Raising Foodies by Oklahoma Gazette

FREE EVERY WEDNESDAY | METRO OKC’S INDEPENDENT WEEKLY | AUGUST 12, 2015

RAISING FOODIES Children guide families on healthy, hearty palate adventures.

STREET

BY GREG ELWELL P.19

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CONTENTS 31

ON THE COVER

NEWS

Tiny fists pound the table. A sneer crawls across the lips. The room grows quiet in anticipation of the scream that shatters the calm. And then you look across the restaurant and there’s some little angel happily devouring a plate of asparagus and Brussels sprouts, kids who eat sushi and salad and foods that aren’t lumps of processed chicken mush forced into molds before being deepfried. How do they do it? Story by Greg Elwell, P.19.

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Culture: Plaza Mayor at the Crossroads City: I-35/I-240 construction Education: ADA playgrounds Religion: Stanley Rother Chicken-Fried News Commentary Letters

LIFE

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OKG picks Cover: raising foodies Food & Drink: food briefs, Sandro’s Pizza and Pasta, Crimson Cocktails, OKG eat: food trucks Health: summer weather Gaming: Remington Park season Community: America’s Favorite Veterinarian Health: Wellness Workshops Business: Dan Rotelli Visual Arts: Heathen 2

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Performing Arts: Silence! The Auction, Mann ... and Wife Sudoku / Crossword Active: Oklahoma City Community Foundation grants, Professional Bull Riders’ Built Ford Tough Series Music: Chad Copelin, Drivin’ Dreams, KATTFEST, listings Astrology Classifieds

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

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Community, service

M aRK Ha N COC K

news culture

Plaza Mayor’s business incubator concept turned an almost-abandoned mall into a vibrant cultural hub.

By Brett Dickerson

Plaza Mayor at the Crossroads is the new name for the former Crossroads Mall property at Interstate 35 and Interstate 240. But there is more to the transformation than a name change. The mall is growing into its new concept of a business incubator and cultural hub, targeting a rapidly expanding Hispanic population in Oklahoma City and across the state. According to Robert Ruiz, Plaza Mayor’s marketing manager, the center has shown steady growth since the concept launched in 2013. That year, it had only 17 percent occupancy compared to 45 percent today. Average sales have grown 11 percent in that time, Ruiz said, and mall traffic has doubled.

Tested concept

The man with the ideas and plans behind Plaza Mayor’s vision and purpose is José de Jesús Legaspi. His wisdom from decades of retail development experience is now focused on the regional-sized mall in southeast Oklahoma City, which is owned by Legaspi and local investors. The better part of his business career has involved taking older retail areas that

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had been abandoned and turning them into financially successful enterprises. Legaspi said his early experience with helping the southern California city of Santa Ana was formative to what he is doing now with older malls that have lost their way in a constantly changing business environment. That city is over 90 percent Hispanic, and he drew people back into the oncedead downtown of Santa Ana that lost its verve many years before.

Fort Worth success

About 11 years ago, Legaspi took a chance on redeveloping Fort Worth’s lifeless, 1.2 million-square-foot Seminary South Shopping Center. It was the first mall in Fort Worth, originally launched as an open-air retail venue that was later enclosed. It slowly died as the neighborhood around it started to degrade. “In Fort Worth, we took all of what we learned,” Legaspi said. “It was a dead mall. It was like 10 percent occupied. South Fort Worth had a really bad reputation. It was poor. There was a lot of criminal activity.” He transformed Seminary South into

Mall co-owner Jose Legaspi left with OKC Boots employee Luis Torres, looking at $850 Los Altos crocodile skin boots at Plaza Major at the Crossroads. La Gran Plaza de Fort Worth, which today hovers at just over 90 percent occupancy, a far cry from the 10 percent occupancy when Legaspi first invested in the property. “There are a lot of people who want to be in the urban areas, but not the national tenants,” Legaspi said. “There was a big stigma about that. They didn’t think that anybody had enough money to buy food and clothing.” La Gran Plaza provided a model for Legaspi on how to successfully redevelop the Plaza Mayor property.

Business incubator

Following the success of the business incubation model he used in Fort Worth, Legaspi applied it to Oklahoma City. Both locations are part of a larger project of the Small Business Administration (SBA). The symbiotic partnership adds strength and momentum to his original concept.

“In Fort Worth we really began this concept. We had a large former Dillard’s store,” Legaspi said. “We thought it would be great to bring in small tenants that we could help and then incubate them into the mall itself.” For new and startup companies, retail stalls are made to be easily rearranged into larger spaces, and eventually, a growing business can expand out into a full store space in the mall where return customers can easily find them. One Plaza Mayor merchant, Victor Leal, is a good example of the incubator model that Legaspi has used with so much success. In 2013, Leal launched his business from a small section of counter in the mall. Today, he runs five different stores there and just signed the lease on a sixth, scheduled to open in September. Oklahoma Gazette interviewed Leal as Ruiz acted as translator. “I visited La Gran Plaza and saw how this could work,” Leal said, “and so that’s why I decided to come to Plaza Mayor in the first place. It was a good decision.”

Hispanic culture

But businesses cannot grow without Plaza Mayor’s support of the Hispanic community, which is enriched by the cultural events that it holds in the large, open area in the mall’s core. Since the venue also enjoys a prime location at the junction of I-35 and I-240, Legaspi said that Plaza Mayor can now draw Hispanics from “just around the corner, or 20, 30, 50 miles away, just to visit [it].” Just as in other locations where he has drawn area residents to places that traditional retailers fled, he uses cultural events to create something similar “to a small-town center in Mexico” where music, community and religious events and shopping occur simultaneously. Once people are there, Legaspi said, the venue welcomes multiple generations of guests. “[Unlike American culture, where family is defined primarily as parents and their children], in the Hispanic community, it is parents, children, cousins, first cousins, best friends, grandparents,” he said. “Everybody is part of a nuclear family.”

The long-term

Legaspi said that he is in this for the long haul and won’t be selling Plaza Mayor anytime soon. “We don’t buy malls or run malls on the basis that we are going to get it, build it up and then sell it now. We’re hoping that we can run it for five, 10, 20 years from now,” he said. “And that’s a longterm investment. It’s not easy. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of money to make it happen.”

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O k l a h O m a G a z e t t e | au g u s t 1 2 , 2 0 1 5 | 5 8/6/15 10:33 AM

news city

Construction conjunction

Amid objections, Oklahoma Department of Transportation begins a big fix of a major city intersection.

By Brett Dickerson

New traffic

The interchange was originally designed for 31,000 cars per day but now regularly handles 120,000. After over 20 years of study, property acquisition and discussions with neighbors and business owners in the area, Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) is set to start a long process of rebuilding the outdated and deadly intersection with a new design. Since traffic will need to continue to flow through the junction during the $110 million construction project, ODOT plans to make the changes in six stages over six years starting in 2016 and ending in 2022. To better handle current and future projected traffic needs, the new design will take up more space than the current one, resulting in some current entrances and exits near the current exchange being closed. After years of informal meetings, the design was presented officially to neighbors and business owners in the area at a meeting this year on June 11. It calls for extensive changes in concept from the current one. An ODOT presentation used at the meeting identified several problems with the current outdated design that needed to be addressed: • Inadequate capacity • Poorly spaced access • Substandard bridge and ramp configurations

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The presentation reveals new designs that include a multilevel interchange with “flyover” ramps and new configurations for how to access city streets in the area. In the new design, key intersections for accessing different parts of the city from I-35 will be SE 59th Street on the north and SE 89th Street on the south. For I-240, key intersections in the new design are Santa Fe Avenue on the west and Eastern Avenue on the east.

Permanent closures

ODOT’s design calls for permanently closing access to Pole Road on the east and Shields Boulevard on the west sides of the current exchange. Pole Road is primarily a convenience for Plaza Mayor at the Crossroads, but the new designs will produce seven access points to the property. In addition, the new designs will involve the state declaring eminent domain and taking edges of the mall property to configure a new access road that is a part of the plan. However, the added access and better-organized flow of traffic into and out of Plaza Mayor is considered by management to be a win for the regional-sized mall property. “At the beginning, looking at it, we were really nervous because they were closing Pole Road and SE 66th Street,” Plaza Mayor Manager Kristi Cole said. “But after seeing the simulation, I think it really is going to be OK for us.”

Objections

While businesses on the east side of I-35 like Plaza Mayor are happy with the designs for the junction, some businesses around the intersection of I-240 and S. Shields Boulevard are not. According to Elaine Lyons, President and CEO of the South Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, businesses east of the interchange along Shields Boulevard will be hit hardest in the new plan. Their greatest concern is access to the local businesses along Shields Boulevard and the economic impact that reduced access might cause. Lyons said that they had not worked up a dollar figure on what they thought the economic impact might be. Lyons and Chairman of the Board

bREtt DICKERsON / p ROVI DED

If you don’t know someone who has a scary story about driving through the Interstate 35 and Interstate 240 junction on the south side of Oklahoma City, you are probably in the minority. One business owner nearby has to relive the dangers and even terror of it daily. “There have been people killed right in front of the shop. Right here,” Gary Butler said as he stood outside of his MAACO Auto Body Repair shop and pointed to a spot on I-240 about 50 yards away. “There are multiple wrecks here a day.” He owns a body shop located on S. Frontage Road by I-240 between S. Shields Boulevard and I-35 within view of the area that is about to undergo major changes.

Gary Butler stands in out in front of a dangerous area on Interstate 240 in front of his body shop. Paul Urquhart signed a letter dated June 25 to ODOT Executive Director Mike Patterson. The letter, approved by the South OKC Chamber Board, listed several concerns, including the economic impact on local businesses and added traffic strain to Eastern, Santa Fe and Walker avenues due to the closing off of Pole Road and Shields Boulevard. According to Lyons, the South OKC Chamber has had no response to its letter from ODOT. Bob West, part owner of the local Western wear retailer Langston’s, said he had missed the last meeting on the new design for the interchange, although he saw ODOT design plans “about nine years ago.” “[If Shields is cut off to I-240,] it will affect our business, especially people coming from the north and the south,” he said. Butler, the body shop owner, said he and others around the intersection of I-240 and Shields Boulevard were not aware that ODOT’s plans called for completely closing off direct access either way. “I understand why they are doing it because it is deadly,” he said. “I understand that they need to do something, but this just hurts the

business. It’s going to limit access to my business and other businesses in the area quite a bit.”

ODOT response

“This is very, very common and understandable for us that people would be very nervous about that,” said Terri Angier, chief of media and public relations at ODOT. “When there is a very high-density development in the area and you are trying to expand a highway, they have to take right-away from somewhere.” Now, businesses have two access points to Shields, which are being moved to the Santa Fe Avenue intersection just one-third of a mile away, where four access points will be a part of the new design, Angier said. “It really doesn’t impact them in any way except to make it safer for them and add capacity to people who are trying to get to their businesses and aren’t sitting in congestion or trying to weave into traffic,” she said. She also said that since they start on the outer edges of a project and work in, the Shields Boulevard and Santa Fe Avenue area would be part of the early stages of this project.

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Edmond Public Schools work with a local design and manufacturing company to make its recess time accessible to elementary students. By JAck Fowler

Six of Edmond’s 17 elementary schools are receiving “playground facelifts” this summer, thanks to an investment in outdoor recreation by its district administration. As part of an effort to become more accommodating to all of its students, renovations emphasize “integrating the involvement of the school’s students with physical disabilities” along with their playtime peers, said a statement on Noah’s pARK & Playgrounds’ website. Noah’s is the Edmond-based company that built the equipment. It’s all part of making sure every student feels like they’re on equal footing, said Susan Parks-Schlepp, community involvement and public information director of Edmond Public Schools. “Outdoor play is vital to a child’s well-being … We want our playgrounds to accommodate children of all abilities,” she said. Renovations at Angie Debo, Centennial, Charles Haskell, Cross Timbers, Washington Irving and West Field elementary schools should be completed before the 2015-16 school year begins on Aug. 20. Parks-Schlepp said principals and special education staff from each school helped design each new playground. “Our site principals and special education staff are really looking forward to this,” she said. “The beauty of this project is that no two playgrounds will be alike. Those staff members were instrumental in deciding layout and design elements that would best suit each school’s student population.” Noah’s pARK then created the playgrounds and toys to suit each school’s specific student needs, said co-owner Shan Shepherd. He and wife DeAnn founded the local company in 2001. Designs accommodate kids ages 5-12 years old, adhere to ADA

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The new ADA-compliant playground at Washington Irving Elementary School in Edmond (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) standards and include details such as safetyrated wear mats under slide exits, proper depth of wood mulch underneath the toys and concrete ramp access to playgrounds. The toys also feature customized colors; spiral, double and triple slides; climbing portions; and activity panels. Washington Irving and West Field also will install Freenotes Harmony Park Weenotes music packages, which include kid-friendly, outdoor xylophones, metallophones and chimes.

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Those staff members were instrumental in deciding layout and design elements that would best suit each school’s student population. — Susan Parks-Schlepp Noah’s pARK also was subcontracted to install a seventh playground at the district’s new Heritage Elementary School. The ADA, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last month, gives civil rights protections to people with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, sex, age and religion. “We are honored to be working with Edmond Public Schools,” Shepherd said in a media release. “We feel each school is getting what they specifically want and, more importantly, need for their students.”

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news religion

Of faith

pHOtOs by M a RK Ha N COC K

One of Oklahoma’s native sons could become the first male saint born in the U.S. By Brett Dickerson

A former farm boy from Okarche had no intention of becoming a martyr for the Christian faith. Yet, the Roman Catholic Church is on the brink of declaring him one. In June, a special commission at the seat of the Catholic Church in Rome voted to recognize Father Stanley Rother as a Christian martyr. That commission did the heavy lifting of carefully examining the case and then passing on a recommendation. If a larger group of bishops and cardinals affirms that vote and Pope Francis agrees, he could declare Rother a martyr and blessed, or beatified. Once a martyr, he will be eligible for sainthood. Events that led to that decision started 34 years ago in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala.

Death

Rother was killed in the living quarters of the mission to which he was assigned on July 28, 1981. That night, he was simply intent upon staying alive for another day in order to remain a faithful shepherd of his parishioners there. In the past, he had narrowly slipped away from the death squads. But this time, they were successful. A squad of gunmen broke into the rectory to take him away, as had been done earlier to so many others. But he was not willing to go quietly. He knew what was next. Hundreds of his parishioners had

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been kidnapped in the night only to be tortured and killed someplace else. Either their mutilated bodies would be left on the road as a lesson to others or they would never be seen in any form again. So Rother fought back. If they were going to kill him, it would have to be there. And that’s what they did. “A shepherd does not run,” was what he wrote to concerned family members the last time he chose to return to the mission. That was his vocation, his calling. But clearly, the government considered him something other than a shepherd.

A shepherd does not run. — Stanley Rother

Central America

Anyone who helped the poor empower themselves could become a target of the brutal governments in Central America in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The missionary priest to a humble people had found himself in the midst of a larger Central American struggle between restless, poor natives and the Spanish-speaking oligarchical governments that received their

training and monetary support from the United States. The U.S. considered those movements to be playing into the hands of Cuba’s communist influence, which American presidents had sworn to contain at all costs since the surprising success of Fidel Castro’s revolution there in 1959. And Rother was one of the costs.

The “disappeared”

The costs were also high for the Santiago Atitlán community that the mission served. Today, at the shrine in the entry to the church there, Rother’s name is listed along with over 300 parishioners who were kidnapped by government operatives and never seen alive again. Priests were not exempt from being included on the lists. Earlier, Rother had been warned by reliable sources that his name had been added to a list of those being targeted by the shadowy government squads. The archbishop called him back home to Oklahoma twice for his own safety, and each time, he had chosen to go back and be the shepherd of the people who he loved and who loved him. To those intent on keeping the oligarchies in power, a shepherd could look like a revolutionary simply for showing people how to grow their own food and read, which were some of the things that Rother had done for the people of the mission.

