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contents 38

ON THE COVER

NEWS

LIFE

If you want to further ingratiate yourself into the life of Oklahoma City, there are a few culinary rites of passage in which you ought to take part. (For one, discover the chicken-fried steak with jalepeño gravy at Cheever’s Cafe, pictured on the cover.) We have treasures. Wherever you came from and wherever you go, we’d like you to remember your time here fondly with our greatest gifts: some really tasty food. Get out your map and your whip and get ready to dig for the Lost Treasure of Oklahoma City’s Restaurants. By Greg Elwell, P.18

Education: keeping teachers

Performing Arts: Jersey Boys

Food & Drink: Thai Rice & Noodle Cafe, briefs, OKG eat: messy fries

Metro: State Capital Publishing Museum

Books: Play Ball series

Diversity: Nicole Lynn

OKG shop: other holidays

Sudoku / Crossword

Chicken-Fried News

Shop Local

Letters

Culture: Native American repatriation

Music: year in review, Lauren Anderson, listings

Film: year in review, Concussion

Community: OKC AIDS Care Fund

Astrology

Visual Arts: ArtNow

Classifieds

LIFE 14

OKG picks

Cover: destination dishes

Mission statement Oklahoma Gazette’s mission is to stimulate, examine and inform the public on local quality of life issues and social needs, to recognize community accomplishments, and to provide a forum for inspiration, participation and interaction across all media.

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You’re Gazette’s Weekly Winner! To claim your tickets, call us at 528-6000 or come by our offices by 1/13/15

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news education

Shortage solutions A task force wastes no time taking aim at Oklahoma’s teacher shortfall.

On the advice of teacher friends, Stephanie Jensen traded a career in higher education for a substitute teacher position with Oklahoma City Public Schools last year. With a master’s degree in education, Jensen pictured herself in the classroom, introducing students to poetry, discussing literature and reviewing writing assignments. While trained as an educator, she lacked experience in lesson planning, assignment grading and even SmartBoard, the modern-day chalkboard. As a substitute teacher, Jensen gained field experience working at seven different schools and eventually landed a long-term substitute job teaching geography at Roosevelt Middle School in the Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) district. There, Jensen was treated like a valuable member of the school’s team, not like a visitor filling in for an absent teacher. Her colleagues offered guidance and passed along tips. Best of all, Jensen’s original intention for

teaching was proven true: She was making a difference daily. “I felt I could make an impact,” Jensen said. “The students at Roosevelt showed me I was making an impact. They would tell me, straight up. I thought, ‘I’m just a sub,’ but the principal told me to stop referring to myself as just a sub. I was a teacher.” This summer, she earned her emergency teaching certificate through the Oklahoma State Department of Education. In August, she welcomed fifth-graders to her classroom at Kaiser Elementary School, a prekindergarten through sixth-grade building located in a northwest Oklahoma City neighborhood. In late December, Jensen was eager for school to resume and to pursue the remaining exams required by the state for gaining her teaching license. She passed her first exam, the Oklahoma General Education Test. Fellow Kaiser teachers and teacher friends — those who initially suggested she substitute — now support her quest to become a

Solutions The Teacher Shortage Task Force’s nine recommendations to alleviate the state’s teacher shortage were delivered to House and Senate leaders in late December. The Oklahoma Legislature reconvenes Feb. 1. The recommendations are: 1. Retired teachers as mentors: As the number of new teachers grows each school year, there is a need for veteran educators to mentor first-year teachers. Finding mentors is challenging for many school districts, as state law requires they be fulltime employees. The task force called for amending the statue to allow retired teachers, who are not employed by the district, to serve as mentors. 2. Scholarships for certification exams: The Oklahoma State Department of Education requires passage of at least three exams before teacher certification can be granted. It costs around $500 to pursue certain teaching certificates. The task force said exam costs can be “burdensome” and recommended creating a scholarship program with oversight from and rules of eligibility determined by the Office of Education Quality and Accountability. 3. Recognition of out-of-state certification: Last year, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 20, which allows out-ofstate teachers with more than five years’ experience to

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Ga rett fi s bec k

By Laura Eastes

Stephanie Jensen at Kaiser Elementary School

classroom teacher. “The personal side of teaching, like the discipline and connecting with the kids, that’s what comes naturally to me,” she said. “[Teaching] is something I can do, but I am going to need support and professional development.”

bypass Oklahoma certification exams. The task force recommended recognizing all out-of-state certifications and eliminating state exam passage requirements. 4. Pathway to certification through approved work experience: Under current law, alternative teacher certificate candidates must have at least a 2.5 or higher cumulative college grade-point average. As the Oklahoma State Department of Education encourages midcareer professionals to consider alternative teaching certificates, the task force called for certain work experience to substitute for the grade-point-average requirement. 5. Expanding opportunities for adjunct teachers: School districts can hire adjunct teachers, or individuals from the business or arts community with bachelor’s degrees, to teach courses. Current statutes limit adjunct educators to 90 teaching hours per semester, or about one hour per school day during a semester. The task force wants to increase the limit to 270 hours per semester, allowing adjuncts to teach three hours per school day during the semester. 6. Cost and comparability of certification exams: The task force supports further study of creating a costeffective certification program.

Hiring crisis

Jensen’s teaching path could become more common if lawmakers approve one of the recommendations made by the Teacher Shortage Task Force in the next legislative session. The task force recently made nine recommendations aimed at alleviating statewide teacher shortages and

7. Teacher recruitment program: Undergraduate students, midcareer professionals, military professionals and high school students would be recruited for teaching positions through a specific program. Candidates would be connected to teaching assistance programs, scholarship opportunities and loan forgiveness programs. A recruitment program would require funding, and the business community could provide matching funds, as suggested by the task force. 8. Pay and multiyear commitment for student teachers: The task force called for student teachers in their last semester of college to receive incentives to teach in districts with high poverty or high numbers of minority students. Student teachers, contracted as regular teachers, would receive paychecks and opportunities to secure a contract at the end of their student teaching. 9. Teacher-leader program with extended contracts and stipends: There are few opportunities for career teachers to increase their salaries. By developing a teacher-leader program, certain educators would be named model, mentor or lead teachers and perform unique duties in their districts or schools. A teacher-leader would receive an additional contract and a stipend for the additional leadership role.

presented them to the State Board of Education during the December meeting. The suggestions address certification barriers, recruitment and incentives. The task force also called for promoting the teaching profession as an appreciated career path. Since July 1, the seven-member board, which includes State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, has approved 977 emergency teaching certificates as part of its effort to reduce teacher shortages. Those with an interest in education and a bachelor’s degree can apply for an emergency certificate that grants one year of teaching in a public school classroom. Of the nine recommendations, one proposal would create a recruitment program to support undergraduate students, midcareer professionals and military personnel interested in pursuing teaching. Recruits receive specific guidance and opportunities to transition into classrooms. The task force recommendations don’t provide specifics, but perhaps the guidance provided to Jensen and others is an appropriate model that OKCPS has anticipated and enacted already. The district’s new support

program provides targeted professional development workshops to emergency certified teachers throughout the school year.

Recommendations, budgets

The teacher shortage, low teacher pay, dwindling school dollars and declining student performance scores are key issues for the State Board of Education. This year will prove challenging for any refined or new policies that come with price tags. However, it has also become clear that status quo policies are too costly to maintain. After months of low tax revenue collections, state leaders in the Office of Management and Enterprise Services handed down a 3 percent cut to all state agencies, which began Jan. 1. For the state department of education, that translates to a $46.7 million funding loss through June 30. The next fiscal year doesn’t appear any brighter, as state leaders predict a budget shortfall around $900.8 million. When the Teacher Shortage Task Force was formed in September, talks of budget woes for fiscal year 2016-17 were just beginning. The 111-member group includes legislators, business leaders, teachers, education advocates

and representatives from the education agency. Tasked with examining the causes behind the state’s teacher shortage, its members were instructed to recommend strategies to curb the shortage and avoid suggestions requiring additional funding. Their nine recommendations appear in the task force’s preliminary report, issued less than four months after the group’s formation. A final report is expected later this year. Each of the recommendations requires legislative action and was shared with House Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, and Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa.

Teacher pay

The report acknowledges that a lack of competitive teacher pay contributes to the state’s teacher shortage. Oklahoma ranks No. 49 in a state-bystate comparison of teacher salaries, with an average salary listed at $44,373, according to a recent report issued by the National Education Association. “We can’t forget the need to be competitive,” Hofmeister said during the Dec. 17 board meeting.

“We continue to lose folks to other industries and to other states. As we face tremendous challenges economically, there has to be a longterm plan on how we solve this and gain regional competitiveness.” Last January, Hofmeister introduced a five-year plan to raise teacher pay to the regional average. Called #OKhigh5, the plan would cost $150 million in its first year of implementation and provide $2,000 pay raises and two additional days of instruction. The proposal requires legislative action and the governor’s signature. #OKhigh5 is unlikely to gain traction during what Gov. Mary Fallin has called “a very challenging budget year.” It’s first-year teaching experiences like Jensen’s that illustrate the potential impact of many of the Teacher Shortage Task Force recommendations. Jensen admitted that being a new teacher is challenging, but with so much support, she will stick with it. “To have teachers, administrators and the district support me means everything to me,” Jensen said. “I get to focus on the classroom and my students. I have zero hesitation with going forward with my alternative education certification.”

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news metro

Uncertain future A Guthrie group wants the State Capitol Publishing Company building returned to the community as a state committee reviews proposals. By Laura Eastes

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to breathe new life into the museum. The group was one of four entities to submit a proposal, but unlike the others, the county historical society wanted the building turned over to the community of Guthrie. “The community rallied to purchase this property to preserve it and develop it as a museum because of its importance,” Lentz said. “Now, with state budgetary cutbacks, we are simply asking the property be returned to us. We can continue the work there.”

Community project

In 1973, the State Capital Publishing Museum building was entered into the National Register of Historic Places. A year later, the Guthrie Chamber of Commerce purchased the property for $50,000 from Myrtle A. Jackson, who owned the Cooperative Publishing Company in that location. Community groups, including Guthrie Rotary Club, Logan County Extension Homemakers and Guthrie Lions Club, and local businesses contributed to the chamber donation drive to purchase the building. Additionally, 32 state newspapers contributed monetarily or with publishing equipment to complete the museum. On Oct. 16, 1975, the deed changed hands again — to Oklahoma Historical Society for $10. The state agency was to operate the museum, which featured a working vintage press and a large collection of printing equipment. The museum opened to nearly 2,000 visitors on Nov. 16, 1982, with a special dedication by Gov. George Nigh. Carol Hirzel remembers the openingday fanfare, even without looking through the program she saved for decades. As a docent in the 1980s, Hirzel led school groups and out-of-state visitors through the museum. Like Lentz, she supports reverting the building back to the community. She researched other former state museums, including Kingfisher’s Chisholm Trail Museum, which was donated back to the original donors from Oklahoma Historical Society. “The state never went back to the donors and asked, ‘Would you operate it?’” said Hirzel, a member of the county historical society board, “the way they treated everyone else; they treated us different. We don’t know why.”

The State Capital Publishing Company building

New process

Under the three-year-old Oklahoma State Government Asset Reduction and Cost Savings Program, the State Capital Publishing Museum was identified as underutilized. Through the program, the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) is tasked with liquidating properties that fall within the 5 percent most underutilized state-owned properties. The list is published before the end of the year, and the Guthrie museum was one of 11 properties listed in the 2014 report. Through a connected law passed in 2013, proceeds from a sale are used for maintenance costs of other state buildings, which can include state Capitol repairs. According to the report, the list value of the Guthrie museum was $5.6 million, but its estimated value was left blank. For eight months, OMES collected written proposals for the purchase or lease and redevelopment of the State Capital Publishing building. OMES entered the proposal stage with a goal of preserving the building’s historical significance and stimulating Guthrie’s economic development. “The State Capital Publishing Company is one of Oklahoma’s most historic buildings and one of Guthrie’s architectural crown jewels,” Melissa Milburn, director of real estate and leasing services at OMES, said in a news release. “When you step into it, it’s like stepping back in time, as much of the building has the original flooring and fixtures. We are hoping this will be a major win for the

state, Guthrie, the new occupant and this grand historic building.” A selection committee will review the four proposals. The committee is comprised of representatives from OMES, University of Oklahoma College of Architecture, Oklahoma Historical Society and the city of Guthrie, said John Estus, OMES public affairs director. In addition to a proposal received by the county historical society, developers Williamson County Investments Corp. and Bywater Development Group submitted proposals, as did the Lauren R. Ladd Trust of Guthrie. “They have one or two more meetings,” Estus said of the committee, which meets in private. “They haven’t made a decision yet on which proposal they want to select, if any.” Proposals are evaluated based on criteria of community benefit, historic preservation and a redeveloper’s qualifications, experience and financial capacity. Lentz said that only Logan County Historical Society has experience running a museum and a deep connection to the local community. He is counting on the committee to recognize the nonprofit group’s dedication to the historical site and commitment to reopen the museum, telling the story of the first newspaper in Oklahoma. “It is too important of a building to let it go,” Lentz said. “If it was in the wrong hands, it could be altered from the original purpose and the historical character lost.”

LAURA EASTES

Last month, Guthrie resident Lloyd Lentz peered through a tall, opaque basement window of the 113-year-old State Capitol Publishing Company building. Troubled by the weeds growing and debris beginning to clog the window well, Lentz admired the large collection of printing machinery, including a Linotype, a typecasting machine used in the publishing industry into the 20th century. He shared local lore about others who used to peer into the basement through these windows. At the turn of the 20th century, employees of The Daily Oklahoman were rumored to spy and glean the next day’s headlines in The State Capital, published by Frank Greer and the State Capital Publishing Company. The tale highlighted the fierce rivalry between the two newspapers, both reporting news from Indian Territory and Oklahoma, after entering the union. That story was just one of many anecdotes Lentz recalled during Oklahoma Gazette’s recent visit to Guthrie. Lentz served as curator of The State Capital Publishing Museum when the site opened in 1984. In the state museum, staff and volunteers recollected the newspaper publishing industry of yesteryear and highlighted a unique Guthrie business for visitors. Now, Lentz is limited to sharing stories from the outside looking into the historic site, located at the intersection of Harrison Avenue and Second Street in Guthrie. After nearly 30 years, the venue welcomed visitors for the last time in 2012. A broken boiler forced the Oklahoma Historical Society to shut its doors and end a partnership with the Logan County Historical Society, which oversaw the facility’s day-to-day operations. A new boiler was estimated to cost $120,000, a heavy price tag for a state agency experiencing budget drops in recent years. Members of the local historical society were frustrated, as visitors to Guthrie could only peer through windows to view the national landmark. Last spring, Oklahoma Historical Society and the state Office of Management and Enterprise Services began accepting proposals for the purchase or lease and redevelopment of the building. Logan County Historical Society viewed the opportunity as a second chance

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news diversity

Dual threat On the verge of making history, Oklahoma’s Nicole Lynn is on track to represent National Football League players.

