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few decades, Oklahoma’s lack of progress on women’s issues in areas of health, economics, leadership and violence prevention is a black eye for the state. With a Capitol march set for January, women hope to challenge the status quo and effect change to improve the lives of women and girls.

By Laura Eastes.

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Rising barriers

Despite women’s advancements, substantial inequalities in areas of economics, leadership, health issues and well-being remain, holding back the entire state. By Laura Eastes

More than half of Oklahomans are women.

But in a state that ranks fourth in the nation for women killed by men, where only 12.8 percent of state legislators are female, where women’s health and reproductive rights are perennially assaulted by unconstitutional bills, women can nevertheless feel quite alone here.

While Oklahoma is one of only six states currently run by a female governor, the glass ceiling is far from shattered, as a multitude of sociocultural ills hold the entire state back from achieving egalitarianism.

Changing culture

Culture and social norms determine how women are perceived and how they perceive themselves. In Oklahoma, it’s not uncommon to hear, “Step aside and let the man do it,” and for traditional gender stereotypes to hold almost unquestionable reign, said Kendra Horn, executive director of Women Lead.

Women’s advancements are limited by social programs and policy, restricted human capital and the societal expectation for women to participate in specific industries, such as education, health care and community programs.

“We, as women, are told repeatedly that our experiences aren’t valid, our votes don’t count and we can’t make a difference,” Horn said.

Sometimes these putdowns are explicit; sometimes they’re not, like when a woman is objectified, ogled or cat-called by strangers or how working women feel they have to struggle twice as hard as men to demonstrate they are qualified to speak and contribute.

Founded in 2015, Women Lead works to combat feelings of seclusion and vulnerability by building a “community of dynamic, engaged women leaders across our state.”

The organization challenges conventional

culture norms and structures that govern civic life and have plagued women and the state for too long. Through lunch meetings and workshops, women become informed, connected, active participants in their lives and communities. Perhaps more importantly, women’s voices can be a tool affecting social change.

“When a person feels their voice matters, they are more likely to use it,” Horn said.

Strengthening women creates a ripple effect that yields multiple benefits, not only for individual women, but also for families, communities and the state. It’s imperative that women stand and acknowledge their own power and for men to support them, Horn said.

“If we want to change anything, women have to start stepping up,” Horn said. “We also need men to understand our challenges.

Until all of us take concrete steps and actions to improve the overall lives of women and the experiences of being a woman in Oklahoma, the whole state is held back.”

Supporting women

About 15 years ago, when President George W. Bush announced on television that Elaine Chao, an Asian-American woman, would be U.S. Secretary of Labor, a teenager found reason to hope.

Rep. Cyndi Munson recalled giving her full attention to that news broadcast. She had never seen someone who looked like her in a position of political leadership in the U.S. before. While it didn’t serve as the launching point for Munson’s political career, it was a significant moment that inspired an Asian-American teenager from Lawton to dream big.

“If you can’t see it, you can’t be it,” explained Munson, who became the first Asian-American female to serve in the Kitti Asberry, executive director of the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women | Photo Garett Fisbeck

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Danielle Ezell, executive director of Oklahoma Women’s Coalition | Photo Garett Fisbeck

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Oklahoma Legislature in 2015.

In the days and weeks that followed Election Day, Munson uttered a question she has repeatedly asked for years: Where are the women? Oklahoma has traditionally had a dispiriting dearth of women at the Capitol, but the November election depressed the number of women lawmakers from 21 to 19, despite a record number of candidates.

Did gender bias emerge in the voting booth? Munson is not convinced voters are biased against women candidates. Munson heard the comment, “I wouldn’t vote for you because you are a woman,” only once during her campaign.

Instead, she points to fundraising and support. In a state where women have been under-represented in elective office, donors and supporters are more skeptical about women’s electability. Donations, along with campaign volunteers, Munson said, can be harder to come by for women.

“We can’t just talk about women candidates; we’ve got to stand by their side,” said Munson, suggesting women knock on doors, donate money or provide childcare or a meal to help a candidate during the final weeks of an election.

Research supports that elected women make the most effective lawmakers, from their abilities to reach across party lines and form coalitions to successfully ushering bills through the legislative process.

Women lawmakers in Oklahoma have informally worked across party lines on essential societal issues, including violence against women, the foster care system and health. Women bring their voice and experience to the Capitol, explained Munson, legislating change for all people involved, not just other women.

Community demand is imperative to growing the number of women lawmakers.

It’s up to women to consider running for office and those around them — both women and men — to encourage and nurture their candidacy.

“In Oklahoma, we have strong women that are working on the sidelines and behind the scenes,” Munson said. “Women have to come to the front.”

Community strategies

At the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women, the big, broad goal of improving the status of women gets distilled down to a simple concept: strengthen and empower women.

For more than three decades, the state commission has worked to inform and educate the state’s top elected officials as well as everyday citizens on women’s issues, such as incarceration, obesity and diabetes, human trafficking and domestic violence.

“Oklahoma is a state with so much potential,” said Kitti Asberry, the commission’s executive director. “We tend not to put the effort into making sure women have everything they should have to be successful.”

The commission, which has traditionally been known for recognizing champions of women’s issues and hosting biannual summits, is strengthening its mission by hosting community conversations. Built as an opportunity to educate the public on a host of issues, the goal of the commission is to strengthen community understanding, propose solutions and connect with local lawmakers and officials to bring change.

In 2016, the commission focused on a community conversation about domestic violence, and it is interested in exploring education in 2017.

Status quo

Feelings of anger were ignited when the Oklahoma Senate adjourned early from the 2016 Legislative Session in late May. Despite a dozen bills awaiting final votes and time remaining before the 5 p.m. constitutional deadline, lawmakers walked away from the Senate floor with no plans to return until the following year.

One of the bills killed was House Bill 2929, a bipartisan pay transparency bill intended to make it easier for women to learn how their wages compared to their male co-workers. Backed by Oklahoma Women’s Coalition, the bill was viewed as a small step toward gender pay equality in a state where women are paid 73 cents for every dollar paid to men.

It would’ve taken only a half-hour more to usher in equal pay enforcement, which Danielle Ezell, executive director of Oklahoma Women’s Coalition, and others advocated for throughout the four-month

democratic process.

The coalition suffered one of the harshest realities of politics. The bill’s backers hadn’t flooded the Senate gallery or spilled into the rotunda, rallying for the bill’s passage on the final day of session to hold lawmakers accountable.

“What if more people had been there to lend their support that day?” Ezell asked more than six months later. “A vocal group of people, even a small vocal group, can make a huge difference.”

Since 2009, Oklahoma Women’s Coalition has advocated for a variety of initiatives to improve the lives of women and girls. Through a statewide network of individuals and organizations, the nonprofit works in four areas of advocacy and education: economic security, health and wellness, alternatives to incarceration and violence prevention and response.

“We would like Oklahoma to be a place Rep. Cyndi Munson | Photo Gazette / file where women and girls can thrive with incredible opportunities,” Ezell said. tended there is no time during this four“Unfortunately, we are at the bottom of month legislative process to work on any nearly any list pertaining to the status of other issue besides the budget shortfall and women. … There is a lot of opportunity for teacher pay. Indeed, gender egalitarianism improvement. We know when women has long been at the bottom of Oklahoma’s legislative priorities. thrive, everyone thrives.”

When the 2017 legislative session begins, “We have been at the bottom of these Oklahoma Women’s Coalition will advocate lists for a long time, even when times were good,” Ezell said. “We cannot sit back and once again for pay transparency as well as paid family leave. In the months leading up accept the status quo anymore. When does to session, the message was met with mixed this become unacceptable? At what point UNI_16-RP-254 New has Years Eve_Gazette.pdf 1 12/16/16 emotions.

One lawmaker already conis there a tipping?” 2:57 PM

Let’s march

After the election of Donald J. Trump, Oklahoma City resident Lindsey Kanaly’s Facebook feed was packed with women registering their anger, disbelief and grief. Those messages continued for days and weeks.

Just when Kanaly had decided to step away from Facebook, she came across a group of women banding together to move forward for progress after a demoralizing and insulting election cycle. One answer was Women’s March on Washington, an opportunity to send a message to the new president.

Not everyone can easily make it to Washington, D.C., for a Jan. 21 event.

However, when it was suggested that cities throughout the nation host marches, Kanaly pledged to organize Women’s March on Oklahoma. With an Oklahoma State Capitol march, demonstrators can advocate for changes on a state level.

To her astonishment, Women’s March on Oklahoma, which began as a simple Facebook event, sparked fellow Oklahoma women to ask what they could do to improve the lives of women.

“Our goal is to bring people together, educate them about what is happening in Oklahoma and what needs to change,” Kanaly said. “Our legislators need our support. They can’t do it by themselves. They need to know what is important to us. If we are not vocalizing that, if we are not calling or writing, the legislators will do what they think needs to be done.”

One day following the presidential inauguration and about two weeks before the first day of the Oklahoma Legislative session, women and their allies will march around the Oklahoma State Capitol to unify on issues of health care, economic empowerment and prevention of violence. The march is set for Jan. 21.

“This is a call for unity,” said Cicely Johnson, who came across the group and reached out to Kanaly to assist in planning.

More than a dozen women are involved in orchestrating the march, which might be the first of its kind in Oklahoma.

“It’s not about race, religion, political affiliation or social class,” Johnson said. “We are all on the same team, which is humanity. We have to change our perceptions to bring progress.”

Emphasis will be placed on educating the crowd on social ills that are particularly detrimental to women and girls, like Oklahoma’s incarceration rate that almost doubles the national rate, the high number of human trafficking cases along the corridor surrounding Interstates 35 and 40, the high death toll linked to domestic violence, the gender wage gap and state funding cuts to mental health services, human services and education. The goal is to boldly advocate for realistic, long-term policies, to stage a sea change.

“Let’s stop waiting for something to change and hoping for change,” Kanaly said.

“Let’s start making those changes now.”

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Advocate action As Oklahoma faces another bleak budget, nonpartisan civic engagement groups prepare for session. By Laura Eastes

Last week, when Oklahoma’s chief budget negotiator divulged that the state was short $868 million in revenue for the coming year, it reinforced concerns that once again lawmakers would have another difficult budget to balance and citizens would bear the brunt with cuts to state services.

As this is the third straight budget shortfall, Oklahoma is no stranger to the aftermath of a cash-strapped coffer. In 2016, two revenue failures led to across-the-board budget cuts of 7 percent, shrinking state agency budgets and impacting a gamut of governmental services.

Unless lawmakers come up with new revenues, state agencies will likely see another round of cuts. The State Board of Equalization, chaired by the governor, certified $6 billion for available spending, which will be determined by lawmakers during the legislative session.

State leaders, including Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger, promise to float revenue-raising proposals when session begins Feb. 6. However, last session, Gov. Mary Fallin called for expansion of the sales tax base and an increase of the cigarette tax to no avail.

Given the state numbers, along with the detrimental impact of this year’s state budget cuts on education, human services, health and public safety, 2017 will undoubtedly bring new challenges and opportunities for action.

Oklahomans engaged in Together Oklahoma and Let’s Fix This stand ready to advocate.

Together Oklahoma

Oklahomans are known throughout the United States for their compassion and commitment to the Oklahoma Standard, which encompasses the spirit of resilience in the face of adversity. Time and time again, 6

D E C e m B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

Oklahomans are quick to respond to calls for aiding tornado victims or pledge funds for worthy causes assisting people in need.

When it comes to the crisis at the state Capitol, there is no clear course of action, which can discourage citizens from getting involved, explained Kara Joy McKee, outreach and advocacy coordinator at Oklahoma Policy Institute.

With a desire to connect the state’s values to the state’s budget priorities, Oklahoma Policy Institute developed Together Oklahoma. In communities like Oklahoma City and Norman, ordinary Oklahomans are becoming involved, learning about state policies, engaging with state government and advocating their interests.

Oklahomans from a multitude of different backgrounds and spanning generations are joining Together Oklahoma chapter meetings and hearing how state polices and budget decisions have impacted each other’s lives. At each meeting, group members strategize about how to bring change and reverse the trends of bleak budgets.

“No matter what you do or who you are, it’s obvious that our state has been weakened by this budget shortfall,” said McKee, who oversees Together Oklahoma. “We have to come together to share our resources [and] ideas and invest in what we care about, like teachers and schools, roads and bridges, health and mental health care and safe communities.”

In the days and weeks that followed Election Day, phone calls and emails flooded the Together Oklahoma office. Attendance counts from recent meetings in Oklahoma City, Norman and Tulsa are doubled when compared to a year ago. Interest continues to grow in Together Oklahoma as communities like Shawnee, Edmond and Stillwater push to establish their own chapters.

“I absolutely believe we can do better,”

Together Oklahoma participants get to know one another and hear concerns about state funding in Norman earlier this month. | Photo provided

McKee said. “I believe Oklahomans care. I believe we are stronger together. I believe we can be a great state, not just OK.”

Let’s Fix This

At each Let’s Fix This event, founder and executive director Andy Moore stands up to introduce himself as a “regular guy” to the crowd.

To understand the mission of Let’s Fix This — and why the grassroots effort turned nonprofit has become hugely successful in the metro — you have to know the organization’s backstory. A regular guy frustrated with the state’s financial mess planned a visit to the state Capitol to talk with lawmakers about the budget hole and funding issues.

Moore invited his friends and family, created a Facebook event and watched as people just like him went to the Capitol. With little experience — but with advice from some lawmakers — the bipartisan group took seats in the House and Senate galleries and went door to door through the Capitol offices.

“People really do want to be involved, and they want to have a voice,” Moore said.

“They just don’t know how to do it. We realized there was a gap, and we created opportunities.”

Face-to-face meetings with lawmakers are the cornerstones of the Let’s Fix This movement. The opportunities to engage with lawmakers are expanding as Let’s Fix This leaders plan unconventional outings to shake hands and speak to elected officials.

Already, Let’s Fix This plans to gather at the Capitol at least once during the months of February, March, April and May. The outings are open to anyone with an interest in citizen advocacy or learning more about the ins and outs of state government. In the evenings on the days of the Capitol visits, Let’s Fix This participants will flock to restaurants and eateries for more causal encounters with lawmakers.

All Let’s Fix This events are grounded in the organization’s initial goal of proving citizen engagement matters and can make a difference.

“We really want to show people their voice matters,” Moore said.

Legislature, the greater community and those in the education field. OKC metro districts, including Oklahoma City, Edmond, Mid-Del, Choctaw-Nicoma Park, Moore, KIPP, Putnam City, Norman and Millwood, were represented on the task force. Education experts Juan D’Brot from the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment and Marianne Perie from the University of Kansas’ Achievement & Assessment Institute served as facilitators.

e d u c at i o n

2. Emphasis on meaningful data

New grades

With state government leaders’ approval, Oklahoma could see a new accountability system.

By Laura Eastes

Once viewed as a novel approach to accountability and transparency for Oklahoma schools, the A-F Report Cards were more widely considered disastrous for education in Oklahoma after their implementation in 2012.

A single letter grade based heavily on the state’s standardized tests drove good teachers and administrators away from the field, confused the public and unfairly tainted the reputation of public schools, according to a number of the state’s education leaders.

“I am in favor of an assessment system that holds us accountable, a system that requires ownership of our academic achievements, both good and bad,” said El Reno Superintendent Craig McVay during the Dec. 15 State Board of Education meeting. “I don’t believe the current system is reliable or valid. It hasn’t been since its inception. … This A-F debacle was created under the guise of providing parents with a simple tool to gauge their home school. It became useless and a complicated way to punish teachers and educators. It wasn’t simple. It wasn’t useful.”

Advocates for reforming Oklahoma’s accountability system got their wish under new mandates handed down under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced No Child Left Behind. Passed this spring, Oklahoma’s House Bill 3218 pushed the state education agency to craft a new system of assessment and accountability for public schools.

After months of work, state education officials unveiled the system and earned the approval of the State Board of Education during the December meeting.

Described by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister as more reliable, valid and meaningful, the blueprint will go before state lawmakers next session and requires the governor’s signature before becoming law.

Under the proposal, Oklahoma schools will no longer be judged primarily on a single, end-of-the-year test as a snapshot of success or failure. It’s a major shift in the way schools are measured, as college and career readiness, chronic absenteeism and growth in performance gaps will be calculated into the grades. If endorsed by elected officials, schools would continue

I am in favor of an assessment system that holds us accountable.

Craig McVay

Joy Hofmeister led the Oklahoma State Department of Education in reforming the state’s current A-F Report Cards. | Photo Gazette / file

to collect an overall grade but also be assigned grades for other major indicators of school success.

The new assessment and accountability system isn’t without critics, most of which are unhappy the state will continue to assign an overall letter grade to schools.

A federal rule change, which was published in November, said states were no longer required to assign a single rating.

The proposed assessment system has earned the support of education leader Cecilia Robinson-Woods, superintendent of Millwood Public Schools, a highpoverty, urban district in northeast Oklahoma City.

“There are so many schools like Millwood, where kids come to us with the bare minimum by no fault of their own,” said Robinson-Woods. “The new report card system allows us to tell the story. …

The new report card will allow me to justify the growth that my teachers have worked so hard for over the course of time.”

There are three major takeaways from the new assessment and accountability system.

1. Meet the creators

Before Oklahoma State Department of Education staff began drafting a new assessment and accountability system, education officials traveled to Broken Arrow, Sallisaw, Durant, Edmond, Woodward and Lawton to meet with stakeholders and garner suggestions on how to measure schools and hold them accountable.

The feedback was later presented to the 95 members of the Oklahoma Assessment and Accountability Task Force, which included members of the

The current A-F report card calculated grades based entirely on state standardized test scores. The proposed replacement incorporates other school success indicators, like student growth in academic areas, career and college readiness, chronic absenteeism and graduation rates, to determine letter grades. Additionally, the report cards feature an overall school grade, along with grades in major indicators.

By adding chronic absenteeism, which is defined as a student missing 18 or more days during the year, schools will be encouraged to address the issues.