Sister Marita Rother and Tom Rother, siblings of Father Staley Rother, with their deceased brothers’ portrait. The results were gruesome. The regular practice was to take people who were on kill lists out of their homes in the middle of the night, torture and kill them at a remote location and then leave their bodies on a road for others to see the next morning. The killing wasn’t enough. The tortured body added impact. In some cases, before family members could retrieve the body, government operatives would take and bury it in a clandestine, unmarked mass grave in some other part of the country. In that culture, it was terror added to terror to deprive family members of the ability to visit and pray at the graves of their loved ones. It was a deliberate way of disrupting the culture and faith of the poor. Out of that practice, a new verb was added to the lexicon of the day. It became a common word in repressive countries throughout Latin America: “disappeared.”

Who did this?

One of the ways death squads effectively induce terror is when their anonymity matches their ruthlessness. But sooner or later, the people begin to realize who it is among them who are doing the killing because the government also needs it to be known that they are the ones who

wield the power. Father Lawrence Stasyszen, abbot of St. Gregory’s Abbey in Shawnee, was on the archdiocesan commission that went through the two-year investigation that was necessary before Rome could be petitioned. The group compiled whole boxes of transcribed testimony from the people who were active or even touched by the mission’s work at the time. Stasyszen was blunt about what they found about the situation there at the time. “In reality, the people of Santiago Atitlán were being terrorized, tortured and killed [by] soldiers, paramilitary groups and death squads that were the puppets or doing the dirty work of the Guatemalan government,” he said. The dire situation of an increasing loss of priests and nuns from violence in Central America wasn’t lost back then on Pope John Paul II, who seemed convinced of its source. Dated Dec. 2, 1985, the pope issued a letter to the government of Guatemala protesting the killing of lay church workers and nine priests, which included Rother. He praised church workers who had “spilled their blood” to teach the gospel.

Early evidence

After Rother’s death, the Oklahoma City Archdiocese decided not to put Oklahoma priests back into the mission for three years in order to let the political situation in that part of Guatemala cool off. Father Thomas McSherry, now the pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Oklahoma City, was the next priest from Oklahoma assigned to the mission. He originally committed to stay at the mission for five years, but he stayed for 17, building on Rother’s work before coming back to Oklahoma. McSherry said that the first time he visited was the second anniversary of Rother’s death. “There was a deep faith that I encountered,” he said about the Tz’utujil people of the mission. “They had a vigil ... and I was struck with how much he meant to them.” McSherry described the Tz’utujil as “deeply spiritual.” The official governmental language of Guatemala is Spanish, and the language of Rother and McSherry’s parishioners was the native Mayan dialect also called Tz’utujil. In reality, to most of the poor of Guatemala, Spanish is the historic language of the oppressor. In order to truly understand his parishioners, Rother started the long process of learning the Mayan dialect, and it was no small thing to do. “I tried to learn Tz’utujil, and it’s hard,” said McSherry, who also speaks Spanish.

“There’s no school that you can go to. He just had to go out there and spend time with the people and learn the language. It’s really amazing how he did that.” Once he started to master the language, he persuaded some of his parishioners to assist him in translating the New Testament into Tz’utujil, which he did before his death. McSherry said that his part in the project was finally getting it published. When asked about how much he thought Rother got caught up in the political struggles of that time, McSherry was certain about Rother’s focus of ministry at the mission. “What I understand about Stan was that his preaching was the gospel,” McSherry said. “It wasn’t about enticing or inviting political action for or against anything.” But the brutal politics of the time did create daily situations in which a loving missionary priest would become involved with victims of the violence. “Stan did care about the poor and did go looking for bodies if someone disappeared,” McSherry said. “He did take care of the widows and orphans of the people who were killed.” He said that while those acts were done out of mercy and the gospel, in the eyes of the government, those simple, loving acts connected Rother to those who were targeted for political reasons.

Archbishop Paul Coakley with Reverened John Peter Swaninathan left and Archbishop Emeritus Eusebius Beltran right. particular Latin term for that kind of hatred. It’s called in odium fidei. In comments in a Facebook post about the decision, one reader asked about the deeper meaning of the term. Father Stasyszen gave this answer: “When the Catholic Church considers the possibility of declaring someone a ‘martyr,’ it is not enough to show the intention of the one who died as doing so out of faithful witness to the faith. It must also be shown that those who killed the person were motivated by their ‘hatred of the faith’ — in their apparent hatred of the gospel of Jesus Christ — and not for some other reason or motivation — such as politics, personal animosity or financial gain, etc … It has been shown in a convincing way that those who killed him did so out of their hatred for the Christian faith, their hatred of the Catholic Church and their hatred for Fr. Stan’s faithful and courageous living out of that faith.” This was not a case of someone trying to engineer his or her own

Martyrdom

Political conservatives in the U.S. and Latin America have tended to downplay the deaths of church workers, priests and nuns during those years. They claim that religious leaders got too close to the politics of the day and lost their lives because of it rather than being killed for their faith. But Rother’s situation has been convincingly clear from the outset as a case of a government deciding to silence him because the Christian faith that he was promoting was starting to empower the poor too much. The Catholic church has a

Susan Regan with programs featuring a portrait of Father Stanley Rother

martyrdom by repeated exposure to danger. That would require narcissism for which there is no evidence. In fact, Rother was still attempting to thwart the death squads catching up to him even in the final two weeks before they succeeded in their efforts to permanently silence him. In the end, it did not help.

Memorial Mass

Rother’s home parish where he first learned and grew in his Christian faith was Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Okarche. That parish held a vigil on the anniversary of his death on July 28th and then hosted Archbishop Paul Coakley for a full memorial mass on Aug. 1. Sister Marita Rother, Rother’s sister who grew up with him in Okarche, said that the last time he came home and informed family and others that he would go back, they were fully aware of the extreme dangers of such an action. She said the one time she asked him about it, he said, “I just know that it’s something that I have to do.” But she affirmed his decision against her natural desire to protect a family member. “It was kind of that feeling of, Who am I to question God’s work in him?” she said. During the mass, Archbishop Coakley pointed out that Rother had been an “ordinary guy” who became someone through which God could do great things. “God chooses ordinary men and women and, with his grace and transforming power of his spirit, lifts us up and enables us to do things that are far beyond our mere human capacity to accomplish,” Coakley said. Editor’s note: Special thanks to Fr. M. Price Oswalt and Fr. John Metzinger, who gave valuable background information for this story.

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Keep truckin’

The immensely popular H&8th Night Market — a street festival full of food trucks and the overpowering smell of humanity — might soon face competition just one block over. Rolling restaurant owner and name rhymer Rick Vick recently lodged a complaint with the Oklahoma City Council over the process by which H&8th chooses food trucks to participate in the monthly event. Festival organizers have a mix of 20 “legacy” vendors that have proven popular at previous events and 10 lottery spots randomly picked from a pool of applicants. Vick operates The Galley Soul Food & More and feels he has been dealt a great injustice because his eatery has been excluded from the festival. “This effectively locks the majority of food truck operators out of the event,” he said.

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We hear his frustration. It’s a culinary popularity contest. It’s a provisions pageant. It’s an amusement park filled with hungry foodies who wait in line for an hour so they can spend five minutes eating the epicurean equivalent of Space Mountain. It’s block-party-style idol worship with a heaping helping of vegan mac ’n’ cheese. (And it’s delicious.) Tired of the charade, Vick essentially threw open The Galley’s service window and yelled, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” He wants the council to approve a permit request that would allow him to launch his own festival just a block over. He even has a name for it: Eats on Harvey & 8th. Vick is undeniably a man with ambition.

Arson King

Apartment fires are the stuff of nightmares. The slightly neurotic among us worry that our idiot neighbors are going to leave their stove on, forget to turn off their curling irons or fall asleep with candles lit and we will all end up standing in the street in the middle of the night in our pajamas, watching helplessly as our homes burn to the ground. It appears that at least one Oklahoma City woman doesn’t worry about these things. OKC resident Tiffany King suspected her boyfriend of 11 years was cheating on her and decided that fighting with fire was her best option, KOCO.com reported. They had a brawl — complete with punching, threats of stabbing and dumping clothes on the lawn — in their apartment. KFOR.com reported that King also

took her beau’s bag of tools outside and set them aflame. Additionally, KOCO. com reported that, at some point after he left the house “while she calmed down,” she burned a bag of trash in their kitchen. The apartment manager finally had enough and called police. King faces charges of first-degree arson and domestic assault with a dangerous weapon.

School daze

Ah, it’s August and children are heading back to school. You better believe that the collective memories of school days here at Oklahoma Gazette run on repeat and play out like a deleted scene from Dazed and Confused or some stupid Adam Sandler movie. We remember school buses with drivers as careless as the kids that occupy them, driving 60 mph down country roads, chain smoking and

casually perusing his cargo via a tinted visor mirror that is as revealing to the students as the bearded man’s aviator sunglasses. Those were the days before cameras, when paperwork was done on paper and the metallic smell of ink wafted from the complaint pile like the coppery scent of blood. Not anymore. Today, buses are hardwired with surveillance cameras, and Oklahoma City Public Schools launched a hotline (578-7867) to report “anything amiss related to busing,” according to a NewsOK.com story. Complaints are electronically filed and forwarded to “appropriate parties, like school officials and … the police.” Some complaints document kids who threaten to bring weapons to the bus stop, some are about dangerous driving and a lot are about fighting. Although the system isn’t perfect, the hotline actually helps, NewsOK. com reported. One school official acknowledged that the high-backed seats on buses block the camera’s view. Just like in the ’80s, we here at the Gazette imagine that the back of the bus is where the cool kids lay low and remain detached, just like in algebra.

Gooooooaaaal

Because true football is some crazy shite. That’s pretty much the answer all soccer fans gave after former Oklahoma City Energy Football Club assistant coach Christopher Spendlove announced his return to the team. Spendlove was fired after a bar scuffle in Liverpool, England, ended with a fatal punch to an off-duty police officer, reported the Liverpool Echo. Charges of murder and manslaughter were filed against the coach and his friends, Andrew Taylor and Timmy Donovan. The dramatic case climaxed recently as the five-week trial drew to a close. Spendlove “froze with fear” as the verdict was read, The Telegraph, a United Kingdom newspaper, reported. He was acquitted of all charges and walked out of court a free man. Taylor and Donovan were convicted of manslaughter.

Back here across the pond, team leadership celebrated by welcoming him back. He accepted. “He’ll return when he’s ready,” Energy General Manager Jason Hawkins told NewsOK.com.

Denied (again)!

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has given Gov. Mary Fallin and other Oklahoma lawmakers something to cry about. Fallin publicly rejected the court’s 7-2 ruling that the contentious Ten Commandments monument must be removed from the capitol grounds, saying “the monument violates a section of the Oklahoma Constitution prohibiting state property from being used to further religions.” Fallin defied the court’s decision anyway, saying it was wrong and the statue would stay where it was. She voiced her support

when Attorney General Scott Pruitt filed a lawsuit asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to reconsider its decision. It declined and again said the monument needs to be removed. Fallin and Pruitt aren’t alone in their ire, but at least now it’s focused on why the court felt it was forced to uphold the decision it made. “Our Legislature has signaled its support for pursuing changes to our state Constitution that will make it clear the Ten Commandments monument is legally permissible,” Fallin said in a media statement. In the meantime, the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma (ACLU) requested that the court order the state to pay its legal fees regarding the protracted legal battle. The organization filed the lawsuit on behalf of a local church leader and other state residents who opposed the placement of a religious monument on state property. It asked for a whopping $805.50.

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COMMENTARY

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Income inequality at all-time high BY CHAN AARON

Rising income inequality has become one of the biggest concerns for U.S. and world leaders in recent years, and for good reason. As recent data from Economic Policy Institute shows, income inequality in the United States is near a historic high not reached since just before the Great Depression. While incomes for Oklahoma households are slightly more equal than the nation as a whole, they are still the highest they have been in the state’s 107-year history. According to Economic Policy Institute’s study, the average income of the top 1 percent of state residents in 2012 (the most recent data) was $1,105,521, which is 26 times greater than the average income for the other 99 percent of the state ($41,995). Oklahoma’s 2012 economic disparity numbers ranked our state 12th

highest in the nation. What did it take to make it into the top 1 percent in Oklahoma in 2012? The income threshold for the top 1 percent was $328,072. To take it further, the income threshold for the top .01 percent was $8,371,194 and the average income was $28,439,334. Oklahoma also ranked 16th highest in the country for average income of the top .01 percent. These levels of inequality aren’t unique to 2012; however, they are part of a trend that reached its apex at the end of the first four years of recovery following the Great Recession. From 2009-2012, overall state income grew by 9.4 percent. However, income for the top earners grew 39.6 percent as the bottom earners grew only 3.5 percent. The top 1 percent captured more than two-thirds — 69.2 percent — of total growth during the important

four-year period of economic recovery. This outsized share of income growth for the already-wealthy is part of a larger trend that began more than 30 years ago. Between 1979 and 2012, the top 1 percent’s income grew by a staggering 143.2 percent while capturing 67.9 percent of all state growth. During that same time, incomes for the rest of the state grew by just 8 percent. For the state and the nation as a whole, income inequality peaked in 1928 and then declined rapidly in the ’30s and ’40s and declined more moderately late into the ’70s. However, in the early 1980s, the share of income held by the top 1 percent ratcheted up with a few scattered decreases. The overall tendency for the last 35 years has been for inequality to rise sharply. As of 2012, Oklahoma finds itself with the largest economic disparity in

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.

its history. If the richest Oklahomans have reaped the most benefits in that time, why do our state legislators continue to approve tax cuts that mostly go to the wealthy while cutting funding for education, public safety and other core services? When the state cuts funding to public services, the wealthy are hurt least and low- and middle-income families bear an unfair amount of the burden. There’s also strong evidence that extreme inequality reduces overall growth, so wealthy and poor alike end up less well off than we could be if prosperity was more broadly shared. With an economy that still leaves many families behind, isn’t that just piling on? Chan Aaron is an intern with Oklahoma Policy Institute. He is a student at The University of Tulsa, a graduate of Oklahoma State University and a veteran of the United States Navy.

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.

We’re home

Adam Soltani’s comments relating to Muslim pride in their U.S. citizenship (Opinion, Commentary, “Embracing our Muslim community,” July 29, Oklahoma Gazette) and being Oklahomans should be noted as inspirational and embraced by all of us who enjoy our residence here in this state. Yes, there are vile, murderous Muslims in parts of the world. These terrorists are operating in violation of their own Quran. Those of us that enjoy our freedoms as U.S. citizens — such as Adam and his fellow Muslims and non-Muslims — must be respected and guarded. Never have I heard a Muslim in this country relate to himself as a Muslim American, but only “I am an American.”

