Lady Gaga

FREE EVERY WEDNESDAY | METRO OKC’S INDEPENDENT WEEKLY | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

LADY GAGA INSPIRES OKLAHOMANS TO DO MORE THAN 'JUST DANCE.'

BY BEN LUSCHEN P.34

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inside COVER P.34 As Lady Gaga prepares to wow the crowd at Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahomans discuss how the pop star indelibly impacted their art and their lives.

By Ben Luschen Cover illustration Chris Street

NEWS 4 State gross production tax increase

could be on the 2018 ballot

6 Community Calm Waters Center

for Children and Families holds Hugs for the Holidays event

8

Chicken-Fried News

10 Letters

FOOD 11 Review Kitchen No. 324

12 Feature Sussy’s opens in Bricktown 14 Gazedibles diners

ARTS & CULTURE 17 Art [Artspace] at Untitled turns 20

18 Theater Trans-Siberian Orchestra

at Chesapeake Energy Arena

20 Theater Animaniacs Live! at

Tower Theatre

22 Community OK Foster Wishes and

Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy hold wish list drive for foster children

23 Culture Mesta Park Holiday

Home Tour

24 Buy This!

28 Culture Oklahoma City Beard

Club holds OKC Beard and Mustache Bash!

30 Theater RACE Dance Company’s

Hip Hop Nutcracker at OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater

32 Calendar

MUSIC 34 Cover Lady Gaga at Chesapeake

Energy Arena

36 Event Hollywood Undead and

Butcher Babies at Diamond Ballroom

37 Live music

FUN 38 Puzzles sudoku | crossword 39 Astrology OKG Classifieds 39

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | N ov e m b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 7

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NEWS A newly created coalition plans to bring a ballot initiative before Oklahoma voters to decide whether to raise the state gross production tax to 7 percent to

S TAT E

address low teacher salaries. | Photo Laura Eastes

Oil and education

A newly created coalition is drafting language for a state ballot initiative that would raise the state gross production tax to fund a teacher pay raise.

By Laura Eastes

It was only a year ago that Oklahoma voters rejected a proposal to raise the state’s sales and use tax by 1 percent to support a $5,000 teacher pay raise and investments in public education. Now, a separate group — with its founders tied to the oil and gas industry — wants to build a teacher pay raise through a 7 percent gross production ballot initiative.

Next month, Restore Oklahoma Now, Inc. will file a ballot initiative calling on Oklahoma voters to raise the incentive rate for gross production tax from 2 to 7 percent with the additional revenue directed toward education funding to bring a pay raise to the state’s public school teachers. The coalition’s leadership is confident its proposal will find favor with Oklahomans who have expressed frustration after lawmakers repeated reneged on promises to give teachers a raise.

“It’s about saving public education in Oklahoma and paying our teachers a living wage,” Mickey Thompson, executive director of Restore Oklahoma Now, Inc., told Oklahoma Gazette. “We need more teachers. We need qualified teachers, and we need to pay them at least at the regional average. If we are going to have a state that is worth living in, we are going to have to improve our public education system. That starts with paying teachers a living wage.”

The juxtaposition of the oil and natural gas industry — one of the state’s largest 4

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industries — and teachers might seem strange. In the context of recent legislative sessions where Oklahoma lawmakers have stared down budget deficits as large as $1.3 billion in 2016 and nearly $900 million last May, the oil and gas industry, or more specifically its success in lobbying for a horizontal drilling tax rate at 2 percent, has been viewed as a contributing factor to Oklahoma’s revenue problems. With the Sooner State short on cash, lawmakers have passed along deep cuts to core services, including state aid allocations relied on by a majority of Oklahoma schools for covering the cost of day-to-day operations. It was more than a decade ago that teachers received a pay raise. Despite many legislative attempts to pass a teacher pay bill at the Capitol, many educators have fled for betterpaying teaching positions in neighboring states or left the profession altogether.

With pressure mounting for lawmakers to find a solution to all of Oklahoma’s budget problems, raising the state’s gross production tax has become part of the conversation. It’s a policy position not unique to Restore Oklahoma Now, which is a new coalition with ties to vertical-well drillers with hopes to grow in membership. The group also argues that repealing all the current tiers of gross production tax is fair. Currently, under Oklahoma law, the vertical-drilling operators pay a 7 percent tax rate while larger companies that horizon-

tally drill pay a 2 percent tax rate.

This spring, newly created Oklahoma Energy Producers Alliance (OEPA) gathered in the grand staircase inside the Capitol and called on lawmakers to restore the gross production tax to 7 percent.

“We think it’s a matter of fairness to Oklahomans that all oil and natural gas production be taxed at a flat and competitive — with other states — rate that helps sustain essential state services, especially addressing our teacher crisis and teacher pay,” Mike Cantrell, chairman of OEPA, which was formed by longtime operators of vertical wells, stated in a press release announcing Restore Oklahoma Now. According to State Treasurer Ken Miller, the state’s effective rate for all crude oil produced in Oklahoma has been cut in half over the past five years, as the tax rate was listed as 3.02 percent in fiscal year 2016 and 6.38 percent in fiscal year 2012.

Debate brewing

Restore Oklahoma Now’s proposal doesn’t find favor with everyone in the state’s oil and natural gas industry. The state’s top oil and gas associations — Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association (OKOGA) and Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (OIPA) — oppose the 7 percent gross production initiative petition.

“We will organize and put up a very strong answer to the question,” said Tim Wigley, OIPA president. “They will likely see themselves teamed up — for funding purposes — with groups that don’t like big oil, small oil or any oil. We will answer the call and be ready for them.”

We think that is a reasonable solution to a crisis situation.

Mickey Thompson Public debate on the question could center on whether the state benefits from raising the gross production tax or when more drilling and more wells come online. Wigley contends “rigs up in the air” drives the economy.

“Our membership is comprised of average employment around 11 or 12 employees,” Wigley said. “They are small business owners. Raising taxes creates uncertainty. I’ve got my chairman of the board who just signed paperwork to start his third company with a whole lot of private equity funding, and he is not going to drill in Oklahoma.

You wanna know why? There is too much uncertainty about taxation. A lot of our members explore and produce oil and natural gas in multiple states.

They have a choice. While the rock is good in Oklahoma, it’s not the best rock in the country.”

There is no denying Oklahoma’s got the oil and natural gas resources desired by drillers. Arnella Karges, executive vice president of OKOGA, explained the organization’s top five members poured in $5.5 million for new oil and gas exploration in the Sooner State in 2017.

The current gross production tax at 2 percent for the first 36 months of production keeps drilling dollars in Oklahoma when so many of OKOGA’s members have acreage in nearby oil and natural gas producing states, Karges said.

“That initial drilling rate of 2 percent for the first 36 months is what encourages exploration and production in Oklahoma,” Karges said. “We are lucky with technology and having great fields.

We are experiencing production, but exploration is an expensive part.”

Historically, Oklahoma placed a 7-percent tax on drilling. The addition of incentives for oil and gas production, including low tax rates when a well is at its most productive time, must stop, Thompson argued.

“It is important to note that no one likes taxes, but taxes are necessary to fund the essential elements of our government,” Thompson said. “We just feel like the gross production tax — that special tax of 2 percent — is not adequate. It is certainly much lower than all the oil-producing states. We can argue and we will argue how much lower, it is significantly lower.

We think that is a reasonable solution to a crisis situation.”

Current Oklahoma Gross Production Tax Rates ■■ Horizontal wells — or legacy wells — producing before July 1, 2015 are taxed at 7 percent.

■■ Deep wells (more than 15,000 feet) producing before July 1, 2015 are taxed at 4 percent for the first 48 months. Then the rate rises to 7 percent.

■■ Wells introduced prior to horizontal and deep incentive rates are taxed at 7 percent.

■■ Wells producing after July 1, 2015 are taxed at 2 percent for the first 36 months. Then the rate rises to 7 percent.

Source: Oklahoma Treasurer Ken Miller and House Bill 1085x

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CO M M U N I T Y

NEWS

Grief and loss

A local organization continues in its mission to help children and families dealing with grief and loss this holiday season and into the new year.

By Laura Eastes

During a grief support group with Calm Waters Center for Children and Families, a young child recently expressed their sorrow over the first holiday season without their grandmother, the family chef. The child explained their grandmother passed away unexpectedly and key family recipes were never passed along or shown to others. The child asked who would make their family’s traditional holiday dishes this year.

As the child and Misty Gillespie, assistant program director at Calm Waters, recalled memories about the child’s grandmother, the child gathered that this holiday season, they would miss their grandmother but look forward to the adventure of cooking to remember her.

“I’ve been saying this to a lot of school groups and support groups that it seems counterintuitive that during the holidays, we want to resist the sadness and resist the memories, but it is much more beneficial moving forward to embrace them,” Gillespie said. “Sharing memories is one of the most wonderful ways to remember someone and work through that grief journey.”

An Oklahoma City-based nonprofit organization, Calm Waters offers a supportive and understanding place for grieving children and their families to share their experiencing and feelings in group settings, thus promoting the healing process. Through various programs, Calm Waters helps children and their families in their grief journeys caused by death, divorce or other significant loss.

While Calm Water offers year-round 6

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At Calm Waters Center for Children and Families, children’s memory cards of their lost loved ones hang on the wall. | Photos Laura Eastes

services, the organization’s staff and volunteers understand that for anyone grieving any sort of loss, the late-year holidays can add an extra measure of pain. Often, adults and children are already bearing more than they can while adding thoughts about an empty seat at the holiday table, holiday traditions changing or ending altogether or a card or gift that won’t arrive this year.

This time of year can serve as a constant reminder that a loved one is missing.

Your love for the person you lost or died never goes away.

Misty Gillespie Next Tuesday, Calm Waters hosts Hugs for the Holidays, a free support event for families affected by a loss this holiday season, which can range from death to deployment and divorce to deportation. From 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Edmond’s Clegern Elementary School, 601 S. Jackson St., children can learn healthy coping skills and how to remember the ones they are missing.

Parents can find support as they meet others, share concerns and learn how to help themselves and their children through turbulent times.

“Whatever the loss that family is

experiencing, it is a time to come and learn about ways to ease the pain and look for ways to honor that individual,” said Barbara Butner, Calm Waters’ executive director. “Hugs for the Holidays gives families who might not be familiar with Calm Waters an opportunity to learn more about what we do, meet the staff and understand we are here to help them through this journey. Sometimes we can have our guard up so much to protect ourselves, and it can be really hard to let that down.”

Broadening mission

Calm Waters began when a 9-year-old OKC boy lost his father unexpectedly in 1992. Continuing with the tradition of watching ABC’s 20/20 with his father before bedtime, Jason Woodruff turned on the television to 20/20 without his father. The news segment just happened to be over The Dougy Center, a grief support center in Portland, Oregon, offering support groups to children impacted by the loss. He asked his mother if such a program existed in OKC. The answer was no; however, his mother, Sondra Woodruff, and a friend, Charlotte Lankford, teamed up with Baptist Medical Center Outpatient Counseling Department to create Calm Waters.

Twenty-five years later, Calm Waters has served 35,000 people either directly or indirectly through its various services, seminars and trainings, Butner said.

“It is child-centered, it is grief-centered,” she said. “I think because of the number of individuals who knock on our door for support, we have broadened our reach from families working through death and divorce to school groups working through a broad range of family loss issues and now parents of infant loss.”

