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CONTENTS 38

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ON THE COVER

NEWS

Local diner cooks from Classen Grill, Jeff’s Country Cafe, The Diner, 50’s Cafe and Abraham’s Western Cafe share their tried-and-true secrets so you can made delicious pancakes, omelets, basted eggs, chicken-fried steak, crisp bacon and hash browns at home.

Story by Greg Elwell. P. 19.

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City: SW 29th business district

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OKG picks

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City: sidewalks

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Cover: diner chef secrets

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Election: GOP primary

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News briefs

Food & Drink: Burrito Grill, food briefs, OKG eat: drinks

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Culture: GLOW

28

Education: Red Earth Low-Residency MFA

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Visual Arts: community beginnings, A Surreal Embrace of Absurdity and the Confrontation of Death, Allied Arts campaign

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Chicken-Fried News

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Commentary

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Letters

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.

LIFE

LIFE 33

Performing Arts: Plays Written by Kids (and Performed by Adults), Jewel Box Theatre auditions

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Sudoku / Crossword

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Active: Winfred Addy

Music: Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Sun Riah, PJ Morton, listings

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Astrology

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Classifieds

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I-40 EXIT 178 | SHAWNEE, OK | 405-964-7263 O k l a h O m a G a z e t t e | j u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 3

Meg salyer

emma kratochwill

David castillo

chris killmer

chip oppenheimer

Heart smart Southside residents and business owners develop a plan with the city to help La 29 thrive.

By Ben felDer

David Castillo, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, stood in the center of Berta’s Mexican Restaurant in south OKC and agreed with a group of local business owners who had complained that the city’s attention is too often focused on other communities, most notably those north of the river, downtown.

“Over the years, I’ll be very blunt ... a lot of the stuff that has been passed [by the city council] has been going north,” said Castillo as some in the crowd agreed with shouts of “Amen!”

“But the reason that is happening is because we’ve never had a good voice on the southside.”

Castillo’s comments were made in support of an effort to create a business improvement district (BID) along SW 29th Street, which has become one of the local Hispanic community’s business hubs.

Nearly 40 community and business leaders from the southside gathered last week at the Mexican eatery to learn more about the BID proposal. While a healthy amount of skepticism existed from business owners who have watched millions of investments take place in other parts of the city, there also was a willingness to move forward and create a more unified voice that could help sway city officials, especially as another general obligation bond approaches in a few years.

“I’d say this meeting was helpful,” said Chris Killmer, owner of Killroy Auto Credit on SW 29th Street.

“Obviously, the streets need repair. But

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I’d also like to see an increase in police and security. Maybe this [BID] is a way to help that happen, and I am for that if we can all be a part of that process.”

Healthy start

Oklahoma City Council members Pete White and Meg Salyer were both in attendance and said the investment downtown was viewed as a way to build a foundation for the region but there was an interest in pushing more investment toward other parts of the city, especially as a potential 2017 general obligation bond enters the planning stages.

“The analogy of what has happened in this city is often the city being a body, with the heart of that body being downtown,” Salyer said. “If your heart is dead, the rest of the body can’t function.”

Most concerns expressed by business leaders were over a potential fee from property owners to maintain the BID and its administrative arm.

The fee would be based on a property’s assessment.

“Even if it’s just $1,000 a year, it still adds up for many small businesses,” Killmer said.

Emma Kratochwill, Southwest 29th Business Improvement District Association executive director, also known as La 29, gave a presentation on the potential BID and said a proposed annual budget of $150,000 would be spent on staffing, security, street lighting and maintenance and marketing.

As she fielded questions on why

Obviously, the streets need repair. But I’d also like to see an increase in police and security.

— Chris Killmer

the BID was needed, her response was that it was time for the diverse southside community to work together in a way that business districts and neighborhoods in other parts of the city had.

“Our job is rebuilding trust,” Kratochwill said. “It will take time, and it will take a lot of conversations.

But we’ve got to just keep talking to people.”

A lot of the conversation around creating BIDs in other parts of the city and investing in urban infrastructure has centered on the goal of making OKC an attractive place for young residents to live. Kratochwill said that goal also existed on the southside.

“With over 50 percent of [OKC public schools’] student body being Hispanic, Southwest 29th is an important center for that generation,” Kratochwill said. “Those kids are graduating and wanting to stay. Those kids are growing up here on SW 29th, and they are amazingly innovative and their minds work different from the old regime. These kids are going to be the

heart and blood of SW 29th.”

Gloria Torres, a member of the OKC school board, agreed that investing in the city’s Hispanic community was important in an effort to preserve and celebrate a major part of the city’s culture.

“You have the Latino flair here, but it is still an Oklahoma culture,” Torres said. “As a Latina that is born and raised an Okie, I have those Oklahoma values and traditions as well as the Hispanic culture, and that is a beautiful blend.”

Kratochwill said her organization hopes to submit a BID application to the city by the end of the month and the boundaries are proposed as SW 29th Street from May Avenue to Shields Boulevard. The Southwest 29th Business Improvement District Association launched last year with support from the Hispanic chamber.

“We’ve got our little training wheels off, and we are out there now, trying to prove we can do this,” Kratochwill said.

Several business owners expressed excitement for the BID proposal and saw it as an opportunity to access the type of capital investment many have lamented not having over the past few decades.

“This is a way that [the city] has seen that has been very successful for downtown, the Plaza District, Windsor Hills, Uptown 23rd,” said Chip Oppenheimer, owner of Economy Square Shopping Center. “If we all sat back and we didn’t organize, we wouldn’t be able to make the progress we all want to see.”

p hotos by m a rk ha n coc k

neWs city

Walkability options

By Brett Dickerson

Now you can do something about that broken sidewalk you keep tripping on in front of your house.

Oklahoma City Council approved a new program on June 23 that will allow its residents to share the cost of replacing sections or “panels” of their broken or unusable sidewalks in front of their homes. The sharing split will be 50 percent funded by the new program and 50 percent by the homeowner.

“We definitely want to make the city more walkable,” said Public Works Director Eric Wenger.

He said that one way to improve city walkability is to make sidewalks safer. That means eliminating some of the conditions on old sidewalks that can impede or injure the people who use them.

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Eric Wenger

Over time, weather-related deterioration and problems with grass and tree invasion can cause cracks and force sections of the sidewalk to heave upward.

For those who need wheelchair accessibility, these types of problems can create barriers to movement.

Wenger said sections that have moved 1 inch vertically or 1.5 inches horizontally from each other will be eligible for the program.

“We’re not looking necessarily to restore all of the aesthetic qualities of the sidewalk ... we want to eliminate the hazard,” he said.

The council budgeted up to $100,000 for the program that began July 1, the beginning of new fiscal year 2015-16, and agreed to hear an update

after the first six months.

This is a different program from the MAPS 3 and 2007 General Obligation Bond projects that have already built 53 miles of new sidewalks in OKC since 2013.

Wenger pointed out that this program is directed specifically at helping restore existing sidewalks for safety and walkability.

Residents may go to the new website, okc.gov/sidewalkprogram, for more information on the program.

A form can be filled out there with instructions on how to apply.

Once the city receives an application, qualified staff who currently do sidewalk inspections will be assigned to evaluate whether or not the sidewalk qualifies for the program. Staff will

m a rk ha n coc k

Broken sidewalks can be fixed with help from the city’s new cost-sharing program.

then send a letter to the applicant telling them whether or not they qualify.

If they do, qualified contractors will develop a cost for the project.

If applicants “are in agreement, they will make the deposit of their 50 percent portion to the city, and the work will be scheduled to follow,” Wenger said.

But Wenger does not want residents to talk themselves out of applying presuming that it will cost too much.

He emphasized that residents should apply since there is no charge to them to have an evaluation by city staff done.

Once the evaluation is completed and cost is determined, there is no obligation for the applicant to go ahead with the project.

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | j u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 5 7/2/15 3:08 PM

NEWS ELECTION

District race

m a rk ha n coc k

As House District 85 heads into a primary election, the issues might become skewed, as voter turnout is expected to be low.

by ben felder

Chip Carter

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House District 85 includes the area on the north side of Northwest Expressway in this view from the May Avenue overpass.

to be very low and mostly older ... which tends to skew the issues.”

Most voters will learn about the candidates through mailers and front porch visits. But in Gazette interviews, three of four candidates did speak of education, economic development and public safety as important issues to voters.

“I think everyone in the state is concerned with education, everyone is concerned with jobs, everyone is concerned with the economy — I think those are givens,” Palumbo said. “But I think [those in House District 85] genuinely want to make sure that this area stays a conservative stronghold.”

— David Holt

Crawford said he is concerned with wasteful education funding but is also receiving a message from voters to preserve American values.

“I had a friend of mine tell me, ‘Ralph, if you’re elected, promise me you will try to preserve liberty, protect

Ralph Crawford

Matt Jackson

provided

our liberty,’” Crawford said. “I think people need to vote for the person who best supports liberty.”

In recent Facebook posts, Crawford has also said he would fight to overturn a recent ruling by the state Supreme Court that orders the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from the Capitol grounds.

In addition to trumpeting conservative talking points, candidates have highlighted endorsements from popular conservative leaders. Carter announced an endorsement from Gov. Mary Fallin and Sen. Jim Inhofe, who easily won reelection last year.

“As Sen. Inhofe knows, I am committed to upholding our conservative values in the State House of Representatives,” Carter said.

Name recognition and fundraising will also play a role in the primary election. But candidates are targeting Republican voters with conservative talking points, some of which are not always rooted in policy.

“It’s a seat [Republicans] ought to hold, but the Democrats have a strong candidate and the [demographics of the] seat are changing,” Holt said. “I think someone like Carter is well positioned for a general election because he talks more about education and economic development issues, which are issues that appeal to the broader public of a general election.”

It’s a Republican primary in a summer special election. The turnout is going to be very low and mostly older ... which tends to skew the issues.

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mark hancock

addressing social issues and other talking points that tend to dominate special Republican primaries.

“Public education, pro-business and economic development issues are what have the biggest impact to voters,” said Sen. David Holt, who represents District 30, which includes portions of District 85. “But when you get into a special election in a closed primary system like we have, issues that may not be as close to daily life rise a little higher. Nobody in mainstream life is talking about nullification [of Obamacare], but I got a mail piece advocating for that particular theory [from a candidate].”

The mail referred to by Holt was sent by Jackson’s campaign, and it promised that his first legislation, if elected, would be to “nullify the atrocity that is Obamacare.”

Last week, Jackson did not show up for a scheduled interview with Oklahoma Gazette and did not respond to a request to reschedule. In addition to opposing the Affordable Care Act, Jackson promotes a patriotic tone on his campaign Facebook page. Links to articles about how to fold an American Flag or the life of John Wayne are more common than posts on education reform or tax breaks.

Mailers from other candidates have advocated for pro-life and pro-gun issues.

“I don’t think there has been enough discussion of economic development and education,” Holt said, “but I’m not surprised. It’s a Republican primary in a summer special election. The turnout is going

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Republican voters in House District 85 are getting to know a cast of new faces after nearly 21 years with a consistent name as their representative.

The northwest Oklahoma City House seat had been held by David Dank, who died earlier this year, or his wife, Odilia Dank, for over two decades. A 13 percent margin of victory for David Dank in last year’s election kept District 85 a Republican stronghold. But next week’s special Republican primary will determine which candidate will take on Democrat Cyndi Munson, who has had more than a year’s head start and is expected by many to make a strong push for the seat.

“I think this is an extraordinarily difficult race,” said Chip Carter, one of the four Republican candidates.

“Whoever out of the four of us gets out [of the primary] will go against somebody who did this just nine months ago ... and who has name [recognition].

Yes, it’s a Republican-leaning district, but I think we are all going to have a heck of a dog fight in September.”

Before the general election on Sept. 8, a Republican primary will be held on July 14. The four Republican candidates include Carter, 45; Matt Jackson, 40; Amy Palumbo, 37; and Ralph Crawford, 63.

Dank was a lawmaker praised for a moderate approach and attention to tax credits and senior citizen issues.

While some of the primary candidates have referred to his legacy, many are

Amy Palumbo

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NEWS Briefs by ben felder

By the numbers $347,948,878. That’s the amount of the Fiscal Year 2016 general fund budget for Oklahoma City Public Schools. It was approved last week by the school board, along with a building fund budget of almost $20 million.

In a presentation to the board, district interim CFO Jean Bostwick said the budget process for schools was challenging because it is based on a variety of projections, such as student enrollment and property assessments, that could change.

“It’s an interesting process from a school district perspective,” Bostwick said.

“We have no definitive known numbers to start the year out.”

Seattle bound As the first passenger exited the Jetway into Will Rogers World Airport, a round of applause greeted him, pushing Oklahoma City’s reputation as a welcoming city to new heights.

This wasn’t the standard airport greeting but rather the celebration of a new daily nonstop flight between Seattle and OKC, which officially began July 1.

“We approached [Alaska Airlines] a few years ago,” said Scott Keith, the airport’s assistant director, “about six years to be exact.”

Keith said service to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest had been on Will Rogers’ wish list for a while but even when Alaska Airlines, which is based in Seattle, expressed interest in OKC, it lacked the right size aircraft.

Recently, Alaska Airlines purchased a fleet of Embraer 175 jets, which will fly the daily flight between OKC and Seattle with a capacity of 76.

“The airplane is brand-new; the paint might still be wet on it,” joked Karen Cannon, a regional manager for Alaska Airlines.

Airport officials said Seattle is an attractive destination for tourists but the growing aerospace industry in the state also presented a demand for nonstop service between the two cities. The flight will also provide easier access to Alaska and Portland, Oregon.

“We are kind of celebrating two things today,” said Roy Williams, Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce president. “We are celebrating a new airline to our market and a new direct flight to a new destination.”

Even in evangelical Oklahoma, a Ten Commandments monument on the Oklahoma capitol grounds has faced numerous challenges. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against its placement, a satanic church tried to add its own tribute, and a man even ran his car into it.

Last week, the lawsuit was victorious as the State Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the monument violated the Oklahoma Constitution.

In its decision, the court referenced Article 2 section 5 of the state constitution: “No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.”

Following the victory, Ryan Kiesel, executive director of ACLU of Oklahoma, said the monument placement violated basic constitutional protections.