By Laura Eastes

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woman and being black,” said Lynn, who is completing a judicial law clerk fellowship in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. “I have to overcome both hurdles.”

Prepping for players

As a student, Lynn interned as a summer associate at a Houston law firm. While she gained valuable experience, she knew she needed additional training specifically geared toward clients who are athletes. She applied for the partner services internship program with the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), the labor organization that represents professional football players and administers agent certification. She interned for six months with the Washington, D.C.-based group and worked as a mediator between NFL sponsors and players during negotiations for use of the players’ likenesses in advertising. “I was given the opportunity to see something other agents never see, whether it be additional funds for players to go back to school or medical insurance to help them after they are done playing,” Lynn said. “I also was able to see other jobs that support the player besides the agent.” In addition to a key internship, Lynn sought a mentor. She found fellow OU law graduate Kelli Masters, the first woman to represent a first-round NFL draft pick. Lynn said Masters’ guidance and advice was invaluable. Like Lynn, Masters entered the industry after recognizing the important role legal and business advisors play in the lives of professional athletes. After practicing litigation and nonprofit organization law in Oklahoma City, Masters founded Kelli Masters Management about a decade ago. She knows what it takes to make it as an agent. “Many people dream of being an agent and working in football, but honestly, most people who go through the certification process with the NFLPA don’t really know what they are getting into,” Masters said. “Nicole does. She’s been preparing and asking questions for years. Because of her skillset and preparation, I believe she has

mark hancock

Nicole Lynn knew exactly what she wanted to do when she entered the University of Oklahoma College of Law. The Tulsa native was confident in achieving her goal, but when asked by peers what she wanted do with a law degree, Lynn compared her ambition to an aspiring rapper. “I know it’s crazy, kind of like being a rapper,” Lynn responded, “but I am going to do it.” Lynn never wavered from her desire to pursue sports agency as a career, despite reactions that her goal was idealistic. While women now constitute more than one-third of the nation’s attorneys, very few take up sports law and represent National Football League (NFL) players. While Lynn understood the game of football, she recognized an athlete’s need for a quality adviser, someone who helps manage money and steers players toward the right choices on and off the field. As an undergraduate, she studied finance and accepted a position on Wall Street, striving to work with athletes. She was surprised to learn that financial advisors serve a small part in an athlete’s off-the-field team. “It was a financial advisor for an NFL player that told me the change I wanted to make is through the agent,” Lynn said of the advice. “I immediately applied for law school.” In 2015, Lynn completed the threeyear juris doctor program in two and a half years. She took the bar exam in February and the NFL player agent exam in July. She passed both, the first step toward entering the highly competitive agent industry. In the fall, she accepted a position with PlayersRep Sports Management, becoming the firm’s first female sports agent. Come April, Lynn could be negotiating deals for rookie players during the NFL draft in Chicago. That’s exactly where she strives to be, but she was astonished to learn she might also become the first African-American woman to do so. She was told she could become the first African-American female agent to have an NFL player on a team roster. “The hard part is I haven’t had anyone to teach me what it is like as a

Nicole Lynn

what it takes to succeed in an industry where success is very rare.” Days before last year’s NFL Draft, the player’s association recorded about 50 women registered as agents, compared to a total of 875 agents. Not all of those agents participated in the draft. The path to becoming an agent is twofold, as the second test is signing a client that grabs the attention of a team. As an NFLPA intern, Lynn was told about African-American women who passed the agent exam but hadn’t signed a player.

With confidence and a unique experience, Lynn believes she will stand apart from other agents. When draft time roles around, she stands ready to make deals with teams, talk about what comes after football and protect players’ wealth. “When I go to a guy, I can say, ‘I passed the agent exam … but I also have an NFLPA background. I know how the benefits work,’” Lynn said. “It is really just finding that factor that pushes you apart. Talking to players as an agent is already hard enough, especially the first year.”

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Chicken Gas ’n’ go to jail

Of all the drugs they could have been carrying, Gas-X was not among them. Arizona residents Chanele Benita Pauley, 33, and Walter Gray Rawls, 43, were pulled over shortly before Christmas in Rogers County on one of the most senseless road violations around — failure to signal a lane change — near Catoosa, according to a New York Daily News report. A deputy said he was only going to give a warning to Pauley, the driver, except that she acted very nervous when he asked her to sit in his patrol car. “Chanele was breathing very heavily, and I could see the carotid artery in her neck,” K9 deputy Scotty Moree wrote in an arrest report cited by TulsaWorld.com. “I observed Chanele to also be shaking.” Then, she farted. Moree took a deep

Fried news breath and investigated further. Pauley said they were headed to Missouri. Rawls said they were going to North Carolina. Jack, the police dog, opted for a trip to the car’s trunk, where police discovered 8.5 pounds of meth wrapped up in boxes, like gifts from Tweaker Claus. We at Chicken-Fried News imagine Pauley’s post-arrest jail introductions might have gone like this: “What are you in for?” “Ripped one in a cop car.” Well, technically, she wouldn’t be wrong.

Peaceful surrender

Last week, felon Daniel Guy Harris continued his pattern of poor decisionmaking. Around high noon last Wednesday, he exchanged gunshots with a bailbondsman

attempting to serve him with a felony warrant tied to complaints of being a felon in possession of a controlled dangerous substance and drug paraphernalia. He then holed himself up in an auto body repair shop’s garage and embarked on a 16-hour standoff involving Oklahoma City and Yukon police and Canadian and Oklahoma county deputies before he “surrendered peacefully” just before 4 a.m. Wednesday, according to NewsOK. com. News9.com reported the peaceful surrender came after officers tried over 200 times to make contact with Harris. The final three attempts — via CS gas (a riot control agent), OC spray (pepper spray) and jets of water from two firehoses — worked like a charm. “I’ve never dreamed that this would have come out like this,” CJ Knight,

owner of CJ’s Bail Bonds, told the television news station. Harris had five years remaining on his parole after spending over a year in prison for a child abuse conviction, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

Kool-Aid drunk

For years, economists have talk about the “volatility” of oil and gas markets. In layman’s terms, they mean the oil and natural gas industry is unstable. In Chicken-Fried News terms, we’re talking enigmas. Despite industry unknowns, Oklahoma’s economy relies heavily on oil and gas, and it just so happens that gross production tax is one of the state’s top tax revenues. Oil and gas companies pay a 7 percent gross production tax on wells drilled prior to July 1, 2015. When oil prices are down, tax collections lag.

a spot of tea to go with your Ph.D. Now, you can earn a British Ph.D. right here in Oklahoma in just three years through Swansea University, a UCO partner. A British Ph.D. requires a quality thesis but no classes or other requirements. Select from more than 25 fields of study, including Nursing, Criminology and Healthcare Management. You’ll have an advisor in Wales and one at UCO. Plus, two short trips to Wales included in the affordable tuition.

Learn more at one of our open houses: 5:30-7:30 p.m., Jan. 19 Nigh University Center, Room 404, UCO Campus, Edmond 5:30-7:30 p.m., Jan. 20 UCO Downtown, Carnegie Centre, 131 Dean A. McGee Ave., OKC Apply by March 31 for an October start.

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Over time, oil producers call for layoffs and lawmakers deal with budget shortfalls. That’s why it comes as no surprise — at least to those who pay attention to news headlines — that Oklahoma’s personal income growth sank to No. 45 in the nation after third-quarter growth of only 1 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Yikes! Even grimmer news came last month when Oklahoma’s economy was the worst performer among all states in the second quarter, NewsOK.com reported. Maybe it’s time to think outside of the oil barrel. Dec. 28, the price of crude was at $36.81 a barrel. It seems like a third-grader would tell state leaders to slow

down the sipping rate on their oilflavored Kool-Aid. The real question is, how can state leaders ease the state’s reliance on oil revenues, and will anyone drink that Kool-Aid? Cheers.

Ceiling caper

If there’s one thing you take away from 2015, let it be this: Ceilings aren’t a great place to be. The dude hanging out in a McDonald’s ceiling a few weeks ago taught us all that ceilings lead to getting caught, but a man in Broken Arrow didn’t get the memo. Cody Leaman, 29, was found inside Ron’s Hamburgers & Chili by a police officer investigating a break-in next door at Nancy & Co. salon. The salon owner called Broken Arrow police after finding the back door and some cabinets open and ceiling tiles on the floor. Police looked up and found a hole

in the ceiling near a wall that separates the two businesses. Leaman told officers he had permission to stay at Ron’s, but they found several stolen items — including hair color, powdered acrylic, hair care products, clippers, a metal clamp, a drill set and a Samsung tablet — among Leaman’s possessions. FOX23.com reported that police believe Leaman intended to sell the stolen items and the salon workers said the man visited the shop daily. News9.com reported “the booking report lists Leaman’s employer as Ron’s Hamburgers,” but FOX23.com reported that employees said Leaman was fired. If you want to keep your job, stay out of the ceiling.

sexual intercourse” with a goat? Hopefully not. Darryl Gene Scoggin, 53, was arrested after he was caught on surveillance video with his pants down, allegedly holding down a goat inside a West Oklahoma City barn, according to OKCFOX.com. Outside of animal cruelty and concerns of consent, some readers wanted to know what happened to romance. Did Scoggin at least buy the goat dinner first? There have been worse first dates than enjoying a delicious, candlelit Christmas Eve dinner of hay and weeds. Instead, police said they found a bottle of vodka in Scoggin’s jacket after he fled the scene.

Bah, humbug

Where were you on Christmas Eve? Were you sad and alone? Hopefully not. Would it at least comfort you to know that on that night, no matter how lonely you were, someone somewhere was “obviously having

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LETTERS Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to jchancellor@okgazette.com or sent online at okgazette.com. Include a city of residence and contact number for verification.

Better educated

Although police work is clearly a dangerous profession and those in that field need our support, it is also clear from so many police brutality incidents like the recent one in Chicago that major reform is needed in departments across the country. One reform that could have a positive impact in years to come would be to require all officers and police officials to have completed at minimum four-year bachelor’s degree programs with emphasis in sociology and crisis management and anger management courses. After all, schoolteachers who interact extensively with the public are required to have four-year degrees, so why shouldn’t police officers? And police officers are paid more from public funds, in some cases much more than schoolteachers. — Jay Hanas Edmond

because of Obama’s horrible handling of the economic “recovery” that the Republicans were voted the majority in the House for the 112th Congress and gained significantly in governorships. However, the Dems still maintained a voting majority of 53 percent in the Senate for the 112th. Dems also maintained a voting majority of 55 percent in the Senate for the 113th Congress. Not until 2015, the 114th Congress and Obama’s sixth year in office, did Republicans gain majority voting in the Senate and House. Obama was not opposed on every move he made; he was just inept on any move he made. — Andy Newton Midwest City

Eat lead?

Wasted space

If we are truly committed to winning “the war on terror,” should we not be shooting down the drones over the Middle East that are blowing up wedding parties, funeral marches and hospitals? — Frank Silovsky Oklahoma City

I used to like reading your point and counterpoint selection of letters to the editor in the opinion section. From your recent offerings of “Thought police” and “Monkey, business” (Dec. 16, Gazette) one can only think you have a paucity of thoughtful letters or you have chosen to give voice to inane ideas … or you found them humorous. I found them a waste of time and not worth the space you provided. — Robert Lee Goldsby

Blame Obama

In response to the letter to the editor from Nathaniel Batchelder, “Blame W.” (Commentary, Letters, Dec. 9, Oklahoma Gazette), he stated, “Obama was supposed to fix all that with Republicans in Congress opposing virtually every move he made.” “Fix all that” referring to the economic collapse. Let him be reminded that the 111th Congress — seated January 2009 through December 2011, President Barack Obama’s first two years in office — was controlled by Democrats. The Democratic Senate majority had a 58-percent voting share, and the Democratic House majority had a 58.8-percent voting share. It was only

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Surprise, surprise

The Dec. 9 issue of Oklahoma Gazette was, in my not-so-humble opinion, a benchmark edition. All the articles were interesting and informative, ChickenFried News — I can’t believe I’m saying this — was politically benign and even humorous, and Mr. John Thompson (Commentary, “OKCPS too reliant on suspensions”) and Mr. Dave Bond (Commentary, “Tax ballot violates state constitution”) penned cogent, lucid, provoking points of view. Sincere kudos, ladies and gentlemen!