Grief support groups meet for 12 weeks on Monday and Tuesday evenings in OKC at 4334 Northwest Expressway, At Calm Waters Center for Children and Families, children meet in age-appropriate groups in rooms created to provide a supportive and understand-

Suite 101, and Edmond’s Clegern Elementary School. Groups begin again in January; the organization is currently accepting registration. The children, ages 3-18, and their parents or guardians meet in age-appropriate groups led by a trained volunteer facilitator. There is also a group session for young adults ages 19 to 25. Divorce support groups begin mid-January and meet for eight consecutive weeks. The infant loss support group is scheduled on an as-needed basis.

All support groups are open to the public at no cost.

The organization is also known for its school-based groups that meet weekly for students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12th grade in the OKC metro area. Students dealing with loss issues like death, divorce, foster care, deployment, incarceration, deportation and community disasters participate.

“Grief, loss and divorce touch everyone,” Gillespie said. “No one can escape it. We can serve everyone in the community, and we would love to.”

As Calm Waters prepares for its next 25 years and more, the organization’s leaders are looking for new ways to reach and help those dealing with loss and grief.

Butner said Calm Waters will continue developing programs to fit the community’s unique needs.

“We are getting a number of calls from families of terminally ill children,” Butner said. “How do you prepare families and the sibling of the child who is dying? We are certainly more open than ever before with addressing the needs of the community when it deals with grief and pending grief. We are looking at ways that we can provide services to families who have or had a tragic loss.”

Visit calmwaters.org.

on s nstagram U w o Foll to see all iour #selfies!

OKG

@okgazette

Hugs for the Holidays 6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday Clegern Elementary School 601 S. Jackson St.

ing place for them to share their experiences and

facebook.com/calmwatersok | 405-841-4800

learn coping skills. | Photo Laura Eastes

Free

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | N OV E M B E R 2 9 , 2 0 1 7

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chicken

friedNEWS

Hobby Bible Lobby

Remember back in 2014 when the Green family, owners of Oklahoma’s own Hobby Lobby, used its nonprofit wing to get the public Mustang School District to offer a Bible elective?

The curriculum was scrapped after objections from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups for violating the separation of church and state. The effort was funded by Green Scholars Initiative, which is affiliated with the family’s Museum of the Bible.

It didn’t receive as much attention nationally as Hobby Lobby’s victory in the Supreme Court for the religious exemption from covering women’s contraception in company health insurance plans the same year, but like Michael Myers in Halloween, it only comes back stronger.

Despite the setback in 2014, the Greens’ push to promote a Bible curriculum in public education received a major boost, first with Republicans gaining control of all three branches of government and a majority of statehouses during the 2016 election, and last week with the opening of the much ballyhooed $500 million museum blocks from the U.S. Capitol.

The museum has been hailed as both a monument to interfaith cooperation and vilified as a propaganda tool to not-so-subtly influence public education curriculum on a larger level. The Greens said in a recent book that the museum is not a place to proselytize, but merely a place to interact with scripture.

From the gold-plated entrance with Gutenberg Bible-inspired gates to a soundscape of the 10 plagues, the museum has it all, except for the hundreds of artifacts the museum had to return after paying a $3 million fine for smuggling them out of Iraq.

The Greens have said the company was naïve in doing business with the shady world of artifact dealers. That actually sounds plausible, unlike their denials of trying to influence public education.

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Space case

What comes to mind when one thinks of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)?

There might be no federal government entity more loved than NASA. It took us to the moon and showed us more of the stars than humanity ever imagined was possible. When people think of NASA, they think of space, discovery and, most importantly, science.

One thing they usually do not think about: U.S. Congressman Jim Bridenstine. Yet the Oklahoma Republican and past vocal climatechange skeptic could soon be acting NASA administrator.

Given Bridenstine’s lack of experience as a scientist or engineer, his nomination

by President Donald Trump is a little puzzling. The president has shown a past flair for appointing poor-fitting Okies to positions of influence. We at ChickenFried News are still trying to figure how Scott Pruitt became the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief.

Bridenstine, appearing before a meeting of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, was grilled by legislators about his qualifications, particularly on his past skepticism of man’s role in global climate change, saying in 2013 that temperature changes mostly “correlate to sun output and global ocean cycles.”

As quoted in a Huffington Post account,

Bridenstine took a slightly more moderate stance when questioned by the committee — emphasis on “slightly.”

“In some years, you could say, ‘Absolutely,’” Bridenstine said, responding to a question about the human role in global warming. “In other years, you know, during sun cycles and other things, there are other contributing factors that would have maybe more of an impact.”

If Trump insists on appointing an Oklahoma to this position, maybe he should turn his attention to another public figure. The state is home to several past astronauts. Perhaps Bethany-raised Shannon Lucid would like the role?

Then again, Trump could probably get more excited about a more starpowered appointment, given his past role as commander-in-chief of The Celebrity Apprentice. He should see if the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne is available. He seems to know a lot about space.

The Great Gatso

Chicken-Fried News has decidedly dystopian reading habits. In late summer, the CFN news team started a book club in which we read apocalyptic hellscape

literature like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Tom Brady’s The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance. But the book that gave staffers nightmares was Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, which imagined, among other things, a privatized America where corporations dominate law enforcement.

As with most great dystopian visions, the power of the nightmare lies in its connections to our present, and in Oklahoma, your Big Brother future is now. According to The Oklahoman, a company called Gatso USA contracts with the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council [DAC] to use license plate scanners to catch uninsured drivers.

Gatso USA is a division of Swedenbased Sensys Gatso, which sounds like the name of an arms dealer from Tatooine. When Gatso catches someone driving without insurance, they send the motorist a letter notifying them of the legal requirement to properly insure their vehicles and charge them a $184 fee. Gatso gets $80, the DAC gets $84 and the rest goes to administrative costs and a state pension fund for law enforcement, which is supposed to make it feel warm and fuzzy, like a puppy

hiding from the mechanized security forces patrolling a blighted future world.

CFN thought the letter sounded kind of like a traffic ticket. Sure, it’s issued by a company hailing from the land of difficult-to-assemble furniture instead of Oklahoma law enforcement, but it’s still a ticket or a citation, right?

“It’s not a ticket or a citation,” said DAC executive coordinator Trent Baggett in an interview with The Oklahoman, because of course he said that. “It’s a letter stating, ‘Our records show you do not have insurance.’” And charging you $184.

Gatso is getting attention these days via class-action lawsuits, which are pending against them in Iowa, Florida, Georgia and Alabama, where good ol’ boys worry this high-tech Boss Hogg will catch the General Lee before it can get over the creek bed.

CFN strongly believes it is important for all motorists to be insured – it’s a public safety issue. But the $2 million Gatso deal feels like a near-future cyber-boondoggle.

Legislators should provide more funding to the Department of Public Safety to police insurance shirkers so we’re not subject to the electronic eyes of our Swedish overlords.

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lette r s

NEWS

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

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 editor@okgazette.com or sent online at okgazette.com. Include a city of residence and contact number for verification.

Bill of expense

Chris Bliss, renowned juggler, is endorsing alongside former Oklahoma legislator Gary Banz the raising of $850,000 for a statue commemorating the Bill of Rights. Bliss orchestrated another monument of this kind for half the price in Arizona about four years ago. Only in Oklahoma could we take something already done and do it the same way yet make it more expensive.

The idea of the monument is to create a place for visitors, the unemployed and homeless “to contemplate” the first 10 amendments to the Constitution.

Presumably, the statue will inspire people to think about their rights in a manner more directly than, let’s say, a decently paid Oklahoma history teacher might attempt.

The justification originally proffered by Bliss related his belief that the Bill of Rights were inadequately discussed in classrooms, presumably by underpaid teachers whose

curriculum is already micromanaged by legislators like former Representative Banz.

The price tag and result is akin to suggesting we remedy veterans’ hospitals with better signage and more parking; it seems to be missing the bigger point.

There is an automatic disclaimer that must accompany any reservation on this, so I’ll say it: Of course, I love the Bill of Rights. I do. Believe me, the idea of fervent second amendment proponents learning that words like “militia” are in their Constitution sparks my interest. But, dare one say it, could that money be spent better?

I know the greatest self-parody in America right now is our crowdsourcing. Seeing the volume of money we contribute to band reunion albums and documentaries about documentaries, we have proven we can find the cash if the cause has the right accompanying promotional video. But one has to wonder how much nonprofit groups who have resiliently defended our constitutional rights could use a little of that million dollars in their work. What could the ACLU or any number of legal defense funds established for the underprivileged do with that kind of cash?

I get that we want to put up a big thing someplace to show we care about the big thing, but what if we broadened our idea of monuments to the volunteers and organizations that actually do the daily toil of helping Americans and defending their rights? What if we revered teaching with the same fervor as we revere new statues

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celebrating ourselves? What if it was monumentally important for us to get those kinds of things done as much as it is to build a monument?

Wayne Hull Yukon

De-Trumpification

One of the more radical anti-Trump jokes on the Internet is comparing the president to dictator Adolf Hitler. While Trump has yet to cross any of der Fuhrer’s more serious lines, the increase in hate crimes and neoNazi demonstrations since his rise to power, coupled with his refusal to condemn such actions, hasn’t helped his image. But regardless of where the president officially stands on the matter, these groups have interpreted his “fine people on both sides” speech and lack of action as a sign that they needn’t worry about punishment. They’re under the impression that as long as Trump is in power, they can get away with discrimination, vandalism and (if the events in Virginia are any sign) vehicular-based homicide, and their movement shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

A friend once told me that “things always get worse before they get better.” I don’t know whether this means Trump’s “supporters” will take over the country or World War III/Civil War II will happen, but the president may very well have another common trait with Hitler sometime in the future: the complete removal of all elements connected to his tenure as leader.

After World War II, Germany underwent a process of denazification. Everything connected to the Nazi ideology and those who followed it were purged from every part of German society, economy, press and politics. Hitler’s staff and followers were tried as criminals, those who followed them had to be reeducated and all instances of gore and violence in media (gun violence in particular) were heavily censored. Based on how controversial the Trumpist ideology sweeping the nation is, we should expect to see similar processes when President Trump eventually steps down from the Oval Office. Some examples include: *The entire Republican party will be dissolved due to the massive loss of trust. *All instances of people being run over by cars will be removed from mainstream media. *The word “trump” will become an obscenity, as well as all derivative phrases (“trump card,” “trumped up,” etc.). *All of Trump’s businesses will be liquidated, all money going to the United States Treasury.

But what of the president, his family, cabinet and staff? Will they go back to living their lavish lifestyles or be prosecuted and tried for crimes unspeakable? Well, that all depends on the choices they make in the coming three years. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and hope for the best.

Joe Wright Oklahoma City

EAT & DRINK The fried chicken pot pie has only a

REVIEW

pastry topping. | Photo provided

Brunch shenanigans

Kitchen No. 324 rates high in Oklahoma City for brunch, but is it is a case of popular aesthetic over food? By Jacob Threadgill Kitchen No. 324 puts an onus on fresh

Kitchen No. 324 324 N. Robinson Ave. kitchen324.com | 405-763-5911 What works: The eating area, full of natural light and beautiful fixtures, is stunning.

What needs work: The pot pie needs a bottom layer of crust.

TIP: Make reservations for weekend brunch to avoid the wait.

Long before Anthony Bourdain became the celebrity host of travel shows that blend food with cultural context, he was a struggling chef. In his breakout book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, which started as a 1999 essay in The New Yorker designed to shine a light into the restaurant industry, he is honest about his skills.

While other chefs rise in the ranks, the only jobs Bourdain can find are for weekend brunch shifts.