Research suggests a link between chronic absenteeism and low academic achievement. Chronic absenteeism is viewed as a growing problem in Oklahoma schools. During the 2013-14 school year, the state reports 16 percent of high school students were absent at least 15 days.

Also new to the report cards is a measure of the proficiency of English learners, which was required under the federal law. The addition will help ensure schools are helping English learners make progress toward English language proficiency annually.

The task force pushed for a new rubric, one in which a majority of schools would be rated with a grade of B, C or D. Schools earning an “F” will be categorized as “comprehensive support schools” and targeted for support. “A” schools will be considered the state’s very best and identified as “reward schools.”

3. Report card look

Currently, Oklahoma’s report cards are single-page PDF files for each school.

There is little detail in the reports, which list student outcome numbers in reading, math, science, social studies and writing, followed by a letter grade.

The new report cards, which will be accessible through the Department of Education website, will be formatted as an interactive dashboard and allow users to see the breakdown of how a school is performing in several different indicators.

Users will be able to compare schools in the district and state as well as see the breakdown by student group. Officials believe by displaying the report cards in an online dashboard format, school administrators and parents will easily see where their schools are succeeding as well as areas in which they need improvement.

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Shoppes at Northpark serves as a focal point and meeting place for OKC’s new North on May Avenue District. | Photo Garett

May flowers

Organizers hope the new NOMA district will help drive business to N. May Avenue.

By George Lang

Outside the protective embrace of enclosed malls, suburban business areas often suffer from lack of identity and, most importantly, the kind of group marketing strategies that can make their areas attractive commercial destinations.

But a group of businesses along a two-mile stretch of N. May Avenue is borrowing a strategy from central Oklahoma City’s business districts in hopes of building new awareness.

North on May Avenue (NOMA), a collection of businesses located on N. May Ave. between Memorial and Hefner roads, elected officers Dec. 14 and will officially launch their district Sunday. The business district will start with 25 charter members and has plans to sign a total of 30 merchants by the end of January.

Preston Moon, co-owner of Anytime Fitness and president of the association, said the idea was to apply the strategy set by some local urban business districts to their area.

“This isn’t reinventing the wheel by any stretch — there are plenty of districts out there,” Moon said, “but we did take a lot of our cues from Western Avenue.”

The geographic and cultural center of the district is Shoppes at Northpark, which sits opposite the Quail Creek neighborhood. This provides NOMA with the residential-commercial equation that has played a major part in the success of the Plaza, Western Avenue and other urban districts in the city.

But Moon said he is aware of the challenges involved in creating an identity for NOMA beyond geography. Since the

revival of the Paseo District and the emergence of Bricktown in the 1990s, urban districts have exerted the greatest gravitational pull on suburban and exurban residents looking for a way to spend their evenings or weekends. Districts are multiplying in the city center with the emergence of Midtown, Automobile Alley, OKC Farmers Market District and, most recently, Film Row as viable options.

Moon said his initial perception of NOMA was that it was “sleepy,” but then he started looking at retail and restaurant offerings and realized that it just needed a public pep talk in the form of a collective marketing and promotions strategy. The area is steadily attracting new restaurants; alongside longtime successes like Papa Dio’s Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar, Rococo’s Northpark location has thrived since opening in November 2010, and the mall just greeted another new restaurant tenant, Hacienda Tacos, which Bryan Neel and Robby Vernon opened in November.

Social blueprint

NOMA is launching an integrated social media strategy that will bring the businesses together in their messaging — Hacienda launched its @hacienda_noma Twitter handle with an eye toward branding with the district.

“It’s a shared voice with the businesses and the community around us,” Moon said. “As a unit, we’ll have a lot more pull with the city. Nobody’s really talking about it, but if you put it on paper, it’s really impressive how many restaurants and bars and local retailers there are on

that strip, and 90 percent of them are locally owned.”

Moon said NOMA will also put together a slate of events to drive awareness and activity in the district. A September music festival in the Northpark parking lot, a Taste of May restaurant festival in May, food truck events and a June bike run that will coincide with Quail Creek’s Creek Run 5K and will be coordinated by NOMA member Celestial Cycles, 2929 W. Hefner Road, are currently on the calendar.

“Northpark is in the center, and it’s blessed with an oversized parking lot,” Moon said, “so a lot of the events will probably be in the Northpark parking lot, just because of its access.”

As the district begins building a more recognizable profile, Moon said he hopes the coordinated marketing will result in a surge of new businesses in the area.

NOMA’s closest geographical competitor is the Memorial Road/John Kilpatrick Turnpike corridor, where average rental costs are higher and a larger number of national names compete with local retailers and restaurateurs.

“You can go just one mile south on May and you can be in a much better rent situation and not far off the beaten path,” he said.

While OKC’s urban districts noticeably shifted the cultural balance of power, Moon said it is still important for people to have retail and entertainment options in the suburban and exurban areas. With downtown Edmond stepping up its game in the past two years with Heard on Hurd street festivals and nightspots such as The Patriarch Craft Beer House and Lawn, he said the time is right for areas like NOMA to enter the fray.

“We just want NOMA to be part of the discussion,” Moon said.

Visit facebook.com/northmaydistrict.

letters

NEWS barrel to 150 (after they had been stable at 17 during Clinton’s entire eight years in office), setting off huge, worldwide speculation and inflation and economic downturns and eventual economic collapse. And who happens to be Trump’s Energy Secretary czar? None other than oil-covered Rick Perry from Texas.

So the Trump administration looks more soaked in oil and fossil fuel pollution than even the Bush/Cheney administration. And the price of oil is already headed upward after being stable for much of Obama’s administration. Can’t have that.

Bring on the gambling and speculation.

Surely we can get oil to $300. And when that happens, it’s game over and a banana republic for the regular people and workers in this once-great country.

Jay Hanas Edmond

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.

Price patrol

It was this week that an OKC police officer, endangering everybody, raced his patrol car 120 mph to catch a driver of a vehicle that had no tag. He then crashed the patrol car into a retaining wall. Is it this difficult to hire people to be police who have common sense? The news reported that the officer was sent to a hospital and then released. And how much did the patrol car cost the taxpayers?

Merle Wright Oklahoma City

Fuel fascists

Climate change denying Donald Trump is filling his cabinet with fossil fuel fascists that have their sights on turning our beautiful country, and the world for that matter, into a vast toxic waste dump with

30-foot sea-level rises from all their fossil fuel drilling and fossil fuel combustion and pollution.

The same week the EPA reported that high-volume fracking is contaminating our drinking water supplies, Trump appoints the fossil fuel fascist and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, another climate change denier, as his EPA director.

Pruitt, you may recall, worked in alliance with Devon Energy while he was getting paid by the people of Oklahoma to sit in the State Attorney General’s post.

Then, Trump appointed ExxonMobil’s CEO Rex Tillerson (can’t get any more fossil fuel fascist than that) to the big enchilada position in his cabinet, Secretary of State. Will his job be mostly opening up new drilling sites throughout the world and approving new pipelines with their potential for rupture from here to eternity? We barely survived the last fossil fuel fascist administration, that of oil barons Bush and Cheney. They invaded the oil-rich Middle East and, in the process, rigged oil prices from 18 bucks a

Correction

A Dec. 14 Oklahoma Gazette story (Eat & Drink, “Dishing daybreak”) listed the incorrect address and phone number for Good Gravy! Diner. The correct address is 8014 N. Western Ave. and the phone number is 405-761-8886.

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | D e c e m b e r 2 8 , 2 0 1 6

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chicken

friedNEWS

Strictly business

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett joined the parade of political players riding the Trump Tower elevator and privately meeting with the president-elect.

Unlike Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Gov. Mary Fallin and former state House leader T.W. Shannon, Cornett likely didn’t rehearse his elevator speech, nor was his resume in his hands during the ride to Donald Trump’s office.

The longtime OKC mayor wasn’t interested in earning a spot on Team Trump. Instead, Cornett wanted to talk infrastructure investment, public safety, unfunded federal mandates and immigration, according to a City of Oklahoma City news statement.

Cornett, who serves as the president of The U.S. Conference of Mayors, was one of four mayors to sit down with The Donald and talk cities earlier this month.

When Cornett returned to the lobby of the Midtown skyscraper, he told the media it was a “fairly interesting meeting” that lasted 15 to 20 minutes. Trump “pledged to be a partner” in infrastructure and public safety, Cornett said.

Since the meeting didn’t earn a Tweet from @realDonaldTrump, we, the media (er, we, the Chicken-Fried News investigative team), had to go on Cornett’s word alone in the reporting.

Some, like the president-elect, might say this is just more of the same disgusting and corrupt coverage from the dishonest media.

We hope Trump took Cornett’s message seriously, because to truly make America great, no one should stand in the way of our country’s greatest municipalities.

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Oklahoma sardines

It is not exactly breaking news that Oklahoma and Oklahoma County face overcrowding problems in prisons and jails, but the seriousness of these issues has perhaps never been more apparent.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections recently released information showing the state’s prison population has surpassed 61,000 for the first time in nearly 50 years. This figure, according to a recent KFOR.com report, includes those in prison, on surveillance or in county jail awaiting transfer.

State Corrections director Joe M. Albaugh said the numbers have reached a level “beyond the tipping point” and put overwhelmed staff and the general public at risk.

A report from the state’s Justice Reform Task Force shows that if no action is taken, Oklahoma’s prison population will grow by 25 percent in the next decade, requiring three new state prisons to hold the population.

If these numbers continue to rise, it might be time to change the expression from “packed like sardines” to “packed like Oklahoma prison inmates.”

NewsOK.com reports that the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce criminal justice reform task force sounded a similar alarm in its recent report. Oklahoma City Thunder owner and businessman Clay Bennett heads the committee

and said it’s time local leaders take action that goes beyond merely building new prison and jail facilities.

Part of the city task force’s recommendations included funding programs for the treatment of addiction and mental illness, as opposed to further incarceration.

The Oklahoma County jail population has grown from 495 to 2,581 since 1983.

The county’s incarceration rate — the number incarcerated per 100,000 county residents — has tripled in that time.

“It’s not even an emergency,” Bennett said during the meeting. “It’s desperation.

These are desperate issues, desperate times, and we must engage on these issues and focus on these issues and make progress very quickly.”

Dig, baby, dig!

Where exactly are we?

Is Oklahoma in the South? The Southwest? We’re not the Midwest, are we?!

Worry no more! Our astute state lawmakers have discovered the answer to a question that has plagued us for decades. Oklahoma is in the center of the earth!

There’s no other reason our state government would try to escape the enormous budget hole they dug for us by going even deeper with more tax cuts.

Even as The Oklahoman reported the state’s budget shortfall will be about $868 million, Tulsa World said many lawmakers are fighting an automatic tax cut in January

to some in Oklahoma City, but apparently Tulsa knew what was up a long time ago.

That city has had The Center of the Universe landmark for years now.

Paper pinchers

that could lower the top income tax rate from 5 percent to 4.85 percent.

If the automatic cut isn’t kiboshed, Oklahoma legislators would have $97.8 million less to spend on such trifles as roads and bridges, teacher pay, health care, essential government services and their own salaries.

Thankfully(?!), the state’s economy did not have enough growth revenue this year to trigger the tax cut next year, said finance secretary Preston Doerflinger, according to Tulsa World.

“I think it’s important for everybody to realize you’re not cutting your way out of this situation,” he said. “We have to have a serious conversation about revenue in this state.”

Budget shortfall? Cut taxes.

Unemployment rising? Cut taxes. Hungry enough for a snack but not a full meal? Tax breaks for everyone!

The news about Oklahoma being in the center of the earth might come as a shock

They’re so hot they’re flying off the shelves, nobody can get them and more than one fistfight has occurred!

We all thought this year’s hottest Christmas item would be Hatchimals — whatever the heck those are — but we were wrong; it is newspaper racks.

We know what you’re thinking: Maybe this is a ruse to trick me into picking up more papers. We wish our crack Chicken-Fried News team had thought of it, but really, it’s much more than that.

A camera outside Choctaw restaurant Tasty Burger at SE 29th Street and Indian Meridian Road recorded two thieves stealing Choctaw Times and Oklahoman racks.

What we really want to know is why these people wanted to steal things that just hold papers. What else could they do with them? You can’t cook with them. They look awkward full of your ’80s cover band bootleg cassette collection. They aren’t extraordinarily visually compelling, so putting one in your bedroom, filling it with dirty laundry and setting your bubbly, glitter-filled lava lamp on top of it doesn’t sound awesome, either.

“Who does that? Who steals a newspaper rack?” Steve Coulter, copublisher of

Choctaw Times, Mustang Times, Tuttle Times and Minco-Union City Times, told OKCFox.com. “I mean it’s a lot of work so they had to go at 3:30 in the middle of the night and it’s cold outside. They had to have help; they’re heavy.”

What makes this case even more interesting is the thieves used a blowtorch to break into the racks, which Coulter said only hold around $10 worth of papers at a time. The racks were recovered Dec. 15.

A couple of stolen newspaper racks don’t add up to a Christmas spree. But then it happened again.

Dec. 15, another Choctaw Times rack was stolen from Nicoma Park.

Coulter said the racks can cost anywhere from $500-$1,000, and the bandits are, unfortunately, still at large.

“I think it is more of harassment than pressure,” Oklahoma elector Rep. Bobby Cleveland, R-Slaughterville, told Tulsa World.

The newspaper reported of Cleveland, “He has been wearing a red ‘Make America Great Again’ hat around the Capitol.”

“I wouldn’t switch my vote no matter what people are telling me,” Cleveland said.

Quote of the week

“Counting today’s mail, it’s approaching 300 letters by U.S. Mail urging me to vote for anyone other than Donald Trump and Mike Pence.”

— Oklahoma Republican elector George Wiland, in a recent KTUL.com report.

Wiland said he received more than 300 letters in the days leading up to the Dec. 19 Electoral College vote, in which electors solidified president-elect Donald Trump’s Nov. 8 national election victory.

s U w o ll o F on

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10/14/16 5:05 PM

review

EAT & DRINK

Delicious discovery

1492’s blend of Latin fusion and crowd-pleasing Tex-Mex cuisines means the menu pleases all kinds of food explorers. By Greg Elwell

make sure it isn’t too spicy.

Making fresh salsa seems easy, but I’ve never had luck creating one worth eating.

1207 N. Walker Ave. 1492’s salsa is lively and has ​1492okc.com | 405-236-1492​ just enough heat to get my taste buds tingling.

What works: Braised oxtail tacos are divine, Tacos on the Taqueria and coconut rice makes every dish better. menu are priced individually, What needs work: Dishes run out too which gives diners the option quickly during a busy lunch. of building their own combination. That said, they’re large Tip: If a Tex-Mex lunch isn’t filling enough, extra items are just $1 more. enough that two are probably enough for most people.

My favorite is a braised The first thing that strikes diners heading oxtail taco ($4.50). Oxtail is a into Midtown restaurant 1492 New World main ingredient in beef stock because it is Latin Cuisine is the crowd. The bar area one of the most flavorful cuts of the cow. is packed full and the dining room is When it is slowly simmered, the connective almost at capacity. tissue melts into the liquid, giving it a silky That’s something one might expect to texture. The cooks at 1492 strip the meat see several years ago, when local dining off the bones for a luscious taco filling that options were still scarce, but the Latin is bursting with flavor. fusion eatery at 1207 N. Walker Ave. still The oxtail taco is topped with queso draws plenty of guests for lunch. Part of fresco, cilantro and pickled red onions, its popularity comes from the bend-butgiving the sumptuous meat a vinegary snap. don’t-break menu philosophy 1492 If the restaurant is out of oxtail, try the adopted through the years. similar taco de cabeza ($4). It’s not quite as beefy as the oxtail, but the cow head is Some early customers expected 1492 to be a Mexican restaurant and quizzically braised overnight to give it the same slowexamined its South American menu seleccooked texture that gives every bite a tions. In response, brothers and co-owners luxurious feeling. Add rice and beans for Arturo and Marco Chavez added a selection $2.50 more for an affordable lunch that of tacos, burritos and enchiladas. won’t leave one too full.

The result is a crowd-pleasing menu For a larger plate, the Tex-Mex Basics that can satisfy a variety of appetites. menu is a tremendous value. Diners choose As delightful as appetizers are, 1492’s three items from columns of enchiladas, chips and salsa are enough of a starter for tacos, quesadillas and burritos for $10 at me. The chips are fresh and crisp with lunch (11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday) or enough structural integrity to hold ample $10.99 the rest of the day. Sides of rice and beans cost $2 more. amounts of the restaurant’s housemade salsa. The heat levels vary because the The best enchilada of the bunch was salsa is made fresh daily, so filled with a crumbled pork tamale take a test bite to

1492 New World Latin Cuisine

Braised oxtail taco | Photo Garett Fisbeck

El Chicano, flank steak over a grilled poblano pepper stuffed with corn, shrimp, squash, zucchini and cheese | Photo Garett Fisbeck

Pork tamale enchilada | Photo Garett Fisbeck

and covered in chili con carne. Maybe it’s weird to have a tamale, which is already kind of similar to an enchilada, wrapped up in a tortilla and covered in sauce, but it tasted amazing.

The chicken and sour cream enchilada, an Oklahoma favorite, had great filling.

The chicken was mixed with chopped vegetables that gave the dish added crunch and freshness.

Blackened tilapia ($16.95) is a great choice for lighter fare. I’m not usually a fan of this particular mild white fish, but the addition of blackened seasoning brings it to life. The chef showed restraint with it, so the dish remained easy to eat over coconut rice and grilled vegetables.

Oh, that coconut rice: It’s mildly sweet and a little thicker than normal rice, almost halfway between fluffed rice and a risotto. It’s the perfect accompaniment for pollo mango mojo ($16.99). The chicken dish is covered in a mildly tart mango sauce that imparts some of its moisture to the grilled chicken breast. The sweet rice paired with tender black beans and the mango sauce is a heady combination. Chicken isn’t the most expressive protein around, but

1492’s recipe makes sure there’s plenty of flavor to go with the filling meat.

