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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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Photo provided 24 In its fifth year, Oklahoma City Pro-Am Classic teams up with H&8th Night Market and YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City to create Oklahoma TenaCity, a three-day event of bike races and rides and family-friendly activities. Riders in the Pro-Am Classic compete for $45,000 in cash prizes June 3-5, and those looking for a less competitive ride can join the Gran Fondo tours of districts and neighborhoods June 4. H&8th returns to OKC June 3, and YMCA encourages healthy living June 5 in Automobile Alley with its Y Without Walls program. By Brett Dickerson

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Community solution

The U.S. Surgeon General’s message rivals work by a local coalition and state agency to combat opioid addiction. By Laura Eastes

Karin Leimbach guided a group of Metro Technology Center students outside to a cluster of trees. The teenagers wrapped purple ribbons around a tree trunk, leaving space for passersby to read the poster’s message: “Strong as One. Stronger Together.”

The activity followed a discussion on Oklahoma County’s prescription drug epidemic. Last year, 118 Oklahoma County residents died with at least one prescription drug in their system, according to the Coalition Against Rx Drug Epidemic (C.A.Rx.E.).

It’s a distressing number, but coalition member Leimbach contends that teens hold great influence on the issue.

Leimbach told Oklahoma Gazette about her message to youth.

“You have a voice. You can help prevent this,” she said. “I think turning this into a conversation on what you can do to prevent this and how you can advocate on this issue really helps to empower the teens.”

As a C.A.Rx.E. member, Leimbach visits schools, health fairs, community events — wherever the coalition is invited. Listeners hear a somber message presented by Leimbach and fellow C.A.Rx.E. members; however, the abuse of prescription pain medication and the addiction crisis is also arguably one of the biggest issues.

The countless number of deaths in Oklahoma and across the United States has prompted one federal agency to issue 4

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new guidelines on prescribing practices and another to dole out $94 million to fight opioid addiction in communities across the country, including Oklahoma City and Midwest City. Along the campaign trail, presidential candidates have touched on the travesty of overdose deaths. Rumors that Percocet was involved in music star Prince’s recent death placed the issue of prescription drug abuse in national news and entertainment media reports.

In Oklahoma City, occasionally someone who has seen a family member or a friend struggle with an addiction to prescription opioids approaches Leimbach. In those moments, a dialogue opens about the problem and how to address it with solutions, including C.A.Rx.E. The coalition, which was formed in 2014, strives to decrease Oklahoma County’s prescription drug epidemic through education, awareness and other prevention activities. Mostly, the coalition strives to bring the subject of prescription drug abuse to the forefront. It can no longer be a taboo subject.

“I feel our society does a really good job talking with teens about drugs, alcohol and marijuana,” said Leimbach, “but we forget about what’s in our medicine cabinets.”

C.A.Rx.E. coalition members advocated for all sectors of the community to play a role in fighting prescription drug abuse during National Prevention Week, observed May 17-23 and sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and commissioner Terri White listen as Justin Zagaruyka shares his experience battling addiction during his visit to Catalyst Behavioral Services. | Photo Laura Eastes

Administration. The message matched that of U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy during his three-day visit to Oklahoma during National Prevention Week.

“The truth is, to address this problem, we are going to need all parts of the community working together,” Murthy told Oklahoma media during his May 17 visit.

“This is not a problem that is going to be solved by policy or by one set of programs alone. It is going to be solved by people coming together and doing their part to educate each other to make sure they are protecting their family members.”

Oklahoma’s story

Oklahoma’s drug overdose rate increased fivefold from 1999 to 2013, and in 2013, the Sooner State ranked sixth in unintentional overdose deaths in the United States, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

But Oklahoma has been taking meaningful measures to reverse the trend. The state comprehensive plan, Reducing Prescription Drug Abuse in Oklahoma, was developed in 2013 to address the growing epidemic. Recommendations include the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics growing the number of drop boxes for unused and unwanted prescriptions, enhancing the Prescription Monitoring Program and establishing legislation to allow naloxone — a drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose — to be used by family members and first responders. The plan called for increased funding to the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse (ODMHSA) for expansion of community-based services for treatment of opioid dependency.

State laws now require physicians to regularly check the state’s prescription drug monitoring program, which tracks

prescriptions filled for schedule II, III, IV and V controlled substances. Additionally, law enforcement agencies are training officers on naloxone.

Terri White, the state’s mental health commissioner, shared stories of those efforts with Murthy during his visit to Oklahoma City. White met Murthy for a tour of Catalyst Behavioral Services, which is reimbursed for its addiction services by ODMHSA. “I think one of the most important things that the Surgeon General brings to us is hopefully a new level of attention,” White said. “The fact is he is impressed with the efforts Oklahoma is making. At the same time, we have a long way to go, despite the fact that we are on a downturn because of the work done across the state.”

With the state revenue failure, White’s department was forced to cut $22.8 million from the current year’s budget, impacting operations and services. An estimated 73,000 Oklahomans are impacted by the reduced services. Progress in prevention and treatment is at risk with potential fewer dollars distributed to the agency for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.

“Our biggest challenge,” White said, “is the lack of resources for everyone to access.”

Murthy’s visit

Oklahoma parents who lost their son to a prescription drug overdose in 2011, an Oklahoma City man who broke free from his prescription drug addiction a year ago and Shawnee tribal leaders and youth shared their experiences of the opioid epidemic with Murthy, the nation’s top physician.

Murthy said the stories were similar to those he heard during his stops in Baltimore, Maryland, and Jacksonville, Florida. He is creating the first Surgeon General’s report on substance use, addiction and health, which is expect to be released this fall.

“People are starting to come out of the shadows,” Murthy said. “This is important because in addition to making sure we fund treatment and improve prescribing practices, we have to address the stigma which is still associated with addiction. That stigma prevents people from coming forward to ask for help.”

Following the March release of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for prescribing opioid medications, Murthy began the tour of cities and communities hardest hit by the epidemic. His visits’ primary purposes are twofold: educate prescribers on the new regulations and talk with the public. Part of his message to communities is to see addiction as a chronic illness that needs to be treated with skill, urgency and compassion.

“Treatment saves lives,” Murthy said.

“Sometimes people say, ‘We can’t afford to build [treatment] centers.’ I say, ‘We can’t afford not to have treatment.’ The cost of not getting people the help they need is far greater.”

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NEWS

Charter offer

KIPP leaders reveal charter proposal plans for Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary and Douglass High School. By Laura Eastes

Tracy McDaniel stepped up to the podium, adjusted his tablet, looked up at the Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) Board of Education and smiled.

He had the attention of the eight-member board, district leaders and a packed auditorium in the OKCPS administrative building.

As the administrator of KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) Reach College Preparatory, McDaniel had waited years for that moment, and his opening statement hinted at his longing and enthusiasm to present his plan to “create a region of schools and have a greater impact” on Oklahoma City.

“Thank you to the board and [associate superintendent] Aurora Lora for giving us this opportunity to actually present our proposal to the district,” McDaniel said at the May 16 board meeting. “We have been negotiating for several months now, but we didn’t have the opportunity to actually present to the board and our community.”

It was a telling statement for those closely following the discussion of charter school expansion in Oklahoma City. More than 550 people participated in three community meetings intended to gather input on the KIPP charter expansion proposal. At those meetings, McDaniel shared aspirations for KIPP to grow into a prekindergarten through 12th-grade model. He described serving prekindergarten through eighthgrade students in an existing OKCPS building suitable for 900 students. Additionally, KIPP sought to share classroom space and facilities with an area high school.

McDaniel didn’t get into particulars.

Specifically, he didn’t name school buildings targeted by KIPP leaders for such expansion.

In fact, community meetings facilitators called for the public to share location ideas.

The facilitators, district and KIPP leaders gave the impression that buildings hadn’t been discussed or decided.

The lack of information caused frustra-

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tion, rumors ran rampant and some organizations hosted their own forums to discuss hearsay.

It wasn’t the way McDaniel imagined approaching the community about the KIPP expansion, but the longtime administrator said Superintendent Rob Neu told him not to name schools.

After months of keeping key details quiet, McDaniel presented his plans for the expansion. If the proposal goes through, beginning next fall, KIPP will be moved into Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School to begin the process of converting the neighborhood school to its charter model.

Additionally, KIPP would expand its network into Douglass High School.

McDaniel first submitted a similar expansion proposal to Neu in November. The 23-page application called for growth into Martin Luther King Jr. and Douglass schools.

The proposal turned over to district administration six months ago stated, “The most significant challenge for KIPP OKC, beyond ensuring appropriate facilities and funding before opening new schools, has been filling the academic gaps with which fifth-graders enroll and ensure the target population has first access to KIPP schools.

“To address these risks and provide highquality programming earlier in each student’s educational career, KIPP OKC is planning to serve prekindergarten through 12th grade in the northeast community by restarting the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School and co-locating with Douglass High School.”

Oklahoma Gazette obtained copies of the November and May proposals through an open records request.

A key difference between the two proposals was the earlier proposal called for serving 1,250 southside students through establishing a KIPP OKC South elementary, middle and high school. The May

Community members, staff and parents listen as Tracy McDaniel, KIPP administrator, presents a proposal for KIPP to expand its model in northeast Oklahoma City. The proposal calls for KIPP to occupy Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School and share space with Douglass High School. | Photo Laura Eastes

proposal did not include such plans.

Quality Seats

The discussion of charter school expansion has progressed over the past three months, although many might argue the community conversation wasn’t as anticipated.

Initially, administrators of three successful charter schools — including KIPP — approached the school board in February with a plan called Quality Seats. Citing their desire to serve more students, the administrators sought to expand their charter models. While no specifics were explained, the administrators committed to following district leaders’ suggestions to gather community input before submitting proposals to the school board. Santa Fe South Schools and John Rex Charter Elementary School also participated in the

Quality Seats program.

Neu cautioned the school board against moving forward without public input, prompting board consideration and the passage of a resolution guaranteeing a community conversation.

The resolution gave rise to facilitated meetings conducted by Possibilities Inc., a local nonprofit. Inasmuch Foundation, which holds ties to the three charters and the district, partnered to fund the meetings. Two weeks after the passage of the resolution, KIPP meetings were announced with district officials reporting more would take place.

Expansion plans for Santa Fe South include reauthorizing its charter elementary from the University of Oklahoma to

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NEWS

EVERY TUESDAY

Community members discuss hopes and concerns during an April 5 charter school expansion meeting at Fairview Missionary Baptist Church. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

LADIES NIGHT e d u c at i o n

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the district. Currently, OKCPS holds the charter for Santa Fe South’s middle and high schools.

Additionally, Santa Fe South proposes growing the early childhood through high school charter system by 200 students, serving just over 2,300 Oklahoma City children.

Santa Fe South Superintendent Chris Brewster outlined the plans during the April 25 board meeting when presenting the charters’ contract for renewal.

“We won’t be doing community meetings in the same type of way because we are not looking for any existing buildings to convert,” Brewster explained when asked about additional charter expansion.

“The only growth we would have is numeric, based on students applying and us having the room to accept them.”

In May, Lora — acting as superintendent — told media that John Rex leaders plan to present a proposal later this summer.

Current proposal

“We want a partnership with Oklahoma City Public Schools,” McDaniel said. “We want to expand our program. We are requesting to expand by going prekindergarten through 12th grade over time.”

Under the KIPP proposal, KIPP’s middle school would vacate the second floor of its rented F.D. Moon Elementary School space and move three miles north to Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, which opened in 2006 as a MAPS for Kids project.

For the first year, the two schools would share space and facilities. Beginning the 2017-18 academic year, prekindergarten and kindergarten students would work with KIPP teachers. Each academic year, KIPP would add another grade until the entire building — prekindergarten through eighth grade — is served by KIPP. Students from the neighborhood would attend KIPP. For the high school expansion, KIPP proposes at least a 12-month study to examine and plan for KIPP and Douglass to cohabit. In addition to sharing facilities, McDaniel aspires for KIPP students to participate in Douglass’ extracurricular activities, including sports.

Before KIPP would take over any grade 8

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at the elementary level or begin a high school, KIPP leaders and OKCPS teachers would visit some of the best schools in the United States.

Funded by grants, both KIPP and OKCPS teachers would bring proven teaching practices back to Oklahoma City to benefit students, explained McDaniel.

“We want to raise the bar of excellence for northeast Oklahoma City,” McDaniel said. “We can, with a partnership, have a direct impact on students.”

Under the May 12 proposal, KIPP expansion would be complete in 2022 and the charter would serve 1,250 students in northeast Oklahoma City. The expansion plan calls for hiring school leaders, including a chief operating officer, director of operations, recruitment manager and associate director of development. KIPP also plans to hire 96 staffers, including teachers and counselors.

KIPP’s development plan relies on private funds to offset operating costs. The charter has secured grant funds from Inasmuch Foundation and the Walton Family Fund, a known supporter of charter schools, to accommodate the anticipated regional growth. Inasmuch Foundation awarded a $1.05 million grant for KIPP to expand its model in Oklahoma City in 2014.

In fiscal year 2015, KIPP raised $1.2 million, according to the proposal document.

Charters don’t collect any portion of local bonds; they rely heavily on state funding.

The school board could call the proposal to a vote at its next regularly scheduled meeting set for June 6.

A few board members have publicly voiced concerns about the charter school expansion process. Ruth Veales, District 5 representative, believed district officials needed to participate in the community meetings to answer specific concerns geared toward OKCPS. With a proposal now before the board, McDaniel stands ready to answer questions about his plan, which is rooted in improving education in northeast Oklahoma City.

“Our kids need us,” McDaniel said. “We owe it to our kids to give them a quality education. State law says you must go to school, but it doesn’t say you have to provide a quality education. We are saying that is unacceptable.”

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NEWS In 2007, Paula Stover looks out over the Plaza District with Lyric Theatre’s front facade under renovation in the background. | Photo Gazette / file

Plaza pioneer cit y

After a tour of the rundown Plaza Theatre 16 years ago, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma’s Paula Stover led the way for redevelopment and inspired others to follow in Lyric’s path. By Laura Eastes

It all began with a season ticket campaign.

A supporter of Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Paula Stover volunteered to sell subscriptions to the musical theater company’s upcoming shows in the 1970s.

“I always loved musical theater and plays when I was in high school and at college at the University of Oklahoma,” Stover said.

“When my husband and I moved back to Oklahoma, we started going to shows and I

began to volunteer.”

Selling tickets was just the beginning for Stover. Over the past four decades, the Tulsa native has held many Lyric roles, including board president and executive director. When reviewing Lyric’s transformation into a Broadway-caliber theater company, Stover is a leading character. And her legacy extends beyond the stage.

Around the millennium, Lyric made

When my husband and I moved back to Oklahoma, we started going to shows and I began to volunteer.

Paula Stover

Urban Pioneer its home in Oklahoma bringing people to the Plaza Award City’s Plaza District, a for a show, but bringing Happy Hour commercial district on people to visit the shops before and get a drink or the brink of a comeback 5:30 p.m. Tuesday after years of neglect. dinner after,” Lewis said.

Lyric Theatre Lyric board member “It is not a one-stop shop 1725 NW 16th St. Lou Kerr suggested Stover for Lyric Theatre patrons.” plazadistrict.org and artistic director Nick June 1, 16th Street Plaza 405-367-9403 Demos tour the vacant and District Association honors $25 neglected Plaza Theatre, Stover as the recipient of the 2016 Urban Pioneer the state’s first air-conditioned movie theater from Award. Stover, Lyric’s manthe 1930s. Stover desired a aging director, becomes the 2016 Urban permanent home for Lyric 12th recipient of the award, Pioneer Theatre of Oklahoma’s bestowed upon those who Award office, which moved four exemplify a pioneering times over the past decade. spirit through their leader11:30 a.m. June 1 Demos wanted a facility to ship and commitment to Oklahoma City University accommodate a year-round urban revitalization.

School of Law theater company. The two Stover’s leadership at 800 N. Harvey Ave. saw potential in the abanLyric, which has experiplazadistrict.org doned theater. enced tremendous growth 405-367-9403 “Of course, we looked at since its launch in the $45 summer of 1963, primed it and got excited because it was another theater her for the honor. space. I am not sure our board was that “She embraced our crazy idea to buy a excited,” she said. “In cooperation with the dilapidated theater in the middle of the Plaza city and help from MidFirst Bank, we were District and provided the day-to-day leaderable to move into the office and we began ship necessary to make it a success,” said the campaign to redo the theater.”

Kerr, Plaza board member and a 2006 Urban Lyric’s arrival on the 1700 block of NW Pioneer honoree, in a statement. “We should 16th Street served as a catalyst for revitalizaapplaud her not only for her contributions to the Plaza District, but for her life’s work tion. Often, Susan Hogan — Plaza District as an advocate for the arts.” executive director from 2003 to 2008 — brought prospective business owners and Past winners include former Oklahoma investors by the Lyric office. Stover and City University president Tom McDaniel, other employees explained their investment Oklahoma City Councilwoman Meg in the theater, future plans and how the Salyer, Midtown Renaissance and Heather commercial district was turning around. and Keith Paul, owners of A Good Egg Lyric raised $10 million to renovate what Dining Group. would become Lyric at the Plaza and Thelma Plaza leaders present the award during Gaylord Academy. In 2007, patrons filled their annual fundraiser set for June 1 at the 279-seat theater for Lyric’s first producOklahoma City University School of Law. tion in its own theater. The new perforUrban Pioneer Award proceeds support mance space allowed Lyric to add four adongoi ng rev it a li zation ef for t s. ditional shows each season.

Additionally, a happy hour event is set for the night before at Lyric Theatre, featurDriving force ing Anthem Brewing Company and behind As Lyric has found success operating from -the-scenes stories from Stover. the Plaza District, so too have shop and res“It has worked out beautifully for us,” taurant owners along the block. Plaza Stover said of Lyric’s partnership with Plaza Theatre has become a premier performance District. “We are just thrilled we are down venue driving the district’s culture and here. The Plaza Theatre has done really well, bringing new patrons to the area, said Cayla and we enjoy doing the shows.”

Lewis, district executive director.