But, the ubiquitous literary eraser, along came Mr. Nathaniel Batchelder from the other side of the looking glass (Letters, “Blame W.”) I’m not sure what his problem is, but I bet it’s hard to pronounce. He seems chagrined that Republicans haven’t criticized President George W. Bush. Well, one reason is that the loony liberal lackeys did it 24/7 for eight years and still haven’t stopped 15 years later. Then he goes through a list of whines that are devoid of facts. To wit: The tax cuts were prior to 9/11. You remember 9/11, when 3,000 innocent civilians were killed? Our recovery from the terrorist act boosted the economy out of the depression the previous administration dumped on us. Also, the president didn’t “launch” two wars; he sent a congressionally approved force into Afghanistan to seek and destroy Osama bin Laden and his band. With his, congressional and U.N. approval, Iraq was invaded to stop the next 9/11. Remember, we were still in a state of conflict with Iraq since 1991 and our aircraft were being fired upon daily while enforcing a U.N. no-fly zone. As of 2008, the War on Terror cost far less than President Barack Obama’s farcical 2009 “Porkulus” scheme. The Enron collapse was missed by more than the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a whole lot of other agencies. Enron officials covered their tracks like a cats in a sand box. And he chooses to “Blame W.” OK. Got it. Omit decades of Democrat hanky-panky that contributed to the 2008 economic crash. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) into law to facilitate home ownership for the poor. It didn’t work. In 1993, Clinton rewrote Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules on mortgage funding. In 1994, he modified the CRA with the National Homeownership Strategy, which led

to rules forcing quotas for subprime loans onto banks. In the next eight to nine years, there were a series of fast-and-loose deals within Democrat committees. In 2003, Bush proposed one of 17 regulatory overhauls and Democrats, notably lawmakers Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd, killed the reforms. In 2007, Fannie and Freddie owned over $6 trillion in the mortgage market, and in 2008, it collapsed on itself. Fifteen years in the making and allDemocrat-all-the-time, there was hardly a Bush/Republican debacle. Some additional data: In 2007, the debt was $8.9 trillion, the deficit was $161 billion, the GDP was 3.5 percent and there were 52 straight months of job creation (real jobs, not part-time, fast-food server jobs). The Democrats took over Congress in 2007, and Obama took office in 2009. The current debt is $19 trillion and the deficit is $583 billion. The deficit in 2014 when the Republicans took over Congress was $485 billion. GDP is at 1 percent and we have 97 million citizens out of work. According to Batchelder and his ilk, Obama is being treated badly by the party he demonizes every chance he gets, and seven years later, it’s still “Blame W.” Seven years later, our community organizer-in-chief is still being bamboozled by big, dumb Dubya. The world is on fire from Casablanca to Kalkota, our (former) allies don’t trust us, our enemies taunt us and there is not a single piece of Earth that respects us more now than when our commander-in-chief, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, was crowned. We live in interesting times. — Pete Lepo Edmond

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Brad Meltzer Speaking, Meltzer is the host of Brad Meltzer’s Decoded on the History Channel and Brad Meltzer’s Lost History on H2, the author of a number of bestselling fiction and nonfiction titles, including The Inner Circle, Heroes for Sons, History Decoded, and the I Am children’s series; his talk will be a private ticketed event as a fundraiser for VOICE (Voices Organized in Civic Engagement), 5 p.m., Jan. 8. Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, Edmond, 340-9202, bestofbooksok.com. FRI

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Second Sunday Poetry Reading, come get your monthly recommended dose of spoken word, a vital vitamin in which too many of us are deficient; featuring John Graves Morris, 2-4 p.m., Jan. 10. The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 307-9320, pasnorman.org. SUN

FILM Shepherd of the Hills, (US, 1941, dir. Henry Hathaway) John Wayne plays angry young moonshiner Matt Matthews, who has vowed to kill the father he never met who abandoned his mother to die many years ago; things change in Matt’s hometown when a mysterious and gentle loner rolls in, 5:30 & 8 p.m., Jan. 7. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa.com. THU Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, (US, 2015, dir. Lisa Immordino Vreeland) had Peggy Guggenheim been born at a different time, in a different place, to a different family, we might have seen her on an episode of TLC’s Hoarders; luckily she was born to a wealthy family in New York and thus gave us one of the most renowned museums of twentieth century art in the world, 5:30 & 8 p.m., Jan. 8 & 9; 2 & 5:30 p.m., Jan. 10. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa.com. FRI-SUN Taxi Driver, (US, 1976, dir. Martin Scorsese) if you don’t watch this movie for the classic lines, Scorsese’s amazing style, De Niro’s epic portrayal of a Vietnam veteran living on the fringes or the iconic lines and scenes, please at least watch it for Harvey Keitel as a skeevy long-hair,

RiffTrax Live: Starship Troopers The only good bug is a dead bug, and the only good movie is a movie that has been thoroughly and lovingly skewered by the folks that brought us Mystery Science Theater 3000. See your favorite laser-shooting, bug-exploding, fascism-satirizing, Neil Patrick Harris-starring sci-fi cult classic back on the big screen, where people funnier than you add hilarious running commentary. It shows 7:30 p.m. Jan. 14 at Cinemark Tinseltown USA, 6001 N. Martin Luther King Ave., and AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, 2501 W. Memorial Road. Tickets are $9.50-$12-50. Call 755-2466 or 424-0461 or visit fathomevents.com.

Jan. 14 fedora, wife beater and high-waisted pants-wearing pimp, 7 p.m., Jan. 12. Harkins Theatre, 150 E. Reno Ave., 231-4747, harkinstheatres.com. TUE

HAPPENINGS Through the Eyes of the Lynx: Galileo, Natural History and the Americas, The Academy of the Lynx was one of the world’s earliest scientific societies, whose star pupil happened to be Renaissance artist and scientist (among other vocations) Galileo Galilei; this exhibit celebrates the contributions of Galileo and the Academy of the Lynx in the areas of natural science and history. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., Norman, 325-4712, snomnh.ou.edu. Crossroads of Commerce: A History of Free Enterprise in Oklahoma, Oklahoma history buffs won’t want

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okg picks

are events recommended by Oklahoma Gazette editorial staff members. For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.

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to miss this exhibit showcasing the growth and development of Oklahoma’s economy from 1716 to statehood, the Dust Bowl, the depression, and all the way to present day. Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 521-2491, okhistory.org/historycenter. Oklahoma City Remodeling Expo, have no fear, the people to convince you not to take out a load-bearing wall with a jackhammer are here; put down the heavy machinery and pick up the card of a knowledgeable professional right here in OKC, all while exploring the home and garden installations to gain plenty of inspiration 2-7 p.m. Jan. 8, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Jan 9 and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Jan. 10. Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens, 602-8500, coxconventioncenter.com. FRI 2nd Friday Norman Art Walk, any Normanite will tell you this monthly event is a can’t-miss, and come early if you’re coming at all; offering free snacks, wine, live music, and local vendors, Art Walk is the

Oklahoma City Home + Garden Show What it should be called is The Make Your Friends Feel Insecure About Their Messy, Disorganized Homes and the Half-Dug Out Pile of Dirt in Their Backyards That Was Originally Supposed to be a Flower Garden But Now the Kids Just Play in It Like a Sandbox But Finally Getting Your Crap Together and Making Your House Look Awesome Expo, but that was too long to fit on promo billboards. The Oklahoma City Home + Garden Show runs Jan. 15-17 at State Fair Park, 333 Gordon Cooper Blvd. Admission is $10 in advance or $12 at the door. Call 800-395-1350, ext. 11, or visit oklahomacityhomeshow.com.

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Medieval Winter Ball Jocks might look back on a simpler time, a time when you could go around shoving children into lockers just because they were into Shakespeare and dragons. Those times have passed. The nerds have become the cool kids. They know how to throw parties the likes of which have not been experienced in centuries. Join the Medieval Winter Ball for mead, meat and medieval dance 6:30-10:30 p.m. Jan. 16 at Sam Noble Museum, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., in Norman. Tickets are $40 and are available at eventbrite.com. Visit facebook.com/MedievalFair.

Jan. 16

Donate Your Used Hearing Aids

best Norman has to offer all in one place at the first second Friday of 2016, 6-9 p.m., Jan. 8. Downtown Norman, 122 East Main S., Norman, 2ndfridaynorman.com. FRI

Please consider donating any hearing aids you’re not using at any INTEGRIS Hospital.

Drop-In Art, there’s something weirdly satisfying about peeling off painters tape and leaving smooth straight lines and geometric shapes where smudges of paint used to be; get that feeling over and over again while creating colorful artwork fit for wall-hanging at this week’s free drop-in art, 1 p.m., Jan. 9. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa.com. SAT

We’ll clean, refurbish and personally fit them to someone in need.

FOOD Winter Cheese & Wine, everyone knows that the non-scientific way to the heart is via the stomach, and this class promises to warm both; scientists and doctors argue that these systems are entirely separate, but nobody needs science doctors anyway, 6:45 p.m., Jan. 8. Forward FoodsNorman, 2001 West Main St., Norman, 321-1007, forwardfoods.com. FRI

That’s sure to be music to their ears.

The ABC’s of What You Eat: Avocados, avocados, when selected, stored and prepared properly, are the creamy green secret to living forever; truly guacamole seeds are a gift from the gods, 9:30 a.m., Jan. 12. Buy For Less, 3501 Northwest Expressway, 946-6342, buyforlessok.com. TUE

YOUTH Tape & Tunnels, get psyched for recyclables at the newest exhibit at SMO, where kids can experience an interactive wonderland with packing tape tunnels, bungee cord mazes, and cardboard clubhouses where they can climb, build, and explore. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org.

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Pipeline to Politics LIKE US ON

Oklahoma is known as one of the best places in America to be a lady, with way more women in state government than anywhere else. Wait. Did we say Oklahoma? We meant Opposite Oklahoma, where everything is exactly unlike the Sooner State in almost every way. Rest assured, Oklahoma Women’s Coalition works hard to change that reality at its Pipeline to Politics conference 8:30 a.m-5:15 p.m. Jan. 30 at Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma headquarters, 6100 N. Robinson Ave. Registration is $75. Call 286-0356 or visit okwc.org/ pipelinetopolitics.

Jan. 30 Devon Ice Rink, see how well you fare in a nearly frictionless environment at this year’s Devon ice rink; perhaps you’ll discover a new talent you never knew you had… or maybe you should try, like, knitting or something. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/ events. Crafts For Kids, it’s not really snow, and it’s not really a globe, but it is really free easy and really, really free; join Lakeshore to let the little ones craft their very own “snow” “globe”, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Jan. 9. Lakeshore Learning Store, 6300 N. May Ave., 858-8778, lakeshorelearning.com. SAT Star Wars Day, join your friends for an afternoon of ice skating, photos with Star Wars characters, movie-themed treats, snacks, activities and family fun 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Jan. 9. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens. com/events. SAT

PERFORMING ARTS Triple Feature Week, it’s three comics for the price of one; triple the toppings on your comedy pizza with this trio of funny dudes, featuring Johnny O, Sid Davis, and John Crist, 8 p.m., Jan. 6 & 7; 8 & 10:30 p.m., Jan. 8 & 9. Loony Bin Comedy Club, 8503 N. Rockwell Ave., 239-4242, loonybincomedy.com. WED-SAT From White Plains, this play tells the story of two adults in the distant aftermath of a bully-victim relationship: Dennis, a now Academy Award-winning filmmaker has been skyrocketed to fame for his autobiographical film about a bullied gay teen, and Ethan, the disgraced former bully responsible for Dennis’s torment and ultimate success, 8 p.m., Jan. 8 & 9. Carpenter Square Theatre, 806 W. Main St., 232-6500, carpentersquare.com. FRI-SAT The Dinner Detective, this improvised show is just another ordinary dinner, with one exception — someone in the midst is guilty of murder, and that person just might be sitting right across from you, 6 p.m., Jan. 9. Sheraton Hotel, 1 N. Broadway Ave., 235-2780, sheratonokc.com. SAT Jersey Boys, based on the meteoric rise to fame by real life singing sensation Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, their romantic and legal run-ins and tumultuous relations with the Mafia, all accented

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with the high-pitched harmonies of Frankie and the boys, 7:30 p.m., Jan. 12 & 13. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 297-2264, okcciviccenter.com. TUE-WED

ACTIVE OKC Thunder vs. Memphis Grizzlies, the fur is gonna fly next Wednesday as the Thunder take on the Memphis Grizzlies. 8:30 p.m., Dec. 6. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 602-8700, chesapeakearena.com. WED Kelly’s 50/50 Workout, Kelly Hancock will instruct this high energy, interval training class that combines 50 minutes of strength followed by 50 minutes of cycle, 8:30 a.m., Jan. 9. PACER Fitness Center, 5520 N. Independence, 949-3891. SAT OKC Thunder vs. Dallas Mavericks, he’s seven feet tall with blonde, shaggy hair, and no, it’s not some sort of surfer Bigfoot (which is totally a reality show we would watch)… it’s German terror of the Mavs, Dirk Nowitski; come cheer on the Thunder as they take on Dirk and a team of 12 of his clones- just kidding, that would be awesome though, 7 p.m., Jan. 13. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 6028700, chesapeakearena.com. WED

VISUAL ARTS All in All, you don’t make it onto the wall of the Chesapeake Arena Thunder Family VIP Lounge for nothing; boasting a BFA from State University of New York College, Christie Owen’s organic abstract and modern impressionist acrylic works are displayed all over Oklahoma draw inspiration from natural and industrial textures, from both the organic and the inorganic. Verbode, 415 N. Broadway Ave #101. Bert Seabourn: American Expressionist, a full-time painter since 1978, Seabourn brings a unique approach to color and line in his postmodern expressionist works which are on display all over the world; of Cherokee descent himself, Seabourn often uses Native subjects and imagery. Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum, 1400 Classen Drive, 235-4458, oklahomaheritage.com.

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Enter the Matrix: Indigenous Printmakers, exhibition exploring how printmaking has become a matrix for cultural and key figures of artistic exchange. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma. Figure Drawing Session, The second Tuesday of each month the Oklahoma Art Guild hosts a figure drawing session. Free for members, $5 for non-members. Open to the public 7-9:30 p.m. Jan. 11. Oklahoma Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd. TUE Haunting the Mind: Beings that Fly, Connie works in acrylic, watercolor, pastel and prints, but is perhaps best known for her delicate watercolors and bright, bold serigraphs. The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 307-9320, pasnorman.org.

New Art for the New Year, start your New Year with a renewed eye for art and beauty; feast your eyes and soul on new art from local artists and support an awesome gallery while you’re at it. Contemporary Art Gallery, 2928 Paseo St., 601-7474, contemporaryartgalleryokc.com.

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Retracing, featuring unique works in line and color by Christie Hackler, Beatriz Mayorca, Lisa Jean Allswede, and Brandi Downham, brought to you by Fringe, a collective of contemporary women artists in the OKC area. Mainsite Contemporary Art, 122 E. Main St., Norman, 360-1162, mainsite-art.com.

15 MONTHS NO INTEREST WAC

PR OV I D ED

Holiday Small Works, the fine artists at Kasum have pulled out all the stops to make sure everyone on your holiday list is covered, or at least their walls are. Kasum Contemporary Fine Arts, 1706 NW 16th St., 604-6602, kasumcontemporary.com.

James Surls, nature figures prominently in the work of sculptor James Surls, and over the course of four decades, he has developed evocative, hybrid forms in wood, steel, and bronze inspired by flowers, the human body, and rock formations. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma.

The diamond with the heart of a star

EXCLUSIVELY AT

Reian Williams: A Master of Emotive Realism There’s art that’s fine, and then there’s fine art. The works of painter Reian Williams are considered the latter. When you look into Williams’ works of oil on canvas, they stare back into you. That is because Williams dedicates himself to capturing the emotion, spark and very breath of his subjects. His works are on display 4-9 p.m. Jan. 15 at The Good Life Gallery, 6900 N. Western Ave. Call 810-5781 or visit For okg thegoodlifegallery.com.

music picks

Jan. 15

see page 39

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Cover food & Drink

Destination dishes

OKC might not seem like it has much to offer sometimes, but it does serve up some delicious food.