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Myself, like many others who have evolved from parents that migrated from various countries and practice different religious beliefs, do not wear our differences on our sleeves in hopes of preferential treatment. We share our U.S. citizenship with pride, just like our Muslim brethren. — Jack A. Milavic Edmond Speak up

Recently, the Supreme Court decided the question of same-sex marriage and said all states have to recognize marriages from other states and also allow same-sex couples to marry here. We have heard little from the babbling bunch in state government in OKC, which is a surprise and makes one wonder what they are up to as far as trying to circumvent the decision. Also, as the ink dried on the ACA decision, big-hearted Mary came out with what I consider to be one of her more ridiculous statements by saying only the “free market” — run by insurance companies — could serve Oklahoma citizens properly and give them the health care they needed. She also said the ACA hurt Oklahoma

citizens, but to the moment, she and the rest of the pack of Republicans here have said little. Another thing I wonder: When is Scott Pruitt going to waste millions more in lawsuits against the federal government that he cannot win? Well, hang in there, friends and neighbors; I am sure something sneaky is afoot in our Capitol. — Ron Hill Macomb Race relations

Yep, racism is alive and well. In utter shock (Not really. It’s pretty common, unfortunately.), I don’t know how to respond to Gary’s letter (Opinion, Letters to the Editor, “Native

children,” July 22, Gazette) other than to say it is of the ignorant and racist variety. The term “Indian giver” was never aimed at Indians; rather, the white folks who made promises to such and then took them back. I would think that is common knowledge. Can you imagine the uproar if a white person was to say, “Well, thank gawd that little white baby won’t be sent off to some black family or, heaven forbid, some Indian”?! Abuse certainly isn’t isolated to one race or creed. It shouldn’t have to be said that the only goal should be a healthy environment for our children. But I’m just a white boy, so what do I know? — Doug Rixmann Newalla

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OKG picks are events

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

BOOKS Reading Wednesdays, read nature-inspired books, make a craft or take a walk in the garden using your five senses to experience nature up-close, 10 a.m.-noon, Aug. 12 & 19. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/events. WED Oklahoma City Writers Club Meeting, Carolyn Leonard will present a program on Four Secret Words to Writing Success: Hey. You. See. So What?, 10 a.m., Aug. 15. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. SAT David A. Farris Book Signing, Farris has always been fascinated with the cool and weird especially found right in his own back yard, and his most recent book, Edmond & Guthrie: A Little Off the Tracks is no exception; his previous works include Mysterious Oklahoma, More Mysterious Oklahoma, Oklahoma Outlaw Tales and Oklahoma Outlaws Spooky Stories and All Around Folklore, 1 p.m., Aug. 15. Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, Edmond, 340-9202, bestofbooksedmond.com. SAT

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Schelly’s Aesthetics

New INK, this event showcases new local authors; this month features Richard Daniel, Michael Stephen, Vince Brady, Ronessa Blair Hooker, RA Ramble, Mo Anderson, Sarah Isbell, Preston Patterson, and Harlan Hubbard, 3 p.m., Aug. 15. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. SAT

Shoppes at Northpark, 12028 May Ave. 405-751-8930 Open Mon-Sat www.skincareokc.om

Story Time With Julie, kid-friendly story time with the latest children’s books, 10:15-11 a.m., Aug. 15. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. SAT

Regionally based organic market Natural Grocers celebrates its 60th anniversary with a 1950s-style ice cream social. Head to any metro store 4-6 p.m. Thursday for samples of sundaes, root beer floats and other treats. Visit naturalgrocers.com or call 877-986-4600. Read more on P. 21.

FILM

Thursday

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E.T., (1982, US, dir. Steven Spielberg) Elliott is a young boy who has found something very, very special, and like many children, he wants to keep it for himself; unlike most children, however, Elliott did not find a puppy or a kitten, but something more special, rare, and dangerous than he ever could have imagined, 9 p.m., Aug. 12. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/events. WED Heat Lightning, (1934, US, dir. Mervyn LeRoy) in the Mohave Desert, Olga runs a gas station, lunch counter, and auto camp with her younger sister Myra; in a 24hour period, Olga must deal with Myraís desire to go to a town dance with a cad, the appearance by happenstance of George, an old boyfriend whose conduct is never above suspicion, and the overnight presence of two women recently divorced in Reno, who, with a chauffeur, are carrying valuable jewels, 5:30 & 8 p.m., Aug. 13. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 2363100, okcmoa.com. THU

Ice Cream Social

HAPPENINGS

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, (2001, US, dir. John Cameron Mitchell) the film child of writer/director/lead actor John Cameron Mitchell, Hedwig is a gender bending cult classic head banger of a film; after a botched operation, the titular trans punk rocker Hedwig fleas Germany to America to tour with her band and toe-tapping musical numbers ensue, 9 p.m., Aug. 14. The Paramount, 701 W Sheridan Ave., 517-0787, theparamountokc.com. FRI

Advanced Basket Weaving Class, join the Oklahoma History Center and instructor Marcia Bellaweg in learning how to create a Bernies Braided Bun basket, which is probably every bit as fun to make as it is to say, 10 a.m., Aug. 15. Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 521-2491, okhistory. org/historycenter. SAT

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, (1969, US, dir. Robert Butler) if you dig late 1960s Disney computer comedies and baby-faced nerds named Kurt Russell, then this movie has every oddly specific thing you’ve ever dreamed of; when Dexter Reilly attempts to fix a computer during an electrical storm, the computer’s and Dexter’s memories become one and the same, noon, Aug. 15. The Paramount, 701 W Sheridan Ave., 517-0787, theparamountokc.com. SAT

Guitar & Bass Day, join Dale Titus and Barrett Tagliarino for these free master classes and clinics, followed by a performance by Titus and Tagliarino, as well as some of NMI’s top instructors, noon, Aug. 15. Norman Music Institute, 2795 Broce, Norman, 292-8400, normanmusicinstitute.com. SAT Heard on Hurd, boasting over 20 local food trucks, the funnest and funkiest pop-up shops, and musical artists such as Maggie McClure, Hosty Duo, and The So Help Me’s, Heard on Hurd is an awesome experience for any suburbanite

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This isn’t the time-waster everyone joked about in high school. For starters, it’s not underwater. It’s also lead by talented instructor Marcia Bellaweg. She teaches you how to weave your basket 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday at Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive. The class is for ages 18 and up and costs $75. Contact education@ okhistory.org or call 522-3602 to register. Visit okhistory.org.

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Paseo FEAST Paseo FEAST (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) satisfies your creative appetites while filling your belly. It also gives five artists an opportunity to fulfill their creative dreams. FEAST attendees dine while listening to each artist’s proposal and can discuss their projects. After dinner, guests vote for their favorite project. The winner receives a grant comprised of the evening’s proceeds. This unique fundraising event is 6-8 p.m. Aug. 25 at Picasso Cafe, 3009 Paseo St. Tickets are $30, and reservations can be made over the phone at 5252688 or online at thepaseo.com.

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Aug. 25 who wants a little taste of the big city, 6 p.m., Aug. 15. Downtown Edmond, 32 N. Broadway, Edmond. SAT Chess Sundays, Chess Sundays are free and open to players of all ages and skill levels and anyone is welcome to come play free recreational chess outdoors on the lawn and enjoy the scenery, 9 a.m., Aug. 16. Meinders Garden and Terrace, 301 W Sheridan. SUN Black Cherry Speed Dating, if you’re all swiped out of dating apps and websites, try a little old-fashioned speed dating with Urban Wineworks for some drinks and high energy conversation and try to meet your Mr. or Mrs. Right or at least the next Right Now, 7 p.m., Aug. 12. Urban Wineworks, 1749 NW 16th St., 525-9463, urbanwineworks.com. WED

FOOD Saturday Cooking Class, even if you can’t afford to take a tropical vacation, that doesn’t mean your stomach has to suffer; join Buy For Less and the Gourmet Grille this Saturday to learn how to take your taste buds on a Caribbean cruise and make two Jamaican staple foods: jerk chicken thighs and sweet potatoes, 1 p.m., Aug. 15. Buy For Less, 3501 Northwest Expressway, 946-6342, buyforlessok.com. SAT Weekly Farmers Market, shop goods from local produce, bakers and artisans, 9 a.m.- 2 p.m., Aug. 15. Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein Ave., 232-6506, okcfarmersmarket.com. SAT CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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continued

Robert Peterson Lawton resident Robert Peterson’s art is owned by people such as Floyd Mayweather and Kevin Durant, he has been featured on The Huffington Post and MTV and now, his art is on display right here in the Paseo. Peterson’s work will be featured with art by two other artists of different genres through August at JRB Art at the Elms, 2810 N. Walker Ave. Admission is free. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Visit jrbartgallery.com or call 528-6336.

Wednesday-Saturday, ongoing Discover the Art of Mindful Eating, stress eaters and mindless snackers rejoice, the art of mindful eating is here; those wishing to turn over a new leaf and get healthy will enjoy this two-hour class about eating nutritionally and with purpose, 2:30, Aug. 16. Natural Grocers, 7001 N. May Ave., 840-0300, naturalgrocers. com. SUN Little Big Chefs, join Uptown Grocery for a parentchild cooking class every Sunday and learn easy, tasty recipes while having fun together; this week, learn to make apple flowers, 2 p.m., Aug. 16. Uptown Grocery Co., 1230 W. Covell Road, Edmond, 509-2700, uptowngroceryco.com. SUN 60th Anniversary Celebration, in celebration of their 60th anniversary, Natural Grocers will be throwing a party with sales, snacks, and freebies, as well as raffle where lucky guests will win books, gift cards, and more, Aug. 13. Natural Grocers, 7001 N. May Ave., 840-0300, naturalgrocers.com. THU

YOUTH Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body, exhibit based on the best-selling book by Sylvia Branzei; lets visitors see the good, bad, and ugly facts about the human body from runny noses to body odor and more. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. Crafts for Kids, bring the little ones into Lakeshore Learning to make an animal-themed beaded wind chime with cups and yarn; guaranteed to be less noisy than an actual wind chime, probably, 11 a.m., Aug. 15. Lakeshore Learning Store, 6300 N. May Ave., 858-8778, lakeshorelearning.com. SAT

Quality Representation for

Dr. Seuss Storytime, this Saturday, you don’t have to be bored, Best of Books has something too fun to ignore; it’s a brand new book by Dr. Seuss, so bring all the children and set them loose; a costume contest is on the rise, so dress your best to win the prize, 11 a.m., Aug. 15. Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, Edmond, 340-9202, bestofbooksedmond.com. SAT

Art Adventures, children can experience the world of art through stories and projects in this event series; this week’s story will be Regina’s Big Mistake by Marissa Moss, a tale of little girl named Regina who learns that sometimes mistakes in art are not mistakes at all, 10:30 A.M., Aug. 18. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma. TUE

PERFORMING ARTS Dust Bowl Dolls Burlesque, experience glitter, sequins, stockings, and tassels the likes of which you (might) never have seen with Oklahoma City’s original and longest running burlesque troupe; performing teases and dances from the old school and the new, the Dust Bowl Dolls are a can’t miss local attraction, and with no cover at the door (or otherwise), why would you?, 9 p.m., Aug. 18. Blue Note Lounge, 2408 N. Robinson Ave., 600-1166, thebluenotelounge.com. TUE James Johann, with a comedy career that speaks for itself, Johann has already toured with the likes of Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, and Larry the Cable Guy; now this Kansas City boy is here to hold his own and push your funny buttons as a headliner, 8 p.m., Aug. 12-15, 10:30 p.m., Aug. 14 & 15. Loony Bin Comedy Club, 8503 N. Rockwell Ave., 239-4242, loonybincomedy.com. WED-SAT Rickey Shaw Presents: Open MIC, come one, come all, to watch the brave comedians, singers, performers, and poets fight to the death for your attention, affection, and the number one prize of one hundred dollars cash; sign up begins at 9:30, 10:30 p.m. show, Aug. 14. Kang’s Asian Bistro, 6600 Olie Street. FRI Whodunit Dinner Theater: Win, Lose, or DIE, Oklahoma’s longest running dinner theater presents: Win, Lose, or DIE, a comedy murder mystery featuring a handful of hilarious characters, each with more motive than the last, 6 p.m., Aug. 14. Whodunit Dinner Theater, 11736 SW 3rd St., Yukon, 420-3222, whodunit.net. FRI Bang Bang Gets ëLo!, Bang Bang Queer Punk Variety Show is Oklahoma City’s most various variety show; it’s funny, it’s sexy, it’s weird, it’s queer, and it has everything from belly dance, burlesque, hula-hoop dance, poi spinning, magic, juggling, live singing, comedy skits, and drag queens and kings, 11 p.m., Aug. 14. HiLo Club, 1221 NW 50th St., 843-1722, hilookc.com. FRI Thunder From Down Under, like Magic Mike, but in person, more tan, and with better accents; grab your girls for a night outback and prepare to swoon as Oklahoma gets a little Vegas and a little Straya all in one place, 8 p.m., Aug. 14 & 15. Sugar Creek Casino, 4200 N. Broadway, Hinton, 542-2946, sugarcreekcasino.net. FRI-SAT The Dinner Detective, experience a night out of the ordinary and join in on an interactive murder mystery dinner show; this improvised show is just another ordinary dinner, with one exception- someone in the midst is guilty of murder, and that person just might be sitting right across from you, 6 p.m., Aug. 15. Sheraton Hotel, 1 N Broadway Ave., 235-2780, sheratonokc.com. SAT

FREE ADMISSION

Animal Care Foundation Annual Golf Tournament, all proceeds will go to the foundation’s Pet Overpopulation Fund, which helps low-income families spay/neuter their pets for $10; support pet safety and health while also competing in a swanky golf match, 7 a.m., Aug. 13. Coffee Creek Golf Course, 4000 N Kelly Ave., Edmond. THU 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., Aug. 13. Balance. Yoga. Barre., 911 N. Broadway Ave., 620-6807, balanceyogabarre.com. THU Midnight Streak, this 5 k run weaves through Automobile Alley, Midtown, and Heritage Hills, and supports Oklahoma Contemporary’s arts education efforts, including free lectures, classes, and workshops; despite moniker, all clothing should remain firmly on at all times, 8 p.m., Aug. 15. Midnight Streak, 1125 N Broadway Ave. SAT OKC Energy vs. Real Monarchs SLC, see all the drama unfold as the OKC Energy go head to head with the Salt Lake City Real Monarchs and find out who will come out on top and reign supreme, 7 p.m., Aug. 15. Taft Stadium, 2901 NW 23rd St. SAT OKC Dodgers vs. Tacoma Rainiers, come out and support your OKC Dodgers as they try to beat the opposite team at America’s pastime and also beat the heat; enjoy beer, hot dogs, and maybe even catch a foul ball, 7 p.m., Aug. 15, 17, & 18, 6 p.m., Aug. 16. Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, 2 S. Mickey Mantle Drive, 218-1000. SAT/MON-TUE Wheeler Criterium, OKC’s premier cycling festival for friends and family of all ages; cheer on Oklahoma’s top cyclists and enjoy yummy food trucks, 5:30 p.m., Aug. 18. OKC Downtown Airpark, 1701 S. Western Ave. TUE

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 large-scale photographs. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd.

The Elaborate Collaborate Exhibition, more than fifty artists have provided a diverse selection multimedia artworks which will be available for viewing over the course of the exhibition and which will evolve over time. IAO Art Gallery, 706 W. Sheridan Ave., 232-6060, iaogallery.org.

OKLAHOMA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY PRESENTS

DR. DOUG TALLAMY

Enter the Matrix: Indigenous Printmakers, exhibition exploring how printmaking has become a matrix for cultural and key figures of artistic exchange. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma. Fresh stART Artists, Katya Morozova & Jim McMurray are this months featured Fresh stART Artists. Paseo Gallery One, 2927 Paseo St., 524-4544, facebook.com/ paseogalleryone.

Nationally Acclaimed Speaker & Author

If I Were, artist Holly Wilson creates one of a kind figures cast in bronze; the figures capture moments of our vulnerabilities and strengths. Contemporary Art Gallery, 2928 Paseo St., 601-7474, contemporaryartgalleryokc.com.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 22 -2:30PM OSU-OKC STUDENT CENTER 900 N PORTLAND AVE

Kalee Jones W., in her own words, Kalee’s abstract watercolor works of shape and color are spontaneous compositions housing camouflaged figurations as well as a color driven and primordial brainstorm; the artist also creates stained glass works which are celebration[s] of light. DNA Galleries, 1709 NW 16th St., 525-3499, dnagalleries.com.

Discussing “Bringing Nature Home by Creating Living Landscapes” Books may be purchased & autographed at event For more information visit oknativeplants.org

DONATIONS TO ONPS APPRECIATED

Noble Laundry Paintings, longtime Norman local favorite artist John Brandenburg presents this colorful collection of acrylic paintings which he created while doing laundry in Noble at a house he and his wife lived in, hence the exhibit title, July 10-Aug. 18. The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, 307-9320, pasnorman.org. Ruth (Borum) Loveland, exhibit of artwork by Norman based artist who uses various media, colors and meticulous detail-oriented subject matter. DNA Galleries, 1709 NW 16th St., 525-3499, dnagalleries.com. Straight From My Heart, photography exhibit by Duncan photographer, Martha Burger in which she illustrates an appreciation for the beauty of America. Oklahoma State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., 521-3356, ok.gov.