“We despise hollandaise, home fries, those pathetic fruit garnishes, and all the other cliché accompaniments designed to induce a credulous public into paying $12.95 for two eggs. … You can dress brunch up with all the focaccia, smoked salmon, and caviar in the world, but it’s still breakfast,” Bourdain wrote in The New Yorker.

Downtown brunch

I couldn’t help but be reminded of Bourdain’s sentiment as I was searching for parking downtown close to Kitchen

and local produce. | Photo Gazette / file

No. 324, 324 N. Robinson Ave., on a Sunday just after noon.

Kitchen No. 324 is another successful restaurant by A Good Egg Dining Group (Cheever’s Cafe, Tucker’s Onion Burgers, Republic Gastropub, Iron Star Urban Barbeque, The Drake Seafood & Oysterette, Red PrimeSteak, Barrios Fine Mexican Dishes) that is located in the historic Braniff Building.

The restaurant has served as anchor to the building — once home to Braniff Airways — since a 2012 renovation, where diners have flocked to its large and bright dining room, making it one of the city’s most popular brunch destinations.

It underwent a small renovation earlier this year, which added a full-service bar and reorganized the kitchen to better accommodate an increased demand for its dinner service, according to 405 Magazine.

As more apartments are being constructed in downtown, dinner service figures to pick up at Kitchen No. 324, where dishes like braised boneless short ribs with blue cheese biscuit pudding ($25) and Romesco crusted salmon with quinoa and Brussels sprouts ($26) caught my attention.

Kitchen No. 324 experience because breakfast / brunch still takes up more space on its menu than dinner. The early morning menu includes daily selections of curated coffees and baked goods, including a Joenut named after the restaurant’s original pastry chef; it’s Kitchen No. 324’s version of a cronut: a croissant-doughnut hybrid.

Despite what Bourdain lamented about price-gouging on the brunch menu, there is nothing on Kitchen No. 324’s breakfast menu that is over $12. I opted for the breakfast bowl ($10) because it contained two of my favorite things: Brussels sprouts and kale pesto.

Sweet potato, local McCabe’s bacon, avocado and a sunny-side-up egg join them for this entrée. Despite enjoying all the ingredients on their own merit, it didn’t feel like a cohesive dish. The pesto was in a clump and offered a surprising spiciness when paired with the bacon, but what was the avocado doing there too? It was similar in texture to the pesto and didn’t add much to the dish.

I feel like it would’ve been better to scramble the egg rather than serve it over-easy because it would’ve acted as a binder to bring the diaspora of ingredients together.

There is one menu item at Kitchen No. 324 that piqued my interest like no other: fried chicken pot pie ($16), which is available on the brunch, lunch and dinner menus.

When I first saw the item on the menu with no added description, my mind began to race to fill in the blanks. Surely it’s not chicken that’s been fried, torn up and added to the filling, right? It would take away from the crispiness. Despite the rational voice in my head telling me this wouldn’t be the case, irrationality took hold.

“I wonder if it has pieces of fried chicken skin mixed in with the gravy,” said a voice in my head that might or might not have sounded like a certain infamous diner from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life.

Alas, I couldn’t help but be disappointed in the execution of the fried chicken pot pie. Not only is the fried chicken element limited to a leg that

stands precariously in a hole of its pastry topping, it’s not actually a pie. There is no bottom layer of crust.

I’m calling shenanigans on the entire food industry. Whose idea was it to call it a pot pie and only have a top layer of crust? I realize that chefs often want to keep things crispy, but my favorite part of a pot pie is when the bottom layer of crust absorbs the creamy gravy.

It’s a shame because the components of Kitchen’s No. 324’s pot pie work. The filling is a solid savory mix of carrots, onion, and (unfried) chicken. The fried leg was on the dry side and desperately needed gravy from the filling.

Kitchen No. 324 certainly has the look of a perfect brunch spot. The gleaming intricate marble and tile work, beautiful light fixtures and large windows with a terrific view of downtown are true aesthetic goals. I know Kitchen No. 324 is a great restaurant because A Good Egg has the Midas touch, but I couldn’t help but feel like my meal missed the mark.

Digging in

However, I chose brunch for my first The interior at Kitchen No. 324 is highlighted by tons of natural light. | Photo Gazette / file

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Our Famous

thanksgiving pie starts nov. 1 and runs through the whole month of november!

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Holiday Wine-Down December 6 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Visit the Museum for a Holiday Wine-Down painting class under instruction from Wine & Palette. While here get a jump on holiday shopping in a festive environment at The Museum Store.

All supplies provided, including light hors d’oeuvres and cash bar.

Reservations required.

1700 Northeast 63rd Street Oklahoma City, OK 73111 (405) 478-2250

nationalcowboymuseum.org/wine-down Museum Partners: Devon Energy Corp. • E.L. & Thelma Gaylord Foundation Major Support: The Oklahoman Media Company • The True Foundation

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History reborn

Bricktown welcomes Sussy’s, which takes Oklahoma City’s oldest pizza and brings it to the 21st century. By Jacob Threadgill

As photographs of Harry S. Truman, Will Rogers Jr. and former Oklahoma Governor George Nigh look down at the restaurant below, they might not recognize the Bricktown location or counter service, but the food is the same as it was when their photos were taken at the Oklahoma City institution.

Jack Sussman moved to Oklahoma City from Chicago, where he joined forces with local entrepreneur Jake Samara to open a slew of nightclubs and restaurants, including Sussy’s Italian Restaurant, which used recipes from Samara’s Italian wife to become the first Italian restaurant in the city to serve pizza in 1947.

The original Sussy’s operated inside The Nomad Club, which hosted celebrities and dignitaries and inspired its sister restaurant, Nomad II, on N. May Avenue, which Sussman opened in 1975 and was transferred to the Bailey family after Sussman’s death in 1980.

Nomad II closed its doors in 2016, but under owner Rick Bailey, much of its signature food has returned with a new location and updated concept, one that is part fine dining and part fast-casual with Sussman’s nickname: Sussy’s.

“It’s great having a fresh start with a new concept that I think will work; especially having a partner like Brad [Hogan] that is the landlord and wants to help makes a huge difference,” Bailey said.

Iconic rebirth

Sussy’s, 200 S. Oklahoma Ave., is located on the eastern side of the

Centennial Building, which was constructed by Hogan Commercial Property Corp. The real estate firm headed by Brad and Randy Hogan renovated most of lower Bricktown, including Bass Pro Shop and Harkins Theatres Bricktown 16.

As far as I believe, my father and I are the first that have ever done fried pepperoni on a pizza anywhere.

Rick Bailey Hogan said he was looking for a restaurant to take the space left by the closing of a tapas restaurant, and when the possibility of bringing on Bailey came, he jumped at the chance to make him a tenant, but also to partner with him. It’s his first foray in the restaurant business.

“I only did it because I loved [Bailey’s] food so much,” Hogan said.

Bailey said about 70 percent of Nomad II’s menu made the transition to the new location. He added dishes like salmon and chili from another Oklahoma City icon, Crescent Market, which closed in 2011 after more than a century of operation.

“Along with Crescent Market, there have been a few other places that have closed over the years that I missed,” Hogan said before Bailey also added

Co-owner Rick Bailey has revived Oklahoma City’s oldest pizza tradition with Sussy’s in Bricktown. | Photo Jacob Threadgill

Nichols Hills Drug Store and Charcoal Oven.

“We had to keep one of the iconic restaurants of Oklahoma City still going,” Bailey said. “We did it with a complete new twist.”

New concept

The new Sussy’s has streamlined its process by adding counter ordering service — customers can order tableside if they’d prefer — but the new system, which includes selling pizza by the slice, is designed to turn tables quickly and get customers to Thunder games or movies at the nearby theater.

The partners have accommodated the change in concept by lowering the prices of a few signature items as the staff, which includes original Nomad II chefs, makes the transition from fine dining.

Bailey said the new location, which opened Nov. 6, has sold five times as many meatballs as at Nomad II, but its signature dishes like the fried pepperoni pizza and chicken livers are as popular as ever.

“As far as I believe, my father and I are the first that have ever done fried pepDeep-fried pepperonis top the signature

peroni on a pizza anywhere,” Bailey said.

“We think we are the inventors. I can’t prove it, but I can’t find any place that did it before us.”

He said they were inspired to deep-fry the thin slices of sausage after eating at Dallas restaurant The Palm, where they had thinly sliced onion rings.

“Fried pepperoni tastes different than regular,” Bailey said. “A lot of people eat them by themselves and dip them in ranch.

They’re addictive.”

Bailey said the pizza is coated with cornmeal on the bottom to facilitate its transfer from pizza peel into the oven.

“The cornmeal gives it an extra crunch on the bottom. We’re old-school because we don’t use conveyor ovens,” Bailey said.

“We cook on deck ovens on slate.”

The Caesar salad is another classic that has made the transition. Bailey noted that many of the city’s chefs worked under Sussman at one point or another, and the fresh Caesar salad served as the blueprint for famous Caesar salads at Junior’s and The Grill. The dressing is light and flavorful.

“When you go to a restaurant and see a creamy Caesar dressing, you know that it came from U.S. Foods or some other supplier,” Bailey said. “Ours is made fresh.”

Hogan and Bailey said they went through many names for the new restaurant before deciding to bring back Sussy’s.

Both Bailey and Hogan said that many Nomad II customers were familiar with the Sussy’s brand and they felt it would be the best name with which to expand.

During renovation, large windows were added so guests could enjoy views of the canal waterway and fountain outside Harkins Theatres, which Bailey described as “not exactly Las Vegas, but it has a miniBellagio vibe.”

“I saw Governor Nigh while eating out a few weeks ago, and I told him, ‘You better come see me because you’re getting ready to go back up on the wall,’” Bailey said, referring to the historic pictures taken at Club Nomad that overlook the dining room of the new Sussy’s.

Visit sussysokc.com.

529 Buchanan Ave. Campus Corner Norman

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All day Thursdays: small order of wings, fries, pint of beer $10 Rotating COOP, Anthem, Roughtail,and new beers every month

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1116 N Robinson Ave. OKC @nicsplacedinerandlounge

pizza at Sussy’s. | Photo Jacob Threadgill

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | N OV E M B E R 2 9 , 2 0 1 7

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g a z e di b l e s

eat & DRINK

Diner call

The original American diner traces back to 1872 in Providence, Rhode Island, pre-Oklahoma statehood, and the concept of a comfortable restaurant offering a variety of meals through the day has become quintessentially American. The Oklahoma City area has plenty of options, including a few that have garnered national attention.

By Jacob Threadgill and Gazette/file

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All American Diner

212 S. Air Depot Blvd., Midwest City facebook.com/allamericandinermwc

Is there anything more American than a diner that serves apple pie? Well, All American Diner in Midwest City certainly fulfills the second category by serving a slice of pie à la mode at only $4.95. Breakfast is served all day and includes a variety of toppings for Belgian waffles or pancakes, including peanut butter and bananas. A serving of biscuits and gravy comes with four buttermilk beauties.

Boom-a-rang Diner

7525 S.E. 15th St., Midwest City multiple locations boomarangdiner.com | 405-455-6772

The glowing blue lights of Boom-a-rang’s signs stay open later than a lot of the other restaurants in towns where they are located. With 49 locations from Ada all the way to Wagoner, Boom-a-rang is a lifeline for many hungry Oklahomans.

Enjoy its throwback aesthetic with tributes to 1950s and ’60s iconoclasts as you munch on a gourmet hamburger, chickenfried steak or all-day breakfast.