“On Lyric show nights, they are not only

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friedNEWS

Speed trap

ESPN host Skip Bayless, an Oklahoma City native and notoriously dubious tweeter, recently raised plenty of eyebrows in his hometown before Oklahoma City Thunder’s Western Conference Finals series game against the Golden State Warriors.

“Not sure the Thunder can win a single game against the Warriors,” Bayless tweeted.

Bayless’ comment sprouted thousands of responses, but no counter jab was as sharp as the one planted by an unexpected source: the official Twitter account for Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS).

“Hey, @espn please remind @RealSkipBayless that we taught him better than this,” @OKCPS responded.

It did not take long for Bayless to be proven wrong. The Thunder defeated the Warriors 108-102 in the first game of the series. The earlier slight from Bayless was not forgotten by Thunder center Enes Kanter, who took some time to rub in the victory.

“Sorry my man,” he tweeted at Bayless hours after the game. Kanter probably got a good chuckle out of it, because he also included two laugh-cry emojis.

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Sexy science?

Well, this gives new meaning to the Hozier song “Take Me to Church.”

A study performed by University of Oklahoma assistant professor Samuel L. Perry, Ph.D., and published in The Journal of Sex Research found a correlation between high levels of pornography use and increased prayer and church attendance.

But while clickbait purveyors paint it as porn use making people more religious, Perry said it’s not that simple or conclusive.

“I know many religious people who use pornography that are frustrated and discouraged by it,” he said. “So I started to wonder if I could get longitudinal data about change over time.”

Perry’s study interviewed people in two “waves” six years apart. And while those who rarely or never used pornography were the most religious, findings did show those who viewed porn several times a week in the first wave tended to be more religious by the second wave than those who looked at pornography a moderate amount.

Why? It’s all conjecture at this point, but Perry believes the findings hinge on cognitive dissonance.

Perhaps, in the six years between the first and second interview, people who had

been looking at porn frequently were seeking repentance. Or perhaps high pornography use and high prayer and church attendance reflect a personality trait with which all behaviors are compatible.

Perry said he leans toward a pair of conclusions: Either high-level pornography users who were more religious had separated the two acts mentally, ending the dissonance, or feelings of guilt were driving them to religion to compensate for their pornography habits.

Whatever the reason, Perry said there’s still lots more work to do. The study needs to be replicated and more data should be gathered, including one-on-one interviews that could glean insight into the specific reasons for the correlation.

Sorry, clickbait masters. It looks like you’ll have to find another scientific study to skew wildly.

Timeless ads

Bart Brewer’s seduction techniques have gone viral.

Chief operations officer of Brewer Flooring Group/The Floor Trader, Brewer

has long been a fixture of local media, appearing in commercials and on billboards for the carpeting and tile business. But his most recent ad puts the Edmond native on a bigger stage.

“The Timeless Art of Savings,” reads the newest billboards, which feature Brewer in a George Costanza-like pose, stretched out on a pile of carpet samples.

Drivers rolling down Broadway Extension enjoy this Seinfeld callback so much that a few of them posted pictures of it online. And it has caught on.

Mashable, Ad Week, The A.V. Club and Reddit each featured the advertisement with varying degrees of glee.

Local ad agency Insight Creative Group created the concept, which it documented on its website with a post that begins, “He freaking said yes!!!”

The campaign, from concept to execution, can be seen at icgadv.com. Meanwhile, we’ll be on Hulu, watching Seinfeld season 8, episode 5, “The Package” and enjoying more erotic poses from Mr. Costanza.

Letter generator

If Chicken-Fried News was a betting man, we would place $100 on Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt responding to the feds hours after his office received school transgender bathroom guidelines.

Throwing down $50, we would bet he used the terms “vigorously defend” and

“egregious administrative overreach.”

Had we placed those wagers, we would be $150 richer and buying a round of fried chicken for the Chicken-Fried News team.

We also bet Pruitt must be known for his letters in Washington. Seriously, as chief legal and law enforcement officer for Oklahoma, the guy is a correspondence champ. His office must go through stationary and stamps like no other state agency.

As the state’s attorney, Pruitt has sent letters to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Supreme Court and President Barack Obama, just to name a few.

On May 13, he typed an exchange to the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice, which issued a guidance letter to schools for ensuring “transgender students enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment,” according to KFOR.com.

Pruitt wrote, “We believe that your actions today are unlawful and that they represent the most egregious administrative overreach to date. You have taken a public policy issue that must, by our constitutional design, be worked out in the laboratory of democracy and enforce it on all people.”

Let this be a lesson: If you make Pruitt mad, expect a letter.

Rotten eggs

Two more Oklahoma County Jail employees have been arrested in an ongoing investigation.

In August, detention officer Alexander Plant was arrested on complaints of bringing methamphetamine into the jail.

Contract nurse Kylie Greer, who worked for Armor Health Care, is accused of smuggling contraband and having a romantic relationship with inmate Prince Ordu.

OKCFOX.com reported “an analysis of the phone shows that Greer and the inmate regularly communicated to arrange face-toface encounters in private locations as well as discussed bringing items into the jail and financial transactions.”

Greer was found in a locked room with Ordu and then submitted to an investigation into the incident.

Detention officer Chelsye Renee Bacon also is accused of bringing “eggs” — packages of smuggled items including cell phones and drugs — in to prisoners, FOX 25 reported.

Bacon allegedly smuggled items from inmates’ families for money, and

police found marijuana in her home.

“Anytime we come across one of our own involved in something like this, it tarnishes the badge,” Sheriff John Whetsel said at a May 11 news conference.

Greer and Bacon face charges for possession of contraband in a penal institution, and Bacon also was charged with conspiracy to commit a felony and possession of a controlled substance in the presence of a minor.

Sick-and-tired days

The imbroglio involving Oklahoma City Public Schools and its former superintendent Rob Neu deepens.

Ed Allen, Oklahoma City chapter president of American Federation of Teachers, recently submitted a freedom of information request with the district regarding Neu’s absenteeism since he was hired in 2014.

During that time, KFOR.com reported, Neu was absent 125.5 days.

“We essentially had a part-time superintendent,” Allen told News9.com. “Leaders lead in front. They don’t lead from behind, and he was definitely behind.”

Records show Neu’s annual salary was $240,000.

District officials approved a separation agreement with Neu in late April. He is on administrative leave through July and will not return to the district, KOCO.com reported.

BRENT GREENWOOD

MIKE LARSEN

DUSTIN MATER

S AT U R DAY, M AY 2 8 N A T I V E

A M E R I C A N

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Browse art tents featuring native artists from across the country. Food trucks, live music and fun for the whole family. 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

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letters

NEWS of accountability and stewardship to animals and our environment. Corporate agriculture would be a protected class.

Cynthia L. Archiniaco Oklahoma City

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.

Troubling turnpikes

Vote no

Agriculture today is probably one of the most misinterpreted industries in America, and given the debate on State Question 777, even more so in Oklahoma.

The amendment language, up for a public vote on November’s ballot, characterizes agriculture as the stabilizing force of Oklahoma’s economy.

In fact, it represents about 1.1 percent of the state’s GDP and only reaches that level when combined with forestry, fishing, hunting and other services. Approximately 90 percent of that 1.1 percent is produced by 1.6 percent of the farms. The state records a total of 80,000 farms.

The state already has a right to farm law on the books, one of the first states to do so.

That law was amended in 1992 specifically to allow industrial farming operations. Over the past decade, the number of agriculture jobs in Oklahoma has shrunk by nearly 70

percent. That is more than double the loss of agriculture jobs during the Dust Bowl decade. Foreign corporations now own more than 325,000 acres of Oklahoma agricultural land.

SQ 777 proponents claim the amendment is needed to protect Oklahoma farmers and ranchers from radical animal rights and environmental groups. History tells us the threat is of a different nature.

Currently, the state constitution does not single out a specific industry, profession, vocation or trade and forbid the Legislature from passing laws that restrict what that industry does and the way they do it. SQ 777 would be the only amendment that removes the Legislature’s right to act.

As an example of how bad this question

is, the Legislature is already attempting to patch it with proposed legislation to declare water a “compelling state interest.”

Additionally, SQ 777 itself would bar any law passed after Dec. 31, 2014. Although the state Legislature might have a legitimate interest in public safety, public health or water, a law that advances a state interest interferes with constitutional rights will, therefore, be rejected as unconstitutional.

This amendment would give the highest level of personal freedom and the right “to employ agricultural technology and livestock production and ranching practices” to global corporations like Tyson and Seaboard.

This measure leads to an abuse of American rights and a corresponding lack

It seems like every other week, there is news of another turnpike being proposed for Oklahoma. It’s kind of crazy when you think about it; Oklahoma already ranks second highest in the nation for number of and miles of turnpikes.

When I discovered the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) had decided what was best for us over in eastern Oklahoma County without consulting us first, I started paying attention. I live in Newalla, and we are under threat of a 21-mile turnpike loop through our community. It is becoming obvious that OTA is desperate; it is about to tank and go under if it doesn’t start another land and home grab from hardworking Oklahomans.

So OTA is doing a shotgun blast with proposed turnpikes in hopes that one sticks.

The folks in eastern Oklahoma County and others affected are telling OTA to take a hike.

No more turnpikes, OTA. You have been dishonest in your dealings with Oklahomans for decades.

You said toll roads would become free roads when paid for, but Oklahomans will always pay.

Paul Crouch Newalla

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EAT & DRINK

review

Beef carpaccio | Photo Garett Fisbeck

Expect-o greatness

In the heart of the Arts District, Patrono is OKC’s patron saint of great Italian cuisine. By Greg Elwell

I had high hopes for the orecchiette calabrese ($17), but perhaps I expected too much. The ear-shaped pasta was cooked right, and the sauce of garlic, white wine and spicy pepper provided a nice balance.

The chicken thighs were a little chewier than I usually prefer and lacked flavor.

This is one of those cases where I’m not sure if it was an off night or the dish merely suffered from its comparison to the others on the table. Your mileage might vary, though, as I’ve seen countless others praise the dish up and down.

For me, the dish of the night (and any other night I dine at Patrono) was the pork porterhouse over polenta and haricots verts ($22).

I am a sucker for a nicely cooked piece of swine. The pork was fatty without being chewy, retaining the delicate flavor of the meat in each juicy bite.

The pork’s richness was Patrono Italian Restaurant set off against creamy fontina polenta and big 305 N. Walker Ave. | 405-702-7660 chunks of decadent pancpatronookc.com etta. The tender-crisp What works: Beef carpaccio and pork green beans gave each bite porterhouse stole the show. added texture, and a savory mushroom ragù What needs work: Orecchiette calabrese and tiramisu needs tweaking. tied it all together.

Fact: Spaghetti and Tip: Looking for Italian wine? This is your spot. meatballs make a dynamite combination, and anyone who tells you difhas slowly built a reputation since opening ferent is lying to you to get their hands on last year as the metro’s go-to spot for real, your pasta. Patrono’s spaghetti polpettine delicious Italian fare. ($17) is a deceptively simple dish, pairing Well, not with everybody, as my friend al dente noodles with miniature meatballs illustrated when he asked, “Are we going in a spicy sauce of basil, tomato and garlic. to get some frozen margaritas or what?”

But the treat is on top: a giant scoop of Apparently, Patrono’s name (which means whole milk ricotta diners stir into the dish, “patron saint” in Italian) is just close adding a creamy richness to every bite.

The meatballs were quite tender, and enough to the name of a well-loved brand of tequila to confuse people a little. Allow the sauce had a kick of spice that balanced me to clarify. perfectly against the ricotta.

Patrono’s menu is inspired by owner Finally, I ended the meal with tiramisu and executive chef Robert DeCoste and ($8). Much like the orecchiette, I think the his wife’s travels through Italy. It’s not tiramisu’s biggest problem was that it American Italian; it’s Italian Italian. didn’t live up to the other dishes of the The first dish to arrive at our table was night. The cream was fresh and not overly beef carpaccio ($9), and it was a struggle sweet, but the ladyfingers seemed too wet to share this appetizer with anyone. It’s and lacked the espresso flavor I hoped for. made with thinly sliced raw beef, lightly Next time, I’ll try the lemon cake ($7). sauced and seasoned with fresh black And there will absolutely be a next pepper. Cut against the grain, the beef is time. With the friendly service, simple ready to dissolve in your mouth with and elegant dining room and overall wonbarely a chew. The color is bright red and derful food, it was a joy to dine there. the flavor vital and rich. I wish roast beef When you go, I think you’ll agree. was prepared this way, because I could easily eat an entire sandwich filled with this.

My empathy levels for pasta goes off the charts.

Almost as much as bread, pasta has taken a real beating in the public consciousness over the past few years. People talk about “cutting out” pasta from diets like it’s a middleman or distant cousin in a will.

“It’s not worth it,” they say. “If I eat pasta, I’ll never lose that last 5 pounds.”

It’s true. If you want to lose your last 5 pounds of happiness and get one of those lean, muscled, miserable bodies, you definitely should get rid of pasta. Feel free to get rid of it in my direction, while you’re at it, because there’s no way I’m quitting it, especially after visiting Patrono Italian Restaurant, 305 N. Walker Ave. A gorgeous little bistro in the Arts District located across the way from Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Patrono

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Spaghetti polpettine | Photo Garett Fisbeck

Pork porterhouse over fontina polenta with haricots verts. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

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f e at u r e

EAT & DRINK

Fowl fare

Korean-style hot wings in a homemade gochujang sauce will be served at Chick N Beer, opening this summer. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

Chef Paul Langer’s Korean-style hot wing restaurant, Chick N Beer, eyes a summer opening. By Greg Elwell

The first thing you notice is the skin. The fryer transforms the skin on each chicken wing into a tiny work of art as a network of bubbles and air pockets stretch taut around the lush, fatty meat.

These are Korean-style hot wings, and the minds behind the new Uptown 23rd Street concept Chick N Beer think Oklahoma City is going to love them.

(They’re not wrong.)

Guernsey Park executive chef Paul Langer said he was inspired by the number of Korean-style fried chicken restaurants in metro areas like Dallas and Washington, D.C. It made him wonder, “Why not in Oklahoma City?”

The technique fascinates him, and the use of a lighter batter showcases the chicken’s skin — the most flavorful part of the bird — rather than hiding it. The frying oil creates a skin that puffs up before becoming crispy, almost like a very thin pork rind.

Though the cooking style of the chicken wings is Korean, Langer said, the flavors will come from all across Asia.

The primary sauce will use gochujang, a blend of fermented red chilies and soy-

beans that imparts a bright, slightly sweet and salty heat to the wings.

“Other sauces we’re doing range all over,” Langer said. “Salt-and-pepper dry spice. We’re doing a golden teriyaki and a Vietnamese-style curry.”

All the sauces will be made in-house, so they’ll be flavors customers won’t find anywhere else.

On the side, diners will find lots of fresh pickles and kimchi.

“The kimchi, we’re trying to keep it more subtle,” he said. “Kimchi, you can control the funk of it. We’re going to let ours ferment for seven days. It’ll have a hint of something, but it won’t be crazy, and it will have a crisp texture.”

That sour tang is an important counterbalance to the decadence of the main course, and it’s already pretty common in American fried chicken. Even Eischen’s Bar in Okarche likes to put out a spread of hot sauce, pickles and onions to go with its bird baskets.

“Quite a few Asian cuisines have that sense of balance, the yin and the yang,” Langer said. “Eating something rich and fatty goes with something pickled, sour,

Chef Paul Langer is the mind behind the menu of upcoming Korean-style chicken wing concept Chick N Beer. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

Eating something rich and fatty goes with something pickled, sour, bitter — finding a balance between all the flavors.

Paul Langer bitter — finding a balance between all the flavors.”

His pickles will include a lot of daikon radishes, pickled cabbage (which is different from kimchi, which is fermented) and spicy cucumbers.

But the pickles and kimchi are also great palate cleansers, he said, and they go great with beer.

Drinking is a big part of Korean culture, which can be fairly repressed. As much of South Korea retains the ideals of Confucianism, it’s a society in which the social hierarchy still rules and there are a lot of taboos about disrespecting your “betters.”

Etiquette remains important at night, when the alcohol comes out, but the culture of respect encourages lots of pouring drinks, which tends to lead to a lot of drinking.

Langer said the pairing of Korean-style hot wings and beer is a natural one from a flavor perspective, but it’s also an homage to Korean culture. Taking over the old Bubba’s Bub-Ba-Q building, 715 NW 23rd St., Chick N Beer’s close proximity to neighborhoods could make the restaurant a haven for locals who want to have drinks with dinner without worrying about driving home.

“This area is a great mix of residential and commercial,” he said. “How many of us have been at home, but we don’t want to cook, don’t want to drive to Wingstop.

With Mesta Park, Edgemere and Jefferson,

I think it’ll work out really well.”

With a prominent spot on 23rd Street and a large area for a patio, Langer believes it promises to be a great place to hang out and people-watch. Cook times for wings are five minutes, so it can be a quick place to stop for lunch as well.

When it opens, the bar will focus on local beers, but Langer said he’d like to host some beer preview dinners to work on pairings. At some point, he’s interested in having a beer brewed just for the restaurant.

The menu for the restaurant is about half done, but Langer’s already perfecting his fried chicken recipe, and that’s really the main draw.

“We’re not going to do a bunch of ‘Who can eat the spiciest wings?’ contests or any of that stuff,” he said.

While some eateries broaden their menus to be everything to everyone, Chick N Beer has a clear mission.

“We’re doing a singular focus, and we’re doing it really well,” he said. “We don’t need to be a place where you can come for anything you want with 150 menu items. It’ll be good chicken and good beer.”

That is more than good enough.

Chick N Beer is slated to open this summer.

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Family Thais

Lawan Rattana runs her trio of restaurants by treating staff and customers as family.

By Greg Elwell

EARL’S RIB PALACE MESSY FINGERS. SAUCE ON YOUR SHIRT. A SMILE ON YOUR FACE. GREAT BBQ ALWAYS LEAVES A MARK.

The feeling of excitement was palpable when Lawan Rattana saw longtime Sala Thai customers Ralph and Tracy Chappell enter her newest restaurant, Gin Thai Fusion.

Rattana owns three metro-area Thai venues — the venerable Sala Thai at 1614 NW 23rd St., Taste of Thai at 1801 S. Air Depot Blvd. and her Edmond expansion Gin Thai Fusion at 1333 N. Santa Fe Ave., Suite 123.

