “Oh, God! Wrong execution of the right idea. I do believe we have to take care of the healthcare of everybody.”

Gay Rights?

“Of course. You can’t legislate morality.”

Taxes?

“We’ve taken too much money out of the budget in the last 12 years.”

“You’re a Republican,” I say.

“You’re coming out for tax hikes?

Ballsy!”

“I know, but I was all for that cigarette tax. It should go back on the table.”

“Why should cigarette smokers bear the burden? The deficit isn’t their fault.”

“I understand it’s not their fault, but they cost the state billions of dollars in healthcare. And why do we pay tax on groceries? You want to take care of the poor, do something about that.”

“So, where do we make up the revenue? Higher taxes on horizontal drillers?”

“Yeah,” she says. “What about a luxury tax?”

“Why is it so tough for legislators to say, ‘We can’t afford tax cuts anymore’? If we want good education, police and fire, clean water and air, we have to pay for it,” I say.

“I don’t know, but we should. I know that’s not a popular answer within my party—I’ll get beat up for that—but that’s what we should be doing.”

“So, why are you a Republican?”

“Why are you a Democrat?”

“Because we fundamentally believe government has a role to play in society, there are things it does the private sector can’t, or shouldn’t, like education, prisons, environmental protection—that privatization has largely been a failure.”

“I agree with that.”

“You’ll be recalled by April.”

THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

Carol Bush | GREG BOLLINGER

“So why was I elected?” she asks, laughing. “I still would like to think there is a shift away from those radical positions that have defined my party. Because people have decided we have to start focusing on the things that matter every day.”

“Then explain Trump.”

“God only knows. I don’t like the way he represents; I wish he would shut up.”

“And Clinton?”

“I couldn’t get behind her—the first woman president, I know, but I just couldn’t.”

“So who did you vote for?

“I left it blank.”

“All right, let’s talk about your meeting at the capitol with the caucus.”

“Don’t do this,” she says, laughing.

“It’s too good of a story. I want to hear it from you.”

“Okay, it was fine, a reunion of sorts for many, but then John Bennett [R-Sallisaw] spoke and I thought I was back at ORU and that was offensive. It was a prayer revival, Bible thumping, and it

shouldn’t have been. And it wasn’t just offensive to me—I am sitting in a row of about ten people and we’re all looking at each other, thinking, ‘What are you doing?’”

“So if Rachel Maddow has you both on to talk about Oklahoma politics, will you pick a fight with him?”

“Oh, I’ll pick a fight with him.

We need to muffle his megaphone.

And how the hell does he keep getting re-elected? Let’s start there.”

“Does his agenda suck the energy out of real legislation and embarrass the state?”

“Yes, absolutely. When I was campaigning, I’d knock on doors and ask questions, try to go deeper, and one woman said she’d never let her kids go into a public bathroom again because she didn’t want them kidnapped and raped.

And I thought, ‘Oh, dear God, the ignorance.’ I said, ‘Do you know who the pedophiles are? It’s usually your white, next-door neighbor.

I laid into her because I was so angry about the ignorance.’”

“What’d she do?”

“Kicked me off her porch. I got back in the car and said to my volunteer, ‘I have to quit. I have reached my boiling point.’”

But she didn’t. And she won.

She thinks back. Her father had just died. Jeannie McDaniel, outgoing Democratic representative of a neighboring district, called and asked her to run.

“Jeannie, I’m getting ready to bury my dad. I don’t want to talk politics.”

McDaniel told her to take a few weeks.

She did.

Her mother is in a nursing home now and she won an election she had no right to win.

She’s exhausted and it’s just starting.

“I am taking care of my mother, who wants to die. And she keeps begging me and I tell her, ‘We don’t live in Oregon. We don’t have assisted suicide laws. Those questions get asked. The sanctity of life, but what of the quality?

There are these dilemmas we’re faced with every day. You know, Barry.”

My father’s 90.

“It’s political, it’s personal, yes?”

“Yes,” she says.

Her party will pull her to the right; her conscience will remind her of the experiential, the connections between her daughters, her party, her state.

And if it doesn’t work?

“I’ll keep my head high. When I was at the health department, we weren’t allowed to do the Morning-After Pill, but we also weren’t allowed to go to schools and hand out condoms. No birth control because the religion right said, ‘Abstinence!’ Well, as the mother of two daughters, I prayed to God it was abstinence. Did it happen?

I don’t know, but they could come to me and say ‘Mom, I need to be on birth control.’ Was it what I wanted? No. But I’m not stupid and blind. If we had been able to hand out birth control, we would not be 4th in the nation in teen pregnancies. Guess who’s taking care of them? Thank you, taxpayers. God, give them birth control!

GIVE THEM BIRTH CONTROL—not abortions. We’re so myopic in our thinking. I’m saying that as a Christian, so there you go, Republicans.” a NEWS & COMMENTARY // 11

bottomline

by RJ YOUNG

FEARLESS JOURNALISM, NOW FREE

COURTESY IRON GATE

IRON GATE’S UPHILL BATTLE

Connie Cronley is tired of fighting a battle she should have won with ease.

“I’m exhausted,” she told the Tulsa World, after stepping down Monday, Nov. 28 from her position as executive director of Iron Gate.

Cronley spent the last 14 years of her life championing the need to feed those who are hungry in Tulsa, and watched Iron Gate, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that’s served Tulsa’s homeless and working poor for over 30 years, outgrow a church basement that is just too small for the organization’s big heart. So she led the search to find a bigger, better space to fulfill Iron Gate’s mission.

“Since Iron Gate outgrew the space at the church, my dream has been to build a beautiful, stand-alone facility to feed hungry people, but I never imagined it would result in such rancor and opposition,” she said. “That animosity has been unimaginable and very tiring.”

Connie Cronley

Last month, Iron Gate entered district court after the Tulsa City Board of Adjustment denied it a special exception request—related to zoning ordinances—to build a facility near 7th and Elgin. This is the second time in 15 months the Board of Adjustment has denied Iron Gate the ability to move out of its current location at Trinity Episcopal Church at 5th and Cincinnati. Last year, its plans to relocate to 3rd and Peoria in the

WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE PROBLEM, OFFICER? On Tuesday, Nov. 29, Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby appeared in court for a preliminary hearing regarding the fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher in North Tulsa. Shelby’s defense attorney, Shannon McMurray, argued that Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan and Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler conspired to charge Shelby with one count of first-degree manslaughter before the police department’s investigation was complete.

Helicopter and dash cam footage revealed Crutcher, a 40-yearold black man, was unarmed and his hands were raised when Shelby shot and killed him on September 16.

In the past, the city’s response to similar shootings seemed to miss the fact that many black people in Tulsa fear the police. Mayor G.T. Bynum, who was sworn in December 5, doesn’t want to make that mistake.

He spent a significant amount of time during his campaign and in the months following his election listening to citizens’ problems and concerns.

12 // NEWS & COMMENTARY

Pearl District were torpedoed after area business owners threw a very loud fit over the idea of poors invading the neighborhood. This time, outcry was similar, but the denial was based on a technicality: three of the five board members abstained from voting over conflicts of interest.

The remaining two—David White and Austin Bond—voted in favor of the exception, but an approval requires three votes.

Iron Gate continues to fight for the opportunity to relocate, but Cronley will no longer lead the charge. Following her resignation, Iron Gate announced attorney and former district judge Mark Barcus will be its interim director until a permanent replacement is found.

BOTTOM LINE: For all its growth and progress, Tulsa should be past its provincial mindset regarding the homeless. We commend Cronley for fighting the good fight for so long.

Bynum said one of the problems he heard most about was the feeling of fear among blacks in Tulsa—particularly as it relates to engagement with members of law enforcement.

“I think that’s one of the terrible things that came out of the tragedy of Terence Crutcher being shot,” Bynum said. “For a lot of people, it confirms all their fears about their encounters with police. So as I come into office, I don’t think there’s anything we’re going to deal with in the next several years more important that changing that dynamic.”

One of the ways he hopes to affect change—particularly among Tulsa’s black population—is by installing and promoting a plan that allows for the community to build a rapport with the men and women tasked with protecting and serving that community.

“It’s going to take individual citizens getting to know individual police officers as people and individual police officers getting to know individual citizens, one person to another,” Bynum said.

BOTTOM LINE: I’m a young black man, and police frighten me. But I don’t want to be scared. So, officer, let’s have coffee.

The only dedicated investigative journalism outlet in the Tulsa area with a Pulitzer finalist at its helm is now free to read. The Frontier recently announced that it would drop its $30-a-month paywall and move to a non-profit model.

Publisher Bobby Lorton, former C.E.O. of the Tulsa World, launched The Frontier in the spring of 2015 as an experimental for-profit venture with the understanding that moving to a non-profit model was a possibility.

Editor-in-chief Ziva Branstetter said the decision to transition to a non-profit model does not mean the for-profit model wasn’t, well, profitable. On the strength of a committed subscriber base and silent sponsors, The Frontier continued to grow and achieve sustainability.

But with its growth came unforeseen problems, like the day-to-day maintenance of the website, which proved to be cumbersome and tedious for the skeleton crew.

“It was actually a problem of the more subscribers that we got, the more administrative work it created for us in terms of people losing passwords, people needing to change credit card numbers,” Branstetter said. “We found ourselves, as we grew, dealing with more and more of that.”

Another problem: Donors who wanted to give The Frontier more money.

“Bobby continued to run into people who ran foundations and had money to donate that would’ve donated more,” she said.

“People would tell him, ‘Hey, I’d be happy to donate more if you guys were non-profit.’”

Turning non-profit makes donations tax deductible, and allows the Frontier to pursue more grants, hire more staff and partner with other news outlets with similar missions while pursuing stories some city leaders would rather the public not read. It also invites new readers who previously couldn’t afford the pricey subscription fee.

“We’re doing public interest journalism,” Branstetter said, “and we want people to see it.”

BOTTOM LINE: In its young life, The Frontier has had a palpable impact on Tulsa, especially in the realm of transparency and accountability from city leaders and law enforcement. With nonprofit status, that impact should only become more pronounced. a December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

The Lord shall PRESERVE thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for EVERMORE.

Guthrie Green, an urban park and entertainment space in the heart of Tulsa’s Brady Arts District.

LAND MADE FOR YOU AND ME.

FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 924 S. Boulder Church & Sunday School • 10:30am Wednesday Meeting • 6:00pm

OKLAHOMA STUDY OF NATIVE AMERICAN PAIN RISK RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS NEEDED

$200 compensation ($100/day)

INVESTIGATORS: Drs. Jamie Rhudy & Joanna Shadlow CONTACT: The University of Tulsa Psychophysiology Research Laboratory 918-631-2175 or 918-631-3565

A novel research study is being conducted at The University of Tulsa to identify potential markers of risk for chronic pain in healthy (currently painfree) Non-Hispanic White and Native American individuals.

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

guthriegreen.com | #guthriegreen |

1 in 5

Oklahoma kids lives with secondhand smoke.

THE LOOP

Secondhand smoke increases kids’ risk for · Respiratory infections · Earaches · Asthma · More missed school days · Serious long-term health issues Protect all kids from secondhand smoke by making their world smokefree.

loop

Downtown Tulsa's Shuttle

Operates Friday & Saturday Evenings 5pm-2am Scan the QR code and keep track of the

Loop with the Tulsa Transit Bus Tracker App.

TOBACCO IS STILL A PROBLEM IN OKLAHOMA.

THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

NEWS & COMMENTARY // 13

citybites

CASA BONITA REBORN Now Rio, iconic Tulsa restaurant spot still a wonderland – but for adults | BY ANGELA EVANS

Rio Restaurant & Bar is located at 2120 S. Sheridan Rd. | GREG BOLLINGER

I

n the 80s and 90s, every kid begged their parents to take them to Casa Bonita. The restaurant was more than a place to eat. It was an immersive experience with a whimsical interior, all-you-can-eat sopapillas and puppet shows. But, like the rest of us, Casa Bonita has grown up.

Long gone is the bustling arcade, with its carousel and Whack-AMole games. No more Zoltar to grant wishes and no more monkey-on-a-bicycle, zipping across the ceiling on a high wire. The vestiges of its kid-centered past have given way to Rio Restaurant & Bar, a multiplex for night life with three different clubs in one place.

Rio has experienced some very adult-themed problems—a shooting outside the club in 2014 and a raid by the DEA in 2016, which yielded the arrest and indictment of eight individuals for drug conspiracy. Despite the bad press, the restaurant and club remain open, and Rio is still a popular spot for not only the nightlife, but also for lunch and dinner.

The salmon-pink stucco façade and terra cotta roof appear untouched by time. In my mind’s eye, I can almost see the old Casa 14 // FOOD & DRINK

Bonita sign, lit up and glittering like a carnival ride.

As a kid, I remember waiting in a monstrous line where my parents would cajole us into ordering actual food, even though the only thing on our minds was hitting the arcade, maybe catching a magic show. So walking into Rio for lunch on a Tuesday was like walking into a museum at night, the vastness punctuated by the absence of crowds.

The playground I loved as a kid has transformed into the kind of place that gets my full approval as an adult. The nostalgia remains, like the large plastic trees that ascend to the vaulted ceiling and the iron gates and stone paths that give the illusion of being in a magical Mexican courtyard.

The formal dining room is still intact, with lush booths, newly installed flooring and ornate mirrors covering the walls. The area in front of the dining room is cleared of tables and chairs, revealing the perfect place for salsa dancing on the weekends.

A winding path leads to the most memorable and coveted seating area—the caves. The inset booths and muted lighting make me realize that this was meant to

be a club all along. This is where top-40 dance music is played, where darkness is replaced by frenetic lasers and swirling lights.

Stairs lead up to a balcony for aerial bacchanal viewing. Another larger area lies outside of the caves, and is anchored by bar number three.

But, on a Tuesday at 1 p.m., there are no bumping beats or busy bartenders. There are, however, $.99 tacos and $2 Coronas— all day. Fresh chips and a smoky, spicy salsa are dispatched immediately. We dig into the warm chips and explore the large menu.

Eight Mexican imports and a few domestics round out the beer options. They also have a great selection of mixed drinks, shots, daiquiris, even a mega Margarona served in a fishbowl-sized goblet for $21.99.

We start with a white queso flecked with tomato and peppers.

The menu is filled with all the Texmex standards—tamales, fajitas, enchiladas, and tacos. They also have a large choice of seafood dishes, and serve menudo and pozole on the weekends.

I choose a lunch combination platter with a taco, enchilada, rice and beans for $5.99. I also order a

carne asada gordita. They have so many meat filling options—mole rojo, verde, pollo, chicharron, rojas con queso, birria, chorizo and pastor.

The roja mole gordita is a real standout. The crisp-yet-chewy gordita shell creates a pouch for the roja mole—tender morsels of beef that have been slow cooked in a rich sauce of red chiles and tomato.

The items in my lunch combo are so-so. The enchilada is less of an enchilada and more of a flour tortilla stuffed with ground beef and topped with queso. My carne asada gordita is a treat, filled perfectly with delicately flavored carne asada, minced onion and cilantro.

Rio is always hopping with special events, roaming mariachi bands on the weekends and daily specials like $6.99 fajitas on Wednesdays and $.99 Taco Tuesdays. It’s open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the kitchen closes at 9 p.m., but the fun keeps going until 2 a.m. The space’s festive essence of yore is still alive at Rio, and with kids out of the equation, it may be more appealing than Casa Bonita ever was. a December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

“The discovery of a wine… …is of greater moment than the discovery of a constellation. The universe is too full of stars.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Come discover new wines for the holiday season from our unrivaled selections. Enjoy.