The Hungry Frog Restaurant

1101 N. Pennsylvania Ave. 405-524-0686

The early bird might get the worm, but what about the Frog? The diner at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and NW 10th Street is certainly open early enough (6:30 a.m.) to fulfill your cravings, just as long as you don’t want worms. Order anything from traditional breakfast to Indian tacos and fried frog legs — yes, frog legs.

Just be sure to get there before 2:30 p.m. when this venerable diner, in business more than 40 years, is closed for the day.

Sherri’s Diner 704 SW 59th Street 405-634-4796

The décor inside Sherri’s Diner, named after owner Sherri McKinney, is both nostalgic and kitsch. Neon lights illuminate bygone advertising campaigns and a display of homemade pies by the register, which are only $2.99 per slice.

Breakfast is served until 4 p.m. closing, and it’s known for its pancakes, but don’t forget other specialties like stuffed cabbage or Texas chili (no beans) served with cornbread.

Sid’s Diner

300 S. Choctaw Ave., El Reno facebook.com/sidsdinerelreno 405-262-7757

Both the Travel Channel and Food Network have highlighted El Reno’s “Unofficial town hall” as being home to the quintessential onion burger. Owner Marty Hall built the restaurant with his father Sid, and the diner has gained tons of fans for its own take on an Oklahoma classic. Sid’s fries Spanish onions directly into the burger as it cooks on a flattop that contains decades of seasonings. Make sure to make the trek to El Reno for an onion burger and a chocolate milkshake.

Sunnyside Diner

The Diner

Owned by Shannon Roper and Aly Branstetter, veterans of S&B’s Burger Joint, Sunnyside Dinner injects the locally sourced phenomenon into the classic diner concept. Blueberry pancakes are topped with lemon zest and a lemon-blueberry compote. Instead of a traditional eggs Benedict, choose from varieties with green chili and chorizo, smoked salmon or a California variety with roasted turkey, sautéed spinach, tomatoes and avocado.

The eponymous restaurant is such a good representation of its concept that it was featured on a 2009 episode of Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives in which host Guy Fieri focused on the chili.

The diner pays homage to its Main Street building where chili has been served for over 100 years with its traditional recipe.

Enjoy diner classics as well as its famous “eggaritto”: scrambled eggs with tomato, onion, green chiles and cheese wrapped in a tortilla and topped with ranchero sauce.

916 NW Sixth St. eatatsunnyside.com | 405-778-8861

213 E. Main Street, Norman thedinerofnorman.com | 405-329-6642

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art

ARTS & CULTURE

Restore, reflect

[Artspace] at Untitled celebrates 20 years of exhibitions in OKC’s revived downtown area.

By Ben Luschen

Seeing the key exhibitions and accomplishments of [Artspace] at Untitled laid out on a thorough, wall-sized timeline, it becomes clear just how productive the downtown gallery and studio space has been in the last 20 years.

Laura Warriner, owner of the rehabilitated former Deep Deuce warehouse space, has consistently chronicled the happenings at Untitled since buying the building with her husband in 1996.

Those events are listed in timeline format for the gallery’s Reclamation ReCreation installation, which also includes a multimedia wall sculpture and slideshow presentation highlighting the venue’s two-decade history.

Reclamation Re-Creation officially opened Nov. 16. For the Love: Celebrating 20 Years of Art, a fundraising silent auction event, is set to begin 7 p.m.

Saturday at Untitled, 1 NE Third St. Individual tickets are $100-$200. Those interested in attending should register in advance at 1ne3.org/forthelove.

Perusing the timeline, one will notice appearances by artists like internationally known sculptors Jesús Bautista Moroles (Untitled’s debut exhibition in 1997) and El Anatsui. In 1996, Eve Ensler performed The Vagina Monologues at Untitled before its off-Broadway run at Westside Theatre.

At the time, Warriner was worried the city’s conservative culture would keep many people from attending the performances. Instead, the shows brought a waiting line of people that stretched down the block.

Warriner said that the mid- to late’90s did not present locals with many contemporary or local art viewing opportunities. She wanted that to change.

“I just thought, ‘There is room for a new voice in town, and I’m going to be it,’” she said.

The Reclamation Re-Creation installation combines historic photos with artifacts from the building’s history. | Photo Ben Luschen

Restoring downtown

Warriner — with her husband Joe, who died in January 2016 — submitted an offer to purchase the downtown warehouse space in 1994, hoping to use it as a studio space for her painting and sculptures. The building was not in great shape, and she hoped its owners would be willing to part with it.

Her offer to buy the space was initially declined. Nearly two years passed before the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. The blast damaged a lot of buildings in the downtown area, particularly the older ones and including the abandoned warehouse the Warriners had tried to buy two years prior.

The next year, the couple got a call from the owners asking if they were still interested in purchasing the space, and they were.

The building was in even worse shape when they took over as owners. The roof had caved in, and the inside was damaged and full of debris. There was no electricity or air-conditioning.

Warriner’s Reclamation Re-Creation installation shows many pictures from the building’s restoration process, which took years of work.

Part of the reason Warriner wanted to buy a building downtown was because she had fond memories of the city’s commercial district peak from growing up in the 1950s. Oklahoma City demolished many of its historic buildings in the ’60s and ’70s to make room for new developments as part of a controversial urban redevelopment strategy. In the ’80s and ’90s, downtown OKC was mostly barren, home to just a few corporate offices.

Warriner wanted to have events in her new space to help enrich the community. Untitled saw success right off the bat, which she attributes to a general hunger for cultural activities in the city.

Still, downtown OKC had such a bad reputation that Warriner had to fight to win some people’s trust.

[Artspace] at Untitled owner Laura Warriner used notes she has collected through the years to construct a timeline of her gallery’s key exhibitions and events. | Photo Ben Luschen

“I would hire a police officer [for events],” she said, “not because I really needed one, but they would just make people feel better.”

As the years passed, Untitled grew respect in the region. With help from people like Kansas City arts advocate Myra Morgan and collector Dick Belger, Warriner said she was able to draw world-class contemporary art exhibitions into a city that, at the time, had not been that exposed to those kinds of styles and ideas.

“They loaned me these incredible exhibitions that people would have to go to New York or LA to see,” she said.

“I was fortunate to have met all these people who weren’t from here, but they liked what I was trying to do.”

Full appreciation

Despite its rough beginning years, Untitled now appears as a first-rate art facility. As part of the Reclamation ReCreation installation, Warriner has blown up two wall-sized photographs of the building, one showing the way it looked before she bought it and another showing the way it looks now.

Warriner projects slideshow and video presentations over the images that depict the history of Untitled and the downtown area.

“Since there is a whole generation of people who don’t know the history of downtown and stuff like that, I thought it would be interesting to do an installation that shows the history of what has happened the last 20 years,” she said.

Warriner has also put old objects from the building’s interior in elaborate frames. She wants people to understand Untitled (and to a larger extent, the world around them) as more than a place for art, as art itself.

“Because we live in this disposable society, our society today doesn’t really value much anymore,” she said. “They don’t even talk to each other anymore.

They text; they don’t talk.”

Educating tomorrow

In recent years, Untitled has started focusing more of its attention on providing arts mentorship to school-age children. The studio partners with 10 different state schools, bringing in 12 children from each school to participate in a three-year mentorship program.

Untitled is highly equipped in the printmaking arts, and the students get an opportunity to work with presses that are not available to them in the schools. The students also hold their own competitive-entry art show in the gallery each year.

“We do not replace the classroom,” she said. “We bring them in, those 12 kids, and we focus on them having the experience and learning about creativity and innovation and technology and techniques.”

Education has always been part of Untitled’s mission, but it began as an effort to educate the adult community about the kinds of art found in other cities. With the state of arts and general funding in education, Warriner said their previous efforts had to be refocused for the good of local culture.

“My education component was really to help lift the bar and give exposure to a community who, to that point, really hadn’t supported local artists very well,” she said. “Today, art is not prevalent in the schools, so someone has to be there to mentor them.”

Visit 1ne3.org.

For the Love: Celebrating 20 Years of Art 7-10 p.m. Saturday [Artspace] at Untitled | 1 NE Third St. 1ne3.org | 405-815-9995 $100-$200

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | NOVEMBER 2 9 , 2 0 1 7

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ARTS & CULTURE

Oklahoma City Community College Cultural Programs Presents

t h eater

Christmas the Cowboy Way

Tuesday, December 12 • 7:30 pm Tickets: $25–$30

tickets.occc.edu • Box Office 877-285-9286 • www.occc.edu/pas Oklahoma City Community College Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater 7777 South May Avenue

Download the New VPAC at OCCC Mobile App Now!

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LOCAL ART

Annual Ceramics Sale 11/16 - 12/21 Handmade, one-of-a-kind gifts New selection every day oklahomacontemporary.org | 405 951 0000 | @okcontemporary 3000 General Pershing Blvd. | Oklahoma City, OK 73107

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Merry rock

Trans-Siberian Orchestra brings its The Ghosts of Christmas Eve show to OKC. By Jeremy Martin

To the man who’s served as musical director for both, holiday favorite Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s stage show is not dissimilar from nightmare-inducing shock-rocker Alice Cooper’s.

“It’s no different than what I did with Cooper,” said Al Pitrelli, who worked as a guitarist and musical director for Cooper’s Trashes the World tour and has filled a similar role for Trans-Siberian Orchestra since 1995. “[TSO]’s just a lot more involved and a lot deeper musically.”

Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) is scheduled to perform its multimedia stage show The Ghost of Christmas Eve at Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena 3 and 7 p.m. Dec. 10. Pitrelli — who has also played with Megadeth, Asia and Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider — said the musical complexity of TSO’s progressive rock has kept the interest of audiences since the 1996 debut of Christmas Eve and Other Stories, a concept album conceived as part of a holiday trilogy by the group’s founder and Pitrelli’s Savatage bandmate Paul O’Neill, which has since sold more than 3 million copies and combines classical and rock influences.

“It taps into every side of my musical background,” said Pitrelli, who studied at Boston’s Berklee College of Music.

“I’ve been a student of music since I was a little kid. I’ve studied jazz, classical, I grew up in the Motown era. I was a teenager in the ’70s when AOR radio came out and we were first introduced to Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith and The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. I’ve never been like one style of guitar player; I’ve always just been a guitar player, you know what I mean? … So when I first got involved with Paul O’Neill back in 1995, one of the first things that struck me about his music,

it wasn’t very genre-specific. It was kind of all over the place, almost like a film soundtrack would be. Depending on what part of the story we were in and what character we had to underscore, I was able to tap into everything I was familiar with as a musician, and that was exciting because I was never just doing one thing.”

Pitrelli first held a guitar at the age of 2, when he saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.

“They just said that I was absolutely transfixed to the TV,” said Pitrelli, whose grandfather handed him a guitar so he could play along. “That’s the power of what the music is and was. I had no comprehension other than there was something very magical on TV. … The sound of the instruments, the look of it, the performance, I guess the excitement that was coming through the old blackand-white TV at the time, and it grabbed me by the innermost part of my soul and my heart and has never let go.”

Christmas Ghosts

Combining reworkings of classic holiday songs and original compositions from Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s first two albums, The Ghosts of Christmas Eve originally debuted as a TV movie in 1999. Two songs from the production, “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” and “The Christmas Canon,” are included in Nielsen SoundScan’s list of the top 10 best-selling holiday singles of all time. Pitrelli said the special has since become a seasonal staple in many households, transmitting musical magic through the television to a whole new generation.

“It’s become like a perennial favorite for people,” Pitrelli said. “It’s become this generation’s Miracle on 34th Street or It’s a Wonderful Life or something like that.