PROVIDED

America’s Road: The Journey of Route 66, exhibit shares the history of one of the world’s most famous highways including photographs, narrative, music and objects from the highway’s heyday. Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum, 1400 Classen Drive, 235-4458, oklahomaheritage.com.

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.

....

ACTIVE

The Look of Silence The Look of Silence is Joshua Oppenheimer’s follow-up to his Academy-Award nominated documentary The Act of Killing Killing. A family of survivors from the 1965 Indonesian genocide discovers how a family member was murdered as the film follows the youngest son Adi on his quest to force his brother’s murderers to take responsibility for their actions. Opening night showings are 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday at Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive. Tickets are $5-$9. Visit okcmoa.com or call For OKG 236-3100.

music picks

Friday

see page 40

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Jackson watts eats tofu pad thai and miso soup in his home.

Kids menu

Parents abandon preformed chicken bits in search of healthy, hearty meal options everyone can enjoy. by GreG elwell

Tiny fists pound the table. A sneer crawls across the lips. The room grows quiet before a scream shatters the calm. “I! DON’T! WANT! THAT!” Dining with children can be a challenge under the best of circumstances. Whether it’s an aversion to greens, a distaste for fish or just a bullheaded desire to refuse any and all foods, mealtimes can be stressful for all involved. And then you look across the restaurant and there’s some little angel happily devouring a plate of asparagus and Brussels sprouts, casually not flinging hot cheese dip in his parents’ faces, kids who eat sushi and salad and foods that aren’t lumps of processed chicken mush forced into molds before being deep-fried. How do they do it?

Start young

“We don’t go for the kids menu,” said Oklahoma City-based graphic designer Chris Castro. He and his wife Tricia are raising their 6-year-old son Benny to eat the same foods they do, much as their parents did. “Rather than, ‘Here’s our food, and here’s your food,’ I grew up in a family where we all ate the same thing,” he said. And Tricia started Benny’s food

training young, making her own baby food and spicing it with exotic flavors. “We never think of anything as offlimits to him,” Castro said. Down in Paoli, Connie Chaples has a whole passel of kids with open minds and open mouths. Her youngest, 11-year-old Jade, loves sushi, a food even mom doesn’t much care for. “We went out to dinner with a friend, and she asked, ‘What is that?’” she said. “So she gave it a try. They’re willing to give anything a try, and they always have the freedom if they don’t like it, they don’t have to eat it.” Chaples said her kids didn’t stay on baby food long. As soon as they could eat a real piece of something, that’s what they’d eat. And like the Castros, Chaples said the kids eat just what she and her husband are having. “They come in and ask me, ‘What are you fixing?’ and I tell them, ‘I don’t know. I haven’t finished putting everything in the pan yet,’” she said. Being experimental in the kitchen has led her kids to develop more experimental palates. When they go out, the Chaples talk about ingredients, which piques their interest in trying new dishes. Debbie Trachtenberg said her family

is all about exploring the world through travel and taste buds. “From day one, they ate what we did,” she said. “Even as little kids, they were eating sushi, eating falafel in Israel — they love Indian food.” Daughter Sophie has her own food and travel blog, Simply Sophie Bea (simplysophiebea.wordpress.com), where she shares her favorite dishes from around the globe and back to Oklahoma City. Shocking no one, Kitchen No. 324’s Joenut gets a shout-out.

Real food

While Sophie enjoys a few sugary treats, the Trachtenbergs make it a point to “eat real food,” Debbie said. “When we’re at home for dinner or packing lunches for school, we do a lot of vegetables,” she said. “My son plays three varsity sports. Sophie wants to play college basketball. Bella (the youngest) is into CrossFit.” To power them through so many sports, Bella said, they can’t rely on a lot of junk food. “Normally, I have grilled chicken or fish with grilled or steamed vegetables and a grain,” she said. “Lots of broccoli, asparagus and Brussels sprouts.” Her fellow students at Westminster School sometimes gawk at her meals, though she has won a few converts. “They like to bring Easy Mac, ramen noodles, Chick-fil-A,” she said. “There was a girl who had never had hummus, and I let her have some and now she eats it all the time. A lot of people like roasted Brussels sprouts when they try them.” Castro said getting Benny involved has helped expand his diet.

“We’ll make stuff together, and he’ll help. We grow greens in the backyard, so he can go back there and pick them,” he said. “The fact that he’s doing it for himself goes a long way.” Which doesn’t mean he’s immune from outside influence, Castro said. He won’t eat foods his friends think are weird anymore. “But peer pressure works both ways,” he said. “Sometimes he convinces his friends to try new foods.”

Exotic eats

Deborah Watts’ 2-year-old son Jackson is a voracious eater, partly because he’s a growing boy, but also because he gets to try a lot of delicious dishes. She has introduced him to new foods in the circuslike atmosphere of the hibachi. “Hibachi is a good way to get kids to eat all types of veggies and meats,” Deborah said. “Shocking when my son eats all my scallops.” Those grown-up tastes also lead to some fun requests, Watts said. “He seriously loves to eat. Yesterday, he came home and wanted a steak,” she said. Beef is also on the menu for the Trachtenberg kids, who grew up eating with their father at Pho Lien Hoa. For 15 years, Jeff Trachtenberg has been meeting friends at the popular Vietnamese restaurant once a week, sometimes bringing the kids along. It was a formative experience for Sophie. “That’s my favorite food ever. I probably eat it twice a week,” she said. “Asian food is my favorite. Korean, ConTinUed on neXT PAGe

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debbie Trachtenberg and her daughters, bella left and sophie right shop for groceries at whole foods Market.

Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese. That’s where it started.” Castro said it puzzles people when they see his son chowing down on Vietnamese or Indian food. As food lovers, they weren’t about to leave him home just because they weren’t heading to “kid” restaurants. “He’ll eat kid stuff, too, but his palate is like an adult. He wants Thai food and Indian food,” he said. “Benny picked Golden Phoenix for his birthday a couple of years in a row.” Though they don’t eat out all that often, Chaples said her kids definitely have their favorite restaurants, and none of them have toys. “We’re not a big fast food kind of a group. They eat hamburgers if we barbecue them at home,” she said. When they go out, they prefer spots like Norman’s Scratch Kitchen & Cocktails, where coffee-rubbed pork loin shares menu space with vegan dishes like veggies and quinoa. (However, Scratch does offer a kids menu, just in case someone has to have chicken tenders and french fries.) When they do ask for food, they usually want their mom to make Caribbean chicken with onions, tomatoes, cilantro and lime juice over pasta. “They have some old-school favorites,” Chaples said. “I have one that loves SOS (aka chipped beef gravy on toast).”

Never surrender

Still, there are some foods that kids just won’t like. Rather than give in completely, the parents still serve it but don’t require that everyone eats it. “The more you throw it out there, the more they’ll try,” Chaples said. “I keep putting it on the table, and after a while, they realize it isn’t so bad.” Two of her kids won’t eat bananas because of the texture. Benny Castro has lost his taste for avocados, and he’s not too fond of kale, his father said. Watts said she tries to add an artful look to the food to keep Jackson interested, a trick she learned from her “ultimate foodie” grandfather. “My grandfather would make elaborate breakfast spreads after his favorite politician won or would create lines in his kitchen for us to create enchiladas,” she said. “Maybe the key for kids eating is making food an art. Isn’t that what a foodie is? We love the art of food.” So don’t despair, parents. Even if your kid is asking for a cheese sandwich with ketchup for dinner, keep trying to feed him those greens and get her to try a bite of something new. If nothing else, they’ll eventually get too weak and hungry to fight you, and then it’s time for escargot.

mark h ancock

benny Castro helps his parents by squeezing fresh orange juice.

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food briefs

m a rk ha n coc k / fi l e

by GreG elwell

Time warp

They’re cookin’ More local chefs are taking part in The Homeless Alliance’s Turning the Tables on Hunger challenge, which raises awareness of the food needs of Oklahoma City’s indigent population. In the next couple of weeks, Chris McKenna (pictured), executive chef at Packard’s New American Kitchen, and his crew will cook lunch at The Homeless Alliance’s WestTown Homeless Resource Campus, followed by Stella Modern Italian Cuisine chef Missy Aust. The event pits chefs at some of the city’s finest restaurants against the challenge of cooking a healthy and appealing meal with limited supplies for a crowd of more than 250 hungry diners. Fresh produce and proteins are always needed at the shelter, which provides two meals a day on weekdays and care packages for 50 families each weekend. The meals are cooked by chef Johnny Wofford and Delbert Briggs. Those interested in volunteering their time, funds or food to the shelter can register through United Way of Central Oklahoma’s Volunteer Center at volunteercentraloklahoma.org. Reach The Homeless Alliance at 415-8410 and www.homelessalliance.org.

mark h ancock

mark h ancock / file

As part of the chain’s 60th anniversary, Natural Grocers stores in Oklahoma will take part in a national Ice Cream Social 4-6 p.m. on Thursday. Heading back to 1955, the social evokes the classic, soda-fountain style while offering up free sundaes (both dairy and nondairy) and root beer floats to customers. Other events include giving away reusable bags with purchases, items marked down 60 percent and a chance to win a $60 gift card and a new bike. Natural Grocers has five metro locations — two in Edmond, two in Oklahoma City and one in Norman — and two locations in Tulsa.

Delightful digs After five years in Edmond, Thai Delight has found a new home on Broadway. The restaurant’s lease was up at its 1708 E. Second St. location, which prompted a move into the former Heritage India space, 3409 S. Broadway. Co-owner Dan Promlat said the move required extensive remodeling, including closing off the kitchen. So far, loyal customers have followed and helped make the new spot, which opened July 27, a success. “We’ve had a real nice response,” he said. “All the customers rallied to us and kept following us up here to this place. We got a good welcome.” In addition to Thai food, the restaurant also serves sushi.

Easy delivery The metro’s food delivery options recently expanded when the long-awaited OrderUp service began delivering to Oklahoma City and Norman. The new service started with a slate of 26 local restaurants — offering up food delivered from VII Asian Bistro, Hideaway Pizza, Gyros by Ali, Urban Johnnie Bar & Grille, Oak & Ore and others — with an eye toward expansion. Patrons can use OrderUp’s website or mobile app to order and select pickup or delivery. For delivery, a driver checks the order at the restaurant, places the food in a hot bag and delivers it to the customer’s home or business. Available downtown, service includes a $3.99 delivery fee in addition to the order cost, tax and tip. OrderUp joins other local services such as 858-TOGO and GrubHub.

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life food & drink Sandro’s Pizza and Pasta

Heavenly slice Sandro’s Pizza and Pasta in Moore offers everything from subs to stromboli.

2024 s. service road, moore | 703-2727 sandrospizza.wix.com/sandros-pizza What WOrkS: the quattro formaggio is a cheese-covered taste sensation. What needS WOrk: the pepperoni pizza, the foundation of all pizza, was just okay. tiP: rotating lunch specials are a good way to try everything.

I’ve never seen a little boy happier than 40-something-year-old Rob Crissinger when you tell him you’re getting pizza. Rob feels ways about pizza. Rob cares about pizza. If prisons stopped serving bread and water and started serving pizza and pizza, Rob would commit the most heinous crime imaginable in order to spend his life closer to it. So I took him to Sandro’s Pizza and Pasta, 2024 S. Service Road, in Moore. This place is not the same as Sandro’s Pizza and Pasta in Norman. I apologize in advance if this is a problem for you somehow. Sandro’s in Moore has a hometown feel about it, with a thin cattle chute through which diners are herded for ordering before being let out into a spacious dining room with tables and booths. It’s a good place for by-the-slice dining, as it offers a display of pies waiting for a quick stint in the oven to crisp up before being delivered to your table. Unfortunately, the slice of pepperoni pizza ($3) Rob and I shared, Lady and the Tramp-style, wasn’t terribly impressive. The sauce didn’t make much impact, and the pepperoni was just so-so. If you want a big slice of New York thin crust with pepperoni, it’s just fine, but it won’t redefine pizza forever. We found the stromboli ($5.99) much better; it wrapped a jumble of pepperoni, sausage and mushrooms with stringy, melted mozzarella inside a buttery, crisp crust. And the marinara, which seemed lost in the pepperoni slice, is wonderful. Maybe it is a lack of grease or the contrast of the cold sauce with the steaming hot stromboli, but it all came together. If you’re the type of gentleman or lady who prefers a calzone, those also are available with a creamy helping of ricotta cheese in their interior. I ain’t fancy, though. I just get a stromboli and go about my day. And just because the pepperoni fell shy of expectations, do not let that sour you to the possibilities of Sandro’s pies. Ordering a whole pizza might be a better way to go, especially if you’re getting a quattro formaggio.

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Quattro formaggio pizza

Chicken parmigiana sub

For me, the all-white quattro formaggio was the cream of the crop.

All Sandro’s specialty pizzas are the same price (12-inch for $14.99, 14-inch for $16.99, 16-inch for $18.99 and 18-inch for $22.99), so explore your options. For me, the all-white quattro formaggio was the cream of the crop. Crisp, thin crust was topped with ricotta and then mozzarella and was then studded with feta and Parmesan cheeses. It is not for the lactose intolerant or any kind of intolerant people. Seriously, guys; grow up and learn to respect each other’s rights or you don’t get any of this incredibly rich, cheesy fare! Rob, who is, at the very least, lactose-curious, said it was his favorite. Those are strong words from a man wearing a cool hat. If you like your bread folded instead of flat, I will point you in the direction of the chicken parmigiana sub ($6.99). It’s not gourmet, but it hits all the right buttons to make your stomach rumble and your mouth salivate. The bread is slightly crisp outside, but inside, the mix of cheese and marinara fuses with the fried breast for an ooey-gooey, hot gut bomb of goodness. For all those Normanites who are upset that I haven’t reviewed their Sandro’s, I promise you, it’s on my list. But for those in the Moore area looking for a tasty Italian treat, this Sandro’s is filled with friendly staff, tasty food and enough room to hold a moderately successful Sunday school group. And if you’re anything like Rob, you’re looking for someplace to pray to the pizza gods again soon.

p hotos m a rk ha n coc k

by GreG elwell

Bi gstoc k.com

Red dawn

Taste & Take WEDNESDAY THRU SUNDAY 712 N BROADWAY | 405.232.WINE (9463) | WEWOKC.COM WED 11AM-7PM | THURS-SAT 11AM-11PM | SUN 1PM-7PM

Crimson Cocktails returns with a cheers-inducing approach to helping raise women and children out of poverty and homelessness. by GreG elwell

Crimson Cocktails 6:30 p.m. Aug. 22 norman Arts Council Gallery 122 e. Main st., norman crimsoncocktails.com 523-3009 $65

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City wants locals to eat, drink and be helpful as its Crimson Cocktails benefit returns for its second year. The food and wine event is 6:30 p.m. Aug. 22 at Norman Arts Council Gallery, 122 E. Main St., and benefits Sanctuary Women’s Development Center, said Sonny Wilkinson, Catholic Charities senior director of mission advancement. “This is really the first year it’s a true fundraiser,” he said. “Last year, we tried it out, more just to raise awareness of Sanctuary in the community. Now, we’re seeking community support.” Sanctuary is a place for homeless and at-risk women and children to access basic services and do laundry, take showers and use computers. It’s not an overnight shelter, but it does provide a safe place to stop. It’s more than temporary relief, though, Wilkinson said. When the people who come to Sanctuary lower their defenses and establish a rapport with the staff, case managers are there to work with them to help them understand and overcome setbacks and challenges. “They help create a service plan and interface with other agencies in Norman to give them the best access

to the help they need,” he said. “We want to help elevate people out of homelessness.” Sanctuary sees about 231 women a month, based on sign-ins, and Wilkinson said it has seen 700 new women using the service in the past year. “We were shocked when we studied it just how big the homeless population is in Norman. It’s larger, per capita, than Oklahoma City,” Wilkinson said. There is a scarcity of affordable housing in Norman and a lack of long-term shelters, making Sanctuary’s work all the more important. Kristin Mumiukha, assistant director of Sanctuary in Norman, developed a life skills curriculum at Sanctuary, and it’s also taught at the OKC location and at Holy Family Home in Midwest City. The program teaches basics — hygiene, health, housekeeping — that aren’t always available to those caught in a cycle of poverty. Jax Soul Kitchen, Blu’s BBQ & Burgers, O Asian Fusion, Interurban and other restaurants will provide appetizers paired with unique red cocktails at the casual dress event. Tickets are limited but are available for $65 at crimsoncocktails.com. In addition to raising money for Sanctuary, Wilkinson said he hopes the event will help spotlight some of Norman’s artists and restaurants. “We wanted it to be in Norman and to be centered around the community because the women at Sanctuary need the community’s support,” he said.