300 S. Choctaw Ave., El Reno There aren’t many dishes Oklahoma can claim as our own, but it’s worth a drive west to El Reno to try the semi-famous onion burgers. You can find an onion burger closer to home, of course, but nowhere makes it quite as well as Sid’s. It’s a pretty simple recipe: a searing-hot griddle, a heap of thinly sliced onions, a seasoned beef patty smashed into it, flipped and served on a white bun. Originally created to help stretch meat during the Great Depression, this delicacy marries the sweet taste of grilled onions with the umami richness of beef.

By Greg Elwell

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mark h ancock

mark hancock / file

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Ga zette sta ff / fi le

Cheever’s Cafe 2409 N. Hudson Ave. When asked the most essential dish in all of OKC, the local Twitterati came together with one voice and proclaimed that the chicken-fried steak with jalapeño gravy from Cheever’s Cafe was their go-to dish for visitors. A home-style classic made by one of the best restaurants in the city, it’s one everyone will talk about.

Eischen’s Bar 109 N. Second St., Okarche You really have no choice but to go to Okarche for some fried chicken at Eischen’s Bar. And you can forget about a breast-and-wing meal deal like you might get at fast-food fried chicken joints. At Eischen’s, you buy by the chicken. Some might argue that there’s better fried chicken to be had, and maybe there is, but it’s still a required stop on your Oklahoma City culinary education tour. Bring cash and be prepared to swoop in on a dirty table when people leave — it gets busy.

Nic’s Grill 1201 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Oklahoma City has no shortage of great hamburgers, but no place is quite so beloved as Nic’s Grill. With just a counter and a couple of tables, it’s not strange to see a line extending out the door, no matter the weather. Bring cash and an appetite because you’re about to get fed one of the best burgers on earth.

Cattlemen’s Steakhouse 1309 S. Agnew Ave. You can get a good steak at Cattlemen’s, but this long-lived restaurant made the list because of its bountiful breakfast in a quintessentially Oklahoman locale: Stockyards City. Hopefully, the smell of cattle will fade by the time you tuck into a plate of biscuits and gravy, perfectly cooked bacon and a strong cup of joe.

mark hancock / file

Come on in. This place was such a pit for so long that we’re frankly flattered that you want to join our dysfunctional little hamlet. Buy a Thunder shirt. Complain about the roads and the liquor laws. Welcome. But if you want to further ingratiate yourself into the life of Oklahoma City, there are a few culinary rites of passage in which you ought to take part. We have treasures, you see. Wherever you came from and wherever you go, we’d like you to remember your time

here fondly with our greatest gifts: some really tasty food. Oh, sure, there’s that famous Oklahoma City hospitality, but who comes to visit a place because the people are nice? We’ve been talking about how rude everyone in France is for a century, and people are still flying over every day to eat cheese and look at a tower. If we want to keep this ramshackle operation going, we need to enrich our standing as a destination. We’re too young to have culture and too poor to build anything really cool. But Oklahoma City has been making stick-to-your-ribs delicacies for a long time. Get out your map and your whip and get ready to dig for the Lost Treasure of Oklahoma City’s Restaurants.

mark h ancock / file

The price for entry into Oklahoma City society is nothing. You want to live here, be one of us?

Sid’s Diner

Pho Lien Hoa 901 NW 23rd St. You’ve never had pho before? Welcome to Oklahoma City, where everybody acts like they’ve been eating this Vietnamese beef noodle soup forever, but really, we all got hip to it eight years ago. Forget about how trendy it might seem — this soup is delicious in the depths of winter and the dog days of summer. The No. 14 is pho tai gau (fuh tie gow): a big bowl (even if you order a small) of steaming-hot spiced beef broth, rice noodles, onions, rare steak and fatty brisket. You can dress it however you like, but many will pour Sriracha in there until the whole mess turns red. The restaurant only takes cash, but there’s an ATM inside in case you forget.

Ga ze t t e sta ff / fi l e

Junior’s 2601 Northwest Expressway

Junior’s was the site of some old-school debauchery from back before the savings and loan banks crashed in the 1980s. And while fewer people are drinking champagne out of women’s shoes these days, it’s still a swanky spot to enjoy a taste of yesteryear. Steaks might take up most of the menu, but the item you really want is the tableside Caesar salad. Your server wheels out a cart and whips up a sauce with fresh lemons, anchovies, olive oil and Parmesan cheese before tossing together

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fresh romaine leaves. It’s a show that’s as tasty as it is fun to watch.

Grand House 2701 N. Classen Blvd.

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Dim sum isn’t especially Oklahoman, but it should be — that might be behind the perennial popularity of Grand House Asian Bistro’s dim sum brunch on the weekends. It’s a buffet that comes to you. Servers push carts filled with dumplings, noodles, stuffed buns and chicken feet, and if you take a plate, they’ll mark it on your receipt. Your eyes will undoubtedly be bigger than your stomach, but that’s part of the fun.

3 1812 NE 23rd St. Before food trucks became popular, there was Bobo’s. Over the years, the legend has grown unwieldy, but the appeal remains the same. Open on weekends from evenings until early mornings, the massive red beast serves up deep-fried chicken wings drenched in honey. Crispy, salty, sweet and chewy — they’re good no matter your level of inebriation. As induction rituals go, lining up for a late-night Bobo’s run is a good way to cement your place as an insider.

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mark hancock / file

Bobo’s Chicken

7 Cafe Kacao 3325 N. Classen Blvd. There’s a reason there’s a line. Brunch is a madhouse at this well-loved Guatemalan eatery, and honestly, it’s hard to order wrong. Front to back, its menu is filled with excellent choices. But everyone ought to try the motuleños for the sheer simplicity and extravagance of the dish. A stack of corn tortillas and black beans topped with eggs, ranchero sauce, avocado slices and cheese crumbles, it’s a dish that’s laid out like a work of art — until

Edna’s 5137 N. Classen Circle

You could make a Lunchbox at home if you really wanted to, but that defeats the purpose. Edna’s signature includes a shot of amaretto inside a frosty mug of Coors Light topped off with fresh orange juice, but that’s only part of the draw of this Oklahoma City institution. It’s also a heck of a party bar. If you’re ready for a night of rowdy fun with an eclectic mix of locals, Edna’s should definitely be on your itinerary.

you destroy it with your mouth.

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life food & Drink

Thai hard

Intense flavors and friendly service make Del City’s Thai Rice & Noodle Cafe a hit. BY GREG ELWELL

My friend brought tissues with him to lunch. That was my first experience with Thai food. I came to the deliriously tasty and intensely spicy cuisine of Thailand fairly late in life, which is both happy and sad. On the one hand, I look back on my youth and regret all the curries I never ate and all the eyebulgingly hot noodle dishes I never sweated my way through. On the other, I am far from sick of Thai food. Not that I worry about that happening, really. When you’re sick of Thai food, it might be time to get a surgeon to remove your taste buds and just switch to a diet of gelatinous vitamin cubes. My latest Thai crush comes from the extremely tiny and charming Del City shop Thai Rice & Noodle Cafe, 4535 SE 29th St. This place makes Nic’s Grill look spacious by comparison. There are four tables. There are eight chairs. It’s

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about as cozy as you can get. The restaurant seems to specialize in takeout, but it’s quite welcoming to those who want to have a seat. It’s also welcoming to weirdos who order a lot of food, which is what I did, so feel free to pig out, guys. One quick recommendation: Because pad Thai is so popular, be sure the restaurant has enough noodles soaked before you order. Thai Rice & Noodle graciously made me an order of pad Thai, but the texture of the noodles was compromised, which affected the sauce, etc. It tasted fine, but I bet it’s much better when everything is prepped accordingly. All the entrees are $7.99 at lunch and $8.99 at dinner. Beef is $1 extra, and shrimp is $2.

4535 SE 29th St., Del City | thai-lunch.webs.com | 670-7878

P HOTOS BY MARK HANCOCK

Thai Rice & Noodle Cafe

RUSTIC ITALIAN FOOD AND ITALIAN WINE

What works: Basil stir-fry is great, and spring rolls are spot-on. What needs work: It’s hard to predict which days will be busy. Tip: The restaurant is tiny, so it might be takeout for you.

Basil stir-fry in the wok at Thai Rice & Noodle Cafe in Del City

The table favorite was the basil stir-fry, which has loads of fresh green beans cooked to a perfect tender crisp. Green beans are sometimes tricky — not done enough and they’re starchy; too done and they’re droopy. The basil flavor really burst through, and the chicken was nice, soaking up the sauce and giving each bite a more substantial feel. Another excellent choice is the green curry, though you should be

Boat noodle soup

careful with your spice preferences. My friend went all Rambo and got a 3 (on a scale of 1 to 3), so it was good, but sweet Sugar Smacks, it was hot. Thai food is one of the best leftover meals around, but — much like chili — the heat intensifies after a night in the fridge. Just a head’s up. While ramen is Japanese and pho is Vietnamese, Thailand has a delightful dish called boat noodle soup ($10.99 with shrimp). You remember in movies when a guy would buy a bowl of noodles from a boat? Shut up. It’s a thing. This is what he was eating. I recommend shrimp for this dish simply because shrimp are easier to handle in soup. Larger chunks of chicken or beef have a tendency to drop back into the bowl and give the diner a splash. If you’re not a shellfish fan, consider a switch to tofu. One of the absolute highlights of the meal was actually the appetizer. Fresh spring rolls with shrimp ($2.99 for two) are almost always delicious, but these were some of the best I’ve ever had. The paper was slightly sticky, but they were packed and rolled tight, making for a clean bite full of fresh basil and cilantro. Do yourself a favor and don’t leave without getting a sweet lime Thai tea ($2.25), which is as sweet and sour as a Long Island iced tea, but more flavorful (and nonalcoholic). Now, the fact that some folks go overboard with spices and end up blowing their noses as much as they do eating their meal shouldn’t scare you off. Thai food can be extremely hot, but it doesn’t have to be. Kitchens are just as happy to serve you a 1 or even a 0 on the heat scale as they are a 3. If you’ve never had Thai food, it’s not too late to try it. As acquired tastes go, it’s about as easy to develop a taste for this sweet, spicy, satisfying cuisine as any. Once you go Thai, you’ll never say bye. Considering the friendly service and the wonderful food, I’ll be saying hi to Thai Rice & Noodle Cafe again soon. You should, too.

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food briefs

Buenos huevos

m a rk ha n coc k

by Greg Elwell

The Good Egg Dining family is getting bigger as owners Keith and Heather Paul plan to open a Tex-Mex concept in Midtown in late summer. Taking over the old Swanson’s Tire Co. building at 1000 N. Hudson Ave. will be a yet-to-be-named Mexican eatery. “It will be a Tex-Mex-focused menu, but there will be some interior Mexican dishes,” Keith said. “We’ll do it the way we do all the Good Egg restaurants and use the best ingredients out there.” The idea for their own Mexican restaurant has been floating around for the last decade, Keith said, and when the Swanson’s building became available, it all fit. “We’ve been looking for the perfect location for this,” he said. “With the patio setup, it’ll add 2,000 square feet. And we don’t have a restaurant in Midtown yet, so it’s really a no-brainer.” The restaurant’s patio could be open 300 days a year, and Paul predicts it’ll need the capacity, as he sees the demand for a local, family restaurant that could fit into budgets a couple times a week.

Boozy banking Owner Scott Marsh is aiming to open Savings & Loan, 425 NW 23rd St., in late January. “The idea came from a want for a space that I haven’t seen in Oklahoma City yet,” he said. “We’re creating a craft cocktail bar where you can get a great drink but lose some of the pretentiousness that comes with craft bars.” With Tower Theater next door, Marsh imagines Savings & Loan will be a little rowdier and louder than most craft cocktail establishments. Oklahoma City has a burgeoning cocktail scene, and Marsh hopes his bar will make a mark, not just in the already-bustling Uptown 23rd district, but nationally. Though Savings & Loan won’t start out with food on the menu, Marsh said there will be a lot of culinary elements to the drinks. Seasonally, the restaurant will feature an ever-expanding cocktail list with bartenders well-versed in the classics.

On Jan. 25, Packard’s New American Kitchen executive chef Chris McKenna invites his old kitchen buddies to help him cook a six-course dinner. “Everybody that’s in the dinner are chefs I’ve worked for or with,” he said. “We did it last January, and the only change is we added one new chef.” Jarid Chambers, formerly a sous chef at Park House, now works as pantry chef at Packard’s. The restaurant business doesn’t always leave a lot of time for fraternizing with former co-workers, so McKenna looks at these dinners as a chance to get everybody back in the same kitchen. “All of us have our own thing going on,” he said. “It gives the guests an opportunity to see something different.” Each chef will design and cook a course that showcases what they do best. Tickets for the dinner are $80 and include wine pairings with each course. Those interested in attending can contact nick@packardsokc.com or call the restaurant at 605-3771 to reserve a seat. Packard’s is located at 201 NW 10th St.

Garett fisbe ck

Family meal

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Fries, guys Despite being carb sticks bathed in fat and salt, french fries are surprisingly dainty little things: thin, crisp, dipped in “fancy catsup,” like they’re the Queen of England. But across the metro, freedom fighters are taking it to their fries with heavy artillery, slathering them in sauces galore and turning finger food into fork food ... if you’re fancy.

— by Greg Elwell, photos by Garett Fisbeck and Mark Hancock

Slaughter’s Hall

Guyutes

Akropolis

221 N. Central Ave. | 606-6063 slaughtershall.com

730 NW 23rd St. | 702-6960 guyutes.com

1809 S. Air Depot Blvd. 733-1323

Founded by Sgt. Slaughter (Editor’s note: No, it wasn’t.), Slaughter’s Hall used to be a mess hall for G.I. Joes (Editor’s note: It was a famous jazz venue.), and it’s still making America proud (Editor’s note: I’ll let this one slide.) with its 2nd St. Poutine: beerbattered fries, pastrami and locally made cheese curds doused in country gravy. It’s a meal disguised as an appetizer and a reminder of when we beat Canada in WWII. (Editor’s note: LOL.)

According to people who like music, the Tequila SunFryz at Guyutes are named for some kind of song or band or something. It doesn’t matter. You could be Bizzaro Jerry Garcia and these would still be the best things you put in your face all day. A big batch of golden waffle fries with pulled pork, queso, jalapeño, tomatoes, onions and cilantro crema on top, crowned with a sunny-side-up egg. Your stomach will say, “[insert phrase heard at Phish concert here]!”