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Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s The Ghosts of Christmas Eve continues an 18-year tradition. | Photo Jason McEachern / provided

Watching all this as I’m watching my kids grow up from infancy to adolescence to young adulthood, it’s insane to me that it’s just exceeded all our expectations and just become something of its own. It’s taken on its own life.”

The special and the touring stage show it was adapted into are so meaningful to people, Pitrelli said, because of the clarity and relatability of O’Neill’s original concept. The story features an orphan on the night before Christmas seeking shelter in an abandoned theater where the ghosts of performers still play.

“That’s Paul O’Neill,” Pitrelli said.

“The genius and brilliance behind everything people come to see and hear is the man’s mind and his ability to create stories and characters that people can relate to. See, that’s the thing. It’s not like he’s creating this fictional character that you couldn’t even fathom being. All Paul’s stories, you can insert your name, your situation into the story and it becomes about you. I think that at the center of everything is what makes it so accessible to everybody and why it’s gained such popularity.”

Though O’Neill died in April, TSO continues to perform, hoping to continue his legacy and even expand on it.

“We suffered a tragic loss to all of us both professionally and personally with Paul’s passing back in April, but his family is still at the helm of the ship,” Pitrelli said. “And that’s no different than Disney as a company and also as an art form. When Walt passed, the family just kept moving forward, which was Walt’s vision, which is Paul’s vision.

He wants this to last forever. We all were hoping it was going live far past all of us, and now it has begun to. … I’m excited to see where we end up.”

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

foodie

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PLEASE JOIN US FOR OUR GRAND OPENING FESTIVITIES. WE’VE GOT TASTINGS, GIVEAWAYS AND LOTS OF FUN PLANNED ALL WEEKEND, AND THROUGHOUT THE MONTH OF DECEMBER. We are right in the middle of Oklahoma City’s gourmet food district, at a much more convenient location, and our shop has doubled in size, with a beautifully-designed interior with spaces for demonstrations, a reading area and lots of space for perusing and tasting our wonderful artisanal and small-batch wares.

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The voice

All-time great voice actor Rob Paulsen brings Animaniacs Live! to Oklahoma City.

By Ben Luschen

Rob Paulsen and Randy Rogel have been called a lot of things, including “totally insaney” and “zaney to the max.” But there is another thing one should feel free to call two of the key figures in the popular Animaniacs cartoon series: pioneers of animated entertainment.

The Warner Brothers animated series Animaniacs endeared itself to a generation, running five seasons from 1993 to 1998. The show, executive produced by Steven Spielberg, was directly inspired by the general irreverence of Looney Tunes and Warner Bros animation of the past. It was a smartly written show often credited as a forerunner to the adultoriented animation that followed it.

The show could also be compared to a cooler, more contemporary version of Schoolhouse Rock. The series is packed with songs and blended plenty of references to history and geography with topical jokes on entertainment and pop culture. The song “Yakko’s World,” for example, is a comprehensive and often-memorized rundown of the countries of the world.

Most people would not recognize Paulsen if he walked past them on the street, but he has voiced so many beloved animated characters over the years that it is hard to know where to begin. Many know him for the voices of Yakko Warner from Animaniacs and Pinky from Pinky and the Brain. His other show credits include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (both the 1980s’90s version and the revival series currently airing on Nickelodeon), The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and The Mask Animated Series.

Paulsen is on the road with Rogel, the composer responsible for writing many of the Animaniacs songs, and is set to appear Dec. 8 at Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St. The legendary voice actor recently spoke with Oklahoma Gazette by phone ahead of the show.

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Oklahoma Gazette: A lot of people in OKC are excited for the show, but many of them are not sure what to expect from it. Could you explain what Animaniacs Live! is?

Rob Paulsen: Absolutely. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do that. Randy Rogel, who wrote most of the songs that people know from Animaniacs, and I got a deal a couple of years ago with Warner Brothers licensing where we’re allowed to take the music of Animaniacs and animation clips and travel around the country doing what we’re doing in Oklahoma City. It is an evening of music, of animation, of stories, Q&A and autographs — things like that. We tell people how songs came to be. We do songs on the show that never made it to the show.

It’ll be kind of mind-blowing, because the songs that never made it are so good, I still to this day think, “Well, what the hell was wrong with that?”

OKG: Animaniacs is such a good candidate for a live production because it was a mature show and it didn’t ever talk down to its audience, which probably helped it have this staying power.

Paulsen: That was utterly by design.

The edict from the beginning, from Mr. Spielberg and Tom Ruegger and the people who created it, was precisely that: to not condescend to the audience.

It was about assuming they would get it. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it was built for kids. It was written on two different levels so that the kids might enjoy it and the cultural references and the music references were to entertain adults. The proof that it works is its success on Netflix. I just got back from Vancouver last night, and I go to all of these conventions all over the world. The one thing I hear over and over and over again is, “Oh my God!

“Yakko’s World” is one of the most recognized songs in the colorful musical history of Animaniacs | Image WB / provided

I never got this joke or that joke; how did they get that by the censors?” And that was completely by design. So the genius of how that was produced is borne out 20 years later.

OKG: It’s often said that Animaniacs was a precursor to shows like South Park or Family Guy, but the show also paved the way for Rick and Morty, which is super popular right now.

Paulsen: Yeah, and if you talk to [Morty co-creator] Justin Roiland, he’ll say the same thing. That’s a huge compliment to me because I work on Rick and Morty.

I’m on probably a half a dozen episodes, one of them is one of their most popular ones (the episode “Lawnmower Dog” as the character Snuffles, also known as Snowball). Snowball is the little doggy in the mech suit that asks about the location of his testicles. It’s a great episode, and man oh man, I go all over the place and people freak out over Snowball. And it’s just one episode of that show, which is a wonderful show.

OKG: Almost everyone of a certain age or younger can recognize your voice from somewhere. Just by speaking, so many people would know you, but walking down the street, you probably have some anonymity, right?

Paulsen: Oh, absolutely. It’s very clear: It’s the characters who are famous. I don’t draw them, and I don’t write them.

That’s a very clear distinction; I’m not some sort of celebrity. I’ve cultivated some just as a result of my association with these characters. … When people find out who I am, all it does is bring joy to their face. They laugh and say, “Oh my God! can you say ‘Cowabunga, dude!’ or say, ‘Think so, Brain.’ Whatever it is, it just makes everybody happy. Because of video and YouTube, I get recognized more than I did 10 years ago, but it’s not like being Brad Pitt. It’s not like you can’t go to the store. In fact, I welcome it.

OKG: Did you have any musical aspirations before voice acting?

Paulsen: Oh yeah. I was a singer first, and I traveled around the country doing live theater. I was in a rock ’n’ roll band for years before I moved to LA. Singing has always been a huge part of my life, and it’s how I pay my rent. I think like most kids, it would have been great to have been in a rock ‘n’ roll band that did really well, and the bands that I was in were very, very good cover bands, but our originals were just awful. And I didn’t contribute to it — I’m not a great songwriter. But I cultivated my singing skills, and moreover, I cultivated my skills to be able to sing in character. And I did not come to LA to do voice work. I came to LA to perform and work. And when I came here, it was doing liveaction stuff like everyone else — TV, movies, commercials. But you learn

pretty quickly that there are a million average-looking white kids with SAG (Screen Actors Guild) cards, and a lot of them, not all of them, are really, really talented. And you just kind of go, “Holy shit, I thought I was pretty good.” Well, guess what? There are a lot of talented kids in this world, son, and they all come to LA. … In my case, it was all about being prepared when these opportunities that were utterly unknown presented themselves to me. You’ve probably heard in your life the phrase, “Luck is when opportunity meets preparation,” and it’s absolutely true. Had I not been singing and learning how to sing in character just because it made me happy and made me laugh — all of a sudden, that skill is exactly what Steven Spielberg needed in Animaniacs, and man, what good timing. It’s turned out to be the best choice I could have ever made, voice work, because I’m a lot older, but I can still do everything to the same level and even better than I did 20 years ago because nobody cares what I look like.

NTREE E E N O EE, GET R T N E Y ONE

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OKG: And it’s taking you to all sorts of exotic locations.

Paulsen: Like Oklahoma City; that’s right!

OKG: Is there anyone in Hollywood who knows the countries of the world better than you?

Paulsen: Nope. I think there are many people who can sing it (“Yakko’s World”) all over the place, but in terms of them doing it better — I think they can do it just as well, but I think, and it’s probably a little presumptive of me, because I’ve not heard everybody, but I would think at least right now I’m still the guy who does it the best. And I think most people would be fine with that.

Rob Paulsen | Photo Lesley Bohm / provided

Join us for multiple art-making activities, gallery experiences, and more! All ages welcome. No advance registration required.

Animaniacs Live!

8 p.m. Dec. 8 Tower Theatre | 425 NW 23rd St. towertheatreokc.com | 405-708-6937 $45-$50

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ARTS & CULTURE Community members from left Amber Jones, Joe Dorman, Miranda Hines, Scott Bell and Mitchell Rozin behind Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy and OK Foster Wishes’ gift drive for foster children and teenagers encourage the community to donate. |

co m m u n i t y

Photo Laura Eastes

the CEO of OICA, which works to support child well-being in the Sooner State. “You have to remember foster parents are volunteers. They get a stipend to help them with these duties, but they offer up their home for kids to provide a place for them with love and care. It is touching to know so many Oklahomans will step up and provide a happy Christmas, happy Hanukkah or whatever the holiday might be.

Oklahomans are providing a happy time for these kids and letting them know there is someone who cares for them.”

Holiday Wishes

Gift time

OICA and OK Foster Wishes are on a mission to spread holiday cheer to foster youth in the state and need the community’s help. By Laura Eastes

Months ago, child welfare caseworkers and foster parents began asking the state’s foster children, What would you like for the holidays?

For children and teenagers in foster care, holidays can be a particularly tough time, as they are separated from their biological families and might not receive a gift for the holidays. In recent years, Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS), along with community organizations, local businesses and everyday Oklahomans, have worked to make the holidays a little bit brighter for foster children by collecting new toys and clothes to distribute in December.

Each fall, caseworkers and foster parents record the gift desires of youth and create a wish list. In November, DHS distributes the wish lists to community organizations, which lead gift drives that ultimately end with holiday presents in the hands of foster children.

“I don’t really think I can, in words, articulate the impact that a simple thing

like someone willing to take on a wish list and meet the needs of a child can have,” Deb Shropshire, a pediatrician and deputy director of DHS child welfare and community partnerships, told Oklahoma Gazette. “The impact carries throughout the year. It is not just a December 25 impact. It’s more than five minutes of opening up presents and looking at all these toys or new clothes. It really has a ripple effect on the whole system.”

Each fall, various community organizations and businesses contact DHS to receive wish lists. This holiday season, Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA) joins OK Foster Wishes in reaching 6,000 children in foster care across more than 50 counties with holiday gifts.

“During this very tough time with our economy and with our state budget problems that we are facing, foster parents need this help more than ever,” explained Joe Dorman, who serves as

Classic deli food, made froM scratch

From now through Dec. 6, OICA is encouraging the community to donate either monetarily or purchase a gift or gifts from a child’s wish list. By visiting okfosterwishes.org, individuals can make monetary contributions or sign up to receive a wish list from a foster child. The suggested donation is $75.

“You will see kids that have put down a range of items from bicycles to game stations,” Dorman said. “Some kids — and this is what breaks your heart — put down socks or a coat. It is really heartwarming and heartrending at the same time to see what some of these requests are.”