6014 N May | 947-7788 | zorbasokc.coM

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truck nuts Have you guys tried this new food? It’s from trucks. Like, they drive around on wheels, but then they park and serve food. I wish there was a clever name for it. Meal vehicles? Eat vans? Well, if I was good at making good words be coming out of my brain, I wouldn’t be not working for a newspaper! — by Greg Elwell, photos by Mark Hancock, Garett Fisbeck and Keaton Draper

Smokin’ Greens smokingreensokc.com 613-1107

Hey, bud. We’re really buzzed just thinking about getting some of that green ... salad from Smokin’ Greens, which is definitely not just a marijuana joke but also an actual food truck. Most of the food coming off trucks is delicious but not necessarily healthy. At Smokin’ Greens, you can have a fresh salad with chicken, steak, fish or Magic Mushroom.

Buttermilk Southern Sliders buttermilksouthernsliders.com 525-9235

Scientists have long known that one of the hardest words to say without smiling is “biscuit.” Look! You just cracked a grin thinking about it. And now there’s Buttermilk Southern Sliders, making sweet and savory homestyle (not from a can) biscuit sandwiches you can eat with your smiling face.

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Lady Di’s Travlin’ Diner facebook.com/LadyDiTravlinDiner 234-0300

According to NBA rules, Lady Di’s is not allowed to go more than two steps without dribbling the ball. But you can go ahead and blow the whistle because this travlin’ diner breaks all the rules with its Coney dogs and true diner burgers (and a liberal interpretation of the way “traveling” should be spelled).

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Juan More Taco twitter.com/juanmoretaco_ok 626-0580

It took years for someone to explain that you could eat street tacos anywhere. So many friends lost, trying to scarf down asada in the middle of a busy road. But no more. Now that Juan More Taco is popping up at The Bleu Garten, you might even get to eat your street taco while sitting in a seat. Goodbye, vehicular manslaughter; hello, flavor country.

Katiebug’s Shaved Ice and Hot Chocolate facebook.com/katiebugsshavedice 397-4812

Remember your first thin patch of ice at age 14? You were so proud, but now you know it’s time to shave it off. Is that how ice works? Nobody cares because we’re all busy thinking about Katiebug’s natural syrups and delightful flavors, like basil lemonade and cinnamon roll with coconut cream. And when fall returns, it makes its own fancy marshmallows, too.

2 Brothers Bistro twitter.com/2brothersbistro 476-8174

With a rotating assortment of Italian favorites, 2 Brothers Bistro is no Gianni-come-lately. Former owners of Papa’s Little Italy, this truck’s cooks know their way around a kitchen. Italian sandwiches are a specialty, but if you’re lucky, you’ll catch them on a day they’re also making chili.

La Gumbo Ya Ya lagumboyaya.com 226-0746

While not technically created as a sequel to the 2002 film Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, La Gumbo Ya Ya does combine everything you love about Sandra Bullock with gumbo, étouffée and red beans and rice — which is to say it has really delicious Cajun food and nothing to do with Bullock.

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Call in orders available for pickup.

Closed on Sunday Follow us on Twitter @bhcajun and like us on facebook at Bighead’s in Edmond, OK

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life HealtH

P HOtOs bY M a rk Ha N cOc k

Hazardous gales Scientific leaders provide insight into our state’s dangerous weather and the anxiety that it causes.

By Brett fielDCaMP

It seems there are some things that every Oklahoman knows, such as our state’s Native American history, the sporting implications of the word “bedlam” and probably the lyrics to at least one Garth Brooks song. There’s another fact, though, that has far more impact on our safety and well-being: Our weather is scary. We know that every spring is bound to bring extreme, potentially deadly weather, most specifically tornadoes. With historic F5-level storms ripping through Moore in 1999 and El Reno and Moore (again) in 2013, the threat of dangerous tornadic events continues to inspire wonder and curiosity in some and deep fear, both passing and paralyzing, in many others. That fear and anxiety helps boost news ratings and turn local meteorologists and storm chasers into celebrities, but it also informs a large segment of the state’s cultural and economic identity. Oklahoma’s storm shelter industry is more profitable than ever, and the National Weather Center (NWC) at the University of Oklahoma (OU) employs hundreds of people who provide groundbreaking and state-of-theart atmospheric research not just for the state, but for the planet. NWC’s research has given us the ability to forecast severe storms with remarkable accuracy, but to those residents most scared and nervous about major tornadoes, its data also seems to be shaping into a pattern of greater frequency and danger, especially in those places that seem to be hit more often.

Unfortunately, most disaster-related anxieties and related disorders like PTSD often are more emotion-driven than rational, making them particularly difficult to overcome using statistics or positive odds.

Don’t panic!

NWC researchers in Norman use science and facts to help make sense of the chaos overhead as they are confronted almost daily with the potential power and dangers of weather. Few are better qualified to discuss the postive impact of well-reasoned facts can have on a mind than Berrien Moore III. As NWC director, College of Atmospheric & Geographic Sciences dean and vice president of Weather and Climate Programs at OU, he’s aware of the persistent irrationality that stormbased anxiety can cause, even in the face of good information. “Forecasting a specific tornadic event is a little bit like forecasting a terrorist,” he said. “It is highly localized in time and space. It’s going to occur in a very small piece of landscape over a very short period of time.” That localization and seemingly random nature, he said, is what makes these extreme weather events feel “spooky” — but is also the reason we shouldn’t worry too much. “We probably have, in Oklahoma, because of the NWC, the best information on the planet for what we’re being faced with,” he said. “Our forecasting capability is really quite significant. In some ways, I think that people should feel knowledgeable, and that knowledge should make them

Berrien Moore iii

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The National Weather Center as seen on approach from State Highway 9 in Norman, where some of the best weather technology in the world resides. feel a little more comfortable.” The key to staying calm and levelheaded, he said, is teaching and spreading the appropriate information. “We ought to be spending a good deal of money on the social dimension,” he said. When asked if there was one area in particular that he believes we should be focused on, he had an answer ready. “The nature of our communication and what we tell people to do and how they get that message,” he said. “One thing we may need to do is to start a lot earlier and have it be more in the educational program. Part of the reason you train is to gain confidence that you know what to do and that you’ll take smart action and not panic.”

“Statistical fluke”

Much of those same beliefs are echoed by Howard Bluestein, an OU meteorology professor and a man who is no stranger to the awe-inspiring power of tornadoes. His expertise and passion for studying and chasing severe weather has taken him all over the country and made him one of the most respected researchers in the field. So what does a man so well-versed in the paths and behavior of tornadoes make of the frightening retracing of massive storms through parts of the Interstate 44 corridor in recent years and within relatively short time spans? “Well, that’s a statistical fluke,” he said. “It happens, but it happens rarely. The chances of being hit by a tornado are very slim. The chances of being hit by a tornado twice within a several-year period, which can happen, are also very slim. But if you’re the one it’s happening to, then, obviously, you’re in trouble.” Bluestein explained how some of the scariest perceived storm frequency trends actually might not be occurring. “The number of years for which we have good data is not large enough to really say whether or not tornadoes are getting more frequent or that they’re getting stronger,” he said. “Remember that the population is growing. Houses are being built. More people are around. So even if tornado frequency isn’t going up at all, the probability of someone

getting hit by a tornado is going up.” Unfortunately, he doesn’t believe that facts and statistics alone are enough to calm many people’s worst weather fears. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell them that their chances of being hit by a tornado are very small, even though that’s true,” he said. “I think to calm people down, you should let them know what to do in the event that a tornado is possible and that they should check the media quite a bit and just be aware and be prepared.”

Beauty myth

If there is one thing to be learned from these weather researchers and scientists, it’s that fear doesn’t have to fully control our perceptions of the weather if we can give it the understanding and reverence that it requires. Bluestein himself formed his fascination of weather science at an early age when confronted by a tornado sweeping through his hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts. He recalled how his mother’s concerns for his safety only translated to wonder and curiosity in his young mind and how that fueled his respect for what he calls the “aesthetic beauty” of tornadoes and extreme weather. His life is an example of how understanding can keep you calm, and he still maintains that he has never been personally affected by weather anxiety and he still passionately loves the weather. Moore similarly believes that solid, realistic thinking about the weather should trump rumor and legend, especially regarding years-old beliefs like tornadoes never crossing rivers or that they won’t hit Norman. “You do have this urban mythology that persists, and that, I think, is just a way in which people try to deal with something that they don’t have a better way of dealing with,” he said. “They create myths. You do have a better way of dealing with it. You’re getting good information. You’re getting far better forecasting than almost any other place on the planet, and you just need to be in a situation to utilize that information, and therefore, you need not feel helpless.”

All out

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life GaMinG

Cliff Berry center rides Code West

Thoroughbred season opens soon at Remington Park, signaling a close for one jockey’s career. By GreG HOrtOn

Cliff Berry rode a quarter horse in his first race in 1979. This season at Remington Park will be the jockey’s final season in the saddle, bringing a 26-year career to a close. Berry, a Joplin, Missouri, native, was raised in Jones after his family moved here when he was 9 years old. The summer between his junior and senior years of high school, Berry headed for Midway Downs, a nowclosed quarter horse track in Stroud. “I had always liked horses,” Berry said. “My dad was a trucker, but he always had horses, so I grew up around 10 or 20 horses. I went to Stroud thinking I would make a little summer money.” Instead, his summer job turned into a career in which Berry has amassed more than 4,400 wins, including 2,078 thoroughbred wins at Remington Park. “I’ve never had a job,” Berry said. “My brother and I were talking the other day, and he said, ‘I can’t believe you made it this long.’ I can’t either.” Now that he is retiring, he is unsure what will come next for him professionally. He and his wife plan to move to her home state of Louisiana after Dec. 13, the end of the thoroughbred season. “We’ll build a house,” he said. “We are talking about what will happen after that. I’m not sure how much I’ll miss racing; I know I’ll miss it.” Since he moved back to Oklahoma from Chicago after pari-mutuel betting was approved in 1982, Berry averages about 600 races a year. He has raced as many as 1,000. “Racing is a year-round job now,” Berry said. “It didn’t used to be, but since they started running at Remington, I’ve pretty much worked all year.” That includes watching what he eats — jockeys have to be small, after all. Berry said he constantly thinks

I’m not sure how much I’ll miss racing; I know I’ll miss it. — Cliff Berry

about what he is eating and he said he is on scales more than most people. Jockeying also meant a ton of traveling, both before and after he returned to Oklahoma. “That was the downside of the job,” Berry said. “My wife did a great job raising our two sons, and she had to do it by herself half the time because I was on the road.” Berry does not sound like a man with regrets, though. He said he is proud of his career highlights, including the night in 2010 when he won on all seven horses he rode — a track record that still stands. This season, Remington Park honors Berry in a variety of ways, including naming this thoroughbred season A Berry Special Season, a move that surprised the jockey. Opening day on Friday — A Berry Big Opening — is the first chance fans have to win in the Berry stakes. There are promotions scheduled each month: When Berry wins, fans win, too. On nights when he wins multiple races, all fans receive prizes after he posts his third program win. Berry’s final season will be a light one. He estimates he will be in 250 races. The season has 67 race dates overall — and 33 stakes events — with purses totaling $3,565,000. The first stake event is the Governor’s Cup on Saturday with a purse of $175,000. The big day is Oklahoma Derby Day on Sept. 27, which features seven stakes races with purses totaling $1,050,000.

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Pet smart

As America votes for its favorite veterinarian, Dustin Brown likes to put his money where his job is.

P rOVi De D

life COMMunity

Dustin Brown

By alissa linDsey

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Dustin Brown represents Oklahoma as one of the 20 finalists in the running for America’s Favorite Veterinarian. The finalist from McLoud owns his own clinic, Animal Medical Center, in Midwest City. He grew up on a farm in Fort Gibson. His love of animals, especially his horse, Shooter, combined with an interest in veterinary medicine when the family was sometimes unable to afford a vet to care for a sick animal. Now that he owns his own veterinary practice, he strives to offer veterinary services at a reduced rate. “We wish we could do everything for free,” he said. “We love animals, and we love helping people with animals because we recognize that human-animal bond.” His commitment to provide affordable services to pet owners is made possible by The Bella Foundation, an Oklahoma nonprofit that works to financially assist disabled, elderly or low-income pet owners with veterinary needs. If Brown wins America’s Favorite Vet, he said he will donate the $500 prize to The Bella Foundation, and Animal Medical Center will match the donation. Since he became a clinic owner in November 2007, Brown has focused his practice on animal surgery. “[My favorite part] is just the freedom of being able to structure my practice the way I want to structure my practice and being able to be the type of practitioner I really want to be instead of having to follow the cookie-cutter mold,” he said. Brown currently ranks around the middle in the contest, and he acknowledged that the competition is tough because many of the other finalists are from larger cities with a higher voting population. “[The American Veterinary

Medical Foundation is] trying to get the public to reconnect with their local veterinarian to see how great their local veterinarian really is,” he said. “Whenever people see my name nominated, they start telling me about their local vet. That’s exactly what we want. We want you to defend why your vet is better than me.” Brown is using his position as an America’s Favorite Vet Finalist to address the way an information source like the Internet can harm pets when their owners don’t consult a vet before trying experimental treatments. “You’ve got pretty much all of the knowledge known to mankind at your fingertips, but what you don’t have is the education to discern that knowledge and use it appropriately,” he said. “The knowledge is just a tool, and any tool you don’t know how to use correctly can be dangerous or useless.” Specifically, he cautioned that pet owners should check with their local vet before administering flea and tick medication and heartworm treatments found on the Internet. He also warned that homeopathic treatments like essential oils can be toxic to pets. Brown graduated from Oklahoma State University, one of only 30 veterinary colleges in the U.S., with his doctorate in veterinary medicine. The America’s Favorite Vet award, sponsored by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), includes a trip to the 2016 AVMA Convention, a year of space highlighting the winner on the AVMA website and a community celebration at the winner’s clinic to recognize its staff. Voting runs through Sept. 1. Readers can vote daily and make donations to Brown’s clinic at americasfavoriteveterinarian.org.