Wine Capital of Tulsa for Over 40 Years East of Harvard on 31st St.

918.747.1171

THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

FOOD & DRINK // 15

downthehatch

FERNET ME

by LIZ BLOOD

F

ernet Branca was the one bottle Jared Jordan and his service industry coworkers thought they could drink on the sly because no one would ever miss it.

“It’s kind-of the bartender’s handshake,” Jordan said. “If you order it, the bartender thinks ‘OK, you’re industry.’ It’s a fun secret, but I wish more people drank it, too.”

Jordan, who co-owns MixCo at 3rd St. and Denver Ave., makes sure his bar does its part to spread the good word of Fernet Branca—by carrying it on tap.

“San Francisco consumes 25 percent of the Fernet in the U.S.,” he said. “It’s on tap all over the place.”

Maybe MixCo consumes 25 percent of the Fernet in Tulsa.

Who knows.

What I do know is that Fernet—a bitter Italian liqueur made with 27 different herbs, like saffron, cardamom, myrrh, and God knows what else—is not always a big hit on the first try. It’s syrupy, brown, and medicinal. Not exactly sweet.

When I first tried it in Eastern Europe, where it also enjoys popularity, I got used to the taste by mixing it with tonic. Now, Fernet on ice or even as a room-temp shot is a go-to for an after-dinner drink, nightcap, or hangover cure.

Jordan surmises bartenders like it so much because, after a night of making and taste-testing drinks—many of which are sweet—Fernet is a strong (39 percent ABV) choice that hits the palate, wakes you up, and gets you through close-down.

16 // FOOD & DRINK

I too have joined the cult of Fernet, for no other reason than I like it. Now I just need to get a challenge coin. Yes, Fernet’s clique-ishness is such that it has special coins—like the military.

“Oklahoma is getting its own coin,” Jordan said. “We held the contest here at MixCo a few weeks ago. Whenever someone pulls out their coin, whoever in the group doesn’t have theirs has to buy shots.”

For true Fernet geeks like Jordan and others in the industry, it’s a fun incentive for being part of the club. He and several other Tulsa bartenders also take shots of Angostura Bitters—which has no coin—but that’s another column for a different time.

“We eat so much this time of year that Fernet is my go-to,” Jordan said.

I took a bottle of Fernet Branca home to Oklahoma City for a post-Thanksgiving meal digestif.

Half of those who tried it seemed to like it, but they sipped tentatively. Fat and happy, I left to take a nap before anyone else finished the drink.

If you’re new to the stuff, try it first in a cocktail—I suggest the Hanky Panky, a classic cocktail made with gin, sweet vermouth, and dashes of Fernet Branca; a Fernandito (Fernet and Coke), or even Fernet and Tonic. Another favorite is the Eva Peron, which is equal parts Fernet, ginger liqueur, sweet vermouth, lime juice, and ginger beer. Or dive right in and order a shot—the bartender will welcome you. a December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

dininglistings TU/KENDALL WHITTIER

SOUTH TULSA

Big Al’s Health Foods Bill’s Jumbo Burgers Billy Ray’s BBQ Brothers Houligan Calaveras Mexican Grill Capp’s BBQ Corner Café Duffy’s Diner El Rio Verde Freddie’s Hamburgers Guang Zhou Dim Sum Jim’s Coney Island Las Americas Super Mercado & Restaurant

BBD II Baja Jack’s Burrito Shack Bamboo Thai Bistro Bellacino’s Pizza & Grinders Bodean’s Seafood Restaurant The Brook Camille’s Sidewalk Café Cardigan’s Charleston’s Cimarron Meat Company Dona Tina Cocina Mexicana El Guapo’s El Samborsito Elements Steakhouse & Grille The Fig Café and Bakery First Watch Five Guys French Hen Gencies Chicken Shack Gyros by Ali Hebert’s Specialty Meats Helen of Troy Hideaway Pizza India Palace

Lone Wolf Bahn Mi Lot a Burger Maxxwell’s Restaurant Mr. Taco Oklahoma Style BBQ Pancho Anaya Bakery Philly Alley Pie Hole Pizza Pollo al Carbon Rib Crib BBQ & Grill The Right Wing Route 66 Subs & Burgers Tacos Don Francisco Tally’s Good Food Cafe

PEARL DISTRICT Ike’s Chili JJ’s Hamburgers Lola’s Caravan The Phoenix Café

Papa Ganouj El Rancho Grande Soul City

BROOKSIDE Biga Billy Sims BBQ Blue Moon Bakery and Café Bricktown Brewery The Brook Brookside By Day Café Ole Café Samana Charleston’s Claud’s Hamburgers Cosmo Café & Bar Crow Creek Tavern Doc’s Wine and Food Egg Roll Express Elmer’s BBQ The Hen Bistro HopBunz In the Raw Keo La Hacienda

Lambrusco’Z To Go Mazzio’s Italian Eatery Ming’s Noodle Bar Mondo’s Ristorante Italiano Old School Bagel Café Pei Wei Asian Diner R Bar & Grill Rons Hamburgers & Chili Señor Tequila Shades of Brown Sonoma Bistro & Wine Bar Starbucks Sumatra Coffee Shop Super Wok Sushi Hana Japanese Fusion The Warehouse Bar & Grill Weber’s Root Beer Whole Foods Market Yolotti Frozen Yogurt Zoës Kitchen

UTICA SQUARE Brownies Gourmet Burgers Fleming’s Goldie’s Patio Grill McGill’s Olive Garden P.F. Chang’s China Bistro

Pepper’s Grill Polo Grill Queenie’s Café and Bakery Starbucks Stonehorse Café Wild Fork

Albert G’s Bar & Q Bramble Dilly Diner El Guapo’s Cantina Fassler Hall Joe Bots Coffee Juniper

Atlas Grill Billy’s on the Square Boston Avenue Grill Deco Deli

624 Kitchen and Catering All About Cha Stylish Coffee & Tea Baxter’s Interurban Grill Bohemian Pizzeria The Boiler Room The Boulder Grill Café 320 Casa Laredo Coney Island Daily Grill Foolish Things Coffee Grand Selections for Lunch The Greens on Boulder Lassalle’s New Orleans Deli

MIDTOWN Albert G’s Bangkok Thai Super Buffet Bravo’s Mexican Grill Brothers Houligan Celebrity Restaurant Daylight Donuts Supershop Eddy’s Steakhouse Evolve Paleo Chef Felini’s Cookies & Deli Golden Gate

GREENWOOD Lefty’s on Greenwood Wanda J’s

Elote Café & Catering Mod’s Coffee & Crepes Tavolo The Vault

DOWNTOWN

Bill & Ruth’s Blue Rose Café Burn Co. BBQ The Chalkboard Dalesandro’s

Elwoods Mansion House Café Ron’s Hamburgers & Chili La Villa at Philbrook

Lambrusco’z McNellie’s S&J Oyster Company STG Pizzeria & Gelateria Tallgrass Prairie Table White Flag Yokozuna

DECO DISTRICT

TERWILLEGER HEIGHTS

Abear’s Fat Guy’s

WO ODLAND HILLS

BLUE D OME Kirin The Krazy Olive La Crêpe Nanou La Flama Mahogany Prime Steakhouse Masa McNellie’s South City Mr. Goodcents Subs & Pastas Napa Flats Wood Fired Kitchen Nordaggio’s Coffee OK Country Donut Shoppe Pita Place Redrock Canyon Grill Ripe Tomato Ron’s Hamburgers and Chili Sushi Hana Japanese Fusion Thai Village Tres Amigos Mexican Grill & Cantina White Lion Whole Foods Yokozuna Zio’s Italian Kitchen

Lou’s Deli MADE Market in the DoubleTree by Hilton Mazzio’s Italian Eatery Naples Flatbread & Wine Bar Oneok Café Oklahoma Spud on the Mall Seven West Café Sheena’s Cookies & Deli Steakfinger House The Sushi Place Tabouli’s Ti Amo Topeca Coffee Williams Center Café

Lambrusco’z Mary Jane’s Pizza Mr. Nice Guys My Thai Kitchen PJ’s Sandwich Shoppe Phill’s Diner Sushi Train Trenchers Delicatessen Umberto’s Pizza

I-44/BA INTERCHANGE Big Anthony’s BBQ Bill & Ruth’s Subs Billy Sims BBQ Binh-Le Vietnamese Chop House BBQ D’Oro Pizza Desi Wok Fiesta Cozumel Gogi Gui Growler’s Sandwich Grill Hideaway Pizza Himalayas – Aroma of India Ichiban Teriyaki Jumbo’s Burgers Las Bocas Las Tres Fronteras Le Bistro Sidewalk Cafe Mamasota’s Mexican Restaurant & Bar Mazzio’s Italian Eatery

Monterey’s Little Mexico Nelson’s Buffeteria Pho Da Cao Pickle’s Pub Rice Bowl Cafe Rib Crib BBQ & Grill Roo’s Sidewalk Café Royal Dragon Sezchuan Express Shawkat’s Deli & Grill Speedy Gonzalez Grill Spudder Steak Stuffers USA Tacos Don Francisco Thai Siam Tokyo Garden The Tropical Restaurant & Bar Viet Huong Villa Ravenna Watts Barbecue

NORTH TULSA Amsterdam Bar & Grill Admiral Grill Bill & Ruth’s Christy’s BBQ Evelyn’s Golden Saddle BBQ Steakhouse Hank’s Hamburgers

Harden’s Hamburgers Hero’s Subs & Burgers Los Primos Moonsky’s Cheesesteaks and Daylight Donuts The Restaurant at Gilcrease White River Fish Market

WEST TULSA

Tulsa Broken Arrow

THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

Arnold’s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers Burger House Charlie’s Chicken Jumpin J’s Knotty Pine BBQ Hideaway Pizza Linda Mar

Lot a Burger Monterey’s Little Mexico Ollie’s Station Rib Crib BBQ & Grill Sandwiches & More Union Street Café Westside Grill & Delivery

Asahi Sushi Bar Baker Street Pub & Grill Billy Sims BBQ Bistro at Seville Bluestone Steahouse and Seafood Restaurant Brothers Houligan Brothers Pizza Bucket’s Sports Bar & Grill Charlie’s Chicken Chuy’s Chopsticks El Tequila Fat Daddy’s Pub & Grille Fat Guy’s Burger Bar Fish Daddy’s Seafood Grill Fuji FuWa Asian Kitchen Firehouse Subs The Gaucho Brazilian Steakhouse Haruno Hungry Howie’s Pizza In the Raw on the Hill Jameson’s Pub Jamil’s Jason’s Deli Jay’s Original Hoagies

Keo Kit’s Takee-Outee La Roma Lanna Thai Logan’s Road House Louie’s Mandarin Taste Marley’s Pizza Mekong River Mi Tierra Napoli’s Italian Restaurant Oliveto Italian Bistro Ri Le’s Rib Crib BBQ & Grill Ridge Grill Ron’s Hamburgers & Chili Savoy Shogun Steakhouse of Japan Siegi’s Sausage Factory & Deli Texas de Brazil Ti Amo Italian Ristorante Wrangler’s Bar-B-Q Yasaka Steakhouse of Japan Zio’s Italian Kitchen

BRADY ARTS DISTRICT Antoinette Baking Co. Bull in the Alley Caz’s Chowhouse Chimera Coney Island Elgin Park Draper’s Bar-B-Cue Gypsy Coffee House Hey Mambo The Hunt Club

Laffa Lucky’s on the Green Mexicali Border Café Oklahoma Joe’s Prhyme Downtown Steakhouse The Rusty Crane Sisserou’s Spaghetti Warehouse The Tavern

CHERRY STREET 15 Below Andolini’s Pizzeria Café Cubana Chimi’s Mexican Food Chipotle Mexican Grill Coffee House on Cherry Street Genghis Grill Heirloom Baking Co. Hideaway Pizza Jason’s Deli Kilkenny’s Irish Pub & Eatery La Madeleine Lucky’s Restaurant Mary’s Italian Trattoria

Mi Cocina Noodles & Company Oklahoma Kolache Co. Palace Café Panera Bread Phat Philly’s The Pint Qdoba Mexican Grill Roosevelt’s SMOKE. Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe Te Kei’s Tucci’s Café Italia Zanmai

EAST TULSA Al Sultan Grill & Bakery Big Daddy’s All American Bar-B-Q Birrieria Felipe Bogey’s Brothers Houligan Casa San Marcos Casanova’s Restaurant Charlie’s Chicken Cherokee Deli Darby’s Restaurant El Centenario El Gallo Loco El 7 Marez El Refugio Azteca Super Taqueria Fiesta Del Mar Flame Broiler Frank’s Café Fu-Thai Garibaldi’s The Gnarley Dawg Hatfield’s

Jay’s Coneys Josie’s Tamales Kimmy’s Diner Korean Garden Leon’s Smoke Shack Lot a Burger Maria’s Mexican Grill Mariscos Costa Azul Mariscos El Centenario Mekong Vietnamese Pizza Depot Pizza Express Porky’s Kitchen Ron’s Hamburgers & Chili RoseRock Cafe Señor Fajita Seoul Restaurant Shiloh’s of Tulsa Shish-Kabob & Grill Stone Mill BBQ & Steakhouse Tacos San Pedro Taqueria la Cabana Timmy’s Diner

ROSE DISTRICT Andolini’s Pizzeria Daylight Donuts Fiesta Mambo Franklin’s Pork & Barrel In The Raw Sushi Main Street Tavern

McHuston Booksellers & Irish Bistro Nouveau - Atelier de Chocolat Romeo’s Espresso Café The Rooftop Toast Breakfast and Brunch FOOD & DRINK // 17

18 // FEATURED

December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

REMEMBERING THE MASTER | BY STEVE TODOROFF REMEMBRANCES COMPILED BY BOBBY DEAN ORCUTT PHOTOS BY DON NIX AND COURTESY OF STEVE TODOROFF

O

n the morning of November 13, 2016 at 6:41 a.m. Tulsa Time, I received a text from Jan Bridges, wife of rock legend Leon Russell, which contained five simple words: Leon died in his sleep.

Sometime around 4:30 a.m., Leon’s mighty heart gave out, forever silencing one of the most renowned and talented individuals to ever come out of Tulsa.

Leon was a musician’s musician: a master of rock piano, an in-demand arranger and producer, and a prolific songwriter who also mentored and inspired scores of musicians and recording artists throughout his long career. I called him “Tulsa’s Mayor of Rock and Roll.”

With Leon’s passing, his fans lost a legendary artist, his family lost a loving husband and father, and I, like scores of others connected to Leon, lost a good friend.

Former-Tulsan Leon Russell’s rise to prominence in the music industry is an impressive story.

Born in 1942 with a birth injury that partially paralyzed the right side of his body, he began to take an interest in the family piano around the tender age of four, and began to take formal lessons shortly thereafter. Leon’s mother, Hester, told me some years ago that the first song he learned to play was the hymn “Trust and Obey,” which he picked out by ear.

After moving to Tulsa in late summer of 1953 with his family, Russell would within a few short years begin to showcase his keyboard skills at various school functions, kiddie dances, and eventually in the active Tulsa nightclub scene, where he was highly respected by fellow musicians.

In 1959, Russell and his band, The Starlighters, were hired by one of the rock and roll pioneers, Jerry Lee Lewis, to open for him and perform as a backup band on the road. During the two months on the road with Lewis, the band endured many hardships, including running out of gas, traversing icy roads, and unruly crowds. Despite tough times, Russell was hooked.