The makers of ketchup would like to apologize for not knowing that tzatziki sauce was a thing when they decided on their red, tomato-y, vinegar and sugar ooze. That error has been remedied by Akropolis and its Bomber Fries: a big basket of fries covered in spicy Greek yogurt sauce and feta cheese. It’s like My Big Fat Greek Wedding if it was edible and went well with a large cola.

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Irma’s Burger Shack 1035 NW 63rd St. | 840-4762 irmasburgershack.com

The secret origin story of White Trash Nachos is one of my favorite tales of Irma’s Burger Shack. Apparently, the staff were broke and wanted Mexican food, but they couldn’t leave the restaurant. So they improvised this mélange of french fries, beans, cheese, grilled chicken, tomato, sour cream, onions and jalapeños to sate their desires until they could get to some enchiladas. The result: pure, delicious genius.

Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill 310 Johnny Bench Drive | 231-0254 tobykeithsbar.com

Why does Toby Keith’s still call them “freedom fries”? It’s not 2003 anymore. Besides, if you order the cheese fries at this Bricktown eatery, they’re really not free. The poor fries are smothered with jack and cheddar cheeses and then trapped under bacon, caged by sour cream and shackled by a sprinkling of green onions. The only way to set them free is to help them embrace oblivion inside your stomach, you patriot.

The Drum Room 4309 N. Western Ave. | 604-0990 drumroomokc.com

Maybe they call it The Horseshoe because you’re testing your luck. Sure, one of The Drum Room’s thick waffles, covered in a one-third-pound burger (or some fried chicken, as we ordered it), steak fries, cheese and gravy sounds like you’ve hit the jackpot. But maybe it’s better to share the luck, because this is a massive pile of food. Perhaps if you’re as hungry as a horse, you can finish it all, but no one expects you to run the derby after all that.

Blu’s Bar-B-Q & Burgers 612 N. Robinson Ave. | 602-2587 okcbbq.com

Gather ’round the campfire, pardners, and I’ll tell you the tale of The Smoked Haystack. ’Twas a night much like this one, when the sun was shining and people were in offices — daytime — when I wandered into Blu’s and saw the most frightenin’ sight I ever done saw. The fries were stacked high and covered in brisket, beans, jalapeños, onions and cheese. I done ate that mess, but I forgot my heartburn medication. It was harrowin’.

New Years Resolution:

Eat more Thai!

lunch buffet M-F | 11am-2pm

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Happy otherdays! Whether shopping for family, friends or yourself this holiday season, local retailers offer charming and distinctive gifts and home-warming accents, from on-trend clothing and accessories to furniture, festive home decor, art and party accoutrements. — By Jennifer Chancellor | Photos by Mark Hancock

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Jan. 10 is Peculiar People Day, and we know the best place to peculiar people watch is at Bad Granny’s Bazaar — because sometimes they read “fiercely local” alternative newsweeklies in there. Most any day, Bad Granny herself, shop owner Diana Harris — who just might be decked out in genuine faux fir and authentically aged denim — is happy to point you to the phattest racks and shelves overflowing with local art, vintage coats and games. And if you’re lucky, you’ll also see peculiar people trying on gold lamé house slippers. Marla Cook, fine millinery

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Jan. 14 is Dress up Your Pet Day. Treat your hirsute pal Harry to a swell cableknit sweater vest and a tie from Barking Dog Bakery Boutique. If wearing clothing makes Harry nervous, well, too bad. But if sweaters look ridiculous on your dog, the shop also offers a selection of pet goggles, sports jerseys and tees. While you’re there, you might as well order him a large, boneshaped peanut butter cake with his name on it, too. This is his day.

Ladies and gentlemen, Ladies & Gentlemen Fine Millinery Shop is now Marla Cook, fine millinery at 3001 Paseo St. That’s great news because Jan. 15 is National Hat Day, and this shop sells fine women’s headwear! Woven, fur, felt, floppy or tied with an elegant bow, now you know where to find your hook-up for this holiday.

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This month also celebrates National Hot Tea Month. Tea Cafe, located off Campus Corner in Norman, steeps dried, leafy hot

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or iced black, green and herbal tea concoctions every day — because at Tea, every month is National Hot Tea Month. It also offers coffees, frappes and juices as well as a full menu of Asian-inspired eats like ginger salad, sweet and sour chicken and chef’s specials.

Oklahoma Sport Fencing 24 NW 144th Circle, Edmond oksportfencing.com 755-4195

January is National Hobby Month. It’s also the month when many of us fail at our New Year’s resolutions to be more active and to swing pointy things at people while engaging in friendly competition. The good news is now you can do both! You’re no loser. No, sir. Why? Because you’re going to study fencing at Oklahoma Sport Fencing. Novice to competitive teen and adult classes offer foil skill and technique training. Épée and sabre lessons also are available. The Gourmet Gallery 1532 S. Boulevard, Edmond thegourmetgallery.com 715-3663

This gourmet and specialty grocer in Edmond stocked its gift baskets and store shelves with soups and mixes, chili kits and more just in time for National Soup Month. Find tortilla, tomato basil, chicken noodle, creamy potato and enchilada soups and mixes six days a week right in the heart of Edmond.

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Jan. 8 is Male Watcher’s Day, which means you now have the perfect excuse to spend the rest of your Christmas bonus on tickets for Australia’s Thunder From Down Under male tour when it, uh … swings through Sugar Creek Casino Feb. 25-27.

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Reclaiming ancestry

Suzan Shown Harjo

An Oklahoma Gazette interview with Native American activist Suzan Shown Harjo sheds light on the struggle for the right to own and preserve cultural heritage. By Wilhelm Murrg

David Green and his family, owners of Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby, have been under investigation for four years for the “illicit importation of cultural heritage from Iraq,” according to The Daily Beast, which broke the story nationally in October. In 2011, U.S. Customs seized over 200 clay tablets that were shipped from Israel to Oklahoma City. Their ultimate destination was Museum of the Bible, a facility funded by the Green family and slated to open in 2017 in Washington, D.C. As the topic of cultural heritage rises to the center of public, political and legal discussion, many might not realize it has a long and labored history closer to home. While the Greens aren’t at the center of the debate over repatriation and preservation of Native American culture and relics, their case does illuminate the Native peoples’ long and labored struggle for the right to own and protect their ancestry and tribal

sovereignty. Born in El Reno in 1945, Suzan Shown Harjo is an activist, poet, writer and lecturer. She also is president of the Morning Star Institute, a Native American rights organization in Washington, D.C., and has helped shape the language of federal laws that now protect Native American culture and objects (“artifacts”) and the laws that mandate the repatriation of culturally sensitive items. In 2014, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award given in the United States, for her efforts. As an expert on repatriation, she eloquently explains the different points of view on “archeology” or “grave robbing,” depending on how it’s interpreted. The practice, she said, goes hand in hand with a dominate society that characterizes minorities as not being the true heirs to their ancestral culture,

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leaving culturally sensitive items up for grabs to steal and display in museums. While her concepts came about while hammering out laws regarding Native American rights, they are universal and can be applied to any culture worldwide where the heritage of a people is being taken from them for the benefit of a different culture.

‘Prisoners of war’

In 1967, Harjo attended a four-day meeting called by Cheyenne, Arapaho and Lakota religious leaders at Bear Butte, South Dakota. It concerned the dreams, visions and experiences people had in regard to getting back human remains, sacred objects, funereal objects and sensitive materials, or cultural patrimony, from museums and private collections. It was the beginning of a long journey for Harjo, who was living in New York City at the time. In less than a decade, she would move to

Washington, D.C., to lobby for what are now seen as historic laws to reverse late 19th- and early 20th-century policies that attempted to dismantle Native American culture. “The warriors, the combat veterans from Vietnam, gave us the image of our ancestors and our relatives being held as prisoners of war in these museums,” Harjo said during a recent Oklahoma Gazette interview. “It conveyed several things; we’re talking about people who are not dead, we’re talking about living beings, but we were also talking about sacred objects and other things — referred to as ‘materials’ in the museum world — that were being held against their will. These objects are also living beings; they were alive, and they are not dead, gone, buried nor forgotten. That was one of the reasons a lot of non-Native people thought it was okay to rob graves, whether it was called ‘archeology’ or it was just flat-out grave robbing — they believed it was OK to

LUCY FOWLER WILLIAM S / PROVI DED

life culture

KE VI N S M I T H / P R OVI DE D

“Don’t Fence Me In” was created around 1990 by acclaimed Oklahoma artist and Native American art history teacher Kevin Smith. The multimedia work features a photograph of a Native mask framed behind wire, dirty museum gloves and a real “property of the Philbrook Museum of Art” tag. pillage and do all these things because the people were no longer living. “That’s the same thing the powers that be in these holding repositories try to do internationally by separating the living people — the living Egyptians, the living Greeks, the living Italians, the legitimate people — from the ancient Egyptians, the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans, as if that made a difference,” Harjo said. She talked about the expatriation of Greece’s ancient and priceless marble statues by Ottoman Empire ambassador Thomas Bruce, also known as the 7th Earl of Elgin, in the early 1800s. “And as if the modern Greek people had no say in getting back the Elgin Marbles,” she said, “Lord Elgin went from England to Greece, and before you knew it, parts of the Parthenon and other structures in Greece were in the British Museum, and they are still there, though the Greek government has consistently taken the position that they want them returned. The British had no claim to them, but they won’t entertain the notion of giving them back.” Harjo sees it as a matter of semantics to say that the living descendants, such as the modern Egyptians, have no legitimate claim to the treasures of their ancestors. And this is applied to Native Americans — remnant bands and descendants are characterized as not being the “real” cultural bearers by those who want their cultural items. “Another method is to say ‘Well, it’s art,’” Harjo said. “Because a leg bone was beaded and hung on someone’s wall, it is art, not a human remain.” That interpretation, explained Harjo, justified the theft of the Zuni Indian war gods — wooden figures carved upon a person’s death and placed on that person’s grave to be taken by the elements — for example. “They represent the journey of that person and their passage into the other world, so when the elements have taken the war god, you know that journey is

completed,” Harjo said. “In the mid1800s, non-Indians started taking the Zuni war gods. By the mid-1900s, those war gods were very valued items, not for their meaning, but as art, and because they were taken from graves. They were being sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars at Sotheby’s and Christie’s and all of the major auction houses.

We had to overcome this general notion that today’s Native people are not the real Native people. — Suzan Shown Harjo

“We had to overcome this general notion that today’s Native people are not the real Native people, who have ceased to exist, [and] that we are not the evidence of the cultural continuum. Therefore, there is no cultural continuum, and if you acknowledge that there is a cultural continuum, we are not the real beneficiaries of that, nor the owners of it. We have a lot of things to overcome.”

‘Reason in chaos’

Harjo said that out of that initial meeting in 1967, the group knew it needed a mandate to recover the human remains and items taken from Native American people, and if it had to be a law, it would be a law. After compiling horror stories about different museums and agencies, the members looked around to see if anyone was doing it right, but Harjo said they

found didn’t find anyone doing it right. That’s when the National Museum of the American Indian was brought up, to create a place that would do things in a sensitive way. Harjo’s work would lead to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978. It serves to protect and preserve traditional religious and cultural practices of Native Americans. A decade later, the 1989 National Museum of the American Indian Act created the framework for the Washington, D.C., museum and said the Smithsonian Institution must return all culturally sensitive items to federally recognized tribes. Eleven months later, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted. It called for all federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American cultural items, including human remains and funerary and sacred items. It also deals with the inadvertent discovery of items during excavation and made it illegal to traffic in Native American human remains and cultural items obtained in violation of the act. “We were trying to create streams of reason in this chaotic situation that had been created by grave robbers,” she said. “There’s one letter in the national anthropological archives that I keep coming back to when I think about these things. The army surgeon general had issued several army officers to go out and harvest Indian skulls. There are several … reports to the surgeon general to accompany the materials. One is from an army officer, where he wrote that he waited until the grieving family left the gravesite, exhumed the body and decapitated the head, ‘which [was] transmitted forthwith.’ “Now, if you unpack that, he watched this entire ceremony and the grief of the people and acknowledged it. Once the family left, he dug up the body, chopped the head off, [and] then he left out some steps: You measure the skull, weigh the brains, dump everything in lye and send the bleached skull, with your measurements, to the surgeon general,” she explained. “Imagine the family coming back to the grave and finding the person they had lovingly buried with his or her head gone.” “Why did they chop our heads off?” was a question Harjo heard in virtually every meeting from 1967 until the final draft of NAGPRA in 1990. When they asked if there was a program that systematically called for collecting the heads of Indians, they received emphatic denials, but then letters about the policy were found in the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives. “In the middle to late 1800s, people

thought how big the heads were was the answer to everything, or how many extra teeth they had,” Harjo said. “That passed for science. They gave up on the study of heads when the evidence proved that the French were not as bright as Cro-Magnon man; they decided it was a flawed study. “What we were doing was not just revolutionizing museums and museum policy; we were bringing clarity to Native and non-Native people about what happened during that time. The history was being buried.”

‘Racially commodified’

While dealing with Native American rights and their bloody history, Harjo also deals with death threats regularly. She has been a vocal opponent to the use of Native American sports mascots. The lawsuit Pro-Football, Inc. v. Harjo brought about the cancellation of the Washington Redskin’s trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Though that decision was overturned, a suit in which six other Native American plaintiffs challenged the federal trademark licenses of the Washington team, Blackhorse et al. v. Pro-Football, Inc. got the trademark canceled a second time in 2014. In 2015, the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, upheld the decision. “We don’t know who it is, but we assume that most of it has to do with the Washington football team,” Harjo said of the death threats. “Every time there is an advance in the litigation, we find there is an increase with those kinds of calls.” The term “redskin” comes from the early days of white settlement on the continent, when trading companies, colonies and some states put a bounty on Native Americans. “They offered a sliding scale — so much money for the men, so much for the women, so much for a child. Either you produced the whole body or you bring in their genitalia, because that’s how you tell the difference between and man, a woman and a child,” she said. “That’s the ‘redskin’ — the bloody, red skin. That is genteelly known as scalps; those were the ‘scalps.’” Scalping was not just a Native American practice. “There’s no other way to know what you are dealing with on the sliding scale, and there is nothing more racially commodifying than that,” Harjo said. “I don’t know how anyone can see that in any different light.” Harjo is a fighter for Native American rights and a daughter of Oklahoma who has changed how Native American culture is dealt with in the United States. Receiving the highest honor in the land has only made her stronger in her quest for justice.