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Augusta Cox speaks with Calvin Lewis left and Aaron Formhals right during a Wellness Workshop at Lottie House. clothes, but I wouldn’t let her. We got in the car, and the voices told me we could go back home, that this was just a test.” Other times voices told her that Osama bin Laden would decapitate her in front of her mother. Pleasant voices told her that Hillary Clinton and Oprah wanted to talk to her. During her most recent mental break, voices said al Qaeda had infiltrated the FBI, so she needed to swallow every pill in the house. Cox’s voice cracked as she talked about her mother’s love. “My mother never stopped, never gave up. She literally tackled me to the ground and was pulling pills out of my mouth,” she said. Cox’s illness left her changed and gave her a very intense desire to help others. She lives successfully with paranoid schizophrenia and said work was the catalyst for her recovery. “I want to spend the rest of my life helping people with serious mental illness overcome the barriers that keep them from working,” she said. Weekly topics for the Working Toward Wellness workshops are varied, and future sessions include Telling Your Own Story (Wednesday, Aug. 12), Career Brainstorming (Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 19), Personal Treatment Plans (Aug. 25-26), Developing Confidence and Self-Esteem (Sept. 1-2), What about My Benefits (Sept. 8-9), I Need My Healthcare to Be Successful (Sept. 15-16), What Other Help is Available? (Sept. 22-23) and What About School? (Sept. 29-30). Learn more about NAMI at nami.org.

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Augusta Cox, outreach coordinator for the Oklahoma chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), knows firsthand how difficult enduring and recovering from serious mental illness can be. She is determined to help others recover and regain employment through a series of free workshops that are open to people 16 and older and their family members. Working Towards Wellness workshops began Aug. 4 and take place over an eight-week period. Tuesday sessions are held at 1 p.m. at OCARTA Wellness Hub, 2808 NW 31st St., and Wednesday sessions are held at 11 a.m. at Lottie House, 1311 N. Lottie Ave. Each year in the U.S., 1 in 25 adults — or 13.6 million people — experiences a mental illness so serious that it will disrupt major life activities. The stigma of living with a mental illness can become an insurmountable barrier. As the mind unravels, so do relationships, jobs and all of the things that come together to create the fabric of one’s life. Five years ago, Cox began experiencing a series of mental breaks and was ultimately diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. At the time, Cox was 33 and, like many people her age, was establishing her career. She earned a master’s degree and was working 60-hour weeks as a financial advisor. Cox is quick to share her story and does so with candor and grace. “My first mental break happened around 2 a.m.,” she said. “The voices told me that people were out to kill me and my mother. They told me to leave the house right now and to get everyone out of the house. I woke my mom up and told her we had to leave right then, and she wanted to change

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life Business

Professional zeal

A Brooklyn transplant goes from high school dropout to president of a multimillion-dollar company in Edmond.

By Mark Beutler

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thinking of selling BIS in the late ’90s. He said Sinclair was the closest he ever had to a father figure and he learned the fundamentals of being a good businessperson from him. “Through him, I learned the two most important principles of running a business: cash flow and profit,” Rotelli said. “I also learned how to grow the business organically and run it debt-free, which requires a great commitment from your employees because they have to believe in this organic process.” Rotelli bought BIS from Sinclair in 1997 and become the president of the company. The folks who work for BIS deserve a great deal of credit, Rotelli said, because they have given the company its character. Some of them have been there more than 20 years, which he said is unheard of in the field of information technology.

I guess for me, I was so broke in my younger years, I had come from this awkward family life and I didn’t have a formal education, so basically, I had nothing to lose and, consequently, I had no fear. — Dan Rotelli

Under Rotelli’s guidance, the company has grown from a single location in Edmond to brick-andmortar offices in Tulsa; Dallas; and Birmingham, Alabama. Satellite employees are located at another half dozen locations, and they serve thousands of North American clients. Today, the company is a full-service provider and integrator of high-quality document and data management

g arett fisb eck

It’s quite a jump from being a sales associate at Sears to owning a multimillion-dollar company. But that’s precisely what Edmond entrepreneur Dan Rotelli did. At age 17, Rotelli left Edmond High School after his sophomore year. A short time later, he rented an apartment and went to work. Rotelli said his early life was complicated. He was born in Brooklyn, where his father was a New York City police officer. His mom and dad never married, and when he was 7, his mother moved him and his brother halfway across the country to Oklahoma. “Here my brother and I were with these thick Brooklyn accents — and attitudes to go with them — living in rural Oklahoma,” Rotelli said. “No one could understand us, and probably nobody wanted to. Ultimately, we settled in Edmond, which is where I live now and where my company is headquartered.” That company is Business Imaging Systems (BIS). Rotelli said he began working for the company in the late ’80s while still holding down a job at the old Sears store at Quail Springs Mall. “I came to work as a sales person,” Rotelli said. “I didn’t quit Sears for a while even though I was working at BIS. I couldn’t — I had a wife and a baby. I was 21 years old, and I was waiting for failure to sweep me away in this outside commission sales job. I worked for about two years then made the decision to dedicate myself to BIS and being successful.” In the early years, BIS was a company that offered scanning and microfilm equipment to businesses in the Oklahoma City area. “We sold these machines that had lights, a camera and you placed each document individually under the camera to capture your image, then those images were put onto reels,” Rotelli said. “You had to have a viewer that magnified and projected the image when you wanted to retrieve what you had microfilmed. It probably seems archaic to a ton of young people.” After working in sales for a number of years, Rotelli said the company’s original founder, Pete Sinclair, began

Dan rotelli

systems, a far cry from its microfilm days. If BIS is going to be viable for the long-term, Rotelli said it must continue to change and adapt. Rotelli said he loves living and doing business here. He said the state has a progressive attitude toward business and maverick-like approaches to success are richly rewarded. “I would challenge other companies who have a pioneering spirit and a different way of doing business to consider Oklahoma as a base,” Rotelli said. “As anyone will tell you, I’m pretty nontraditional, so I love that aspect of Oklahoma. I also think Oklahoma has great talent reserves.” Professionally, growing his $30 million company to $100 million is on of Rotelli’s top priorities. “We’ve developed this amazing new product for the document capture world that’s truly revolutionary,” Rotelli said. “It wasn’t developed in Silicon Valley; it was developed right here in

Oklahoma — Silicon Prairie — by Oklahomans.” Personally, Rotelli said he is focused on his health, having fun and looking forward to becoming a grandfather later this year. His own philosophy for success is simple: Never let fear keep you from your dreams. “I guess for me, I was so broke in my younger years, I had come from this awkward family life and I didn’t have a formal education, so basically, I had nothing to lose and, consequently, I had no fear,” Rotelli said. “If anyone can benefit from what I have been through and how I try to live my life today, I think that’s great. And if I can help people live their dreams and surpass their goals, then that makes my life all the better.”

N ATAS HA A LTE RI C I / P R OVI DE D

LIFE VISUAL ARTS

Feminine ink An Oklahoma artist gives readers something that is often missing in mainstream comics: a strong female character.

BY GREG HORTON

Natasha Alterici was sketching costumes for a Renaissance fair when she created a character that would become a Viking warrior woman named Aydis. Alterici’s first comic book is titled Heathen, and it follows Aydis as she attempts to bring an end to Odin’s reign. “I was just trying to figure out what I wanted to wear to the Renaissance fair, so I was sketching different ones,” Alterici said. “I liked the character, and that got me reading Norse mythology. The whole idea blossomed from there. Once I gave her a name and a horse, I figured I might as well give her a story.” The story that stuck for her was Odin’s condemnation of Brynhild the Valkyrie. Brynhild defied the highest Norse god, so he imprisoned her after making her into a mortal. Rather than track the original set of myths, Alterici decided on a much more interesting take: Aydis is kicked out of her village for kissing a girl, so she decides to go after Odin. That story is told in Heathen, issue No. 1 of the series. The Tahlequah-based artist released issue No. 2 on Saturday. This is the first appearance of Brynhild in the series, for which Alterici has written four issues’ worth of stories. “We do meet Brynhild in issue two, but there are also a few new interesting characters,” Alterici said. “There are two demon wolf brothers, and they are largely comic relief. I don’t want to give away too much.” The second issue was made possible by a very successful Kickstarter campaign. Alterici said she wasn’t sure how people would respond, but the project exceeded the funding goal by about $1,000. Support for a strong, gay female

lead is uncommon in comic circles, and despite their reputation for being superhero vehicles, comics and graphic novels have always dealt with difficult subjects. In college at Northeastern State University, Alterici read classic graphic novels that dealth with he Holocaust, the Iranian Revolution and the worth of humanity, such as Maus, Persepolis and Watchmen. “Those stories had very interesting characters,” Alterici said. “They were my first experience with comics and graphic novels that were not superhero stories.” What Alterici does well in Heathen is make Aydis’ sexual orientation a secondary issue. Aydis is lesbian, but with the exception of the conflict in her village, that is not the point of the story. The struggle is about patriarchy and justice, not sexuality. The fierce warrior happens to be gay. “I don’t really have plans for now to get Aydis romantically involved,” she said, “but there will be other characters that are, and the characters will talk about sexuality from time to time.” While LGBT characters are rare in comics, she said it is equally true that strong female characters are more rare than they should be. Even when they appear, they are more likely to be sexualized, and the industry is rife with stereotypes. Female artists like Alterici want to turn the tide. “I haven’t experienced any resistance at a personal level,” she said, “but at the level of the big two — DC and Marvel — the idea of strong female characters still feels fresh and different. People are excited about it, so hopefully that will get more girls reading stories like this.”

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | AU G U S T 1 2 , 2 0 1 5 | 3 1

Loud Lambs OKC Theatre Company kicks off its season with a launch party, auction and hat tip to killer musical comedy.

GA RETT FI S BE C K

LIFE PERFORMING ARTS

Rachel Irick

BY GREG HORTON

Silence! The Auction 5:30-8:30 p.m. Aug. 20 Freede Little Theatre Civic Center Music Hall 201 N. Walker Ave. okctc.org 297-2264 Free

OKC Theatre Company (OKCTC) opens its 17th season Sept. 10 with John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Before that, though, it hosts a season kickoff party and auction on Aug. 20 to raise funds for artists that work in its productions. Silence! The Auction is what it sounds like: a silent auction that takes its name from the company’s second show of the season, Silence! The Musical, which runs Oct. 22-Nov. 7. Rachel Irick, OKC Theatre Company’s artistic director, said nearly all proceeds raised by the fundraiser go directly to OKCTC artists. “We have very little overhead,” she said. “We pay rent to Civic Center Music Hall to use one of the theaters, and we need a few supplies, so most of the budget goes to pay our artists.” The auction features tech gadgets, cases of wine, jewelry, original works by local artists and other items. Irick said it was scheduled during “happy hour” — 5:30-8:30 p.m. — so guests and company members could make it a true party, complete with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. (Irick would neither confirm nor deny whether a nice Chianti and liver with fava beans will be served.) The nonprofit group has three parttime employees, including Irick, so it relies on public auditions to fill each show’s roster of performers. Silence! The Musical is the season’s most expensive production, partly because it’s a musical, which requires a larger cast. Silence! is a satirical, “unauthorized parody” of Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme’s film The Silence of

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the Lambs, which was based on author Thomas Harris’ best-selling novel. Its songs appeared online in 2002, and the full stage show, created by Jon and Al Kaplan, premiered in 2005 at New York International Fringe Festival. “There is a chorus of floppy-eared lambs,” Irick said. “The lambs sing — it’s a musical — and they narrate.” The production is “naughty,” and its numbers have content-appropriate names such as “I’d Fuck Me” and “Put the Fucking Lotion in the Basket!” Ultimately, it is an engaging, smart comedy that is in line with OKCTC’s mission to provide boundary-pushing, thought-provoking entertainment. “We stage new plays alongside classics that we produce with an edgy, modern twist,” she said. “We want to provoke conversation about things that are important to the community.” OKCTC also regularly works with area writers in its productions. The Christmas show, Alcoholidays, is written by husband-and-wife team Ted Satterfield and Melanie Wilderman of Norman. It runs Dec. 3-20. Irick describes Condescendin’ White Boys by local playwright La’Charles Purvey as “theater of the absurd” that challenges common African-American stereotypes. It runs Jan. 21-31, 2016. “We love to produce unpublished plays from new playwrights,” Irick said. “Supporting our company means supporting exclusively local talent [and] allowing the artists we have to stay here and not have to move to a larger market to practice their craft.” Auditions and casting begins soon for Silence! The Musical. Irick said OKCTC’s season also launches with a new managing director, Christine Jolly. Find audition information, company details, tickets, shows, dates and times at okctheatrecompany.org.

Mann power Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma adds two world-premiere musicals to its roster.

There’s an old saying in show business: “You saw it here first.” Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma took that saying to heart, as the company, which is more than 50 years old, welcomes two world-premiere productions into its lineup. Mann … and Wife debuts on the Lyric stage in the Plaza District, 1727 NW 16th St., in February 2016. Mann … and Wife is a funny and poignant adaptation of Dan Elish’s novel Nine Wives and tells the story of a young Jewish man who is looking for a wife after attending eight weddings — thus, the name. Also new is Bernice Bobs Her Hair, which has its premiere in October. The musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story of the same name was written by Adam Gwon, a winner of the prestigious Richard Rodgers Award given to newcomers in musical theater. He also was named a member of the Tony Awards nominating committee for Broadway’s 2015-2016 season. They are part of a “new works initiative” started by Michael Baron, Lyric’s producing artistic director. It launched last spring with Triangle, a musical set around the infamous 1911 fire at New York City’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Baron started as artistic director in 2010 and was promoted to his new role in March. “One of my main missions now is to add to the canon of musical theater,” Baron said. “Lyric is 53 years old now, and we have been doing shows that started other places. It’s time other places started doing shows that started in Oklahoma City.”

Ring bearers

Mann … and Wife is the work of Dan Elish and Douglas J. Cohen. Elish is well-known as a young-adult fiction writer (The School for the Insanely Gifted). He also co-wrote the book for Broadway musical 13. Cohen has won multiple awards, including the Richard Rodgers Award and the Fred Ebb Award for Musical Theatre Songwriting. The men have been friends for years, but this is their first collaboration. Baron met Cohen about 10 years

P ROVI DED

BY GREG HORTON

I have to fly in a music director to do orchestrations. — Michael Baron

ago while working on an adaptation of the independent film The Opposite of Sex in San Francisco. The two have remained in contact, and when they met again at a workshop for new performances, they discussed premiering Mann … and Wife in Oklahoma City. “The National Alliance of Musical Theatre has a new music festival every spring,” Baron said. “The shows are presented in concert format, a 45-minute format. Doug was shopping it around, and I’ve known Doug as a wonderful, witty composer. We talked, and he offered it to us.”

Audience support

The process of staging a world premiere is much more involved than producing a tried-and-true classic. For starters, local audiences become part of the creative process. When patrons attend Lyric Theatre’s debuts such as Mann … and Wife, they receive a feedback form and their responses are

used to tweak the ongoing production. “We ask questions about what they understood or didn’t understand, what they liked, what moved them or worked,” Baron said. “For Triangle, we actually changed the end of Act I based on audience input.” Additionally, audiences get to participate in a “talk-back” at the end of performances with actors, directors and design and production staff that helps the crew find and resolve any issues related to clarity or perspective. This phase is crucial to non-narrative storytelling in musical theater. Once Mann … and Wife leaves Lyric Theatre, it will be in its final form. Baron said producing a world premiere is often a seven- to 10-year journey that includes writing, composing, workshopping and staging. “Doing a premiere in Oklahoma City is great for a writing team, too,” Baron said. “It helps them prep for the final version outside the critical eyes of New York theater writers.”

Financial vows

Also, Baron said, it is about twice as expensive to stage a world premiere than it is other shows. The personnel issues alone make it more expensive. “I have to fly in a music director to do orchestrations,” Baron said. “The composer only writes for piano, so the music director is responsible for writing for all other instruments.”

The process also requires the work of a copyist, one of the most rare and complicated jobs in musical theater. Baron said that mix nearly always translates to expensive. Once a musical director writes the orchestrations for all the instruments, the copyist functions much like a synchronization coach. All those pieces of sheet music have to be turned at the same time, so the copyist writes the sheet music for each instrument so that the turn happens simultaneously. Set conception and construction is also part of the process, as is designing peripheral materials. Baron, who is directing both productions, said he is hopeful that the producers will accept artwork, including logos, that were created here as part of those peripheral materials.