Emboldened by his work with Lewis, he decided to head to Los Angeles where the Los Angeles-based record labels were leaning in the direction of a new breed of music called rock and roll.

Through talent and ambition, Russell worked his way up through the LA club scene, eventually securing studio work as a demo musician, then quickly moving up to the ranks of the A-list studio session players. Blessed with precision, consistency, perfect timing, and a quiet demeanor, Russell became an immediate studio favorite.

By 1962 he was one of the hottest session players in Hollywood, where he played on scores of hit records from that era.

After conquering the session world, he turned his attention to arranging and producing other artists, where he accumulated gold records. He eventually began to write songs and produce records of his own, and transformed himself into a master of rock piano.

Russell’s boogie-woogie piano style, distinct singing style, and flowing silvermane captivated the masses in the early Seventies and helped to restore the piano’s place as a prominent rock and roll instrument.

Russell was also an intricate part of several major musical events that cultivated contemporary rock music into the state

at which it stands today: the first being Joe Cocker’s memorable “Mad Dogs & Englishmen” tour, and the second being the famed “Concert For Bangladesh,” which set the pattern for star-studded benefit concerts.

Having followed his career since I first heard about him in 1965, I can tell you that of all the talented people that have roots in the city of Tulsa, probably no one has done more to help and mentor scores of fellow musicians as Leon Russell. After he became a successful session player in Los Angeles, Russell purchased a big house in the Hollywood Hills on Skyhill Drive, which became the central hangout and place to crash for many Tulsa musicians who made it to the West Coast. Russell would find them gigs or use them on a recording at his home studio. When Russell returned to Tulsa in the early 70s to live, he opened the Church Studio on Third Street, which not only put Tulsa on the map as a legitimate recording center, but also created an outlet for local musicians to record and release their own records on his Shelter Records label. To quote my friend, the former-Tulsa World Entertainment writer John Wooley, “Every rock and roll musician from Tulsa owes a great deal to Leon.”

Whether playing on or arranging major studio sessions, performing in front of thousands of fans, or encouraging other musicians to make their own mark, Leon Russell stands as a towering figure in rock and roll, as well as Tulsa’s musical history.

God broke the mold when he made Leon Russell. We may never see his kind again. a FEATURED // 19

It hurt my heart to hear of Leon’s passing. He gave the GAP Band our start and took us from clubs to arenas and stadiums. I learned so much from him that will always stay with me. He will definitely be missed and I am blessed to have worked with him. I will never forget “Leon Russell & the GAP Band Live in Concert.”

CHARLIE WILSON singer/songwriter, The GAP Band My darling Leon Russell passed away. He was a mentor, inspiration and so kind to me. Thank God we caught up with each other and made “The Union.” He got his reputation back and felt fulfilled. I loved him and always will.

SIR ELTON JOHN longtime friend Goodbye dearest Leon. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but I wish it weren’t time for you to go. There are so many unfinished sentences between us.

Thank you for the numerous musical opportunities that came my way because of you, for the good times with the band and the friends we made on the road, for the beautiful songs you’ve written, and especially for the style of down home music you created.

Leon, please take my best wishes with you for a safe journey.

And when you reach the other side and enter through the Pearly Gates, it is my greatest hope that a grand celestial piano is tuned up and waiting for you to play some deluxe Rock n Roll. WOW!!! The Angels and Saints never heard it so good.

CLAUDIA LENNEAR Shelter People backup singer and longtime friend Take a look at the documentary “Mad Dogs and Englishmen,” and it’ll quickly become apparent that, for a brief and shining moment, Tulsa was nothing less than a crossroads for the international rock scene. Then consider the impact all our Okie rockers had a few years earlier, helping ignite the pop-music explosion of the 1960s.

Both of those situations are due in no small part to Leon Russell.

As one of the first of those late ‘50s-early ‘60s Tulsa expats 20 // FEATURED

to find steady work in Southern California, he opened his home to scores of other musical homeboys, giving them a place to stay while they went about trying to gain their own musical footholds. And when he moved back to northeastern Oklahoma around 1970, his Church Studio and Shelter Records quickly became magnets for musicians from all over—especially those right here at home.

Years ago, I asked Leon about the so-called Tulsa Sound, something I’ve spent a lot of my writing life trying to pin down, and even in trying to determine whether it actually exists. He said he supposed there was one, but, he added, “You’re talking to somebody that’s in the middle of it. That’s kind of like asking a fish about the properties of water.”

Leon Russell indeed spent the greater part of his life immersed in the Tulsa Sound. And he didn’t only live in the middle of it—he was also its magnetic core.

JOHN WOOLEY author and Oklahoma music historian I lied. To get my job with the old man. I said I could play multiple instruments. I figured out a couple tricks on a couple instruments and somehow never got fired, or exposed as a fraud. For reasons I’ll never know, Leon liked me.

He quickly saw through me and became very aware of my anxieties. One day he called me out and told me I needed to not be so critical of myself. I soon became a disciple. I always wanted him to approve of everything I did, on and off the stage. He never was one to fall all over himself to tell me if I was doing good or not. So, for someone as insecure as me, the fright only compounded daily.

After years, I discovered that his approval came in every day conversations. We opened up to each other about a lot of things. We discussed at great length pressing matters such as food, religion, and everything salvation be it culinary or spiritual. This is an inside thing between me and him, but I will forever be grateful that he let me “In on the joke.” That conversation alone opened many doors into my being. He looked out for me. He took advantage of me.

He helped me. He forsook me.

Thru it all, I know now, that he December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

did care for me. His history, his legacy, his contribution, his work... that means little to me. Being in his care means everything to me.

A few of us had that life-changing experience. I thank God for the blessing of making music as Leon’s friend, and for being in his care! His shadow cast, is so eternally blotting, that those of us left behind can play comfortably in the shade. I will miss my boss and my mentor. I will miss the privilege of playing music with him and participating in the Holy Ghost movement that he channeled night after night. I will miss his sheepish-grin that awaited me on the bus after every show. I will miss him playing “Stump The Band” in front of 1000 people. I will miss his subtle approval in every way. I will miss my friend. What a life I have lived, for my short time with a true master. I feel as if I am the sparrow.

BEAU CHARRON guitar and multi-instrumentalist, The Leon Russell Band When Leon was touring in the late 60s with the Shelter People and his fabulous background singers, I never missed a show of his in Detroit. Those girls inspired me to begin my musical career being in bands. I had all of Leon’s albums all over my bedroom walls. I told my mother, “I’m gonna sing with him one day,” and she said, “oh that’s nice.” A few years later it happened. I was invited to Tulsa

by Jamie Oldaker and Dick Sims, who I met working with Bob Seger. After that ended, I moved to Tulsa and we began playing.

Leon sat in with us as did many of Tulsa’s finest. Next thing I knew I was asked to be in his band. He was a great inspiration to me in many ways, so powerful and commanding with incredible charisma, not to mention his amazing songs.

I’m proud of that time and will cherish those memories always.

MARCY LEVY singer/songwriter and longtime friend To sum up what Leon meant to me in a few words is very difficult.

Before I met him and played with him he was a mysterious wizard rock legend that I listened to as a kid growing up in Tulsa. After meeting him and living with THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

Leon was a brilliant musician and songwriter. I was very fortunate to have had the chance to work with him and will always remember him as one of great artists of our time. He will be missed by all. He was always my hero and I will hold him close to my heart forever … rest in peace my friend.

JAMIE OLDAKER percussionist and former Shelter People staff

him for eight years on the road I learned that he was a caring, respectful, genius of a man. I’ve never met anyone quite like him— he would create constantly no matter where he was and always had a better way of doing things.

He seemed to know something about everything, and was never satisfied with how something came straight out of the box. He had to modify and customize everything he owned because he had an idea of how to improve on it. I learned so much from him in the time I had with him, he changed the way I look at life and music forever. He felt that music, food and family were the cornerstones to life and it was evident in the way he wrote and lived. I’m really gonna miss that crazy hillbilly.

BRANDON HOLDER percussion, The Leon Russell Band I grew up on a farm outside of Tulsa. I first discovered Leon in the late 60’s by looking at producer and writer credits on records. I was a little late to the game compared to the Tulsa folks. And then, I saw a little poster on the OSU campus in Stillwater for the Mad Dogs and Englishmen show in Tulsa.

That was the life-changing event

that I’ve never recovered from.

Still, after all these years, it’s the best band I ever heard. The best rock and roll show I’ve ever seen.

Multiple drummers and guitar players. Almost too many singers to fit on the stage. Horns, kids, and dogs. Joe Cocker doing some sort of magic crazy-man singing. And Leon as a full tilt circus ringmaster.

A circus you wanted to run away from home and join. AND—Leon was from Tulsa!

One of the main problems with the finality of escape from this earth—one of the main problems for us left behind—is that the time for questions and answers is over.

Despite the mass of hours we spent together, there are so many questions that I so much hoped to ask him someday. But that time has ended. As Leon himself famously sang, “Reflects the human hunger for questions never asked.”

STEVE RIPLEY singer/songwriter, The Tractors, and longtime friend My friend, my mentor, my role model. I wouldn’t give back one day of the time I had with him.

What a life.

JACKIE WESSEL bassist, The Leon Russell Band

My grandmother told me once that if you come to the golden years of your life with just one true and loyal friend, you are a very wealthy person! According to what she so lovingly said, I am indeed a very, very wealthy person because I was blessed to have been given Leon Russell as my lifelong loyal friend and mentor. He groomed my music gifts and inspired my singing for close to 50 years! He watched over me when I was a young mother and made me feel loved and respected. I will never forget him! He is tucked safely in my heart, spirit and all those glorious memories.

Rest sweet Leon. I love and adore you!

ANN BELL Shelter People backup singer and lifelong friend

In 1998, the LeonLifers were simply an internet group on OneList, so that goes waaay back. Marcia Bilynsky started the Group, and she chose Rick Colburn—may he rest in peace—to be the original moderator. When Rick was in his last days he asked me, literally on his death bed, to take over. It’s been about 16 years. In 2000, we hired Leon to do a show for us at Coyote’s Club in Louisville, KY. We had never met each other in person, and ended up doing what we told our kids NOT to do: send money to someone on the interne, that we didn’t know. We did anyway.

Because of Leon’s music and lyrics, we grew into a tightly knit family, we knew each other’s kids names, birthdays, and what was going on in each other’s lives. I have gained approximately 2,500 friends due to Leon’s music.

STEVE BURNS head moderator of the LeonLifers, the Leon Russell fan club a FEATURED // 21

THE CRIME FIGHTER

With Tulsa Crime Monthly, Cornel Williams ridiculed criminals, raised public awareness

BY HOLLY WALL | PHOTO BY WESTERN DOUGHTY

I

think I started to notice it in 2006 or 2007—a thin-papered rag that started showing up at Urban Tulsa Weekly where I was managing editor, and occupying the same table as alt weeklies we subscribed to and would sift through from time to time, our eyes peeled for story and design ideas.

Tulsa Crime Monthly stood out, though. It’s colorful cover looked like a ransom note, with too many headlines crammed on the page in bad font, accompanied by homemade art, mug shots sitting atop cartoon bodies and the faces of city officials cut-andpasted into clip-art scenes. It was completely irreverent and a little strange, and it called out thugs, thieves, and murderers as well as the mayor, chief of police, and city councilors.

It was funny in an “I-can’tbelieve-they-said-that” kind of way, outright mocking criminals in a time before Just Busted made mug-shot voyeurism a hobby, and satirizing the misdeeds of government officials with the gall of someone who couldn’t care less about the possibility of libel charges. There were columns, too: advice offered by a North Tulsa preacher who liked to fight, and restaurant reviews from a

22 // FEATURED

critic who rated meals by number of barfs induced. And always, there was a featured bartender, a scantily clad buxom beauty whose profile harkened back to the days of “women-seeking-men” classified ads.

We loved it.

Every month, we passed it around, smudging the ink with our fingers, laughing and gasping and shaking our heads in disbelief.

Our reporter, Brian Ervin, wanted to find out who was behind the thing and interview him (or her, though we were pretty sure it was a him). He tracked down Cornel Williams and engaged him in a raucous interview—because that’s how most conversations with Cornel were—and we published the resulting story on the cover of the March 27-April 2, 2008 issue.

That was the first story anyone had written about Tulsa Crime Monthly, and, as far as I can tell, the best portrait of Cornel that’s been published, that captured his jovial spirit, his jokester tendencies, but also the depth of his character, and the tragedy that prompted him to start publishing Tulsa Crime Monthly.

I interviewed Cornel myself in 2011, when I was working as news editor of This Land Press, for a segment we called This Land

Live. I interviewed folks I found interesting and we broadcast the interviews live via This Land’s Ustream feed. Cornel showed up to the interview wearing a long black trench coat and carrying an unlit cigar, his two constant accessories, and cracked jokes throughout the interview, which is still online.

It looks like I’m asking a lot of serious questions about a silly magazine, but TCM was borne of a genuine desire to fight crime and make Tulsa a better place.

Cornel founded Tulsa Crime Monthly in 2004, after his friend Ples Vann was murdered “by some Hoover Crips.” They were classmates at Roosevelt Junior High but lost touch. A TV news report informed Cornel of his friend’s death many years later.

“It convinced me I had to do something about the crime in Tulsa,” he told Brian during their interview.

TCM was his answer—its purpose not only to “make the public aware of the city’s crime, but to ridicule the crime,” Brian wrote, “to take whatever glamour there might be out of it, and to show criminals their own idiocy and absurdity.”

The Tulsa Police Department, at first annoyed by the paper, came around to see it as a public

service. Cornel told me he even had a few “informants”—both on the streets and within TPD—who would funnel him information and fuel his derision.

The other stuff, the ridiculing of city leaders, that was just to “piss people off,” Cornel said.

“Because it’s fun—especially people with no sense of humor.”

Cornel had plenty of humor, and plenty of heart. An amateur boxer (and an expert on the subject) with a degree in political science from The University of Tulsa and a career in real estate, he spent most of his free time—what wasn’t used to maintain TCM—fighting crime another way: by mentoring at-risk youth. He accomplished this with his own gym, Main St. Gym, from 1987-1999, and then most recently through the Reed Community Foundation, another boxing-based outreach organization, founded by Keith Reed in 2006, that teaches kids discipline and leadership—and feeds them lunch every day.

Through his magazine and his work at the gym, Cornel did what only a few can claim: he made Tulsa a tangibly better—and funnier—place.

Cornel Williams died on Nov. 8, 2016. He will be missed. a December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

CORNEL WILLIAMS

SEPT. 3, 1950 – NOV. 8, 2016 THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

FEATURED // 23

ILLUSTRATION BY MORGAN WELCH

badtrip

“M

aelstrom” is a word that works. An eyes open-or-closed maelstrom of guilt, loss, and paranoia. Every Christmas present I never thanked my parents for, and the hours they worked to get it. Friends I’d lost without telling them I’d loved them. All the times my heart was broken, and the hearts I broke to make myself feel whole. It was a nauseous neon vortex of dead pets, pills, nukes, needles, and roaches—all spiraling up my spine and through my skull. I grabbed my vomit pail and walked towards the moonlight.

“What do I do if I shit my pants?” I asked two weeks earlier.

“B glad UR in good company,” Phil texted back.