The Chappells are the kind of patrons most restaurant owners dream of, visiting Sala Thai four or five times a week.

That’s partially a testament to the food, but also the family-like bond Rattana forms with guests.

“If he’s not working, we go to Sala Thai,” Tracy said. “But we’ve been wanting to try Gin Thai.”

While the owner is the same, the concepts are different. Sala Thai has the relaxed, lived-in feel of an establishment that has built decades of loyalty with its fans.

Gin Thai Fusion is Rattana’s love letter to the regions of Thailand.

“We would like to educate our customers about the real Thai food,” she said.

“We have four regions in Thailand. Each region has its own unique tastes.”

Tempting palates

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While her older guests love the mélange of Thai influences at her other eateries, Rattana focused Gin’s menu on showing younger customers the distinct palates of each region.

Gin is the Thai word for “eat,” and she hopes diners will use their eyes as well as their mouths at her new venue. The presentation is stepped up a notch, as in the northern favorite Chicken Cashew Nut, which is served in a hollowed-out pineapple bowl.

The Sunny Pork appetizer pairs a crispy rice flour exterior with tender slices of pork dipped in a sweet tamarind sauce. The flavors will be familiar to Thai food lovers, but the restaurant’s atmo-

Gin Thai Fusion owner Lawan Rattana Photo Garett Fisbeck

sphere and how dishes are displayed are new experiences.

Rattana’s career is a case study in new experiences, though. Decades ago, she started in the business with a New York City Thai eatery called King and I. Over the years, she moved on to Connecticut and Rhode Island before relocating to Oklahoma City.

Bringing Gin Thai Fusion to Edmond is about accommodating Oklahoma City regulars who didn’t want to drive so far to get the food they love.

And love is a common emotion around Rattana. She said she has raised a family of cooks and servers over the years who have become important to her.

“Operating restaurants is the business that runs with love and care,” she said.

“You must have love and enjoyment to operate.”

Customers like the Chappells are happy to support her restaurants, often coming in with friends or large family groups around the holidays.

“We like to take care of our customers, just as a good housewife takes care of the husband and children,” Rattana said. “We want our customers to have the feeling of eating at home.”

Tues-Thurs 5PM-10PM | Fri & Sat 5PM-11PM Sun 5PM-9PM

Now taking reservations on Open Table 1 block from Civic Center & OKC Museum of Art

Gift Cards Available

305 N. Walker

patroNookc.com

405.702.7660 Gin Thai Fusion’s shrimp pineapple curry raises the bar on presentation. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

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b r i e f s By Greg Elwell

toward patient care.

General admission tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door. There are a limited number of PreFest tickets available for $55, which give guests access to the event an hour early with tastings of a few beers.

It coincides with the return of H&8th Night Market and the Pro-Am Classic, giving revelers a front-row view of the festivities. Tickets are available at givetosaints.com or by calling St. Anthony Foundation at 405-272-7070.

•Pizza party Photo National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum / provided

•Wagons ho!

Photo Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar / provided

•Whiskey tasting

If the wide world of whiskey seems too daunting to enter, Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar, 1845 Northwest Expressway, is looking to inculcate you with the whiskey lifestyle at monthly tasting classes.

Each class is about exploring and expanding attendees’ whiskey IQ with interactive tasting events of premium whiskeys and lectures from special guests and experts. The monthly classes start at 4 p.m. and cost $20. Participants must be 21 years old or older.

May’s class is already over, but information about upcoming classes is posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page, facebook.com/whiskeycakeokc. Reserve a space in the class at 405-582-2253.

Eating face

Ever see a face so cute you could just eat it up? Then the edible portraits class at Myriad Botanical Gardens might be something you can sink your teeth into.

The “entertaining, informative and edible class” is 10 a.m.-noon June 4 in the Terrace Room at the gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave. The class is for children 6 to 10 years old who will make portraits out of fruits

and vegetables before gobbling them down.

Participants will read books and learn about the reasons fruits and vegetables are so healthy before playing with food and snacking on their creations.

Tickets are $8 for members and $10 for nonmembers. Guests must register by Tuesday. Visit myriadgardens.org.

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum celebrates 51 years in the saddle this year, and for more than half of those, it has hosted the annual Chuck Wagon Festival.

The celebration of pioneer living returns Saturday-Sunday with chuck wagon food samples, live music and plenty of indoor and outdoor activities for adults and kids.

Visitors can learn about blacksmithing, leatherworking, roping and riding and the ways of the settlers 10 a.m.-4 p.m. both days. Those looking to get a workout can even make butter.

Tickets are free for museum members or $15 for nonmembers ages 13 and up.

Children 12 and younger get in free.

Hideaway Pizza, which is about as hidden away in Oklahoma City as Ted’s Cafe Escondido, made Food Network’s list as the best pizza in Oklahoma.

Repeating its 2011 performance in the 50 States 50 Pizzas list, Hideaway won the mention with Big Country, a loaded pie with Polish sausage, Canadian bacon, hamburger pepperoni, red sauce and a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. It’s named after Gans, Oklahoma’s favorite son, NBA player Bryant Reeves.

While the kudos are nice, Hideaway is too busy achieving other goals to gloat too much. The Stillwater-born pizzeria opened its 17th store recently at 835 SW 19th St. in Moore. The new location boasts room for 186 guests, a full bar and a collage of artwork showcasing the history of the city.

To see which other pizza places were best in their states, visit foodnetwork.com.

Blessed beer

Saint Anthony is the patron saint of a lot of stuff: horses, the elderly, fishermen, lost things — you name it. And next week, he will take over as the patron saint of beers during the Saintoberfest Beer Tasting at St. Anthony Hospital’s Midtown campus, 1000 N. Lee Ave. This 21-and-older event runs 6:30-9 p.m.

June 3 with more than 50 beers to taste, as well as snacks, live music, a raffle and outdoor games. Hosted by St. Anthony Foundation and Byron’s Liquor Warehouse, Saintoberfest is a fundraiser for St. Anthony Hospital, and all proceeds go

Photo Gazette / File

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g a z e di b l e s

eat & DRINK

Burger time

Saturday is National Burger Day, which invites the obvious question “What is wrong with the nation?”

We’re a state that celebrates Burger Day every day. From sliders to onion burgers and monstrous patties of grilled beef, here are some of the metro’s best burgers.

By Greg Elwell Photos Garett Fisbeck and Gazette file

15th Street Grill

1204 E. Lockheed Drive 15thstreetgrill.com | 405-736-6575 For 20 years, 15th Street Grill has cooked up some of the state’s finest onion burgers.

And while it’s hard to surpass the simplicity of perfectly grilled onions smashed together with tender hamburger, the menu sure tries. Like the bacon, jalapeño and cream cheese burger. Wrap your head around that concept, and then wrap your mouth around this creamy, spicy, crunchy mess of flavor.

1907 Burgers & Brews

Ice House OKC

After checking the menu, I am sad to report that 1907 Burgers & Brews doesn’t really offer 1,907 kinds of burgers and beers. But what this Okie-centric restaurant lacks in quantity, it certainly makes up for in quality. And if, for some unfathomable reason, you’re not in the mood for one of its gourmet hamburgers, 1907 does offer a big selection of everything from truffle fries to pigs in a blanket for you to enjoy.

Standing in line at Nic’s Grill to get a burger is part of nearly everyone’s Oklahoma City story, but for those in the know, it’s a heck of a lot easier to pop by Ice House at Myriad Botanical Gardens for a slightly smaller but much more convenient version of that beloved fare. Made with Nic’s proprietary meat blend, it’s a wonderful lunch you can enjoy while your kids dash through the water feature. Best of all — Ice House OKC accepts credit cards.

1035 SW 19th St., Moore facebook.com/1907burgersbrews 405-912-1907

125 Ron Norick Blvd. icehouseokc.com | 405-232-6427

LIKE US ON 22

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Johnnie’s Charcoal Broiler

33 E. 33rd St., Edmond johnniesburgers.com | 405-348-3214 Is that a Caesar salad on top of a beef patty?

Oh, you know it. There is nothing quite like the taste of a Johnnie’s Charcoal Broiler burger fresh off the grill. Made in the kitchen with real charcoal (and several safety measures in place), it has a backyard barbecue taste that keeps patrons coming back for more. When topped with a creamy, zesty Caesar salad, Johnnie’s Caesar Burger is pure heaven.

Right-a-Way

2917 E. Waterloo Road, Edmond right-a-wayburger.com | 405-359-1020 Take one look at Right-a-Way’s menu and you’ll be spellbound. Sure, there’s always the classic cheeseburger or the bacon and blue cheese variation, but are you ready for The Heater’s ghost pepper cheese, jalapeños and grilled onions? How about the Island Burger’s combo of grilled pineapple, fried onions and honey bacon? But there’s no way to go wrong with The Right-A-Way burger’s blend of cheddar, bacon, fried onions and coleslaw. Go there right-a-now.

Ron’s Hamburgers & Chili

Service Station Bar & Grill

351 N. Air Depot Blvd. | 405-733-3729

502 S. Webster Ave., Norman 405-364-2139

Sometimes, it’s fun to imagine the thoughts that ran through Ron’s head as he put The Ron’s Special on his Ron’s Hamburgers & Chili menu. First, he probably thought it was great to have such a unique item — ham, bacon, ranch and cheese on a burger — and likely felt pride at it being named for him. But then Ron’s Special could also mean “Ron is Special.”

And you are, Ron. You and this burger have a special place in our hearts.

Running rough? Pop the hood at Norman’s Service Station Bar & Grill and let kitchen technicians get you purring with loaded cheese fries, fried clam strips and, of course, a top-of-the-line cheeseburger like the Studebaker. A juicy burger topped with sliced avocado and bacon just might be the fuel you need to put the rest of your day on cruise control. Or stick around, have a beer and put it in neutral for a relaxing evening.

ALL DAY, EVERY DAY OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

Pad Chaa

Clay Pot Tofu

Join us for daily lunch & dinner menu specials

lunch special-$6.50

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UCO student discount

Taste of Thai

3 entrees with soup OCU student discount

Thai combo lunch special Military discount 1801 S. Air Depot MWC • 405-732-1519

EGGINGTONS-HUB.COM 737 W. Danforth Road, Edmond | 405.285.1580 O kg a z e t t e . c o m | m ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 6

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ARTS & CULTURE

Tenacious city

A professional cycling race morphs into a mammoth three-day, family-friendly festival spanning central Oklahoma City. By Brett Dickerson

Two big, popular events, H&8th Night Market street festival and Oklahoma City Pro-Am Classic weekend cycling races, combined this year to create Oklahoma TenaCity, a multiday, family-friendly event spanning central Oklahoma City.

June 3-5, TenaCity features Oklahoma City Pro-Am Classic professional cycling contests, three recreational Gran Fondo sightseeing bike courses, one of the nation’s largest food truck festivals and youth-centric fitness and health activities.

“Oklahoma City is well on its way to becoming a destination city of healthy, active lifestyles and action sports,” OKC Mayor Mick Cornett said.

TenaCity also highlights three historic arts, business and culture districts with races and events in Automobile Alley, Film Row and Midtown.

The first evening, Pro-Am race routes take cyclists down Hudson Avenue, giving revelers at H&8th Night Market, which runs 6-11 p.m. at Hudson Avenue and Eighth Street, prime views of the timed races.

Pro-Am Classic

An expected 1,200 Oklahoma City Pro-Am Classic riders will compete for medals and $45,000 in cash prizes in the event’s fifth year. Depending on the race, winners can pocket anywhere from $500 to $12,000, organizers said. Last year, 989 competitors vied for $20,000 in cash prizes.

In 2012, around 300 participated. What began as a one-day amateur race has since grown into an official USA Cycling Pro Road Tour event, and its June 3 competitions will draw professional riders from across the globe.

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Cornett said he anticipates TenaCity will be “an amazing weekend to be in Oklahoma City.”

TenaCity was added to USA Cycling’s pro tour schedule in 2016.

USA Cycling is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Cycling Union (UCI). It is responsible for preparing cyclists to represent the United States in international competitions such as the Olympics.

Cornett also cited the OKC Pro-Am Classic and TenaCity festival expansion and the recent opening of Riversport Rapids and the Olympic whitewater kayaking trials at that venue as further evidence of OKC’s “destination city” status.

The USA Cycling Pro Road Tour runs April through September and features more than 25 events in which cyclists build points race by race throughout the season as they compete for championship and other awards.

“Not only are we attracting local and regional teams, but we will attract the best riders in the nation,” said Chad Hodges, OKC Pro-Am Classic founder and race director.

“They want to be here.”

June 4 races and recreational rides move to Film Row, starting at 726 W. Sheridan Ave., and June 5 races launch from Automobile Alley at 900 N. Broadway Ave. Competitive Pro-Am races are divided into five categories set according to USA Cycling guidelines according to the rider’s level of experience and skill.

Cat 5 comprises those relatively new to professional cycling. Cyclists work their way to Cat 1 races as their proficiency and

experience builds.

Oklahoma City-based DNA Racing hosts the OKC Pro-Am Classic. Hodges also is DNA Racing’s team manager. Last year, DNA created Team Arapahoe Resources, which Hodges credits as “the first domestic elite cycling team in Oklahoma history.” He manages that team, too.

Event organizers are still seeking volunteer course marshals to help control spectators and riders along the routes.

Hodges said that volunteers are needed.

Learn more about volunteer opportunities at oktenacity.com.

H&8th Night Market

Popular H&8th Night Market, originally founded as a monthly street festival featuring food trucks, music, live entertainment and art, transformed into an annual event in 2016 and returns June 3.

Last year, an estimated 40,000 people gathered at H&8th Night Market to watch Pro-Am cyclists compete, Hodges said. In previous years, spectator numbers for the entire three-day event wavered between 10,000 and 12,000.

“I had many of the pro guys come up to me afterward and say that they’d never raced in anything like this,” Hodges said of the H&8th-tied race route. “They were impressed with the size of the crowds and said that they would be back.”

Due to the skill level of professional competitors, the Pro-Am features some of the fastest cycling OKC residents can witness, Hodges said.

“For any of our Pro-Am courses, the pro racers will probably average between 28 and 32 miles per hour,” Hodges said.

Cyclists compete in last year’s Oklahoma City Pro-Am Classic. TenaCity runs June 3-5 in Oklahoma City. | Photo provided

Laura Massenat, husband Laurent and Brian Bergman helped co-found H&8th several years ago.

Bergman said each of them supported what Hodges was doing with DNA Racing and were eager to collaborate.

“We like DNA. We like Arapaho Resources. We like Oklahoma City Pro-Am. We like the things that they are about,” Bergman said. “Let’s find a reason to do this; let’s make it happen.”

Gran Fondo

Loosely translated from Italian, Gran Fondo means “big ride.” Launching the morning of June 4 from Film Row, riders of all ages and capabilities can chose between recreational, self-paced 12-, 30- and 58-mile courses that take participants through several of Oklahoma City’s most popular districts and neighborhoods.

“I’m most excited about the 12-mile district tour because it will take you through the Plaza, Paseo and Uptown 23rd districts,” Hodges said. “The Gran Fondo ride will bring more people into cycling. …

It’s a cool opportunity for people to see what else is out there.”

Organizers encourage families and people of all ages to ride and enjoy whatever tour they find the most attractive.

Gran Fondo rides launch from 726 W. Sheridan Ave. and include mid-ride rest stops and post-ride food and refreshments to participants. After the ride, they can stay and watch the June 5 OKC Pro-Am Classic races, which also launch from Film Row.

Without Walls

This year, the three-day cycling event also features YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City’s Y Without Walls program 11 a.m.-4 p.m. June 5 at the intersection of NW 10th Street and N. Broadway Avenue in Automobile Alley.

YMCA staff host family-friendly health-related activities near the finish line of that day’s Pro-Am races.

“We are excited to be a part of TenaCity,” said Angela Jones, YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City director of health and wellness initiatives.

As a part of the nonprofit organization’s OK 5210 initiative, Y Without Walls provides families with information and experiences that encourage better health, Jones said. June 5 activities feature a bicycle rider safety course, drawings to win one of 30 new or refurbished bicycles, cycling demonstrations, instructor-led lessons, Spokies bike-sharing education and a pop-up farmers market.

Learn more about TenaCity at oktenacity.com.

Oklahoma TenaCity June 3-5 Central Oklahoma City oktenacity.com

Photo provided

Photo provided

Photo provided

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ARTS & CULTURE c u lt u r e

Influential tradition

Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival events feature dance shows, color guard presentations, youth activities and more. | Photo provided

The long-running Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival returns June 10-12 at Cox Convention Center. By Wilhelm Murg

Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival 10 a.m.-7 p.m. June 10-12 Cox Convention Center 1 Myriad Gardens redearth.org coxconventioncenter.com 800-745-3000 Free-$11

Red Earth Parade 10 a.m. June 10 Myriad Botanical Gardens 301 W. Reno Ave. redearth.org Free

The 30th Red Earth Festival, Oklahoma City’s annual celebration of Native American culture, is June 10-12 at Cox Convention Center.

The award-winning event brings many of the nation’s leading artists, dancers and craftsmen together and has set the standard for Native art shows. In 2015, it was named one of the top art festivals in the nation by a USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice poll.

Red Earth was created in 1987 to replace the economic hole left when the National Finals Rodeo moved from Oklahoma City to Las Vegas, and it has been highly successful. Last year, the event helped fill more than 1,000 hotel rooms and had a $5.6 million local economic impact, said Eric Oesch, Red Earth, Inc. deputy director and director of communications.

What we do is share cultures.

Eric Oesch Oesch said the festival was designed to showcase what makes Oklahoma unique, which is the state’s concentration of Native American tribes.

“We have a real simple mission to provide an outlet for Native Americans to sell their artwork to the public,” Oesch said. “What we do is share cultures.”

The festival launches with the Red 26

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Earth Parade 10 a.m. June 10 at Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave. It also signals the grand entry of dancers at the festival, located inside Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens. It all takes place as the juried, indoor Red Earth Festival Art Market, which features around 125 artists, opens.

“We have artists that come from all across the country, but we have a lot of Oklahoma artists displaying and selling their art at Red Earth, too,” Oesch said.