“The placement of the Ten Commandments monument at the Capitol created a more divisive and hostile state for many Oklahomans, sending a message to some citizens that they are less than equal because of their religious beliefs,” Kiesel said in a media statement. “The Oklahoma Supreme Court recognizes that when the government literally puts one faith on a pedestal, it is an affront to one of the most fundamental protections of the Oklahoma Constitution, namely that all Oklahomans, regardless of the beliefs, stand before their government as equals.”

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Quotable — SCOTUS edition

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Following a busy week for the United State Supreme Court, which handed down several decisions celebrated by Democrats, Oklahoma’s governor was busy rebuking most of the outcomes.

“Taxpayers will be, for the time being, stuck with a law that is deeply flawed, disruptive to the lives of American families and a destructive force in our economy,” Gov. Mary Fallin (pictured) said in a media release following the court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

“Like the vast majority of Oklahomans, I support traditional marriage. I do not and will not support expanding the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples,” Fallin said following the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize samesex marriage nationwide.

The court did render two decisions that Fallin celebrated.

Of a ruling that allows Oklahoma to continue killing convicted murders by lethal injection, Fallin said, “The Constitution is clearly not intended to prohibit the death penalty by lethal injection or the use of the sedative midazolam. I appreciate the Court’s ruling, which upholds the letter and the spirit of the law as it is written.”

On a decision striking down certain Environmental Protection Agency restrictions on coal power plants, Fallin said, “The EPA regulations in question would have imposed a $10 billion a year cost for power plants. [This] decision is a victory for American families and businesses that would have faced skyrocketing costs because of unreasonable rules and regulations.”

garett fisbeck

keaton dra p er

Ten Commandments

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CHiCKEN CKEN Jailhouse blues

No jail has ever received a fivestar comfort rating, but the accommodations at Oklahoma County jail are more unbearable than most.

Sewer lines have burst throughout the facility yet again, forcing inmates such as 19-year-old Ross Hoover to serve hard time in cells infested with black mold and raw sewage.

In protest of the jail’s unsanitary conditions, six of Hoover’s relatives held signs in front of the facility calling it “the worst jail in America.”

Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel stated that the issue was caused by inmates intentionally clogging the sewage system and it was taken care of in a few hours. If you ask Ross Hoover, he’ll tell you both the sheriff and the jail are full of crap.

The Hoovers aren’t asking the jail to provide inmates with room service and 800-thread count Egyptian cotton

FRiED NEWS sheets; all they want is Ross to serve his time for drug-related charges in a sanitary cell. We’re uncertain if our jail will ever fix its ongoing leaky sewage issue, so plan on committing all crimes worthy of incarceration in another county until further notice.

Drugged defenestration

What happens when you mix uppers and downers?

Ask Emilio Marquis Abbott.

Edmond Police allege the 22-year-old threw himself through the window of an Edmond apartment complex.

And then things got crazy.

As any recently sliced-up young man might do, Abbott then went to Sonic, where he allegedly beat up a couple and hijacked their Honda Civic.

Not far away, police were called to the scene of a fight at Second Street and Broadway.

Guess who!

Police allege that Abbott hit three cars, ditched the Civic and then tried to carjack a woman’s Mercedes. When people came to her aid and pulled him from the automobile, he allegedly bit a man’s fingers all the way to the bone. When officers arrived, he then switched to fighting them until the pepper spray came out.

“So, what was Abbott on?” is the question everyone is asking. We’ll tell you.

According to police, the man admitted that he had taken Xanax, smoked weed and drank liquor and beer before everything happened.

Well, at least now we all know exactly how many drugs it takes to make Edmond exciting.

Howling wind

As state lawmakers decried the State Supreme Court’s decision last week to remove the Ten Commandments statue from the grounds of Oklahoma’s capitol, at least one church leader celebrated.

The case for removal was brought up in 2013 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma (ACLU) on behalf of local Baptist minister and theologian Bruce Prescott and several others.

“Religious people should rejoice that, despite the state’s argument to the contrary, the court made clear that the Ten Commandments monument is obviously religious in nature and not merely a secular historical artifact,” Prescott said in a media statement regarding the decision in Prescott v. Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission.

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“Whatever!” was the collective and angry response from lawmakers who voiced their opposition the court’s 7-2 decision by bombarding media with press statements that demanded swift retribution and “judicial reform” or, as some put it, impeachment of the seven who favored the monument’s removal.

“This is pure evil winning in our state and country,” Rep. Mike Sanders, R-Kingfisher, said. “Our country is under assault from an unelected judiciary that is continuously trying to force cultural change upon us.”

The fact is religious dogma is informed by a dynamic thing called culture, and culture is informed by a community’s education, training, collective experience, ethnic history and — especially in Oklahoma — religious beliefs. So, we guess the validity of the argument for keeping the monument depends on which side is inflicting the so-called “cultural change.”

Heck, the pro-monument contingent argues that the Ten Commandments should be displayed on state-owned property solely due to its “nonreligious” historical value,

thereby trumping Oklahoma’s constitutional prohibition against the forced cohabitation of church and state.

A wholesale suspension of disbelief is required for anyone who denies that — by definition — the commandments are “God’s laws.”

Article 2 section 5 of the state constitution prohibits the use of public money or property to benefit or support any “sect, church or denomination, or system of religion … or sectarian institution.”

Birthday baller

Most kids love birthday parties and professional athletes.

They also love surprises. So, when that trifecta happens, they lose their minds, especially when sports hero Kevin Durant surprises one of them for his birthday only to whip his rump at a pop-a-shot basketball arcade game.

That’s right; our injured warrior — who played only 27 games last season — was in Los Angeles to promote his new sneakers when he stopped at a Dave & Buster’s to crash the party. He then proceeded to own the birthday boy at the beloved game. The final score was around 42-26.

Hey, KD. We realize the competitive nature of professional athletes is one of the things that make them so great.

However, can’t you just let a kid win on his special day?

Local government

Councilman Pete White would like to give state lawmakers a vocabulary lesson.

“Somebody needs to explain to them the definition of the word ‘local,’” White said during a recent city council

meeting.

White was referring specifically to a new state law that overrides the city’s recently passed ordinance concerning rideshare services like Uber and Lyft.

The city debated the new policies for nearly a year before adopting them in 2014.

However, the state recently stepped in with its own law.

The state has made a habit of stepping in and imposing its own laws on municipalities, including bans on cities setting a minimum wage, restricting drilling or creating abandoned property registries.

“They think that they’re smarter than we are about how to run our city,” White added.

The irony is the same lawmakers restricting cities like Oklahoma City are often criticizing federal agencies and the president for imposing regulations on Oklahoma.

State lawmakers often advocate for more “local control,” but maybe they should drop the “local” part of that request and just be honest with themselves.

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COMMENTARY GA ZE TTE STA FF / FI l E

There is no cheap or easy fix

BY JOHN THOMPSON

Fifteen years ago, the MAPS for Kids Student Achievement Committee was shocked to learn that 10 percent of Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) students needed in- or outside-school alternative services and the district needed an additional 1,205 alternative school slots. MAPS promised “Rolls-Royce quality” alternative schools so troubled students didn’t repeatedly disrupt classroom instruction merely because the alternative schools were full. MAPS emphasized that efforts to create safe and orderly schools could not be punitive.

We were warned by the chief of staff of a major district that chronic misbehavior was not a “problem” that could be tackled and perhaps solved, but a “predicament” to be endured. No urban school system would seriously attempt to enforce its code of conduct.

Then came No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and the nation’s focus shifted from building respectful learning

cultures to holding individual educators accountable for test scores. It was claimed that high quality instruction and improved classroom management could stop chronic disruptions.

Before NCLB, many educators claimed that better teaching was enough to create orderly schools, but few believed it.

Sadly, after the blame-the-teacher, test-driven school reform took over, educators often had to act as if they really believed that better instruction and classroom management could systematically address chronic misbehavior and violence. The real damage was done with the ascendance of education leaders who really believed that “High Expectations!” and engaging instruction were enough, and too many blamed teachers for out-of-control schools.

I’m torn by the challenge that has been thrust upon OKCPS. We must reduce suspensions. That is good. But

if the responsibility for creating orderly school environments is merely dumped on teachers, it will be a disaster.

The exodus of teaching talent and families from neighborhood schools will accelerate, and the call for more charters could become irresistible.

Some will even claim that KIPP and “No Excuses” charters serve the “same” students and that high-poverty neighborhood schools could raise behavioral standards in the same way.

In reality, the task of creating orderly schools that serve everyone who walks through their doors must become a team effort. And it will be expensive. In a 90 percent low-income district like OKCPS, schools serve an unconscionable number of kids who have endured extreme trauma. Charters only keep as many suffering students as they can handle. Neighborhood schools can’t pick and choose.

Many students have endured traumas that literally alter their

Opinions expressed on the commentary page, in letters to the editor and elsewhere in this newspaper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ownership or management.

cognitive processes. Most of the disorder and violence in high-poverty traditional public schools begins with children who are acting out the pain they bring to class.

Much of the mayhem in inner-city schools is perpetuated, however, by adults who won’t face facts. OKCPS will not improve until it addresses the chronic disorder that washes out high-quality instruction. We won’t create safe and orderly environments until we make teaching a team effort and invest in aligned and coordinated socioemotional supports.

We must reject cheap and easy quick fixes, such as deputizing teachers as the agents for managing the problems created by all of society. We must tackle a daunting challenge and make safe and orderly schools a priority.

To do otherwise is to ignore the plight of troubled children whose misbehavior is a plea for help.

Dr. John Thompson’s A Teacher’s Tale, chronicling 20 years in Oklahoma City schools, will be published this fall.

LETTERS Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section.

The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to jchancellor@ okgazette.com or sent online at okgazette. com. Include a city of residence and contact number for verification.

Fine writing

Your recent opinion piece (Commentary, “The blindness of privilege,” Jennifer Chancellor, June 24, Oklahoma Gazette) was an impressive bit of writing.

I would go so far as to encourage all of the newspaper’s readers to take it to heart.

And to heed the lessons in it.

Most of us fail to consider the advantages we may have been born with.

Certainly location in the suburbs is one. Having parents who encouraged education is another.

But there are others. Some may be more subtle than others.

1 2 | J u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h O m a G a z e t t e

Your opinion piece is well-written.

It certainly sets out the benefits that privilege of place and birth can give to us. It fails, however, to consider one other matter.

The privilege that many of us have — even from birth — carries real responsibilities.

Among those is to get past the sense that we made our way ourselves.

Almost none of us can honestly say that we made our place ourselves, without the help of others.

Even Bill Gates and Warren Buffett acknowledge the assistance they received from parents and others as they achieved more success.

And assistance often comes from government and other public institutions.

It’s this assistance that we must acknowledge. And extend the same to others.

Thank you for your fine writing.

— Jerry Stephens Edmond

Logical fallacy

Corrections

White privilege? (Commentary, “The blindness of privilege,” Jennifer Chancellor, June 24, Gazette) 1. Quit your job and have the Gazette hire a minority to take the job you abandoned.

2. You could dye your hair, get a hair weave and then a spray tan. Change your name. Instant incognegro. Get your job back.

Either walk the walk or keep your white guilt ass shut.

— Phillip DeSalvo Oklahoma City

>> The June 17 story “Last laughs” (Life, Performing Arts, Gazette) incorrectly spelled a comedian’s name.

It should be Cameron Buchholtz. >> The cast photo for Oklahoma! (Life, Performing Arts, “Summer stars” June 10, Gazette) should be credited to photographer KO Rinearson.

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | J u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 1 3

Calling all overachievers under 40

NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN FOR

OKG picks are events

recommended by Oklahoma Gazette editorial staff members.

For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.

BOOKS Tammy Sauer Day, local Edmond writer will be present for crafts and snacks and a signing her new children’s book, Ginny Louise and the School Showdown, as well as be recognized for her very own locally official holiday by Mayor Lamb and the Edmond City Council; 5-6:30 p.m., July 9. Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, Edmond, 340-9202, bestofbooksedmond.com. THU

P ROVI DED

Matt Kepnes Book Signing, the prolific travel writer and blogger will sign copies of his book, Travel the World on $50 a Day, a guide filled with everything you need to know to travel both cheaper and smarter; 6:30 p.m., July 9. Garden Cafe at Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. THU

FILM Roar, (1981, US, Dir. Noel Marshall) very real danger for the cast and crew causes tensions to run high in this classic one-of-a-kind wildlife movie starring Tippi Hedren’s family and more than 100 untamed lions, tigers, and other variety of animals you wouldn’t want in your home; 8 p.m., July 10 & 11. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa.com. FRI

CLASS OF 2015

Back to the Future, (1985, US, Dir. Robert Zemeckis) SONIC Summer Movie Nights presents the 30th anniversary celebration of this time travel comedy classic about a teenager who winds up in 1955 and the mad scientist who accidentally sent him there; 9 p.m., July 15.

Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/events. WED

HAPPENINGS

Friendly Fermentation, join Whole Foods for an introduction to the benefits of fermentation and hands on tutorial of making your own fermented food and beverages; 11 a.m., July 11. Whole Foods Market, 6001 N. Western Ave., 879-3500, wholefoodsmarket.com. SAT Oklahoma Bridal Show, largest bridal event in the state; smell the flowers, taste the cakes, see the photos, and hear the music with nearly a hundred of the area’s best wedding vendors and professionals, 1 p.m., July 12.

Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens, 602-8500, coxconventioncenter.com. SUN

GLOW on the Oklahoma River presents local music, food trucks and movies on select Fridays through the summer in the Boathouse District, 725 S. Lincoln Blvd.

Friday’s event features music from Lost on Utica from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. along with Disney’s hit movie Maleficent at 8:30 p.m. Enjoy food from RIVERSPORT Café, Sizzle N Spice, Wicked Hangry and more. Visit boathousedistrict.org/glow. Read more about the event in our story on P.27.

Friday

FOOD Outdoor Dinner Series: Native American Cuisine, an intimate dinner under the stars and in the gardens featuring creative Native American fare accompanied with a performance by Native American Flutist, Teresa Smith; menu includes three sisters salad, braised buffalo with sunchoke potato mash and dark chocolate bread pudding, 7-9 p.m., July 10. Meinders Garden and Terrace, 301 W. Sheridan Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/events. FRI

PROVIDE D

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

Live on the Plaza, monthly artwalk event which promotes emerging artistic talent in Oklahoma City, 7 p.m., July 10. Plaza District, 1618 N. Gatewood Ave., 3679403, plazadistrict.org. FRI

GLOW

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

Weekly Farmers Market, shop goods from local produce, bakers and artisans, 9 a.m.- 2 p.m., July 11.

Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein Ave., 232-6506, okcfarmersmarket.com. SAT

YOUTH Okietales, educational program designed for youths ages 5-9 to learn Oklahoma’s diverse history, ranging from topics of the Wild West to Land Runs and Pioneer Life; Admission $2 per child, 10:30-11:30 a.m., July 8.

Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 5212491, okhistory.org/historycenter. WED

Sharknado 2: The Second One Fathom Events, RiffTrax.com and IGN bring Sharknado 2: The Second One to the big screen for a live riff Thursday at select theaters around the country. Comedians Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett (of Mystery Science Theater 3000 cult fame) will have you in tears as they tear apart this satirical bomb about a deadly tornado — filled with sharks! — that terrorizes New York City. OKC showings are 7 p.m. at Cinemark Tinseltown, 6001 Martin Luther King Ave., and AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, 2501 W. Memorial Road. A rebroadcasting is 7:30 p.m.

July 16 at AMC Quail Springs. Tickets are $9.50$12.50. Visit fathomevents.com.

Thursday, ongoing

1 4 | J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 | O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E

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Nathan Brown Second Sunday Poetry features readings from award-winning poet Nathan Brown 2 p.m.

Sunday at The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., in Norman. The Norman native will read from his most recent book, To Sing Hallucinated: First Thoughts on Last Words, a collection of works inspired by the first and last words of famous people.

The reading is free, and light refreshments will be served. Visit pasnorman.org.

Sunday

Take pART Free Art Class, participants ages 9-15 can choose between cooking, writing, painting, and several other art classes, July 9. Oklahoma State Fair Park, 3221 Great Plains Walk. THU Friday Fun Nights, music, games, and a wide range of activities that are a splashing good time for the whole family; 7-10 p.m., July 10. Will Rogers Family Aquatic Center, 3201 N. Grand Blvd. FRI Hooked on Fishing, Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation hosts a free fishing clinic for children ages 5-15; 8 a.m., July 11. Edwards Park Lake, 1515 N. Bryant Ave. SAT Jurassic Fun Fair, bring the whole family out for a free obstacle course, moon bounce, and mechanical bull; 12 p.m., July 11. Sugar Creek Casino, 4200 N. Broadway Ave., Hinton, 5422946, sugarcreekcasino.net. SAT Natural Night Lights, join the scientists at Martin Park Nature Center to learn about the science behind bio-luminescent mushrooms and make your very own natural night light, 3 p.m., July 11.

Martin Park Nature Center, 5000 W. Memorial Ave., 755-0676, okc.gov/parks. SAT

PERFORMING ARTS Mary Poppins, everyone's favorite nanny, Mary Poppins, uses her combination of magic and common sense to teach the troubled Banks family how to value each other again, 7:30 p.m., July 8-9; 8 p.m., July 10; 2 & 8 p.m., July 11. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 297-2264, okcciviccenter.com. WED-SAT CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 1 5

P ROVI DED

continued

Seeking Monet JRB Art at the Elms brings the work of Oklahoma painter Beth Hammack and internationally renowned photographer Catherine Adams to the Paseo Arts District in the new exhibit Seeking Monet Monet, on display through July 31 at 2810 N. Walker Ave. Admire Hammack’s unique abstract paintings and Adams’ hand-printed black-andwhite stills during regular gallery hours 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Visit jrbartgallery.com.

Wednesday-Sunday, ongoing Exit, Pursued By a Bear, with the help of two friends, Nan duct tapes her abusive husband to his easy chair to teach him a lesson; they force him to watch as they reenact scenes from the couple’s painful past, and their theatrics include meat, honey, and a wild bear, 7:30 p.m., July 9; 8 p.m., July 10-11; 2 p.m., July 12.

Carpenter Square Theatre, 806 W. Main St., 232-6500, carpentersquare.com. THU-SUN Pirates of Penzance, local company Cimarron Opera presents Gilbert and Sullivan’s exuberant musical journey across the seven seas; yo-ho yo-ho, a pirate’s life for the whole family, 8 p.m., July 10; 2 & 8 p.m., July 11; 2 p.m., July 12. Nancy O’Brian Center for the Performing Arts, 1809 N. Stubbeman Ave., Norman, 364-0397, cimarronopera.org. FRI-SUN Plays Written by Kids, local theater troupe the Namron Players will perform a selection of plays written entirely by Longfellow Middle School 7th graders, guaranteed to be fun for all ages, 7 p.m., July 11; 2:30 p.m., July 12. Andrews Park, 201 W. Daws St., Norman, 366-5472, ci.norman.ok.us. SAT-SUN Funniest Person in OKC Finals, don’t miss the ultimate showdown that’s been 6 weeks in the making for the funniest person in Oklahoma City, 8 p.m., July 11. ACM@UCO Performance Lab, 329 E. Sheridan Ave., 974-4700, acm.uco.edu. SAT

ACTIVE Sunset Rooftop Yoga, enjoy Yoga Flow every Thursday evening at sunset on the Caliber Building’s rooftop; class is accompanied by live music, 7-8 p.m., July 9. Balance. Yoga. Barre., 911 N. Broadway Ave., 620-6807, balanceyogabarre.com. THU Wheeler Criterium, OKC’s premier cycling festival for friends and family of all ages; cheer on OK’s top cyclists and enjoy yummy food trucks, 5:30 p.m., July 14. OKC Downtown Airpark, 1701 S. Western Ave. TUE

1 6 | J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 | O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E

VISUAL ARTS A Foot in Two Worlds, exhibit by sculptor and storyteller Holly Wilson that tells a story through seven one-of-a-kind sculptures and seven largescale photographs. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd., 951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org.

Audubon and the Art of Birds, view an extensive collection of the original “double-elephant” prints from The Birds of America, the work that made John James Audubon famous. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., Norman, 325-4712, snomnh.ou.edu.

Cale Chadwick, exhibit of artwork by artist Cale Chadwick who creates pieces of art using her drawing, painting and photography skills; the natural, organic elements found throughout the original Chickasaw allotment that her family still resides on, plays a role in her artwork. Exhibit C, 1 E. Sheridan Ave., Ste. 100, 767-8900, exhibitcgallery.com.

Cut, Carve and Shape Show, 3D work by metal artist Judy Gregg, glass artist Nicki Albright and ceramic artists Jeff and Debbie Kuhns. The Purple Loft Art Gallery, 514 NW 28th St., Suite 400, 412-7066 Eighteen by Twenty-Four: Six Studies in Indigo, solo exhibit featuring Kachina Leigh martin that explores the sculptural properties of fabric; mounted fabric pieces and digital images on handmade paper document both process and product through the creation of six different shibori designs dyed in natural indigo in Oaxaca, Mexico. The Project Box, 3003 Paseo St., 609-3969, theprojectboxokc.com.

Ghost Towns: A Photographic Exploration of Claudette Torneden, photographer fascinated with history through art records images of the social climb and disappearing generations; she explores many of the state’s historical sites and ghost towns documenting

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remaining history. Red Dirt Gallery, 13100 N. Colony Pointe Blvd. #113, Yukon, 657-6207, reddirtartists. com.

DOWNTOWN

John Brandenburg Art Display, an explosive celebration of acrylic color on canvas created by a Normanite artist who draws inspiration from aspects of life both lofty and mundane. The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 307-9320, pasnorman. org.

NORTH

mecuokc.org *Approval is based on credit worthiness; existing ME/CU auto loans are not eligible for this promotion; minimum loan amount of $5,000; interest will continue to accrue during the 90 days with no payment; $100 will be deposited into your account when the loan is established. For a $20,000 AUTO loan for a term of 72 months with a 3.25% APR, the monthly payment will be $306.15.

Melissa Jacobs Art Exhibition, Oklahoma City artist presents What’s a Girl Suppose to Do? a collection of works inspired by the presentation of women in film, fashion, and popular culture; 6:30 p.m., July 10. Dope Chapel, 115 S. Crawford Ave., Norman, (580) 917-3695, facebook.com/ Dop3chapel.

Perceptual Art in Perspective, perceptual art is about how the observer interacts with shapes and colors; each person brings his or her own interpretations, and perhaps illusions, to the canvas. Paseo Gallery One, 2927 Paseo St., 5244544, facebook.com/paseogalleryone.

SOUTH

101 North Walker 8812 South Walker 3561 W. Memorial 813-5500 813-5550 813-5564

MECU 07-01-15 Summer Splash GAZ.indd 1

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Red White and Blue Art Display, featuring various art pieces celebrating the colors red, white, and blue in honor of the 4th of July. Jann Jeffrey Gallery, 3018 Paseo St., 607-0406 Remembering Our Fallen Exhibit, a memorial photo exhibit which commemorates the 120 fallen Oklahomans lost to the most recent wars in the Middle East; runs through July 11. Will Rogers World Airport, 7100 Terminal Dr.

PROVIDED

Works By Regina Murphy, Works by Regina Murphy: Celebrating 94 Years of a Life Filled with Love, Beauty, Grace & More. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/events.

Little Shop of Horrors University of Central Oklahoma provides air-conditioned entertainment on toasty summer nights with Movies@Mitchell, a free weekly movie series that runs through Aug. 1. This weekend’s film is the 1986 remake of Little Shop of Horrors at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday at UCO’s Mitchell Hall Theatre, 100 N. University Drive, in Edmond. Concessions will be available for purchase, but guests are encouraged to donate to Build Mitchell Hall. Visit uco.edu/cfad.

Saturday, ongoing

For OKG music picks see page 40

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 1 7

1909 S DOUGLAS BLVD MWC • 405-741-9494 7745 S WALKER (I-240 & WALKER) • 405-631-0783 SANDBBURGERS.COM 20 NW 9TH • 405-270-0516 5929 N MAY • 405-843-8777 14020 N MAY • 405-418-8477 1 8 | J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 | O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E

COVER FOOD & DRINK

Eggs, milk, buttermilk, butter, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, flour — it’s all fresh.

We make it in the mixer every day.

Kiss the cook

Jeff Ghandnoosh cooks pancakes at Jeff’s Country Cafe.

A little bit of prep goes a long way in creating your own delicious, diner-style breakfast at home.

BY GREG ELWELL

Most people’s homemade pancakes suck.

There. We were all thinking it, but someone finally had the guts to say it.

They aren’t fluffy or tender. They’re dry, burned on one side and raw on the other.

And you don’t even want to know what people think about the fried eggs.

And why is half the bacon burned when the other half is still raw? Did someone forget to take these biscuits out of the metal tube before sliding them into the oven?

Breakfast might be the most important meal of the day, but it’s rarely the best, unless you’re sliding into a vinyl booth at your local diner. Day in and day out, wizards in kitchens across Oklahoma City create meals that make us happy we got out of bed.

Relax, because that home-cooked breakfast is about to get a whole lot more delicious as Oklahoma Gazette shares easy tips from authentic diner cooks.

Pancakes

At Jeff’s Country Cafe, the pancakes taste almost like funnel cakes. They have crisp edges — almost lacy — but they’re not too thin.

Put away that knife because it’s unnecessary. These cakes are delicate enough to cut with a fork yet sturdy

soda (they’re two different things) and plan ahead.

If you’re making pancakes this weekend, grab a half-gallon of buttermilk while you’re at the store.

Luckily, there are plenty of uses for leftover buttermilk; it’s included in fried chicken batter, pies and delicious biscuits.

Biscuits

Homemade pancakes and bacon at Jeff’s Country Cafe

enough that, even drenched with syrup, each bite makes the treacherous journey from the plate to your mouth in one piece.

Owner Jeff Ghandnoosh takes pride in his recipe, though he doesn’t pretend it’s fancy.

“Eggs, milk, buttermilk, butter, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, flour — it’s all fresh. We make it in the mixer every day,” he said.

Buttermilk is important because

it gives the batter a bit of tang and its mildly sour taste helps the butter and syrup flavors stand out.

The right proportions count, of course, but a big mistake many home chefs make is thinking a box of shelfstable pancake mix is as delicious as a recipe you put together yourself.

Packaged mixes are designed to not go bad, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be good.

Invest in baking powder and baking

Speaking of biscuits, the staff at The Diner in Norman makes pretty mean ones. Manager and server Shelley May said the key is to start early.

“Making biscuits is something that can’t be rushed,” she said. “I’ve seen lots of cooks come through, and the ones who are most successful seem to be the ones who take their time.”

Try not to overwork the dough, either. Once the ingredients come together, stop mixing or you risk activating gluten. Overmixing creates leaden, tough, gummy biscuits not even The Diner’s gravy can soften.

And you’ll want a nice, featherlike biscuit to sop up runny egg yolks just like the ones you get at Jeff’s Country Cafe.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 1 9

PHOTOS BY GA RETT FI S BEC K

— Jeff Ghandnoosh

COVER FOOD & DRINK the grease and stays flat. Lots of people try cooking it in the pan and it ends up shriveled and burned.”

For diner-style, perfectly cooked bacon, lay strips on a jellyroll pan or on top of a rack over a sheet pan.

Oven-roasting cooks each piece evenly, giving you crispy bacon with a hearty, meaty chew.

Each morning, Essaili par-cooks his bacon and sausage patties and returns them to the grill as customers order them, making sure they’re hot and have that fresh-from-the-griddle crispiness.

Omelets Eggs Benedict with cheese grits at Classen Grill Chicken-fried steak, fried eggs, hash browns, biscuits and gravy at 50’s Cafe

Basted eggs

Ghandnoosh said his cooks can make any type of egg, but the one most sought after (but least known) is a diner classic called basted eggs.

If you’re tired of the yolks breaking as you flip your sizzling eggs, the easiest solution is to … stop, just stop already.

Basted eggs are prepared sunny side up (no flipping!), and hot grease is spooned over them until the white around the yellow yolk becomes opaque.

“We used to use a skillet, but we found a griddle was easier,” he said. “We know the right temperature to get them over-medium, so the white is set, but the yolk is still a little runny.”

It might take a little bit of trial and error to find your perfect egg-cooking temperature, but basting will be easy.

Cooks just spoon the fat they’re using to cook the egg — be it butter, bacon grease or oil — over the top.

For a healthier version, place a heatresistant lid over the egg. The trapped heat steams the top of the egg while it helps it finish cooking, which also means fewer popped yolks.

Chicken fry

And what goes better with eggs than chicken-fried steak?

It doesn’t take a deep fryer to make a great chicken-fried steak, but it helps.