That query was the last of a texting inquisition. Phil exchanged questions of money, diet, and confidentiality between a ritual contact and me. The first question, “can you be my sub for the aya ritual on sat?” came from Phil and deserved brevity. “Hell yes” was my answer. I would get in a car with complete strangers, go to an undisclosed wooded area, and do a strong hallucinogen under the direction of a shaman. My responses to the questions were satisfying, and a meeting was arranged.

Ayahuasca is a entheogenic substance largely associated with shamanic ritual use in the

24 // ARTS & CULTURE

THIS IS NOT ENLIGHTENMENT An unholy trip in the Ozarks

by MITCH GILLIAM Amazon. The brew made from its vines produces intense hallucinations that many of its users describe as spiritual and religious experiences. In recent years, ayahuasca has seen a surge in popularity among westerners, with many heading to the Amazon for retreats. Some view this trend in a negative light, as the increasing global demand has strained the supply of the slow-growing vine that is sacred to indigenous tribes. The trend has also drawn

concerns of cultural appropriation, with critics arguing that the increased interest from the western world is bastardizing a sacred ritual.

“As ayahuasca has become more and more popular with foreign tourists—and at the same time, less and less popular with the Indians themselves—we have found that pseudo shamans have sprung up everywhere to cater for the demand,” Valerie Meikle, a Reiki master and holistic healer

who lives outside of Leticia, Colombia, told Vice earlier this year.

In spite of the criticism, some westerners that participate in these retreats view the experience as nothing short of sacred. A friend of mine made such a trip to Peru and spent the week tripping in the forest under a shaman’s direction. He told me he experienced “lots of self-doubt and anger culminating in a night of utter despair, during which I was confronted with the real problem that I was there to solve: self-destruction.” Upon returning, he found a previously unknown level of personal peace, and gave up alcohol and tobacco entirely.

Darlene and I met in the corner of a coffee house, where the lights were dim and our words hardly carried. She possessed a motherly warmth, evident even as she eyed me cautiously over her steaming mug.

Could I keep a secret? Had I experienced something like this? What was my intent? I answered the questions well, and was granted attendance, but the question of intent weighed on me leading up to the ritual.

The next week was spent fasting in preparation. Not only did I follow a strict diet of steamed fish and rice, I abstained from alcohol, caffeine, and sugar of any kind. I also fasted mentally.

The Syrian Civil War had recently erupted, and I resisted every December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

urge to follow its news cycle. All interest in current events and social media was sacrificed, and my free time was spent praying and growing an inner calm. During a case of sleep paralysis that week, I believed I was pinned to my bed by the spirit of a green woman. I chalked it up to low blood sugar.

On the day of the ritual, Darlene and her friend, Anna, picked me up from my apartment. They kindly offered me potato chips and a ham sandwich.

“Oh, I’ve been fasting all week,” I said. They both laughed.

“Honey, we’ve done this a hundred times,” Anna said.

“That fast stuff is nonsense.”

Less than ten minutes into the 90-minute drive, conversation between the women switched to Ron Paul and drone strikes. I tried to tune out without seeming rude. I put on headphones and did a breathing exercise.

The house was in a cul-desac at the end of an upper-middle-class Joplin neighborhood.

The lawn had fallen into disrepair, and large weeds obscured the walkway and climbed into an above-ground pool. A neglected horse was chained to a fence, its ribcage visible in the evening’s dwindling light. I followed Darlene and Anna up the overgrown path to the front door, where a middle-aged man wearing only a flower-print skirt greeted us.

“Are we in the right place?”

Darlene asked.

The man replied, “I don’t know, are you?”

He laughed and invited us in.

He introduced me to the shaman, an American native to the Ozarks who’d returned home from his compound in Peru to visit his dying mother. When Darlene heard he’d be in town, she contacted him to set up a ritual.

“You know, I’ve been sneaking into the hospital and putting a little bit of the teacher in her drinks,” the shaman said. “She doesn’t know I’m doing it, but she’ll tell me little fairies are talking to her!”

He laughed, and so did the rest of the group. Apart from our Okie trio were the man in the skirt who owned the home and his teenage son.

Several industrial sized bags of flea powder were strewn about THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

OTHER PLANTS SEEM TO TICKLE YOUR SHOULDER AND ASK TO PLAY. AYAHUASCA GRABS YOU BY THE THROAT AND HISSES, “LOOK AT ME.” Banisteriopsis Caapi, aka ayahuasca | DR. MORLEY READ - SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

the house, in some places spilling into ashy mounds. A bomb shelter had been turned into an occult library, and the living room was littered with chiropractic equipment.

“They’re after me,” the shaman told the group, regaining my attention. “Oh, the feds are trying to get me for taxes, and I just know they’re why I got stopped at customs.”

He went on to tell us about the brujerias in Peru who were also after him, and how they could step on someone’s shadow and bewitch them into suicide. Someone asked about assassinations in Peru, and I suddenly wished we were discussing Ron Paul.

Once the sun had completely set, we made our descent to the grotto. Moonlight found its way through the thicket, but flashlights were needed to navigate the steep trail, which was dotted with horse droppings.

We found a large blanket and campfire at the bottom of the

trail, and the skirted man’s dog darted back and forth in the clearing. The nature of his play was neurotic, “chasing” stationary leaves, stopping only to gnaw at his fleabites. The parasites were so incessant he had chewed an oozing hole into his leg.

“Can’t you just put him in the house?” the son asked his dad.

His friend and girlfriend, visibly uneasy, had recently joined us.

“What’s a house without people?” he replied with a smile. “We are the house.”

There was a faint collective sigh from the group before the dog’s leaf hunt sent him crashing onto the blanket, nearly spilling the shaman’s brew.

The dog eventually calmed down, and rested on my lap.

“You’ve found a friend,” the shaman said. The group laughed, and he silenced them, before calling us one at a time to drink.

The girlfriend still looked uneasy, but the son assured her when her name was called.

“Is this like the stuff you had the other night?” the son asked the shaman. “That stuff got me fucked up,” he said proudly, resting his hand on his nervous girlfriend’s leg.

When the skirted man was called forward, he drank three times. The shaman cautioned him to take it easy.

Finally, the shaman called me. Crossing the blanket, I knelt before him and drank.

“Thank you,” I said. His eyes greeted mine earnestly, as if to say, “No, thank you.”

The taste was bearable, though thick as Robitussin, and earthy. The flavor, somewhere between grape and licorice, flooded my mouth. My gag reflex protested, telling me I’d really done it this time.

There was an intense quiet for several minutes, during which no one spoke and even the nighttime symphony of crickets subsided.

The silence was broken by a clatter of bird wings that echoed into infinity like a looping barrage of cocking guns, and the shaman began to chant violently.

“You actually really have done it this time,” I thought. And I had.

The shaman walked from person to person, banging a drum and blowing tobacco in our faces. As soon as he stopped chanting, the world went dark.

I am far from a psychonaut, but this wasn’t my first entheogen rodeo—though it was certainly the worst. Other plants seem to tickle your shoulder and ask to play. Aya grabs you by the throat and hisses, “Look at me.”

The flood of self-hatred came winding up and around my intestines. It seemed to physically squeeze and suffocate my body with psychological distress. I felt worthless. I felt neglectful and evil, like my life up to that moment had been no better cared for than the skeletal horse I’d pitied earlier. The dog was still on my lap, and I could not stretch out for comfort, so I reclined backwards with my legs crossed. The thoughts came in a flood, capsizing any grip I had on the corporeal. I felt sick, my head spinning with disdain, and I immediately returned upright and opened my eyes. The entire world was made of snakes and crime scene photos, surging (Continued on page 26) ARTS & CULTURE // 25

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(Continued from page 25) around me with a definition transcending hallucination. In horror, I pushed the dog from my lap and stumbled from the campfire.

At the edge of the clearing, I felt I would vomit. I needed to vomit. I had consumed nothing but water and the brew in the last 24 hours; it was the ideas my body wished to purge. I lowered to my palms and knees, my back parallel to the ground. A voice in my head drowned out all the others and began to repeat a single word.

“Submit.”

At first I didn’t understand why I was thinking this and why it was so incredibly loud, but as it repeated I began to push my face to the ground. “Submit,” it boomed with increasing intensity. “Submit.”

When finally my face reached the ground, I realized I was in a prayer position, and I submitted each muscle in my body.

Everything stopped.

I stood up, and saw the campground in great clarity. When I’d left its safety earlier, the woods seemed miles away. I didn’t take steps as much as I raised and lowered my feet, and saw the ground rush to meet them. With the storm’s passing, I could see I had walked maybe fifteen feet.

The shaman resumed chanting, and I easily made my way back to the group.

The dad, who’d drunk three doses of the brew, was jabbering to himself uncontrollably. He was rolling on the ground, not so much speaking in tongues, but cooing like an infant while uttering lewd exaltations. The rest of the group seemed annoyed by him, and sure enough, the shaman made his way over to the man.

“Dave,” he said. “You are ruining the ceremony. Please stop.”

The man continued to coo, ooh and ah, and gurgle “oh yes ... oh yes!” His son was across from me, wrapping his arms around his date; her eyes met mine with a look of horrified confusion.

Like a man who feared he had heard an intruder in his yard only to find a stray cat, I began to anxiously chuckle at the newfound lightness and absurdity of the situation.

“This is not enlightenment,” I told myself.

The dog once again sat in my lap. I attempted to push him and his open wound away, but he saw it as a sign of affection and climbed further up my chest, trying to lick my face. The game continued for several rounds until I thought “I am this dog.” To my parents, to my friends who have tolerated my shortcomings, to anyone that had ever helped me...I had been this dog. We had all been dogs on the laps of others our entire lives.

In the hallucination, I saw myself in a car crash, steering column crushing my ribs, and flames licking at my feet. I called my parents’ home phone and left them a voice mail letting them know I was dying. I apologized for any ounce of pain I had ever caused them, and screamed how much I loved them.

I screamed I could never find the words to begin to explain my love and appreciation for them. I begged them to pass my message onto my friends. I loved them all and was ashamed I could not tell them. I found myself crying for the Soviet space dogs that were lost in orbit, that we may someday escape the planet we had forsaken with our own species. I thought about Hank Hill quite a bit.

Then I laughed.

I lay back again with my legs crossed, petting the dog on my lap. I saw a cluster of UFOs above, their presence one of palpable benevolence, and more material than the night’s earlier aberrations.

“Anywhere you like,” the shaman told someone behind me.

“That’s what the forest is for.” My temporary peace was shattered with the sound of dropping trousers and defecation five feet from my head.

The arrival of dawn brought an end to the night’s vibrations, and after a closing speech from the shaman, our group packed up camp. We began our ascent from the grotto to civilization, navigating up through the horseshit and darkness towards the patio lights.

Finding my phone in the house, I instantly text-messaged as many people as I could think of to let them know just how much I loved them.

I put my phone in my pocket and immediately vomited. a December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

sportsreport

The largest race

Grand Nationals success bodes well for BMX Tulsa relocation

by JOHN TRANCHINA

O

ver Thanksgiving weekend, Tulsa hosted the 2016 USA BMX Grand Nationals, presented by the Tulsa Sports Commission, and once again, the event was the biggest one yet.

It was the 19th straight year that USA BMX has held its most important, most far-reaching showcase of the season here in Tulsa, and the magnitude of the event and the response of the local fans demonstrated why the organization is moving its national headquarters to Tulsa.

Almost 3,000 riders representing 46 states and 21 foreign nations raced in the various amateur age brackets, ranging from five years old to over 50, both male and female, as well as all the top professionals, making it the largest BMX race event ever held.

Beginning with practices starting Thanksgiving morning, the competition culminated on Sunday, Nov. 27 at the River Spirit Center at Expo Square with the crowning of Grand Nationals champions Joris Daudet of France (his second straight title) and Alise Post (the women’s Olympic silver medalist who won her third straight championship, and record ninth overall).

Also among the high-profile riders was Connor Fields, who was making his first appearance on a BMX track since winning the men’s Olympic gold medal in Rio in August. He finished eighth.

“In the world of BMX racing, it’s truly the largest race that happens in the world and unequivocally has the best talent pool,” said USA BMX Chief Operating Officer John David. “Most of the riders you saw in Rio in the Olympics were all here in Tulsa THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

2016 USA BMX Grand Nationals | COURTESY USA BMX

racing for the Pro Championship Finals. Saturday night alone, we had a $20,000 purse for the elite men class, and another $10,000 purse for the elite women class, so unbelievable prize money being awarded and some great racing.

It’s a great event.”

Overall, the weekend pumped at least $12 million into the Tulsa economy, with a large chunk of that coming from over 15,000 hotel room nights spent by the out-of-town visitors participating in the event.

“We’re still looking at the numbers from this year, but when you look at the $12 million from last year, even if they did that at minimum for this year, that’s still a huge impact of what this one event brings to our community,” said Vince Trinidad, executive director of the Tulsa Sports Commission.

“These are new dollars coming into our community. The more new money that comes in, the less we as tax-payers have to pay.”

The way the Tulsa BMX community has embraced the annual event in increasing numbers, both to watch and participate in the sport at all age levels, further underscores why it’s such a good fit for USA BMX to permanently relocate here from Gilbert, Arizona.

“We’ve been here for a long time, and honestly, that long tenure is really what’s allowed us to familiarize ourselves with the town, and honestly, fall in love with it,” David said. “We couldn’t be more pleased with all the major parties that are involved, first and foremost, the Tulsa Sports Commission, and the monumental efforts they do to support us and getting the event put together here.”

The process of USA BMX moving its headquarters here, which was initiated by the passing of the Vision Tulsa package back in April by Tulsa voters, is slowly moving along.

The old Drillers Stadium at the corner of 15th St. and Yale Ave., where USA BMX will build its new offices as well as a new state-of-the-art track and training facility, is now empty and sitting there waiting to be demolished, and probably will be for several more months as the money gets allocated and contractors are hired.

“Ideally, we would love to have the facilities up and built sometime in 2019, probably no later than the middle of the year,” Trinidad said. “We want to have a test event before the 2020 Olympic year. …

It’s up to the city and county to work on their agreement, but once the funds are allocated towards the project, we should be able to get started.”

“Everything with that is progressing right on track with what our target has been all along, and that’s really the next Olympic cycle in 2020 and making sure the move is successfully completed before that process,” added David.

Fields, the United States’ first Olympic gold medalist, believes that the impending relocation will have a positive impact on both the sport and the city.

“It’s really cool, I think it’s a really good fit,” said Fields, who has been participating in the Grand Nationals here since 2002, when he was 10, missing just the 2004 event. “I think the foundation’s been laid over the last 19 years of having this event here. I think this city’s going to embrace the sport and the opportunity that they’re going to be the headquarters of an entire sport. I’m looking forward to seeing what Tulsa is able to come up with. I hope that it’s a great place to come ride and train.” a ARTS & CULTURE // 27

onstage

ALL DRESSED UP Philbrook’s Native Fashion Now exhibition is exuberant, expressive

by ALICIA CHESSER

Cape, dress, and headpiece from Orlando Dugi’s “Desert Heat” collection, 2012 | NATE FRANCIS

J

ust past the edge of the Philbrook Museum of Art rotunda, I stood looking up at a dozen fabric parasols hung upside down and every which way, with subtle colors and patterns on gently curving shapes, floating in the air like levitating mushrooms.

“As far as I know, we’ve never really suspended anything from the ceiling out here!” exclaimed Christina E. Burke, Philbrook’s curator of Native and Non-Western art.