Casting commitment

Auditions for Mann … and Wife will happen in two phases. Local auditions are sometime this fall, and New York auditions are mid-October. Mann … and Wife is a small production — three actors and four band members — so the presence of local talent is limited. Casting is complete for Bernice Bobs Her Hair, and cast and crew began rehearsals in June. That musical runs Oct. 7-25.

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P A R A S A L F I A A L T T O A S L C A L A T E T A A R N R A N A C R P T I A I M H O E O N S

A Y G E T O F L E O D E N E E I S M L I E N A I N T A P M A I B L E I T A A E C N A I C D I A

P E D X I N G

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D I S A P P F E A A T R A I H N G D A A N C R E T T W S H E A L A V I R E T I N E

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By Matt Ginsberg / Edited by Will Shortz

ACROSS 1 Move, as a plant 6 Tiny bit 11 Brit. pounds 14 Morales of NYPD Blue 18 Part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands 19 Grammy-nominated song by Alanis Morissette 20 Result of a successful audition 22 Yam, e.g. 23 Found on this page 24 “Sure, that’s fine” 25 Instant 27 Like a parental lecture 28 Yellow ____ 29 William who invented the steam shovel 30 Fifty Shades of Grey woman 31 Boat in Jaws 33 Sunni or Shia 35 Part of a dealership 37 In bits 42 Means of achieving things 44 Like many patches 45 Nebraska county or who once lived there 46 Kind of pie 48 Dealer in futures? 49 Exact 51 Fill ____ (be of use) 52 Green topper 54 Lose that loving feeling 56 Sylvia of jazz 57 “You nailed it!” 60 Puffed ____ 61 Sneaky 62 Diner offering 66 However, briefly 69 False god 70 Not believable 71 One standing on deck 72 Art type 78 Ben-Hur studio of 1925 and 1959 79 Be observant of Lent, say 80 Battery ends 81 Concert pieces 83 # # # 86 Attention-grabbing 87 Try to grab 89 Pinkish bloom 90 Like 0’s and 1’s in binary numbers 93 Tent alternative

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Home paper Learn (of) Go (for) Part of a Latin 101 conjugation Beverage that may be served au lait Fissure Cardsharp’s deception When one might get a pep talk “Red” Holy Roman emperor Farm stores Whole Taken star Art When H-Hour happens Quash Screen Bean California’s ____ Museum

DOWN 1 ____ Rizzo of film 2 Blow 3 “No. 1” person 4 Acts of deference 5 Agreeably biting 6 Tom’s partner 7 Corn-syrup brand 8 Repetitive, as in criticism 9 Lush locales? 10 Roman scourge 11 ____-free 12 Assumes 13 Reproving looks 14 Go out 15 “____ you!” 16 Zenith 17 Company with a lot of manual work? 19 Something to pay through? 21 Successor to Holder as attorney general 26 Capital on the Willamette River 27 Workshop power tool 32 Foe in Rocky 34 Military strength 36 Said “mea culpa,” say 38 Inner tubes, topologically 39 Italian girl’s name ending 40 Word with fire or trap 41 Email folder 42 Collect 43 Old records 44 Charge 47 Repeated film role for Skippy

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Excessively theatrical Some congratulations Nickname They’re hard to see through Hustles Shield border, in heraldry Figure often dressed in green “Soldier of Love” singer, 2009 Boston’s Liberty Tree, for one Adorn, in old literature Stone in Hollywood Smallish London lodgings Big star Big, big, big Hooked up with Rub some sticks together, as at camp Country once known as

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French Sudan Aware of Delete Curfew for a vampire “Maybe …?” Inspiration for Isaac Newton Tom Wolfe’s ____ in Full Tend to Intercedes Shrubby wasteland Supporting players They vary with circulation Right-hand page Informal approval Bottle in a beach bag High Apt to snap Landing sound Crew member

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0809

NeW YORk TimeS mAgAziNe CROSSWORD Puzzle LITERALLY SPEAKING

Isle of exile Repulse, with “off” Medium “Semper paratus” grp. Linger in the hot sun Lennon’s love

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 August 5 issue of Oklahoma Gazette are shown at left.

Oklahoma Gazette VOl. XXXVii NO. 32

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O k l a h O m a G a z e t t e | au g u s t 1 2 , 2 0 1 5 | 3 5

M A R K HA N COC K

LIFE ACTIVE

Fitting grants Oklahoma City Community Foundation dispersed thousands of grant dollars and launched a website to help get our state be more healthy.

Elizabeth Croll exercises at Main Street YMCA during her lunch break. The YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City recently received a grant to support community health and wellness efforts.

Oklahoma City Community Foundation (OCCF) awarded more than $160,000 in grants to four organizations in June. It launched its Wellness Initiative last year, and another round of recipients will be named in October. Cathy Nestlen, OCCF director, said it launched the initiative in response to data about the overall health of Oklahomans. “The numbers in central Oklahoma showed a need to improve lifestyles and nutrition,” Nestlen said, “so we decided to launch the Wellness Initiative to help improve those numbers.” A grant was awarded to Oklahoma Foundation for the Disabled (OFD) to support its work improving the quality of life of developmentally disabled adults. OFD provides adult day services — such as transportation, activities, socialization and recreation — across the state. Each grant recipient must meet at least one of the criteria in the OK 5210 Program. Implemented locally by the YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City, it is a national initiative to improve the health and nutrition of children and adults. The numbers stand for five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, less than two hours of television or screen time, one hour of physical activity and zero sugary drinks. “Our board liked the program so much that we decided to make it part of our criteria for funding,” Nestlen said. OCCF awarded $30,000 to Rainbow Fleet, Inc. for materials and training that helps caregivers implement the OK 5210 Program in central Oklahoma. Rainbow Fleet also helps parents find childcare and works with teachers on training and resources. A $50,000 grant went to Regional

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GA RETT FI S BEC K

BY GREG HORTON AND MARK BEUTLER

Food Bank of Oklahoma to help fund a collaborative health initiative in which the hunger relief charity works with Mary Mahoney Memorial Health Center and Integris Community Clinic to provide better access to nutritional education and healthier food options to at-risk families. The third grant went to University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center for a program provided in conjunction with YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City that helps families with obese children between ages 6 and 12. Nestlen said the grant process — most of which is done online — begins with a conversation with a member of the foundation’s staff to assess whether the proposed project meets the criteria. Then, the applicant receives a password to complete the application online. “The criteria includes requirements that the grants be awarded to projects that are sustainable and can be replicated,” Nestlen said. “We focus on programming and direct impact instead of facilities or infrastructure.” OCCF requires quarterly reports from recipients so it can measure results. “We want to see what works,” Nestlen said. “We study the reports to see what elements make for a successful program. We’re learning as we go.”

Physically fit

OCCF also created a comprehensive website, GetMovingOKC.org, as a “onestop spot” that provides the tools needed to help Oklahomans become healthier. The foundation recognized a need for a website that aggregates and localizes information about the myriad free and low-cost health and fitness opportunities available within the community. “Since 2007, our website has had

Sally Ray

a section called Great Places to Walk, where we featured public parks and areas where anyone could go and walk or run,” said Sally Ray, program officer for OCCF’s Wellness Initiative. “We simply added more ways to be active — running, rowing, biking and water sports — and it grew from there.”

One goal was to show site visitors that physical activity does not have to be difficult or expensive, regardless of one’s fitness level. Once there, users will find activities, directions and information about which public trails and tracks are available for walking, running or biking. It also provides details about parks, lakes, rivers and streams where people can swim, row, kayak, sail or paddleboard. “Our hope is that this website will also be a resource for visitors to our city,” Ray said. “We want those who come to Oklahoma City for business or pleasure to know that we have lots of opportunities for them to be physically active while they’re here and that those opportunities are available throughout the metro.” She encouraged local residents to submit information about upcoming events and outdoor activities via the new website. “We know that we do not have all the information included yet and that there’s probably someone out there who knows about some gem of a trail or a wonderful event,” she said. Improving the health and wellness of residents is something Ray said OCCF is excited about, and launching this website is an important first step. “We know we have a long way to go,” Ray said, “but we believe the culture is changing in Oklahoma City and our citizens are craving opportunities to improve their personal and the greater community’s well-being. We hope to support that and make a difference where we can. GetMovingOKC.org is simply one way we think we can help.” Learn more about the grant process at occf.org or by calling Ray at 6062930.

A N DY WATS ON / P R OVI DE D

Entertainment by the Dirty Joke Band Great Food • Chalk Art • Games • Face Painting 100 Block of South Rock Island

Bull parade

Call El Reno Main Street, 405-262-8888 for more information.

[

Professional Bull Riders’ Built Ford Tough Series is back for the Express Employment Professionals Classic in Tulsa.

Saturday, Aug. 15th | 6 - 9pm Downtown El Reno

Last year’s Oklahoma City Built Ford Tough series

Sponsored by Rick Jones Buick GMC, El Reno Main Street, El Reno Convention & Visitor’s Bureau and the Mary K. Ashbrook Foundation.

[

BY BRENDAN HOOVER

Professional Bull Riders’ Built Ford Tough Series 8 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday BOK Center 200 S. Denver Ave., Tulsa bokcenter.com 866-726-5287 $15-$500

Professional Bull Riders’ (PBR) Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) is back in Oklahoma as the sport’s top 35 riders will compete Friday and Saturday in the Express Employment Professionals Classic at Tulsa’s BOK Center. Hulbert’s Ryan Dirteater, a 10-year pro, will be among those competing for a total purse of $140,000 as well as PBR world standing points that count toward the $1 million 2015 PBR World Championship, which takes place Oct. 21-25 in Las Vegas. Dirteater, 26, is No. 30 in the 2015 world standings, and he has won $42,165.79 in prize money this year, including six top-10 finishes in BFTS events. The Oklahoman had his best season last year, finishing 13th in the 2014 World Standings and winning $124,173.82 in prize money. Dirteater has also competed in three PBR Australia tour events this year, and he took fourth place July 11 in the 2015 PBR Australia Championship in Sydney. He won the championship round with an 87.25point ride. “Fear don’t keep you safe. Your training does,” said Dirteater’s Twitter account on July 16. Other top pros competing in Tulsa include 2013 World Champion J.B. Mauney, ranked No. 3 in world standings, and fellow world champions Silvano Alves (2014, 2012, 2011), Renato Nunes (2010), Guilherme Marchi (2008) and Mike Lee (2004). Matt Triplett, ranked No. 2 in world standings, will also compete, as will rookie Kaique Pacheco. Oklahoma pro L.J. Jenkins, who

announced his retirement from bull riding in July during his 11th season on the BFTS, won’t compete in Tulsa. The 28-year-old a fractured his first cervical vertebra (C1) during an event in Nampa, Idaho, in April. “Even though I would tell everybody, ‘Yeah, I am ready to retire,’ I thought I had another three or four years. Then this happened and it was the reality of, ‘Hey, I am done.’ It kind of hit hard,” Jenkins said in a PBR news release. “I had an awesome career. I can be thankful for all that and be glad I just walked out of there.” Jenkins qualified for the PBR World Finals 10 times and is the 2006 PBR event average winner. He ranks No. 12 on the all-time earners list with more than $1.8 million in winnings. He has earned seven BFTS wins, as well as 42 top-five finishes, 72 top-10 finishes and 19 90-point rides. Jenkins had been preparing for retirement for some time, planning on a second career in the stock contracting business. He bought a ranch in Porum, near Lake Eufaula, several years ago and owns about 170 cows and bulls. After his injury, he started buying more bulls and building a stronger bull program that can travel to future PBR events. Jenkins is also engaged to be married Sept. 24 to his fiancée Christen Dye. Several promotional events will be held Thursday leading up to the Express Employment Professionals Classic. The Road to Greatness Parade rolls through downtown Tulsa and local celebrities compete in the OK Buck Off, a mechanical bull riding competition, on the main stage at Guthrie Green. The winner earns $1,000 for their favorite charity. Fans can support the cause by making donations to the celbrity of their choice at turntulsapink.org. PBR matches up to $2,500.

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | AU G U S T 1 2 , 2 0 1 5 | 3 7

LIFE MUSIC

Darth fader

Chad Copelin, co-owner of Blackwatch Studios, has worked with a who’s-who of talented artists, but a new management deal might make him a musical master.

Norman-based producer Chad Copelin, best known for his work with Sufjan Stevens, Broncho and Beau Jennings, has agreed to work with A-Squared Management of Nashville, Tennessee. Copelin co-owns Blackwatch Studios in Norman with Jarod Evans. The two opened the venue in 2005, and Copelin said he spends about half his working time there. “There was no signing, per se,” he said. “It was more of a ‘Hey, what if we try this thing out and see what happens?’ scenario.” Jenn Stookey, a spokesperson for A-Squared, said it will handle projects and tasks that Copelin is too busy to manage. “We will work on getting him press, developing his web presence and helping to generate more notice than he has been getting,” she said. Copelin said the relationship does not change the spectrum of music he works on, nor will it affect his relationships with other artists. “Management can help me with a lot of areas,” Copelin said. “They will help me arrive at budgets, get paid on time and get my name in the hat for new projects. It’s really just about expanding a little and having some help.” He has no dearth of projects; he’s booked through December. “If it gets to the point that he isn’t booked, we will help him find projects, too,” Stookey said. He is a musician and songwriter with his own creative projects in addition to the many credits he has as a producer, engineer, composer and mixer. His discography includes work for Avril Lavigne, Ivan & Alyosha, Other Lives, and Train. He also has worked with local artist Beau Jennings. In 2005, Copelin recorded Jennings’ first record, Cheyenne’s I am Haunted, I am Alive. It was a formative experience for Jennings. “I didn’t realize at the time how fortunate I was to have him involved.” Jennings said. “In fact, I’m not sure that record, or any kind of music career I may or may not have right now, would have happened without his help.”

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

PROVIDED

BY GREG HORTON

Chad Copelin

I think we’re all addicted to that feeling of creating something. — Chad Copelin

Copelin is working on albums with Barcelona and Bronze Radio Return. He and Evans will soon begin production on another A Blackwatch Christmas project, an annual release filled with local musicians. But up next for Copelin and Evans is a new Broncho record. “That’s the biggest on the schedule right now,” Copelin said. “We’ve blocked off a couple months for it.” The artist diversity Copelin draws is part of what attracted A-Squared. He has an ability to work with multiple genres and technical specialties. “Creative goals for each project are different,” he said. “Sometimes you’re just a facilitator, sometimes a button-

pusher, and other times you’re called on for ideas, arrangements, writing, etc. My role constantly changes.” Creating an emotional connection to his projects is one of Copelin’s goals, and that is likely related to his love for creating music. “When I work with someone, there is definitely a period of getting to know each other’s tendencies,” he said. “I want to know where they come from musically and how hard we can push or pull each other. I think the best records are the ones you get the most emotionally involved with, but those also become the hardest ones to make.” As his body of work grows, so does the level of respect he garners in an industry often known for being fickle and temperamental. When artists find a producer or engineer they trust, they tend to work with that person more than once. That is the conclusion that Jennings drew. “Since that first record, I’ve recorded a good deal with other talented people and also by myself,” he said, “but no matter what, I usually end up wondering ‘What would Chad do here?’ Not that I know. That’s why I usually just record with him from the get-go.”

M I C HA E L I VE S / P R OVI DE D

Warrior road

A one-off song written for a marketing campaign turns into an Oklahoma adventure for local musician Don Juntunen. Don Juntunen

BY MARK BEUTLER

play while driving. They wanted to hear more tunes. They wanted an album. Soon after, the Adventure Road campaign was augmented to include more of Juntunen’s work and he began hands-on-steering-wheel research for Drivin’ Dreams and spent a lot of time fishing, hiking, camping and driving along the stretch of highway. “I hope some of this music can become a soundtrack for someone’s own personal adventure in Oklahoma,” he said, “or anywhere for that matter.” His project incorporates a broad range of music genres, he said, but since he’s a guitar player, its predominant sound is the blues. “Oklahoma has a rich and diverse musical history that has influenced my musical upbringing,” Juntunen said. “I

think some people will pick up on some of that Oklahoma flavor.” Drivin’ Dreams was produced locally at Ackerman McQueen’s Golden Voice studio. For over three decades, Juntunen has done audio production work for the ad agency as he honed his skills as a musician, engineer and producer. He also spent some time in Los Angeles, where he worked as a music session artist and played in a couple of bands. (Coincidentally, one was named Oklahoma.) He also traveled with Grammy Award-winning contemporary Christian musician and gospel singer Andraé Crouch. Today, he lives in Newcastle and welcomes opportunities to help promote his state.