In the Oklahoma City metro, local businesses like Buy For Less, Uptown Grocery, Bob Moore Subaru and Oklahoma Employees Credit Union are serving as gift drop-off locations. Gifts will later be taken to a warehouse space donated by Feed the Children. At the warehouse, OICA staff and volunteers will sort gifts to be distributed to DHS caseworkers, who will deliver the gifts to the children.

Any extra gifts will be either donated to other organizations conducting similar foster children gift drives for DHS or shared directly with DHS. In December, DHS operates a Santa Shop for foster parents and caseworkers to shop for children and teens who come

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into foster care past the deadline for completing wish lists.

Spreading cheer

The DHS wish lists go beyond just new toys and clothing, as the program has brought exposure to the state’s foster care program, explained Shropshire.

“It is a really important program for us because it provides a way for the community to not just meet a need at Christmas but to actually become engaged in understanding there are children in our state who don’t have permanent homes,” Shropshire said.

“We’ve seen a number of families who ultimately started by filling wish lists and later became foster families or served in more extensive ways for children in foster care. We see it as, in a sense, a starting place for people to engage in child welfare.”

It is really heartwarming and heartrending at the same time to see what some of these requests are.

Joe Dorman According to Oklahoma Foster initiative, there were 8,954 children in DHS custody and 606 children waiting on forever families as of Nov. 15. Further, the state needs 1,080 foster families to care for children in state custody.

OICA has an ambitious goal to deliver holiday gifts to 6,000 foster children and teens; however, leaders are confident past donors as well as new donors will step up to answer the call, explained Dorman.

“So many of these kids have been through horrible situations, and the brightness that you can bring to their lives,” Dorman said, “it means much more and will make a difference.”

Contact OICA at 405-236-5437 or visit okfosterwishes.org.

714 NW 18th St. is one of five historic homes on the Mesta Park Holiday Home Tour.

culture

| Photo JL Photo Services / Mesta Park / provided

Festive framework

Mesta Park Holiday Home Tour returns for its 40th year and showcases the historic district while raising funds for Wilson Arts Integration School. By Jeremy Martin

Last year, Mesta Park Holiday Home tour raised thousands of dollars for Wilson Arts Integration School, but when the tour began in 1977, its originators had a more modest goal in mind.

“They actually used the proceeds from the first home tour to throw a party for themselves,” said Sarah Jordan, who has been co-chairing the tour for the past three years. “They called it a Cold Duck party. Cold Duck was a really popular cheap wine in the late ’70s, so they bought a ton of Cold Duck and threw a party.”

This year marks the tour’s 40th anniversary, and these days, the money from ticket sales goes to Wilson and neighborhood-improvement projects such as replacing the irrigation system in Perle Mesta Park, planting trees and restoring vintage streetlights and signs.

“It all stays right here in the neighborhood in some form or fashion,” Jordan said. “All of the things that when you’re driving through Mesta Park you see that you really love.”

Tickets are free-$15 and can be pur-

chased online and at Full Circle Bookstore, Plenty Mercantile and the Homeland at 18th Street and Western Avenue until Friday or on the day of the tour from any of the five homes being showcased. In addition to those homes and Wilson, which celebrates its own 100th anniversary next year, the tour includes a “refreshment porch” featuring homemade cookies, apple cider, Christmas carolers and Santa Claus.

Food trucks will also be on-site, parked on Shartel Avenue between 18th and 19th streets both days of the tour: Yum Yum Bites, Chris’ Grill & Frozen Treats and C’est Si Bon Cajun Catfish & Po-Boys on Saturday, and Cook’n It Up, Amore, Parking Lot Party and Yum Yum Bites on Sunday.

The historic Mesta Park neighborhood predates statehood, with its earliest homes built in 1902, Jordan said, but many residents “fled the urban core in the ’50s and ’60s.” In addition to raising money for the neighborhood, the goal of the holiday home tour, according to the neighborhood association’s website, is

to “show the value of urban living, historic preservation, and community.”

“There is a natural curiosity about what it’s like to live in an urban neighborhood and in a historic home,” Jordan said. “So I think it’s really neat for people to come in and see. We have not only a diverse group of homes on the tour architecturally, but we also have a diverse group of families who are on the tour this year. Since I’ve been chairing the tour for three years, we’ve had traditional families with children, we’ve had couples with no children, we’ve had single men, single women, gay couples — we’ve had everything, and that’s just a really great representation of who lives in Mesta Park.”

The homes showcased change every year. Jordan said the houses featured on this year’s tour show the wide range of possibilities for decorating and renovating a historic home.

“We have two homes that have been just nearly gutted and feel really modern and open and fresh,” Jordan said. “And we have one … that was actually a duplex until last year, so that feels really different.”

The home at 610 NW 17th St. will be of special interest, Jordan said, because it belongs to one of the owners of Plenty Mercantile.

“I think that will draw a lot of interest just because she has so many neat curiosities in her house and so many personal touches,” Jordan said. “Her home is really young and fun and colorful and creative, but it was actually not renovated; it was restored.”

Another home on the tour, located at 931 NW 18th St., is the largest house in Mesta Park and was originally built for the bishop of the Methodist-Episcopal Church. A group of Discalced Carmelite, or “barefoot,” nuns who had limited contact with the outside world, later lived in the house, as detailed in article published in The Oklahoman in 1947.

Spokies Bike Share will be providing complimentary bicycles on the two-tothree hour tour, and complimentary auto transportation will be provided

by Mercedes-Benz, but Jordan said the neighborhood, originally built in close proximity to a street-car stop, is also easily walkable, a quality that helps neighbors become friends.

Visit mestapark.org.

Make it a Happy Holiday

with cookie trays, party trays & party subs, breads & pastries

Many homes on the Mesta Park Holiday Home Tour feature refurbished or remodeled, updated kitchens like the one in 714 NW 18th St. | Photo JL Photo Services / Mesta Park / provided

Mesta Park Holiday Home Tour 4-8 p.m. Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday Mesta Park | 801 NW 17th St. mestapark.org Free-$15

M-F 7am-6:30pm • Sat 9:30am-4pm 2310 N Western 524-0887 O kg a z e t t e . c o m | n ov e m b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 7

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Buy This!

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE unique and local ideas for holiday gifts

F

iguring out what to get that person who has everything or someone hard to shop for is difficult. Don’t give your money to Amazon or Walmart. Shopping local and in person is what makes finding a unique gift even more special. The gift opening then has a story behind it instead of “Yeah, I got it online.”

Oklahoma Gazette has collected a few cool, unique local items that we know our readers would like under their tree. Most of these items won’t break the bank, and they all give you an opportunity to go into a local store, talk to the shop owner, learn their history and browse all that they have to offer. Don’t forget about gifts for cats, dogs and secret Santa groups. We hope these gift ideas spark an idea and make your holiday gift buying special in 2017.

H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

H H H H H H H H H H H HH Headquarters for winter H H family ClotHing Family snow ski wear - casual-security H oilField workwear - military-HuntinG clotHinG cHildrens beautiFul jackets - super warm H canvas coveralls - bibs - jackets - siZes to kinG H save time & money, sHop H us first! tHank you!

BEAUTIFUL SKI WEAR - REAL DEALS H H tHis is a famous men's big & tall store up to 10xl we Help fit you & treat you like a neigHbor tremendous H seleCtion, latest styles H Hivis & Frc clothing - lots to see H ESTABLISHED 1945 - LIkE uS onM H SAMSBESTBuyS.coM-youTuBE H sam’s best buys 2409 S. Agnew • 636-1486 • M-SAt 9-5:45 H SUnDAY 1:00 PM tO 4:45 PM • CALL AHeAD H H H H H H H H H H H H HH

Spend your

HiLo days with us!

843-1722 | 1221 NW 50th hilookc.com

Stay warm with a

‘tis the season to GIVE AND RECEIVE Buy a $100 gift card and we’ll give you an additional $20 gift card FREE!

HiLo hoodie!

T he Per fec t Gift Personalized T umblers De signed Your Way

Personalized or customized stainless steel tumblers make memorable gifts.

Create your own design or use your company logo. Several styles and colors are available or you can bring your own YETI. $20- $40 on average. Artwork and Design services are available. Stop in Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Walker Companies 121 N W Sixth St. walkercompanies.com 405-235-5319

Pr e-ha rv e s ted Noble Fir Before buying gifts this year, buy a tree to put your gifts under! Choose that special tree from 15 varieties starting the day after Thanksgiving until Dec. 23rd; Mon.-Fri. 1 p.m.-7 p.m. and Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

Sorghum Mill Christmas Tree Farm 7121 Midwest Lane, Edmond christmas-tree.com/real/ok/sorghum 405-340-5488

Happy Holidays from your friends at Lov e Your Face ...We Do

Offering Microdermabrasion, Peels, Facial Fillers, Botox and Skincare Products.

Give a gift from our medical skincare spa, dedicated to providing the best care and products. Gift certificates available..

Schelly’s Aesthetics Shoppes at Northpark 12028 N. May Ave. skincareokc.com 405-751-8930

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“ Cupca k e ” Ring

This Arman Sarkisyan ring features natural pink sapphires and diamonds. In 22kt gold and oxidized sterling silver for $8,000. Completely handmade in the U.S. and available exclusively at Naifeh Fine Jewelry. Other colors available as well as all diamond.

Naifeh Fine Jewelry 9203 N. Pennsylvania Ave. naifehfinejewelry.com 405-607-4323

Dapper Never Dies Manscape - Massage - Barber & Beard - Spa Book On-Line: ManscapeMassageClinic.com 714 N Broadway. Ave Suite 201

Manscape & Massage Clinic revoluTionary GroominG CliniC proudly usinG veGan & orGaniC GroominG produCTs made in oklaHoma.

Walk-in Hours Tue-saT 11-7 appoinTmenT Hours mon-saT 7-11

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Skull Candle

Illuminate your inner and outer beauty by gifting this hand-poured skull candle.

This 16 oz. candle is a combination of vegan soy wax essential oils in fragrances on the rugged side.

LET US HELP MAKE YOUR HOLIDAYS STYLISHLY MEMORABLE

Manscape and Massage Clinic 714 N. Broadway Ave., Suite 201 manscapemassageclinic.com 405-531-2910

designs that inspire

K&N URBAN ON MAY 9460 N May | 405.748.8595 K&N INTERIOR fABRIcS 9470 N May | 405.749.1081 K&N INTERIOR cONSIgNMENT 3704 N Western | 405.521.0012

locally owned and operated Runaway Gr ey Felt H at

The Charlie 1 Horse Hat Company is a staple in American Western style. Shop hats in a variety of colors and styles!

The Museum Store at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

Piko 1988 in A LL the s tyle s !

Make your holidays Piko perfect! Visit Lush Fashion Lounge for the largest selection of Piko colors, styles and prints at prices that can’t be beat. Look your best this holiday season! Shop with Lush!

Lush Fashion Lounge 14101 N. May Ave., Suite 114 lushfashionlounge.com 405-936-0680

1700 NE 63rd St. store.nationalcowboymuseum.org 405-478-2250 ext. 228

where you will find that perfect unique & alluring gift 2717 W Reno Ave, OKC | 405.435.0061 Hours: Tues-Sat 10a-6p Sun 12p-5p

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | n ov e m b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 7

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Buy This!

Met ropolitan Museum of A r t Silk A r t T ie s

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Made of silk twill in Italy, the Metropolitan Museum of Art ties are the perfect artistic complement to any business-casual or formal ensemble. $119.00 each.

OKCMOA Museum Store 415 Couch Drive 405-278-8233 okcmoa.com/museum-store-holidaygift-guide

Rococo Holiday Gift Ca r ds

To give is to receive is never truer!