“We’ll have jewelry, pottery, painting, beadwork, basketry, photography, cultural items like clothing attire or even banjos.”

Festival highlights

Red Earth dance presentations feature dancers from Tiny Tot to Golden Age categories.

“This year, we are going to do a lot of special shows featuring different styles of Indian dance, including social or friendship dances, where people from the audience are invited to join in,” Oesch said. “I think that’s what it is all about, the sharing of cultures. We have a large non-Indian audience that attends Red Earth as well, so it’s a great sharing experience.”

The Sunrise Breakfast — 8:30 a.m. June 11 at Cox Convention Center — kicks off the second day, which features guest speakers sharing information on jewelry.

“For anyone interested in silver, turquoise, coral and beadwork, we’ll have experts,” Oesch said.

Then the art market opens at 10 a.m.

For guests who want to learn more about Native American pieces in their own collections, in the tradition of Antiques Roadshow, Red Earth offers an Ask the Expert session 10 a.m.-1 p.m. June 12 at the convention center.

“We have people calling us at the Red Earth Art Center who just inherited, or just found in a garage sale, or just found in an attic an item and they don’t know if it is real or not,” Oesch said. “We are going to have experts on Sunday in jewelry, painting, beadwork, basketry and sculpture.”

Red Earth guests can bring up to three items each for expert evaluation of their authenticity. However, Oesch said experts will be unable to appraise pieces for estimated dollar value. The evaluations are free with paid festival admission.

“They can have their piece evaluated and see if it is authentic or if it came from a travel stop on I-40,” Oesch said, “if it was made in Japan or if it was made on the Navajo reservation — it’s a big difference.”

Also at the festival, Native Exchange

The free Red Earth Parade launches the annual festival 10 a.m. June 10 at Myriad Botanical Gardens. | Photo provided

sections feature booths for Native American organizations to share information on a variety of issues.

“They can talk about their museums or their tourism product, health care, education, and the tribes share information too,” Oesch said.

Red Earth also brings in eagles from a sanctuary that takes in the injured birds.

Many cannot be rereleased into the wild.

“They have an educational experience,” Oesch said. “They are going to bring their

eagles and give presentations on their significance in Native culture, and you can see a live eagle with a 12-foot wingspan.”

Oesch said the organization was thrilled to earn a top-10 spot in USA Today.

“We were up against competition in large cities: Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and New Orleans,” he said. “That was a big coup for us.”

To learn more about Red Earth and the festival, visit redearth.org.

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ARTS & CULTURE

Summer glow

A Moroccan-themed RED Rooftop cocktail and dance party helps raise funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS outreach. By Mark Beutler

When RED Rooftop event organizers considered ideas for a fundraiser to benefit AIDS Walk Oklahoma City, what first came to mind was a casual outdoor event in early summer. The concept was a popular one, and this year marks the fourth annual rooftop event.

On June 2, the outdoor space on the roof of Cardinal Engineering, 1015 N. Broadway Ave., will be transformed into a Moroccan-themed cocktail and dance party. The event runs 7-10 p.m.

Each year’s party attracts a diverse crowd, said Lisa Pitsiri, AIDS Walk OKC board member. This year, a live DJ keeps things moving, raffle prizes will be awarded and guests can quench their summer thirst at a discounted full-service bar. The Moroccan theme influences decor, food, entertainment and music.

“We like to think of this event as an affordable alternative to some of the larger fundraisers,” Pitsiri said. “We are always looking for fun ways to raise awareness as well as funds.”

Changing perceptions

Cardinal Engineering’s rooftop transforms into a Moroccan-themed cocktail and dance party to benefit AIDS Walk Oklahoma City. | Photo bigstock.com

sexual Hispanic/Latino and black men in that age group swelled 87 percent.

“They do not remember the horror of the early ’80s when people died. They think all they have to do is take a pill and they will be fine,” she said. “That age group doesn’t seem to understand the side effects of the pills or that some cost upward of $3,000 a month.”

With today’s medical advances, HIV and AIDS diagnoses are not always the stark death sentences they were during the height of the health crisis in the 1980s.

Although HIV and AIDS occupy far fewer headlines, organizers say those living with the virus and immunodeficiency disease still require lifelong treatment.

Community outreach “Our mission at AIDS Walk of All funds the group raises at RED Rooftop Oklahoma City is to build awareness and other events throughout the year stay about HIV and AIDS,” in Oklahoma, Pitsiri said Verna Meadows, said. They are awarded in the form of grants to AIDS Walk board president. “And we raise local nonprofits that RED Rooftop funds to support the serve those living with work of nonprofit orgaHIV and AIDS. 7-10 p.m. June 2 nizations that provide “We will distribute Cardinal Engineering Inc. HIV and AIDS direct our grant checks late in 1015 N. Broadway Ave. care, support services the year on December 1, aidswalkokc.org and education.” which is World AIDS 405-673-3786 Meadow s sa id Day,” Pitsiri said. $25-$50 because patients are RED Rooftop guests are encouraged to wear living longer, they face many of the same issues red, and Pitsiri said as other segments of the population, such attire is “evening summer casual with as cancer, heart disease and age-related flair.” cognitive impairment, which add to treatAIDS Walk Oklahoma City hosts an ment challenges. information booth during OKC Pride In recent years, infection rates also week events in June, and its annual walk have grown in younger generations, and run is Sept. 25. The organization also Meadows said. participates in Pay it Forward fundraisIn 2014, more than one in five new ing days with two local S&B’s Burger Joint HIV diagnoses were in people age 13-24, locations. according to the Centers for Disease Learn more at facebook.com/aidControl and Prevention (CDC). Eighty swalkokc and aidswalkokc.org. percent of those diagnosed were gay and bisexual men. From 2005 to 2014, CDC data show HIV diagnoses of gay and bi-

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Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s Roof Terrace opens to the public 5 p.m. every Thursday night. | Photo Oklahoma City Museum of Art / provided

Rooftop toast

Art After 5 extends the museum experience into the late evening. By Ben Luschen

This summer and fall, late-evening greats like Jimmy Johnson, Carl Oklahoma City Museum of Art guests can Weathersby and Smokey Wilson. take the term “high art” literally.

June 2 features Dirty Red & The The museum, 415 Couch Drive, has Soulshakers, a blues act with a rock edge opened its Roof Terrace on seasonal and an energetic, from-the-gut live show.

Thursday nights for more than 10 years On June 9, however, the week of deadas part of its Art After 5 event, where CENTER Film Festival (which runs June guests can enjoy the relaxing high-rise 8-12), the terrace will only be open to setting once a week through late October. holders of an all-access festival pass. After Rooftop access is included with $5 the one-week hiatus, music once again museum admission and claims the museum roof features full access to June 16 with easy-listenmuseum galleries, which ing soul duo Born in Art After 5 on are open until 9 p.m.

November. the Roof Terrace Thursday nights. The Art After 5 also is Roof Terrace remains good opportunity for 5-10 p.m. Thursdays open until 10 p.m. with visual art fans to take in through Oct. 27 a full cash bar, live music some of the venue’s Oklahoma City Museum of and a scenic view of touring exhibitions after Art downtown. standard work hours.

415 Couch Drive “Art After 5 is deMatisse in His Time: okcmoa.com signed to bring our comMaster works of 405-236-3100 Modernism from the munity together in the Free with $5 museum heart of the Arts District Centre Pompidou, Paris admission for a fun, art-focused opens to Art After 5 night,” said Becky guests beginning June Weintz, Oklahoma City 23. The exhibit includes Museum of Art director of marketing and 100 works of art — paintings, sculptures communications. “Thursday is the only and sketches — by early 20th-century night that the museum is open late, and French artist Henri Matisse and contemwe love that there has been such a great poraries like Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, response to this event.”

Georges Braque, André Derain, Fernand Léger and Amedeo Modigliani.

Tickets are available at the door. Art After 5 admission is free for museum Those who have lived in Oklahoma long members. enough understand that any outdoor event Part of Art After 5’s appeal is its wide is subject to the whims of the weather. selection of local live music.

Weintz said terrace events could be “We’re excited about the variety this delayed or canceled due to unreasonable year,” she said. “We have jazz, blues, rock, summer heat, high winds or imminent pop, reggae, country. You name it, we probstorms. Guests can sign up for email alerts ably have it in the next few months.” at okcmoa.com for delay or closing Garrett “Big G” Jacobson brings his updates. electric, bluesy funk to the event May 26 For a full calendar of Art After 5 events, and June 23. Jacobson has entertained visit okcmoa.com. crowds since 1998 and has performed with

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ARTS & CULTURE

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v i sual arts

& VENDORS JUNE 5 2016

“Self Portrait with Orchid” by Mitsuno Reedy | Photo provided

Traveling portraiture

Artist Mitsuno Reedy’s works are on display through June 30 at The Depot in Norman.

By Christine Eddington

Mitsuno Reedy’s portraipaintings were nothing like ture is incredible, and her I had ever seen. It was exDances With drive to push herself to grow quisitely realistic but also Brushes as an artist is almost as imvery colorful,” Reedy said. pressive as her list of com“I had always considered 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondaymyself to be a colorist in missions. Even so, it’s a Friday through June 30 pastel, but not in oil so profession she initially The Depot much, so I felt I found a avoided.

200 S. Jones Ave., Norman “A traumatic experience teacher. He passed away two pasnorman.org in my early childhood months after I received my Free diploma last summer, and I caused me to determine to stay away from doing art,” feel so privileged to have had she said. “I wanted to be a the opportunity to study his teacher, like my warm, compassionate and method and philosophy and watch him paint fun female teacher in the sixth grade in in his Andalusia studio.”

Osaka, Japan.”

Reedy said she doesn’t find painting any Luckily, she changed her mind. Reedy specific facial feature or body part espeattended the University of Oklahoma in the cially difficult.

1960s, began creating portraits in the early “Every part is equally challenging in 1970s and took up permanent residence in order to bring harmony to the whole,” she Norman in 1979. said. “In other words, it is the relationship of every line, every plane to the whole that She recently returned home from Philadelphia, where she completed an is the biggest challenge, not so much in terms intense four-year program of study with of each facial features.” renowned painter Nelson Shanks. Shanks’ Reedy’s previous studies have taken her work includes brilliant, recognizable porinto the studios of notable pastel artists traiture of luminaries like Princess Diana, Daniel E. Greene and Albert Handell and Pope John Paul II and Mstislav oil painters David A. Leffel and John Rostropovich.

Howard Sanden. Reedy is a Pastel Society “I wanted to go to Philadelphia and study of America member, a distinction she earned with Nelson Shanks because when I saw his in 1978. In 2001, she became an associate works at the OU Museum of Art in 2006, his member of the Pastel Society of Japan.

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“Baby Steps” by Mitsuno Reedy | Photo provided

The Depot

Nancy McClellan, former director of Norman’s Firehouse Art Center, is a founding member and former director of The Depot, which has been a bastion of fine arts in Norman since 2003.

It’s billed as Norman’s performing arts studio, but it also hosts six visual arts exhibitions each year and is still a train depot. It also produces two concert series — Summer Breeze and Winter Wind — annually, along with jazz and spoken word events.

McClellan has been involved since its earliest days.

Today, McClellan describes herself as “just a volunteer,” which is no small title, especially in the nonprofit arts world. She serves on the gallery committee and is always looking for ways to get arts into the community and the community into arts.

“We meet about once a year and map out the upcoming exhibits and events with the artists,” McClellan said.

Reedy’s Dances with Brushes show runs through June 30, and although the opening reception was in May, a second reception is June 10.

An artist talk and demonstration is 2 p.m.

June 5, and Painting the Portrait workshops are 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. June 8 and 9. The exhibit itself consists of about 30 pieces and is on display 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday and during Norman’s 2nd Friday Art Walks.

“Space will be limited for the workshop, so early registration is a good idea,” McClellan said.

Workshop registration is $200 for both days. “[It’s] open to all artistic levels, from beginning to advanced, and any medium, although Mitsuno will work in oils,” McClennan added.

Norman’s Brad Price displays works in July and August at The Depot, followed by watercolor artist Cletus Smith in September and October. Small works by various artists close out the venue’s season in November and December.

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Richard Ray Whitman received equal parts criticism and praise for his Street Chiefs series. | Photo provided

v i sual arts

ACTIVITIES JUNE 5 2016

Native champion Richard Ray Whitman’s pursuit of art has led him to become an activist in the Native American community and pursue change in the art world.

By Wilhelm Murg

Yuchi and Creek painter, photographer, actor and activist Richard Ray Whitman was raised in a traditional way in the country by his Yuchi-speaking grandmother. He went on to become part the first generation educated at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the late 1960s. The very definition of Native American art was transformed during that period at IAIA, and in the process, so was the Native selfimage.

After studying from artists we now see as “old masters” from the Native side of postmodernism, including Fritz Scholder and Allan Houser (1914-1994), Whitman picked up his camera and joined the protests and takeovers by the American Indian

Movement (AIM) in the 1970s. His camera and film were confiscated when he was arrested at Wounded Knee. They were never returned.

“It became a serious joke that my first collectors were the FBI,” Whitman told Oklahoma Gazette.

While Whitman is a brilliant and critically acclaimed painter who also has worked in videography and computer graphics, creating collages and repurposing his images, his landmark Street Chiefs project, a 1970s and ’80s photo series of Oklahoma City’s homeless Indian men, might be his greatest legacy. Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo (who cast Whitman in the lead role of his 2009 film Barking Water) has acknowledged that the series partial-

It became a serious joke that my first collectors were the FBI. Richard Ray Whitman F E S T I VA L 2 0 1 6

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Put Pad Thai on

For more See more of Richard Ray Whitman’s art at Tribes 131 gallery, located in Merkle Creek

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Find the gallery online at facebook.com/tribes131 or @tribes131 on Twitter.

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ly inspired his 2015 film Mekko about the murders of homeless Native Americans in Tulsa.

Whitman admits that aesthetics in his classic series were secondary. His main goal was intimacy; he wanted to show the dignity and pain in the eyes of his subjects, which ultimately put the spotlight on some of the most marginalized people in our community. While others photographed Skid Row drunks, Whitman’s camera restored these men to humanity and showed them as displaced people — the way of life in which their ancestors thrived had been systematically destroyed over decades.

The art from IAIA was initially criticized by many Natives and non-Natives alike for not being “Indian,” as it did not follow the guidelines set down by white educators who defined commercial Indian art decades earlier.

Whitman was criticized even further for Street Chiefs for showing the negative side of Native American life. But in reality, the series upped the ante for examining social problems through Native art (something the earlier schools of Indian art tended to avoid).

In hindsight, Whitman’s work is an obvious precursor to the more brutally honest portrayals of Native life we would see in the works of artists like writer Sherman Alexie, Harjo and First Nation filmmaker Jeff Barnaby.

Over the last decade, Whitman reinvented himself as an actor and has worked with outspoken Native filmmakers, appearing in Sydney Freeland’s Drunktown’s Finest, Tim Kelly and Charlie Soap’s The Cherokee Word for Water and Steven Paul Judd and Tvli Jacob’s first feature American Indian Graffiti: This Thing Life, among others.

Radical tradition

Whitman was raised in Gypsy, a small township once located west of Tulsa. When he was in school, there were no art classes until high school, so he developed on his own, drawing with chalk on the tarpaper walls inside his grandmother’s house, which was not an unusual practice at the time.

“I remember drawing in the ground, in the dirt,” Whitman said.

Native art was not a high priority during that time. He saw the dynamic work of Jerome Tiger on a field trip to Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art, which fostered the develop of the Bacone school style with its Indian Annual competitive art shows continued on page 39

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continued from page 35

Richard Ray Whitman also photographed families. | Photo provided

“The People Themselves,” an acrylic painting on handmade paper,

by Richard Ray Whitman | Photo provided

from 1947 to 1957. The style was built around the works of Acee Blue Eagle and Woody Crumbo.

“I don’t knock the old Bacone school,” Whitman said, “but there are only so many ways one can draw an Indian on horseback and a buffalo.”

Whitman did not have a strong high school transcript; he was kicked out his senior year, but he saw the Dec. 1, 1967 issue of Life magazine with the headline “Return of the Red Man” on the cover.

“It had a five- or six-page spread on the IAIA. There was an Indian rock band call The Jaggers, who were letting their hair grow long,” Whitman said, “and they showed these examples of experimental, expressionistic art. The story was saying, ‘Here is a new model, a departure from the boarding schools; instead of killing the Indian in you, here is one that allows you to embrace your culture, to create from it and to express from it.’”

Luckily, the school was more interested in student portfolios than grades.

Whitman always had an interest in photography, but he never had access to a camera until he went to IAIA. “We were always the subject matter,” Whitman said, “but never behind the camera. That’s where the artist has control; a more self-determined image can be created when you are behind the lens.”

IAIA attracted Native students from across the county, including many Chippewa students from Minneapolis, where AIM started. Whitman was attending during the Indians of All Tribes takeover of Alcatraz, which started in November 1969 and lasted 19 months and was the first in a series of events that reshaped Native American culture. He said it was an inspiration to students at the school.

“It was the first time we saw our own people, our own presence and our own story on the news,” Whitman said.

Over that Thanksgiving weekend, he rode to San Francisco with a group to show solidarity and spent a night sleeping on Wilma Mankiller’s floor. (Mankiller later became the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation.)

Whitman was recruited to California Institute of the Arts in 1971 and was hanging out with a very active University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Indian Student Association when AIM took over Wounded Knee in 1973.

“It was a media blackout, so I caught a ride and went up there. I thought we were going for a weekend to check it out, and next thing I knew, it was 71 days later,” Whitman said. “When I went to Wounded Knee in 1973, I went as an artist; I carried a camera.”

Unfortunately, no one except members of the FBI has seen the images Whitman captured on the nine rolls of film he took from inside the occupation. He has filed the paperwork to get the negatives back from the government a couple of times

with no success.

Whitman was arrested at the end of the occupation and spent a few days in a Rapid City, South Dakota, jail before all the Native Americans from out of state were put on a chartered bus and driven to Colorado.

He came back to Oklahoma and worked with the Oklahoma Arts and Humanities Council in schools, but the FBI started showing up where he was working and harassing the principal. Once he left his job, he said, the FBI started harassing his mother. He even had trouble keeping a gallery because he was labeled a radical for creating politically charged paintings, so he laid low for a while.