2 0 | J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 | O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E

Potato prep

All you need are good cube steaks, seasonings and a little time.

50’s Cafe doesn’t serve pre-made chicken-fried steaks out of some box.

Instead, it takes tenderized cube steak, seasoned flour and egg wash and makes it by hand.

There’s no need to use a fancier cut — it’s a waste, said manager Heather Lowe.

“The reason people use cube steak is because it’s tenderized to be eaten easily and all the texture holds onto the egg and flour better,” she said. “That’s how it gets that signature crust.”

To build up a lot of flavor, cooks here start by adding Montreal steak seasoning and garlic powder to flour and coat the steak with the mixture. Then it goes into an egg wash — a dish filled with beaten eggs and sometimes a little milk — before it goes back into the flour.

While 50’s Cafe has a deep fryer at its disposal, a good cast iron skillet coated with almost-smoking vegetable oil works well for home cooks. Cook to a medium brown on one side before flipping. But don’t cover it or the residual heat will steam it up and turn that beautiful crisp crust into mush.

After both sides are golden and glistening, set it aside for a few minutes before digging in.

Chicken-fried steak might sound like enough carbs, but no breakfast is truly complete without potatoes.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice, practice, practice. How do you make breakfast for everybody before you leave for Carnegie Hall? Prep, prep, prep.

Abraham’s Western Cafe owner Abraham Essaili said the key to many of his menu items is hours and hours of preparation. Hash browns spend a little time on the griddle to partially cook, or par-cook, so when it’s time to serve lots of customers, he can toss them back on the grill — with clarified butter ladled over them — to create that classic crunch so many diners love.

Lowe said the same is true for the home fries at 50’s Cafe. Potatoes are boiled first thing each morning, and with the initial cooking out of the way, the process is vastly sped up when it’s time to toss them on the griddle with butter and Montreal steak seasoning. The result is tender, cooked-through potatoes with a beautiful, crisp, tasty crust.

That pig

Meats also benefit from a little prep work, said Junior Luna, Classen Grill manager and cook.

“We cook our bacon in the oven in the mornings,” he said. “It cooks off Eggarito is just an omelete stuffed into a warm tortilla at The Diner in Norman.

May said prep work is vital when creating The Diner’s great omelets. Cooks saute peppers, onions and other ingredients before the eggs start sizzling.

“Think of it like a stir-fry,” she said.

“Ingredients have to be ready before the eggs even begin.”

But when you do start, make sure you’re using the right-sized pan and don’t skimp on the oil. Once it has got good heat going, pour in your beaten eggs and let them start to set. Pull in from each edge of the pan to let uncooked egg flow out and start cooking.

“You’ll know it’s ready to flip when the edges are set and the omelet slides in the pan,” she said. “As for the flip, you have to practice. I practiced over the sink.”

Once it’s flipped, immediately add cheese and those sauteed ingredients. But don’t fold it in the pan, she said. Let it fold onto the plate.

If it all falls apart, just shove it inside a tortilla and call it a breakfast burrito, she said.

Let’s eat!

Like any other kind of cooking, making a great diner-style breakfast requires repetition. Keep making pancakes.

Keep experimenting with omelets. Keep oven-roasting that bacon. And if you still happen to burn everything, there’s probably a diner nearby.

The cooks might have held back a secret or two, just in case.

Cinnacrisps and chicken burrito

P HOTOS BY GA RE TT FI S BE C K

LIFE FOOD & DRINK

RIP, chains

Head to Blanchard for a spicy chicken burrito that’s so tasty, you just might memorialize your love for it on your tombstone.

BY GREG ELWELL

Burrito Grill 215 W. Veterans Memorial Hwy, Blanchard myburritorocks.com | 485-3020 WHAT WORKS: A giant burrito salad covered in spicy chicken.

WHAT NEEDS WORK: Temperature control on the meats.

TIP: It’s only open Wednesday through Saturday.

My photographer spent many of his formative years in Blanchard, or, as he calls it, The Churd.

And while young, hungry musician and Oklahoma Gazette photographer Garett Fisbeck was all about punk rock, he was also all about Burrito Grill, 215 W. Veterans Memorial Hwy. Blanchard is just close enough to the world that you’re not isolated, but not so close that it’s terribly convenient. So while the rest of us might have easy access to Chipotles and Qdobas and what have you, in The Churd, if you want a tasty burrito, you head to Burrito Grill.

I do want a tasty burrito. I’m always ready for a tasty burrito. In fact, I might end up putting that on my tombstone.

Greg Elwell

1978-2023 “Beloved” father “Adequate” son Always ready for a tasty burrito So what can you expect at Burrito Grill, even if it’s not your last meal on this earth? A heavenly burrito. Or even an appetizing salad.

I was not optimistic about the salad when the staff started making it.

Starting with a Styrofoam container filled with giant handfuls of shredded

Can you get all of that in a burrito? Of course, and I highly recommend it. iceberg lettuce isn’t very inspiring. But for all the crap iceberg lettuce gets, you must admit it usually doesn’t taste like anything.

And in my salad ($6.59), that was a plus. Because I wouldn’t have cared if it was romaine or kale or baby spinach or arugula once big chunks of spicy chicken were added and topped with dollops of fresh corn salsa, brown rice, pinto beans, spicy red salsa, cheese and more cheese and, yes, a little more cheese.

It was a glorious mess, and it tasted excellent. I didn’t even ask for sour cream or guacamole (which cost extra). It didn’t need it. This pile of shredded iceberg lettuce was topped with wonderful, flavorful ingredients and — once properly mixed up by my fork — it was a feast for the senses and also my stomach, which is what most feasts are for.

Can you get all of that in a burrito? Of course, and I highly recommend it. I went back and ordered black beans, roasted chicken, diced jalapeños, sour cream and some of that extravagant guacamole ($1.49 extra), and it was all wrapped in an enormous flour tortilla for $6.59.

Fisbeck encouraged me to dip it in queso, which was OK, but I didn’t think it improved the taste that much. It already was bursting with flavor. And my stomach was getting ready to burst the top button on my CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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Pork soft taco and crispy beef tacos

overworked jeans.

But that didn’t stop me from ordering tacos as well. For $6.59 (seems to be a theme here), I got three. I chose two crispy ones filled with ground beef and one soft taco with pulled pork. The ground beef was good. The pork was a bit cold. I liked them, but I thought the burrito was better.

“It’s called Burrito Grill for a reason,” Fisbeck reminded me.

“Shut up,” I didn’t reply, because he is a punk rocker, man, and he would probably head-butt me. Punk rockers are huge on manners.

So instead, I shared my

6014 N May • 947-7788 • zorbasokc.coM 2 2 | J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 | O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E

cinnacrisps ($2.19) with him. They’re freshly fried flour tortilla pieces tossed in cinnamon and sugar. They, too, were satisfactory but not spectacular.

They’re hard to eat without tossing yourself with cinnamon and sugar.

I liked the chips and queso ($3.58, including a drink, with an entree) better. They tended not to get on my clothes as much, which is a big deal for a guy who eats constantly.

I didn’t do a side-by-side of my Burrito Grill burrito with one from your chain burritoriums, but I can tell you this: It was satisfying.

Given the choice between Chipotle and Burrito Grill, choose BG. And the next time I’m in The Churd, it’s good to know there’s a burrito waiting for me, hopefully filled with spicy chicken.

FOOD BRIEFS

s U w o Ll o F

BY GREG ELWELL

Step lively, Oklahoma City, because Paulette Nicole (pictured) is looking to introduce diners to the stories behind the restaurants they love, even if they haven’t discovered them yet.

Svelte Nicole is starting a new business called Fat Nikki Food Tours to bring her favorite restaurants to a new audience starting next month.

“I’m an Army brat. I lived all over the U.S. I was born in Germany,” she said.

“Every three years since I was 5, my family moved to a new state, and each one has its own food and culture.”

Her love of food started on military bases, where she was introduced to every kind of cuisine imaginable by her neighbors.

“I’m not fat, but I have an inner fat girl named Fat Nikki,” she said. “She gets overly excited about food. Seriously, the way I eat, I should weigh 600 pounds.”

She’s looking to share that enthusiasm and love for her new home (she moved to Oklahoma City in 2012) by taking guests on tours of OKC’s burgeoning food districts. Prices are not yet set, but tickets will include tapas-sized portions at a number of restaurants. Information on upcoming tours will be featured at fatnikkifoodtours.com and on Twitter (@FatNikkiFoodie).

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Following in the footsteps of local celebrities Jabee, Dave Cathey and Lacey Lett, radio shock jock Ferris O’Brien (pictured) has created a sandwich for Slaughter’s Hall, 221 N Central Ave., to help raise money for charity.

The Ferris O’Brinner — corned beef, Mornay sauce, onions and peppers, chipotle vinaigrette, pepper jack cheese and a fried egg on two slices of toasted potato bread — will be on the menu throughout July.

Each sandwich ordered sends $1 to Hounds of the Heartland, a nonprofit program that finds good homes for retired racing greyhounds and young greyhounds that never raced.

O’Brien, who owns The Spy FM, said the sandwich is inspired by his intense love of breakfast foods.

A well-known dog lover, he chose Hounds of the Heartland because it’s a great group that really cares about retired racing greyhounds.

“I’ve owned an ex-racer, Mr. Moose, and I can tell you they are one of the best canines in the world,” he said. “[Hounds of the Heartland] often have to inform people of misconceptions about owning greyhounds and give the potential adopters such a great head start into their new life with the 50 mph couch potato!”

PROVIDED

M A RK HA N COC K

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@okgazeTte

Oklahoma Gazette

The monthly Heard on Hurd street festival broke records in June as more than 13,000 people descended on downtown Edmond to listen, shop and eat.

The event is organized and manned by Citizens Bank of Edmond volunteers, and its success is a testament to the hard work and enthusiasm of the community, said bank CEO Jill Castilla. In recent months, she said, the roster of volunteers has expanded to include churches, schools and University of Central Oklahoma students.

In addition to musical acts and local retail, Heard on Hurd has become a major attraction because of a wide variety of food trucks.

Organizers are finalizing performers and food trucks for the July 18 event, but they’ve confirmed that 2 Brothers Bistro, Bricktown Brewery Truckburger, Café Bella on Wheels, Epic Pops, Evoke Sip Truck, Jerky.com, Katiebug’s Shaved Ice, Klemm’s Smoke Haus, La Gumbo Ya Ya, Lalo’s I Love My Taco Chop & Grill, MOB Grill, Off the Hook Seafood & More, Phill Me Up Cheesesteaks, Roxy’s Ice Cream Social, Smokin’ Okies Mobile BBQ Smokehouse, Taste of Soul Egg Roll, The Flying Pig BBQ, The Patriarch, The Saucee Sicilian and Twist Gourmet Pretzels will be there.

The event begins at 6 p.m. at the corner of N. Broadway and Hurd Street in Edmond. Learn more at facebook.com/ heardonhurd.

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 2 3

Drink on Oklahoma Gazette does not endorse binge drinking, drunken driving, public drunkenness and/or alcohol abuse. That said, endorsing and engaging are two very different words. Look at how many gs are in engaging. Way more than endorsing. You can easily tell the difference. We like to party — responsibly.

Seriously, we will not cover your bail money.

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

TapWerks Ale House

The Pump Bar

Little Dicks Halfway Inn

121 E. Sheridan Ave. | 319-9599 tapwerks.com

2425 N. Walker Ave. | 702-8898 pumpbar.net

8001 S. Eastern Ave. | 670-3425 facebook.com/littledicks.halfwayinn

The management at TapWerks Ale House has requested that I stop shortening their name to TWerks. But I won’t because that’s a pretty funny name for a pretty great bar. With 212 taps and over 100 bottled beers, you won’t have any trouble finding the right brew to satisfy you.

There are no guarantees that the bartender will find the right combo to get your rear end quaking like an Oklahoma injection well, but you can try your luck.

Whether you’re eating brunch or dinner or are gulping down any number of its delightful Tiki drinks, it’s hard to deny the appeal of The Pump Bar. Owned by the former proprietors of The Drunken Fry, the vast patio at Pump has quickly become a favorite for the city’s boozerati.

Fun fact: You’ll want to use the restrooms, where they are always playing the Harry Potter audiobooks. Always.

If you’ve seen a show at Diamond Ballroom, you’ve no doubt noticed the watering hole next door. What awaits you inside Little Dicks Halfway Inn? You’ll have to go all the way inside to find out. OKC’s Original Tiki Tavern definitely qualifies as a dive bar, but it’s one with plenty of character and a panoply of affordable drinks. Plus, you get to tell people you whet your whistle at Little Dicks.

500 NW 23rd St.

405.524.0503

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Bricktown Bike Bar 14 E. Main St. | 633–2546 bricktownbikebar.com

Do not get behind the wheel if you’ve been drinking. But if someone else is driving, hop on Bricktown Bike Bar with 15 of your closest friends and pedal your way to some of the city’s best bars. Or bring a cooler, listen to some tunes and get your leg workout done in front of a bunch of strangers leaving a Dodgers game. The point is alcohol and fitness are not mutually exclusive.

Frosted Mug Grill & Big Bar 1800 S. Meridian Ave. | 681-1900 frostedmugokc.com

Frosted Mug’s big bar is a good stop if you’re looking for a big drink served by a beautiful woman. (Seriously, its website brags about having attractive wait staff and bartenders.) Wednesdays boast whiskey specials and Thursdays feature tequilas, but no matter what night you go in, they’ll have 18 draft beers and another 40 varieties in bottles. That’s one bottled beer per big flatscreen TV in the joint, if you’re keeping count.

The Wolftrap

Tramps

1109 S. Broadway, Edmond | 340-7075 thewolftrapbar.com

2201 NW 39th St. 521-9888

You don’t have to drink to enjoy Edmond, but it helps! And there’s no place more incongruous to most folks’ idea of that fine municipality than The Wolftrap. Billed as the city’s oldest dive bar, it’s one of the best beer and billiards spots in the metro. The menu includes classic drunken favorites: cheese sticks, jalapeño poppers, nachos and hot wings. There’s an open mic night, dartboards, Golden Tee and lots of wellmaintained pool tables. Also: alcohol.

If you like your drinks strong and queens dragging, then make your way down to Tramps. Known for pouring “big girl drinks,” Tramps is a cash-only bar with a diverse and loyal clientele. Gay, straight, black, white — it doesn’t matter as long as you’re ready to have a good time. Every Sunday, it hosts a drag show and sells $2 Jell-O shots with proceeds benefitting The Winds House. No word on plans to build a bar across the street called Ladies.