Critical mass Chevelle’s career heats up after 20 years. See for yourself what the buzz is all about at Friday’s KATTFEST. BY GREG HORTON

KATTFEST 2015 2 p.m. Friday The Zoo Amphitheatre 2101 NE 50th St. thezooamphitheatre.com 602-0683 $25-$49.50

Chevelle, the Chicago-based rock band headlining this year’s KATTFEST, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Sort of. “It’s hard to say when a band becomes a band,” drummer Sam Loeffler said in a recent Oklahoma Gazette phone interview. “Our first record came out in 1999, but we were definitely playing together and doing shows locally in ’94 and ’95.” The original band was comprised of the three Loeffler brothers, and after a couple years playing local shows, they were signed to the Squint Entertainment record label. The Steve Taylor-owned label specialized in moving artists

“If anyone listens to the CD and is moved to go out and experience some part of Oklahoma, that’s great,” he said. “We have a lot to offer and be proud of here.” Whether setting a mood on a latenight drive under a full moon or in the light of a sunrise as its expansive glow blankets the plains on a weekend jaunt to an area lake, Juntunen said his goal was to write relatable, inspiring music for the journey, wherever it leads. Find the album and more details on the Adventure Road tourism initiative at adventureroad.com. Drivin’ Dreams also is available at project travel partner locations along the route and online via iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.

ANDREW BARKU LES / P ROVIDED

Summer is an ideal time for hitting the highways for a trip to explore Oklahoma’s farthest, red dirt-swept corners. Local musician Don Juntunen recently released the perfect blend of tunes for cruising our state’s interstates and back roads. His 10-tune album, Drivin’ Dreams, began as a simple songwriting project meant to accompany a television ad campaign for the Adventure Road tourism initiative, which spans 130 miles along Interstate 35 from WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville through Oklahoma City. After the track was finished and video editing began, however, Juntunen said “people started commenting on the music.” They wanted copies of the song to

Chevelle

from Christian to mainstream genres. Whether Chevelle was a Christian act was a furiously debated topic during its early years. It won Dove Awards — the Christian music version of a Grammy — in 2000 and 2001. Loeffler said the relationship with the label was good for the young band. “Squint helped us set a tone for what we wanted to be as a band,” he said. “Getting signed helped us to clarify that, and we learned great lessons early. The people at Squint told us, ‘Nobody cares about your band more than you do.’ That lesson has stuck with us. You wake up and you get to work; you push your music because no one is going to work if you don’t.” That ethic propelled Chevelle to a platinum album in 2002 with Wonder What’s Next, and a gold album in 2004 This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In). However, its seventh album, La Gárgola, released last year, is its most critically acclaimed to date.

That the band released its most critically acclaimed project 19 years into its career is a testimony to its maturity and evolution. It’s also rare. The praise was hard-earned and appreciated given the work that went into La Gárgola. “It took me two hours to lay down the drums for Vena Sera,” Loeffler said. “That’s pretty typical. La Gárgola took me 12 hours of work.” Chevelle recorded in-studio using 2-inch tape rather than straight-todigital. The process is time-consuming and expensive, but the album sounds like a band that knows who it is enough to compotently and thought-provokingly push the edges of hard rock and metal. “There is nothing wrong with using Pro Tools,” Loeffler said about the popular digital recording software. “We just didn’t want Pro Tools to change the sound of the music.” Chevelle is already working its next project. Six tunes are “ready to go,” and there are dozens of what he called

“pieces” of others. He hopes to release the project by spring, but touring slows things down. “We call them high-class problems,” Loeffler said. “We have too many shows to slow down and get in the studio. These days, we do a lot of one-off shows, but the travel time is still substantial.” As with many seasoned rock acts, band members now balance their careers with families. Loeffler has a 14-monthold son, and his wife is pregnant with another boy. “Having a family does not change what my job is,” he said. “We still have to make music; that’s our job. But it does change ... the way you spend your time. I used to dread long flights, but now I’m like, ‘Hey, an in-flight movie!’ It’s a chance to relax.” Chevelle plans to play a 16- or 17-song set at KATTFEST, including two or three songs from each of its albums.

O K L A H O M A G A Z E T T E | AU G U S T 1 2 , 2 0 1 5 | 3 9

LIVE MUSIC WEDNESDAY, AUG. 12 Brian Wright/Caleb Caudle, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER Earl Day, Hefner Grill. JAZZ Here Come the Mummies, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa. ROCK Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club. Reckless, Baker Street Pub & Grill. COUNTRY Shania Twain, Chesapeake Energy Arena. COUNTRY Steve Crossley, Red Rock Canyon Grill. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Bryce Dicus, Mad Cow Saloon. COUNTRY DJ Josh Tullis, Colcord Hotel. ELECTRONIC DJ Six, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. VARIOUS Dr. Pants, Full Circle Bookstore. POP Electric Okie Test, 51st Street Speakeasy. ROCK Gregg Kennedy, The George Prime Steakhouse. PIANO Jared Cathey/Zac Lee, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. JAZZ Kattfest 2015, Zoo Amphitheatre. ROCK Rock Island, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery. ROCK The Cry/Lost Element, 89th Street Collective. ROCK The Stinnette Brothers, Bourbon Street Bar. ROCK Troy Hardin, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill. COUNTRY

Evan Michaels Band, Baker Street Pub & Grill. COUNTRY

Vearl T, Sauced on Paseo. JAZZ

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

Wink Burcham, Blue Note Lounge. SINGER/SONGWRITER

THURSDAY, AUG. 13

1 Stone Band/Lee Norman, Sliders. VARIOUS Blair’s West, Remington Park. COUNTRY Empire Grey, Riverwind Casino, Norman. ROCK

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

Tragikly White, Baker Street Pub & Grill. COVER

Britt Nicole, Wormy Dog Saloon. SINGER/SONGWRITER

SATURDAY, AUG. 15

Daddyo’s/Cherry Death, Opolis, Norman. POP Edgar Cruz/Jeff Nokes/Marco Tello, The Blue Door. ACOUSTIC

A N N A L E E M E DI A / P ROVI DE D

LIFE MUSIC

Elms

OKG

Aaron Newman Duo, Red Rock Canyon Grill. FOLK

music

pick

Elms/Kaitlin Butts, DC on Film Row. ROCK

Adam and Kizzie, Meinders Garden and Terrace. BLUES

Hosty Duo, O Asian Fusion. Norman. ROCK

Cody Woody Band, Mad Cow Saloon. COUNTRY

Lucky Duo, Colcord Hotel. COVER

Dirty Red & The Soulshakers, Bourbon Street Bar. BLUES

Replay, Baker Street Pub & Grill. COVER

DJ SIX, Colcord Hotel. VARIOUS

The Blend, Red Rock Canyon Grill. ROCK

Don and Melodee Johnson, Twelve Oaks, Edmond. JAZZ

Whitesnake, Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Catoosa. ROCK

Earl Day/Justin Echols Trio, Hefner Grill. JAZZ

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

Eric Taylor, Newcastle Casino. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Justin Echols Trio, Hefner Grill. JAZZ

FRIDAY, AUG. 14

Evan Michaels Band, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill. COUNTRY

Jamie Bramble, Buy For Less. ACOUSTIC LUCKY, Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse. COVER Mark Chestnutt, Riverwind Casino, Norman. COUNTRY

Avenue, Red Rock Canyon Grill. COVER

Metal Headz, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK

Bandromeda, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK

Mike McClure Band, Wormy Dog Saloon. ROCK

Thursday

The Mix outdoor concert series celebrates the second half of its season with a night of food trucks, cold beer and a performance by Elms with Kaitlin Butts 7 p.m. Thursday at DC on Film Row, 609 W. Sheridan Ave. The concert series is free, family- and dog-friendly and features the best OKC bands the second Thursday of each month through October. Visit facebook.com/themixokc or call 607-8600.

Montu, The Deli, Norman. ROCK

MONDAY, AUG. 17

Replay, Baker Street Pub & Grill. COVER

Edmond Jazz Orchestra, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. JAZZ

Shadowman Blues, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. BLUES

Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK

Modern Rock Diaries, Blue Note Lounge. ROCK

Gregg Kennedy, The George Prime Steakhouse. PIANO

Andy Velo, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY

Elms with Kaitlin Butts

Shakers of Salt, Tapwerks Ale House & Cafe. COVER SHISHIO/CHERRY DEATH/SARDASHHH/ASKANSE, Dope Chapel, Norman. VARIOUS SquadLive, Topgolf. POP Tequila Songbirds, The Blue Door. VARIOUS

Dr. Pants, Full Circle Bookstore, Friday

Vibro Kings, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery. ROCK Warbeast/Arkhon/Sleaze Dizeaze, 89th Street Collective. ROCK

SUNDAY, AUG. 16 Bed People, Blue Note Lounge. HIP-HOP Casey and Minna, Buy For Less. FOLK

TUESDAY, AUG. 18 Old Salt Union, The Blue Door. BLUEGRASS

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 19 Earl Day, Hefner Grill. JAZZ Lower 40, Baker Street Pub & Grill. COUNTRY Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club. JAZZ Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

Earl Day, Hefner Grill. JAZZ Eric Herndon, Full Circle Bookstore. ROCK Michael Kleid, Colcord Hotel. JAZZ ROB CRISSINGER / PROVIDED

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

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RedGrass String Band, Grady’s 66 Pub, Yukon. BLUEGRASS Roland Bowling Band, Myriad Botanical Gardens. BLUES Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

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

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY Homework: What’s the best thing you could give right now to the person you care for the most? Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com. ARIES (March 21-April 19) To ensure the full accuracy of this horoscope, I have been compelled to resurrect an old-fashioned English word that isn’t used much any more: “gambol.” It means to cavort and frolic in a playful manner, or to romp and skip around with mad glee, as if you are unable to stop yourself from dancing. The astrological omens seem unambiguous in their message: In order to cultivate the state of mind that will enable you to meet all your dates with destiny in the coming weeks, you need to gambol at least once every day.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Do you remember your first kiss? How about the first time you had sex? Although those events may not have been perfectly smooth and graceful, they were radical breakthroughs that changed your life and altered your consciousness. Since then, there may have been a few other intimate rites of passage that have impacted you with similar intensity. No doubt you will experience others in the future. In fact, I suspect that the next installments are due to arrive in the coming months. Get ready for further initiations in these mysteries. GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Two-thirds of us don’t know what our strengths and talents are. That’s the conclusion of a study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology. One reason for the problem is what the report’s co-author Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener calls “strengths blindness,” in which we neglect our real powers because we regard them as ordinary or take them for granted. Here’s the good news, Gemini: If you suffer from even a partial ignorance about the nature of your potentials, the coming months will be a favorable time to remedy that glitch. Life will conspire to help you see the truth. (Read more: bit.ly/truestrengths.) CANCER (June 21-July 22) In 1504, Michelangelo finished his sculpture of the Biblical hero David. But he hadn’t been the first person to toil on the 17-foot-high block of marble.

Forty years earlier, the artist Agostino di Duccio was commissioned to carve David out of the stone. His work was minimal, however. He did little more than create the rough shape of the legs and torso. In 1476, Antonio Rossellino resumed where Agostino had stopped, but he didn’t last long, either. By the time Michelangelo launched his effort, the massive slab had languished for 25 years. I see parallels between this story and your own, Cancerian. I suspect that you will be invited to take on a project that has been on hold or gotten delayed. This may require you to complete labors that were begun by others — or maybe instigated by you when you were in a very different frame of mind.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Many people harbor the unconscious bias that beauty resides primarily in things that are polished, sleek, and perfect. Celebrities work hard and spend a lot of money to cultivate their immaculate attractiveness, and are often treated as if they have the most pleasing appearance that human beings can have. Art that is displayed in museums has equally flawless packaging. But the current astrological omens suggest that it’s important for you to appreciate a different kind of beauty: the crooked, wobbly, eccentric stuff. For the foreseeable future, that’s where you’ll find the most inspiration. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) “No tree can grow to Heaven unless its roots reach down to Hell,” wrote psychologist Carl Jung in his book Aion. My interpretation: We earn the right to experience profound love and brilliant light by becoming familiar with shadows and suffering. Indeed, it may not be possible to ripen into our most radiant beauty without having tangled with life’s ugliness. According to my understanding of your long-term cycle, Virgo, you have dutifully completed an extended phase of downward growth. In the next extended phase, however, upward growth will predominate. You did reasonably well on the hellish stuff; now comes the more heavenly rewards. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) The Great Balancing Act of 2015 doesn’t demand that

you be a wishy-washy, eager-to-please, self-canceling harmony whore. Purge such possibilities from your mind. What the Great Balancing Act asks of you is to express what you stand for with great clarity. It invites you to free yourself, as much as you can, from worrying about what people think of you. It encourages you to be shaped less by the expectations of others and more by what you really want. Do you know what you really want, Libra? Find out! P.S.: Your task is not to work on the surface level, trying to manipulate the appearance of things. Focus your efforts in the depths of yourself.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Muslims, Jews, and Christians are collaborating to erect a joint house of worship in Berlin. The building, scheduled to be finished by 2018, will have separate areas for each religion as well as a common space for members of all three to gather. Even if you don’t belong to any faith, you may be inspired by this pioneering effort to foster mutual tolerance. I offer it up to you as a vivid symbol of unity. May it help inspire you to take full advantage of your current opportunities to heal schisms, build consensus, and cultivate harmony. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) In some phases of your life, you have been a wanderer. You’ve had a fuzzy sense of where you belong. It has been a challenge to know which target you should aim your arrows at. During those times, you may have been forceful but not as productive as you’d like to be; you may have been energetic but a bit too inefficient to accomplish wonders and marvels. From what I can tell, one of those wandering seasons is now coming to a close. In the months ahead, you will have a growing clarity about where your future power spot is located — and may even find the elusive sanctuary called “home.” Here’s a good way to prepare for this transition: Spend a few hours telling yourself the story of your origins. Remember all the major events of your life as if you were watching a movie. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You have been slowing to a crawl as you approach an exciting transition. But I’m here to advise you to

resume normal speed. There’s no need for excessive caution. You have paid your dues; you have made your meticulous arrangements; you have performed your quiet heroisms. Now it’s time to relax into the rewards you have earned. Lighten your mood, Capricorn. Welcome the onrushing peace and start planning how you will capitalize on your new freedom.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) “Most people reach the top of the ladder of success only to find it’s leaning against the wrong wall.” Aquarian actor Paul Sorensen said that. It’s no coincidence that I’m bringing this theory to your attention right now. The coming months will be a good time to determine whether the ladder you have been climbing is leaning against the right wall or wrong wall. My advice is to question yourself at length. Be as objective as possible. Swear to tell yourself the whole truth. If, after your investigations, you decide it is indeed the wrong wall, climb down from the ladder and haul it over to the right wall. And if you’re satisfied that you are where you should be, celebrate! PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) When he served as Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi denigrated the cuisine of Finland. “Finns don’t even know what prosciutto is,” he sneered. At best, he said, their food is to be “endured.” He mocked the “marinated reindeer” they eat. But Finland fought back against the insults. In an international pizza contest held in New York, their chefs won first Prize for their “Pizza Berlusconi,” a specialty pizza that featured marinated reindeer. The Italian entry finished second. I foresee you enjoying a comparable reversal in the coming months, Pisces. And it all begins now.

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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