Consciousness underground

When Whitman would travel from Oklahoma to Santa Fe for school, he would have layovers in downtown Oklahoma City.

“I just walked around,” Whitman said.

“Back then, the Oklahoma City bus station was just on the edge of Skid Row, with just some tough area bars. I saw a high number of Native people walking and drinking in the alleys and storefronts; they didn’t have money, so they couldn’t stay in the bars.

They would buy wine in the liquor stores.

That stuck in my mind.”

Each time Whitman came through, he walked around.

“It was a few years later that I began to take snapshots; I became friends with these guys. I ended up being on the streets for a little while myself; I sold blood plasma and drank on the streets. After a while, they were a little more accepting of me, but there was mistrust of someone with a camera because they didn’t know what my intentions were, and rightfully so. I didn’t understand it, which is why I think I was drawn to it. I did not originally set out to do photo documentation.”

Whitman learned the backstories of his subjects. One was a former Golden Gloves boxer, and some were decorated Vietnam veterans.

One man told Whitman about a Daily Oklahoman photographer who bought them all wine before he took their pictures.

“He needed them to be inebriated or nodding out or sitting in the alley,” Whitman explained. “He did a big spread in the Sunday papers. I shot that old man again — he was a descendent from a chief’s line; he was an old Arapaho man.”

Whitman points out that there is a lot of urban renewal in the area now, but in the 1970s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Service were located next to Skid Row, so the Native Americans who worked in those buildings saw their own people out there every day.

“Somehow, you have to blind yourself or you look over and there’s a relative or you feel sorry and you feel helpless and hopeless from a distance,” Whitman said.

“So it took a while for it to be understood.”

Whitman did not immediately exhibit his photographs, but once he realized what continued on page 40

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m ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

NATALIE BRAMLETT

he had, he received criticism and acclaim in equal parts.

“When I put the work out, I had to stand by it and explain it because a lot of Indians felt like I was showing a negative part of the culture. They were already overwhelmed with photos of drunk Indians, poverty and disease, but it was always from the media, from nonIndians,” he said. “I was not just going down there on the weekend to do a shoot.

I’m not an outsider; I felt like I was a part of these people I was documenting.”

Whitman notes that Street Chiefs is not about the recent phenomenon of homelessness but the historical displacement and removal of Native people from their ancestral homes.

He sees the advancements of Native art and media as an evolution of visual literacy for the culture, and visual literacy is how people take control of their own image. When an image is reconceived in a mindset that is more self-determined, that image is redefined.

“That person is not just an alcoholic; we redefine him through this medium of photography, and what do we know of his backstory? More of the story was unfolded,” Whitman said. “I was aware of the imbalance of drunken Indians, always photographed by non-Indians.”

Street Chiefs slowly won over its critics.

While it was a product of the radical and avant-garde world of IAIA, people who might have disliked modern art were disarmed by the brutal honesty and powerful eloquence of the series.

Having worked with film as far back as the 1960s, Whitman said he is proud that so many of the young filmmakers he has worked with became successful.

“Sterlin took an interest in me when he was a film student at [the University of Oklahoma]; it’s been seven years since our film Barking Water,” he said. “To work as an actor and director, you have to have a trust to go somewhere with a character, and I had that trust with Sterlin.”

He laughs when Judd’s name is mentioned.

“I was an easy choice for him. I worked for nothing; I worked for food,” Whitman said.

Judd calls the creation of American Indian Graffiti his film school, where he encountered and had to resolve all the problems involved in making a movie.

Whitman sees it all as part of the evolution of visual literacy, which is an ongoing process.

“As far as us painting our emotions, our sadness, our outrage and our pain, there is a power in that,” he said. “And unpleasant as it may be, that is the real interior of one’s self. That comes through the writing, the music, the paintings, and now we see how, even in film and photography today, they are taking the next step. The next step in visual literacy is here; there are stories we can relate to.”

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Historic travels

Grandma Vera (Lana Henson) comforts her grandson Leo (David Burkhart) after his cross-country bike trip in 4000 Miles. | Photo Carpenter Square Theatre / provided

Carpenter Square Theatre presents a dramatic comedy gleaned from life experiences.

By Jack Fowler

An award-winning play written by one of Vera’s lines were her grandmother’s, wordthe country’s most promising young playfor-word. wrights graces the stage at Carpenter “I never recorded my grandmother, but Square Theatre, 806 W. Main St., through some of these stories I heard so many times, June 4.

I knew them verbatim,” she said.

4000 Miles, a comedy-drama written by She also pulled stories from her own life. acclaimed playwright Amy Herzog, has When she was younger, she took a similar cross-country bike trip, ending with a ride been a critical darling since its Broadway debut four years ago. It was named Time across San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. magazine’s No. 1 play of 2012, was a finalist “My trip was less fraught than Leo’s,” for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Herzog said. “The bike I used on that trip won a 2012 Obie Award for best new play. was actually used as a prop in the Lincoln Herzog also was named Outstanding Center production of 4000 Miles. I think Playwright of the Year in 2012 by The New the bike is still at the theater, which gives York Times. you an idea of how much I use it.”

The story centers on Leo, a rudderless Embellishments aside, critics love young hippy on a coast-to-coast bicycle trip.

Herzog’s writing. She has been praised for He broke up with his girlfriend, is estranged “being willing to take on ideas and history,” from his family and just lost his best friend and her dialogue was described by acclaimed playwright Richard Nelson as to a tragic accident. Exhausted and grieving at the end of his journey, Leo decides to stop “clean, simple, evocative and witty.”

“It’s alive and easily spoken. Very, very in New York City’s West Village and crash with his elderly grandmother Vera, a lifelong actable,” Nelson said. “That’s a given talent.” political activist.

The local crew charged with bringing Despite their obvious differences, the Herzog’s script to life is led by director and odd roommates connect with each other costume designer Rhonda Clark. David over the course of a month, and 4000 Miles Burkhart and Lana Henson star as Leo and becomes a poignant portrait of a crossVera, and the small cast is rounded out by generational relationship.

Stevie Michelle Aycock (Leo’s girlfriend) Like so many writers, Herzog said she and Lanchi Le (a party girl Leo brings home leans heavily on her own one night). family members as inspi4000 Miles is supported in part by ration for her play’s characters. Leo was based on Oklahoma Arts Council, 4000 Miles a cousin who lost a close National Endowment for friend, and Vera was the Arts and Allied Arts.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m.

Reservations are recbased on her grandmothFriday-Saturday, 2 p.m. er Leepee Joseph, a celeommended for the intiSunday, 7:30 p.m. June 2, brated left-wing Big Apple mate 90-seat theater. Call 8 p.m. June 3-4 activist and theatrical 405-232-6500 or email Carpenter Square Theatre assistant known for csttix@coxinet.net for 806 W. Main St. passing out leaflets in tickets. Visit carpencarpentersquare.com Union Square well into tersquare.com.

405-232-6500 her 90s. $5-$20 Herzog said several of PG-13

Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954). L’Algérienne, 1909. Oil on canvas. Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris. MNAM-CCI. Legs du Victomte Guy de Cholet aux Musées nationaux, 1916, 2009. AM 2009-214. © 2016 Succession H. Matisse/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | m ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 6

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ARTS & CULTURE

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m ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

film

Michaelene Stephenson center plays Gabby in Broadcast, debuting June 4 at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center. | Photo Betmar-Heliand Productions / provided

Gender roles

Michaelene Stephenson stars in Broadcast, a female-driven film by Mickey Reece. By Ben Luschen

McCallister. “I wouldn’t have had that The first time Michaelene Stephenson found herself in one of Mickey Reece’s opportunity if it hadn’t been for this film.” projects, she recalls the director telling Broadcast might be more female-drivher he really wanted to make a movie with en than Reece’s other projects, but it still a mostly female cast. taps into a vein similar to Suedehead, as The actress became the lead role in the both protagonists try to find meaning and local filmmaker’s most female-driven fight off isolation in a world they feel has passed them by. production yet.

“I feel like she’s kind Stephenson portrays Gabby Ross in Broadcast, of a misfit character,” Broadcast Stephenson said of Reece’s first release premiere since 2015’s Suedehead, Gabby. “There’s plenty in which she played a of things going on in her 8 p.m. June 4 smaller but important life that can make you Oklahoma Contemporary role as the lead’s bratty judge her or just not like Arts Center sister. her, but I feel like as you 3000 General Pershing Reece has developed watch the movie, you end Blvd. a reputation as one of the up having a lot of oklahomacontemporary.org state’s most prolific empathy for her.”

405-951-0000 moviemakers. He reBroadcast was shot $5-$9 between January and leased three projects in April. Stephenson had 2013, two in 2014 and platinum-blonde hair before filming two more last year.

Broadcast premieres 8 p.m. June 4 at began but dyed her hair a darker color and Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, altered her appearance during production.

3000 General Pershing Blvd.

“I purposefully had to grunge myself Reece wrote and directed the film, up a little bit,” she said. “That was interestwhich chronicles the life of single mother ing, and it kind of bled into my personal life a little bit too. Playing that character Gabby as she tries to find purpose in her seemingly aimless life with her son, for so long, I was like, ‘Man, I need to look Keevin, played by Reece’s 12-year-old son, like Gabby.’ Even at work, I looked like Julien Cash Reece. Gabby gains local Gabby.”

A few years ago, Stephenson could not infamy after pictures of her abandoning imagine herself as a dedicated actress. her pet dog by the side of the road go viral Acting has not been a lifelong dream. on social media. She tries to make a name for herself and fulfill a fantasy by recruitBefore taking a course at The Actor ing her son as a crewmember on her selfFactory in Norman, her only experience created newscast. was one middle school play. She chose to re-explore the profession after dropping Gabby interacts with a number of female characters along the way, each out of college, a place she felt like she didn’t played by local actresses. belong.

Cate Jones, a local improv actress, porSo far, that decision has been a rewardtrays Gabby’s sister Ginger. Kristy Boone ing one. Stephenson said acting offers her is Gail Williams, the successful, put-tosome peace of mind as an avenue for expressing emotions that otherwise might gether television reporter scattered Gabby not be socially acceptable. secretly wishes she could be. Tennille McCallister plays Connie, Gabby’s bubbly “I feel like I learn so much about myself neighbor and an aunt-like figure to Keevin. with each character that I do because I “She was hilarious and wonderful to have to figure out how to relate to that work with,” Stephenson said of person,” she said.

film

Lobster tale

Yorgos Lanthimos’ dystopian satire imagines a society with zoological penalties for not mating.

By George Lang

film

There is a not-so-truism propagated by an early Friends episode that lobsters mate for life, but as Snopes.com gleefully points out, these delicious crustaceans are about as likely to stay together as many of the humans who consume them. In Yorgos Lanthimos’ brilliant dystopian satire The Lobster, humans are expected to stay together or face zoological consequences, and like Lanthimos’ 2009 film Dogtooth, The Lobster is the stuff of both dark hilarity and stark nightmares.

When his wife files for divorce, David (Colin Farrell, in middle-age mode) is forced to check in to a hotel where he is given 45 days to find a new mate. If he fails, he will be turned into the animal of his choosing. Because of his affinity for the sea, David chooses to become a lobster, which impresses the hotel manager (Olivia Colman, Broadchurch), who has seen too many dogs walk out of the transformation room. That includes David’s brother Paul, now a border collie.

Most of the hotel’s residents find them-

selves trying to cover up the reek of desperation as they search for suitable mates, but many are so unprepared for dating in the wake of a spouse’s death or divorce that this bachelor in Hades scenario proves too daunting. Many of them, like a young man with a limp (Ben Whishaw), will go so far as to harm themselves to have something in common with a possible mate, while others like a middle-aged lisper (John C. Reilly) accept their fates.

Few characters have actual names in The Lobster; they are instead identified by the traits most likely to cause them social difficulty. This is part and parcel of the society Lanthimos creates in which coupling is more important than anything else. The appearance of happiness takes precedence over actual happiness, but anyone actually caught in a lie about their affections or intent might wake up the next morning as a badger.

Lanthimos requires viewers to buy into The Lobster’s internal logic – if not, they will be as adrift as some of the loners who

Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz play characters who must find love or be turned into animals in The Lobster. | Photo Despina Spyrou / Image.net / provided

live in the nearby forest, running from tranquilizer darts and immediate transformation. Much of the dialogue is artfully stilted, creating a sense of pervasive fear that comes with total surveillance, and it’s fairly common for an out-of-place, exotic animal to wander into the frame during a serious moment. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how or why these transformations take place; viewers who accept the premise will be far more likely to appreciate both the humor and the horror on display.

Make no mistake; The Lobster can be incredibly funny within seconds of shock-

ing displays of cruelty. But Lanthimos is not a filmmaker with a light touch — his films are works of startling imagination, uncompromised by the mainstream’s compulsion to make viewers happy.

Perhaps that is why actors like Farrell, Reilly, Léa Seydoux and Rachel Weisz signed on for Lanthimos’ first English language feature — they might recognize that the Greek filmmaker is filling a necessary but hard-to-stomach spot in modern filmmaking’s storytelling traditions. Lanthimos isn’t merely reflecting society’s fears; he’s creating new ones.

Nicely done

The Nice Guys doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s an amusing action flick from two of Hollywood’s biggest stars. By Greg Elwell

The chemistry between Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling is so good in The Nice Guys, you might legitimately hope they’re just hanging out in real life, rolling around Hollywood, occasionally solving crimes.

Set in the 1970s, The Nice Guys is peppered with so many signifiers of the time period that the viewer is apt to yell, “We get it! This movie is set in the 1970s!”

The film is an amiable action flick hung loosely on the skeleton of a shaggy dog detective story. The drama is low, riding mostly in the background and largely unspoken, with much more focus put on the interaction of perpetually drunk private investigator Holland March (Gosling) and unlicensed tough guy Jackson Healy (Crowe).

But the real driver is Angourie Rice, who plays March’s daughter Holly. Though it’s left mostly unexplored, there’s a tragic backstory to the March family, including a dead mother and a burned home. Holly, like many teenagers faced with adversity, is trying to cope with her own pain while keeping her father functional.

So it’s little wonder that she’s so immediately taken with Healy, who — despite

breaking her father’s arm — seems to live by some kind of a code. And when he shows up to hire March to find a girl who doesn’t want to be found, Holly goads her father into taking the job.

The Nice Guys seems to have no idea where it’s going, and that’s simultaneously a joy and a frustration. True to March’s description of detective work, there’s a lot of driving around, lucking into clues and being largely unable to do anything about anything.

Like many detective movies before it, and in some ways reminiscent of The Big Lebowski, the story starts with a missing person and rolls into something more. The detectives, such as they are, seem the least aware of what’s going on. But their singleminded pursuit of Amelia (The Leftovers’ Margaret Qualley) leads them through shootouts, fistfights, a porno party and so many broken panes of glass it becomes its own comic relief.

Ably directed and co-written by Shane Black, who made his name in Hollywood as the creator of the Lethal Weapon franchise, The Nice Guys is a peppy little trifle.

It’s a shoutout to the action films of the

Ryan Gosling and Russel Crowe play Holland March and Jackson Healy in The Nice Guys. | Photo Warner Bros. / provided

1970s and the buddy comedies Black helped popularize in the 1980s and ’90s.

It is also juvenile, messy, loud and full of violence and nudity. It’s a good time if you’re looking for one, but it’s not going to change your life. This movie seems destined to be a fun way to waste an afternoon while you’re folding laundry; it’s engaging enough to stay interesting, but not so riveting or plot-intensive that you can’t grab the socks out of the dryer when you hear the buzz.

Happily, The Nice Guys even sets up its own low-stakes sequel. Will Hollywood

finance another slapstick buddy detective flick with two of the industry’s biggest stars? That probably depends on how much fun Crowe and Gosling had making the original. Because if this funny little distraction brings in enough at the box office, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine seeing The Nicer Guys in a theater in a couple of years.

How Black will find more material to express that the story is set in the 1970s is the real challenge. There’s only so much Yoo-hoo, lines of cars waiting for gas and clashing patterned shirts to go around.

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ARTS & CULTURE

ac t i v e

Clark Reimer catches a disc during a recent Ultimate Frisbee practice. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

Disc-overy

Ultimate Frisbee summer league seeks players and launches its season June 16. By Mark Beutler

One sport gaining local tinued to grow, and new momentum the past few members are always OKC Ultimate years is Ultimate Frisbee. welcome. summer Yes, that little plastic disc “On a local level, we league have focused on giving from childhood summers is now used competitively. people more opportuni6 p.m. Thursdays June “Ultimate Frisbee, or ties to play and enjoy the 16-Aug. 18 simply Ultimate, as we sport,” Batchelder said.

Douglass Park call it, is a non-contact “Several years ago, 501 N. Bryant Ave. field sport,” said Craig summer league was our okcultimate.org Batchelder, an OKC main focus, but now we $45-$60 Ultimate Frisbee league have weekly workouts and player and board member. workshops, and we host “The core tenet is the local tournaments that spirit of the game; this is one of the things draw people from the surrounding states. that makes Ultimate unique to any other We also have local pastors who volunteer sport,” he said. “There’s a common untheir gyms, so now everyone can play, derstanding and agreement between all rain or shine. It has really been fantastic players that they will try and treat each to see the community grow and thrive.” other fairly and safely. It is one of the All ages are welcome, Batchelder said. reasons you can go anywhere in the world Pickup games are 6 p.m. each Tuesday and play the game.” at Oklahoma City’s Douglass Park, 501 Ultimate fields are 120 yards by 40 N. Bryant Ave. A skills and drills class is yards, with each end zone 25 yards deep, 6 p.m. each Thursday at the park and Batchelder said. focuses on teaching the fundamentals of Points are scored by passing the disc the sport. between team members, advancing it While Ultimate requires a fair amount down the field until one team reaches the of running, Batchelder said the bar of opposing end zone, resulting in a score. entry is rather low.

“I don’t naturally go out and run, but “Other basics are that players must I’ll run down a Frisbee that a teammate not continue moving after they catch the disc,” he said. “You advance the disc in a throws to me every time,” he said. s t eppi n g s t one -l i ke f a s h ion .