“The artist wanted these parasols at different heights, with that kind of playful movement, not rigid and structured, but organic,” she said.

In contrast to these dynamic forms, Philbrook’s Native art holdings, which make up twothirds of the museum’s entire collection, are largely pottery, baskets, and paintings on skins.

“This is unexpected,” she said.

“That’s one of the things I like about the show.”

The show, Native Fashion Now, which explores contemporary Native fashion, has been up since October and runs through January 8, 2017.

As Burke walked me through the exhibit, the unexpected arrived around every curve. Floating parasols led into a shimmering, futuristic wonderland of Mylar dresses, glass jewelry, and feather headpieces created by Wendy Ponca, an Osage artist from Fairfax, Oklahoma, whose work appeared on Project Runway.

28 // ARTS & CULTURE

“You see the eagle feathers and the dichroic glass, which is used on the windows of the space shuttle,” Burke explained, “and then the Mylar, which is on the one hand ubiquitous—you see it in birthday balloons at the grocery store—but also a space-age material.”

“Why these materials?” I asked.

“Osage society is divided into halves: Earth people and Sky people. Ponca is from the Sky moiety.

She’s making a statement about her identity, not just as a Native person, but as a Sky person.

“It’s a connection to the past but it’s also very contemporary,” Burke continued. “You see those themes again and again in this show. Native people in 2016 can be part of mainstream society and on reality shows and working in nontraditional materials. Just because you wear Nike shoes as opposed to beaded moccasins, it doesn’t mean you’re any less Native.”

Originally curated at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, the exhibit has traveled to Portland and now to Tulsa on its way to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York.

Individual pieces are punctuated by runway footage on video and a “Fabric Station” where visitors can touch some of the materials used in the exhibit (including a spectacular hot pink holographically-dyed lambskin). White walls and strips of bright color delineate a pathway through four sections:

Pathbreakers (who have pioneered the use of Native fashion in mainstream culture), Revisitors (who use traditional materials in innovative ways), Activators (for whom design is an avenue for social engagement), and Provocateurs (who are straight-up exploding the “box” of Native fashion).

Each section sparks with movement, humor, multilayered intelligence, and exuberant detail.

Porcupine quills stab into the air around the head of the mannequin wearing Orlando Dugi’s lush poppy-orange silk and organza dress. Louie Gong’s custom-painted Chuck Taylors zing with bold pattern on a wall of plain white Chucks. Dwayne Wilcox’s “Medicine Hat” uses antique paper to tell a dizzyingly complex story about snake oil, Native traditions of healing, and Euro-American notions of worth.

Jamie Okuma’s “Boots,” created in 2014, is a pair of Christian Louboutin stiletto-heeled boots covered with mesmerizing plant forms and swooping birds made from thousands of colorful antique glass beads.

“Beads have become this iconic material for Native art. But they weren’t made by Native people.

Glass beads were mass-produced—as Louboutins are—in Eastern Europe and traded for buffalo hide and beaver pelt. Now we think of them as traditional, but back then this beadwork was contemporary art.”

The “Provocateurs” section contains perhaps the most surprising work, with sculptural forms made from materials like steel, cedar bark, and computer parts, and a stark installation about the use and abuse of natural resources that features a black vinyl dress with a fringe that spills away from it like oil across a field.

Burke drew my attention to a black-and-white dress embellished with text that translates as “We will succeed.”

“It’s encouragement,” she said.

“It’s not a call to arms. It’s for everybody – but it is written in the Cree syllabary. Again it’s that multilayered message.”

Many Native artists are giving talks and workshops during the exhibit; “my job,” Burke noted, “is to provide a platform for those voices to be heard.”

These aren’t items from a silent, distant past. They’re living, dynamic, fresh works of art that speak in a multitude of voices. In this year when the Native Americans at Standing Rock are also speaking out, we’d do well to take a new look at our own takes on Native identity. Native Fashion Now is a brilliant chance to listen, wonder, and be surprised. a

JARED YAZZIE TRUNK SHOW December 14 and 15 “Native Fashion Now” through Jan. 8, 2017 at Philbrook Museum of Art. December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

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ARTS & CULTURE // 29

inthestudio

The Tulsa Artist Fellows gathered at 108 Contemporary on the opening night of “Syncretic,” Dec. 2 STEVEN MICHAEL’S PHOTOGRAPHY

F

rom May through November of this year, we covered each of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship fellows, one per issue for a total of eleven. Until October, there were twelve fellows, but artist Clarissa Rizal had to leave unexpectedly. She was diagnosed on October 14 with terminal liver and colon cancer and left Tulsa within weeks for Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where her family now cares for her.

I had the chance to interview Rizal and see some of her weavings before she left—a rare experience for which I consider myself lucky. Rizal hosted me in her sunny studio apartment for two hours and told me about her personal history with weaving, the need for no ego in her practice, and something she called her “left hand corner,”—a sort of sixth sense.

Now through January 22, 108 Contemporary in the Brady Arts District is home to “Syncretic,” a curated show exhibiting work from each of the Tulsa Artist Fellows, including Rizal. Though Rizal’s weaving isn’t on display, a beautiful drawing called “Totemic Theories,” is. Additionally, a percentage of sales from “Syncretic” (and all proceeds from Rizal’s piece) benefit Rizal’s medical funds.

When I entered “Syncretic” I felt a mixed bag of emotions.

Having spent time with each of the artists, I was thrilled to see 30 // ARTS & CULTURE

Clarissa Rizal | JEREMY CHARLES

Work by the 2016 Tulsa Artist Fellows is featured at 108 Contemporary

by LIZ BLOOD each of their original works that were created this year in Tulsa.

I was surprised at some of the curator’s choices, and delighted at much of the arrangement.

“The show was a curatorial assignment to find connections between the artists,” said Louise Giddons, the show’s curator. “For me, that was a fun challenge. Here are twelve artists selected individually, not through a curatorial

process. Are there conversations happening in their work?”

Though the artists had all been in Tulsa for most of 2016, Giddons didn’t assume the geographic proximity would automatically create a thematic connection among the work.

“But, they are contemporary artists,” she said, “and so they are related. I looked at their work closely and thought about what

kind of story I could tell about the fellowship as an experience and provide a snapshot of contemporary art that happens to be here.”

The snapshot she has crafted inside 108 Contemporary does feel intentional, and it does feel curated—though with 12 random artists anything could have happened. To me, I looked at it through the lens of a year of art made here in Tulsa by a wildly dynamic group, which is now less one of its members.

I also thought about Rizal, who couldn’t be there for the show, and whose activities are now drastically limited. She is bedridden and her health is fading.

When I spoke with her in early October, she told me many memorable things, but here is one: In Chilkat weaving, one of the Tlingit methods of artistry in which she was prolific, there is never to be a human hand woven into a piece.

“When you put a human hand on anything, what does that signify?” she asked me. “Ownership. I was here. You put a human hand in the weaving and—no. It’s enough to know that only a human can take the wool from the mammal, and the bark from the tree, and fashion regalia. You don’t need to make the statement I was here.”

The art makes that statement.

And in looking at “Syncretic,” we can be comforted by that fact. She was here. They were all here. a December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

UPCOMING EVENTS

SYNCRETIC:

@ the PAC

TULSA ARTIST FELLOWSHIP

December

Curated by Dr. Louise Siddons and in partnership between 108|Contemporary and Tulsa Artist Fellowship, SYNCRETIC brings together the work of the inaugural TAF Fellows for the first time highlighting the unique synthesis of this group of artists.

2-30 Pop Impressionism John Hammer / PAC Gallery 7 Tulsa Festival Ringers PAC Trust Brown Bag It 8-23 A Christmas Carol American Theatre Company

10-23 The Nutcracker Tulsa Ballet 15-16 Christmas Cabaret Sheridan Road Vocal Ensemble 16-18 Elf Jr. Theatre Tulsa Family 22

Christmas with Brian Nhira and Friends From ‘The Voice’

Tulsa Artist Fellowship

28 Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis Celebrity Attractions

Bonbon in Wrapper, Credit: © Deborah Van Kirk

Image: Their Wooden Wings Bruising the Air, Alice Leora Briggs

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Closes January 8, 2017 Chocolate and its national tour were developed by The Field Museum, Chicago.

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ARTS & CULTURE // 31

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December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

TULSANS BE SHOPPIN Tips for hyperlocal Christmas gifts from The Tulsa Voice staff

Tulsa ornaments at Decopolis | MORGAN WELCH

When I’m on the lookout for a gift that’ll impress, the first place I go to is Decopolis.

From children’s books to bathroom amenities to Tiki glasses, you’re sure to find something for everyone. I’ve bought books about Tulsa’s architectural history for my dad, like “Tulsa Art Deco” by Carol Newton Gambino, Paddywax candles for myself, jewelry for dear friends and clever kitchen gadgets for dirty Santa games. Walking around the store is delightful, and their new location really showcases the beauty of the store, inside and out.

— Morgan Welch, designer Almost every room in my house has a piece from Retro Den (including the ceramic deer on the lawn). From brass animal trinkets to my most recent purchase on Small Business Saturday (an asymmetrical wooden hutch), it is hard not to fall in love with every item in the store.

Co-owners Ashley Palmer and Ashley Daly create looks that you can’t help but envision in your own home. Looking for an easy, personal gift? Pick a loved one’s initials in their favorite font from the huge supply of wooden vintage letters.

— Madeline Crawford, art director I love Snow Goose. When I moved to Tulsa last December, two weeks before Christmas, I still had a fair amount of Christmas shopping to do. I randomly THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

stopped by Snow Goose and took care of three people on my list in one fell swoop.

They’ve got unique stationery, quirky ornaments, gag gifts, fancy pens, children’s toys, barware, funky jewelry, books and journals, kitchen gadgets, et al. I don’t personally know anyone who wants a pop culture prayer candle or a wire dog sculpture … but if you do, now you know where to go.

— Liz Blood, assistant editor In the Internet Age, the search for new music can feel strangely hollow. Suggestions by algorithm, though often on point, simply cannot compare to the act of physically browsing through music and the human touch of the local record store. Starship Records & Tapes is, for me, along with many Tulsans, a life-long record store. It’s a safe bet that more of my collection was bought at Starship than anywhere else, and my reward for that loyalty is that Calvin Compton and the staff have a good understanding of my tastes and often know what I’ll like before I do or can point me down a path of glorious discovery.

At Holy Mountain, owner Jay Hancock’s relationship with the music is invitingly apparent. With a more specialized selection leaning to the heavier side—though also with plenty of soul, hip hop, indie, and other genres represented—Hancock’s stickered-on reviews of many re-

cords in the store help music that might be unfamiliar find the right ears. On a recent visit, I found his description of Holy Serpent’s eponymous debut (“Fuzzed out, psychedelic stoner doom from Melbourne, Australia. Think Sabbath meet Kyuss. You’re almost there.”) wholly irresistible, and I’m happy to say the record delivers in spades. Be sure to visit Holy Mountain in its cozy temporary digs above Inner Circle Vodka Bar before it moves into the highly anticipated Archer Building next spring.

— John Landgon, digital editor Ditch your diet plans and go to Mecca Coffee Company. The joy of tasting the herb-infused olive oils and fruity balsamic vinegars will have you craving freshly dressed salads like you never believed possible. If not for yourself, surely there is one person you know who spends time in the kitchen. Mecca has an inspiring selection of cookware, tools, and gourmet snacks for the foodies in your life. I personally will be buying a different colored Corkcicle water bottle for everyone on my list, as well as a tinned fruitcake for my mom (who will either be happy or make fun of me for buying something so weird).

— Georgia Brooks, designer First, if you’re making a point of skewing local for Christmas shopping, you should

probably get a Keep it Local OK membership. For a one-time fee of $15, you get a card that entitles you to discounts and deals at dozens of local businesses in Tulsa and across the state. It’s pretty simple; there’s no larger angle or conspiracy to get more money out of you. Buy the card, shop local, make your investment back quickly, continue to save (and feel good about yourself). For more info, visit keepitlocalok.com/Tulsa.

Next, I recommend checking out the recently-opened Boxyard near 3rd and Elgin. Tulsa’s beloved local gift shop Dwelling Spaces has already opened in the retail complex (which is made entirely of shipping containers, hence the name), along with the science nerd’s utopia The STEMcell, luxury spa Sole Massage, and women’s fashion boutiques Modern Mess, Beau & Arrow and Abelina’s Boutique, with more openings to come.

Finally, if you the type to buy gift cards for the friends and family, at least skip the Walgreens selections and go local instead. In addition to all of the aforementioned businesses, most of the local restaurants around here offer gift cards and certificates, and many of them are good for multiple restaurants (McNellie’s Group, Justin Thompson Restaurant Group). Or get them a year’s membership at the Circle Cinema, Tulsa’s beacon of cinema culture.

— Joshua Kline, managing editor a SHOP LOCAL // 33

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December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

SHOP LOCAL // 35

thehaps

Sing with Them: Benefit for The Water Protectors Sunday, Dec. 11, 2-10 p.m., $10-$15 The Venue Shrine, tulsashrine.com

“S

ing With Them” is a benefit concert for water protectors at Standing Rock. Sterlin Harjo, John Cooper, and Cody Clinton organized the event so that people in our own community can join in the efforts to support folks in North Dakota. The diverse lineup of Oklahoma musicians includes John Fullbright, Broncho, Desi and Cody, Jesse Aycock, Paul Benjaman, Kalyn Fay, Grazzhopper, Jared Tyler, Jacob Tovar, Sports, Lauren Barth, Red Dirt Rangers, and more. All proceeds will go towards the fight to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline and save the historic tribal gathering place.

CHRISTMAS WALK

FUNK TRIBUTE

Walk through Christmas Past (sans ghosts) and explore hundreds of vintage animatronic holiday displays at Kringle’s Christmas Land at Promenade Mall. Through Dec. 31, $7, kringleschristmasland.com

Multiphonic Funk and Friends play a tribute to the mind-bending funk/jazz band Snarky Puppy.

Dec. 9, 9 p.m., $10, Soul City, tulsasoul.com

STORY SLAM

THEATRE

Celebrate this cheerful season with a Joy-themed installment of Ok, So...Tulsa Story Slam. Dec. 8, 8 p.m., $5, IDL Ballroom, facebook.com/oksotulsa

Encore! Theatre Arts presents the saga of Ralphie Parker and his Red Ryder Carbine Action 200shot Range Model air rifle, “A Christmas Story.”

Dec. 9-11, $22.75-$46.50, Tulsa Little Theatre, encore-tulsa.com

MUSICAL

ARCHITECTURE

American Theatre Company celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Robert Odle and Richard Averill’s musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Dec. 8-18, $13-$26, John H. Williams Theatre, PAC, americantheatrecompany.org

Tulsa Foundation for Architecture’s 2nd Saturday Walking Tour highlights Tulsa’s Art Deco history. Dec. 10, 10 a.m., $10, tour begins at Topeca Coffee, tulsaarchitecture.com

POP-UP SHOPS

FILM

Shop local pop-ups and participate in the community quilt project at the 7th annual Alliday Show at Retro Den. Dec. 9, $5, 6-10 p.m., Dec. 10, free, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., theallidayshow.com

Circle Cinema will screen a live broadcast from London’s West End of Harold Pinter’s comedy “No Man’s Land,” starring Sirs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. Dec. 15, 6 p.m., $18, circlecinema.com

36 // ARTS & CULTURE

December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

thehaps

BEST OF THE REST EVENTS Tulsa Farm Show // Oklahoma’s largest indoor farm show. // 12/812/10, Expo Square - River Spirit Expo, tulsafarmshow.com Tulsa Christmas Parade // Celebrate the season, “Christmas Cheer of Yesteryear,” and 90 years of the Tulsa Christmas Parade. 12/10, 6 p.m., Downtown Tulsa, tulsachristmasparade.org Christmas at The Mayo Hotel // Take photos with Santa, hear the Tulsa Honors Orchestra, and share holiday cheer while benefiting The Child Abuse Network // 12/11, 3-5 p.m., themayohotel.com Kitchen 66 Holiday MarketTulsa’s “kickstart kitchen,” Kitchen 66 hosts its first pop-up Holiday Market at Tulsa’s newest food truck court, Fuel 66. // 12/13, 5-7 p.m., kitchen66tulsa.com

A Tribute to Leon Thursday, Dec. 15, 6:30-11:30 p.m.