The server suggested El Chicano ($24.99), a small grilled skirt steak served over a grilled poblano pepper and a mixture of shrimp, corn, zucchini and cheese. I’m glad he did. Not only was the steak cooked perfectly, with a nice char from the fire, but the mix of corn, shrimp and cheese made every bite a little different. If you get it, be sure to cut up the grilled pepper underneath the rest of the ingredients. The greenness of the poblano gives the dish another dimension and keeps it from becoming too rich.

Perhaps my only complaint is the shrimp get lost in the swirl of flavors. It’s such a naturally mild seafood to start.

Texturally, it’s perfect — small pieces of tender shrimp give each bite more heft — but it seems like a waste to cover it up with so many other ingredients.

The service at 1492 is excellent no matter how many guests are dining there, and the views of pedestrian-friendly Walker Avenue make for an enjoyable afternoon of people watching. But don’t stare out those windows too long, especially if you ordered a braised oxtail taco, or your food might be gone by the time you’re done looking.

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EAT & DRINK

f e at u r e

Grilled cheese sandwich with braised beef | Photo Garett Fisbeck

Worth crowing about Ned’s Kitchen at Cock O’ the Walk raises bar food expectations. By Adam Holt

Cooking is in Ned Shadid’s DNA, which means it’s in Ned Shadid Jr.’s DNA, too.

The elder Shadid started Ned’s Catering in 1984 after helping set up Big Ed’s Hamburgers franchises and owning one himself.

After Penn Square Bank failed in 1982 and oil prices plummeted, national burger chains dropped their prices, too, he said.

“McDonald’s dropped down to 89-cent hamburgers, and it hit all those medium companies, like Johnnies and Big Ed’s,” Shadid said.

So he went to a nearby signmaker and printed a banner to tell customers he catered.

Now, with 32 years of catering under his belt and five years working with his son, the pair returned to the restaurant business with Ned’s Kitchen at Cock O’ the Walk Bar & Grill, 3705 N. Western Ave.

Shadid Jr. said he still loves catering, but he has dreamed of running a restaurant for a while. His friend and Cock O’ the Walk owner Chris McGuire wanted to start serving food again. That’s when stars aligned.

“It seemed like the right thing to do,” Shadid Jr. said.

New tricks

Running a restaurant is different than catering, Shadid Jr. said. Both require a lot of hard work, but a brick-and-mortar venue requires more organization and timing.

While Shadid Sr. considers the Big Ed’s Hamburgers franchise his entrance into the culinary world, his parents worked in the food service industry long before that.

“They had a lunch counter in Penn Square years ago. They had the lunch counter at AMC, which was one of the

highest volume operations in the city,” he said. “They finished their career at Leroy’s Grill at 50th and Meridian, by Putnam City High School.”

When they sold the business in 1977, it went to Ned’s cousin, Edward “Big Ed” Thomas. The location became Big Ed’s second store and Shadid became the franchise sales director for the company, helping open 32 of them across three states.

Catering out of his own franchise, Shadid built relationships that helped grow his business to more than 100 employees and took him to work in every state but Alaska and Hawaii.

“With catering, you know the number you’re going to feed and the menu is set in stone; you know exactly the product you need and how many people will be there,” he said. “In the restaurant, you have to maintain the products on the menu and the level of service no matter how many people come in. Some days, you’re going to serve 90 percent burgers or salmon sandwiches, and you have to be ready for it.”

Shadid said his son is his right-hand man, but working out of Cock O’ the Walk is too good to pass up.

“Operating the kitchen there for them is a great test venue for future restaurant concepts,” he said. “We can test what they love and what they don’t love.”

Ned Shadid Jr. constructs a bacon and pork belly burger at Ned’s Kitchen at Cock O’ the Walk Bar & Grill. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

Positive feedback

So far, Shadid Jr. said, they love it.

“The comments and the compliments you hear from people are really great,” he said.

“People bring in their friends and tell them, ‘I promise you, it’s really good.’”

Ned’s Kitchen doesn’t redefine bar food, but he thinks it gives Cock O’ the Walk diners something they wouldn’t otherwise expect.

“I don’t know any other bar serving a salmon salad or a mozzarella-stuffed fried risotto ball,” Shadid Jr. said. “There’s nothing going from the freezer to the fryer here. I think we’re making some of the best bar food in town.”

Ned’s signature dish is a half-pound pork belly bacon cheeseburger served on a brioche bun.

“It’s just a little past medium,” Shadid Sr. said. “It’s just a good, old-fashioned, quality burger.”

The venue also serves dry-rub chicken wings and a variety of grilled cheese sandwiches, including one made with braised beef, blue cheese and a demi glace, a rich, beef stock-based sauce.

Shadid Jr. said he hopes customers get used to the quality because he’s not going anywhere.

“There are other things on the horizon,” he said, “but we’re planning to stay here for a while.”

OUR NEWS IS REAL, AND IT’S SPECTACULAR. 91.7 OKC | 107.5 TULSA | KOSU.ORG

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b r i e f s By Greg Elwell

OK’sadilla! owner Charles Griffis works the register. | Photo Greg Elwell

•Healthy helper

Charles Griffis wants to help Oklahoma City get healthier one diner at a time with his new restaurant, OK’sadilla!

The eatery, 136 NW 13th St., opened Dec. 14 in the former Beatnix Cafe space and focuses on healthy, organic fast food, Griffis said.

Griffis said his wife converted to vegetarianism when he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a few years ago. Switching to organic foods and watching what he ate also helped drop his A1C levels (used to measure average blood sugar) from 13.1 to 7.4.

According to The State of Obesity’s website, 33.9 percent of Oklahomans are obese, which can lead to diabetes. Griffis said it’s hard to find healthy food on a time crunch, so he decided to create a place to help.

Though he liked the old name, issues with the Oklahoma Tax Commission meant he had to find a new identity for the restaurant.

“We really wanted to keep the name, but I’m glad we did what we did,” he said. “The food is fresher and healthier. It represents our state and our product.”

In addition to quesadillas made with grass-finished beef and organic chicken, the restaurant also serves elote, a Mexican street food comprised of corn on the cob covered by a creamy sauce with chili powder on top.

Visit facebook.com/okcsadilla.

Rococo rookie

Jonathan Groth is Rococo’s new chef de cuisine.

His resume cuts across the Oklahoma City restaurant business; he trained with Kurt Fleischfresser in the Coach House Apprenticeship Program before running the kitchen at The Lobby Cafe & Bar. He also taught culinary arts at Platt College and, most recently, was executive chef at Slaughter’s Hall and WSKY Lounge.

Groth said he isn’t sure which restaurant location he will work at regularly, Rococo’s original eatery at 2824 N. Pennsylvania Ave. or Rococo Northpark at 12252 N. May Ave. “Bruce [Rinehart, Rococo owner,] wants to get through the holidays and then start looking at the menu and making some decisions,” he said.

In November, Rinehart told Oklahoma Gazette he plans to make big changes to the East Coast-style Italian and seafood restaurant’s menus in 2017.

“We’re excited to have him on board,” Rinehart said. “Right now, we’re just getting him in to learn what we do and how we do it. After the new year, he’ll play a role in blowing up the menus and having some fun.”

The new hire comes during a transition for the small restaurant group. Chef Josh

Partain left in November, and Rinehart hopes to open a new concept, The Manhattan, early next year at 210 Park Ave., Suite 150.

Visit rococo-restaurant.com.

Maples smoking

Waffle Champion owner Todd Woodruff is readying his next food project for a spring 2017 opening. Maples Barbecue will be run out of a concession trailer and serve Austin, Texas-style smoked meats.

“It’s that central Texas, German-style barbecue, focusing on brisket and prime, all-natural meats,” Woodruff said.

Woodruff’s sisters live in Austin.

“That style of barbecue is not really around here,” he said. “I started smoking at the house, and I found if you keep it simple with the right ingredients, you can get a product I’ve only experienced in Austin.”

The oak-wood smoker is fabricated out of a 1,000-gallon propane tank welded to a 250-gallon propane tank. Woodruff said it holds about 500 pounds of beef.

He plans to open for lunch six days a week after a March 1 opening and will not serve alcohol.

Visit maplesbarbecue.com.

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g a z e di b l e s

eat & DRINK

Local taps

Oklahoma City has come into its own as a craft beer kingdom thanks to the efforts of excellent up-and-coming brewers. But without beer enthusiasts, it would all be for naught. These fine establishments serve ales, lagers, stouts and more from Oklahoma craft brewers and great beer makers from around the globe.

Stop in for a pint and enjoy.

By Greg Elwell Photos Garett Fisbeck and Gazette file

Bricktown Brewery

840 W. Danforth Road, Edmond bricktownbrewery.com | 405-265-2739 “Local Beer” is right there in Bricktown Brewery’s logo, just a short jog left of “Great Food.” Both can be found at the restaurant and bar, which has spread from its original downtown Oklahoma City location across the state and into Arkansas, Texas and Kansas. Great beer is key to conquering new territory, and the brewery has quite a selection on hand, including Oklahoma-brewed favorites Old King Kölsch, Remington Red Ale and Single-String Stout. The restaurant is brewing new special beers all the time.

James E. McNellie’s Public House

1100 Classen Drive mcnelliesokc.com | 405-601-7468 Fans of recently passed State Question 792 should stop in at James E. McNellie’s Public House to pay homage to the beer lovers who worked for more than a decade to modernize Oklahoma’s beer and wine laws. Other good reasons to visit: friendly, knowledgeable staff, a great menu of hearty Irish fare and a selection of more than 350 beers. Not sure what you like? The bartenders are always happy to suggest something new.

Oak & Ore

1732 NW 16th St. oakandore.com | 405-606-2030 Oak & Ore owner Micah Andrews takes his relationship with local brewers and brew drinkers seriously. Plaza District’s craft beer haven has temperature-controlled taps with an always-rotating selection of 36 brews on draft. It can be intimidating choosing a new pour off the list, so Oak & Ore offers samples to make sure patrons enjoy their selections.

Keep an eye on the alcohol by volume (ABV) listed with each beer, and check out the website for a live tap list to see what is being poured right now.

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Republic Gastropub

TapWerks Ale House

The Barrel

Break out the reading glasses when you visit Republic Gastropub, because that big, double-sided beer menu has some pretty small type. The restaurant’s list includes 100 beers on tap and another 250 varieties in bottles, so it won’t be hard to find something new to try. The food menu isn’t quite as large, but the choices are equally vexing.

A Reuben with house-made corned beef or a short rib banh mi? Fish and chips or a plate of chicken nachos? You’ll just have to come back to try them all.

The selection runs deep at TapWerks Ale House. The venue boasts two floors with 106 taps on each bar and more than 100 bottled beers from which to choose. Moving that much beer has advantages. TapWerks gets cask-aged firkins — small kegs of beer that guests might never be able to try again — from local breweries. The staff are experts on beer, but they’re not snobs. Their goal is to help patrons fall in love with a new beer and take some of the guesswork out of finding the right brew for different tastes.

Barrels play a big role in sayings. Some tasks are as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Good negotiators often have someone over a barrel. With this wellstocked restaurant and bar in mind, we ought to invent another barrel-related adage: happier than a beer lover in The Barrel. Fans of good brew and tasty grub know this Western Avenue hotspot well.

The warmly lit bar has a classic pub feel with modern amenities that make it a draw for fans of sport, classic British fare and a fine selection of beer.

5830 N. Classen Blvd. republicgastropub.com | 405-286-4577

121 E. Sheridan Ave. facebook.com/tapwerks | 405-319-9599

4308 N. Western Ave. barrelokc.com | 405-525-6682

The Root

3102 N. Walker Ave. facebook.com/therootokc 405-655-5889 The Beastie Boys weren’t specifically talking about Paseo Arts District’s craft beer and live music showcase in the song “Root Down,” but they did ask a question that applies to The Root. “So how we gonna kick it? Gonna kick it root down.” Beer enthusiasts looking for a place to kick it love The Root’s small, craft-focused taps that are regularly updated on the venue’s Facebook page.

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List your event in

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co m e dy

ARTS & CULTURE

White collar

Ron White brings a refined Southern attitude to his New Year’s Day performance at WinStar World Casino and Resort. By George Lang

Ron White with Margo Rey 7 p.m. Sunday Global Event Center WinStar World Casino and Resort 777 Casino Ave., Thackerville winstarworldcasino.com 1-800-622-6317 $65-$174

Even when he’s not on the road, Ron White still performs standup comedy. At his home base in Los Angeles, a long way from the small Texas Panhandle town where he was born, White will hit three comedy clubs in a night, working out new material until it’s ready for prime time.

“A lot of comics, when they get wealthy, they’ll stop focusing on the craft and move to Montecito,” said White, who starts his new year with a Sunday performance at WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville. “But it’s like blowing a horn — you have to blow it.”

That drive did not come naturally. He was born in Fritch, Texas, a town that White said had about 700 residents at the time and not a lot to keep them there. White became a standup superstar after joining the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy. “It was a dirt town. And it was made of dirt. The streets were dirt, the people were dirt, and it was a borehole,” he said. “And it was forsaken by God himself — God took time out of his busy schedule to forsake this little town. And he forsook the shit out of it.”

But in that place with so little to show for itself, White found inspiration in his family, who went to the Southern Baptist church where his uncle preached. He learned his pace and sense of verbal rhythm from his uncle and combined it with his mother’s raw sense of humor. He said that his reliance on humor helped him get through the stress when his family moved from Fritch to Deer Park, Texas, a refinery town near the Houston Ship Channel that White said was “like Pasadena, Texas, without all the glitz.”

Rather than finish high school, White enlisted in the U.S. Navy in the early 1970s and served on a rescue and salvage ship toward the end of the Vietnam War and then spent part of his 20s living in Mexico before returning to Texas and working in sales.

stage at the Funny Bone Sept. 17, 1986, in Arlington, Texas. On that first day of his comedy career, the headliner, Jeff Foxworthy, shared some solid advice: Put your punchlines at the end of the jokes.

White is known for being the Blue Collar Comedy Tour member with the nicest clothes and the filthiest jokes, but in the late-1980s, he had a porn moustache, a cowboy hat and a “lucky sweatshirt.”

“At first, I didn’t know what was making them laugh,” he said. “When you start out, you’re like a baby. I had this sweatshirt that said, ‘Bob’s Burger Gym’ on it, and wore it on stage for months — I mean months. Other comics were making fun of me, but I wasn’t sure it wasn’t that sweatshirt that was making them laugh, so I was afraid to take it off. Finally, some other comic said, ‘Ron, you don’t need that.’”

What he did need were props — or at least something to do with his hands. For years, his stage props included a beer and a cigarette. Then, when it was time to stop smoking cancer sticks, he used the $70 a month he saved from quitting to take up expensive cigars, which are now out of the picture since his 2013 marriage to singer Margo Rey, a cancer survivor who opens for him on tour.

“Then I worked with this guy who was a

hypnotist — he was the first hypnotist-comedian guy ever, and he had more money than any of us — he made $6,500 a week, which was unheard of,” White said. “He told me, ‘Always be the best-dressed person in the room.’ I took that to heart, because dressing any other way didn’t help me.”

Comedy warrior

By the time Foxworthy started the Blue Collar Comedy Tour in 2000, White’s sartorial image was of a well-dressed man with an ever-present scotch on the rocks delivering seemingly social commentary and sex jokes with off-the-cuff casualness. His success and popularity took him beyond the original Blue Collar audience. After receiving good reviews for supporting roles in Horrible Bosses and Jayne Mansfield’s Car, White won the role of Phil, the best roadie in the business, in Cameron Crowe’s Roadies series for Showtime. While White said Crowe is pushing him for an Emmy nomination, the series did not survive its first season after what White called unfair reviews.

“It made me so vengeful,” he said. “I wanted to go to this lady who worked at Variety magazine and throw a bottle of ink in her face — I was trying to think of something I could do where I wouldn’t go to jail for more than a night or two.”

The Roadies gig made White a hot property, except he has not liked any of the offers so far. For now, he will keep hitting the Los Angeles comedy clubs every night, working up new material for his next swing through the theaters.

“The only thing I’ll say is I’ll do standup until nobody cares,” he said.

Comedian Ron White | Photo provided

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Proper props

But then he decided to put his comedy instincts to use at age 29, when he worked up four decent minutes of material and took the O kg a z e t t e . c o m | D e c e m b e r 2 8 , 2 0 1 6

19

art

ARTS & CULTURE

Buzz-worthy

Artspace at [Untitled] hosts Bees of the [HIVE], celebrating the opening of its new shop, through Saturday. By Jessica Williams

art

“When you buy something from the ture, pottery and paintings, but we also [HIVE], you can be sure that no one else have greeting cards, jewelry, skin and has it,” said [Artspace] at Untitled finanbeauty products made in Oklahoma and so many other objects and products.” cial advisor and board president Lissa Untitled shows artists’ works in mulBarr Shaw as she led guests on a tour through the retail art space inside the tiple forms. In conjunction with the store gallery at 1 NE Third St. opening, the gallery’s Bees of the [HIVE] The exhibit, Bees of the [HIVE], opened exhibit features new, large-scale works in time for the holidays, and guests can from [HIVE] artists. still visit through Saturday.

Incorporating elements of fine art and [HIVE], [Artspace] at Untitled’s new interior design, artists Whitney Forsyth, retail shop, holds many everyday objects Nic Annette Miller, George Wilson, Don that local artists have renNarcomey, Marc Barker, Dav id Phelps, Kenny dered extraordinary. From colorful portable mugs McCage, Paul Medina, Susie Bees of the made of marble to silkClinard, Adam Lanman, [HIVE] printed scarves, every Beatriz Mayorca, Taylor Painter Wolfe, Lanny corner of the store features 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Fiegenschuh and Christie handmade gifts and through Saturday Hackler filled Untitled’s objects.

[Artspace] at Untitled “We’re all about featurspace with innovative instal1 NE Third St. ing local artists,” Shaw lation pieces. One room fea1ne3.org said. “There is a price range tures handcrafted furniture 405-815-9995 and taste level here to suit that functions as décor and Free everyone. … We have sculpstorage in one.