“Ultimate Frisbee players are some of Interceptions, incomplete passes and the most welcoming and genuinely nice passes out-of-bounds all result in turnpeople you will ever meet. So it’s much overs. Ultimate is also a self-refereed less intimidating for newcomers comsport, and players on the field make foul pared to other sports. I have played in calls and resolve any issues that might New Zealand, Colorado, Arkansas and arise.”

California — really all over. … It’s refreshMore than 170 people played in last ing to have that type of community all year’s summer league. This year’s league over the world and to be able to share that begins June 16 and costs $45 to join. with others and foster it here in Batchelder said that fee includes 10 weeks Oklahoma.”

For more information or to join, visit of Ultimate Frisbee summer league, a okcultimate.org. team jersey and participation in the endof-summer tournament.

Since its inception, the sport has con44

m ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

ac t i v e

Guests participate in last year’s NAMIWalks Oklahoma event. | Photo provided

Healthy steps

The annual NAMIWalks Oklahoma event raises funds to help residents in need. By Alissa Lindsey

The Oklahoma chapter of the National from sponsorships, and the other twoAlliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) hosts thirds come from participant fundraising efforts. its 13th annual walk to raise funds and awareness for mental illness June 4 at NAMI Oklahoma plans to use the funds Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno to increase veteran programming and gear Ave. Check-in begins at 9 a.m., and the walk more programs toward youth and young starts at 10:30 a.m. adults.

“The goal of NAMIWalks Oklahoma is “One of the big problems is that people twofold,” said Michelle Gregory, NAMI with mental illness are very stigmatized, Oklahoma development director. “The first and so they tend not to seek the treatment is to raise funds so we can continue offering and the resources that they need,” Gregory free programs, and the second is to decrease said. “If you can catch an illness earlier, get the stigma that surrounds them the education and mental illness.” treatment that they need, NAMI Oklahoma, a then they are more likely to NAMIWalks grassroots nonprofit live a successful life and stay Oklahoma founded in 1985, offers free within their treatment.” advocacy, support groups, As the largest mental 9 a.m. June 4 health walk in the state, educational programs and Myriad Botanical Gardens other resources in order to NAMIWalks Oklahoma has 301 W. Reno Ave. help improve the quality of about 500 registered parnamioklahoma.org life of people affected by ticipants and hopes register namiwalks.org mental illness.

1,000 by the June 4 event.

In 2014, NA MI Registration for the 5K Oklahoma received 29,981 or one-mile walk is free, and help line calls for resources and referrals participants are encouraged to fundraise and 4,000 inquiries through family support with friends and family. groups, Gregory said.

With recent state budget cuts, NAMI “Mental illness doesn’t know any boundOklahoma has noticed an increase in calls aries,” Gregory said. “It affects the wealthy, to its help line from police officers working the poor, male, female, young, old, eduwith the state’s collaborative Crisis cated and not educated.”

Intervention Team, Gregory said.

This year’s family walk chairwoman is Between 700,000 and 950,000 Cathy Costello, whose son Christian is diOklahoma adults are in need of mental agnosed with bipolar disorder with psychohealth or substance abuse treatment, acsis and paranoid schizophrenia. cording to the Oklahoma Department of In August, Christian experienced paraMental Health and Substance Abuse noid schizophrenic psychosis and fatally Services. stabbed his father, Oklahoma State Labor Gregory recommended talking about Commissioner Mark Costello, at a local mental illness in a respectful way as a means Braum’s restaurant. of advocating for people diagnosed with About 600,000 Oklahomans report mental illness. having a mental illness, and Oklahoma “Talk about it as ‘This is my Aunt Cheryl, ranks in the bottom 10 states for access to and she has a diagnosis of schizophrenia, mental health care, according to the and she goes to this doctor, and she’s living Oklahoma Department of Mental Health successfully,’” Gregory said. “Don’t referand Substance Abuse Services. ence people as ‘crazy.’ This is a true medical Last year, NAMIWalks raised $90,000, illness and should be given the same respect and this year, organizers hope to raise as someone who has cancer.” $100,000.

To register and for more information, About one-third of the funds raised are visit namiwalks.org.

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ARTS & CULTURE

OBAGI SKINCARE & SKINPEN

by Bellus Medical

PERMANENT MAKE UP

$250 Eyeliner $250 Eyebrows $350 Full-Lips $250 Lip Line

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Shoppes at Northpark, 12028 May Ave. 405-751-8930 Open Mon-Sat www.skincareokc.com Gift Certificates Available

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Swinging success Annual Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic raises funds for OK Kids Korral June 3-4. By Alissa Lindsey

The Toby Keith Foundation hosts its 13th here,’” Nees-Bright said. “I think that annual Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic made a big impact on Toby, and he wanted June 3-4 to benefit OK Kids Korral. something similar in his own community.”

The foundation is the nonprofit that More than 18,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed each year in Oklahoma, which raises funds for the Korral, which offers free housing for families with children makes it the second leading cause of death being treated for cancer at The Children’s among Oklahomans, according to The Hospital at OU Medical Center.

Toby Keith Foundation.

“Last year, we had a really successful At any given time, OK Kids Korral hosts year,” said Juliet Nees-Bright, Toby Keith 16 families, and children visit an average of five times each year for about five days Foundation executive director. “We’re per stay, Nees-Bright said. just grateful for anything we can get and the supporters that keep OK Kids Korral serves coming back each year.” between 120 and 150 famiThis year, the foundalies a year.

Toby Keith & tion hopes to raise over The golf classic is the Friends Golf $700,000. The weekend foundation’s biggest fundClassic kicks off with the Denim raiser, raising between & Diamonds gala June 3 at $600,00 and $1 million an8 a.m. June 4 Riverwind Casino, 1544 nually, Nees-Bright said.

Belmar Golf Club Oklahoma Highway 9, in The double shotgun golf 1025 E. Indian Hills Road, Norman. classic begins 8 a.m. June 4 Norman Invited guests should with 20 teams playing an tobykeithfoundation.org wear comfy jeans and jazz 18-hole course at Belmar 405-271-6552 up outfits with bling before Golf Club, 1025 E. Indian settling in for an evening Hills Road, in Norman. The of food and bidding on afternoon shotgun starts auction items such as a week for five 1:30 p.m. with another 24 teams.

Each team has six players, including a couples at Keith’s Cabo beach house, a stay at Wyoming’s Lodge and Spa at Brush celebrity player, and Keith and other local Creek Ranch, an African safari and more. celebrities, including former OU football players, are randomly assigned to teams.

Keith serves as auctioneer, and for the first time, guests can participate in mobile Trophies are awarded for first and bidding, using their phones to bid on items, second place in the morning and afternoon Nees-Bright said. shotguns.

An OK Kids Korral family will speak At the end of the day, 20 players during the gala about the Korral’s impact. compete to be entered to win a new truck in the Built Ford Tough Shootout.

One of Keith’s band members lost his “We’re excited that it’s kept going and daughter to cancer. While she was being treated at St. Jude Children’s Research growing,” Nees-Bright said. “We see so Hospital, the family stayed in a place like many of the same people, but each year, OK Kids Korral. we have new folks that join us. It’s a really “Toby remembers the family telling great experience with 750 people coming him [they] were in this cancer haze and in together to support one cause.” shock, but there was this place that said, Visit tobykeithfoundation.org or call ‘Hey, don’t worry about it. You can stay 405-271-6552.

The Toby Keith Foundation supports OK Kids Korral, which provides a place for kids like Buddy and Axel to stay with their families during treatment. | Photo OK Kids Korral / provided 46

m ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

calendar These are events recommended

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

Brandie Posey, comedy show featuring standup comedian, writer and producer Brandie Posey along with Aaron Wilder, Geri Richlin and Alex Sanchez, 10 p.m. May 30. Saints, 1715 NW 16th St., 405-602-6308, saintspubokc.com. MON

ACTIVE

BOOKS

Drop-In Yoga, yoga class in the museum’s galleries, 5:45-6:45 p.m. May 26. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com.

Mary Volmer Book Signing, author signs her book Reliance, Illinois; gossip, murder, love and hate, lace-making and drunken fist fights, sinners, saviors, and even Mark Twain himself grace the pages of Reliance, Illinois, a brilliant and beautiful window into American life during a period of tumultuous change, 6:30 p.m. May 26. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-8422900, fullcirclebooks.com. THU Book Signing, author Molly Lee signs her Love on the Edge series 3 p.m. May 28. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-8422900, fullcirclebooks.com. SAT Last Sunday Poetry Jam, featured poets are Carol Hamilton and Mark Evans followed by an open mic session, 2 p.m. May 29. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 405-842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. SUN

FILM Movie Night at the Market: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, (US, 1986, dir. John Hughes) a high school boy is determined to have the day off from school; free popcorn and costume contest, 6:30 p.m. May 25.

OKC Farmer’s Market, 311 S. Klein Ave., 405-2182362, okcfarmersmarket.com. WED Hockney, (UK, 2014, dir. Randall Wright) David Hockney is one of the most influential British artists of the twentieth century; filmmaker Randall Write introduces audiences to the man behind the work including interviews with the artist’s closest friends and home movie footage, 5:30 & 8 p.m. May 26. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. THU Sunset Song, (UK, 2015, dir. Terence Davies) film tells the story of Chris, a young Scottish woman who struggles to

THU

Senior Fun Day, free lunch and group exercise classes, 9 a.m. May 27. E.L. Gaylord Downtown YMCA, 1 NW Fourth St., 405-297-7700, ymcaokc.org. FRI Run on Route 66, 5K and 1-mile fun run, 9:15 a.m.

May 28. NW 38th Street and Asbury Avenue, downtown Bethany. SAT

Shaun the Sheep Shaun the sheep, along with his fellow ruminant mammal friends, commandeers a bus from the farm to the big city to find a missing farmer. Kids will love this stop-motion animated film, which runs May 30-June 3 as part of Harkins Theatres’ annual Summer Movie Fun program. Doors open at 9 a.m. and films begin at 9:45 a.m. at Harkins Theatres Bricktown 16, 150 E. Reno Ave. Tickets are $2-$5. Visit harkinstheatres.com or call 405-231-4747. monday Photo Lionsgate / provided forge her identity on the eve of World War I, 5:30 & 8:30 p.m. May 27-28; 2 & 5:30 p.m. May 29.

Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com. FRI -SUN

museum’s collections, exhibitions and special occasions, 1-4 p.m. May 28. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa. com. SAT

HAPPENINGS

Fairy Tale Ballet Camp, a four-day camp that includes a daily dance class and introduces students to four famous fairy tale ballets; The Sleeping Beauty, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella and The Nutcracker, May 31-June 3.

Dance Center of Oklahoma City Ballet, 7421 N. Classen Blvd., 405-843-9898, okcballet.com.

TUE - FRI

4th Friday in the District, block party featuring food trucks, live music and pop up shops, 6-11 p.m.

May 27. OKC Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein Ave., 405-218-2362, okcfarmersmarket.com. FRI Rocklahoma, three-day camping music festival featuring a lineup current rock artists and classic bands such as Scorpions, Disturbed, Rob Zombie, 3 Doors Down and more, May 27-29. Rocklahoma, 1421 W. 450 Road, Pryor, rocklahoma.com. FRI -SUN Ladies’ Only Chess Club, chess club giving girls and women a venue where they can build and maintain social relationships with other chess-playing girls and women; all skill levels are invited to participate, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. May 28.

District House, 1755 NW 16th St., 405-633-1775, districthouseokc.com. SAT My First Project, participants build a standardstyle toolbox under the guidance of Phil Gilliland or Jerry Hickman Sr., 1-3 p.m. May 28-29. Joe’s Work Shop, 13915 N. Harvey Ave., Edmond, 405-5310153, joesws.com. SAT-SUN Gardens Walking Tour, tour highlights plants in each season around the gardens, 10-11 a.m. May 28. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens. com/events. SAT

TUE -SAT

OKC Jazz Fest, featuring jazz, jazz rock, rhythm & blues and more, May 31-June 4.

Deep Deuce District, 100 NE Third St.

FOOD Eats on 8th, food truck festival and night market; family-friendly event with live music, a kid’s zone, pop-up vendors and much more, 6-11 p.m. May 27. Midtown, NW Ninth Street and Walker Avenue. FRI Cheese & Wine School: Barbera, learn about the Barbera grape that produces lively, acidic reds that are great for pairing with food; take an in-depth look at one style of wine by comparing different producers and pairing with cheese, 6:45-8:15 p.m.

May 27. Forward Foods, 2001 W. Main St., Norman, 405-321-1007, forwardfoods.com. FRI

Open Art Studio at the Ranch IRM Art & Design invites you to view and purchase new works created by artists Skip Hill and Irmgard Geul at an open house at Nedpoint Ranch studio, where the works were created. For easy-to-follow directions for your mini road trip, visit the event’s Facebook page (Open Art Studio at the Ranch) and get ready to enjoy beautiful paintings in a unique Oklahoma setting 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at Nedpoint Quarter Horses, 23406 N. County Road 3250, in Pauls Valley. Visit facebook.com/ IrmArtandDesign or call 405-238-0426.

Food Truck Triple Play, festival with more than 35 food trucks, live music and family entertainment, 6-11 p.m. May 28. Joe Carter Parking Lot, Joe Carter and California avenues. SAT Macaron Filling & Decorating Class, hands-on class, 6-9 p.m. May 31. Belle Kitchen, 7509 N. May Ave., 405-430-5484, belle-kitchen.com. TUE

Ultimate Adventure Camps, camp lets kids try adventures like zip lining, SandRidge Sky Trail, high speed sliding, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding and whitewater rafting, May 30-Aug 12. Boathouse District, 725 S. Lincoln Blvd., 405-552-4040, boathousedistrict.org.

OK River 5K Run & Dog Jog, 5K river run and 3K dog jog presented by A New Leash On Life Inc., 8 a.m. May 30. Wiley Post Park, 2021 S. Robinson Ave. MON

Summer Art Camp: Amazingly Abstract, young artists, ages 5-6 explore a variety of artistic mediums and create artworks while learning about American painter and printmaker Jasper Johns, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 30-June 3. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd., 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org. TUE- FRI Summer Art Camp: From Ordinary to Extraordinary, children ages 7-9 learn to notice details and investigate new ways to create painted masterpieces, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 31June 3. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd., 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org. TUE- FRI Summer Art Camp: Oh What a Relief!, students ages 10-12 engage in creating unusual sculptures, abstract painting and designs, as well as relief printmaking, all techniques made famous by Jasper Johns, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 31-June 3. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd., 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org.

TUE- FRI Art Adventures, young artists experience art through books and projects for children ages 3-5, 10:30 a.m.

May 30. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma. TUE

PERFORMING ARTS Bullets Over Broadway, a hilarious musical comedy about the making of a Broadway show, written by Woody Allen; a young playwrite accepts an offer he can’t refuse from a mobster looking to please his showgirl girlfriend, 7:30 p.m. May 25-26; 2 p.m.

May 27; 2 & 8 p.m. May 28; 2 p.m. May 29. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 405-2972264, okcciviccenter.com. WED -SUN Kris Shaw, stand-up comedy; Shaw is a storyteller who, with quick bursts of wit and carefully crafted silences, keeps audiences engaged through everyday observations and tough topics alike, 8 p.m. May 25-26 & 29; 8 & 10:30 p.m. May 27-28.

Loony Bin Comedy Club, 8503 N. Rockwell Ave., 405-239-4242, loonybincomedy.com. WED -SUN Whodunit Dinner Theater: A Grand Murder, dinner and a comedic murder mystery play involving the audience, 6:15 p.m. May 20. Ted’s Café Escondido, 6900 N. May Ave., 405-420-3222, whodunit.net. FRI

Okietales, dive into history with books and stories and explore a different topic from the Wild West and cowboys to land runs and pioneer life, 10:3011:30 a.m. May 25 & June 1. Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 405-521-2491, okhistory.org/historycenter. WED/ WED

5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche, awardwinning play in which the widows of the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein meet in the basement/bomb shelter of a local church for their annual quiche breakfast; a sudden threat of an atomic bomb forces them to share their deepest secrets, 8 p.m.

May 27-28. The Paramount Theatre, 11 N. Lee Ave., 405-637-9389, theparamountokc.com. FRI -SAT

Drop-In Art: Dancing Mobiles, join guest artists each Saturday as they interact with families to create extraordinary works of art inspired by the

Twinkle Twinkle Lil’ Show, comedy variety show, 9 p.m. May 28. Kendell’s Bar, 110 S. May Ave., 405-601-6848. SAT

YOUTH

Sailing at Lake Hefner, sunset sailing and lessons aboard a full-sized boat, 5:30 p.m. May 28. Lake Hefner East Wharf, 9101 Lake Hefner Parkway. SAT

Discover Aviation & Airshow Spectacular There’s nothing quite like witnessing the speed and power of a jet plane firsthand as pilots from across the nation take part in the family-friendly Discover Aviation & Air Show Spectacular noon Saturday and Sunday at Sundance Airport, 13000 N. Sara Road, in Yukon. General admission is free, and VIP tickets are $75-$85. Visit sundanceairport.com or call 405-3733886. Saturday-Sunday bigstockphoto.com Yoga in the Gardens, all-levels yoga class, 5:45-6:45 p.m. May 31. Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-297-3995, myriadgardens.com. TUE OKC Dodgers vs. Iowa, minor-league baseball game, 7:05 p.m. May 31-June 1. Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, 2 S. Mickey Mantle Drive, 405-218-1000. TUE-WED All Night Skate, skating 8 p.m.-8 a.m. June 1.

Skate Galaxy, 5800 NW 36th St., 405-605-2758, skategalaxyokc.com. WED

VISUAL ARTS 40th Annual Paseo Arts Festival, more than 80 visual artists fill the historic Paseo Arts District, selling original artwork in a variety of mediums; live music and performances, food and more, May 28-30. Paseo Arts District, 3022 Paseo St., 405-525-2688, thepaseo.com.

SAT- MON Awake, exhibit featuring works by Christie Owen and Brandi Downham; a collection immersed in the language of unity and balance, May 13-June 4.

Graphite Gallery, 1751 NW 16th St, 405-919-0578, graphiteokcart.com.