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LIFE CULTURE

P HOTOS P ROVI DED

Night light The family-friendly GLOW event provides music, food and activities for everyone.

BY GREG HORTON

GLOW 6-10 p.m.

Friday, July 24, August 7 and September 4 Boathouse District 725 S. Lincoln Blvd. boathousedistrict.org/glow 552-4040 Free

The Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation (OKCBF) has a plan to get people out in the sun and fresh air this summer. The events, called GLOW, include a free movie, food trucks, live music and family-friendly recreational activities on Friday evenings.

“GLOW is not an acronym,” Elizabeth Laurent, director of marketing and sales at OKCBF, said. “The name was suggested a few years ago by Susan Harkness of OG&E because of the way the LED lights glow and reflect on the river.”

FAA Credit Union was offering a free movie on Friday nights, so OKCBF decided to expand the program to offer more options for all ages and budgets.

Many of the activities, including the movie and music, are free. And the food trucks are pretty easy on a dining budget.

“Our adventures are all open during GLOW, too,” Laurent said. “This year, we have a brand-new water slide. It’s about 50 feet high, and the kids seem to

be loving it.”

The Boathouse District boasts a free playground for the kids, as well as a sand volleyball pit and a bocce ball pit.

Adventures include wall climbing, a zip line and boating sports.

While bringing food is discouraged because of the food trucks, Laurent said people are welcome to bring chairs, blankets and Frisbees. GLOW is pet-

The Boathouse Foundation provides a 50-foot slide for children. friendly, too.

“We just want to provide people an opportunity to hang out with friends and family and enjoy a summer evening,” Laurent said. “The movies are family-friendly, and we will have popcorn for sale.”

Revelers gather for the Friday night movie in the Boathouse District.

Upcoming movies include Annie, Planes: Fire & Rescue and Guardians of the Galaxy. The live music is performed by local bands and musicians.

The entertainment is selected by a committee, and Laurent said more bands will soon be announced. Aaron Pierce, Medicine Brother and The Indigos played at the first GLOW event on June 19.

In addition to food trucks, COOP Ale Works will provide a beer garden for people of legal drinking age. When COOP sets up a beer garden, it also brings its cornhole game sets, which means yet another activity for the evening.

“The beer garden has to be sectioned off from the rest of GLOW,” Laurent said, “and it’s illegal to take beer out of the area, but it has a very generous space for seating.”

The food trucks will rotate throughout the summer events based on their own commitments. All GLOW events have at least three options, including RIVERSPORT Café, which is scheduled to be at all the events.

One of OKCBF’s missions is youth outreach, and GLOW offers activities that get youth outside and encourage healthy lifestyles.

2015 GlOW eVeNt SCheDUle JULY 10 6-10 p.m. live music: lost on utica 8:30 p.m. movie: Maleficent Food: RIVERSPORT Café, Boss Man’s BBQ, Smokin’ Greens, Sizzle N Spice and Wicked Hangry

JULY 24 6-10 p.m. live music 8:30 p.m. movie: Annie (2014) Food: RIVERSPORT Café, Snow Queen and Chick N Wangs

AUGUST 7 6-10 p.m. live music 8:30 p.m. movie: Planes: Fire & Rescue Food: RIVERSPORT Café, Snow Queen, Boss Man’s BBQ, Chick N Wangs, Smokin’ Greens and Wicked Hangry

SEPTEMBER 4 6-10 p.m. live music 8:30 p.m. movie: Guardians of the Galaxy Food: RIVERSPORT Café, Twist Gourmet Pretzels, Smokin’ Greens and Wicked Hangry

O k l a h O m a G a z e t t e | j u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 2 7

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M A RK HA N COC K

BY MICHAEL BARIN

Oklahoma Gazette

Colorful prose The Red Earth MFA program brings in instructors from across the U.S. to help students explore and improve their creative writing.

BY ANYA ALVAREZ

Red Earth MFA reading 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 15 The Paramount 701 W. Sheridan Ave. theparamountokc.com

The Red Earth Low-Residency MFA program at Oklahoma City University gives students an opportunity to study for their Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing while keeping up with everyday responsibilities.

The program has given students an opportunity to hone their creative writing skills since 2011, said Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, director of the Red Earth creative writing program.

“This residency program allows people to take writing classes at a higher level and to surround themselves with others who also want to improve their writing while also maintaining their personal lives,” Mish said.

Instead of attending traditional classes on campus, faculty and students meet in OKC for 10 days twice a year in January and July. Students then complete their semesters from home, studying with a single mentor each semester for their creative work. The program lasts two years over four semesters and five residencies.

Kerry Cohen, a nationally acclaimed nonfiction author, has taught at Red Earth since 2011 and said this program gives students the tools to grow as creative writers.

“In our residencies, all we do is talk about writing, think about writing and dream about writing,” Cohen said.

“The students have access to [teachers] all the time.”

Cohen believes the faculty’s involvement helps pupils stay focused

2 8 | j u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h O m a G a z e t t e

The Red Earth MFA program is held at OCU for 10 days twice a year. on their writing because faculty members keep in touch with their students.

Faculty members from all over the United States travel to OKC to facilitate the Red Earth residency program. Kat Meads from Santa Cruz, California; Quraysh Ali Lansana from Chicago; and Allison Amend from New York City travel here to teach.

Cohen, who lives in Portland, Oregon, said she is impressed with the amount of writing talent Oklahoma has to offer. She also admitted that she was surprised to find that Oklahomans are more open-minded than she anticipated.

“Being from such a liberal oasis, I admit I was nervous about teaching in Oklahoma,” Cohen said. “But ...

Oklahoma are some of the kindest, most thoughtful and open and curious people I’ve ever met.”

The residency program enables students to recognize their potential, Mish said.

“The exploration of creativity and the mastery of the writing craft happens in many ways: in the individual feedback and guidance of faculty members, in workshops, in their interaction with other students, in books they read,” she said.

Red Earth hosts a faculty and visiting instructors’ reading 7 p.m.

Wednesday, July 15 at The Paramount, 701 W. Sheridan Ave., and a storytelling performance with Kerry Cohen and OKC’s Molly O’Connor July 17 at Back Alley Gallery, 5026 A N. May Ave.

P HOTOS BY KEATON DRA P ER

life visual arts

Historic beginnings Two Oklahoma artists reflect on the birth of Oklahoma City’s thriving art scene.

By Jack Fowler

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”

— Marcus Garvey Maybe it’s true what they say about nostalgia, that it’s just a subtle form of advice. Maybe all of us cast glances over our shoulders as we age, straining our eyes in the dimming of day to see a time when we couldn’t even imagine the sun setting.

The older we get, it seems more and more instinctual, the need to convey to younger generations that email didn’t exist when we were in high school, that we didn’t get our first cell phone till 2002, that the corner CVS hasn’t always been there. After all, what are we but collected heaps of knowledge and experiences that have been piling up since we walked out of the caves? Aren’t we all standing on somebody else’s shoulders?

It’s hard to think that way right now in Oklahoma City. The word “renaissance” seems to be on everybody’s lips, and for good reason. The Paseo and Plaza districts hum and throb with the joyful intensity of a city twice as large. Midtown, already to the point of saturation at ground level, now seems to be reaching for the sky. Public art projects are being awarded with the same

regularity as parking tickets.

But for those of us swimming in this town’s surging current of creativity right now, it’s all too easy to imagine that we’re the ones who made it rain. What about the people who were here when the local arts scene more closely resembled a dry lake?

An island

“Man, back in the late ’60s, early ’70s, there was literally absolutely nothing for us here,” said Paul Medina, a 64-year-old artist and author who has been in the local arts scene for decades.

“This state and this city have always had very, very talented artists, but there was almost nowhere for us to show our work, almost nowhere to promote it, and nobody to buy it. It felt like we were on an island, a barren one.”

Stephen Kovash agreed. Kovash, a 57-year-old artist, gallery operator and curator, was “born into the arts scene here,” as he puts it, accompanying family members to the few galleries scattered around the metro when he was as young as 6. And although he said the late ’60s in and around OKC saw a surge of creativity, by the next decade, it had dried up.

“There was a scene in the late 1960s that — although it wasn’t as widespread

Steven Kovash stands with work he curated for TAP Architecture. or big, obviously — rivaled what’s going on today as far as quality,” Kovash said. “I can remember in ’68, ’69, some kids at OU art school were doing some really challenging stuff. I can remember thinking, even back then, ‘Man, this is as good as any shit coming out of New York City right now.’”

It was all word-ofmouth, all DIY back then, and I’m proud of that.

— Steven Kovash

Scene-makers

Kovash mentioned a place called Contemporary Arts Foundation (CAF) and Medina’s face lit up like a pinball machine. They both agreed that CAF was the hub around which the tiny OKC arts universe would spin.

“It was like IAO before there was IAO,” Kovash said. “They were into poetry, video, music, art shows. It was pretty much the only place there was back then that was reminiscent of what we’re doing now.”

Medina had more to say.

“It really was the only alternative art space … The CAF was the place to go when you wanted to see who was out there, what was going on with young artists. But other than that, there was nothing going on that was pushing anything. There was an interior decorator who did art shows at his antique store,

and I remember trying to get on his radar just so I could have someplace to show,” Medina said. “Imogene Mugg had a sale gallery at the fairgrounds art museum, and there were a couple of commercial artists with galleries on the Paseo, but those weren’t places we could show.”

Medina said he and other working artists would take any gig they could scratch up.

The three or four spaces in the entire metro that showed art were scattered from 36th Street and Western Avenue to Will Rogers Park, so part of an artist’s creative energy not only had to be put into the continued on next page

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | J u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 2 9

WE GOT ART

life visual arts

50 PENN ART GALLERY There wasn’t a scene before, so we fucking made one.

1900 N.W. Expressway Suite R-113 Tues - Sat | 10:00-5:30 Ph. 405-848-5567

— Paul Medina

COME TO OUR OPENING July 10th, 6-8:30 p.m.

Featuring acrylic paintings

by Lynden Wilcoxson

Gift cards available

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A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence One Screening Only!

Thurs., July 9 7:30 p.m.

Forbidden Films Friday & Saturday, July 10 & 11 5:30 p.m.

ROAR Friday & Saturday, July 10 & 11 8 p.m.

The Birds One Screening Only!

Sunday, July 12 2 p.m.

For movie descriptions and ticket sales visit

WWW.OKCMOA.COM 3 0 | J u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

Paul Medina stands in front of his artwork at his home in Oklahoma City. work but in finding a place to show it.

Festivals, street carnivals, even costume parties — anywhere a group of artists could come together, that became the hot spot in town that weekend, a tight, fiercely determined core of a scene that has lasted to this day. Both Kovash and Medina drop names that still echo through the streets of the Paseo and carry weight with Plaza gallery owners: DJ Lafarge, Michi Susan, George Oswald, Ray Baldridge, Tom Lee, John Belt.

They talk about old haunts that no longer exist, about the Paseo Plunge and Medina’s Cafe (a Paseo coffeehouse Medina used to own), about The Bowery and the Psycha-Deli.

As they reminisce, their voices swell.

Their eyes lighten and their mouths loosen. They laugh more, interrupt and interject, piling their stories on top of each other’s as if they were running out of time to tell them. It’s like watching your dad talk to your favorite uncle about his bachelor party.

“I used to swim at the Paseo Plunge in the early ’70s,” Medina said, laughing.

“That corner honestly did become the Haight-Ashbury of Oklahoma City.

There were clubs, studios, head shops.

There were no galleries there then, but that was still the center of the local counterculture. We had a blast.”

When asked if they knew they were laying a foundation for the artistic revival that’s going on today, Kovash said it didn’t cross their minds.

“There was nobody doing anything with mind to the future,” Kovash said.

“We were just scratching out a place for ourselves. It was just an organic thing.

We were all young artists in a city that wasn’t really conducive to what we were into, and we found each other.”

Word-of-mouth

Medina said they found each other by choice.

“Back then, we didn’t have a lot of options,” he said. “We sought out the shows, sought out the parties, sought out this group of people.”

Finding each other meant sharpening each other. Both men admitted that most artists (up until the mid-’90s, at least) began their careers, if they had one, by showing out of state. If a local artist could attain some kind of

success locally, it became an obstacle to overcome and an aspiration. The slowly rising tide might not have lifted all the boats, but it did set a new standard for what could be accomplished in this town.

“At that time, Santa Fe was becoming the mecca for Southwest art, which is what I was doing at the time,” Medina said. “I got into my first outof-state gallery there, and I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to have to do this to make a living.’ And even then, I had people telling me I was selling out for leaving town. But I figured, hey, I gotta go to where there are things going on.”

Kovash added that even going to art shows was different.

“There was no social media back then,” Kovash said. “There was nobody trying to prove how cool they were by going to this show, going to this party.

It’s kind of a velvet rope mentality now, I think. But it was all word-of-mouth, all DIY back then, and I’m proud of that.

It feels good that we might have set an example for what’s going on now. I want people to look at me and say, ‘If this dipshit can do it, why can’t I?’” Medina smiled again.

“He’s right,” he said. “There wasn’t a scene before, so we fucking made one.”

It bears mentioning, however, that these aren’t grumpy old men pining for days they believed to be better. They aren’t bitter. Rather, they both seem to take a sense of pride in the idea that the beauty and vibrance so abundant now was nurtured in its infancy by a group of people committed to art as a lifestyle.

Kovash said he’s happy with the decision to stay in his home base because he believes it’s a place where he can affect the most positive change, kind of a fertile breeding ground for artistic revolution in an already growing scene. Medina, although he admits he sometimes questions his relevance (something he also admits any good artist should do), said it’s a joy to see what their city has become.

“I think it’s wonderful,” he said as he looked wistfully over the Plaza District streets that were just starting to come alive in the day’s fading light. “At the end of the day, nobody’s taking credit for this. We might have played a part in creating it, but we were just links in a chain.”

liFe visual arts

KE ATON DRA P E R

Dope art Neoclassical style and modern beliefs collide in Dayton Clark’s work, on display in Norman.

By Mark Beutler

A Surreal Embrace of Absurdity and the Confrontation of Death 2-7 p.m. tuesday-Friday dope chapel 115 s. crawford ave., norman facebook.com/dop3chapel Free

Dayton Clark began thinking about art as a career choice back in high school.