“We’re representing artists from OKC and Tulsa and also smaller towns throughout the state,” Shaw said. “It’s really inspiring to see all the diverse talent our state holds, and we hope it pushes other artists to keep creating new works.”

Continued growth

In truth, the “hive” extends beyond Untitled’s gallery space, where an art workshop buzzes with classes and programs for guests of all ages.

“We have such big plan for 2017 with exhibitions and programming,” Shaw said.

“Right now, we have cardmaking classes, where guests can learn about printing

presses. In January, we’ll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Untitled becoming a nonprofit organization. We’re incredibly fortunate to function as more than just a gallery for the community.”

Shaw said founder Laura Warriner, who purchased Untitled’s building after it was damaged in the 1995 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building terrorist bombing, transformed the space into the nonprofit organization it is today.

“Laura has been key to Untitled’s success, and she has almost 50 years of experience in the art world,” Shaw said.

“Since she’s recently come on as our creative director, Laura has completely revitalized [Artspace] as a place to display works and as a space for artists to create.”

The venue features a large, shoppable gallery, an upstairs living space for artistsin-residence and a storefront boasting hundreds of one-of-a-kind objects.

“I want people to know that this is a welcoming space for everyone,” Shaw said.

“Hopefully the [HIVE] store creates that sense of public openness. You don’t have to know anything about art to enjoy the shop, but we also hope you stay to learn about our exhibit art.”

Visit 1ne3.org.

Refresher course

Reuse sculptor Edwin Eldridge earned his art degree more than five decades after graduating high school. By Ben Luschen

Edwin Eldridge’s wife Charlette told her husband to pace himself before he enrolled in college. After all, it had been nearly 50 years since he graduated high school.

Eldridge, 73, had other plans. The Oklahoma City painter and reuse sculptor was set on finishing his education.

The artist has become skilled at reimagining old computers, televisions and pieces of technology and equipment supposedly past their primes as large, robotic dragons, dinosaurs and dogs. The life-size metal and plastic configurations are not intended as a metaphor for their creator’s second life as a gallery artist, but one could make the connection.

After retiring from a career as a business owner, Eldridge sought a new challenge. One thing he’d always wanted to do was earn a degree.

Eldridge, who grew up in Bethany, graduated from high school in 1961 and later joined the Army. After his service, he contemplated going to college but didn’t have the money. He also was not very confident 20

Christie Hackler’s “When Lightning Strikes” is on display at [Artspace] at Untitled through December. | Photo provided

D e c e m b e r 2 8 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

about returning to school because he was never the best student.

He completed his career without earning a degree, but the desire to work toward a college education never left him.

Eldridge lived with his wife near Stephenville, Texas, and decided to enroll at Tarleton State University.

Though his work is now displayed alongside other accomplished artists in the Paseo Arts District, Eldridge had never considered himself artistically inclined. But art and the desire to create suddenly seemed appealing.

He admitted he might not have been born a Pablo Picasso, but he was willing to learn.

He studied, and his grades showed it. He remembered being stunned to see he had earned an A on an essay early on in his college career.

“That gave me a lot of confidence,” Eldridge said. “Back when I was young, I didn’t think I was smart enough to make really good grades, but I didn’t study.”

Eldridge found something to capture his imagination right away in his college career.

In his first semester at Tarleton, Eldridge’s 3-D design instructor showed everyone photos of reuse sculptures — lifesize figures made using recycled materials and items labeled by most as junk.

He soon began making his own.

Eldridge graduated from Tarleton with honors in 2012 at age 69. He and his wife moved back to Oklahoma in September 2014.

The artist brought out a more than 6-foottall reuse tyrannosaurus on the day of his interview with Oklahoma Gazette at the gallery. The creature’s base skull was fashioned out of some old PC towers. Its wiry motherboard scales were scraps from various other electronic devices. This dinosaur, as well as many of Eldridge’s other creations, features a lumber armature under

Artist Edwin Eldridge loads one of his reuse sculptures piece by piece back onto his trailer. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

its industrial shell.

Eldridge keeps heavy tubs full of old computer parts and other scraps for his projects.

He said part of the thrill for him is making something interesting out of old pieces of hardware that would otherwise sit in a landfill somewhere for many, many years.

There’s an appropriate symmetry to the sculptor’s desktop-computer dinosaurs. In a museum, one might see a T. rex pieced together from old fossilized bones.

Eldridge does the same, but his old clunky PCs are fossils of another kind.

See his creations at Paseo Art Works, 3005 Paseo St. Visit facebook.com/paseoartworks or call 580-470-5031.

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ARTS & CULTURE

art

Handicraft haven

Couple Tony Dyke and Susan Morrison-Dyke craft murals and memories together in their downtown art studio. By Ben Luschen

Views from the Studio and Elusive Movements 8 a.m.-9 p.m. through Friday Art Hall at The Rise 519 NW 23rd St. art.theriseokc.com 405-606-7005 Free

Banana nut muffins rest in a nest of tin foil atop the mobile kerosene heater. Each person takes one and huddles close around the only source of warmth in the spacious former warehouse turned art studio. A new, buildingwide heating unit to be installed the next day would have kept them all toasty, but this day’s winter chill forces proximity and kinship.

Since the late ’90s, Tony Dyke and Susan Morrison-Dyke, a power couple of Oklahoma City’s art scene, have used the space along the train tracks in downtown’s Classen North Highland Park area to create and plot their individual works and large-scale murals on prominent display in OKC and as far away as Florida and Massachusetts.

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On the days they’re working together on a large public piece like Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark’s History of Bricktown mural, the couple’s most well-known local work, the flat might be flooded with bits of tile and other materials. On this day, the second-floor studio space is mostly barren, housing only older works from their archives.

That is not to say the pair has been idle in recent years. Tony and Susan’s latest works are all on display at Art Hall, a relatively new, public-use corridor and gallery neighboring The Drake Seafood and Oysterette inside The Rise retail building, 519 NW 23rd St. Their coexhibitions (Tony’s Views from the Studio and Susan’s Elusive Movements) close Friday, though they have both been up for the last several months.

When the two met more than 25 years ago, their styles were very different. Tony was a more impressionistic, figurative painter. Susan’s art was more iconic and she was fascinated with work from the ancient world. Through the years, Susan said in a recent Oklahoma Gazette interview, the two have seen some stylistic convergence.

“We both vacillate back and forth, but it’s through time,” she said. “It’s not like one day we’re doing this and the next day

Tony Dyke and Susan Morrison-Dyke pose for a photo in their art studio near Classen North Highland Park in downtown Oklahoma City. | Photo Garett Fisbeck

we’re doing something else. We’ll start working on something and bring in some figurative elements into something abstract, just kind of building into it.”

‘First sight’

Tony is a New Englander born in Hanover, New Hampshire. After earning his master’s degree in arts from Massachusetts’ historic Tufts University in 1988, he moved to Vermont Studio Center, a nonprofit organization that harbors artists and writers from around the globe as they study, create and complete residencies.

Tony recalls moving into an old mill, where part of his daily duties included completing various errands for the workers around him.

“I was like the artist-in-residence,” he said, “but I actually just helped around the place and made sure everybody had what they needed.”

He painted throughout his stay and had a show in the Johnson, Vermont, art hub each year.

One winter evening, Tony helped welcome a new batch of resident artists.

There was three feet of snow already and a near-blizzard dumping more on them by the minute. All the new arrivals had checked in except for one, an Oklahomaborn artist. Tony waited until her headlights at last became visible in the flurry.

“She pulls up in a little Subaru,” he remembered. “I open the door, and that’s when I first met [Susan]. It was love at first sight, really.”

‘Artists first’ Tony and Susan married within a year of meeting. The couple relocated to Oklahoma City in 1996 so Tony could go to work as an

artist and photographer for a local graphic design company owned by Susan’s brothers.

He worked in design corporately and as a freelancer before moving on to teaching.

“I got tired of always trying to please a client and interpreting what salespeople wanted,” he said.

Tony taught art for five years at Deer Creek Schools and now teaches at Classen School of Advanced Studies.

Susan also spent several years working with students as an artist-in-residence for Oklahoma Arts Council, which allowed her to visit several state schools and lead painting and collage workshops.

While holding other jobs, neither lost focus on their own art. Through the last several decades, they have spent many hours in their shared downtown studio.

“We were always artists first,” Susan said. “Then we had the jobs to try and support the other stuff.”

The couple recently unveiled its latest mural commission at the Shoppes at Northpark, 12100 N. May Ave. Susan, often with assistance from Tony, has many other notable commissions throughout OKC, including works for Special Care Inc. and St. Anthony Hospital, the ballpark mural and a painting procured as a gift to Aubrey McClendon.

New chapter

While gathered around the heater’s gas flame, it could be easy to forget the sweltering summers during which the couple worked to piece together the ballpark mural.

The two spent nearly two years creating the 160,000-tile collage. They did the work themselves with the help of just two parttime assistants. Susan remembers sweating in the hot studio, and they sometimes almost stripped down to their bathing suits.

Still, the space has proved invaluable through the years. Susan’s father’s company purchased the building in the 1970s. The business later moved into a larger facility, but the warehouse has served as the couple’s studio since 1998.

With their past experiences as young artists in mind, Susan and Tony now hope to share the space with other city artists while making improvements along the way.

They want to remove some walls and open up the 10,000-square-foot upper floor to construct individual, for-rent artist units.

“It’s got light and views of the Capitol,” Tony said. “It’s just closing it off and getting an [air-conditioning] unit in each one.”

The conversion will take the Dykes a year or two. However, when it’s complete, they will be happy to give new residents a home in the place that has functioned as their own art dwelling for so many years.

Visit art.theriseokc.com.

Spenser Micetich stars as Buddy in Elf: The Broadway Musical | Photo Jeremy Daniel / provided

character well.

“His Buddy is sort of like a bull in a china shop,” Gallagher said. “He doesn’t always know his size, like those dogs who don’t know they’re not puppies when they come up and sit in your lap. That’s what Spenser does so well.”

t h e at e r

Comforting return

Tall tales

Infectiously fun Elf has become a Christmas tradition on television and the stage. By Ben Luschen

When thinking of classic Christmas movies, many conjure images of the stopmotion classics of the 1960s or older liveaction staples like It’s a Wonderful Life or White Christmas.

A classic, by its very name, usually implies a cherished relic from years past.

But every so often, a new story manages to break through and join the list of seasonal must-sees. A Christmas Story and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation did it in the 1980s. The ’90s had Home Alone and The Santa Clause.

In 2003, funnyman Will Ferrell likely cemented his name in the lore of Christmas cinema thanks to a memorable performance in family comedy Elf. For some, an annual viewing of the movie has become a family tradition.

Oklahoma fans will have a new way to embrace the almost unfathomably sweet Buddy character Wednesday-Saturday when OKC Broadway brings Elf: The Broadway Musical to Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave. The stage adaptation debuted on Broadway in 2010. Show choreographer Connor Gallagher has been working on Elf since the show began touring nationally in 2013.

“It’s funny; I remember seeing this movie in the theaters,” Gallagher said in a recent interview with Oklahoma Gazette.

“You just never know what’s going to happen. There’s tons of Christmas movies that come out every year, so it’s cool that this one has such a following and remains so popular year after year.”

True Buddy

For those unfamiliar with the film version’s story, Elf follows Buddy, a human infant who accidentally makes his way onto Santa’s sleigh one Christmas and is raised by elves. Buddy grows up thinking he’s just like everyone around him, but as he advances into manhood, it becomes obvious that he wasn’t born to be one of Santa’s little helpers.

Buddy journeys to New York City in search of his long-lost family. While there, he discovers the outside world is not full of the sweetness and childlike exuberance found in Santa’s workshop.

The premise of the stage version is the same, but some minor changes were made to allow for more casting flexibility and to insert more music and dance opportunities into a story that originally didn’t feature an abundance of either.

The show begins as Santa reads a story to his elves. Gallagher said the stage production is told in the style of a pop-up book — not in that it is childish, but that it’s very visual.

One of the main reasons Elf has become a film worth revisiting is the strength of Ferrell’s man-child humor as Buddy.

Gallagher said it was a role almost customfit for Ferrell.

“There’s something about him that he almost feels like an overgrown kid,” he said.

“One of the things that Will Ferrell does that’s really tricky is capturing that energy without coming off crazy.”

Part of Gallagher’s challenge as choreographer was finding a way to make Buddy’s enthusiasm stand out on the musical stage when many of the other characters are singing and dancing too.

Gallagher uses the idea that Buddy’s energy is so infectious, it spreads to everyone around him.

“The people of New York start to see the world through his eyes, and everything is a little bit more of a fantasy,” he said.

Gallagher said the choreography and script are altered a little bit each time a new company goes on tour. Like many other touring productions, the show adapts to its personnel.

Spenser Micetich is the latest to take on the Buddy role. Gallagher said Micetich has a natural eagerness that fits the

Director Sam Scalamoni asked Gallagher to join Elf as choreographer while preparing the new touring production several years ago. The two had worked together before, and Gallagher also had experience with NETworks Presentations, the producing company.

Gallagher said Elf is on its eighth or ninth company since he has been involved with the show.

“It is the same material,” he said, “but we try to improve upon it every year. Times change, people change; so even though this is our fourth year with the show on the road, it is very different and has entirely different numbers, even from when it was on Broadway.”

Gallagher, a native of New York, has been in or around dance and theater almost his entire life. Working as a stage choreographer who jumps from production to production means his life can lack a

Elf: The Broadway Musical 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Friday and Saturday Civic Center Music Hall 201 N. Walker Ave. okcbroadway.com 877-737-2929 $23.84-$105.12

sense of routine, which he said can sometimes be a problem.

Returning to Elf every year has offered him at least some sense of comfort and consistency.

“Every project comes with its own challenges, and it’s nice to be able to return to a show that has a really sweet, sincere message,” he said. “It just reminds you of your family and the things that make you happy and are important. I think as artists, we just need that as much as possible.”

Visit okcbroadway.com.

from left Santa (Mark Fishback) receives a hug from Buddy (Spenser Micetich) in Elf: The Broadway Musical. | Photo Jeremy Daniel / provided

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film

ARTS & CULTURE

Quirky homecoming

Actress Megan Mullally rolls from a successful summer comedy tour into a popular holiday film role and hints at a possible Will & Grace reunion.

By Mark Beutler

Megan Mullally has had a busy year. In the spring, she recorded a new album, Nancy & Beth, with friend and actress Stephanie Hunt. This summer, she and her husband, actor Nick Offerman, traveled the country with their Summer of 69: No Apostrophe comedy tour, and just before the election, she participated in an impromptu Will & Grace reunion.

Now, the Oklahoma City native hits the big screen with her new film, Why Him?, which premiered nationwide in theaters last week.

“There are a lot of really big laughs in this movie,” Mullally told Oklahoma Gazette during a recent phone interview from her Los Angeles home. “Right now, we have a lot of stress in this country, and I think we all need a laugh. This is the perfect opportunity.”

Improvised cheer

The 20th Century Fox production stars Mullally (as Barb Fleming), Bryan Cranston (as her husband Ned Fleming) and James Franco (as Laird Mayhew) in three of the film’s lead roles.

“It’s about a Midwestern family, the Flemings, who have a daughter who goes 24

D e c e m b e r 2 8 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

to Stanford, and they find out in a very unexpected way that she is romantically involved with this guy, a character played

by James Franco,” Mullally said. “He is definitely not the kind of guy they expect their lovely little Midwestern daughter to be dating.”

The family travels to Silicon Valley to meet him for Christmas and discovers he’s a young billionaire who made his fortune in the gaming industry.

“He’s very eccentric and extremely inappropriate,” Mullally said. “He’s wellmeaning, but he just doesn’t understand that my husband, played by Bryan Cranston, doesn’t really enjoy the word ‘motherfucker.’”

Mullally portrays Barb Fleming, who shares her husband’s conservative Midwestern values.

“Barb isn’t quite as conservative as her husband, but it’s close,” Mullally said. “It’s just a real eye-opener for both of us when we realize who our daughter is dating.”

The film was shot in and around Los Angeles earlier this year from January through March.

“That was really amazing because a lot of things shoot elsewhere these days

from left Bryan Cranston, Megan Mullally and James Franco costar in Why Him?, which opened Christmas week in theaters nationwide. | Photo Scott Garfield / Century Fox / provided

because of tax incentives,” Mullally said.

“We shot on location in LA and some of it on the Fox lot and some on the Universal backlot. So it was nice to be able to shoot a movie and stay at home.”

Why Him? is not necessarily a movie about Christmas, she said; it just happens to be set during the holiday. And she warned audiences to prepare to laugh.

“I think it’s a movie people will really enjoy. They’ve been testing it, and it tops out at 95 percent, which is unheard of,” she said. “The script was great, but we also did a lot of improvisation. That’s sort of the nature of comedy these days. And we cracked each other up; we laughed so much every day. It was such a fun movie to shoot.”

Mullally said she plans to come home to Oklahoma City for the Christmas holidays. She will spend some time with her 94-year-old mother, who still lives in the same Nichols Hills home she grew up in.

“While I’m home, I plan to sneak into one of the theaters there in Oklahoma City and see the film,” Mullally said. “I also want to try to get my mom out to see it. It’s just a great kind of odd couple classic comedy.”

Why Him? is a family comedy that is rated R. “And these days, you can’t be conservative; you have to keep pushing the envelope or it’s not going to work,” she explained. “I think everyone is really going to enjoy it.”

Grace-ful reunions

Pushing envelopes is something Mullally did for eight seasons on the long-running NBC sitcom Will & Grace. This fall, she surprised audiences when she reprised her role as Karen Walker in a short reunion.

Simply titled “Vote Honey,” the nineand-a-half-minute, YouTube-exclusive episode promoting voting in the Nov. 8

election has been streamed nearly 7 million times. Mullally joined former castmates Eric McCormack, Debra Messing and Sean Hayes, who all reprised their original roles.