Buffed: The Aesthetics of Removal, a series of prints inspired by the beauty of graffiti removal presented by Oklahoma artist Randall Barnes.

The Project Box, 3003 Paseo St., 405-609-3969, theprojectboxokc.com.

continued on page 48

Saturday Skip Hill | Photo Gazette / file

go to okgazette.com for full listings!

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47

calendar O KG pi c ks

continued from page 47

Nominations Open for the 2016 Class of fORTY UndeR 40

Help us recognize outstanding leaders.

To nominate one of Oklahoma City’s brightest young leaders visit www.okc.biz

deadline is fRidaY, jUlY 8, 2016.

Contemporary West I, a feature of largeformat expressionist paintings by Mary Bechtol and Laurie Justus Pace. Kasum Contemporary Fine Arts, 1706 NW 16th St., 405-604-6602, kasumcontemporary.com.

Edmond People, Edmond Politics, showcases a variety of political memorabilia and historic photographs that illustrate the many ways Edmondites have participated in local, state and national politics. Edmond Historical Society & Museum, 431 S. Boulevard, Edmond, 405-340-0078, edmondhistory.org.

Explanations?, featuring artwork from local abstract artist Beth Hammack; inspired by juxtaposition, she utilizes color combinations and implied movement that entertains the eye. JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N. Walker Ave., 405-528-6336, jrbartgallery.com.

Featured Artists, Linda Guenther’s Trip’n with Linda, Jan Hellwege’s Unforgettable, Adoptable Dogs and Verna Fuller’s Birds and Birds’ Nests; a love of history, farms and critters inspires Guenther’s thoughtful photographs; Hellwege’s compassion for lost and abandoned dogs is obvious in her expressive, dog portraits as she raises awareness of the pet over-population in our state and Fuller’s poetic bird nests come alive with dancing lines that unite her work. Contemporary Art Gallery, 2928 Paseo St., 405-601-7474, contemporaryartgalleryokc.com.

GeoEthics, Ying Kit Chan uses a variety of media and employs environmental ethics alongside Taoist and Buddhist ideologies to examine our relationship with nature, forming the mental impact of contemplation to the actions resulting in environmental degradation. [Artspace] at Untitled, 1 NE Third St., 405-815-6665, artspaceatuntitled.org.

Handmade jewelry, handmade jewelry by Carol Egger. 50 Penn Place Gallery, 1900 Northwest Expressway, Suite 113-R , 405-848-5567, 50pennplacegallery.com.

In One Ear, a kaleidoscope of overlapping video clips in constant flux, ruled by a soundtrack broadcast on radio frequency 99.9 FM; David Steele Overholt chose more than 200 mostly ’80s and ’90s video clips to conjure nostalgia among the generations raised in front of the TV. Oklahoma Contemporary Showroom, 1146 N. Broadway Drive, 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org.

Jerry Piper, mixed media artist focuses on texture, design and brilliant manipulation of color. The Purple Loft Art Gallery, 514 NW 28th St., Suite 400, 405-412-7066.

Oklahoma City Mud Factor A little dirt never hurt anyone. That’s what runners tell themselves as they cross the uniquely designed Mud Factor 5K obstacle course. The first run begins 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Oklahoma Motorsports Complex, 3501 S. Interstate Drive, in Norman. Registration is $39-$49. Participants must be age 14 or older. Spectators receive free admission. Visit mudrunguide.com. Saturday Photo Mud Factor / provided NEXT COURSE! A Taste of the Epic Life that Awaits, whimsical artwork by OSU alum Shel Wagner; celebrates and inspires new graduates and anyone looking ahead to a fresh chapter.

Stillwater Multi Arts Center, 1001 S. Duck St., Stillwater, 405-747-8084, multiartscenter.org.

O. Gail Poole: Rediscovered Oklahoma Master, over the course of five decades, Poole built, tore down and rebuilt his artistic style with breathtaking regularity, creating one of the most diverse bodies of work of his generation; a headturning collection of the master’s portraiture and landscapes. Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum, 1400 Classen Drive, 405-235-4458, oklahomaheritage.com.

Oklahoma, Seen and Unseen, artist Deborah Burian captures light and atmosphere with watercolor, achieving luminous effects that suggest immediacy and freshness. Contemporary Art Gallery, 2928 Paseo St., 405-601-7474, contemporaryartgalleryokc.com.

Our City, Our Collection: Building the Museum’s Lasting Legacy, exhibit tells the story of the museum’s history as a series of transformative gifts, bequests and acquisitions; features artists such as Georgia O’Keefe, Rembrandt van Rijn, Gustave Courbet and more. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com.

Perceptual Art Going Large, artist Jason Wilson presents his life-size signature style of colorful geometric shapes Paseo Gallery One, 2927 Paseo St., 405-524-4544, facebook.com/ paseogalleryone.

Posed & Composed: Portraits of Women from the Permanent, exhibition of 12 portraits by 11 American artists covers the period from just before World War I through the early 1980s; the paintings are not arranged chronologically, but according to commonalities in pose, gesture, color, composition and subject matter. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com.

Pry the Lid Off, Summer Wheat exhibit explores history, revealing “the world behind the white kitchen wall” of Johannes Vermeer’s “The Milkmaid.” Oklahoma Contemporary, 3000 General Pershing Blvd., 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY www.okc.biz

Prairie Garden Plant Sale Grow your garden and your botanical knowledge with the help of plant nursery owners Bill Farris (Prairie Wind Nursery) and Marilyn Stewart (Wild Things Nursery).

Farris and Stewart will sell you plants suited to Oklahoma’s prairie ecosystem — such as Callirhoe involucrata, Aster oblongifolius and tropical milkweed — and answer your questions. Plants for sale feature species hospitable to pollinating creatures such as moths and butterflies.

The event is 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday in Myriad Botanical Gardens Pavilion, 301 W. Reno Ave. Visit myriadgardens.org or call 405-445-7080.

Friday-Saturday Photo Myriad Botanical

Rita Ortloff & Kyndall Rainey, exhibit of Orloff’s abstract style that plays with spikes, dots and anything that complements her imagination; Rainey’s multi-media work complements Orloff’s flamboyant work. In Your Eye Gallery, 3005 Paseo St. #A, 405-525-2161, inyoureyegallery.com.

Scattering Light‚ The Optics of Clouds, oil paintings

by David Holland focus on how light interacts with clouds and also features educational components.

Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Pl., 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org.

Spring 2016 Show, featuring works in oil, acrylic, watercolor and mixed media; handmade jewelry and ceramic sculptures also are featured. The Studio Gallery, 2642 W. Britton Road, 405-7522642, thestudiogallery.org.

Still Painting Oklahoma’s Wild West, featured guest artist Gene Doughtery’s works include bison, Indian dancers, horses and quail in watercolor and oil. Paseo Gallery One, 2927 Paseo St., 405-5244544, facebook.com/paseogalleryone.

The New Dance, KB Kueteman’s unique acrylic paintings conceptualize his personal expression of American Indian culture. Contemporary

Gardens / provided

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go to okgazette.com for full listings!

Free Dog Training and Community Pack Walk Do you own a dog, or does your dog own you? If it’s the latter, a little training could go a long way. Angela Adan travels the country to address behavioral issues in dogs. Adan hosts a free training class 11 a.m. Saturday at Midtown Mutts Dog Park, 409 W. Park Place. After the class, guests are invited to the dog-friendly patio at Fassler Hall, 421 NW 10th St., for conversation. Visit facebook.com/freetoliveok or email freetoliveok@gmail.com.

Saturday bigstockphoto.com Art Gallery, 2928 Paseo St., 405-601-7474, contemporaryartgalleryokc.com.

The Photographic Legacy of Dr. Charles Simmons, show curated by Bill Broiles for the Ntu Art Association is a celebration of the contributions of Simmons, who retired from the United States Air Force as a highly decorated master sergeant and then embarked upon a new career in education.

Owens Arts Place Museum, 1202 E. Harrison Ave., Guthrie, 405-260-0204, owensmuseum.com.

Calendar 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 405528-4600 or e-mail them to listings@ okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

For okg live music

see page 52

event

MUSIC

Electric legend A music festival celebrates the 100th birthday of jazz legend and guitar pioneer Charlie Christian. By Ben Luschen

As she organizes each year’s Charlie Christian International Music Festival, Anita Arnold considers herself a front-line fighter in an ongoing effort to preserve the late legend’s musical and cultural legacy.

Born in Bonham, Texas, and raised in Oklahoma City, Christian is most associated with three things. First, he is widely recognized as one of the world’s greatest improvisational jazz and guitar talents.

Second, he often is credited as the first major electric guitar soloists. Third, he accomplished these feats before dying at age 25 from tuberculosis (TB).

Arnold, executive director of Black Liberated Arts Center (BLAC, Inc.), has spent much of her life’s work learning, chronicling and promoting Christian’s history and legacy.

Her office at 4500 N. Lincoln Blvd. is a shrine to the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, and portraits, photographs and posters hang everywhere. Books on Christian, swing-era jazz and music history line the shelves and are stuffed into drawers.

“If they have anything about Charlie Christian, I’ll buy it,” she said.

This year’s music festival celebrates Christian’s 100th birthday and runs June 2-6 at multiple Deep Deuce venues. In addition to a variety of musical talent, the event brings in one of Christian’s guitars and will re-enact the jazz icon’s funeral procession.

Christian’s impact is so profound that traces of his legacy are seen everywhere in music, Arnold said. His influence spans Miles Davis to Prince.

“Even though he’s been dead 75 years, he’s still very much alive and well in the minds of a lot of people,” she said.

The festival

The event’s 31st year features a lineup of performing acts that illustrate Christian’s expansive influence.

Everything begins 7 p.m. Thursday with a jam session at Slaughter’s Hall, 221 N. Central Ave. Activities Friday and throughout the weekend are centered on the lot across from the Edward L. Gaylord Downtown YMCA near NW Fourth Street and N. Broadway Avenue.

Friday welcomes the rising vocal talent of Iesha Thomas at 7 p.m. Country and western act The Joe Settlemeirs Band performs at 8:30 p.m. All Funk Radio Show, a Texas-based jazz and funk band that has headlined the festival in the past, plays at 10 p.m.

Saturday is the event’s longest day. A guitar music symposium is 11 a.m. at Calvary Baptist Church, 300 N. Walnut Ave. Kansas State University professor Wayne Goins, who wrote a comprehensive book on Christian, and Lynn Wheelwright, owner of the last Gibson guitar Christian bought, are on the panel. Goins, who headlines the festival later that night, will play that guitar a little bit.

Saturday also features the return of the festival parade. In 1942, a brass band-led funeral procession delivered Christian to Calvary Baptist Church for his funeral.

More than 20 years ago, Arnold said a large

Even though he’s been dead 75 years, he’s still very much alive and well in the minds of a lot of people.

Anita Arnold

Charlie Christian left gained national fame after Benny Goodman right added him to his band. | Photo BLAC, Inc. / provided

memorial parade inintense touring lifecluded horses and style, however, might Charlie Christian clowns, but this year’s have contributed to his International Music early death. version is much smaller.

Festival “People loved it, “He ran him from they really loved it, coast to coast, from New June 2-5 but this is Charlie York to California and Deep Deuce Christian’s time,” she anything in between,” charliechristianmusicfestival.com said. “We’re going to Arnold said. “It was that 405-524-3800 do it in a way similar hectic schedule, bad $10-$50 food on the road, not to how they did it at his death.” getting enough rest, all This year’s procession also will be led by of that. A lot of people got TB during that a New Orleans brass band to the steps of the time, not just musicians but a lot of people.” church, where a memorial service will Arnold wrote four books on Christian. follow.

She said she regularly receives phone calls A gospel concert — the first in the festiand emails from people all over the world val’s history — happens Sunday. Music starts seeking more information about the musician. at 4 p.m. with violinist JoAnna Johnson, followed by Dallas artist VirLinda Stanton Looking around an office dedicated to and smooth jazz musician Grady Nichols. the man, it is hard to believe that his history The festival concludes 8:30 p.m. Sunday was once hard to come by. with a battle of the bands pitting Texas“When I first started, I couldn’t find two based Landon Torbett against Oklahoma’s good paragraphs about Charlie Christian,” Robert Banks Band.

Arnold said.

Over time, she and others pieced toLegacy building gether his story. While his accomplishments Christian, a Frederick A. Douglass High are remarkable, Arnold said Christian’s School graduate, mostly made his name as brief life makes his tale all the more captia member of the nationally touring Benny vating.

Goodman Sextet and Orchestra. Arnold “How many people at age 25 do you know said Goodman, “The King of Swing,” at first that even have a clue which way they’re doubted Christian’s ability because of his going in life? Most people are trying to figure underprivileged upbringing. That changed it out,” she said. “It’s like he’d sought out his once he saw Christian perform. mission on this Earth and he completed it.”

The guitarist toured with Goodman and For the full event schedule and tickets, developed national acclaim as a mainstay visit charliechristianmusicfestival.com. in one of the era’s most popular bands. That

Anita Arnold’s life mission is to preserve Charlie Christian’s legacy. | Photo Garett Fisbeck O kg a z e t t e . c o m | m ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 6

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event

MUSIC

Feasting fandom Summer Cannibals starts a new chapter under the Kill Rock Stars record label. By Ben Luschen

event

Life on the road can be draining for any musician. Few understand that toll like Jessica Bordeaux, who played two sets a night on a recent West Coast run.

Bordeaux, guitarist and lead vocalist for Summer Cannibals, a Portland, Oregonbased rock band, performed double duty in mid-May as a support guitarist while on the road with The Thermals.

During a recent Oklahoma Gazette phone interview, Bordeaux said that while intense, the experience of that tour’s run has only added to the fun for her. Summer Cannibals hits the road again later this month before its June 9 gig at Opolis, 113 N. Crawford Ave., in Norman with Poolboy.

“We will have been touring for a month before we leave [for the tour that includes Norman],” she said, “so we should be really tight, which is good.”

The band includes Bordeaux, drummer Devon Shirley and bassist Jenny Logan.

Their fun, catchy, heavy new album, Full of It, drops Friday.

Still, Bordeaux said of all the things she and her bandmates have done, she is most

happy with what their live show has become.

“It’s high energy, and we put a lot of time into it,” she said. “We’re really proud of it.

I hope [fans] have fun and people like it.”

Summer Cannibals’ moniker was borrowed from a song co-written by Fred “Sonic” Smith and Patti Smith, one of Bordeaux’s idols.

Staying independent

In February, Kill Rock Stars, a diverse record label with a proud history of working with feminist riot grrrl punk and alt-rock acts and high-profile, female-backed bands like Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill, announced it was making Summer Cannibals its newest signee.

Bordeaux said she met with Kill Rock Stars president Portia Sabin around the time the rock band put out its second independent release, Show Us Your Mind, in 2015. Sabin invited her onto her radio show to talk about working as an independent act.

“I came in and I brought her a copy of

the second record,” write more and tour Bordeaux said. “She without the pressures of Poolboy with said she was a fan, and running a label and reSummer Cannibals when she heard we leasing your own stuff.” were going into the Bordeaux also said 10 p.m. June 9 studio to record the she does not feel any Opolis next album, they basipressure to live up to any 113 N. Crawford Ave., Norman cally were like, ‘We of the great, groundticketstorm.com want to put it out.’” breaking musicians that opolis.org Though Summer have passed through the $7 Cannibals had talked Kill Rock Stars label in 21+ to other labels about the past. releasing its next “You can’t expect to album, Bordeaux said independent record touch that [talent] ever, especially when label Kill Rock Stars made the most sense they’ve covered a lot of ground,” she said. and felt right.

“There was a more politically charged mo“It was more the opportunity presenttivation in that music. For me, I’m not really ed itself,” she said, “the opportunity to have interested in that right now because I feel like they did it better than I could.” some of that work off my back so I could

Modern methods With the experimental 21 Project and implantation of digital media, country star Hunter Hayes redefines the album-making process. By George Lang

with the accepted norms of releasing and Hunter Hayes believes in the power of the classic album format, but that does not promoting music. Last summer, he released mean he’s married to it. the songs that were later collected for The The 24-year-old singer-songwriter best 21 Project on a biweekly basis, providing his known for country hits such as “Wanted” fans access to fresh material through streaming services and download sites. and “I Want Crazy” decided to challenge the concept of what an Then Hayes embarked album can be last year on a groundbreaking tour that fall, working when he released The Hunter Hayes 21 Project, a collection with Spotify to identify of seven songs released college markets where 8 p.m. June 3 his music was heavily in three different verFrontier City sions: acoustic, fully streamed.

11501 N. Interstate 35 Service produced and live. The “It’s hard to really Road explain what we were idea was to illustrate frontiercity.com going for because we how a song evolves Free with park admission from conception to really weren’t going for ($28.99-$47) performance. anything,” he said.

“The format of a record is changing,” “There wasn’t really a concept to it, except said Hayes, who performs June 3 at Frontier to break down the walls of how we’ve always City’s Starlight Amphitheater, 11501 N. done it.”

Interstate 35 Service Road. “We’ve seen it Hayes said he takes inspiration from coming and everybody knows it, but we’re fellow country artist Keith Urban, who still kind of afraid of it. I’m very much a big began slowly releasing singles from his new vinyl fan, and I like records and that project album, Ripcord, one year ago and parceled feeling. But I’m really interested in seeing out granular details until its May 6 release. where the next thing is going to go.”

Hayes began to look at The 21 Project as an So Hayes spent much of 2015 tinkering art experiment rather than a traditional 50

Summer Cannibals play Opolis June 9. | Photo John Clark / provided

m ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

Hunter Hayes | Photo provided

album, and the process revealed ways in which he could showcase songs that otherwise might not find a home on a more conventional release.

“For instance, ‘Saint or a Sinner,’” he said. “It might not have seen the light of day had it not been for The 21 Project. It’s a ticket to freedom for songs that are created outside a certain window of time for a record. There’s a hope for all the crazy stuff we do in the studio to get released, you know?”

This is a good thing, considering that Hayes said he wrote over 100 songs for his next album and now must winnow them down to a manageable number. But the

singer’s interest in new delivery techniques and social media established a new way for him to measure how his songs resonate with fans.