But he wasn’t interested in painting landscapes or bowls of fruit. Instead, he chose to create art that toys with the neoclassical style, provokes the viewer to question his or her belief system and illustrates how the artist confronts death.

Clark’s exhibit, A Surreal Embrace of Absurdity and the Confrontation of Death, runs through Friday at Dope Chapel, 115 S. Crawford Ave., in Norman.

He said he hopes people who come to see his work will see the passages in his art where he really found his joy. The paintings are a reimagined neoclassical style with contemporary symbols that showcase the artist’s talent for juxtaposition and playing with modern society’s mythological entities.

“I hope they will pay attention to the intricate details,” he said. “If they can just stand in front of a piece for five minutes and take it all in, I think they will appreciate what it says to them.”

In Clark’s experience, older audiences aren’t as receptive as his peers. “[Older audiences] tend to have many questions about what is going on, and I try to answer them as honestly as I can and explain what I was thinking,” he said.

Clark’s work, he said, resonates well with his peers, but despite the differing opinions, he is excited for everyone to check out his art and give feedback.

“I am excited about developing a relationship with my own audience, specifically that of the architect and the explorer,” he said.

When it comes to inspiration,

Dayton W. Clark has several paintings on display at Dope Chapel, a DIY community space.

Clark said he doesn’t really know where it comes from, but he keeps cranking out work and hopes something clicks.

One piece in his Dope Chapel exhibit came out of some insecurity he was dealing with, and it turned out to be one of his favorite pieces.

“I wish I knew what the common denominator was because I would be a better artist and would be coming up with more new pieces all the time,” Clark said. “In the near future, I hope to build up a good body of work, using tools I learned at [the University of Oklahoma].”

Clark has always drawn and enjoyed art as a pastime, but it was more than a hobby for him. He said it was an identifier, that it set him apart from the crowd.

“Toward the end of high school, when people begin thinking about what they want to do with their lives, that’s when I decided to follow my passion and study and pursue art,” he said.

Clark’s style evolved from what he calls a “gaming background” and reflects the mental architecture of an introverted intellectual. He grew up in Ada and Shawnee before relocating to Norman in 2007.

Last spring, he graduated from OU, and he’s continuing his education this summer by traveling to Italy. He will spend a month in Rome and Florence, using the experience to enhance his future as a budding artist.

“I was raised in the Catholic church, so seeing all those images at an early age led me to where I am today as an artist,” Clark said. “Initially, when I was younger, I was into fantasy art, but today, I have an interest in the Renaissance and Baroque style.”

Dope Chapel is open 2-7 p.m.

Tuesday-Saturday. Admission is free.

Visit facebook.com/Dop3chapel.

O k l a h O m a G a z e t t e | J u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 3 1

liFe visual arts

Allied Arts hits its multimillion-dollar fundraising goal in its mission to help provide education opportunities for more than half a million metro area youth.

deborah Mcauliffe senner

By Brett dickerson

This year is one of the best for Allied Arts, which raised more than $3.4 million, the second time it has exceed that mark since its beginning in 1971.

Proceeds of the foundation’s yearly fundraising for the arts goes to 26 different member organizations and many smaller groups that receive various grants from year to year.

peter dolese

tricia everest

3 2 | J u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h O m a G a z e t t e

PROVIDED

As the board’s vice chairwoman and grants committee chairwoman, Tricia Everest helps distribute the proceeds of each year’s Allied Arts campaign to qualified grant applicants and member agencies such as Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, Oklahoma Youth Orchestras, Metropolitan School of Dance and Science Museum Oklahoma.

“The Allied Arts funding touches over 500,000 kids,” she said. “That funding helps to ensure that children of all backgrounds have access to the arts.”

Of concern to her and Deborah McAuliffe Senner, president of Allied Arts, is the impact of continued cuts to arts education in schools, including funding for vocal music, instrumental music, drama and art programs.

Everest said Allied Arts was formed with the goal to “help bridge the gap” between what a school district needs and its budget limitations.

“With the funding cuts, it’s even more invaluable that [Allied Arts is] contributing to these organizations to ensure that there is access for everybody,” Everest said.

Community investment — physical, emotional and financial — is necessary in order to provide and sustain arts education and participation opportunities for youth across the metro area.

MARK H ANCOCK

Youth education

Last year, the country’s largest independent charity evaluator, Charity Navigator, gave Allied Arts a four-star rating, its highest level of approval.

Charity Navigator takes into account sound fiscal management, good governance and commitment to accountability and transparency, according to the nonprofit’s official website.

These are critical and hard-to-achieve elements that help Allied Arts draw greater yearly commitments from its largest corporate supporters and individual and grassroots donors.

‘Flexible dollars’

In 1971, Arts Council Oklahoma City was one of a few groups that helped establish Allied Arts.

Arts Council, which is still one of the foundation’s supported agencies, is most visible to the public each year, as it organizes the popular Festival of the Arts each spring and Opening Night each New Year’s Eve. Peter Dolese, the council’s executive

director, said the best example of Allied Arts’ reach is the council’s All Access Arts program, which provides arts education to approximately 20,000 area residents of all ages through its work with underserved schools, community agencies, libraries and Oklahoma City parks each year.

He said the support the council receives from Allied Arts gives it freedom within broad guidelines to develop new programs as needs arise. He called the funds “flexible dollars.”

“We have arts in school, we have arts after school,” Dolese said. “We have a creative aging program that reaches dementia, Alzheimer’s and other cognitive challenges in senior adults. We have programs in senior centers, nursing homes, assisted living centers.”

Community-driven

The secret to Allied Arts’ success isn’t a secret at all: It constantly develops new leadership across all adult age groups within the community.

Its strategy is to enable a diverse group

of business and community leaders to actively engage in fundraising efforts.

Senner said the board consists of 104 people. Each member is expected to be on at least one committee, and many are on two or more.

Board members also invest in the foundation. This year’s members contributed more than $400,000 to the campaign.

Allied Arts’ Circle Club leadership network includes nearly 700 people who donate $1,000 or more annually, in addition to being active on committees.

The “starting line” group in Allied Arts membership, Catalyst, is comprised of 140 people age 40 or younger who donate $300 per individual or $500 per couple annually, are actively engaged in networking and lend hands-on help for foundation events.

“They get numerous opportunities during the year that are arts opportunities,” Senner said of Catalyst members.

However, while the public might view arts fundraising as a “big money” effort, Senner emphasized that small donations can have a large impact.

This year, she said, more than 4,300 people donated less than $1,000 each to the Allied Arts campaign.

The foundation also supports itself through public ticket sales for its biennial OPUS and annual ARTini galas.

YOU CaN helP

all of the member agencies and groups that receive grants need volunteers throughout the year.

For information about how you can volunteer, call allied arts at 278-8944 or visit its website at alliedartsokc.com.

M A RK HA N COC K

Creative investment

Life performing arts Bre n da Ba rn e s W he e loc k / p rovi de d

Play time Norman youth write plays performed by adults in a Namron Players production.

By Greg Horton

Plays Written by Kids (and Performed by Adults) 7 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday Andrews Park Amphitheater 201 W. Daws St., Norman Free

What would happen if adults performed plays written by children? The adults would not be allowed to condescend to the kids on particular ideas or tropes; they would simply play the scenes as written. What would theater look like if adults allowed kids to just write what they wanted?

That scenario has been a long-term fascination for Sarah King Bartell, chairman of the Namron Players, a Norman-based theater company.

“I have worked with kids in theater before,” Bartell said, “and my husband

teaches drama to seventh-graders at Longfellow Middle School. I’ve always been impressed by the way children write. They have no preconceived notions of what they can or can’t do.”

This is the fourth season for Namron — it’s Norman spelled backwards — and the company has always been somewhat experimental. Bartell said it has staged performances that are edgy, so much so that they were not family-friendly.

Plays Written by Kids (and Performed

by Adults) is a family-friendly show, though, and it is free to the public.

The plays are very short, which is to be expected from seventh-grade writers.

The playwrights are students of Bartell’s husband, Nick. The storylines sound as funny as Bartell said they are — a donut cop in an epic battle with his arch nemesis and Sherlock Holmes saving

penguins. Honestly, who doesn’t cheer for penguins?

Bartell describes the scripts as “goofy and contagiously funny,” and the kids have written in moments of physical comedy as well as puns.

“These kids love puns,” she said.

There will be two performances of the show, and the running time is about thirty minutes.

“We like to keep our shows short,” Bartell said. “We don’t want to keep you in the sun too long, and we like our patrons to be able to do other things in Norman so they can make a night of it.”

The husband-and-wife team grew up in Norman after settling there with family.

“We are Norman people,” Bartell said. “This is our home and our city, and we are here for the long haul.

Namron Players Theatre’s first summer show in the park last July.

As part of its commitment to the city, Namron always stages performances in Norman. It also is a registered 501(c)3 organization, which means donations to support the company are tax deductible.

“All of our revenue comes from ticket sales and donations,” Bartell said. “This performance will be free, but people are encouraged to donate.”

At least part of what Namron Players does is encourage youth in their pursuit of the arts, and Bartell believes adults can learn from that, too.

“I try to apply some of the lessons I learn from the kids in my own writing,” she said. “The kids have been great at teaching me to throw away conventions.”

Theater gems Jim Be ckel / P rovid ed

Jewel Box Theatre is hosting auditions in preparation for its 58th year.

By Greg horton

Chicago and Dial M for Murder auditions 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Jewel Box Theatre 3700 N. Walker Ave. jewelboxtheatre.org 521-1786

Jewel Box Theatre will begin auditions for its 58th season on Saturday and Sunday. Production Director Chuck Tweed, who is beginning his 38th year with the company, said he is looking for actors to play roles in two popular shows: Chicago and Dial M for Murder.

“Chicago will be the only musical this season,” Tweed said. “We need 14 men and 16 women.”

The Jewel Box seats 174 people in the round, so it’s one of the metro’s smaller theaters. Tweed said that 30 is about the

maximum size cast they want.

“We did have a director stage Carousel once with a cast twice that size,” Tweed said. “I was sitting on the front row, and I nearly ate the shoe of a young woman who was doing a high-kick.”

The cast fro Dial M for Murder is only four: one woman and four men. The Frederick Knott play was popularized by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film of the same name, for which Knott also wrote the screenplay.

The story revolves around a failed plot to kill a wife for her money.

The hired murderer is killed, leaving the husband to test his wits against Scotland Yard.

Translating such big-name productions into local theater can be challenging, but Tweed said it is a plus.

This year’s production of Chicago

will be almost 30 years to the month from the first time Jewel Box performed the Bob Fosse production. It had to add performances that year.

Tweed still has the original production on VHS. He watched it recently in preparation for this production, and he said he was surprised by how tame it was, especially given the furor over Fosse then.

“We’re actually going bigger this time,” he said. “We’re going to razzledazzle it up.”

Theater in the round usually means that there is no major shifting of sets.

Much of the performance’s narrative elements are carried by the dialogue, facial expressions, lighting and small set pieces.

“That’s the beauty of doing theater in the round,” Tweed said.

Dalton Thomas and Jeremy Sheets in Jewel Box Theatre’s Flowers for Algernon.

Auditions are 2-5 p.m. both days at the theater, 3700 N. Walker Ave. Tweed said he does not anticipate difficulty casting the roles.

“We have a humongous array of talent in Oklahoma City,” he said. “If you’re looking for actors over 60, you may have a hard time finding them in Oklahoma, but we have so many talented performers in the 20-35 range.”

Chicago opens the season on Aug. 20 with director Chuck Tweed, music director Tim Goff and choreographer Shawna Linck. It runs four weekends.

Dial M for Murder runs Oct. 1-25. A director has not yet been named.

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | J u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 3 3

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I S I S D U N E A G F A A L L T R U E A L E R C O N S T A Z F A M E T H R E R O O T I S A I P E N N G E D M U S E E P T A R O N E P P I S A S E T S

T E S E L F A T O N G I L K E E D Y A A U N D I O T M N I

E S T S R N I E I L E X E S O B H O L Y D E N O T E D G E S D A Y I A L S S D R E T H E A R I N S T I N T H A N T E S S P G I B A R D L E H A I O N M O U S T U P O N S E N T

O T O H H E R O M E N U P O S W A T E E D B T S O S E A P E C T A M T T I S T E P H R E A H O W W A E E N A R D N D S I R A B E A L A N I T L O G I

S T A M P E A S Y A G E H R Y T A B I O R R I A L E L I N D A N I C T B E L T S S C I O N A E R O O K N O W A T E L I S T S A S E T C N P A I L S O T T O A L L A C Y F R E S H L A T I T A X E N A C E R G O

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BOGO Happy Hour

12pm-3pm Mon-Thurs & Sat (excludes Friday)

By Jeremy Newton / Edited by Will Shortz

ACROSS 1 Free, as copies 6 Small world?

11 Flock leader, for short 14 The Avengers supervillain 18 Gay rights, e.g.

19 Sportscaster Rashad 20 Hello from Hadrian 21 Like some enemy waters in wartime 22 ____ focus 23 “Geez, get off my back already!”

25 Drone’s mission, maybe 26 Tums and others 28 Mountain, in Hawaiian 29 Flip 30 With 13-Down, shorthand pact for a wild trip 34 Mumbai misters 35 Green dwarf 39 “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding” philosopher 40 Old J.F.K. fliers 42 C.D. fig.

43 Stopping points 44 Like most Seth Rogen roles 46 “Sup, homie” 48 Ever so slightly 49 Red orbiter 50 Give formally 52 With 49-Down, 1995 Oscarnominated Pixar theme song 57 Tailor-made 60 “Pow!” 61 Hunted 62 Rosie, for one 64 Easy step 66 Ultimate application 68 Bomb shelters?

69 Philosophy book by Spinoza 71 Judge 72 Chocolatier’s offering 75 “____ Lisa” 77 Start of many Batman villain names 78 Forensic IDs 80 With 58-Down, request for an official document 83 Metaphor for a sudden success 85 “____ and wisdom are like the seven stars, seldom seen together”: Thomas Fuller 86 Some crackers

87 The City of a Thousand Minarets 89 Guard at a gated community?

93 Not let a big opportunity slip by, say 94 Bit of roller-derby gear 95 Master of fugues 97 Latin 101 verb 98 Mr. Jefferson of The Jeffersons 99 Admiral Zumwalt 101 With 90-Down, reacting to a gut punch, perhaps 104 Cleverly crafted 106 Financial backer for Magellan 107 Diverse 113 Gift in a plate 114 Stock character like Mayberry’s Otis 117 Bush in the Rose Garden, once 118 Light bulb in the fridge?