Cain’s Ballroom, cainsballroom.com

T

ulsa’s music culture would simply not be what it is without Leon Russell. To celebrate the life of our dearly departed Master of Space and Time, a who’s who of Tulsa musicians will perform a free concert memorializing the man at the center of the Tulsa Sound.

Performers include Paul Benjaman, Chuck Blackwell, Jim Byfield, Wink Burcham, Tommy Crook, John Fullbright, Jimmy Markham, Jamie Oldaker, David Teegarden, Charles Tuberville, Don White, and many more.

“Remember when we were together.” Rest in Peace, Leon, and thanks for all the music.

SING-ALONG FILM

“Snow, snow, SNOW!” Circle Cinema presents sing-along screenings of “White Christmas” with intermission music from the Circle’s antique pipe organ. Dec. 16-17, $7.50-$9.50, circlecinema.com

FESTIVAL

Enjoy an open house at AHHA and take part in “make and take” holiday activities at the Arts & Humanities Council’s Holiday Festival.

Dec. 17, 12-5 p.m.

THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

COMEDY Tulsa Tonight Before Christmas w/ Michael Zampino, Jack Allen, Jeff Brown, MacKenzie Bryan, Santa Claus // 12/9, 10 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com

Valerie Storm, Brad Ellis, Andrew Rose // 12/14-12/17, Loony Bin, $2$12, loonybincomedy.com/Tulsa Jeff Nease, Tony Dijamco, Thomas Nichols // 12/7-12/10, Loony Bin, $2$12, loonybincomedy.com/Tulsa

PERFORMING ARTS “The Nutcracker.” // Tulsa Ballet presents its gorgeous annual production of Tchaikovsky’s musical composition based on the classic Christmas story // 12/10-23, $30$105, Chapman Music Hall, PAC, tulsaballet.org Elf Jr. // 12/16-12/18, Tulsa Performing Arts Center - Liddy Doenges Theatre, $20-$22, tulsapac.com/index.asp The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe // Broken Arrow Community Playhouse presents the C.S. Lewis classic. // 12/9-12/18, Broken Arrow Community Playhouse, $10-$15,

SPORTS ORU Women’s Basketball vs Missouri St // 7-Dec, 7 p.m., Mabee Center, $7, mabeecenter.com

Crayons // 12/9, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com

Tulsa Oilers vs Missouri Mavericks // 12/9, 7 p.m., BOK Center, $16-$56, tulsaoilers.com

Comfort Creatures // 12/10, 10 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com

ORU Men’s Basketball vs John Brown // 12/10, 3 p.m., Mabee Center, $10$20, mabeecenter.com

Komedy Kombat // 12/10, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com

ORU Women’s Basketball vs Tennessee-Martin // 12/10, 12:30 p.m., Mabee Center, $7, mabeecenter.com

Sunday Night Stand Up // 12/11, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $5, comedyparlor.com

ORU Women’s Basketball vs Mid-American Christian // 12/14, 7 p.m., Mabee Center, $7, mabeecenter.com

Friday Night Lit! // 12/16, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com Blue Dome Social Club // 12/17, 10 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com News Junkie // 12/17, 8 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $10, comedyparlor.com Sunday Night Stand Up // 12/18, 10 p.m., Comedy Parlor, $5, comedyparlor.com Stand Up Comedy Night // 12/19, The Venue Shrine, $5, tulsashrine.com

Tulsa Oilers vs Alaska Aces // 12/14, 7 p.m., BOK Center, $16-$56, tulsaoilers.com Tulsa Oilers vs Colorado Eagles // 12/16, 7 p.m., BOK Center, $16-$56, tulsaoilers.com Tulsa Oilers vs Colorado Eagles // 12/17, 7 p.m., BOK Center, $17-$57, tulsaoilers.com ORU Men’s Basketball vs Little Rock // 12/19, 7 p.m., Mabee Center, $10$20, mabeecenter.com Tulsa Oilers vs Allen Americans // 12/20, 7 p.m., BOK Center, $16-$56, tulsaoilers.com ARTS & CULTURE // 37

musicnotes

POLYGLOT JANKINS The artist formerly known as P.D.A. returns to Tulsa

BY MARY NOBLE

COURTESY CHRIS GAZAWAY

A

nthony Jenkins, aka JANKINS, carries himself with a curious blend of unwavering confidence and self-deprecation. While the two seem contradictory, a healthy dose of insecurity creates a level of self-awareness in Jankins that contributes to his success.

Locals may know him as P.D.A., his stage name from 2002, when he got his start rapping in Tulsa, until around 2012 shortly after moving to north Hollywood. Jankins released six projects as P.D.A. before wiping the slate clean.

“I felt I had done all I could do as P.D.A. ... I had met with multiple major labels who had all turned me down … Warner Brothers, Universal, Atlantic.

They all really enjoyed the music and thought I had some hit records, but I didn’t have the numbers, I didn’t have the fan base.

Everything is a numbers game,” said Jankins.

Under his new identity, Jankins made the decision to market himself to the masses by buying into the current hip-hop climate.

This was done by accumulating a sizable Internet following and ensuring its continued growth by churning out new singles weekly.

38 // MUSIC

“Hip-hop nowadays is so quick, one song will last about a week, (so) I put out a song per week for about two years.”

This method proved effective, and Jankins’ YouTube and SoundCloud hits propelled into the thousands and beyond. His most popular video on YouTube has reached an astounding 1.6 million views, accomplished through the cunning marketing ploy of posting a song under the guise of a Childish Gambino track: “Sweatpants Feat. Jankins.”

While salty viewers tend to express their hostility through trolling the comment box after falling for “click bait,” Jankins, instead, was met with an abundance of positive feedback and online fist bumps for his creative contribution to the popular track. “[Gambino] could have had it removed like he did a lot of the other ones … But they let it stay,” Jankins said.

In the language of music, Jankins is a polyglot. His magnetic stage presence is grounded in a theatre background that had him singing and performing at a young age. Jankins’ love for theatre and opera expanded into songwriting, piano playing, drumming, beat production, and rapping.

“I really do believe that a stage show should be a stage show. I don’t think anyone should just stand up there and sing, or just rap, or just talk. It needs to be pieced together, it needs to have a beginning, middle, and an end, it needs to have visuals, something to give to somebody … I really do try to put on a show, that’s an aspect I’ve learned from being in choir and Broadway shows.”

Jankins provided his audience with just that when he debuted his latest seven track EP Just Don’t Die at Blackbird on Pearl on December 3. Just Don’t Die is a project that gives fans a more eclectic listening experience, extending beyond clever bars and danceable beats. It encompasses a wider range of Jankins’ talents and passions—such as singing and thoughtful wordplay.

“When I was doing the mixtapes, I was trying to do something that sounded like everyone else … it went well and I got millions of views and everybody really dug it, but that’s not really what I like to do,” he continued. “I wanted to do something I hadn’t heard before, so this is more about what I like to do rather than what the world wants to hear.”

While a shift such as this could be perceived as risky by many, Jankins’ effort to stay true to himself outweighs any sort of satisfaction internet success could provide.

“I think if somebody started to listen to me in the first place, they must have a different taste for music. So just like anybody else, they will either dig it, or not. And as much as I hope they do, because, of course, I want everybody to love my music, their opinion doesn’t affect how I approach the next song.”

Despite spending a significant amount of time away from Tulsa, Jankins never lost the love and support of his fellow Tulsans.

“The best part about looking forward to a new Jankins release is knowing he’ll be in a completely new space than he was before,” said friend and collaborator Ron Hodge, AKA Ron Ron. “He is hands-down the most creative person I’ve ever known. If any of the tawdry misfits and mountebanks from Tulsa make it, it will be him.”

Plans for Jankins’ next album are already in the works, as he continues to reintegrate himself back into the local hip-hop scene. a December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

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MUSIC // 39

musiclistings Wed // Dec 7 Cain’s Ballroom – Marshmello, Brillz – (SOLD OUT) Mercury Lounge – Travis Linville Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Eicher Wednesdays – ($10) On the Rocks – Don White pH Community House – P’derrigerreo, Junfalls, The Riot Waves* – ($5) The Blackbird on Pearl – Whiskey Wednesdays w/ Brandon Clark The Colony – Tom Skinner’s Science Project Vanguard – Swing Low, Valleys, Iron Born, Piece of Mind – ($10)

Thurs // Dec 8 Crow Creek Tavern – Jake Flint Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Bill Holden Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Phil Vaught, Scott Eastman Hunt Club – Melody Pond Mercury Lounge – Travis Linville River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – The Duo Soundpony – Almost M The Colony – An Evening with Jared Tyler The Fur Shop – For the Wolf The Venue Shrine – Baby Savage – ($10-$12) Zin Urban Lounge – Brandi Reloaded Zin Urban Lounge – Randy Brumley

Fri // Dec 9 American Legion Post 308 – Joe Harris Brady Theater – Joe Bonamassa* – ($79-$125) Cirque Coffee – Sam Westhoff Electric Circus – Phluf N Stuf Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Phil Vaught Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – The Crush, Scott Ellison Hunt Club – Zach Short Group Mercury Lounge – Cole Porter Band River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Chris Hyde Band River Spirit Casino - Margaritaville Stage – Brent Giddons Soul City – Multiphonic Funk - Snarky Puppy Tribute* – ($10) Soundpony – Calyx, Sex Snobs, Creepozoidz* The Venue Shrine – Ed Fest w/ Jason, Mark, and Scott of Caroline’s Spine, David Cook, Nick Gibson Band, Bellevue, Bryan Jewett – (SOLD OUT) Vanguard – The Dirty River Boys, BC & The Big Rig – ($15) VFW Post 577 - Centennial Lounge – Ronnie Pyle & The Drivers Woody’s Corner Bar – DJ Spin Zin Urban Lounge – Little Joe McLerran, Robbie Mack, Roger Roden

Sat // Dec 10 American Theatre Company – Christmas w/ Brother Rabbit and Fiawna Forté* – ($5) Billy and Renee’s – Good Villains, Sleepwalking Home, Redwitch Johnny Cain’s Ballroom – The Lacs, Crucifix – ($17-$32) Crystal Skull – Hurricane Mason, Follow The Buzzards Downtown Lounge – The Secret Post

40 // MUSIC

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Phil Vaught Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Thomas Martinez, The Hi-Fidelics Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - The Joint – The Brian Setzer Orchestra - Christmas Rocks! – ($45-$65) Hunt Club – JT and the Dirtbox Wailers Mercury Lounge – The Blind Pets* River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – The Sellouts River Spirit Casino - Margaritaville Stage – Chris Hyde Band Soul City – Jesse Aycock & Lauren Barth – ($10) Soundpony – The Ruskettes, The Girls Room* The Blackbird on Pearl – Sunny Sweeney, Brennen Leigh, Courtney Patton, Jamie Lynn Wilson The Colony – Barnoski Project The Fur Shop – Casii Stephan & The Midnight Sun Vanguard – Grind Christmas Toy Drive w/ Skytown, Sovereign Dame, Fist of Rage, All for More* – ($10) White Flag – DocFell & Co. Yeti – A Very Vagittarius Birthday Show!

Sun // Dec 11 Cain’s Ballroom – Josh Garrels, The Brilliance, A Boy And His Kite – ($20-$35) Hunt Club – Preslar Music Showcase Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Chuck Gardner Trio – ($5-$20) Soundpony – Helen Kelter Skelter, Siamese* The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing The Venue Shrine – Sing with Them: Benefit for The Water Protectors* – ($10-$15)

Mon // Dec 12 Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center – David Phelps Christmas – ($25-$65) Mercury Lounge – Chloe Johns Soundpony – Christworm The Colony – Singer/Songwriter Night Yeti – The Situation Open Jam

Tues // Dec 13 Brady Theater – Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience* – ($25-$39.50) Gypsy Coffee House – Tuesday Night Open Mic Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Bobby D Band Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams Yeti – Writers Night

Wed // Dec 14 Cain’s Ballroom – Phantogram, Third Eye Blind, Bishop Briggs* – ($35-$50) Downtown Lounge – Boy Hits Car Mercury Lounge – Travis Linville Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Eicher Wednesdays – ($10) The Blackbird on Pearl – Whiskey Wednesdays w/ Brandon Clark The Colony – Tom Skinner’s Science Project

Thurs // Dec 15 Cain’s Ballroom – A Tribute to Leon* – (FREE) Crow Creek Tavern – Cody Woody Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – FM Live, Darren Ray Hunt Club – Mark Chamberlain Mercury Lounge – Shane Smith River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Ayngel & John

Soundpony – Dylan Earl & The Reasons - Happy Hour Show – 6 p.m.

Soundpony – Zachtra$h, Trae Zoe The Colony – Honky Tonk Happy Hour w/ Jacob Tovar The Fur Shop – Dan Martin The Venue Shrine – Afton Music Series – ($10-$15) Whiskey Dog – Cole Lynch Zin Urban Lounge – Jim Tilly Tulsa Performing Arts Center - Kathleen Westby Pavilion – Sheridan Road Christmas Cabaret – 7:30 p.m. – ($20-$35)

Fri // Dec 16 American Legion Post 308 – Double “00” Buck Cain’s Ballroom – Red Dirt Christmas w/ Red Dirt Rangers, John Fullbright – ($15-$25) Ed’s Hurricane Lounge – The Heather Buckley Band Electric Circus – Phluf N Stuf Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Wilbur Lee Tucker Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – SeXtion 8, Darren Ray Hunt Club – Animal Library Mercury Lounge – Aaron Einhouse River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Chris Hyde Band River Spirit Casino - Margaritaville Stage – Zodiac Riverwalk Crossing – Harrow the Empire Soul City – Wink Burcham Band – ($10) Soundpony – DJ Trigger Warning, DJ Swang Em The Blackbird on Pearl – American Shadows, Swan and Sword, The Kayfabe, Jackson Nichols Toy Drive The Colony – Dustin Pittsley Band, Katy Guillen & The Girls The Venue Shrine – Andy Frasco – ($10-$15) Vanguard – The Young Vines, The Capital Why’s, Kids in the Street, Bringer, Moonshine Miracle – ($10) Tulsa Performing Arts Center - Kathleen Westby Pavilion – Sheridan Road Christmas Cabaret – 7:30 p.m. – ($20-$35)

Sat // Dec 17 Billy and Renee’s – Dixie Wrecked, Pawn Shop Heroes, Class Zero, Fetaljuice, Madewell Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Cabin Creek – Rivers Edge Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Uncrowned Kings, Darren Ray Hunt Club – Dante and the Hawks Lot No. 6 – Dan Martin Mercury Lounge – Blackfoot Gypsies River Spirit Casino - 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar – Zodiac River Spirit Casino - Margaritaville Stage – Chris Hyde Band Soul City – Nate Binions Christmas Spectacular – ($10) Soundpony – Pony Disco Club w/ Darku J, B, Katie Wicks The Colony – Pilgrim The Venue Shrine – Supersuckers – ($10) Vanguard – My So Called Band – ($10) VFW Post 577 - Centennial Lounge – Daniel Baily Yeti – The Shame, The Penny Mob

Sun // Dec 18 Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Modern Oklahoma Jazz Orchestra’s Christmas Show – ($5-$20) The Colony – Paul Benjaman’s Sunday Nite Thing

Vanguard – Ulysses Rivera Benefit Show w/ Boots First, Evan Hughes, Iron Born, Life Lessons, Piece of Mind, Rose Gold, Ruse – ($10)

Mon // Dec 19 Mercury Lounge – Chloe Johns The Colony – Singer/Songwriter Night Yeti – The Situation Open Jam

Tues // Dec 20 Gypsy Coffee House – Tuesday Night Open Mic Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Riffs – Darrel Cole Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame – Depot Jazz and Blues Jams Yeti – Writers Night

Your Your Your

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Live For Live Music Live Music Music Get the Get the word out word out Get the word out

Send dates, venue and listings to Send dates, venue John@LangdonPublishing.com and listings to John@LangdonPublishing.com December 7 -Send 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE dates, venue and listings to

popradar

A SHOW ABOUT NOTHING—AND EVERYTHING ‘Atlanta’ breathes new life into TV comedy without breaking a sweat

BY MATT CAUTHRON

Donald Glover in FX’s “Atlanta” | QUANTRELL COLBERT/FX

F

X’s comedy-drama hybrid “Atlanta” is truly unlike anything else on television.