“What’s really cool is they’ve started requesting songs that we’ve only played a couple of times,” Hayes said. “That blows my mind, and that’s a result of exactly what we’re talking about. The band will post clips of songs to Facebook or to Instagram, and it’s an awesome, open conversation. We’re able to listen in a really cool way, and it’s a conversation, not just a poll. It’s much more in-depth about how they’re feeling about a song and why they’re feeling that way.”

review

Tastefully Tame Foxburrows’ full-length debut is worth contemplating. By Ben Luschen | Photo provided

Music can be a lot like food.

Some of it is satisfying — even if not nutritious — right out of the package.

Some needs time to simmer before you realize how palatable it really is.

Listeners will savor Tame, the April 2016 fullleng th debut from Oklahoma City indie rock band Foxburrows.

It’s not that Tame is a record that could be written off at any point. It just takes time to weigh all of its ingredients.

Foxburrows is led by vocalist and guitarist Cody Anderson and keyboardist Boone Brady, drummer Jerry Jump, bassist Collin Spriggs and guitarist Derek Waas.

The band dips its toes in several different pools of sound, but it might be best described as a psych-leaning, folk-informed indie outfit. It released its Woodland Creatures EP in May 2014.

The quintet is never afraid of taking

Things slow down a little bit after “Weights,” but there are still jewels to pull from the album.

“Waves” will take up semi-permanent residence in your headspace if given enough plays. “Fourvel” is a dark, twisting tunnel.

It’s a long journey, but a journey none-

‘Weights’ reads lyrically as a moment of clarity, a call to throw away that restricting, dragging burden. on darker or reflective tones in its lyrics.

Tame is a contemplative debut worth studying.

One thing that should not be overlooked on the EP is the production by Henry McMinn, the mind behind indie rock group Tele Mori and the electronic, experimental WeatherPeople release Modified Memories from late 2015.

His influence is clear in some of the album’s synthetic spots.

The top portion of Tame is the project’s strongest.

The title track offers lush instrumentation and might be the record’s most danceable number. It’s also where Anderson gives an inspired vocal performance, and he’s able to carry that liveliness over onto the next track, “Pelican’t.”

The third track, “Weights,” is likely to become a favorite.

It reads lyrically as a moment of clarity, a call to throw away that restricting, dragging burden.

It’s sonically inventive and wellpaced. Foxburrows is at its best when it plays fast.

theless, with unexpected developments around the bend.

“How Long” is a terrific closer. It feels like crossing some kind of finish line by the time the track comes to an end. We’re spent, sure, but we also just accomplished something.

Foxburrows takes care to build up a guitar-driven atmosphere on Tame, and that effort is appreciated. No song feels rushed.

If there’s a complaint, it’s that the atmospheric effect is deliberate to the point where some songs bleed together.

Passive or casual listeners could get lost in the album’s middle mesh.

Still, it’s clear that a good deal of care went into crafting what will account for many people’s first introduction to the band.

The project deserves more than one listen — not to painstakingly mine quality but to decipher the whole platter as it is presented.

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live music These are events recommended

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

WEDNESDAY, 5.25 Gnarly Davidson/Young Bull/Cobrajab, 89th Street Collective. ROCK Harumph/Brand Zdan, The Deli, Norman. VARIOUS Tech N9ne/Krizz Kaliko/Rittz, Diamond Ballroom. HIP-HOP Woody & Sunshine, Red Brick Bar, Norman.

BLUEGRASS

Old 97’s/Heartless Bastards, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa. VARIOUS

THURSDAY, 5.26 Artifas/Small Town Titans/Soul Torrent, 89th Street Collective. ROCK Deftones, The Criterion. ROCK

Gogol Bordello A recommended cure for a bad day is to visit YouTube and watch Gogol Bordello’s music video for “Wonderlust King.” Or, better yet, see endlessly charismatic frontman Eugene Hütz perform it in concert. The Gypsy punk band has put on its vibrant stage show around the world since 1999. It joins Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls 8 p.m. June 1 at Diamond Ballroom, 8001 S. Eastern Ave. Tickets are $29. Visit diamondballroom.net or call 405-677-9169.

June 1 Photo provided

Evin Brady, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY Hookers and Blow/Coming Up Zero/Chasing Jenny/Bag ‘O Bones, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK

Raina Cobb and Friends/Open Mic Night, Hillbilly’s. COUNTRY

Rocky Kanaga, S&B’s Burger Joint NW OKC.

Randy Cassimus, Captain Norm’s Dockside Bar.

ACOUSTIC

Sound of Ceres/Team Nightstand, Opolis. VARIOUS

ROCK

Robbie Ray, Full Circle Bookstore. PIANO Steve Crossley, Bellini’s Underground. VARIOUS

The Garage Band Jam, Bourbon Street Bar. ROCK

The Off-Whites, The Deli, Norman.

ROCK

The Stir, Noir Bistro & Bar. COVER Thomas Cherry, Hillbilly’s. ROCK

Wino Browne, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK

A$AP Ferg/Tory Lanez, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa.

HIP-HOP

Wizkerz/TOX!K/Dr Proctor, First Pastafarian Church of Norman, Norman. VARIOUS

FRIDAY, 5.27

SUNDAY, 5.29

Bryce Merritt, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond.

Blues Jam/Tim Stanford & the Exclusives, Bourbon Street Bar. BLUES

Camille Harp, Noir Bistro & Bar. FOLK

Edgar Cruz/Jeff Nokes/Marco Tello, Othello’s Italian Restaurant, Norman. ACOUSTIC

SINGER/SONGWRITER

Culture Cinematic, Blue Note Lounge.

VARIOUS

Elizabeth Speegle Band, Boulevard Steakhouse.

JAZZ

Jamie Bramble, Full Circle Bookstore. ACOUSTIC Kerry Wayne’s Rock Star Band, Bistro 46. VARIOUS Midas 13, Alley Club. ROCK Red Shahan/Eric Willis/Grady Spencer, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY SHISHIO/Horse Lords, Opolis, Norman. ROCK So What Band, Bourbon Street Bar. ROCK Softaware/Saint Loretto/Sports, 89th Street Collective. ROCK

MONDAY, 5.30 Lee Brice, Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Catoosa.

COUNTRY

The Patron AintS/Byron White and Friends, The Deli, Norman. ROCK

TUESDAY, 5.31 Adam Torres/Sun Riah/Sarah Reid, Dirty First.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

Caleb McGee, The Deli, Norman. VARIOUS

Steve Crossley and Mark Galloway, Louie’s Midtown. VARIOUS

The Steel Wheels Band, The Depot, Norman.

The Remedy OKC Band, Oklahoma City Limits.

WEDNESDAY, 6.1

ROCK

SATURDAY, 5.28

COUNTRY

Bad Omens, 89th Street Collective. ROCK Count This Penny, The Blue Door.

411 Band, Riverwind Casino, Norman. COVER

SINGER/SONGWRITER

Bad Influence, Newcastle Casino, Newcastle.

Justin Hayward/Mike Dawes, Brady Theater, Tulsa.

COVER

SINGER/SONGWRITER

Cody Canada and The Departed, 7 Clans Paradise Casino, Red Rock. COUNTRY

Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club.

Doc Louie and Simple Souls, Bourbon Street Bar.

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

BLUES

Drew Sanderson/Forum/Mopak, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery. ROCK Equilibrium, S&B’s Burger Joint Midwest City.

ROCK

Howard Brady, IAO Gallery. ROCK MF Ruckus, Blue Note Lounge. ROCK Phil Smith & The Blend Project, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. VARIOUS

m ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

Travis Linville/Mike Hosty, The Deli, Norman.

ROCK

Erick Taylor, S&B’s Burger Joint, Midtown. ROCK

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

JAZZ

Live music 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 405528-4600 or e-mail them to listings@ okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

go to okgazette.com for full listings!

puzzles

VOL. XXXVIII No. 21

New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle exhibit A

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26 Inflames 27 Rains pellets 28 Fighting off drowsiness?

30 Like tweets 31 One of the “cities of the plain” 32 Internal pump 33 Belarussian capital 35 Lose it 37 “Peanuts” girl 42 2016 campaigner 44 Jack ____ (member of the Royal Navy) 46 “Conger eel? Au contraire!”

50 Stuck to the corkboard?

54 “Not with a bang but a whimper” poet 55 Tag line?

56 Inedible 57 La Scala premiere of 1887 58 Show signs of age 59 Associates 60 Erwin of 1950s TV 61 Bring along 63 Pound 65 Whirlybird whose paint job is

flaking off?

70 Christian in Hollywood 71 Supply 72 “____ All Too Much” (Beatles song) 73 Cuba ____ 74 Dethrone 78 Track down 80 “Something just occurred to me … ” 83 Correct copy 84 Down-filled garment 85 Adversary who shows up at

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90 Cut (off) 91 Scoffing reply 92 Company that sold Spirographs

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Wimsey novel) 98 Its symbol is a star and crescent 102 Quarters 104 Hand makeup 107 What Carrie needed after the prom?

112 1980s-’90s Olympian Jackie Joyner-____ 113 Maker of Caplio cameras 114 “Major shopping centers aren’t

among the prizes!”

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117 Ligurian Sea feeder 118 Stun with sound 119 GameCube successor 120 Signed over 121 Lacking excess 122 Divines 123 Lose rigidity

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2 Trig term 3 Substitute anchor during Walter

Cronkite’s tenure at CBS 4 ____ Island (home of Wagner College) 5 Cleveland team, informally 6 Ex Machina robot 7 Evocative of yesteryear 8 Belief systems 9 Finishes with 10 Predicament 11 Poet who wrote, “I took a deep breath and listened to the old

brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am” 12 Kate’s partner of old TV 13 Hartford-based Fortune 100 company 14 Layer 15 Head locks 16 Good at one’s job 17 Reasons to despair 18 In need of a steer 24 Shrink or enlarge 25 Target 29 Highly regarded 31 Glide effortlessly 34 Act 36 “That was sure close!”

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89 Something fit for a queen 94 Fashion editor’s predictions 95 Experiment subject 97 Continental divides?

99 Unswerving 100 Ere 101 Start of several Hawaiian place names 103 City near Lake Nasser 105 Screenwriter Ephron 106 Baseball commissioner after

Giamatti and Vincent 107 Shoe with holes 108 Colonial home, you might say 109 Stomach stuff 110 Lowest possible turnout 111 Rodent-control brand 112 Housemaid’s ____ (bursitis) 115 Hypotheticals

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Staff reporters Greg Elwell, Laura Eastes, Ben Luschen Contributors Mark Beutler, Brett Dickerson Christine Eddington, Jack Fowler George Lang, Alissa Lindsey, Wilhelm Murg Photographer Garett Fisbeck Marketing & Editorial Intern Ian Jayne Circulation Manager Chad Bleakley ASSISTANT Circulation Manager Duke Fleischer Art Director Chris Street

Advertising/Marketing Design Coordinator Erin DeMoss

Puzzle No. 0515, which appeared in the May 18 issue.

A T W A R

Assistant EDITOR Brittany Pickering

Print Production Coordinator Ashley Parks

New York Times Crossword Puzzle answers S A S H A

Advertising Director Christy Duane, cduane@okgazette.com Account Executive / Advertising assistant Leah Roberts

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67 Kedrova of Torn Curtain 68 ____ Novello Award

(songwriter’s honor) 69 Rhodes of Rhodes scholar fame 70 Move through a crowd, maybe 73 Ceiling stain’s cause 75 Browser-bar text 76 Jamaican genre 77 Undertaking 79 Affirms 80 Tools used for cutting curves 81 Put away 82 Even so 84 Break down

Accounting/HR Manager Marian Harrison Accounts receivable Karen Holmes

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Oklahoma Gazette is circulated at its designated distribution points free of charge to readers for their individual use and by mail to subscribers. The cash value of this copy is $1. Persons taking copies of the Oklahoma Gazette from its distribution points for any reason other than their or others’ individual use for reading purposes are subject to prosecution.

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Graphic Designer Anna Shilling www.okgazette.com Order mounted or ready-to-frame prints of Oklahoma Gazette covers, articles and photos at okgazette.yourheadline.com 3701 N. Shartel Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73118-7102 Phone (405) 528-6000 Fax (405) 528-4600 Copyright © 2016 Tierra Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | M ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 6

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free will astrology Homework: Confess, brag, and expostulate about what inspires you to love. Go to Freewillastrology.com and click “Email Rob.” ARIES (March 21-April 19) To convey the best

strategy for you to employ in the coming weeks, I have drawn inspiration from a set of instructions composed by aphorist Alex Stein: Scribble, scribble, erase. Scribble, erase, scribble. Scribble, scribble, scribble, scribble.

Erase, erase, erase. Scribble, erase. Keep what’s left. In other words, Aries, you have a mandate to be innocently empirical, robustly experimental, and cheerfully improvisational — with the understanding that you must also balance your fun with ruthless editing.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) “One must think like a

hero to behave like a merely decent human being,” wrote Taurus memoirist May Sarton. That’s a dauntingly high standard to live up to, but for the foreseeable future it’s important that you try. In the coming weeks, you will need to maintain a heroic level of potency and excellence if you hope to keep your dreams on track and your integrity intact. Luckily, you will have an extraordinary potential to do just that. But you’ll have to work hard to fulfill the potential — as hard as a hero on a quest to find the real Holy Grail in the midst of all the fake Holy Grails.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) “Whatever you’re meant

to do, do it now,” said novelist Doris Lessing. “The conditions are always impossible.” I hope you take her advice to heart, Gemini. In my astrological opinion, there is no good excuse for you to postpone your gratification or to procrastinate about moving to the next stage of a big dream. It’s senseless to tell yourself that you will finally get serious as soon as all the circumstances are perfect. Perfection does not and will never exist. The future is now. You’re as ready as you will ever be.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) French painter Henri Matisse didn’t mind being unmoored, befuddled, or in-between. In fact, he regarded these states as being potentially valuable to his creative process. Here’s his

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M ay 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

By Rob Brezny

testimony: “In art, truth and reality begin when one no longer understands what one is doing or what one knows.”

I’m recommending that you try out his attitude, Cancerian. In my astrological opinion, the time has come for you to drum up the inspirations and revelations that become available when you don’t know where the hell you are and what the hell you’re doing.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

Proposed experiment: Imagine that all the lovers and would-be lovers you have ever adored are in your presence. Review in detail your memories of the times you felt thrillingly close to them. Fill yourself up with feelings of praise and gratitude for their mysteries. Sing the love songs you love best. Look into a mirror and rehearse your “I only have eyes for you” gaze until it is both luminous and smoldering. Cultivate facial expressions that are full of tender, focused affection.

Got all that, Leo? My purpose in urging you to engage in these practices is that it’s the High Sexy Time of year for you. You have a license to be as erotically attractive and wisely intimate as you dare.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others,” wrote editor Jacob M. Braude. Normally I would endorse his poignant counsel, but for the foreseeable future I am predicting that the first half of it won’t fully apply to you. Why? Because you are entering a phase that I regard as unusually favorable for the project of transforming yourself. It may not be easy to do so, but it’ll be easier than it has been in a long time. And I bet you will find the challenge to reimagine, reinvent, and reshape yourself at least as much fun as it is hard work.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) “Never turn down an

adventure without a really good reason,” says author Rebecca Solnit in her book *The Far Away Nearby.* That’s a thought she had as she contemplated the possibility of riding a raft down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. Here’s how I suspect this meditation applies to you, Libra: There have been other times and there will be other times when you will have

good reasons for not embarking on an available adventure. But now is not one of those moments.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Russian poet Vera Pavlova tells about how once when she was using a pen and paper to jot down some fresh ideas, she got a paper cut on her palm. Annoying, right?

On the contrary. She loved the fact that the new mark substantially extended her life line. The palmistrylover in her celebrated. I’m seeing a comparable twist in your near future, Scorpio. A minor inconvenience or mild setback will be a sign that a symbolic revitalization or enhancement is nigh.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Norway is mountainous, but its neighbor Finland is quite flat. A group of Norwegians has launched a campaign to partially remedy the imbalance. They propose that to mark the hundredth anniversary of Finland’s independence, their country will offer a unique birthday gift: the top of Halti mountain. Right now the 4,479-foot peak is in Norway. But under the proposed plan, the border between countries will be shifted so that the peak will be transferred to Finland.

I would love you to contemplate generous gestures like this in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. It’s a highly favorable time for you to bestow extra imaginative blessings. (P.S. The consequences will be invigorating to your own dreams.)

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) I believe that every

one of us should set aside a few days every year when we celebrate our gaffes, our flaws, and our bloopers.

During this crooked holiday, we are not embarrassed about the false moves we have made. We don’t decry our bad judgment or criticize our delusional behavior.

Instead, we forgive ourselves of our sins. We work to understand and feel compassion for the ignorance that led us astray. Maybe we even find redemptive value in our apparent lapses; we come to see that they saved us from some painful experience or helped us avoid getting a supposed treasure that would have turned out to be a booby prize. Now would be a perfect time for you to observe this crooked holiday.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Sometimes the love you experience for those you care about makes you feel vulnerable. You may worry about being out of control or swooping so deeply into your tenderness that you lose yourself. Giving yourself permission to cherish and nurture can make you feel exposed, even unsafe. But none of that applies in the coming weeks. According to my interpretation of the astrological omens, love will be a source of potency and magnificence for you. It will make you smarter, braver, and cooler. Your words of power will be this declaration by Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani: “When I love / I feel that I am the king of time / I possess the earth and everything on it / and ride into the sun upon my horse.” (Translated by Lena Jayyusi and Christopher Middleton.)

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

In November 1916, at the height of World War I, the Swedish schooner Jönköping set sail for Finland, carrying 4,400 bottles of champagne intended for officers of the occupying Russian army. But the delivery was interrupted. A hostile German submarine sunk the boat, and the precious cargo drifted to the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The story didn’t end there, however. More than eight decades later, a Swedish salvage team retrieved a portion of the lost treasure, which had been well-preserved in the frosty abyss.

Taste tests revealed that the bubbly alcholic beverage was “remarkably light-bodied, extraordinarily elegant and fantastically fresh, with discreet, slow-building toasty aromas of great finesse.” (Source: tinyurl.com/ toastyaromas.) I foresee the potential of a similar resurrection in your future, Pisces. How deep are you willing to dive?

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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