“It was so surreal to be back on that set,” Mullally said. “We have been off the air for 10 years, but [we] slipped back into those characters [like] it was like no time had passed at all.”

The groundbreaking series aired 19982006 and earned Mullally two Emmy Awards. Based on fan reception, Mullally said she might soon wear Karen’s stiletto heels again.

“All I can say is that there’s a very good chance you will be seeing us again,” she said. “But beyond that, I can’t really say anything else.”

Mullally’s fans can also expect new music. Her forthcoming eponymous album with Hunt, Nancy & Beth hits stores April 7. A few years ago, Mullally met actress Hunt while they filmed a movie together, and the two decided to form a band. They toured across the United States, including a February 2014 stop at Oklahoma City’s Lyric on the Plaza.

“Stephanie and I are so excited about this new record; it’s really cool,” Mullally said. “It’s on vinyl, and even just the record art itself is really, really amazing. I love it.

It’s something that was my concept and my design, and I’m so excited about it. There’s a surprise element to it that I won’t go into because I don’t want to spoil it.”

They’re also planning another tour spanning the East Coast and heading overseas.

“We are also going to have to book something in Oklahoma City at some point,” she added. “It’s always so great to come home.”

film

Rogue plot

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story offers a new plan of filming attack.

By Jacob Oller

Director Gareth Edwards is known for his sense of majesty and scale. His debut feature, Monsters, was a quiet bit of looming horror as two unremarkable people lived in a world besieged by towering tentacled beings. Edwards has a keen sense of awe and little regard for the humans underfoot. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a side story to the main Star Wars universe, bashes its characters together, godlike and aloof.

However, the film is gorgeous when it goes big.

Once the scattered characters find their way together to face their task, the film picks up. Space battles look amazing and have key moments of strategy highlighted in a way unlike anything Star Wars has seen before. Ground battles found their strength in covering classic practicalities in their setup. We see who is where, what cover they’re behind and their plan for attack. The camera, set at their infantry angle, goggles up and up and up to a towering AT-AT Walker, an incomprehensibly huge mechanical Godzilla mixed with the comprehensible firepower of a tank. The camera puts the audience in the movie, bringing out our fear of the machine, not our fear for the characters threatened by it. We never get the small moments with them that we need — no weird space monster chess, no hushed conversations trading sexually charged zingers back and forth.

The shame is that all the ingredients form a great ensemble, a sort of ragtag war movie throwback that never fully assembles its pieces. The actors are all well-respected pawns jostled together inside the board rather than in formation on top of it. In the first five minutes of the film, we zoom through four different planet names. Trying to log all this information feels futile.

First, we must meet Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), whom the Empire unsurprisingly wants to control, and his daughter

Jyn (Felicity Jones). After a flash-forward that doesn’t quite set anything up at all, we’re certain we’ll follow Jyn on her quest to find her father, or at least find out something about her. Not so fast; hop off that podracer. Brief encounters with Diego Luna (playing Rebel spy Cassian Andor), Ben Mendelsohn (the oddly accented director of the Death Star) and Forest Whitaker (a spacey cyborg Rebel) taunt us with amuse-bouches when we’re ready for the main course.

So little is left to chance that when the film goes out of its way to try something new, it feels like an afterthought. The script dedicates so much to plot that it shoves the variety of innovations to the fringe. We must understand the warring factions of Empire and Alliance, the magic of the Force, the history of the Death Star and the complicated plan to stop it that culminate in a movie that has been resonating in our cultural consciousness for 40 years.

Computer-generated imagery (CGI) repeatedly rears its digitally assembled head while attempts at humor by a reprogrammed Imperial droid and Darth Vader fall flat. Yes, the dark lord — embracing his chronologically first film appearance as a father — makes a terrible pun.

Potential icons like Donnie Yen’s blind monk who violently Mr. Magoos whole platoons of Stormtroopers and Wen Jiang’s embodiment of “speak softly and carry a huge space-gun” are sketches of interesting additions to the universe.

Fleshing out these characters wouldn’t leave time for the multiple conference table debates or conversations-as-exposition between Jyn and Cassian.

It’s all work and no play, making Rogue One a dull boy.

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Felicity Jones plays Jyn Erso, who goes on a mission for the Rebel Alliance. | Photo Lucasfilm Ltd. / provided

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strea m i n g

ARTS & CULTURE

Setting Scene

OKC serves as the setting for a web series about dating in the black community.

By Jessica Williams

Oklahoma City is anything but homogenous, yet even its locals aren’t aware of the diverse urban culture sitting right under their noses.

New web series On the Scene showcases the city’s black community through complex interpersonal relationships and romances amidst the city’s growing arts and culture scene. The narrative is fictional, but its setting is authentic to the core.

“This series was inspired by years of observation,” said On the Scene creator and writer Nicole Jocleen. “Simply watching certain patterns in social situations led me to create fictional characters and situations.”

First premiering in October 2015, On the Scene is loosely based on Jocleen’s selfpublished novel. The dramedy revolves around a group of men and women and their relationships and emphasizes the city’s thriving black community.

“When I first wrote the story for the 26

D e c e m b e r 2 8 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

novel, I didn’t have a specific setting in mind for the characters,” Jocleen said.

“Later, a friend suggested I turn the story into a video series, and I knew placing it in OKC would give the show something completely new.”

Conveying the city through visuals rather than words presented exciting creative ventures for Jocleen. Like so many successful artists and writers, she didn’t seek out filmmaking; it found her.

“I went to school in Baton Rouge for a journalism degree but couldn’t find any jobs once I graduated,” Jocleen said. “In 2010, I decided to start writing stories about two different communities that have more in common than people would think: churches and urban arts and culture scenes.”

Journalistic principles — recording and reporting human behavior — still apply to Jocleen’s story. Although it deals with universal relationship issues, the series is

On the Scene is produced by actors pictured and filmmakers in Oklahoma. | Photo R. Tolar / So Focus Photos / provided

unprecedented for OKC’s filmmaking community. On the Scene incorporates live events, concerts and public spaces into each scene, making for fresh stories.

“People outside the state still have this preconceived notion that Oklahoma is all rural country,” Jocleen said. “When it came to making the series, I knew I had to show how OKC is a relatable, globalized, urban city just like other major cities in the U.S.”

Homegrown support

The series could easily offer a new perspective of Oklahoma Citians’ hometown.

Filmmaking is a relatively new venture for On the Scene’s production crew, yet their knowledge of the community renders the city both familiar and novel.

“Before Nicole reached out to me, I’d only worked on music videos and weddings, but I always wanted to try my hand at directing TV or movies,” said On the Scene director Jay Rid of VideoHero Productions. “We’re small in numbers and new to filmmaking, but that’s allowed us to improve on our craft.”

Budget restrictions and technological limitations often lend to original results.

For example, all audio for the series is recorded on location, without environmen-

tal manipulation or traditional film set protocol. As a result, the series features a wide range of local music artists like Jabee and Cooki Turner and is set in venues like 51st Street Speakeasy and Studio XII. “We’ve definitely learned how to improvise on location,” said Bre Black, director of photography. “Since we do film in parts of the city where we know other people, sometimes they’ll see us on a shoot and interrupt the scene. That’s OK, though, because it means more and more people are becoming aware of what we’re filming.”

Community support significantly built On the Scene’s backbone. Instead of holding formal casting calls, Jocleen said her love for networking and social media helped create the show’s cast and crew.

“I love staying active and in the know when it comes to events and supporting other black artists in OKC,” Jocleen said.

“So when it came time to assemble a cast for the series, I used Facebook to connect with both actors and non-actors in the city.”

Featuring a cast of about 12, On the Scene includes characters who experience the highs and lows of dating in OKC, the trials and tribulations of complicated families and friendships and the inherently unique experience of living in tornado alley.

“The show has so many different archetypes that either contrast or mesh well with other characters,” Jocleen said.

“Some are manipulative, yet some are innocent and naïve, and that’s what creates really interesting storylines between the characters.”

The series exists as part of Better Black Media Group, which supports creative endeavors in the black community.

“The great part about doing a web series is how accessible it is online,” Rid said.

“We hope it reaches more black filmmakers and inspires them to start creating their own work.”

On the Scene has found its niche in the onslaught of internet web series through unexplored settings. Accessibility is key to the show’s marketing plan for exposure.

Rid said putting all your work online for the public can be humbling.

“From season 1 to 3, there is an obvious improvement in production quality,” Rid said. “I have to admit I’m a little embarrassed about the first season, because we’ve become much better filmmakers since that time.”

However, Jocleen has no shame about the crew’s initial amateur undertakings.

“I feel such a sense of pride when I watch the first few episodes,” she said.

“They are far from perfect, but they show what is possible in just one year’s time.

We’re all incredibly proud of the series at the end of the day.”

Watch seasons 1-3 of On the Scene at onthesceneokc.com.

books

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Tom Lindley’s book offers a glimpse into the lives of distinguished Oklahomans. By Kara Stewart

“I hope that it reminds readers that, on the inside, we are more alike than we realize,” author Tom Lindley said of his latest Full Circle Press book Opening Doors.

The book chronicles the lives of 13 Oklahomans who have overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to lead inspiring, productive lives. The stories, seemingly told by the opera stars, professional athletes, artists and charity founders themselves, chronicle hardships of disease, addiction, disability and poverty.

While at its core, the book is a feel-good message of hope, Lindley maintains that it isn’t sugarcoated.

“That’s not how life works,” he said.

Instead, he said it’s his attempt to resolve the inner struggle between the two Oklahomas: the charitable, giving one and the one often defined by less-thanfavorable socioeconomic factors.

“Sometimes [Oklahoma] can get a bad rap,” Lindley said. “This book combats that. In many ways … [Opening Doors] is reflective of Oklahoma’s spirit.”

Greg Burns, Joe Clytus, Rebecca Jim, Rodney Bivens, Leona Mitchell, Jim Roth, Rudy Alvarado, Brandy Carter, Frank Wang, Deacon Turner, Shawnae Robey, James Riley and Ben Shanker are the 13 honorees Lindley chose to help represent that spirit.

Burns, a well-known artist within the state, was born with arthrogryposis, a rare disease that left his hands and feet crippled. Although he is unable to use his limbs in the same way others do, Burns was determined to “be like everybody else.” That resolve became evident in his art and led Lindley to include him in the book.

Environmentalist champion Jim, whom Lindley refers to as the “Erin Brokovich of Tar Creek” is also included. The northeast mining territory had been on the government’s list of high-priority environmental superfund cleanup sites since 1983. Despite her shy personality, Jim demonstrated the toxicity near Tar Creek by hosting local conferences and fake fishing tournaments in which entrants failed to catch anything.

The former guidance counselor also founded L.E.A.D. (Local Environmental Action Demanded) Agency.

Sports fans might recognize Riley. The former Sooner was drafted by the Miami Dolphins and helped it become the first NFL team to go undefeated in its 1972 season. Riley left his football career to battle drugs and alcohol addictions and, upon achieving sobriety in 1985, dedicated his time to assisting others. Jim Riley Outreach operates sober living houses for men and women, and Riley

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Tom Lindley interviewed 13 Oklahomans who have led extraordinary lives. | Photo provided

continues to travel the state as a speaker.

Inciting inspiration

“I can’t pick a story I love the most; it’s like choosing between my children,” Lindley said.

His passion for the honorees is evident in the way he carefully curated their stories. In the summer of 2015, he set out to find inspiring Oklahomans who represented determined, hardworking and charitable spirits, which Lindley said defines Okies’ character.

Although submissions flooded in, he carefully chose stories with similar themes but disparate circumstances.

Despite the vast differences in each honoree’s tale, Lindley said each contains a moment when they needed to make a decision and someone was there to help.

Opening Doors is his second novel based on Oklahomans, and he wanted it to be especially unique. He wanted people to be able to share their stories in their own words. That required spending enough time with each honoree to be able to really paint the picture.

“Everyone was really gracious in opening their doors to me in typical Oklahoma fashion,” Lindley said. “As a kid, I used to wonder about the people inside the homes we would pass. This really fed that.”

His passion for the project is evident.

Despite telling 13 separate narratives, the underlying theme of hope and inspiration is clear.

“It’s about improving our state by focusing on what you can do,” Lindley said.

“You’ll end up seeing yourself in the stories.”

Opening Doors was released Dec. 10 and is available at Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway.

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Books

ARTS & CULTURE

Adolescent records

Earl Freeman drew on past experience when writing his debut horror novel The Berry House. By Ben Luschen

Working in juvenile detention for around seven years, Oklahoma City native Earl Freeman had enough stories to fill a book.

So eventually, he did.

The Berry House is far from a true-to-life account. Freeman draws influence from Stephen King as he spins the horrifying tale of undead revenge. But the debut book, published in September, is full of realistic detail and characters that only a detention center insider could ever know.

“It goes into depth about the vicious cycle,” the author said. “These kids come to the jail like they’re going to the gym, back and forth.”

Freeman worked as a detention officer at Oklahoma County Juvenile Justice Center, sometimes referred to as the Berry House, for two years. He moved to Atlanta in 2002 and worked another five years at a detention center there.

Juvenile centers can be dangerous, but

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Freeman said he kept safe by earning respect on the floor. He developed a reputation for telling scary ghost stories at night.

Despite the tough exteriors many of the youths presented on the surface, the stories still got to them.

“They’d be so scared, they’d be afraid to go to their rooms at night,” he said.

In The Berry House, 12-year-old Bobby Berry wakes up handcuffed to a hospital bed without any idea where he is or why he’s there.

After he learns he is in a detention center, memories of the horrible preceding events begin to return.

He remembers hopping into his mom’s car after school with his 15-year-old brother, who had just stolen the vehicle and was on a joy ride. The brother’s fun turns into disaster when he causes a fatal traffic accident.

Bobby is a good, straight-A student, but because he was in the car, he too is locked up in the center for his role as an accessory to

vehicular homicide.

The cousin of someone on the other end of the accident is a resident in Berry House.

When he finds out those responsible are locked up with him, he begins plotting his revenge. Despite being an unwilling participant in the crime, Bobby is assaulted by the cousin and his friends.

Then the unthinkable happens.

Freeman said readers tell him they enjoy the book’s dark twists and turns.

“People love this story,” he said.

“That’s the thing that makes this different; it’s more than just than a horror story. It doesn’t start getting creepy until the middle of the story.”

The Berry House wasn’t written as a quick way to get rich, the author said. In fact, it took him about 10 years to complete.

Freeman spent his early school years in special education classes but improved, attended Langston University and eventually became a published author.

He wrote most of the story in longhand, but even after he finished, a huge obstacle remained. Freeman said he was a below average typist at best. He tried enlisting friends and family to help, but it was difficult to convince anyone to follow through with typing out an entire novel. Freeman decided to do it himself.

“I just started pecking at it one letter at a time,” he said. “By the time I got done with that story, I could type pretty decently.”

It was a long process that Freeman some-

The Berry House by Earl Freeman | Image provided

times found infuriating. He came close to giving up several times.

“There were a lot of times I wanted to throw this thing as far as I could,” he said.

“Throughout the years, there was a lot of times I would get writer’s block and I couldn’t think of the next line to write at all.”

Still, Freeman never lost sight of his goal.

He is now a published horror writer. He said the genre features few black authors. He hopes his story inspires more people from low-income or low-education backgrounds to follow their dreams.

“People who have been told, ‘You can’t do this; you can’t do that,’ I hope to inspire those people,” he said.

Visit freeimaginationpublishing.com.

Kirk Hall and Tonya Ratcliff stand with youths at Peppers Ranch as they hold a grant check for $75,000 from Kirk the Fred Jones Family Foundation. | Photo Chip Carter / Ranch provided Hall and Tonya Ratcliff stand with youth at Peppers as they hold a grant check for $75,000 from the Fred Jones Family Foundation. | Photo Chip Carter / provided

of the ranch and care for 10 children, two of them biological.

About half of the youths at Peppers Ranch are adopted by their foster families, Ratcliff said. Since 2002, the organization has housed more than 600 children.

Today, Ratcliff said about 110 children stay at the ranch, and foster families there have access to many forms of support.

Co m m u n i t y

Unique program

Farm hand

Peppers Ranch was recently awarded a $75,000 Fred Jones Family Foundation grant for its important work with foster youth and parents. By Christine Eddington

Each year, Fred Jones Family Foundation awards a grant named for family matriarch Mary Eddy Jones. In October, the $75,000 grant was awarded to nonprofit foster child and family support organization Peppers Ranch.

“This is our signature gift, named for my grandmother,” said Kirk Hall, Fred Jones Family Foundation president.

Hall said he is certain that the mission of Peppers Ranch would have spoken to his grandmother.

“My grandmother came from Guthrie and was raised in a single-parent home,” Hall said. “She was a teenager during the Depression and had memories of canning fruits and putting up vegetables for winter.

She also loved gardens and beautification.

We are going to name a canning kitchen and orchard for her at Peppers Ranch, and

we think she would have loved that.”

Earned grant

It’s not an easy award to receive, Hall explained.

“There is a separate application process for the Mary Eddy Jones Signature Gift,” Hall explained. “Peppers Ranch had applied for the gift before but did not receive it. .... The staff at Peppers Ranch did more research, applied again, and their extra effort was rewarded. It is a marvelous organization, and as an organization, it is very sustainable.”

Peppers Ranch is a 280-acre Logan County community and nonprofit organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of abuse and neglect faced by children in Oklahoma’s foster care system.

“We want to change the face of foster

care,” said Peppers Ranch executive director Tonya Ratcliff. “Peppers Ranch is a community of like-minded foster parents. There are 13 houses at Peppers Ranch, and each one is rented by a foster family who must have a minimum of five foster children.”

Foster parents must have at least two years of experience before they can be considered for approval, Ratcliff said.

The organization is certified by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, though it is not a state agency, nor does it accept state or federal funding.

Instead, it operates with private-sector donations from individuals and foundations like Fred Jones Family Foundation.

“This way, there are no strings attached to the money,” Ratcliff said. “We feel we can better equip ourselves to care for children this way. We want to house as many foster children as we can, who, through no fault of their own, have been neglected and often abused by the people who were supposed to care for them.”