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life community

Family custom Oklahoma AIDS Care Fund and its annual Red Tie Night gala find new leadership and a reinvigorated voice.

By Mark Beutler

The next generation of the Cooper family taking over is a great time for a younger crowd to get involved. — Cher Golding

Raising awareness

Golding started work Nov. 2 and brought with her more than 20 years of fundraising, public relations and marketing experience. For the past several years, she was Oklahoma City Community Foundation’s community program coordinator and is former executive director of Mental Health Association of Central Oklahoma. “What I want to do in my new position is raise awareness of both OACF and Red Tie Night,” Golding said. “This is such a wonderful organization that helps so many of our neighbors throughout Oklahoma.” Golding said it’s vital to rebrand

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m ar k h ancock

Earlier this year, Oklahoma City lost one of its larger-than-life businessmen when auto dealer and philanthropist Jackie Cooper died. His death came one week before the annual Red Tie Night event, a fundraiser he, his wife Barbara and a small group of volunteers started in 1991. In the months since, leadership at Oklahoma AIDS Care Fund (OACF), the umbrella organization for Red Tie Night, has worked to reinvent the gala and the nonprofit. Cher Golding was hired as its new executive director, and Cooper’s daughter and grandson, Cindy Cooper-Colton and Graham Colton, co-chair a reinvigorated gala. “This really is the premier party in Oklahoma City. I am excited to work with Cindy and Graham on elevating the fun, party atmosphere of Red Tie Night while we carry on the vision of Jackie and Barbara,” Golding said. “We always have a number of celebrities, political figures and sports icons, and with Graham and his musical connections, I expect we will have a few new celebrities this year.” from left Graham Colton, his mom Cindy Colton-Cooper and Cher Golding usher in a new era of Oklahoma AIDS Care Fund and its annual Red Tie Night gala. Red Tie Night. The funds it raises each year are the lifeblood of the partner organizations that work one-on-one with their clients. “The next generation of the Cooper family taking over is a great time for a younger crowd to get involved,” Golding said. “We want to expand the exciting atmosphere so even more people can come out and enjoy the party.”

Fostering community

Colton said it is indeed a new day for his family as it honors his late grandfather and his grandmother and the pioneering efforts they made during a time when talking about the impact of HIV and AIDS was still taboo. “My mom and I are so excited about all this new energy. I was very young when my grandparents started Red Tie Night, so I have had a front-row seat watching it grow into the incredible event it has become,” Colton said. “Like music, I have to find my voice and how to communicate the need and struggles

in this new era of HIV and AIDS. But we are very thankful to our patrons who have supported this cause all these years. We want them to know how much it means not only to our family, but to the many Oklahomans who benefit from this event.” Colton’s mother agreed and said she knew it was time for her to help continue her family’s legacy. “My mother, Barbara, is very excited Graham and I are co-hosting Red Tie Night. It’s very important that we have a fun, successful evening but also bring an inspiring energy that leaves everyone uplifted,” Cooper-Colton said. “We want everyone to celebrate the success of this beautiful event and continue the work my parents started in the fight against HIV and AIDS.” The 24th annual Red Tie Night is March 5 at Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens. Learn more about the organization and event at okaidscarefund.com or by calling 3486600.

Fresh paint

Qui t N guy e n / OKL AHOM A CONTE M P O RARY / P ROVI DED

life visual arts

Visitors at an ArtNow event at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center

ArtNow benefits Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center and arts access in Oklahoma City.

By Ben Luschen

ArtNow Monday through Jan. 22; 8 p.m. Jan. 22 Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center 3000 General Pershing Blvd. oklahomacontemporary.org 951-000 $50-$150

One of 2015’s first art scene events will benefit arts access in Oklahoma City. ArtNow is an art-buying event and party Jan. 22 at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd. Money raised from admission goes toward Oklahoma Contemporary’s efforts to keep its exhibitions free and open to the community all year. Anthony McDermid, one of the event’s co-chairs, said ArtNow will be the first big social party of the new year. “You get about three weeks to get over your hangover,” McDermid said of those who might need awhile to recover from the holidays. This is the fifth year of the event under the ArtNow format. Though there is a one-day buying event, art from the 25 participating local artists will be on exhibit at Oklahoma Contemporary from Jan. 11 to the event date, giving wise buyers a chance to scout out works they might be interested in purchasing. General admission starts at $50, but those with $150 VIP tickets get first choice. McDermid playfully compared the rush to buy the art to the crazed Black Friday shoppers you see on the news. Each artist on display at this year’s event is both an Oklahoman and entirely new to the ArtNow exhibit.

All the art on display is original to the show. Included in the exhibition are Tommy Lee Ball, Amanda Bradway, Cynthia Brown, Zachary Burns, Anita Fields, Katherine Hair, Bill Hawk, Jonathan Hils, Kalee Jones W., Debby Kaspari, Adam Lanman, Tiffany McKnight, Traci Martin, Sunni Mercer, RC Morrison, Christie Owen, Katy Puterka Smith, Marissa Raglin, Kelly Rogers, Amy Sanders, Laurie Spencer, Kyle Edward Van Osdol, Charleen Weidell, Shevaun Williams and John Wolfe. McDermid said he was especially thankful for the curators of the exhibit, Kelsey Karper and Julia Kirt. “These gals spent a lot of time touring, looking at artists’ work and putting together a huge variety of locally produced art,” he said. Teresa Rose Crook, the event’s other co-chair, said one of Oklahoma Contemporary’s chief goals is to increase arts access in Oklahoma City. It is also the only dedicated exhibit space for contemporary artists in the city. She said those who are able to take part in the arts are bound to appreciate it on a greater level. For a place dedicated to increasing arts access, ArtNow is the perfect fundraising event. “It’s a non-intimidating place and way for people to get engaged in art,” Crook said. “If they haven’t really done a lot of art buying, they’re not quite sure if that’s the right piece or whatever, it’s a very friendly, fun atmosphere to start really getting into and learning about art and how much fun it is.” Learn more and buy tickets online at oklahomacontemporary.org.

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P HOTOS BY JE RE M Y DANI E L / PROVI DE D

life Performing arts

Four score

Jersey Boys runs Tuesday through Jan. 17 at Civic Center Music Hall.

Jersey Boys gets audiences out of their seats and ‘dancing in the aisles.’ By Oraynab Jwayyed

Jersey Boys 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Jan. 14, 8 p.m. Jan. 15, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Jan. 16, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Jan. 17 Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre Civic Center Music Hall 201 N. Walker Ave. celebrityattractions.com 800-869-1451 $35-$100

Jersey Boys depicts the true story of New Jersey pop-rock group The Four Seasons. It first hit the Broadway stage in 2005, winning four Tony Awards and a Grammy, and has toured globally since then. The national Broadway tour opens locally Tuesday at Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., and runs through Jan. 17. The Four Seasons earned international acclaim through the 1960s and into the 1970s and still performs in concert. Its original lineup included lead singer Frankie Valli, keyboardist Bob Gaudio, lead guitarist and baritone vocalist Tommy DeVito and bass guitarist and vocalist Nick Massi. The act wrote most of its own songs and sold 175 million records internationally before band members were 30 years old.

Broadway production

Keith Hines, originally of Yukon, portrays Massi. Hines earned his Master of Music degree at Oklahoma City University. The former Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma actor performed in local productions of Annie Get Your Gun, The Rocky Horror Show and Oklahoma!, among others. The Jersey Boys cast was selected from auditions that spanned 11 cities

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across the United States and Europe. It took seven weeks to cast the production and five weeks to rehearse for the international tour. “There are a lot of elements that go into preparing for this show specifically,” Hines said. “We showed up on the first day and we started learning music; doing a great service to the music is a huge responsibility.” He said his biggest challenge, though, is playing such an ambiguous character. Little is known about the history of these boys from Jersey, except they endured tough lives and fought to overcome many vices while under public scrutiny. Massi was no exception. “Nick Massi is the one there’s the least to know about,” Hines said. “I really have the freedom to bring my own creativity to the part.”

offers a narrative of the group’s history. Many of its hit songs are featured in the musical, including No. 1 singles “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Sherry,” “Walk Like A Man,” “December 1963 (Oh,

Overcoming obstacles

It’s the only show I’ve been part of where people come out of their seats literally dancing in the aisles. — Keith Hines

Audience participation

What sets Jersey Boys apart from other hit musicals is its sass, flash and foul language. The Four Seasons became famous for its upbeat tunes, and cursing came with the members’ East Coast upbringings, but Hines said it doesn’t detract from the highenergy response of audiences. “No one has told me they don’t like the show. It speaks to people, and the music gets into your ear,” he said. “It’s the only show I’ve been part of where people come out of their seats literally dancing in the aisles. I’ve never seen that in any other show.” The production documents the rags-to-riches rise of The Four Seasons as a music act. It is divided into four segments, and each band member

timeless and everybody knows,” Hines said. “The music is really what gets people through the door and up on their feet.”

from left Drew Seeley, Matthew Dailey, Aaron De Jesus and Keith Hines in Jersey Boys What A Night)” and “Rag Doll.” “It’s a showcase of all these songs that are incredibly iconic and

The group first started out as The Four Lovers in 1956. Its music didn’t sell well, and the act was dropped from two record labels as its lineup fluctuated. In 1960, Valli, Massi, Gaudio and DeVito reformed under a new name: The Four Seasons. “They figured out collectively how to become stars,” Hines said. “They had to overcome a rough upbringing, a rough childhood, a lot of temptation, a lot of crime. They were all involved in that. It was highly miraculous that they were able to get up and out of there, because the odds were certainly not stacked in their favor.” It was a long and arduous journey for the group. As it performed as The Four Seasons, the act faced one obstacle after another and failed to sell singles. Its first hit came in 1962 with “Sherry,” followed by “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk Like a Man.” Almost two dozen top-50 singles followed through 1975. From 1962 to 1964, the only other act to match its record sales was The Beach Boys. “It’s four guys that really didn’t have very many options in New Jersey and, through hard work and determination, figured out a way to get up and out of their little town,” Hines said. “It just so happens that in the process, they became one of the greatest pop sensations of all time.”

Sports talk A book discussion series takes a crack at America’s national pastime.

p hoto p r ovi de d

life books

HAPPY HOUR $2 BUD & BUD LIGHT MONDAY - FRIDAY 5PM - 8PM

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$2 BUD & BUD LIGHT SUNDAY 10PM - 12AM

By Ben Luschen

Play Ball: The American Sport Meets the American Dream 7-9 p.m. Jan. 12, Jan. 26, Feb. 9, Feb. 23 and March 8 Walker Center, Room 151 Oklahoma City University 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave. okcufilmlit.org 208-5472 Free

In many ways, baseball can be seen as the measuring stick of American history. The sport has been played in some iteration in this country since the late 1700s. In that time, it became so entrenched into American culture and lore that it is impossible not to observe the impact certain historical periods have had on it or how it has impacted history itself. In that sense, it cannot be too much of a surprise that baseball is a topic in Oklahoma Humanities Council’s Let’s Talk About It, Oklahoma book discussion series. Oklahoma City University (OCU), 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave., will host the five-part discussion series Play Ball: The American Sport Meets the American Dream in room 151 of Walker Center, located near the center of campus at NW 26th Street and Florida Avenue. The series begins 7 p.m. Jan. 12 and continues each alternate Tuesday.

Scholarly game

OCU professor Harbour Winn, director of the series, said baseball holds a special place for him. He grew up in Houston and has fond memories of the old Texas League that pitted minor league clubs in cities like Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and El Paso against each other. “It’s the sport that is most steeped in statistics and strategies,” he said. “You know all the records of each individual player and that pitcher versus that batter. Brainwise, it’s challenging to me.”

In each of the book discussions, a scholar will present a 45-minute lecture on the book before the larger group breaks into several smaller discussion groups of seven to 10 participants. The speaker will float between the groups, hearing feedback before providing some closing thoughts at the end of the session. The required reading is free and loaned to readers in a set by Oklahoma Humanities Council. The selection of books for the series includes two female authors and an Oklahoma-centric book about a Choctaw baseball team: Miko Kings: An Indian Baseball Story by LeAnne Howe. Another book in the series, The Boys of Summer by Roger Khan, focuses on Jackie Robinson and the race dynamic that existed within baseball and within his own locker room. “These books really are about baseball, but they’re about much more than baseball,” Winn said. While this particular series obviously has an appeal to baseball and sports enthusiasts, Winn pointed out that Let’s Talk About It, Oklahoma goes back years and has included nearly every topic under the sun. “Most people come semester after semester,” he said. “They get hooked. I think it’s a way that people use their leisure in a fashion that keeps their mind alive rather than just parking in front of the television set or video games.” Other books on the list include Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella, Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris and Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Those interested in the series can register by calling Winn at 208-5472 or emailing hwinn@okcu.edu. They may also visit room 211 or 207 of OKCU’s Dulaney-Browne Library for more information.

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life music

Pause, rewind 2015 was a high-fidelity year for soul-rousing, foot-stomping music, and 2016 might end up being even better.

In 2015, bigger music trends featured broad, conceptual albums that sonically illustrated vivid worlds. The year also saw no shortage of singers with soul and songs with heart. From global blockbusters to local heroes, here is a look at what caught our ear and a glimpse at what we’re excited for in 2016:

Better Luck

John Calvin Abney Genres: singer-songwriter, alternative country Released: Jan. 20, 2015 Abney has become one of local music’s more prolific recording artists. Since November, he has churned out three projects, the most memorable being full-length Better Luck, which is both focused and personal.

Let the Good Times Roll

JD McPherson Genre: rock Released: Feb. 9, 2015 Roll, indeed. Few projects went down as smoothly in 2015 as McPherson’s celebrated sophomore solo album. Built on natural progression and flow, Let the Good Times Roll harkens back to another time, but it couldn’t sound more alive or fresh. With a runtime of just over 30 minutes, listeners likely stacked up heavy replay numbers on this release.

To Pimp a Butterfly Kendrick Lamar Genre: hip-hop Released: March 16, 2015

If your taste in rap music involves trap beats only or gangster porn for white youths, maybe look elsewhere. If you’re open to a funky, soulful, jarringly introspective and meticulously plotted journey through modern times as a black entertainer, this is the record of a lifetime.