119 Dull finish?

120 Sister of Clio 121 Age-old bug trap 122 Barracks barkers: Abbr.

123 Drone zone 124 Prepare, as poultry 125 Tiniest thing DOWN 1 Pac-12 team 2 Indian flatbread 3 With 18-Across, “To be on the safe side …”

4 Out fishing, maybe 5 Former Ford make, informally 6 Whom Indians called “Bapu” (“Father”) 7 Home of many monasteries 8 “Wow!” in I.M.s 9 Outlaw 10 Sushi-bar appetizer 11 Accrued 12 Not here for long 13 Unlikely butchers 14 Typesetting machines, informally 15 Locale of the Battle of Stoney Creek in the War of 1812 16 With 21-Across, remembering 17 Most lazy 21 Cold War flier 24 Looked surprised 27 “____ robbed!”

31 Actress Birch of American Beauty

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32 Be busy 33 Ocular irritation 35 Didn’t like, and said so 36 Smoke-filled establishment 37 Timeout alternative 38 Gets into hot water?

41 They’re often loaded 43 Versatile couch 44 Dot on a map 45 Summer coolers 47 Performs, in Proverbs 49 Good name for a lawn care guy?

51 W.W. II inits.

53 Potential hurdles for coll. students 54 Amenity 55 Angry 56 ____-billed woodpecker 58 Twisting 59 “Forget it!”

63 Lens-care brand

65

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65 Biter in Niger 67 Taste that’s not sweet, sour, bitter or salty 68 What might win a race 70 Something you can’t get off your chest?

73 Whiz-bang 74 Chinese dish often wrapped in pancakes 75 Naturalist John 76 ____-in clause 79 Tennis’s Novak Djokovic, e.g.

81 Must pay 82 Must See TV night: Abbr.

84 Repugnant sort 87 With 104-Across, talking with a fake rasp, perhaps 88 “Fess up!”

90 Bristol, for one 91 Wrong no longer 92 Tiny piece 93 Physics Nobelist Martin, discoverer of the tauon

109

110

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0705

New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle GETTING IN THE FINAL WORD

94 Italian sauces 96 Longtime Olympics TV host 98 Wall climbers 100 Big figures in Spanish ice skating 102 Off-color 103 Lets it all out 105 Plastic guy 108 A irline to Ben Gurion 109 W ith 125-Across, got the booby prize 110 March sound 111 Angers 112 Wheel (off) 115 Classroom basics, in a manner of speaking 116 Fed. rich in oil

Stumped? Call 1-900-285-5656 to get the answers to any three clues by phone ($1.20 a minute). The answers to the New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle that appeared in the July 1 issue of Oklahoma Gazette are shown at left.

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M A R K HA N COC K

LIFE ACTIVE

Table king

It was my greatest achievement, qualifying for the Olympics.

Winfred Addy is an elite table tennis champion who now calls Oklahoma home.

— Winfred Addy

BY JAMES BENJAMIN

Where does a world-class table tennis player begin his Olympic journey? Is it in a specialized training compound in New York or Beijing?

How about with makeshift gear over a long piece of plywood in West Africa? For former Ghanaian table tennis Olympian and current Oklahoman Winfred Addy, modest beginnings led to the realization of seemingly impossible dreams.

“You have to be humble,” he said. “If you’re humble, any good player will want to help you out. If you’re too cocky, no good player is going to want to help you to what you want to be.”

Addy represented Ghana in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. He’s now a regular member and mentor to several players in the Oklahoma City Table Tennis Club.

Though he also grew up with a

love of soccer, table tennis was always his calling. From the age of 6, Addy frequently practiced and perfected his technique despite protests from his grandfather, Benjamin, who raised him.

“He wanted me to go to school,” Addy said. “Sports in Africa is very difficult because we don’t have the facilities, so it can be very hard. It doesn’t matter how good you are; if you don’t have the facilities, you can’t make it to the top.”

In his 20’s, Addy placed in the top five in his national tournament, which qualified him for the Olympic team.

“It was my greatest achievement, qualifying for the Olympics,” he said.

Addy said he gave his best effort at the games, but the level of competition was the most intense he had ever seen.

However, results were secondary — he

was an athlete in the Olympics.

When the ceremonies ended, Addy stayed in Atlanta for a while before coming to Oklahoma to visit cousins he had grown up with. While in Oklahoma, he went on to meet his wife and start a family. He has lived here for 18 years.

It seems everyone knows someone who claims to be “great” at table tennis.

Addy knows them too. They’re often cocky — until they play him.

“They think it’s an easy sport compared to the other sports, but it’s not,” he said. “If you tell somebody you play table tennis, they say, ‘Oh, I’m good!

I’m good!’ Everybody’s good at playing table tennis.”

When playing, Addy doesn’t hug the end of the table but can often be seen running around and returning volleys

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from several feet behind it. His range of motion is not totally unlike that of players in the full-scale version of tennis.

He is a self-described “fancy” player, a style he adopted after years of watching some of the world’s best.

Though in Ghana he could play table tennis full-time, in the U.S., he has to work, so he now approaches the game as more of a hobby. Plus, there are fewer high-level players for him to go up against, which is one of the reasons he has taken up coaching in the state.

Addy has been training for the U.S. Open taking place in Las Vegas. At age 42, he is less invested in the game, but he sees the national tournament as a vital and important challenge.

“It’s a different feeling,” he said. “It’s like checking your pulse to see if you’ve still got it or not.”

life music

Hometown music WoodyFest will charge admission for the first time ever, but the lineup makes it all worth it.

Woody Guthrie Folk Festival 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 8-Sunday Okemah, Oklahoma woodyguthrie.com $30-$75

Woody Guthrie died almost 50 years ago, but for the past 18 years, the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival has kept his spirit alive.

Held in Guthrie’s hometown of Okemah, the event, also known as WoodyFest, hosts artists from across the nation and fans from around the world.

When it began in 1998, it was free to everyone, but this year’s WoodyFest, held Wednesday, July 8-Saturday, is the first to require tickets.

According to Karen Zundel, secretary of the Woody Guthrie Coalition Board of Directors, it was difficult to put on a free festival for the past three years.

“This year, we put a lot of thought into how we could either reduce expenses or increase revenue,” Zundel said, “and really, the only solution seemed to be to charge an admission fee.”

Three-day passes are $75 and include entry to the Crystal Theater and evening performances at Pastures of Plenty.

Zundel said the festival still offers many free activities and live shows.

“We added a lot of additional free music,” Zundel said, “so people will still get a lot of bang for their buck or more music for their money. People could still come and listen to a lot of music without paying any kind of a fee.”

Events at Brick Street Cafe, the Community Improvement Association (CIA) tent and the annual Sunday Hootenanny remain free. Along with a weekend full of live music, WoodyFest also offers Guthrie lectures and presentations, artist meet-and-greets, poetry readings, an open mic at Lou’s Rocky Road Tavern and the annual pancake breakfast with Guthrie’s sister, Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon.

Saturday morning, Edgmon hosts a pancake breakfast at Lou’s Rocky Road Tavern, and proceeds go toward the Huntington’s Disease Society of America. Woody Guthrie died due to complications from the disease. Zundel said some musicians

make an appearance for spontaneous performances during the meal.

“You never know who’s going to show up and play one or two songs,” Zundel said, “so it’s really fun. That’s something that I never miss at the festival.”

This year’s WoodyFest features annual performers such as The Red Dirt Rangers, David Amram and Ellis Paul. According to Zundel, the concert committee tries to create the lineup with as many new bands as they can while keeping the regulars.

“I think [the concert committee tries] to satisfy the fans as far as bringing back the old or long-time favorites while also bringing in some new artists,” Zundel said. “I know this year, there’s quite a few acts I have not heard before.

So we should be hearing lots of new music.”

Some newcomers this year include Wild Ponies and singer/songwriter Rod Picott. Both hail from Nashville, Tennessee.

The Wild Ponies duo, Telisha and Doug Williams, used to perform under their first names, but after their 2013 record Things That Used to Shine, they switched. Telisha is originally from Virginia, and her husband is from North Carolina. Wild ponies roam the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Mount Rogers in Virginia, and Telisha said the name is fitting.

“We just thought the wild pony really kind of described what we did, like it’s a little bit rugged, independent and scraping by,” Telisha said.

Wild Ponies’ music resonates like Americana and features sounds from old-timey music with influences from rock ’n’ roll. Doug and Telisha said they’ve heard of WoodyFest before and have friends who played at it but they’re excited to share their music this year.

“We’ve kind of taken on this new thing that all of our music should be music that matters, like social messages,” Doug said. “So artists like Hazel Dickens and Woody Guthrie, people who kind of came before and made sure when they wrote a song, it meant something; those are big heroes to us.”

Picott grew up in Maine but has lived in Nashville for 20 years. He received his first guitar at age 12 and started writing songs at 16. He describes his sound as literate roots music, and

photos p rovi ded

By Kaley Patterson

You never know who’s going to show up and play one or two songs, so it’s really fun. That’s something that I never miss at the festival.

— Karen Zundel

he considers himself a songwriter more than a musician because he uses his guitar to communicate his writing.

“I feel like if I could move, if I was going to move left or right, I would move towards poetry or maybe writing a novel or journalism as opposed to a different instrument,” Picott said. “I’m coming at it from a writing point of view more than a music point of view.”

Picott is working on a new record titled Fortune, which will be released Aug. 14. The album is different than his previous work. Instead of writing narratives about other people’s lives and blue-collar experiences, Picott said his new work is more intimate.

“I sort of turned the lens around and pointed it at myself and my own life a little bit more,” Picott said. “It’s a more personal record.”

Picott said he’s happy he was invited

to play alongside great musicians such as The Damn Quails, John Fullbright and Brandon Jenkins.

“When I look at the lineup, I feel like I’m seeing my compatriots, people whose world I belong in,” Picott said.

“So I’m looking forward to seeing friends and people … It’s like the whole tribe is there at one time. I’m really excited about that.”

Picott performs at 3 p.m. Thursday at Brick Street Cafe. Wild Ponies take the stage at 3 p.m. Friday at the cafe.

Free concerts start with Andy Adams on Wednesday, July 8.

Tickets for the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival can be purchased online at woodyguthrie.com.

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | j u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 3 7

Euphonious wanderlust The genre-defying sounds of Sun Riah fill listeners with hope.

By GreG Horton

When M. Bailey Stephenson moved back to Oklahoma City from Chicago, the musician, singer and songwriter knew she would have a period of adjustment. Stephenson, who performs as Sun Riah, left Oklahoma to pursue an education at DePaul University, but not in music.

“I ended up doing a degree in modern language and literature,” Stephenson said. “But I bought my first harp while in Chicago.”

Stephenson grew up in Stillwater, Guthrie and Mulhall but graduated from Putnam City West. Throughout school, she played piano, wrote songs and performed in musical theater. In Chicago, she met several harpists, and she knew she wanted to play it.

“I love the harp,” Stephenson said.

“I love the possibilities and potentials of the instrument. I love that I hug it when I’m playing and that it’s played with the fingertips, that I can feel the vibrations. It seems to be a delicate instrument, but it is strong, powerful and expressive.”

That sort of thoroughness — the descriptors that come from deep reflection — is characteristic of Stephenson’s songwriting, too. She is thoughtful and contemplative in ways that lend themselves to the task of playing an instrument that demands high levels of skill and seriousness.

Her chosen niche — call it genre if you must — is certainly experimental. Bandcamp even categorizes her latest album, Firefly Night Light, as shoegaze, a descriptor that is both understandable and unfair. Her songs do seem to come from a pensive internal conversation, but they are well-crafted, arresting, even heartbreaking when Stephenson adds her plaintive vocals.

3 8 | j u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h O m a G a z e t t e

“The new album is focused on time and place,” Stephenson said.

“It goes back and forth between memories and what is resonating with me now.”

The album also contains meditations on what Stephenson calls divides, the experience of growing up in a rural setting but graduating high school in an urban one. She talks about the divide between Oklahoma and Chicago, too.

“I loved Chicago, but I knew I would have to come home to Oklahoma at some point,” she said.

“Some of the songs are about living in Chicago and longing for home and then, after the homecoming, struggling to find home in Oklahoma, to adjust to the belief systems and place.”

Themes of relationships and loss are common in Sun Riah’s music, and Firefly Night Light is no exception.

The difference between the new album and her older work, though, is that the second half of the new project builds toward a lighter, more hopeful conclusion. Stephenson said the hopeful conclusion was intentional.

She’s happy where she is musically, and she enjoys the process of being a graduate assistant at the University of Oklahoma, where she studies cultural anthropology. The teaching helps her feel grounded and connected.

“I do like where I am now, but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep growing, shifting, changing,” she said. “I have learned how to make better realities for myself, including an appreciation for the present. I have always been filled with wanderlust, but I am starting to appreciate where I am.”

p rovi de d

life music

st e ve N tAy lor

Killer musician PJ Morton will be in OKC for a concert and a master class in which he will talk about all aspects of the music biz.

By GreG Horton

PJ morton live with shortt Dogg 8 p.m. thursday avenue 101 5929 n. may ave artscouncilokc.com $15

master class 1–3:30 pm. thursday 9 a.m. friday millwood High school 6700 martin luther King ave. bringbackthemusic.org $15

PJ Morton is a preacher’s kid. That description alone sets off a chain of assumptions in most of us, and Morton has been categorized and criticized according to those assumptions more than once in his musical career.

The solo artist and member of Maroon 5 is a songwriter, producer, musician and vocalist. Morton joined Maroon 5 in 2010 after auditioning as a keyboardist and vocalist.

“I typically work on my solo stuff when Adam [Levine] is doing The Voice,” Morton said. “We just got back from a European tour last week, so I’ll be touring in support of my new project. I expect we’ll go back out as Maroon 5 in the fall.”

The project Morton is touring for in July and August is Live Show Killer, a collection of what Morton calls fan favorites from his previous albums.

“The album name comes from a nickname my fans gave me,” Morton said. “I love doing a live show, so I wanted to do a live recording.”

In order to keep the feel of a live recording with all the benefits of a world-class recording studio, Morton used Henson Recording Studios’ famous Studio A in Hollywood (where “We are the World” was recorded) with a small, live in-studio audience. He played to the crowd as he would in any live show, and the event was recorded in one take.