Ratcliff said Peppers Ranch operates completely debt-free and only builds homes as fast as they are able to complete them without incurring debt. About three homes are built every 15 to 28 months.

She and her husband live the mission

It’s a unique arrangement that is essentially like a very small town.

“It’s a landlord-tenant arrangement between Peppers Ranch and the foster parents,” Ratcliff explained. “Each family pays $100 per month for rent, and each family chooses whether the children will go to public school, private school or be home schooled. Our goal, of course, is to return our foster children to their biological families, but that is not always possible.”

Peppers Ranch provides a wide variety of educational and recreational services for its community, such as academic support, art and pet therapies, an equestrian center, a ballet school, culinary classes, sports, a two-acre pond and playgrounds. Ratcliff said it does everything with an annual operating budget of $832,000 and $1.2 million for home construction.

Activities and classes focused on nature sustainability were the catalyst for the recent Fred Jones Family Foundation grant, Ratcliff said.

“We are using the gift to plant an orchard of fruit trees, to build a pavilion for nature education, organic gardening and canning classes for our kids, and we are installing three honey bee hives,” Ratcliff said.

She and her staff sought the guidance of Oklahoma State University Extension Center experts as they planned the orchard.

“There were a lot of factors to take into consideration. Oklahoma weather fluctuates greatly, as we know. Our trees needed to be drought-resistant. We tested our soil,” she said. “In the end, we chose five varieties: two types of apple, a peach, pear and plum.”

Giving Tree Orchard will house berry bushes and 100 fruit trees. Ratcliff said the honeybees will produce honey, crosspollinate the trees and even venture to neighboring canola fields to do important pollination work. The first trees will be planted during a groundbreaking celebration in March or April.

“The trees we are buying aren’t small, and we hope to begin harvesting within 15 months of planting,” Ratcliff said. “Our bees will come in the spring, and there is a multi-step protocol for establishing hives that we will follow. One of our community’s grandparents has gone to beekeeping meetings and will help us create our hives.”

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calendar are events recommended

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

FILM Rushmore, the extracurricular king of Rushmore preparatory school is put on academic probation (USA, 1998, Wes Anderson) 8 p.m. Dec. 22. and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 28.

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

Fences, An African-American father struggles with race relations in the United States while trying to raise his family in the 1950s and coming to terms with the events of his life. (USA, 2016, Denzel Washington) Dec. 28-29. Circle Cinema, Tulsa, 10 S. Lewis Ave., Tulsa, 918-585-3504, circlecinema.com.

Jackie, Following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy fights through grief and trauma to regain her faith, console her children, and define her husband’s historic legacy. (USA, 2016, Pablo Larrain) Dec. 28-29. Circle Cinema, Tulsa, 10 S. Lewis Ave., Tulsa, 918-585-3504, circlecinema.com.

lover, with unforeseen complications. (USA, 1942, Michael Curtiz) The Venue, 1757 NW 16th St., 405283-6832, thevenueokc.com. TUE

HAPPENINGS December Wine Down Wednesdays, each Wednesday in December will feature a different Merlot from Washington State, 2 p.m.-12 a.m. Dec. 28. O Bar, 1200 N. Walker Ave., 405-600-6200, obarokc.com. WED 1 Million Cups, a weekly event for local entrepreneurs to meet and present their startups to the thriving peer network of founders in OKC, 9-11 a.m. Dec. 28. Dunlap Codding, 609 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-607-8600, dunlapcodding. com. WED DIY Body Scrubs, learn how to make sugar scrubs.

You will be walking away with three 8 oz sugar scrubs that you can gift or keep for yourself, a handy recipe card and the know-how to make them at home. 6:30-7:30 p.m. Dec. 30. Moonlit Garden Aromatherapy, 11212 N. May Ave. Ste 408, 405-548-5784, moonlitgardenaromatherapy. com. FRI Back to the ’90s Party, playing the top ’90s hits all night long in the dance club, in the whiskey lounge and out on the patio. Plus we will be having karaoke in the front bar, so start practicing your favorite ’90s hits, 7 p.m. Dec. 30. Cosmopolitan OKC, 7 S. Mickey Mantle Drive, 405-225-1956, cosmopolitanokc.com. FRI Hanukkah Celebration, enjoy an evening of schmoozing, games for all ages and crafts for the kids, 6:30-9 p.m. Dec. 30. Temple B’nai Israel, 4901 N. Pennsylvania Ave., 405-848-0965, thetempleokc.org. FRI Midnight Toast, 2017 shot glass Giveaway to email club members (limited supply). Bring your friends and celebrate at your favorite neighborhood bar!

Celebrating at all 11 metro locations. Dec. 31. Henry Hudson’s, 6920 W. Hefner Road, 405-720-2177, henryhudsonspub.com. SAT Edna’s NYE, party favors, toast and balloon drop at midnight! No cover. Dec. 31. Edna’s, 5137 Classen Circle, 405-840-3339, ednasokc.com. SAT

Sunday Soup Warming your body and your soul can be achieved simultaneously at Sunday Soup 6 p.m. Jan. 8 at Current Studio, 1218 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Proceeds benefit Current’s FundEd project, which provides in-school art education to Eugene Field Elementary students. Its fundraising goal is $15,000 through grants and individual and corporate donations.

Admission is $10 and includes soup, bread and coffee or tea. Visit currentstudio.org or call 405-673-1218. Jan. 8 Photo Gazette / file features over 15 Christmas trees decorated with handmade ornaments created by Oklahoma Native tribes 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon-Fri through January 13.

Red Earth Museum, 6 Santa Fe Plaza, 405-4275228, redearth.org.

Holiday Lights Spectacular, free family event and also the largest animated light display in the five state region boasting over 100 displays; over one million lights are sprinkled along the 1.5-mile-long drive that features Illumination Celebration, a dancing forest of lights choreographed to all-time favorite classic Christmas tunes, through Dec. 30.

Joe B. Barnes Regional Park, 8700 E. Reno Ave., Midwest City, 405-739-1293, midwestcityok.org.

Saturday Photo Grady Earls Photography / Adele Wolf / provided

Lion, A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family. (USA, 2016, Garth Davis) Circle Cinema, Tulsa, 10 S. Lewis Ave., Tulsa, 918-585-3504, circlecinema.com.

Manchester by the Sea, An uncle is forced to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy’s father dies. (USA, 2016, Kenneth Lonergan) Dec. 28-29. Circle Cinema, Tulsa, 10 S. Lewis Ave., Tulsa, 918-585-3504, circlecinema.com.

Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio, a special two-night event in cinemas nationwide. 7 p.m. Dec. 28-29 Harkins Theatre, 150 E. Reno Ave. , 405-231-4747, harkinstheatres.com.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, A loving couple, a few lost monsters and a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania sing and dance through a campy, sloppy salute to horror movies and sexual liberation. 10 p.m. Dec. 30-31 Circle Cinema, Tulsa, 10 S. Lewis Ave., Tulsa, 918-585-3504, circlecinema.com.

Bogart in Morocco, free screening of Casablanca, a cynical American expatriate meets a former 30

D e c e m b e r 2 8 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

New Year’s Evening, ring in the New Year with your friends at Ruthie’s; no cover, reservations welcome, toast at midnight, 8 p.m. Dec. 31. Ruthie’s Last Call, 720 S. MacArthur Blvd., 405-778-8014, ruthieslastcall.com. SAT

Party Like It’s 1999 New Year’s Eve Bash, DJ Sirok, party favors and a toast at midnight, 8 p.m. Dec. 31.

FlashBack RetroPub, 814 W. Sheridan Ave., 405633-3604, flashbackretropub.com. SAT 24K Magic: A NYE Party Experience on the Oklahoma River, we are taking over the whole Devon Boathouse on the Oklahoma City River.

Overlook the Oklahoma City River through floorto-ceiling windows as you watch the night sky light up at midnight from Oklahoma City’s fireworks display. 9 p.m. Dec. 31. Devon Boathouse, 725 S. Lincoln, OKC, 405-552-4040, boathousedistrict. org. SAT Pawsitively Purrfect New Year’s Eve Party, aiming to make one small corner of the world a better place through local activism centered on animal well-being. Raising money for local animal charities whose good work spreads kindness to the animals we love. 9 p.m. Dec. 31. Aloft Downtown Oklahoma City, 209 N. Walnut Ave., 405-605-2100, aloftoklahomacitybricktown.com. SAT New Year’s Eve at NOIR, karaoke, dancing, and drinks as we ring in 2017. Party favors, toast at midnight. Party open to the public; admission and parking are free. 10 p.m. Dec. 31. NOIR Bistro & Bar, 701 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-208-4233, theparamountokc.com. SAT Get Down on It New Year’s Eve Party, Bring back the ’70s when disco was king. A night of dancing, party favors and costume contest. 9:30 p.m. Dec. 31. 7 Clans Paradise Casino, 7500 Hwy. 177, Red Rock, 866-723-4005, okparadisecasino.com/ entertainment.

Red Earth Tree Festival, celebrate the Christmas season with a decidedly Native twist. This popular new holiday tradition

Food Trucks at National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, join for food and fun at hosted local food trucks, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Dec. 26-31 National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum. org

SAT

Speakeasy New Year’s Eve, free food 7-9 p.m.

DJ Ryan Drake. $5 cover after 9 p.m. Champagne toast at midnight. Dec. 31. 51st Street Speakeasy, 1114 NW 51st St., 405-463-0470, 51stspeakeasy. com. SAT

New Year’s Eve Party, We have partnered with Homewood Suites by Hilton, a clothing drive for the new year and the Margarita Island party bus, 8 p.m. Dec. 31. Margarita Island, 8139 NW 10th St., 405-225-6723, margaritaislandokc.com. SAT Totally ’80s New Year’s Eve Party, dance your way into 2017 with music from Live 80. Win up to $500 by sporting your best ’80s costume, ring in the new year and more, 8 p.m. Dec. 31. Riverwind Casino, 1544 State Highway 9, Norman, 405-322-6000, riverwind.com. SAT

FOOD

Atomic Coffee, annual customer appreciation open house. Coffee and doughnuts served all day. Chili served at 11:00 am. Everyone is encouraged to drive your ol’ hot rod, and show it off, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 31.

Waterloo Auto Parts, 3301 E. Waterloo Road, Edmond, 405-348-6272, waterlooautoparts.com.

Dave and Busters New Year’s Celebration, family celebration 5 p.m. and adult celebration 9 p.m.midnight Dave & Buster’s, 5501 N. May Ave., 405254-9900, daveandbusters.com. SAT

Adèle Wolf’s Burlesque & Variety Show 5th Annual NYE Bash The queen of Oklahoma City burlesque rings in the new year on her own sultry terms with the help of burlesque performer Rosa Lee Bloom, New York aerial artist Lisa Natoli, bellydancer Inayah Amar and vocalist Renee Anderson. Guests are encouraged to come dressed in the apparel of their favorite era.

The show begins 10 p.m. Saturday at Oklahoma Contemporary, 3000 General Pershing Blvd. Admission is $25-$45. Visit adelewolf.com or call 405-951-0000.

Downs Family Christmas, spread holiday cheer by donating money and/ or nonperishable food donations to Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, 6 p.m.- 12 a.m. through January 1. Downs Family Home, 2900 72nd Ave. SE Norman, downsfamilychristmas.com.

Meat Market Refectory NYE, pre-set menu and wine pairings to bring in the new year, 3 p.m. Dec. 31. Meat Market Refectory, 2920 NW 63rd St., 405608-8866, meatmarketrefectory.com. SAT

Opening Night Celebrate Opening Night’s 31st birthday as the annual, multifaceted New Year’s Eve event kicks off Dec. 31 with music, magic, comedy and more. Festivities start at 7 p.m. Saturday across downtown Oklahoma City and conclude at midnight in Bicentennial Park, 500 Couch Drive, with a fireworks finale and official ball raising.

Admission wristbands are $8-$10. Visit artscouncilokc.com or call 405-270-4848.

Saturday Photo Arts Council Oklahoma City / provided

Automobile Alley Light Display, see the historic buildings of Automobile Alley in a whole new light during Automobile Alley’s Lights on Broadway.

More than 180,000 colorful LED lights will cover the buildings along eight blocks of North Broadway and district side streets making for a magical holiday wonderland, through Jan. 1. Automobile Alley, 1015 N. Broadway Ave., 405-488-2555, automobilealley.org.

Christmas in the Park, over 4 million twinkling lights and over 400 displays covering 100 acres of Freedom Trail Playground, City and Chisholm Trail Parks, through Dec. 31. Chisholm Trail Park, 500 W. Vandament Road, Yukon, 405-350-8937, cityofyukonok.gov.

Free Holiday Water Taxi Rides, enjoy a fun-filled float down the beautifully adorned Bricktown canal free of charge, courtesy of the Downtown Business Improvement District, 6-9 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays, through Dec. 31. Bricktown Canal, 115 E. California Ave., 405-234-8263, visitokc.com.

Third Annual Party, no cover charge and fantastic bubbly to choose from, 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Dec. 31. Hilton Garden Inn, 328 E. Sheridan Ave., 405-270-0588, hiltongardeninn3.hilton.com. SAT Bourbon Street NYE Masquerade Ball, live entertainment and a toast. Tickets include a late buffet of small plate menu items, 10:30 p.m. Dec. 31. Jazmo’z Bourbon St. Cafe, 100 E. California Ave., 405-232-6666, bourbonstreetcafe.com. SAT NYE at Vast, experience a memorable New Year’s Eve celebration at Oklahoma City’s highest point with special menu items, 4-10 p.m. Dec. 31. Vast, 333 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-702-7262, vastokc. com. SAT New Year’s Eve Dinner/Masquerade, dinner by reservation only, followed by a night of live music from Wess McMichael and a toast, 5-9 p.m. Dec. 31. Scratch Kitchen & Cocktails, 732 W. Main St., Norman, 405-801-2900, scratchnorman.com. SAT

YOUTH Weird Winter Wonders, four unique days of camp will explore chilling science, go behind the scenes of Science Live, blast off into space, uncover the marvel of dinosaurs and much more, 9 a.m-4 p.m. Dec. 22-23 and 29-30. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org.

The Mitten, presented by the OKC Zoo, journey into Jan Brett’s The Mitten, a humorous tale of several animals squeezing into a mitten to stay warm, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Dec. 30. Mustang Public Library, 1201 N. Mustang Road, Mustang, 405-376-2226, cityofmustang.org. FRI Andy Alligator’s New Year’s Eve Party, familyfriendly fun is here at Andy’s. Bring the family for a day of celebration and play. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Dec.

Twerk it Out Werkshop, a beginner’s workshop for twerking. Be sure to wear long socks and noncompression shorts, 6-7:30 p.m. Dec. 30. Norman Pole Dance, 102 S. Crawford Ave., Norman, 405928-9220, normanpoledance.com. FRI

31. Andy Alligator’s Fun Park, 3300 Market Pl., Norman, 405-321-7275, andyalligators.com. SAT Hap-Pea All Year Storytime, author Keith Baker of LMNO Peas, reads for kids of all ages. Coloring and activities included. 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Dec. 31. Barnes & Noble, Norman, 540 Ed Noble Pkwy., Norman, 405-579-8800, barnesandnoble.com. SAT

New Year’s Bowling Eve, family packages and glow packages for all ages of New Year’s fun, 10 a.m. Dec. 31. Sooner Bowling Center, 550 24th Ave., Norman, 405-360-3634, soonerbowl.com.

New Year’s Gym Jam, drop off the kids at Metro Gymnastics for a few hours of fun. Pizza and drink included. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Jan. 2. Metro Gymnastics Oklahoma, 7420 Broadway Ext., 405-848-5308, metrogymokc.com. MON Free First Monday for Kids, enjoy complimentary admission to the museum for children 17 and under, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Jan. 2. Sam Noble Museum, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., Norman, 405-325-4712, snomnh. ou.edu. MON Milk Moms, whether you’re currently breastfeeding or pregnant, back to work or staying home, new to parenthood or a seasoned pro; join us for support, troubleshooting, an evening play date and/or adult conversation. Partners, family, friends and siblings are always welcome, 6-7:30 p.m. Dec. 26. Thrive Mama Collective, 1745 NW 16 St., 405-413-7337, thrivemamacollective.com.

PERFORMING ARTS Beyond the Stratosphere by La’Charles Purvey, a gritty snapshot of the effects of HIV and AIDS on a group where the topic of “the disease†is still considered taboo, Dec. 15-30. Civic Center Music Hall, CitySpace Theatre, 201 N. Walker Ave., 405297-2264, okcciviccenter.com.

James Johann, stand-up comedy performance, Dec. 28-31. Loony Bin Comedy Club, 8503 N. Rockwell Ave., 405-239-4242, loonybincomedy. com.

Eddie Izzard, known for his amusingly digressive and surreal stand-up, Izzard brings jolts of comedy to the stage like you’ve never seen before! Don’t miss British comedian, actor and writer Eddie Izzard perform live. 6:30 p.m. Dec. 29. WinStar World Casino, 777 Casino Ave., Thackerville, 866946-7787, winstarworldcasino.com. THU The Widow’s Might: The Story of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz, Follow Naomi and Ruth, two impoverished widows on their journey as they discover loyalty and love, rescue and redemption 7:30-10 p.m. Dec. 29-30 Armstrong Auditorium, 14400 S. Bryant Road, Edmond, 405-285-1010,

A Very Wes Anderson Christmas Oklahoma City Museum of Art wraps up its special film series A Very Wes Anderson Christmas with The Darjeeling Limited at 8 p.m. Thursday and a Friday double feature with Fantastic Mr. Fox at 5:30 p.m. and a 35-millimeter screening of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou at 8 p.m.

Screenings are at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive. Tickets are $5-$9. Visit okcmoa.com or call 405236-3100, ext. 237, or purchase tickets in person at the museum box office.

Thursday-Friday Photo Touchstone Pictures / provided

armstrongauditorium.org.