Purchase a $100 gift card at Rococo Penn or Rococo Northpark and receive an additional $20 gift card absolutely free!

Just our way of saying ‘Happy holidays!’

Rococo Restaurant & Fine Wine Two Locations: 2804 N. Pennsylvania Ave. 12252 N. May Ave. rococo-restaurant.com 405-528-2824 and 405-212-4577

Fa mily Sk i Wea r

Make your holidays PIKO perfect!

Largest selection of colors and prints, all at great prices!

Sam’s Best Buy is the headquarters for family ski wear! All your winter clothing needs from children’s sizes to big and tall in the latest styles. This is your one-stop-shop for everything at prices that are hard to beat.

Sam’s Best Buy 2409 S. Agnew Ave. samsbestbuys.com 405-636-1486

Fa r mhouse Ta ble

“10ft bowling alley wood farmhouse tables with a K base and 1 1/4” all thread.

Great for family gatherings and outdoor get-togethers.

Old Plantation Antiques 2717 W. Reno Ave. oldplantationantiques.com 405-435-0061

Shop.LushFashionLounge.com

14101 N. May Ave. | Suite 114 | 405 936 0680 Mon-Sat 10am-7pm | Open Sundays Nov. 26-Dec. 31 12-5 pm

Follow us on 26

n ov e m b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 7 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

Hilo Hoodie

Holiday A r r angement s

Make this holiday fabulous! Add color to your festivities with poinsettias, garland, mini holiday trees and more! They’re sure to look great and add a special touch to every holiday gathering.

Nothing says, “I love you....and I love me” like matching HiLo hoodies for Christmas. It’s all the rage. Stay warm on the outside with your $30 hoodie and warm on the inside with a cocktail from the HiLo.

HiLo Club 1221 N W 50th St. hilookc.com 405-843-1722

Tony Foss Flowers 7610 N. May Ave. tonyfossflowers.com 405-302-8845

Cus tom Home Decor

Beauty, comfort and function! Update your home’s look with pieces that are not only elegant but also provide comfort for family.

Choose from several styles and options to impress your guests this holiday!

K&N Interiors 3704 N. Western Ave. facebook.com/kninteriorconsignment 405-521-0012

A r t-Inspir ed Pillows

Pillows inspired by Leon Gaspard’s 1936 oil painting, “Falconry in Central Asia,” a hallmark of the museum’s Eugene B. Adkins Collection (exclusive to Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art)

The Mini-Poesy Bracelets every sentiment perfectly expressed

Financing Available WAC

Muse, the Museum Store at Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art 555 Elm Ave., Norman fjjma.ou.edu 405-325-5017

C a sady Square Nor th Penn & Brit ton · Ok lahoma Cit y 405.607.4323

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O kg a z e t t e . c o m | n ov e m b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 7

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ARTS & CULTURE

Buy This!

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

MAKE YOUR HOLIDAYS

fabul� FIND CHRISTMAS / HANUKKAH ARRANgEMENTS, FRESH gARLAND & pOINSETTIAS!

TONY FOSS FLOWERS 7 6 1 0 N M AY | 4 0 5 . 8 4 3 . 4 1 1 9

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c u lt u r e

OKC Beard Club President Ember Boland is No. 9 in the world in the whiskerina category. | Photo provided

Hairy-good cause OKC Beard Club hosts a competition fundraiser for a community member battling cancer.

by Jacob Threadgill

Ember Boland is fully aware of the cognitive dissonance that takes place when someone finds out that she is president of Oklahoma City Beard Club.

“It kind of throws people off,” Boland said, laughing.

Boland was good friends with the club’s founder Travis Nance when Nance invited her to a competition in Texas. Boland, an artist who enjoys painting in her spare time, was enticed with the idea of creating a craft-style beard to compete in the whiskerina category, which invites competitors — female or male — to create creative beards and costumes.

“I won my first time, and I’ve been hooked ever since,” Boland said, who is ranked ninth in the world in whiskerina. “I like everything about the bearding world. It’s a good group of guys and ladies, and every competition you go to is about helping the community or some sort of charity.”

The fundraising for the club’s upcoming OKC Beard and Mustache Bash 5 p.m. Saturday at 51st Street Speakeasy, 1114 N.W. 51st St., is close to Boland’s heart. Donations from the

People probably respond the most to whiskerina and freestyle because those have they’re the most out-there.

Ember Boland competition and a silent auction will go to help Boland’s longtime friend Ashley Sikes, who is in her third battle with stage four breast cancer.

Boland and Sikes graduated from Mustang High School together in 2005.

“She’s one of the most genuine and nice people I know,” Boland said of Sikes. “She’s always willing to help anybody and never has a mean thing to say, and she’s a great mom. She’s very optimistic, even through all of this and have a positive outlook on life.”

The entry for competitors is $20, and the club is expecting multiple entrants from out-of-state groups in addition to many local members and non-

Spread the joy of the season in Gazette’s Holiday Festivities special sections.

Publishing December 6, 13 & 20 Members of the OKC Beard Club | Photo provided

members to compete for bragging rights in nine categories: general mustache, partial beard (chops, goatee, whaler beard, musketeer), natural beard under 8 inches, full natural beard over 8 inches, whiskerina, freestyle and 30-day no-shave mustache and beard.

“People probably respond the most to whiskerina and freestyle because they’re the most out-there. Freestyle will involve everything from paint to lights and glitter. [For whiskerina,] I’ve used paper, quilling; foam to make it look like tree bark; or meal, plastic spoons and hot glue that looked like ice [when dried].”

Participants in the 30-day mustache and beard categories had to submit proof of a clean-shaven face Nov. 1.

Winners in each category will receive trophies from Bella Forte Glass Studio and a swag bag of donated goodies.

A $5 donation is encouraged for spectators but is not required to attend. Registration begins at 4:30 p.m., and the competition starts at 6 p.m. Category and silent auction winners will be announced at 10 p.m.

Live music will be provided by Normal-C; Don’t Tell, Dena!; Brujo; and Fresh Juice Party.

“There will be music from registration until after the awards. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Boland said. “All of the bands have donated their time, as well as the Speakeasy.”

This is the first competition hosted by the OKC club in a few years, but the group has expanded, with about 15 active members and more for outside contests. Boland said the group is working to apply for 5013c status in 2018 and hope to host more competitions.

“We don’t discriminate at all; we don’t care if you have facial hair or not,” Boland said.

Call your Account Executive at 405.528.6000 or email specialsections@okgazette.com to reserve your space!

OKC Beard and Mustache Bash!

5 p.m. -11 p.m. Saturday 51st Street Speakeasy | 1114 NW 51st okcbeardclub.com $5 suggested donation

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | n ov e m b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 7

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ARTS & CULTURE

now open

The sixth Hip Hop Nutcracker is Dec. 8-9 at Oklahoma City Community College’s Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater. | Photo RACE Dance Company / provided

Lunch Combo Special Mon-Fri 11- 2:30pm

Happy Hour

405-285-2396

3209 s Broadway in Edmond

t h e at e r

Mon-Fri 3- 5pm

Hip-hop ho-ho

RACE Dance Company reimagines The Nutcracker with a modern twist.

by Jacob Threadgill

The Nutcracker is perhaps the most popular ballet in the world, and Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s score has become a Christmas tradition, but something about the celebration of opulence never felt quite right to Oklahoma City dance instructor Hui Cha Poos.

Before Poos established RACE (Radical Application of Creative Energy) Dance Company and became an instructor at the University of Central Oklahoma, she taught at Douglass High School around the turn of the century, where she met a student named Carlos Robinson, whose story of finding success out of a broken home would serve as inspiration for her own adaptation of the classic The Hip Hop Nutcracker.

RACE performs its sixth rendition of Hip Hop Nutcracker with three performances 8 p.m. Dec. 8 and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Dec. 9 at Oklahoma City Community College’s Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater, 7777 S. May Ave.

Updated classic

“I was working with Oklahoma City Public Schools, and I wished I could make a show for them,” Poos said. “The Nutcracker came about because it starts off so pretty.

The first scene is in this beautiful house with gorgeous clothes. It’s not relatable.”

Poos remembered the story of Robinson, who now works in recruiting for OCCC, and used his upbringing as inspiration for a lead character of Hip Hop Nutcracker. Instead of a female lead with a perfect nuclear family, the lead of the RACE production is named Carlos, and he longs for a father he has never met.

“A commonality with a lot of the kids that I work with is that a lot of the boys don’t have a father figure,” Poos said. “It’s a reality I wanted to hit upon.”

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Poos treats Hip Hop Nutcracker as a living document. Each year, she works with a variety of friends to revamp the script and numbers and admitted that it’s one or two years away from being where she wants it.

RACE impact

After her initial idea for the production, it sat as a dream until she met Dominick Brown, who joined RACE at the age of 13.

“I met Dominick, and I remember thinking ‘Oh my gosh! You’re Carlos,’” Poos said.

Brown played the role of Carlos the first three years of the production, and he is now a freshman dance major Philadelphia’s The University of the Arts.

“I met a lot of people that I wouldn’t have known otherwise, and I’ve gotten a ton of opportunity because of RACE,” Brown said by telephone. “I wouldn’t be here today without them.”

Brown remembers how excited he was the first time he heard a radio advertisement for Hip Hop Nutcracker mention his character’s name because it was his first starring role. “[The role of Carlos] made me appreciate what I had more,” Brown said. “ I have two parents and a nice house, but I have friends and family that could relate to Carlos more than I could, so I took from their experience to try to make it more realistic for the audience. It was a realization that I was so fortunate.”

Brown’s epiphany is similar to what Poos hopes will happen with the audience.

“The key factor in the storyline is that not everything is perfect all of the time.

What you have to learn how to do is be grateful for what you have and then go from there,” Poos said.

The role of Carlos has been taken over

Daxton Anderson and James Grigsby have starring roles in RACE Dance Company’s performance of Hip Hop Nutcracker. | Photo RACE Dance Company / provided

by Daxton Anderson, who, like his character, doesn’t come from a traditional nuclear family, being raised by his grandparents.

“His grandmother came up to me and told me that she couldn’t believe this story exists for him because he can totally relate,” Poos said.

Fantasy adaptation

Carlos travels to three different imaginary lands where, instead of mice and soldiers, like in the original Nutcracker, he encounters ninja mice and robot soldiers. This year’s adaptation includes the addition of the character Mother Ginger that Poos said is a stand-in for Oklahoma teachers, and her gingerbread cookies are proverbial students.

“We’re impacted politically working with schools, but our show isn’t politically charged,” Poos said. “I didn’t want to make it overt for the children, but audience members that understand the plight that we’re in will get it.”

The adaptation follows Carlos through The Land of Possibility, where he imagines what it would be like to meet his father. In The Land of Hidden Treasure, he appreciates those who are in his life: family, friends, teachers. The production ends with a duet between Carlos’ mother and father.

“In this age where we talk about divorce so much, we forget that the kids need to know they were conceived out of a place of love,” Poos said. “All they see is the fight afterwards. Even if the marriage doesn’t make it, there was a point where they did love each other. We wanted to end with that on a positive note.”

Hip Hop Nutcracker 8 p.m. Dec. 8 and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Dec. 9 OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater 7777 S. May Ave. racedance.com | 405-410-4978 $20

December 1st marks the global awareness of World AIDS Day. The Oklahoma AIDS Care Fund and local area HIV/AIDS service providers are collaborating to paint the town RED in support of World AIDS Day and bring much-needed awareness to the cause.