“My identity as an artist is really on stage more than anything,” Morton said. “It gives me a chance to get across to the audience who I am and the songs I write.”

Morton is a New Orleans native from a talented musical family. His father is a pastor and bishop as well as a gospel singer. He has released a solo album and singles and choral productions with two mass choirs.

Paul S. Morton is also the founder and past bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, an affiliation of African-American Baptist churches that practice spiritual gifts, much like Pentecostals. It was in his father’s church that the younger Morton refined his musical craft.

“The first music I did, both singing and writing, was gospel,” he said. “I think there is a very thin line between gospel and soul.”

Morton said he is ready to start giving back to the music community.

As part of that transition, he has started participating in master classes.

In performing arts education, master classes are short intensives offered to talented students by experts in their fields. All Access Arts, Arts Council Oklahoma City and Bring Back the Music (a performing arts education program) will present a master class with Morton and his band Thursday and Friday at Millwood High School.

The master class allows students to work with Morton and Good Times Brass Band both individually and in ensembles.

“I like giving back at this level,” Morton said. “I’ve been in the industry as a producer, writer, singer and musician. I like to address all of those components in these classes. It’s like getting to share all different sides of me.”

As part of the two-day event, Avenue 101 hosts Morton and the band for a show on Thursday. It will feature music from the new album, which was released July 7.

O k l a h O m a G a z e t t e | j u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | 3 9

LIVE MUSIC WEDNESDAY, JULY 8

Judson Cole/Birch Street, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY

Bulletboys/L.A. Guns/Killer Bee, Thunder Alley Grill and Sports Bar. ROCK

MAAJR/Trash TV/Day One, 51st Street Speakeasy. POP

Eric Dunkin, Baker Street Pub & Grill. ROCK Kyle Reid & the Low Swingin’ Chariots/Blair Crimmins & the Hookers, The Deli, Norman. JAZZ Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club. JAZZ Rockwell Ryan, Red Rock Canyon Grill. ACOUSTIC Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER Scott Miles, Five Star Grille. SINGER/SONGWRITER Woody Guthrie Folk Fest, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Okemah. FOLK

THURSDAY, JULY 9

Justin Pruitt Duo, Five Star Grille. ROCK Kwicksand, Bourbon Street Bar. ROCK Lost on Utica, Boathouse District. POP

Matt Blagg, Red Rock Canyon Grill. BLUES Michael Hix, Riverwind Casino, Norman. POP Morris McCann, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill.

COUNTRY My So Called Band, The Deli, Norman. COVER Ravens Three, Full Circle Bookstore. FOLK Street Kings, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK Superjoint/King Parrot/Child Bite, Diamond Ballroom.

ROCK Urban Addiction, Remington Park. POP Woody Guthrie Folk Fest, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Okemah. FOLK

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

SATURDAY, JULY 11

Core Country, Chisholm Trail Park, Yukon. COUNTRY

1 Stone Band, Sliders. VARIOUS

Ellis Paul, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Avenue, Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse. ACOUSTIC

Groove Merchants, Red Rock Canyon Grill. COVER

Brandon Jackson, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill.

COUNTRY

Harumph/Kierston White/Camille Harp/Elizabee, The Deli, Norman. POP Lucky Duo, Colcord Hotel. COVER BAND Luke Bryan, Choctaw Event Center, Durant. COUNTRY Party Thieves, Subsonix at the Market. HIP-HOP Suede Panther, Wormy Dog Saloon. BLUES Woody Guthrie Folk Fest, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Okemah. FOLK

FRIDAY, JULY 10 1 Stone Band, Sliders. VARIOUS 2AM, Baker Street Pub & Grill. POP Adam & Kizzie/Denver Duncan, Lower Bricktown Live on the Green. VARIOUS Brother Rabbit/The Lonelys/Speak, Memory, Dreamer Concepts Studio & Foundation, Norman. INDIE Damn Quails, Grady’s 66 Pub, Yukon. ROCK Dikembe/Trade School/Seasonal, 89th Street Collective.

ROCK

p rovi de d

life music

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music

pick

sunday twilight concert series sunday

Tap Band, a crowd-pleasing jazz and R&B group from Oklahoma City, plays a free concert 7:30-9 p.m. Sunday at Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., as part of Sunday Twilight Concert Series presented by Devon Energy and Oklahoma Arts Council, Allied Arts, National Endowment for the Arts and Magic 104.1. Set up your blankets, chairs and picnics on the Great Lawn in front of the Band Shell for a night of great music and family fun. Visit artscouncilokc.com.

Casey & Minna, Bedlam Bar-B-Q. FOLK Chris Lashley/Rachel Brashear, Overholser Mansion.

SINGER/SONGWRITER Cimarron Station/Blansett Family & Friends/Heartland Express, Oklahoma Country-Western Museum & Hall of Fame. BLUEGRASS Claire Piersol Duo, Lottinvilles Restaurant, Edmond. JAZZ Coyote Hill Bluegrass/Olivia Kay/Glenn Sulley, Rodeo Opry. BLUEGRASS

Woody Guthrie Folk Fest, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Okemah. FOLK

Derek Harris, Red Rock Canyon Grill. ACOUSTIC

SUNDAY, JULY 12

Dirty Red & The Soulshakers, Bourbon Street Bar. BLUES Don and Melodee Johnson, Twelve Oaks, Edmond. JAZZ Drive, Remington Park. VARIOUS Gunpowder Junkies, Five Star Grille. ROCK Hosty Duo, The Deli, Norman. ROCK

Trevor McSpadden/Matt Campbell, Red Brick Bar. COUNTRY

Mark Vollertsen, Colcord Hotel. ACOUSTIC

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

DJ Josh Tullis, Colcord Hotel. ELECTRONIC

Midas 13, JoJo’s Bar. ROCK

TAP Band, Myriad Botanical Gardens. JAZZ

Gentry, Kendell’s Bar. VARIOUS

Remedy OKC Band, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK

Issei Aoyama Jazz Combo, Lottinvilles Restaurant, Edmond. JAZZ

Stars, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. COVER BAND

Ultra City/Feeble Contenders, 89th Street Collective.

ROCK

John Arnold Band, Thunderbird Casino, Norman.

COUNTRY

Woody Guthrie Folk Fest, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Okemah. FOLK

Taylor Caniff, 89th Street Collective. POP The Weathermen, Tapwerks Ale House & Cafe. ROCK

Saint Motel, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa. INDIE

Michael Kleid, Colcord Hotel. JAZZ

North Meets South, The Depot, Norman. COUNTRY

Lisa and Laura, Full Circle Bookstore. ACOUSTIC

Saint Motel, ACM@UCO Performance Lab. INDIE

Shinedown/Nothing More, Brady Theater, Tulsa. ROCK

Mountain Smoke, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. JAZZ

Juan Wauters, Opolis, Norman. POP

Lord Huron/Widowspeak, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa. FOLK

Don Conoscenti, The Blue Door. ACOUSTIC

Mike Hosty One Man Band, The Deli, Norman. ROCK

Jeremy Thomas Quartet, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. JAZZ

Eyes Set to Kill/Voodoo Dolls/Devour the Innocent, 89th Street Collective. ROCK

MONDAY, JULY 13 Alan Orebaugh/Stupid Guitar Tricks, The Deli, Norman.

ROCK Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK

WEDNESDAY, JULY 15 Between the Buried & Me/Animals as Leaders, Diamond Ballroom. ROCK Carol Morgan, Five Star Grille. BLUES Grant Wells, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. JAZZ Harumph/Wink Burcham/Ali Harter, The Deli, The Deli, Norman. POP Mark Vollertsen, Red Rock Canyon Grill. ACOUSTIC Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club. JAZZ Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER The Honeycutters, The Blue Door. COUNTRY The Weathermen, Baker Street Pub & Grill. ROCK

Rob Thomas/Plain White T’s, Brady Theater, Tulsa. POP

TUESDAY, JULY 14

4 0 | j u ly 8 , 2 0 1 5 | O k l a h O m a G a z e t t e

provided

Caleb McGee, The Deli, Norman. BLUES

Bulletboys, thunder alley Grill and sports Bar, Wednesday, July 8

David Nail, University of Oklahoma. COUNTRY Dylan Stewart & The Eulogists, The Deli, Norman. FOLK

Submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date. Late submissions will not be included in the listings.

Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible.

Fax your listings to 528-4600 or e-mail them to listings@okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY Homework: What’s your secret beauty — the great thing about you that no one knows about?Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) How can you fulfill your potential as an Aries? What strategies will help you become the best Aries you can possibly be? Now is an excellent time to meditate on these riddles. One of my Aries readers, Mickki Langston, has some stellar tips to inspire you: 1.

One of your greatest assets is your relentless sense of purpose. Treasure it. Stay connected to it. Draw on it daily. 2. Love what you love with pure conviction, because there is no escaping it. 3. Other people may believe in you, but only sometimes. That’s why you should unfailingly believe in yourself. 4. It’s your duty and your destiny to continually learn more about how to be a leader. 5. Don’t be confused by other people’s confusion. 6. Your best friend is the Fool, who will guide you to laughter and humility when you need it most, which is pretty much all of the time.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) While making a long trek through the desert on a camel, British author Somerset Maugham passed the time by reading Marcel Proust’s novel *In Search of Lost Time.* After finishing each page, Maugham ripped it out and cast it away. The book weighed less and less as his journey progressed. I suggest that you consider a similar approach in the coming weeks, Taurus. As you weave your way toward your next destination, shed the accessories and attachments you don’t absolutely need. Keep lightening your load.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) “I have gathered about me people who understand how to translate fear into possibility,” writes John Keene in his story “Acrobatique.” I’d love to see you do the same, Gemini. From an astrological perspective, now is a favorable time to put your worries and trepidations to work for you. You have an extraordinary capacity to use your doubt and dread to generate opportunities. Even if you go it alone, you can accomplish minor miracles, but why not dare to think even bigger? Team up with brave and resourceful allies who want to translate fear into possibility, too.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) When novelist John Irving begins a new book, his first task is to write the last line of the last page.

Then he writes the second-to-last line. He continues to work backwards for a while until he has a clear understanding of the way his story will end. Right now, Cancerian, as you hatch your next big phase of development, I invite you to borrow Irving’s approach.

Visualize in detail the blossoms that will eventually come from the seeds you’re planting. Create a vivid picture of the life you will be living when your plans have fully ripened.

in authority will confer it upon you, and that it will signify a raise in status, an increase in responsibility, or an expansion of your clout. If for some reason this upgrade doesn’t occur naturally, take matters into your own hands. Tell people to refer to you as “Your Excellency” or “Your Majesty.” Wear a name tag that says “Deputy Director of Puzzle-Solving” or “Executive Vice-President of Fanatical Balance and Insane Poise.” For once in your life, it’s OK to risk becoming a legend in your own mind. P.S. It wouldn’t be a bad time to demand a promotion -diplomatically, of course, in the Libran spirit.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) You have cosmic permission to lose your train of thought, forget about what was so seriously important, and be weirdly amused by interesting nonsense. If stress-addicts nag you to be more responsible, tell them that your astrologer has authorized you to ignore the pressing issues and wander off in the direction of nowhere in particular. Does that sound like a good plan? It does to me. For now, it’s your sovereign right to be a wise and innocent explorer with nothing much to do but wonder and daydream and play around.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Between now and July 22, your password and mantra and battle cry is “serendipity.” To make sure you are clear about its meaning, meditate on these definitions: a knack for uncovering surprising benefits by accident; a talent for stumbling upon timely help or useful resources without searching for them. Got that?

Now I’ll provide clues that should help you get the most out of your lucky breaks and blessed twists: 1. Be curious and receptive, not lackadaisical and entitled.

2. Expect the unexpected. Vow to thrive on surprises.

3. Your desires are more likely to come true if you are unattached to them coming true. But you should formulate those desires clearly and precisely.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Even the most provocative meme cannot literally cause the Internet to collapse from overuse. It’s true that photos of Kim Kardashian’s oiled-up butt spawned a biblical flood of agitated responses on social media. So did the cover shot of Caitlyn Jenner in *Vanity Fair* and the Youtube video of a tiny hamster noshing tiny burritos and the season-five finale of the TV show *Game of Thrones.* But none of these starbursts unleashed so much traffic that the Web was in danger of crashing. It’s too vast and robust for that to ever happen. Or is it? I’m wondering if Virgos’ current propensities for high adventure and rollicking melodrama could generate phenomena that would actually, not just metaphorically, break the Internet. To be safe, I suggest you enjoy yourself to the utmost, but not more than the utmost.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to acquire a new title. It’s quite possible that a person

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) On behalf of the Strange Angels in Charge of Uproarious Beauty and Tricky Truths, I am pleased to present you with the award for Most Catalytic Fun-Seeker and Intriguing Game-Changer of the Zodiac. What are your specific superpowers? You’re capable of transforming rot into splendor. You have a knack for discovering secrets that have been hidden.

I also suspect that your presence can generate magic laughter and activate higher expectations and wake everyone up to the interesting truths they’ve been ignoring.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) “Who is that can tell me who I am?” asks King Lear in the Shakespeare play named after him. It’s a painful moment. The old boy is confused and alarmed when he speaks those words. But I’d like

to borrow his question and transplant it into a very different context: your life right now. I think that you can engender inspirational results by making it an ongoing meditation. There are people in a good position to provide you with useful insights into who you are.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) What’s hard but important for you to do? What are the challenging tasks you know you should undertake because they would improve your life? The coming days will be a favorable time to make headway on these labors. You will have more power than usual to move what has been nearly impossible to move. You may be surprised by your ability to change situations that have resisted and outfoxed you in the past. I’m not saying that any of this will be smooth and easy.

But I bet you will be able to summon unprecedented amounts of willpower and perseverance.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Franz Kafka produced three novels, a play, four short fiction collections, and many other stories.

And yet some of his fellow writers thought he was uncomfortable in expressing himself. Bertolt Brecht said Kafka seemed perpetually afraid, as if he were being monitored by the cops for illicit thoughts.

Milena Jesenská observed that Kafka often wrote like he was sitting naked in the midst of fully-clothed people. Your assignment in the coming weeks is to shed such limitations and inhibitions from your own creative expression. What would you need to do to free your imagination? To get started, visualize five pleasurable scenarios in which you feel joyful, autonomous, generous, and expansive.

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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