Russell’s Comedy Night Roasts 2016, Featuring Curt Fletcher, Brad Chad Porter and many others. Hosted by James Curtis.

Dec. 30. Russell’s Bar, Tower Hotel, 3233 Northwest Expy., 405-842-6633, towerhoteloklahomacity. com. FRI Day One: The Annual New Years Day Party, enjoy a night of excellence with live music and great vibes with great people in the great state of Oklahoma.

Cooki Turner will be the evening’s featured live entertainment. Avenue 101, 5929 N. May Ave. , 405-835-7982,. SUN SWAN Night, SongWriters Association of Norman (SWAN) perform original works, free admission.

7-9 p.m. Jan. 3. Michelangelo’s Coffee and Wine Bar, 207 E. Main St., Norman, 405-579-3387, michelangeloscoffeeandwine.com. TUE Jersey, Jersey’s punchy comedic style makes him one of the top comics in Orlando from the early 2000s until now. He has performed in clubs/bars/ lounges across the Southeast. Jan. 4-7. Loony Bin Comedy Club, 8503 N. Rockwell Ave., 405-2394242, loonybincomedy.com.

ACTIVE Lifeshare Winterfest, snow tubing slopes, Santa’s workshop, children’s train, Santa Claus and ugly sweater night, through Jan. 1. Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, 2 S. Mickey Mantle Drive, 405-218-1000, okcballparkevents.com.

Family Skate Night, package includes: admission, skate rental, pizza and drinks for up to five family members, 6 p.m. Dec. 28. Skate Galaxy, 5800 NW 36th St., 405-605-2758, skategalaxyokc.com. WED OKC Blue vs Reno Bighorns, basketball, 7 p.m.

Dec. 28. Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens, 405-602-8500, coxconventioncenter.com. WED OSU Women’s Basketball, OSU vs Iowa State, 5 p.m. Dec. 29. Gallagher-Iba Arena, W. Hall of Fame Ave., Stillwater, 800-833-7698, okstate.com. THU

Oh! NYE One of the classiest spots to bid 2016 bon voyage is Ambassador Hotel Midtown during Oh! NYE 9 p.m.-2 a.m.

Saturday at 1200 N. Walker Ave. Ambassador’s seventh floor, including O Bar, is party central. Viceroy Grille , the hotel’s highly rated restaurant, provides food, and Oklahoma City lends its scenic skyline to the view. Dress is holiday cocktail attire. Tickets to the 21-and-older event are $50. Visit facebook.com/ambassadorokc or call 405-600-6200. Saturday Photo Gazette / file

OSU Men’s Basketball, OSU vs West Virginia, 3 p.m. Dec. 30. Gallagher-Iba Arena, W. Hall of Fame Ave, Stillwater, 800-833-7698, okstate.com. FRI OU Men’s Basketball, OU vs Baylor, 6 p.m. Dec. 30.

Lloyd Noble Center, 2900 S. Jenkins Ave., Norman, 405-325-4666, lloydnoblecenter.com. FRI OKC Blue, OKC Blue vs Rio Grande Valley Vipers, 7 p.m. Dec. 30. Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens, 405-602-8500, coxconventioncenter. com. FRI Holiday Blood Drive 2016, supported by the OKC Thunder, each donor will receive a free Thunder T-shirt and will automatically be entered to win a pair of lower-level Thunder tickets, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Dec. 30.

Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens, 405-602-8500, coxconventioncenter.com. FRI

Lu Beard and Beth Hammack, celebrating over 25 years in business, displaying oils, acrylics, mixed media, handmade jewelry and photography, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. through Dec. The Studio Gallery, 2642 W. Britton Road, 405-752-2642, thestudiogallery. org.

SAT

New Works, Carolyn Faseler, Corazon Watkins and B.J. Wood. Through Jan. 13. Mainsite Contemporary Art, 122 E. Main St., Norman, 405360-1162, mainsite-art.com.

OKC Thunder Basketball, Thunder vs Clippers, 7 p.m. Dec. 31. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 405-602-8700, chesapeakearena. com. SAT

Rebecca Mannschreck, acrylic paintings, through Dec. 31. 50 Penn Place Gallery, 1900 Northwest Expressway, Suite 113-R , 405-848-5567, 50pennplacegallery.com.

Om in the New Year, smudging and intention, an all-levels yoga practice, midnight burning bowl ceremony and all the OMs, 10:30 p.m.-12:15 a.m.

Dec. 31. Cardinal Yoga, 2412 N. Olie Ave., 405-2261177, cardinalyogaok.com. SAT

The Cultivated Connoisseur: Works on Paper from the Creighton Gilbert Bequest, Creighton Eddy Gilbert (1924-2011) was a renowned art historian specializing in the Italian Renaissance and was one of the foremost authorities on Michelangelo. The bequest includes a total of 272 objects, the majority of which are works on paper spanning a time period from the 14th century to the 20th.

Through June 4. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma.

Opening Night Finale 5K, before Opening Night festivities kick off, this 5K is a fun way to start your resolution early, so make sure to dress festive.

Neon, glitter, capes and costumes are welcome, as the most festively dressed wins an original piece of art, 4-6 p.m. Dec. 31. Bicentennial Park, 500 Couch Drive, 405-297-3882, artscouncilokc.com. SAT OU Women’s Basketball, OU vs TCU, 2 p.m. Dec. 1.

Lloyd Noble Center, 2900 S. Jenkins Ave., Norman, 405-325-4666, lloydnoblecenter.com. SUN First Day Hike, enjoy the great outdoors with your choice of a medium degree of difficulty hike or a disability friendly hike at beautiful Lake Thunderbird State Park, 1-3 p.m. Jan. 1. Lake Thunderbird, 13101 Alameda Drive, Norman, 405360-3572, travelok.com. SUN Tri-OKC 2017 Polar Plunge, come out to the boathouse on the sunny shores of Lake Thunderbird, and take that first refreshing dip of the new year. Hot showers and coffee after. Meet our new partners in crime from the Lake Thunderbird Sailing Club. 12 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Jan. 1. Lake Thunderbird, 13101 Alameda Drive, Norman, 405-360-3572, travelok.com. SUN OU Women’s Basketball, OU vs Kansas State, 7 p.m. Jan 4. Lloyd Noble Center, 2900 S. Jenkins Ave., Norman, 405-325-4666, lloydnoblecenter. com. WED Edmond Ice Skating Rink, enjoy ice skating under the open skies and starlight nights, Nov. 19-Dec. 31. Mitch Park, 1501 W. Covell Road, Edmond, 405359-4630, edmondok.com/parks.

VISUAL ARTS A Sense of His Soul, exhibit featuring only on the eyes; strip away any additional identifiers — ­ the mouth, hair, facial structure — anything that would clearly identify who the person is, thereby making all subjects in this work equal in the eyes of the viewer, through Dec. 30. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-3272, ou.edu/ fjjma.

Art is a Serious Thing, Peeter Allik and Toomas Kuusing exhibition, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.through Jan. 13. Mainsite Contemporary Art, 122 E. Main St., Norman, 405-360-1162, mainsite-art.com.

Child Labor in Oklahoma: Photographs by Lewis Hine, 1916-1917, exhibit highlighting a collection of 25 powerful photographs taken by Lewis Hine while he was in Oklahoma 100 years ago.

Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 405-521-2491, okhistory.org/historycenter.

December Artists, exhibit showcasing works from Sean Vali and Heidi Ghassempour, through Jan 8.

DNA Galleries, 1709 NW 16th St., 405-525-3499, dnagalleries.com.

From Diaghilev to Terekhov and Chouteau, an exhibition of material from the Ballets Russes special collections and archive, through Dec. 30. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-3272, ou.edu/ fjjma.

From the Belly of Our Being, art by and about Native creation, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. through Jan. 28.

Oklahoma State University Museum of Art, 720 S. Husband St., Stillwater, 405-744-6016, museum. okstate.edu.

John Hammer: Pop Impressionism, Painter John Hammer is inspired by Vincent Van Gogh, Norman Rockwell and Andy Warhol; the subjects of his paintings are immediately recognizable, and he takes the liberty of adding vibrant colors that allow them to pop off the canvas. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. through Dec. 30. Tulsa Performing Arts Center, 110 E 2nd St., Tulsa, 918-596-7122, tulsapac.com.

Lowell Ellsworth Smith: My Theology of Painting, features watercolor studies and Smith’s own words and observations, it introduces the man, his methods and his belief in the power and potential of creative energy, through July 9. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum. org.

go to okgazette.com for full listings!

Totally Overhyped New Year’s Eve Party The pressure to ring in the new year with a blast gets bigger every year. Rather than fight it, Kindt Events and Seth Lewis go with the flow with their Totally Overhyped New Year’s Eve Party 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Saturday at The Paramount, 701 W. Sheridan Ave., in Film Row. The event features DJ Evan C, fire-breathers, aerialists, disco balls, an ice bar and giant confetti cannons. Tickets are $101.22-$686.74 at eventbrite.com. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma. Visit okcnyeparty.com or call 405-546-5365. Saturday Photo Evan C. Roberts / provided

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.

For okg live music

see page 36

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MUSIC Taylor Young performs during Limp Wizurdz’ set last year at Norman Music Festival | Photo Garett Fisbeck / file

Limp Wizurdz

with RLSS and Flock of Pigs 8 p.m. Jan. 6 Opolis 113 N. Crawford Ave. opolis.org

event

$10-$12

Reality show

Jeff Simmons left and Rodrigo Serrano right perform during Limp Wizurdz’ set last year at Norman Music Festival. | Photo Garett Fisbeck / file

Limp Wizurdz channels Breaking Bad on its new EP, set to debut Jan. 6 at its release show and tour kickoff. By Ben Luschen

Coming up with a title can be the hardest part of any creative endeavor. One can opt for something plain and descriptive or something original and creative. Often, inspiration pops up where it’s least expected.

Limp Wizurdz vocalist and guitarist Taylor Young found himself in such a predicament with bandmates and their energetic and occasionally jocular Norman pop punk quartet. When named almost five years ago with a moniker inspired by Fred Durst-led nu-metal band Limp Bizkit, the act was working on an eight-song EP that promised to be the group’s most polished and well-composed release to date. But the project lacked a name.

As Young rewatched the popular AMC drama Breaking Bad with his girlfriend, an idea struck him.

“I heard [lead character Walter White] say, ‘fugue state,’ and I started relating that to our lives,” Young said. “All of our lives at this stage are kind of like a fugue state. In your early 20s, you feel pushed in all these different directions. By the time you come out of it in your mid- to late-20s, you’re like, ‘Man, did all of that really happen?’ It’s crazy because you grow so much.”

State of mind

Limp Wizurdz hosts an all-ages Fugue State EP release show 8 p.m. Jan. 6 at Opolis, 113 N. Crawford Ave., in Norman. Piedmont emo act RLSS and experimental multigenre outfit Flock of Pigs also will perform.

Early in the second season of Breaking Bad, high-school science teacher turned topnotch meth cook Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston) excuses his long absence from his family on a fugue state, a rare psychological disorder involving momentary loss of memory and personal identity.

Young is joined in Limp Wizurdz by guitarist Jeff Simmons, bassist Frankie Kump and drummer Rodrigo Serrano. Young said the general daze of living through your early 20s is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, bandmates have made a habit out of enjoying life since its 2012 inception.

The new EP, however, might signal the lifting of that youthful mist from Limp Wizurdz as its sound transforms into one that’s more mature and thoughtful.

The project features five new tunes and three redubs. Simmons said the band began writing for this project about a year ago and recorded most of the album over the summer.

Fugue State production was finished about two months ago. Young remembers staying up late making little changes with album producer Colton Jean.

While praising the work of other contributing producers on previous albums, Simmons said Jean made sure the band met its maximum potential.

“He wouldn’t let us be just good enough,” Simmons said. “If we could make it better in certain spots, he would definitely encourage us to make it better.”

This sharpened attention to detail doesn’t mean the band has suddenly become self-important. In the video for lead single “Staple Gun,” released Nov. 18, members poke some fun at stuffy office life and lament the grasp of societal powers that be.

Limp Wizurdz might have moved on somewhat from the carefree recklessness of songs like “30,000 Cigarettes,” but this is still a band that is, above many other things, fun.

“We’re all getting older and it’s getting to the point where — between the work and the band stuff — if we’re going to do it, I feel like we need to take it seriously,” Young said.

It makes sense that a Breaking Bad reference would sneak into the Limp Wizurds catalogue. With members in their early 20s, it’s an act borne of the Netflix generation.

Simmons said he has been watching Showtime comedy-drama Shameless, and Young and his girlfriend are revisiting teen drama Degrassi.

“It’s weird to watch [Degrassi] from an adult perspective, too,” Young said. “I see it a lot different now. There’s a lot of situ-

ations where I was like, ‘Really? That’s really happening?’”

New adventures

The band’s Opolis show also serves as the launching point for its 2017 tour, and it’s scheduled to play a house show in Rockford, Illinois, the following night. Young said they plan on hitting the road with loyal friend and roadie Jacob Randolph immediately after the Norman show.

It might seem daunting, but Young said they are in safe hands with Serrano behind the wheel.

“Rod’s like a road warrior,” Young said.

“He can drive for 10 hours and be like, ‘Oh, I’m good. I don’t even need a break; let’s keep going.’”

Young said the band generally prefers house shows, but after a long day of travel, such gigs can present some headaches.

“The thing I’m worried about is I hope we don’t drive 13 hours overnight and show up at this guy’s house and it gets shut down in, like, 30 minutes,” Young said.

Still, the band is confident it will have a good time on the road. Longtime friends Young and Simmons recently became roommates, which has only strengthened their chemistry and antics.

“Rod and Frank are going to have a good time,” Simmons said, “but we’re a little crazier than they are sometimes.”

Added Young, “I don’t think they’re truly ready for the dynamic duo. I mean, it’s going to be hell for everyone.”

Visit limpwizurdz.bandcamp.com.

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Lush Fashion Lounge

MUSIC

event

The Devil Makes Three | Photo The Devil Makes Three / provided

Revisiting roots The Devil Makes Three pays homage to its influences while thanking fans ahead of its Jan. 11 show. By Ben Luschen

Music fans sometimes shrug off cover albums. When a band uses an entire project to perform songs made known by another artist, the result, even if well received and executed, is relegated by some fans to the novelty category.

The Devil Makes Three’s Redemption & Ruin is far removed from a betweenalbums holdover.

The self-made, acoustic Americana band released the 12-song album and double-sided vinyl record Sept. 16, nearly three years after its last original studio album I’m a Stranger Here, which was a hit among fans and critics alike. The California and Vermont-based trio plays 8 p.m. Jan. 11 at ACM@UCO Performance Lab, 329 E. Sheridan Ave. Counter to the release’s title, the album’s first half deals with songs of ruin — sin, substance abuse and heartbreak — including Robert Johnson’s “Drunken Hearted Man,” Willie Nelson’s “I Gotta Get Drunk” and Townes Van Zandt’s “Waiting Around to Die.” The redemption 34

d e c e m b e r 2 8 , 2 0 1 6 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

The Devil Makes Three

with Lost Dog Street Band 8 p.m. Jan. 11 ACM@UCO Performance Lab 329 E. Sheridan Ave. ticketstorm.com 405-974-4700 $22.50-$25.00

side plays on religious themes and atonement. Some of its better tracks include Phil Moore’s “There’ll Be a Jubilee,” “I Am the Man Thomas” by Larry Sparks and Ralph Stanley and Hank Williams Jr.’s “The Angel of Death.”

The Devil Makes Three (TDM3) guitarist Pete Bernhard said in a recent Oklahoma Gazette interview that the concept started as a way to demonstrate the band’s musical roots and pay tribute to the artists who have inspired them through the years. The act’s members also

We’re a band that has been very much a product of our fans.

Pete Bernhard

include upright bassist Lucia Turino and guitarist and banjo player Cooper McBean.

Where some other cover projects might be considered throwaways, a lot of thought went into Redemption & Ruin’s tracklist and song interpretations. TDM3 puts a great deal of care into everything it puts out. “[Redemption & Ruin] was definitely a lot of work, to be sure,” Bernhard said. “More than anticipated.”

Redemption & Ruin by The Devil Makes Three | Image provided

‘Big influences’

Everyone in TDM3 is a selfproclaimed vinyl nerd, and the band’s original idea was to press dual-sided black-and-white records.

Bernhard said they had to abandon it after learning that mass producing a two-toned album was near impossible, but they didn’t want to scrap the concept altogether.

After Bernhard, McBean and Turino decided which artists they most wanted to pay tribute to, they came up with a theme and began selecting songs from various catalogues. Bernhard said working within self-imposed creative restraints was a unique challenge.

“It turned out to be a lot more difficult just because of the concept, which we’ve never done before,” he said. “We were trying to have all the artists that we picked not only be big influences on our band, but also fit the theme.”

Bernhard compared the process to crafting an old-school mixtape, but on an even higher level of creativity.

Recording an actual studio album is a lot cooler than making even the most eccentric Spotify playlist.

In addition to covering songs written and performed by some of music’s greatest talents, TDM3 also worked with a starstudded cast of contributors. Redemption & Ruin includes contributions from Emmylou Harris, Old Crow Medicine Show fiddler Chance McCoy, acclaimed resonator guitarist Jerry Douglas, Willie Nelson harmonica player Mickey Raphael and others.

“These are all people that we just met on the road,” Bernhard said. “It just came together perfectly that they were all available. We just called them all up and asked them if they want to do this, and they agreed to it. It worked out naturally.”

‘Product of fans’

The band toured some for Redemption & Ruin and picked up the last leg of its promotional tour, including its stop in Oklahoma City, after Christmas.

Bernhard said after wrapping up in February, the band takes a break to work on its follow-up project, a new album of original material.

Oklahoma fans can expect TDM3 to perform some Redemption & Ruin songs

that weren’t included on the previous part of its tour as well as some new, unreleased material.

“We play a pretty long show,” Bernhard said, “so they’ll hear a little bit of every album and some stuff they’ve never heard before.”