Carrie & Lowell

High on Tulsa Heat

Timepiece EP

Stevens strips down his sound to a raw, emotional core. The death of a close family member or friend is often counted as an emotional turning point in someone’s life. Artistically approaching the subject, however, is sometimes seen as easy, a critical layup. There’s nothing easy about Carrie & Lowell. It’s recommended for anyone with a heart.

It’s fitting that this record deals with Oklahoma themes because it plays in spots like a modernday musical version of True Grit. Fantastic lyricist Moreland was the personification of the state’s ideal sound and soul last year.

This 15-minute EP is brief, but it delivers. The foursong offering features its fair share of catchy earworms, including the infectious title track and equally upbeat “Making a Man.” Ripple Green and lead vocalist Joel Parks set the bar high for an eventual full-length project.

Sufjan Stevens Genre: indie folk Released: March 31, 2015

There’s Still Time For Us to Die

John Moreland Genre: singer-songwriter Released: April 21, 2015

The Epic

Kamasi Washington Genre: jazz Released: May 5, 2015

Deerpeople Genres: pop, psychedelic, folk Released: April 1, 2015 Do good things come to those who wait? Apparently so. After years as a regional liveshow darling, Deerpeople released its long-awaited debut, There’s Still Time For Us to Die. It’s loud yet graceful and oh so familiar for the band’s strong following.

The Epic truly lives up to its name. Its three discs and nearly three-hour runtime might leave some intimidated by the daunting task of climbing this musical, mostly wordless mountain. Do not be afraid. There are few more rewarding listens from 2015. Washington breathes new life into an old but beautiful sound.

Beat the Champ

Power Pyramid Genre: dream pop, shoegaze Released: May 16, 2015

The Mountain Goats Genre: indie rock Released: April 7, 2015 Mountain Goats mastermind John Darnielle takes indie rock and folk into a new arena entirely: the fantastic world of professional wrestling. It’s an odd merger at first glance, but it’s actually a wonder more people have not tapped into wrestling’s romanticized and gritty lore.

The Horror of Trespass

Put on The Horror of Trespass and float away to a world made of guitars and dreams. Personal favorites include the more aggressive “Fake” and throwback “Arc of Descent.” Highlights also include three brief instrumental tracks that go a long way in establishing Power Pyramid’s distant planet.

Ripple Green Genres: rock, pop Released: July 31, 2015

Compton

Dr. Dre Genre: hip-hop Released: Aug. 7, 2015 2015 will be remembered in hip-hop as the year the West Coast came back. Rap fans have been waiting since 1999’s 2001 for Dre to follow up with now-infamous Detox. The legendary producer has since canceled that project, but this guest-heavy tribute to his hometown does more than suffice in its absence.

Elder

Bowlsey Genres: neo-soul, hip-hop Released: Oct. 1, 2015 If debut release Decorous represents what Bowlsey can be, Elder is everything they ought to be. The five-song EP perfectly balances a more uniform sound with the trademark variety and range that makes the band great.

continued on next page

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | J a n ua r y 6 , 2 0 1 6 | 3 7

p hotos p rovi de d

By Ben Luschen

life music

Joanna Newsom Genres: chamber folk, avant-garde Released: Oct. 23, 2015 Newsom crafts a beautiful and diverse soundscape on her fourth studio album. A quest to outrun time, death and loss of love, Divers swings from the contemplation of folk music to the rage of heavy metal.

Deciduous

Fiawna Forté Genres: rock, rockabilly Released: Nov. 14, 2015

Fast-forward

Almost as exciting as an album’s release is the anticipation of said release, especially for the world’s more elusive artists: the tour announcement, the album art reveal, the first single release. Many such moments will happen in 2016. Here’s a short list of who’s expected to catch ears in the coming year:

Jabee Attitude. Moxie. Emotion. Forté parlays a background of church

performances into soulful-but-rugged, from-the-gut rock ’n’ roll. Listeners will be drawn in by Forte’s voice but will stay for lyricism full of heart.

Perhaps taking cues from recent enlightened efforts by acts like Kendrick Lamar and Lupe Fiasco, the Oklahoma City rapper promises a deeper, more reflective full-length release in 2016. Jabee has the potential to create Oklahoma’s defining rap project to date.

Bon Iver Justin Vernon might be prepping the

Adele Genres: pop, soul Released: Nov. 20, 2015 Hello, Adele. America hears indie folk band’s triumphant return. The 2011 release Bon Iver, Bon Iver captured a Grammy. Many fans are eager to see how the group follows up its critically adored sophomore release, especially after it began playing live again in 2015.

Elms Vocalist Chelsey Cope joins drummer Billy Reid, bassist Michael Bewley and guitarist Chavez Soliz to form Elms. Like its namesake, it is rooted and earthy. The single “Savages,” released New Year’s Day 2015, particularly whetted pallets for what is to come.

Modest Mouse Will we really see a new Modest Mouse record in 2016? The band took its sweet time to release its 2015 project, Strangers to Ourselves. The album

you loud and clear, and they would like to remind you that they still love you — a lot. Despite a quiet, almost four-year hiatus and a sharp denial to streaming services like Spotify, the songstress’ third LP took the world by force with golden vocals and stories that tug at your insides. marked the act’s first release since 2007’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. And what would a followup to the latest release sound like? Frontman Isaac Brock has said much of what will be the next album was recorded at the same time as Strangers, so can we expect more of the same?

Kanye West There’s never a dull moment with Mr. West. His music has recently become a must-listen commodity, as much for its otherworldly sideshow idiosyncrasy than the genius he has displayed in past projects. Most notably, the rapper and husband to Kim Kardashian clocked studio time with none other than Sir Paul McCartney. Whatever the new year brings, fans can bet that West will transform it into an event.

Blues therapy In her performances and her debut album, Truly Me, Kansas City’s Lauren Anderson honestly belts it out.

Lauren Anderson center and her band

By George Lang

Lauren Anderson and Brandon Miller Band 10:30 p.m. Saturday Blue Note Lounge 2408 N. Robinson Ave. facebook.com/BlueNoteOKC 256-3568 $7

Long before she was old enough to drive herself to a gig, Lauren Anderson would ride with her father around Chicago as he fed cassettes into the car stereo, steadily adding to her musical education. His choices often leaned toward rock operas like The Who’s Tommy or the original cast recording of Jesus Christ Superstar, giving his daughter a sense of how to project her feelings. Anderson, 30, who performs at 10:30 p.m. Saturday at Blue Note Lounge,

3 8 | j a n ua r y 6 , 2 0 1 6 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

2408 N. Robinson Ave., gives her family credit for exposing her to a wide range of music. Whether it was classic rock or Ace of Base, she learned from it all and developed a powerful soul-blues voice — an instrument that compares favorably to acknowledged masters in her genre like Susan Tedeschi — in the process. “But I’ve always sung,” Anderson said during a phone interview as she drove from her home in Kansas City, Missouri, back to Chicago for Christmas. “It’s kind of like the chicken and the egg — I don’t know what started it because they tell me stories of, before I can remember, how much I sang. It was to the point of me interrupting my preschool teacher while she was explaining things because I had a song that I needed to sing to her.” That impulse never went away. Anderson wrote the 14 songs on her full-

length debut, Truly Me, over the course of eight years, pouring everything into her lyrics without filtering much out. “Sharing my songs is a really scary thing, just as it is for a lot of people,” Anderson said. “When I write songs, I’m laying it all out there. But I’m really enjoying that now because now I have people coming up to me and saying that this or that song really meant something to them.”

Healing notes

The therapeutic nature of Anderson’s songs, both for the singer and her audience, dovetails with her day job. She works as a pediatric music therapist at the University of Kansas Medical Center, helping children with emotional or behavioral disorders or those undergoing chemotherapy express themselves through song.

“It’s fun to help the kids say something that they can’t say by themselves,” she said. “Working with them, they feel good about themselves, they have self-esteem and they have something they can share.” Thanks to her growing popularity in Kansas City, Anderson is reducing her day job hours and expanding her touring radius. In October, she performed at the International Blues Challenge in Oklahoma City and staked out three nights at Blue Note Lounge that weekend. Her first Oklahoma gig went so well, she jumped at the chance to return. “The audience was fun and the sound system was great, so I decided that I really wanted to go back,” she said. “It should be a great show.”

DENNIS G ATZ PHOTOGRAPHY / PROVIDED

Divers

Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club. JAZZ

Gene Watson, Sugar Creek Casino, Hinton. COUNTRY John Arnold Band, Newcastle Casino, Newcastle. COUNTRY Lauren Anderson/Brandon Miller Band, Blue Note Lounge. VARIOUS

Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

Lee Mullen Band, Riverwind Casino, Norman. COUNTRY

THURSDAY, JAN. 7

Mike Ryan Band, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY

Brent Saulsbury/Will Galbraith/Wayne Duncan, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK

Michael Kleid, Fuze Buffet & Bar. JAZZ

Miss Brown to You, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. JAZZ The Suspects, Tapwerks Ale House & Cafe. Reggae The Vinyl Download, District House. VARIOUS

Dave Thomason Band, Grady’s 66 Pub, Yukon. COVER

Trae tha Truth, Farmers Public Market. HIP-HOP

Stars, Baker Street Pub & Grill. COVER

Urban Addiction, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. POP

FRIDAY, JAN. 8

SUNDAY, JAN. 10

Amarillo Junction, Riverwind Casino, Norman. COUNTRY

Karen Khoury, Legend’s Restaurant, Norman. PIANO

Avenue, Baker Street Pub & Grill. COVER

Mountain Smoke, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. BLUEGRASS

Daniel Jordan, Fuze Buffet & Bar. ACOUSTIC

Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

DJ Six, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. VARIOUS Karen Khoury, Legend’s Restaurant, Norman. PIANO Samantha Crain/Will Johnson, The Blue Door. FOLK Shortt Dogg, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. BLUES Space 4 Lease/Forum, Blue Note Lounge. ROCK The Remedy, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK Wildings/Beach Language, Opolis, Norman. INDIE

SATURDAY, JAN. 9

D e Awn a M cGi nle y Photo g ra p hy / PROVIDED

Jackson Tillman, Grady’s 66 Pub, Yukon. COUNTRY

Bruce Benson, Remington Park. JAZZ Don and Melodee Johnson, Twelve Oaks, Edmond. JAZZ

Victor & Penny

okg

Victor & Penny

music

Sunday

picks

Say, fella, whaddya say we ankle on down to The Depot ’round 7 p.m. Sunday to catch a show and have a real whoopee time? Victor & Penny and The Loose Change Orchestra play Prohibition-era jazz tunes till the old flatfoots shut ’em down. Tickets are a meager 15 clams, see? The speak just got a little easier at The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., in Norman. Knock four times and tell Big Gino the password is “humdinger.” Call 307-9320 or visit pasnorman.org.

MONDAY, JAN. 11 Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK

TUESDAY, JAN. 12

Boy Toy / Inte rscope / PROVIDED

Live Music WEDNESDAY, JAN. 6

125 Years of Music Theatre, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. CLASSICAL Pears/The Stay Dead, Blue Note Lounge. PUNK

A Masterpiece-A Surprise, Civic Center Music Hall. CLASSICAL

david mccl ister / provid ed

Blind Date, Oklahoma City Limits. COVER

Madonna

Madonna Jan. 14 There is literally nothing anyone could write here that would make you want to see legendary pop queen Madonna any more than you already do. Though we be but foolish mortals, we’re also your newspaper, and this whole thing is kind of our job, so here we go. The show is 8 p.m. Jan. 14 at BOK Center, 200 S. Denver Ave., in Tulsa. Tickets start at $40. Call 918-894-4200 or visit bokcenter.com.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 13 Kyle Reid’s Weekly Residency, The Blue Door. FOLK

Samantha Crain, The Blue Door, Friday

Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club. JAZZ Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

Submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date. Late submissions will not be included in the listings. Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible. Fax your listings to 528-4600 or e-mail them to listings@okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | J a n ua r y 6 , 2 0 1 6 | 3 9

photos p r ovided

life film

Film flashback

2015 was a year that took us from Mars to a satanic black mass in Oklahoma City. Here is a look at what we saw last year and a peek at what’s to come. By Ben Luschen

Perhaps a sign of the times, 2015 was a year in which the biggest films were installments of much larger film franchises. But the year saw a fair share of great one-off ventures and a solid batch of captivating local films and documentaries. Here is a short list of some of the year’s most notable pictures and a look at what epics might come in 2016:

Mad Max: Fury Road

Director: George Miller Stars: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee, Courtney Eaton Max is back to saying little and doing much. In this chapter of the franchise, he encounters a village ruled by the tyrant Immortan Joe and his army of brainwashed youths. Max is then thrust into the heat of Joe’s crazed chase to bring home his most prized possessions: human “breeders.” Despite a big budget and effects beyond the capabilities of George Miller’s ’80s-era projects, Fury Road feels like it belongs in the Mad Max franchise and embodies everything the series ever wanted to be.

same name, The Martian earned praise for being one of the most scientifically accurate space movies ever seen.

house in Arizona, by-the-book FBI agent Kate Macer is invited to join a special CIA team to take on a notorious cartel in Juarez, Mexico. Almost immediately,

Mekko

Kate finds that she’s being left in the dark about the mission’s greater goals. For sequences, Sicario is as intense as it gets. But the action doesn’t guide the film; the acting does. Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro shine in award-worthy roles.

Director: Sterlin Harjo Stars: Rod Rondeaux, Jamie Loy, Scott Mason, Zahn McClarnon, Sarah Podemski Sterlin Harjo returns with another Oklahoma-based movie. This one follows Mekko, a wayward Muscogee ex-con trying to settle in Tulsa after a long stay in prison. With nowhere else to go, the title character soon finds his way into an equally downtrodden group of homeless Native Americans. Mekko made its way through 2015’s Toronto International Film Festival and received favorable reviews from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. Rod Rondeaux is particularly memorable in the lead role.

Director: Ridley Scott Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Chiwetel Ejiofor Last time we saw Matt Damon in a space suit, he definitely wasn’t this funny. In The Martian, Damon plays an astronaut who maintains a surprisingly cool head while marooned on the red planet. NASA, its scientists and the whole world watch as he survives and plans his return home. Based on a book by the

Director: Ryan Staples Scott Stars: Wil Crown, Torey Byrne, Dustin McKamie Shot in Oklahoma, Skid depicts a long and tiresome trans-Atlantic flight in which the many colorful passengers have no choice but to get to know each other. Colorful characters include clashing pilots, an Oprah Winfrey superfan, a spy and others. Adapted from a book by Rene

Looking ahead

The Real Enemy

The Martian

Skid

Director: Tate James, Daniel Giles Helm Stars: Adam Daniels, James Hale, Everett Cox What happens when a satanic black mass takes place inside a public event space nestled in the heart of the Bible Belt? Chaos, of course. This documentary follows Adam Daniels as he prepares his ritual in Oklahoma City and deals with the resulting public backlash. The Real Enemy is both impartial and captivating. Candid interviews, particularly with Daniels, highlight the vigor that exists in religions of all kinds. The film can be viewed free on YouTube, so watch it and share with your friends.