Created by and starring actor-rapper-writer-comedian Donald Glover—best known as the lovable doofus Troy from “Community,” or as Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist Childish Gambino—the show’s singularity is no wonder: most of the people responsible for making it have never made a TV show before.

Its chief director, Hiro Murai, is a veteran of music videos who had never worked in narrative fiction.

And the all-black writers room is filled with mostly newbies who have shown they have no problem throwing out the TV writer’s rulebook.

In the pilot episode we meet Earn (Glover), a floundering Princeton dropout back in his hometown of Atlanta, broke and aimless and a little awkward. He (sort-of) lives with his on-again-off-again girlfriend Van (Zazie Beetz) and their baby daughter. When he learns that his cousin Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry) is making waves in the local hip-hop scene under the alias Paper Boi, Earn seeks him out and offers to manage him. Paper Boi and his right-hand-man Darius (the hilarious, scene-stealing Keith Stanfield) are skeptical of Earn at first, but reluctantly accept him into their world.

THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

With this basic dynamic introduced, the lives of Earn and Van and Paper Boi and Darius simply continue on. And for all the impressive character development and world building the show achieves in a ten-episode season, not much actually happens. Not in a traditional sense anyway.

By season’s end, Paper Boi’s profile in the local rap game seems to have marginally increased.

Earn and Van’s relationship has grown in mutual understanding and empathy. But neither of those developments moves the needle in the transformative way typical of most character-driven fiction.

These are just people. Things just happen. Some of these things are shown on screen; some aren’t.

Some are presented with gritty hyper-realism. Some are presented with almost farcical surrealism.

It’s breezy and funny. It’s dark and melancholy. Often, it’s all of these things in the same scene.

And all of that is a testament to the courage of the writers and directors—and, certainly, the creator—to make the show they wanted to make, not what a TV show is “supposed to be.”

For instance, one entire episode depicts a fictional public access news program with a panel discussion in which Paper Boi argues with a stuffy academic about transphobia among the

black community. (And it’s much funnier and more profound than that description makes it sound.)

Another episode abandons Earn and Paper Boi altogether to follow Van as she has a tense dinner with an old friend—a narrative luxury too rarely afforded female characters in otherwise male-centric shows. Another finds Paper Boi in a celebrity basketball game with a young, arrogant, entitled black celebrity inexplicably named Justin Bieber. The “climactic” finale is as unassuming as all the other episodes, as Earn searches for a jacket he lost the previous night at a club. The episode, and the season, ends with Earn retiring to a storage locker that doubles as a depressing makeshift apartment.

He lies on a futon, turning over a pair of hundred dollar bills in his hands—and, because of everything we’ve seen him go through in ten episodes, the way we’ve come to adore these characters and savor their small victories, it’s enormously satisfying.

Since its debut, “Atlanta” has often been compared with “Master of None,” the Netflix series from creator Aziz Ansari. That comparison is valid in many ways, but it’s a bit lazy. Both shows exist because an extraordinarily gifted, non-white comedian was given enough creative license to execute a unique vision—mostly left alone

and spared the usual tinkering from outside forces. Both offer a point of view we don’t see enough of in popular culture, especially in directly tackling what it’s like to navigate a society that continually marginalizes one’s experience and point of view.

But “Master of None,” while an excellent show, does this in a more overt way—as if it’s trying to teach the audience lessons.

“Atlanta” isn’t didactic; it’s simply showing a group of well-drawn characters living their lives in a specific corner of the world. The ways it illuminates issues of race and class—and it does so brilliantly—arise organically from that framework.

In an interview leading up to the premiere of “Atlanta,” Glover told New York Magazine’s Rembert Browne that he doesn’t want his art to be of a certain time and place. He wants to make “classics” that will live on, will continue to mean different things to different people as time passes.

“The second season of ‘Atlanta’ will be a classic,” he said in that piece, probably because he thought his team might need a year under their belts before really finding their footing.

With all due respect to his humility, Glover’s prediction was off by exactly one season.

“Atlanta” is already there. a FILM & TV // 41

filmphiles

“Nocturnal Animals” opens in Tulsa Dec. 9.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon in “Nocturnal Animals” | COURTESY

Night terrors Tom Ford’s ‘Nocturnal Animals’ is by turns powerful, cruel, ridiculous

by JEFF HUSTON doubt anyone was expecting designer/director Tom Ford’s sophomore fi lm to become a resonate, unsettling parable for Blue State elites, but now with the surprise reality of President Donald J. Trump, well, that’s basically what it’s become.

“Nocturnal Animals” is a horror movie for voters who were with her.

This dark fable’s victims are white wealthy progressives. Terror is wrought upon them by conservatives, both rich and poor, who make the world a very ugly place.

I

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

42 // FILM & TV

The further outside the blue bubble a liberal gets, the more dangerous the country becomes—especially on late night stretches of highway in rural West Texas.

Viewers panicking over the implications of our country’s election may watch this and tremble, thinking, “Welcome to Trump’s America.”

That said, one need not lean left to find “Nocturnal Animals” very disturbing. It’s hard to recall the last time such a serious piece of fi lmmaking was this psychologically sadistic. I’d hesitate to recommend it to anyone beyond the most devout cinephile, because who’d wish such cruelty on a friend? Yet, I can’t deny it’s a powerful experience that’s impossible to shake. With only his second fi lm (after his 2009 debut, “A Single Man”), Tom Ford wields a power that few directors working today are able to match.

The narrative has a story-within-a-story construct. It shifts back and forth between art gallery owner Susan (Amy Adams) as she reads a novel manuscript written by her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal, doing some of his career-best work), and an actual dramatization of his southern gothic prose.

The book is a sordid, violent crime noir that, while fictional, works as a masochistic metaphor about the breakdown of Edward and Susan’s marriage. However, for as abused as Susan’s avatar is in the tale, it’s clear she’s the one who feels responsible for the real-life breakup. And despite his not-so-passive aggressive parallels, Edward also carries guilt of not having protected what they had.

There’s a lot of agony here, both physical and mental, doled out on the vulnerable with perverse brutality. It’s viscerally provocative but thematically thin, despite the script’s dual layers. It hits us squarely in the gut without ever connecting to the head or heart, occasionally insulting the former before torturing the latter.

On its aesthetic surface, “Nocturnal Animals” plays like a fashion commercial directed by Hitchcock, or a more meticulously tailored atmosphere of Pedro Almodóvar’s pulpy melodramas. When it’s not churning your stomach it slips into self-parody, with soap opera dialogue spoken in philosophical whispers; the bizarre opening sequence is hard to take seriously, too. Ford’s style is gorgeous, sumptuous, and downright immaculate,

but at times his instincts veer toward the ridiculous.

If there’s a consistent lodestar in this nihilistic madness it’s Michael Shannon, who plays an investigating sheriff in Edward’s novel. He’s a man facing mortality with nothing to lose, vendettas to square, and a vigilante streak just itching to mete out some justice.

It’s the ultimate Michael Shannon role and one he clearly relishes, in a performance certain to be buzzed about all through awards season.

There’s an absorbing mystery here, too. As the book’s lurid saga unravels, it becomes increasingly compelling to want to know what really happened between Susan and Edward. The manuscript is all we have to go on, and it appears to have come from a very bitter place, despite Edward’s gratitude toward Susan. What could’ve inspired it?

For Ford, those specifics aren’t as important as reopening these wounds of betrayal and disloyalty, and what that causes Susan and Edward to confront. I can’t promise the ending will be satisfying but it is fascinating, and will spark debates.

This is damn good moviemaking. I’m just scared to tell anyone to go see it. a December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

A BRIEF RUNDOWN OF WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE CIRCLE CINEMA Samantha Robinson in “The Love Witch” | COURTESY

Casey Affleck in “Manchester by the Sea” | COURTESY

Manchester by the Sea

by JOE O’SHANSKY WRI TE R A ND DIR E C TO R Kenneth Lonergan is a modern demi-god of both vocations. His latest, “Manchester by the Sea,” is the result. It’s the best film of 2016.

That was an unlikely path to tread for the New York-born writer of “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle” and “Analyze This.” But in between those two curiosities, he wrote and directed his acclaimed first feature, “You Can Count on Me,” which won a slew of critic’s awards, and was ultimately nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar in 2000. After a decade-long hiatus (aside from helping to pen 2002’s “Gangs of New York”) Lonergan returned with “Margaret.” Both films exhibited a playwright’s eye for realist melodrama, leavened with a deadpan, wickedly East Coast sense of humor that enhances the complexity of his character’s tribulations like salt that brings out the sweetness in a perfectly baked cookie.

“Manchester by the Sea” is the pinnacle of Lonergan’s novelistic ambitions.

Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) learns that his brother, Joe (Kyle Chandler) a Massachusetts fisherman, has suffered a heart attack. A loner working as a janitor at a Boston apartment building, Lee is clearly divorced from happiness and perhaps even his will to live.

He swiftly returns to his coastal hometown of Manchester-bythe-Sea, only too late to say goodbye to Joe. As he tends to the arrangements for his brother’s funeral, Lee discovers that Joe’s last will contains one final, non-negotiable decree—that he become the guardian of his teenage son, Patrick (Lucas Hedges).

Torn between an unspoken scar from his past—hinted at by the whispers and judgmental stares of his former townsfolk— and the desire to do his brother’s bidding and keep Patrick away from his alcoholic mother (Gretchen Mol), Lee is forced to revisit the life he left behind, and stubbornly redeem himself for the one he has inherited.

THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

Sounds like a simple thing, but it’s not. A near-perfect film, Lonergan is an emotional watchmaker. Even the smallest interactions and ephemeral scenes reveal something deeper within his characters, no matter how briefly. Derek Cianfrance dreams of being this good. A transcendent amalgam of omniscient editing (by Jennifer Lame, who is anything but), peerless writing, and gorgeous cinematography by “Girls” alum Jody Lee Lipes, “Manchester by the Sea” is undiluted cinema.

It helps that Lonergan’s cast is uniformly sublime. In any other movie Casey Affleck’s portrayal of Lee would dim the stars around him. He’s amazing here, mining emotional territory that belies his superficial ‘Fleckness.

This isn’t “Good Will Hunting” no matter its Boston bona fides. And despite the melodrama, there isn’t a shred of artifice. Be it the tragic circumstances of Lee’s life, the indelible bond he forms with Patrick in the aftermath of yet another mutual loss, or the reckoning that comes once he’s compelled to face his demons, Affleck is the gravitational force around which the macrocosm of Lonergan’s characters orbit.

Chandler, Hedges, Mol, and Michelle Williams (as Lee’s exwife) soar. They aren’t just given moments to exist. They shine, bringing a power to their roles that impart a perfectly imperfect balance to Lee’s universe. Peripheral cameos from Tate Donavan and Josh Hamilton are the unexpected comets passing by.

Lonergan hasn’t just crafted a character study of a working-class man laid low by crushing circumstance. He’s created an ensemble: an organic, living web of tangible characters, temporal connections, and their sense of place in a world that recalls the naturalist joys of Altman at his best, fused with a dark gallows humor that is Lonergan’s own. “Manchester by the Sea” is an American New Wave masterpiece resurrected in the afterlife of here and now. I could live inside this movie. a

THE LOVE WITCH

This horror-thriller follows a modern-day witch as she casts spells on men to make them fall in love with her. Told in the style of 1960s camp horror movies and filmed as a vibrant Technicolor tribute, this feminist fable explores men’s fears of women, women’s innate powers, and examines love, desire, and narcissism from a feminist perspective. Select showings will be screened on a 35mm print. NOW PLAYING.

OPENING DEC. 9

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS

See adjacent review. Rated R.

THE EAGLE HUNTRESS

Narrated by Daisy Ridley (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”), this inspiring documentary follows a 13-year-old girl who defies ancient Kazakh Mongolian tradition to train and become the first female eagle hunter in twelve generations. Rated G.

OPENING DEC. 16

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

See adjacent review. Rated R.

WHITE CHRISTMAS

A Tulsa holiday tradition returns for regular daily showings. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye star as the song-and-dance duo that put on a show and fall in love with the sister act of Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen. Circle board member Jody McIntyre will host sing-a-longs at selected showings, while additional selected showings will feature intermission music provided by Circle’s pipe organ.

SPECIAL EVENTS

PEARL HARBOR DAY 75TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE

FREE EVENT. Circle Cinema will pay tribute on this historic day with a free showing of a Pearl Harbor documentary. In addition, the Circle has produced locally-filmed interviews of six Tul-

sa-area veterans; these vets will share their thoughts regarding the attack, along with personal stories. Live music will also be played on the theater’s 1928 pipe organ, and a WWII military exhibit from Keith Myers will be on display in the gallery. (Wed., Dec. 7, 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.)

LETHAL WEAPON

Circle’s “Graveyard Shift” presents the 1987 Mel Gibson blockbuster that revolutionized the buddy action movie. Danny Glover co-stars as a veteran police detective who’s partnered with Gibson’s suicidal cop as they work to stop a gang of drug smugglers.

We’ll never be too old for this s--t.

Also featuring Tulsa’s own Gary Busey. Rated R. (Fri., Dec. 9 & Sat., Dec. 10, 10 p.m.)

THE STRONG MAN (2ND SATURDAY SILENTS)

One of director Frank Capra’s earliest films, Harry Langdon stars in this hilarious silent comedy from 1926. The presentation also features a Felix the Cat cartoon. Bill Rowland will provide musical accompaniment on the Circle’s pipe organ. (Sat., Dec. 10, 11 a.m.)

NO MAN’S LAND (NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE)

Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart star in this broadcast of the West End stage production of Harold Pinter’s comic play, which followed their hit run on Broadway. An exclusive video Q&A will follow with the cast and director Sean Mathias.

(Thurs., Dec. 15, 6 p.m.)