TDM3 released its first three albums under its own label before signing with independent distributor Milan Records in 2006 and then New West Records in 2013.

Bernhard said one constant has remained along the group’s musical journey: its loyal fan following.

“We’re a band that has been very much a product of our fans,” he said.

Direct line

TDM3 recently posted a fan hotline on its Facebook page, asking followers to call in with questions the band would directly address.

Bernhard said the hotline is part of a planned podcast series styled after a call-in radio show. The concept is to play music from TDM3 and other musician friends fans might not have heard before.

Between songs, Bernhard and McBean answer recorded fan questions. Hundreds of them have poured in since TDM3 announced the call-in project.

At the time of this interview, TDM3 hoped to have the first podcast episode ready before it begins the next leg of its tour on Dec. 28 in Grass Valley, California.

Bernhard said the band will continue doing traditional interviews as well — the podcast is another way fans can interact with their favorite musicians.

Bernhard embraces the intimacy.

“The only reason we’re around is just because of our fans,” he said. “We wanted a way for them to get in touch with us directly.”

Visit thedevilmakesthree.com.

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LIVE MUSIC These are events recommended

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

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WEDNESDAY, 12.28 Amarillo Junction, JJ’s Alley. COUNTRY Blake Lankford, Blue Bonnet Bar, Norman. FOLK Blues Night with Caleb McGee, Hollywood Corners Station, Norman. BLUES Dirty Few, Soundpony Bar, Tulsa. ROCK Jamie Bramble, Oklahoma City Museum of Art. ACOUSTIC

AS n See n o TV !

The Direct Connect Band, L&G’s on the Blvd.. R&B The Soulmen, Bourbon Street Bar. R&B

owN H S teFeRguSo A l cbitSH cRAig NtRAl w ce y d e com cmt

THURSDAY, 12.29 Amanda Martindale, Leadership Square. ACOUSTIC David Wayne Broyles, Blue Bonnet Bar, Norman.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

DJ Ku Rx, Coyote Ugly Saloon. DJ Hazed and Confused, Blue Note Lounge.

ROCK

Limp Wizurdz/Kill Vargas/S. Reidy/Couples Therapy, Resonator. VARIOUS

The Centennial Rodeo Opry’s NYEE Show & Auction “Let’s Have a Party!” as Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Oklahoma music and rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson rings in 2017. Jackson is joined by James Hostler, Madison McCoy, country music wunderkind Maddox Ross, contemporary country musician Kyle Earhart and female pop trio OK3. JakeFM DJ Owen Pickard hosts. The show begins 7:30 p.m.

Friday at Rodeo Opry, 2221 Exchange Ave. Admission is $20-$40. Visit ohfo.org or call 405-297-9773. Friday Photo provided

Old State/Better Halves, The Paramount Theatre.

INDIE

Raised Right Men, WinStar World Casino, Thackerville. COUNTRY

8503 N. Rockwell 239-HAHA(4242)

www.looNybiNcomedy.com

Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee: An Urban Cowboy NYE, Sugar Creek Casino, Hinton. COUNTRY New Year’s Eve with My So Called Band, La Brasa. VARIOUS

Steve Crossley Solo, Margarita Island. VARIOUS Texas Hippie Coalition, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa.

The Order of Elijah, Thunder Alley Grill and Sports Bar. ROCK

FRIDAY, 12.30

Turnpike Troubadours, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa.

ROCK

COUNTRY

Tweezer, Belle Isle Brewery.

Avenue, Riverwind Casino, Norman. VARIOUS Broncho, ACM@UCO Performance Lab. ROCK

Cody and Jess Concert, Rock & Brews. ACOUSTIC Dirty Red and the Soulshakers, Mooney’s, Norman.

BLUES

Dwight Yoakam, WinStar World Casino, Thackerville. COUNTRY

Nicolo Cron, The Venue. HIP-HOP Oklahoma Uprising/Mojo Thief, Blue Note Lounge.

ROCK

Pet/Kirra/Atrus/Writing off the Dead, Thunder Alley Grill and Sports Bar. ROCK Stoney Larue, Wormy Dog Saloon.

ELi yOuNG BANd

RANdy ROGERs BANd W/ MikE RyAN BANd Sun, Feb 12

COUNTRY

The Remedy, Oklahoma City Limits. VARIOUS Time Machine, WinStar World Casino, Thackerville.

VARIOUS

yOuNG tHE GiANt W/ LEWis dEL MAR

Ali Harter, NOIR Bistro & Bar. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Wed, Feb 15

SATURDAY, 12.31

Fri, Mar 10

VARIOUS

GROuPLOVE W/ sWMRs

American Aquarium, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY

Mon, Mar 13

And Out Come the New Years, Blue Note Lounge.

Fri, Mar 24

sHOVELs & ROPE

tueS, May 2

tREy ANAstAsiO BANd tuLsA Ok

423 NORtH MAiN st

Sledge/Wanderer, 89th Street Collective. ROCK Steve Parnell, Bourbon Street Bar. ROCK

TUESDAY, 1.3 Lesser Degree/Snakeway/Lower Depths/The Tooth/Piece of Mind, The Paramount Theatre.

ROCK

The Metal Moose, Garage Dayz Studios, Edmond.

ROCK

WEDNESDAY, 1.4 The Friends No BS Jam, Friends Restaurant & Club.

VARIOUS

The Impulsive/Shields/Isaiah Harrell, Red Brick Bar, Norman. ROCK

411 & The Motown Soul Revue, Remington Park.

JiMMy EAt WORLd WiLLiAM siNGE & ALEX AiONO

VARIOUS

MONDAY, 1.2

Sat, Feb 4

Sat, Feb 11

Hangover Ball, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa.

John Carnuccio, Full Circle Bookstore. VARIOUS COUNTRY

COdy CANAdA, MikE MCCLuRE, JAsON BOLANd, EVAN FELkER, WAdE BOWEN, JOHN FuLLBRiGHt, BJ BARHAM, WiLLiAM CLARk GREEN, dALtON dOMiNO

SUNDAY, 1.1

Evolution Underground/Meanstreak, Brewskeys.

Kent Fauss/Scott Hunt, Red Brick Bar, Norman.

HANGOVER BALL 2017

Wink Burcham/Andrew Bones/Jacob Tovar/Jesse Aycock, Fassler Hall, Tulsa. VARIOUS

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

ROCK

Sun, Jan 1

VARIOUS

VARIOUS

Burn the Past/Buxshot, Red Brick Bar, Norman.

ROCK

Don Henley, WinStar World Casino, Thackerville.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

Drive, Wicked Pistone. VARIOUS Lost on Utica, Newcastle Casino, Newcastle.

VARIOUS

Live music submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date.

Late submissions will not be included in the listings. Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible.

Fax your listings to 528-4600 or e-mail to listings@okgazette.com.

Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

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go to okgazette.com for full listings!

puzzles New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle Mirror Reflection

By Derrick Niederman | Edited by Will Shortz | 1225 ACROSS 1 One of the blanks in the cereal

slogan “____ are for ____” 5 Tinker, for one, in olden days 14 Certain blade 19 Spread dirt, in a way 21 Legendary Egyptian queen 22 Run off 23 Stick together 24 Liberal-arts college in the

Keystone State 25 Like many a lot 26 Hood lead-in 28 Caterpillar product 29 Dud 31 Historical period 32 One of Frank’s wives 33 Member of the cat family 35 Father, familiarly 36 Japanese auto make 38 Court concern 39 Big Australian export 40 One of five on a starfish 42 Set of clubs in a bag 44 These could amount to fortunes 48 Dead follower 50 Where to find grooms 53 Vingt-____ (multiple de trois) 54 This does not fly 56 Anagram of the letters O-N-D 58 State with part of I-81: Abbr.

60 What you might call a dog 62 Instrument for an angel 63 Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, e.g.

65 Something you can do with flies 66 First name of an Oscar-

nominated actress of 1957 67 Time in ads 68 Square ____ 69 Animal in an Aesop fable 70 White House sight 72 White House sight 75 Animal in an Aesop fable 76 Square ____ 77 Time in ads 78 First name of an Oscar-

nominated actress of 1957 79 Something you can do with flies 81 Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, e.g.

82 Instrument for an angel 83 What you might call a dog 84 State with part of I-81: Abbr.

85 Anagram of the letters O-N-D

86 This does not fly 87 Vingt-____ (multiple de trois) 89 Where to find grooms 92 Dead follower 94 These could amount to fortunes 98 Set of clubs in a bag 100 One of five on a starfish 102 Big Australian export 103 Court concern 105 Japanese auto make 108 Father, familiarly 110 Member of the cat family 113 One of Frank’s wives 114 Historical period 115 Dud 117 Caterpillar product 118 Hood lead-in 120 Like many a lot 122 Liberal-arts college in the

Keystone State 125 Stick together 126 Run off 127 Legendary Egyptian queen 128 Spread dirt, in a way 129 Certain blade 130 Tinker, for one, in olden days 131 One of the blanks in the cereal

slogan “____ are for ____”

DOWN 1 Harry or Bess in the White House 2 What many Oscar speeches do 3 Ape 4 Home star of Cthulhu, in fantasy tales 5 1975 TV debut, briefly 6 Like a more-than-full spoonful 7 Barrels ____ 8 Grim sort?

9 “____ Little Tenderness” 10 Bus. card abbr.

11 Boxer’s reward 12 Old German ruler nicknamed “the Short” 13 Facefuls in slapstick 14 Publish anew 15 Suffix with schnozz 16 Slithy ones 17 The Marx Brothers spent a night

at one 18 V-shaped fortification 20 Skin diving locale

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43 Part of a plant embryo that

develops into a root 45 Together 46 Remove a label from 47 One runs through the middle of

Kansas City 49 Like Norton software 51 Raise again, as a flag 52 Vehicle used for grooming ski trails 55 Small songbird 57 Very busy

Fill in the grid so that every row, column and 3-by-3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9. www.printmysudoku.com

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second-largest city 97 Like Joan of Arc 99 Gone bad, in Britain 101 Liliom playwright Ferenc ____ 104 Bets 105 Something that stuns 106 Marketplace of old 107 Common strip- steak weight: Abbr.

109 “____ saw a little bird …”

(Mother Goose rhyme) 111 ____ Rica 112 Plains dwelling: Var. 116 The year 1601 117 Sherlock Holmes accessory 119 Like dungeons 121 Tokyo, once 123 ____-Tiki 124 D.C. player

Puzzle No. 1218, which appeared in the December 21 issue.

A N G L E R S L I D C I T E E G O S

D E L L S T H A T H U R T S I C A N T

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

Assistant EDITOR Brittany Pickering Staff reporters Greg Elwell, Laura Eastes, Ben Luschen Contributors Mark Beutler, Christine Eddington Jack Fowler, George Lang, Jacob Oller Kara Stewart, Jessica Williams Photographer Garett Fisbeck Circulation Manager Chad Bleakley Art Director Chris Street Production coordinator Arden Biard Advertising/Marketing Design Coordinator Erin DeMoss Graphic Designer Anna Shilling

New York Times Crossword Puzzle answers I C A S T S O I S H E N T N U C E A S N U M B E O B O L S R A T E I N E B S A Y H O R E A N T I H E A D S A N K C D E R A P S A L R C O P Y E O N S E S O R N T N O S G I

Advertising Director Christy Duane, cduane@okgazette.com

EDITOR-in-chief Jennifer Palmer Chancellor jchancellor@okgazette.com

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59 Florida State athlete, for short 60 Walks in rain boots, say 61 En ____ (chess maneuver) 62 Tried 64 “What’s this?!”

67 Feared 70 Blacksmith’s tool 71 Nav. rank 72 Ending with syn- or ant73 Longest bone in the human body 74 Thrown with force 80 Eats (at) 82 Lewd look 87 Month after Av 88 Chemo target 90 City that, despite its name, is

smaller than Little Rock 91 Sole 93 Prattle

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M A U I S O C K S S T E N O

S U R E L Y B O Y S A S S T

A A R L I E A

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

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free will astrology Homework: If you'd like to enjoy my books, music, and videos without spending any money, go here: http://bit.ly/LiberatedGifts.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Donatello was a

renowned Italian sculptor. His favorite piece was "Lo Zuccone," a marble statue of the Biblical prophet Habakkuk. As Donatello carved his work-in-progress, he addressed it. "Speak, damn you! Talk to me," he was heard to say on more than a few occasions. Did the stone respond? Judging from the beauty of the final product, I'd have to say yes. One art critic testified that "Lo Zuccone" is a "sublimely harrowing" tour de force, a triumph of "forceful expression," and "one of the most important marble sculptures of the 15th century." I suspect you will have Donatello-like powers of conversation in 2017, Aries. If anyone can communicate creatively with stones -- and rivers and trees and animals and spirits and complicated humans, for that matter -- it'll be you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) According to Japanese

novelist Haruki Murakami, "A certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect." Let's amend that thought so it's exactly suitable for your use in 2017.

Here's the new, Taurus-specific version: "A messy, practical, beautiful type of perfection can be realized through a patient, faithful, dogged accumulation of the imperfect." To live up to the promise of this motto, make damn good use of every partial success.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Gemini gymnast Marisa

Dick has created a signature move that has never been used by any other gymnast. To start her routine, she leaps up off a springboard and lands on the balance beam doing a full split. The technical term for this bold maneuver is "a change-leg leap to free-cross split sit," although its informal name is "The Dick Move." The International Federation of Gymnastics has certified it in its Code of Points, so it's official. During the coming months, I expect that you will also produce one-of-akind innovations in your own sphere.

By Rob Brezsny

CANCER (June 21-July 22) I hope you will be as

well-grounded in 2017 as you have ever been -- maybe even since your past life as a farmer. I trust you will go a long way toward mastering the arts of being earthy, practical, and stable. To do this right, however, you should also work on a seemingly paradoxical task: cultivating a vigorous and daring imagination -- as perhaps you did in one of your other past lives as an artist. In other words, your ability to succeed in the material world will thrive as you nurture your relationship with fantasy realms -- and vice versa. If you want to be the boss of reality, dream big and wild -- and vice versa.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Even if you don't think of

yourself as an artist, you are always working on a major art project: yourself. You may underestimate the creativity you call on as you shape the raw material of your experience into an epic story. Luckily, I'm here to impress upon you the power and the glory of this heroic effort. Is there anything more important? Not for you Leos. And I trust that in 2017 you will take your craftsmanship to the highest level ever. Keep this advice from author Nathan W. Morris in mind: "Edit your life frequently and ruthlessly. It's your masterpiece, after all."

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) French painter Henri

Matisse (1869-1954) turned out to be one of the supremely influential artists of the 20th century. But he was still struggling to make a living well into his thirties. The public's apathy toward his work demoralized him. At one point, he visited his dealer to reclaim one of his unsold paintings. It was time to give up on it, he felt, to take it off the market. But when he arrived at the gallery, his dealer informed him that it had finally been bought -- and not by just any art collector, either. Its new owner was Pablo Picasso, an artist whom Matisse revered. I think it's quite possible you will have comparable experiences in 2017, Virgo.

Therefore: Don't give up on yourself!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) "The self in exile remains the self, as a bell unstruck for years is still a bell," writes

poet Jane Hirshfield. I suspect that these words are important for you to hear as you prepare for 2017. My sense is that in the past few months, your true self has been making its way back to the heart of life after a time of wandering on the outskirts. Any day now, a long-silent bell will start ringing to herald your full return.

Welcome home!

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) In accordance with your

astrological omens for 2017, I've taken a poem that Shel Silverstein wrote for kids and made it into your horoscope. It'll serve as a light-hearted emblem of a challenging but fun task you should attend to in the coming months. Here it is: "I've never washed my shadow out in all the time I've had it. It was absolutely filthy I supposed, so I peeled it off the wall where it was leaning and stuck it in the washtub with the clothes. I put in soap and bleach and stuff. I let it soak for hours.

I wrung it out and hung it out to dry. And whoever would have thunk that it would have gone and shrunk, for now it’s so much littler than I."

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Walk your

wisdom walk in 2017, Sagittarius. Excite us with your wisdom songs and gaze out at our broken reality with your wisdom eyes. Play your wisdom tricks and crack your wisdom jokes and erupt with your wisdom cures.

The world needs you to be a radiant swarm of lovable, unpredictable wisdom! Your future needs you to conjure up a steady stream of wisdom dreams and wisdom exploits! And please note: You don't have to wait until the wisdom is perfect. You shouldn't worry about whether it's supremely practical. Your job is to trust your wisdom gut, to unleash your wisdom cry, to revel in your wisdom magic.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) As I was ruminating

on your astrological omens for 2017, I came across a wildly relevant passage written by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman.

It conveys a message I encourage you to memorize and repeat at least once a day for the next 365 days. Here it is: "Nothing can hold you back -- not your childhood, not the history of a lifetime, not even the very last moment before now. In a moment you can abandon

your past. And once abandoned, you can redefine it. If the past was a ring of futility, let it become a wheel of yearning that drives you forward. If the past was a brick wall, let it become a dam to unleash your power."

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Naturalist John Muir regarded nature as his church. For weeks at a time he lived outdoors, communing with the wilderness. Of course he noticed that not many others shared his passion. "Most people are on the world, not in it," he wrote, "having no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them -- undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate." Is there anything about you that even partially fits that description, Aquarius? If so, I'm pleased to inform you that 2017 will be an excellent year to address the problem. You will have immense potential to become more intimate and tender with all of the component parts of the Great Mystery. What's the opposite of loneliness?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Seven Chilean poets

were frustrated by their fellow citizens' apathy toward the art of poetry. They sarcastically dramatized their chagrin by doing a performance for baboons.

Authorities at the Santiago Zoo arranged for the poets' safety, enclosing them in a protective cage within the baboons' habitat. The audience seemed to be entertained, at times listening in rapt silence and at other times shrieking raucously. I'm sure you can empathize with the poets' drastic action, Pisces. How many times have you felt you don't get the appreciation you deserve? But I bet that will change in 2017. You won't have to resort to performing for baboons.

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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