Sicario

Director: Denis Villeneuve Stars: Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Victor Garber After a bizarre and disastrous raid on a

4 0 | j a n ua r y 6 , 2 0 1 6 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

Big names will do big things in the next 12 months. As the year before it, 2016 promises blockbusting updates to some of our favorite film franchises. Here are three movies we hope to see on the big screen:

The Jungle Book Expected release: April 15 One of the wonderful things about classic movies is that they are part of shared childhood experiences between generations. Disney released its animated version of The Jungle Book in 1967, so it’s likely parents and children alike will want to see the live-action version, due out in spring. It is stacked with names like Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Lupita Nyong’o, Idris Elba and Christopher Walken.

Suicide Squad Expected release: Aug. 5 Marvel has reigned supreme in the comic movie world the last couple of years, but will 2016 be DC’s year? There’s certainly potential. With its

Gutteridge, the movie had its Oklahoma premiere at 2015’s deadCENTER Film Festival. The project touches a wide range of moods and emotions during its 92-minute runtime.

Straight Outta Compton

Director: F. Gary Gray Stars: O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Paul Giamatti In 1980s Los Angeles, a group of hungry, young visionaries assembled the rap group that grabbed America by the throat. However, money and outside pressures doomed the group. Despite hostile feuds, the group got back together just as things turned bleak. Even if Straight Outta Compton does not separate itself much from a typical, one-sided band biopic, it is beautifully shot in spots and is a welcome trip down memory lane for fans of classic hip-hop.

Avengers titles, Marvel has shown that it can successfully juggle multi-hero flicks. DC attempts to do the same with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the more villainous Suicide Squad. As early predictions say a mashup between the world’s two most popular heroes might be too big not to disappoint, the return of the Joker interpreted by Jared Leto could be a fan’s best bet.

Gosnell: America’s Biggest Serial Killer Expected release: 2016 The movie is based on the story of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a former abortionist sentenced to life in prison after performing a string of late-term procedures. Gosnell was filmed in Guthrie, and its subject matter is likely to spark some controversy somewhere, especially considering the involvement of right-wing filmmaker John Sullivan. Dean Cain, known as the most recent host of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, plays the lead role as the detective who eventually busts the doctor.

COLUM BIA PI C TURE S / PROVI DE D

Head games

Concussion

Concussion takes a soft-eyed look at football-related brain damage.

LEE BRICE firelake SAT.| jAn. 23 | 2016

arena

By George Lang

Athletes call a concussion “getting your bell rung,” and it’s a remarkably on-point idiom to describe the injury. When Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster’s head took a high-speed, direct impact on the field, his brain literally bounced against the inside of his skull, like the clapper of a bell slamming into the sound rim. It happened repeatedly during his career. If the brain takes too many hits, deposits of tau protein attack the player’s brain cells, and the result is a catastrophic, often self-destructive dementia known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). In a protracted flat-earth argument, the National Football League denied that there was a cause-and-effect relationship between direct helmet collisions and the CTE that ultimately killed Webster in 2002 and caused several of his fellow players to commit suicide. The NFL finally acknowledged the phenomenon in 2009 and reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit in August 2013, but the organization’s pugnacious science denial ranks up there with climate change “truthers.” Writer-director Peter Landesman’s Concussion takes a central piece of this story — the research by Nigerianborn pathologist Bennet Omalu that ultimately forced the NFL’s hand — and turns it into a frustratingly by-thebook David versus Goliath drama. With Will Smith stoically portraying Omalu, Concussion settles for star-focused melodrama when the story deserves a point-by-point dissection along the lines of All the President’s Men, Zodiac or 2015’s Spotlight. Concussion begins promisingly with a section on Webster, who is played with remarkable accuracy by the great David Morse. A true icon of Steelers

2 t i c k e t s to

history, Webster spent some of his final days living in his truck, having lost everything to over a decade of postcareer spiraling. Omalu, a pathologist in the Allegheny County Coroner’s Office, does not know anything about “Iron Mike” when the fallen star winds up on his table, but he examines his brain and recognizes the degradation. What follows is an often affecting but reductive depiction of the story. The deaths of Webster, fellow Steeler Justin Strzelczyk (Matthew Willig) and Philadelphia Eagles safety Andre Waters (Richard T. Jones) feel as though they are taking place within weeks of one another when each was separated by two years. Webster’s own late-’90s disability claim against the NFL stays in the background, as do many of the other doctors and journalists who helped bring the true story to light. Instead, Landesman cedes time to the B-story centered on Omalu and his young wife Prema (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), including the de rigueur threatening phone calls and mysterious cars following too closely. And while Smith plays Omalu as a quiet, brooding man on a mission, the performance is a far cry from the animated, gregarious Omalu who can be seen in the 2013 Frontline episode “League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis.” Smith saddles Omalu with the weight of watery-eyed gravitas when something close to the real man would be just as effective, if not more so. Granted, others in this fight, such as former Steelers team neurosurgeon Dr. Julian Bailes (Alec Baldwin) and Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht (Albert Brooks), get their moment, but Concussion begs for a more multidimensional telling.

Also, much of the action portrayed in the film between Bailes and Webster actually took place between Webster and Bob Fitzsimmons, the West Virginia lawyer who filed the disability claim with the NFL on Webster’s behalf. Fitzsimmons is nowhere to be found, nor is Chris Nowinski, the Harvard-educated former WWE wrestler and CTE crusader who joined Bailes, Fitzsimmons and Omalu in their research efforts. Nowinski, who wrestled as “Chris Harvard” before sustaining a head injury in the ring, certainly qualifies as a cinematic figure, yet he got excised. Both he and Fitzsimmons were in Jeanne Marie Laskas’ GQ story “Game Brain” and her subsequent book Concussion, but their screen time lost out to Omalu’s family drama. Omalu is unquestionably a noble man who performed brave work despite an $8 billion corporation’s brutalizing efforts to quash his findings. But the saddest flaw in the film is the sparse time spent with the victims. In most cases, viewers spend only a few moments with these wrecked former players before they die. Without Omalu, their stories would not be told, but Landesman spends the bare minimum time required with them in order to pitch things back to Omalu and bring the focus back to Smith. This is a fresh story that is still in the headlines. In December, ESPN commentator and former New York Giants quarterback Danny Kanell, ripping a page from the Fox News playbook, called Concussion and the “liberal media’s” coverage of Omalu’s efforts part of the “war on football.” Unfortunately, Concussion should have been a much better weapon in the war on willful ignorance.

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY by ROB BREZNY

Homework: Write a one-page essay entitled “2016 Is the Year I Figure Out What I Really Want.” ARIES (March 21-April 19) John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. His novel Of Mice and Men helped win him the award, but it required extra persistence. When he’d almost finished the manuscript, he went out on a date with his wife. While they were gone, his puppy Toby ripped his precious pages into confetti. As mad as he was, he didn’t punish the dog, but got busy on a rewrite. Later he considered the possibility that Toby had served as a helpful literary critic. The new edition of Of Mice and Men was Steinbeck’s breakout book. I’m guessing that in recent months you have received comparable assistance, Aries — although you may not realize it was assistance until later this year. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Remember back to what your life was like during the first nine months of 2004. I suspect that you fell just short of fulfilling a dream. It’s possible you were too young to have the power you needed. Or maybe you were working on a project that turned out to be pretty good but not great. Maybe you were pushing to create a new life for yourself but weren’t wise enough to make a complete breakthrough. Almost 12 years later, you have returned to a similar phase in your long-term cycle. You are better equipped to do what you couldn’t quite do before: create the masterpiece, finish the job, rise to the next level. GEMINI (May 21-June 20) To become a skillful singer, you must learn to regulate your breath. You’ve got to take in more oxygen than usual for extended periods, and do it in ways that facilitate rather than interfere with the sounds coming out of your mouth. When you’re beginning, it feels weird to exert so much control over an instinctual impulse, which previously you’ve done unconsciously. Later, you have to get beyond your self-conscious discipline so you can reach a point where the proper breathing happens easily and gracefully. Although you may not be working to become a singer in 2016, Gemini, I think you will have comparable challenges: 1. to make conscious an activity that has been

unconscious; 2. to refine and cultivate that activity; 3. to allow your consciously-crafted approach to become unselfconscious again. CANCER (June 21-July 22) Ancient humans didn’t “invent” fire, but rather learned about it from nature and then figured out how to produce it as needed. Ropes had a similar origin. Our ancestors employed long vines made of tough fiber as primitive ropes, and eventually got the idea to braid and knot the vines together for greater strength. This technology was used to hunt, climb, pull, fasten, and carry. It was essential to the development of civilization. I predict that 2016 will bring you opportunities that have metaphorical resemblances to the early rope. Your task will be to develop and embellish on what nature provides. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) British author Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) had a day job with the postal service until he was in his fifties. For years he awoke every morning at 5:30 and churned out 2,500 words before heading to work. His goal was to write two or three novels a year, a pace he came close to achieving. “A small daily task, if it really be daily,” he wrote in his autobiography, “will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules.” I recommend that you borrow from his strategy in 2016, Leo. Be regular and disciplined and diligent as you practice the art of gradual, incremental success. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Umbrellas shelter us from the rain, saving us from the discomfort of getting soaked and the embarrassment of bad hair. They also protect us from the blinding light and sweltering heat of the sun. I’m very much in favor of these practical perks. But when umbrellas appear in your nightly dreams, they may have a less positive meaning. They can indicate an inclination to shield yourself from natural forces, or to avoid direct contact with primal sensuality. I hope you won’t do much of that in 2016. In my opinion, you need a lot of face-toface encounters with life in its raw state. Symbolically speaking, this should be a non-umbrella year.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Around the world, an average of 26 languages go extinct every year. But it increasingly appears that Welsh will not be one of them. It has enjoyed a revival in the past few decades. In Wales, it’s taught in many schools, appears on road signs, and is used in some mobile phones and computers. Is there a comparable phenomenon in your life, Libra? A tradition that can be revitalized and should be preserved? A part of your heritage that may be useful to your future? A neglected aspect of your birthright that deserves to be reclaimed? Make it happen in 2016 SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Fourteenth-century author Geoffrey Chaucer produced a collection of stories known as The Canterbury Tales. It became a seminal text of English literature even though he never finished it. The most influential book ever written by theologian Thomas Aquinas was a work he gave up on before it was completed. The artist Michelangelo never found the time to put the final touches on numerous sculptures and paintings. Why am I bringing this theme to your attention? Because 2016 will be an excellent time to wrap up long-term projects you’ve been working on — and also to be at peace with abandoning those you can’t. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) A bottle of Chateau Cheval Blanc wine from 1947 sold for $304,000. Three bottles of Chateau LafiteRothschild 1869 went for $233,000 apiece. The mystique about aged wine provokes crazy behavior like that. But here’s a more mundane fact: Most wine deteriorates with age, and should be sold within a few years of being bottled. I’m thinking about these things as I meditate on your long-term future, Sagittarius. My guess is that your current labor of love will reach full maturity in the next 18 to 20 months. This will be a time to bring all your concentration and ingenuity to bear on making it as good as it can be. By September of 2017, you will have ripened it as much as it can be ripened. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) In her poem “Tree,” California poet Jane Hirshfield speaks of a young redwood tree that’s positioned next

to a house. Watch out! It grows fast — as much as three feet per year. “Already the first branch-tips brush at the window,” Hirshfield writes. “Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life.” I suspect this will be an apt metaphor for you in 2016. The expansion and proliferation you have witnessed these past few months are likely to intensify. That’s mostly good, but may also require adjustments. How will you respond as immensity taps at your life? AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Centuries ago, lettuce was a bitter, prickly weed that no one ate. But ancient Egyptians guessed its potential, and used selective breeding to gradually convert it into a tasty food. I see 2016 as a time when you could have a comparable success. Look around at your life, and identify weed-like things that could, through your transformative magic, be turned into valuable assets. The process may take longer than a year, but you can set in motion an unstoppable momentum that will ensure success. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Imagine that a beloved elder has been writing down your life story in the form of a fairy tale. Your adventures aren’t rendered literally, as your waking mind might describe them, but rather through dreamlike scenes that have symbolic resonance. With this as our template, I’ll predict a key plot development of 2016: You will grow increasingly curious about a “forbidden” door — a door you have always believed should not be opened. Your inquisitiveness will reach such an intensity that you will consider locating the key for that door. If it’s not available, you may even think about breaking down the door.

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes /daily text message horoscopes. The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.

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The BMW X5

www.cooperbmw.com

YOU DON’T NEED A CROWD TO STAND OUT. THE BMW X5.

With optional third-row seating, up to seven people can go somewhere they’ve never been before. And with Panoramic Moonroof, BMW Online™ features like Real Time Traffic Information and Internet, and optional Premium Interior, the journey just might outclass the destination.

X5 xDrive35i | $679/month*

328i xDrive Gran Turismo | $439/month*

320i Sedan | $329/month*

X3 xDrive28i | $489/month*

528i Sedan | $519/month*

Z4 sDrive28i | $469/month*

14145 North Broadway Extension Edmond, OK 73013 | 866.925.9885

Imports 2016 X3 xDrive28i, 36-month lease, $3000 down, MSRP $47,295, Standard Terms 2016 Z4 sDrive28i, 39-month lease, $3000 down, MSRP $52,695, Standard Terms 2016 X5 xDrive35i, 36-month lease, $3500 down, MSRP $62,595, Standard Terms

BmW

2016 328i xDrive Gran Turismo, 36-month lease, $3000 down, MSRP $47,295, Standard Terms 2016 528i Sedan, 36-month lease, $3000 down, MSRP $53,345, Standard Terms 2016 320i Sedan, 36-month lease, $2750 down, MSRP $35,445, Standard Terms

Web: www.cooperbmw.com Email: rkeitz@cooperautogroup.com Standard terms & Tag, Tax. 1st Payment, Aquisition fee, processing fee WAC *See dealership for details — offers subject to change without prior notice. December prices are subject to change.