FILM & TV // 43

THE FUZZ THE TULSA VOICE SPOTLIGHTS: TULSA SPCA

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

ABRAHAM (left) and his brother LINCOLN (right), both domestic short hair mixes, are just over two months old. These tiny kittens were a part of a surprise litter and were brought to us because the owner was unable to care for all of them. Abraham and Lincoln are loving, active, and love to play!

The Tulsa SPCA has been helping animals in our area since 1913. The shelter never euthanizes for space and happily rescues animals from high-kill shelters. They also accept owner surrenders, rescues from cruelty investigations, hoarding, and puppy mill situations. Animals live on-site or with foster parents until they’re adopted. All SPCA animals are micro-chipped, vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and treated with preventatives.

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

If you’re looking to add some excitement to your life and have an active lifestyle, FESTUS is for you!

A little over 1 year old, this terrier mix pup needs to be matched with someone that enjoys the outdoors and loves to play. He gets along well with people and other dogs and would be a great addition to any family!

SLIM JIM is a two-and-a-half year-old rat terrier mix and is very people oriented. Slim Jim is shy when meeting new people but warms up quickly. He is dog friendly and is happy doing anything as long as he gets to be with his owner.

EDGAR is a six-year-old Beagle mix and holds a special place in our heart. Edgar is shy at first but once he warms up to you he gets along well with people and children. He can be picky with other male dogs so we prefer he goes to a home where he would be the only male.

ONLINE The best of Tulsa — music, arts, dining, news, things to do and more. Come find out what’s happening.

44 // ETC.

December 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

news of the weird

by Chuck Shepherd

The passing parade The recent 100th anniversary of America’s National Park Service drew attention to the park in Guthrie, Oklahoma — 10 feet by 10 feet, behind the post office and dating from the original Land Office on JIMFOREMAN.COM

the spot in 1889. (According to legend, the city clerk, instead of asking the government for land “100 foot square (100 feet by 100 feet),” mistakenly asked for “100 square feet.”)

Unclear on the concept Activists told Vice Media in November that 100,000 people worldwide identify as “ecosexuals,” ranging from those who campaign for “sustainable”-ingredient sex toys to those who claim to have intercourse with trees (but sanding the bark for comfort might provoke concern about being “abusive”). A University of Nevada, Las Vegas professor studies the phenomenon and knows, for example, of humans who “marry” the Earth or prefer sex while rolling in potting soil or under a waterfall. On one “arborphilia” support blog, a female poster regretted her choice to have “convenient” sex with the sycamore outside her bedroom window instead of the sturdy redwood she actually covets. (Yes, some “mainstream” environmentalists somehow are not completely supportive.)

The continuing crisis In October, a court in Australia’s Victoria state began considering an appeal on whether three deaf people might be too intellectually challenged to have planned a murder. The prosecutor offered surveillance video of the three in a lobby planning the murder’s details via sign language as they waited for an elevator to take them up to the eventual crime scene.

THE TULSA VOICE // December 7 - 20, 2016

Pigs are such complex animals that scientists are studying how to tell the “optimists” from the “pessimists.” British researchers writing in a recent Biology Letters described how “proactive” porkers differed from “reactive” ones, and, as with humans, how their particular mood at that time distinguished them as “glass half full” rather than “glass half empty.” (Unaddressed, of course, was specifically whether some pigs were actually “optimistic” that the chute at the slaughterhouse might lead to a pleasant outcome.)

Questionable judgments The Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas, got the message in November and shut down its “world’s tallest waterslide” (17 stories; riders reaching speeds of 60 mph) after the neck-injury death of a 10-year-old rider in August. But comparably altitude-obsessed architects in Tokyo said in November that they were moving ahead with proposals for “Next Tokyo 2045” to include a one-mile-high residential complex (twice as tall as the currently highest skyscraper). A spokesperson for principal architects Kohn Pedersen Fox said he realizes that coastal Tokyo, currently in earthquake, typhoon and tsunami zones, would present a climate-change challenge (and

especially since the building would be on land once reclaimed from Tokyo Bay).

Perspective It was only a quarter-million-dollar grant by the National Institutes of Health, but what it bought, according to budget scrutiny by The Washington Free Beacon in November, was the development of a multiplayer computer game (inevitably competing for attention in an overstuffed commercial market) hoping to teach good reproductive health habits. “Caduceus Quest” employs role-playing as “doctors, policymakers, researchers, youth advocates” and others to “solve medical mysteries and epidemiologic crises.” The target, according to the University of Chicago grant proposal, is African-American and Latino teenagers around Chicago.

The passing parade Simon Berry, 24, of the English village of Bray, was recently acknowledged by the Guinness Book people for his bungee drop of 246 feet to precision-dunk a biscuit into a cup of tea.

A sign posted recently (apparently without fanfare) at the Castle House Inn hostel in Stockholm, Sweden, warns visitors: “It is a criminal offense to smoke or wank on these premis-

es.” (“Wank” is British slang for self-pleasuring.) The sign contains the familiar “not permitted” circle over a crossed-out item — but just the cigarette.

A News of the Weird Classic (February 2013) The Kerry, Ireland, county council voted in January (2013) to let some people drive drunk. The councillors reasoned that in the county’s isolated regions, some seniors live alone and need the camaraderie of the pub but fear a DUI arrest on the way home. The councillors thus empowered police to issue DUI permits to those drivers. Besides, they reasoned, the area is so sparsely populated that some drivers never encounter anyone else on the road at night.

(Coincidentally — or not — “several” of the five councillors voting “yea” own pubs.) a

11/16 SOLUTION: UNIVERSAL SUNDAY

ETC. // 45

free will astrology

by ROB BREZSNY

SAGITTARIUS

(NOV. 22-DEC. 21):

A journalist dared composer John Cage to “summarize himself in a nutshell.” Cage said, “Get yourself out of whatever cage you find yourself in.” He might have added, “Avoid the nutshells that anyone tries to put you in.” This is always fun work to attend to, of course, but I especially recommend it to you Sagittarians right now. You’re in the time of year that’s close to the moment when you first barged out of your mom’s womb, where you had been housed for months. The coming weeks will be an excellent phase to attempt a similar if somewhat less extravagant trick.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Hundreds of years ago, the Catholic Church’s observance of Lent imposed a heavy burden.

During this six-week period, extending from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, believers were expected to cleanse their sins through acts of self-denial. For example, they weren’t supposed to eat meat on Fridays. Their menus could include fish, however. And this loophole was expanded even further in the 17th century when the Church redefined beavers as being fish. (They swim well, after all.) I’m in favor of you contemplating a new loophole in regard to your own self-limiting behaviors, Capricorn. Is there a taboo you observe that no longer makes perfect sense?

Out of habit, do you deny yourself a pleasure or indulgence that might actually be good for you? Wriggle free of the constraints.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “The Pacific Ocean was overflowing the borders of the map,” wrote Pablo Neruda in his poem “The Sea.” “There was no place to put it,” he continued. “It was so large, wild and blue that it didn’t fit anywhere. That’s why it was left in front of my window.” This passage is a lyrical approximation of what your life could be like in 2017. In other words, lavish, elemental, expansive experiences will be steadily available to you. Adventures that may have seemed impossibly big and unwieldy in the past will be just the right size. And it all begins soon.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “I have a deep fear of being too much,” writes poet Michelle K. “That one day I will find my someone, and they will realize that I am a hurricane. That they will step back and be intimidated by my muchness.” Given the recent astrological omens, Pisces, I wouldn’t be shocked if you’ve been having similar feelings. But now here’s the good news: Given the astrological omens of the next nine months, I suspect the odds will be higher than usual that you’ll encounter brave souls who’ll be able to handle your muchness. They may or may not be soulmates or your one-and-only. I suggest you welcome them as they are, with all of their muchness.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow,” wrote naturalist Henry David Thoreau in Walden, “to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines.” I’d love to see you summon that level of commitment to your important rendezvous in the coming weeks, Aries. Please keep in mind, though, that your “most important rendezvous” are more likely to be with wild things, unruly wisdom, or primal breakthroughs than with pillars of stability, committee meetings, and business-as-usual.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): For you Tauruses, December is “I Accept and Love and Celebrate Myself Exactly How I Am Right Now” Month. To galvanize yourself, play around with this declaration by Oscar-winning Taurus actress Audrey Hepburn: “I’m a long way from the human being I’d like to be, but I’ve decided I’m not so bad after all.” Here are other thoughts to draw on during the festivities: 1. “If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone.”

- Barbara De Angelis. 2. “The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else.” - E. E. Cummings. 3. “To accept ourselves as we are means to value our imperfections as much as our perfections.” - Sandra Bierig. 4. “We cannot change anything until we accept it.” - Carl Jung.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Are your collaborative projects (including the romantic kind) evolving at a slower pace than you expected?

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

Have they not grown as deep and strong as you’ve wished they would? If so, I hope you’re perturbed about it. Maybe that will motivate you to stop tolerating the stagnation. Here’s my recommendation: Don’t adopt a more serious and intense attitude. Instead, get loose and frisky. Inject a dose of blithe spirits into your togetherness, maybe even some high jinks and rowdy experimentation. The cosmos has authorized you to initiate ingenious surprises.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I don’t recommend that you buy a cat-o’-nine-tails and whip yourself in a misguided effort to exorcize your demons. The truth is, those insidious troublemakers exult when you abuse yourself. They draw perverse sustenance from it. In fact, their strategy is to fool you into treating yourself badly. So, no. If you hope to drive away the saboteurs huddled in the sacred temple of your psyche, your best bet is to shower yourself with tender care, even luxurious blessings. The pests won’t like that, and — if you commit to this crusade for an extended time — they will eventually flee.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel García Márquez loved yellow roses. He often had a fresh bloom on his writing desk as he worked, placed there every morning by his wife Mercedes Barcha. In accordance with the astrological omens, I invite you to consider initiating a comparable ritual. Is there a touch of beauty you would like to inspire you on a regular basis? It there a poetic gesture you could faithfully perform for a person you love?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “For a year I watched as something entered and then left my body,” testified Jane Hirshfield in her poem “The Envoy.” What was that mysterious something? Terror or happiness? She didn’t know. Nor could she decipher “how it came in” or “how it went out.” It hovered “where words could not reach it. It slept where light could not go.” Her experience led her to conclude that “There are openings in our lives of which we know nothing.” I bring this meditation to your attention, Virgo, because I suspect you are about to tune in to a mysterious opening. But unlike Hirshfield, I think you’ll figure out what it is. And then you will respond to it with verve and intelligence.

MASTER

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A reporter at the magazine Vanity Fair asked David Bowie, “What do you consider your greatest achievement?” Bowie didn’t name any of his albums, videos, or performances. Rather, he answered, “Discovering morning.” I suspect that you Libras will attract and generate marvels if you experiment with accomplishments like that in the coming weeks. So yes, try to discover or rediscover morning.

Delve into the thrills of beginnings. Magnify your appreciation for natural wonders that you usually take for granted. Be seduced by sources that emanate light and heat. Gravitate toward what’s fresh, blossoming, just-inits-early-stages.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): According to traditional astrology, you Scorpios are not prone to optimism. You’re more often portrayed as connoisseurs of smoldering enigmas and shadowy intrigue and deep questions. But one of the most creative and successful Scorpios of the 20th century did not completely fit this description. French artist Claude Monet was renowned for his delightful paintings of sensuous outdoor landscapes. “Every day I discover even more beautiful things,” he testified. “It is intoxicating me, and I want to paint it all. My head is bursting.” Monet is your patron saint in the coming weeks. You will have more potential to see as he did than you’ve had in a long time.

If you had a baby clone of yourself to take care of, what would be your child-rearing strategy? 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 7 - 20, 2016 // THE TULSA VOICE

ACROSS 1 Fish that spawns upstream 5 With all due speed 10 Beer on “The Simpsons” 14 ___ Gables, Fla. 19 Senate attire 20 Court conflict 21 Popular cookie type 22 Friend wearing a sombrero 23 Four red things 27 One handling drones?

28 Land on the Arabian Peninsula 29 Bald baby bird?

30 Fail to make contact 31 Inclined, to a Brit 32 Army bigwigs, collectively 33 Crunch exercises 37 3:00, in directions 38 1-Across delicacy 39 Places for a little cheese 42 Divvies up 49 One with no need to rent 50 Polish writing?

51 Tiny Greek letter?

52 Unappetizing food 53 Heating fuel 54 Common type of powder 55 Material for an old-fashioned roof 57 Not final, in law 58 You can count on them 60 Dignified manner 61 Like a tapestry 62 Five red things 69 Bishop of old TV 70 Commando incursion 71 Half a U.S. state name

72 Turner the music legend 73 Sounds from a pie fight 76 Mortgage, essentially 77 Catch, as a perp 80 500 race 81 Master of rhymes 82 One way to cook eggs 83 Dangerous part of a sword 85 Some cooking seasonings 88 Abused 90 “... ___ he drove out of sight ...”

91 Australian gem 93 Sound rebounds 94 MacKenzie the Bud Light dog 97 Peaks 99 Round building on a farm 101 Toiler of old comics 102 Female red deer 103 Major film studio 108 Five red things 111 Anatomical cavities 112 ___ sapiens 113 Chips in for a poker hand 114 Paul’s feminine side?

115 Like a not-so-fine whine?

116 Material for a cold blanket 117 Mineral-filled stone 118 Like a busybody DOWN 1 Use a bayonet 2 Thing a mole makes 3 “The Night of the Hunter” screenwriter 4 Like midnight 5 Nonbeliever 6 Gets ready to perform surgery

7 Buenos ___ 8 1960s vocalist Vikki 9 Manning of the NFL 10 Church beliefs 11 Citified 12 Deceptive move 13 “Go ___ the gold!”

14 Dinner-and-ashow venue 15 It’s the farthest from Alpha 16 Iranian monies 17 Moorehead or de Mille 18 In need of directions 24 What a hothead will lose 25 Negative responses 26 Harry of rock music 31 Farthest from winning 33 Dangerous air 34 Important caucus state 35 Wine vats 36 Have no ___ for 37 Larger-than-life 38 Campus marchers (Abbr.)

40 Respond to a stimulus 41 Go off script 43 Kind of bar 44 Pan alternative 45 Snub, in a way 46 Martini add-in 47 Inquisitive (var.)

48 Book title locale 54 Utilize the sun 55 Polynesian amulets 56 Had in one’s hands 58 “I understand, Captain!”

59 Be intolerant 60 Castle protection 61 Become man and wife 62 Moving about

63 Big beast, briefly 64 Fixes with a needle and thread 65 Deliver a keynote address 66 One way to cook steak 67 Commandments word 68 Heavy weight 73 Less dense 74 Skin opening 75 Hawaiian island gift 76 Lounge around 77 Collective-defense org.

78 “Zip-___-DooDah” 79 Places to retire 82 Civil rights concern 83 Turn into eventually 84 ___-di-dah 86 Insurance type 87 In one way or another 89 Post-treatment setback 92 Coin in Cancun 94 Province of Tuscany 95 City maps 96 Prefix with violet or conservative 97 Illegal lighting?

98 “Seinfeld” character Kramer 99 ___ Domingo 100 Made angry 101 Counterfeit catcher, familiarly 103 Tree that’s common in Maine 104 Available to accept customers 105 ___-the-minute 106 Makes, as profit 107 Deuce leader 109 Cries of wonderment 110 Clothing attachment

Universal sUnday Crossword well-red

By Timothy e. Parker

© 2016 Universal Uclick

12/11

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