World AIDS Day Art Show Benefiting the Oklahoma AIDS Care Fund Thursday, November 30th Waters Edge Winery 2nd Floor Event Space at 712 N Broadway Ave. 5:00p.m. - 8:00p.m.

Suggested Admission Donation of $10

Sponsored by:

We fight for those whooice. need a v 1 in 4

Oklahoma children lives in

Participating Artists Include: Alysson Atchison, Ronnie Bagenstos,

We surround our community’s most critical problems, and find every dollar we can to address them. Help Central Oklahoma win this fight for Central Oklahoma. Give today at

Plus Fresh StART Artists Lee Jones, Mark Lamb, Brenda McGahey & Art Reyes.

POVERTY.

Rose Braun, Ander Cardinale, Denise Duong, Graham Edwards, Kyle Golding, Mycah Highley, Carl Hurst, Farooq Karim, Bethany McAfee, Holley Mangham, Jon Martinez, Cindy Mason, Devie Maxwell, Mickie Metcalfe, Ric Miller, Regina Murphy, Armando Ortiz, Betty Refour, Virginia Sitzes, Bill Struby, Stephen Teafatiller, Suzanne Thomas.

StandUnitedOKC.com

Take a picture of yourself with a red ribbon and post it with #WorldAIDSDayOKC OklahomaAIDSCareFund @OkAIDSCare @redtienight For more information, call 405-348-6600 or visit www.okAIDScarefund.com.

Text OKAIDSCARE to 41444 to donate $10 to OACF.

Introducing THE FIRST

D O C TO R AT E of P S YC H O LO GY (Psy.D.) in C L I N I C A L P S YC H O LO GY IN OKLAHOMA Applications are being accepted for Fall 2018 through January 15th.

No master’s degree required. Info sessions available monthly.

405.208.5351

•

OKCU.edu/psyd O kg a z e t t e . c o m | n ov e m b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 7

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CALENDAR vibrance, through Jan. 1. Film Row, 700 W. Sheridan Ave., filmrowokc.com

are events recommended

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

Parlor Car Tours, take a guided walk through Science Museum Oklahoma’s fully-restored Pullman Parlor Car and get a glimpse of how people traveled in style during the early 20th century. Normally closed to the public, parlor car tours are available only during the holiday season, Nov. 24-Jan 1. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. FRI

BOOKS The Prince of the Prairie, the latest book by Betty Selakovich. She reads her three children’s picture books followed by a signing, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Dec. 2. Barnes & Noble, 6100 N. May Ave., 405-843-9300, barnesandnoble.com. SAT Secret Route 66: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure, authors Shellee Graham and Jim Ross sign their book, a guide to Route 66 uncovering secrets, memorable characters, and little-known stories behind the route’s enduring icons, 2-4 p.m.

Dec. 2. Barnes & Noble, 6100 N. May Ave., 405-8439300, barnesandnoble.com. SAT Reading Wednesdays, share your love for reading with your young children through seasonal, naturethemed books along with an interactive song and crafts, 10 a.m. Nov. 29. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens. com. WED Read for Adventure, the OKC Zoo and Metropolitan Library Systems have partnered to publish the children’s book, Our Day at the Zoo and to create a community Read for Adventure program enabling readers to check out the new book from any of the 19 Metro Library locations, through March 31.

Metropolitan Library System, 300 Park Ave., 405-2318650, metrolibrary.org.

HAPPENINGS Digitour, the world’s first social media tour and music festival features video creator Lauren Godwin, digital influencer Blake Gray and more, 5:30-9:30 p.m. Nov. 29. 89th Street - OKC, 8911 N. Western Ave., 89thstreetokc.com. WED Oklahoma Early Childhood Coalition, celebrate the coalition with speakers Dan Schiedel, CEO of United Way of Enid and Northwest Oklahoma; Gina McPherson, Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and more, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Nov. 30. Embassy Suites OKC Downtown- Medical Center, 741 N. Philips Ave., 405-239-3900, embassysuites3.hilton.com. THU Holiday Greens Wreath Workshop, create beautiful and fragrant natural decor for your home from scratch using evergreen boughs, 6-8 p.m. Nov. 30. Will Rogers Garden Center, 3400 NW 36th St., 405-9430827, okc.gov/recreation. THU Music for Messages: A Celebration of Hope, hear from the children Oklahoma Messages Project has helped and view video messages from families they formed. The event includes a raffle, appetizers and dessert, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 30. DC on Film Row, 609 W. Sheridan Ave., 405-410-3563, facebook.com/ okmessages. THU

LifeShare WinterFest, celebrate the holidays with snow tubing, Santa’s workshop and winter activities in a winter wonderland, weekends through Dec 1.

Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, 2 S. Mickey Mantle Drive, 405-218-1000, downtownindecember.com

Orr Family Farm Breakfast with Santa Delight in a pancake breakfast, story time, a Christmas craft and carols with Santa Claus at Orr Family Farm, 14400 S. Western Ave. Tickets are $17.50 and include a train ride and carousel ride 10-11:30 a.m. this Saturday as well as Dec. 9 and 16. Call 405-799-3276 or visit orrfamilyfarm.com. SATURDAY and Dec. 9 and 16 Photo Orr Family Farm/provided

Repeal Day Celebration, raise a glass to the end of Prohibition with classic cocktails, era costumes and more, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 1. Mary Eddy’s Kitchen x Lounge, 900 W. Main St., 405-982-6960, maryeddysokc.com. FRI

Sleigh Bells Market, finish your holiday shopping with the help of 50 vendors of vintage, handmade and local goods, noon-6 p.m. Dec. 3. OKC Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein Ave., 405-232-6506, okcfarmersmarket.com. SUN

Christmas Cookie Bake & Decorate, learn to bake the perfect sugar cookie, craft perfect royal icing and learn simple yet professional cookie decorating techniques and finish off your creation with sprinkles, sparkles and glitter, Dec. 2. Belle Kitchen, 7509 N. May Ave., 405-430-5484, belle-kitchen.com. SAT

Pet Photo Nights with Santa, your pets need a photo with Santa, too! Reserve your spot online to have a Christmas photo with your favorite family member, 6-7:30 p.m. Dec. 3. 7-8:30 p.m. Penn Square Mall, 1901 Northwest Expressway, 405-841-2696, simon.com/ petphoto. SUN

Faerie Gingerbread House Decorating, a twist on the usual Holiday season edible decor. Decorate your gingerbread house the way your faeries at home would like to see it, 9 a.m.-noon, Dec. 2. Will Rogers Garden Center, 3400 NW 36th St., 405-943-0827, okc.gov/recreation. SAT

Norman Innovation Challenge, student teams pitch their business concepts to a panel of judges during the day then a reception and awards ceremony follow, 4:30 p.m. Dec. 5. Sooner Theatre, 101 E. Main St., Norman, 405-321-9600, soonertheatre.com. TUE

Christmas Cookie Decorating, Join Stephanie McElhaney, owner of Kitchen No.4, for a lesson in holiday cookies. Learn how to make the perfect sugar cookie dough for decorating, techniques and tips on how to make the perfect cookies for all of your holiday events, 2 p.m. Dec. 3. The International Pantry, 1618 W. Lindsey St., Norman, 405-360-0765, intlpantry. com. SUN

SUNDAY Photo Oklahoma City Museum of Art/

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Winter Nights, immerse yourself in the smell, sights and sounds of Christmas with music, beautiful trees and a fire pit, 7-8:30, Dec. 1. Wells Family Christmas Tree Farm, 4091 E. Franklin Road, Norman, 405-4733300, wellschristmastrees.com. FRI Holiday Pop-Up Shops, with over 40 shops rotating weekly, you can find something for everyone on your list this Christmas season, through Dec. 23. OKC PopUps, 399 NW 10th St., okcpopups.com.

Free Holiday Water Taxi Rides, rides are narrated and holiday-themed along Bricktown canal decorated with beautiful Christmas lights, 6-9 p.m. through Dec. 31. Bricktown Canal, 115 E. California Ave., 405-2348263, downtownindecember.com.

Film Row Light Display, a location that once housed the offices of major Hollywood film studios is lit up this holiday season showcasing rich history and

PERFORMING ARTS Peppa Pig Live!, Peppa, George, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig are back with a performance for the whole family. It is jam-packed with life-size puppets, costume characters, songs, games, surprises and more, 5 p.m.

Nov. 30. Hudson Performance Hall, 2820 N. May Ave., 800-514-3849, etix.com. THU The International House of Poetry, a spoken word showcase featuring local, national and international poets while benefiting The Intune Mother Project.

Enjoy an open mic, food and drinks available by Cafe Do Brasil, 7-10 p.m. Friday, The TIM Center, 432 NW 11th St., 405-600-5989, timcenter.org. FRI

Pints and Palette Date Night, bring your significant other for beer and painting; paint The Night Before Christmas characters Sandy or Jack on canvas, 6-9 p.m. Nov. 29. Anthem Brewing Company, 908 SW 4th St., 405-604-0446, anthembrewing.com. WED

Sassafras Shopping Event, local vendors gather to provide vintage finds, home decor, boutiques, handmade items and more, 5-9 p.m. Dec 1. and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Dec. 2. Heart of Oklahoma Exposition Center, 1700 W. Independence St., Shawnee, 405-275-7020, shawneeexpo.org. FRI

Red Earth Tree Fest, features 25 Christmas trees decorated with handmade ornaments and art objects created by Oklahoma Native Tribes, 10-3 p.m. weekdays, through Jan. 5. Red Earth Art Center, 6 Santa Fe Plaza, 405-427-5228, redearth. org. MON

SMO Storytime Science, kids age 6 and under read a story and follow it up with a fun, scientific activity that is included with general admission, 10:30 a.m. every Tuesday. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place, 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok. org. TUE

FOOD

Couples Class: Gifting and Glitz, spend an evening picking up some baking skills you can use together with your significant other. Create a different, beautiful, gift worthy cookie or bar, Dec. 1. Belle Kitchen, 7509 N. May Ave., 405-430-5484, bellekitchen.com. FRI

Grow with Google, digital literacy is key in today’s world and Google helps job seekers, students, teachers, entrepreneurs and small-business owners be competitive in the tech industry, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Dec. 6. OKC Devon Boathouse District, 725 S. Lincoln Blvd, 405-552-4040, boathousedistrict.org. WED

provided

Christmas in the Park, a magical wonderland of visual entertainment. Drive, walk, or take the Yukon’s Best Express train through miles of illuminated fun in three interconnected city parks, 6-11 p.m. through Dec. 31.

Chisholm Trail Park, 500 W. Vandament, Yukon, 405350-8937, yukonok.gov.

A Dog Day in December, bring the pups and enjoy a pet-friendly Dog Day in December holiday party.

Take photos with Santa and enjoy complimentary Milk Bones and Cookies, 6-8 p.m. Dec. 1. Midtown Mutts Dog Park, 409 W. Park Place, 405-488-6262, downtownindecember.com. FRI

Tax Incentives for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings, learn about the federal and state investment tax credits for certified rehabilitation of a certified historic structure. A detailed discussion of the Historic Preservation Certification Application will guide owners and developers in successfully preparing the information needed, 10:30 a.m.-noon Dec. 6.

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

Sonic Free Family Day Spark creativity in your family this holiday season with Family Free Day featuring art activities, exciting performances, door prizes, a photo booth, glass art

by Dale Chilhuly and more noon-5 p.m.

Sunday at Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive.

Call 405-236-3100 or visit okcmoa.com.

OG&E Merry and Bright, enjoy charming holiday light displays and beautiful plant exhibits with free admission on Sundays 6-9 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 17. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405445-7080, myriadgardens.com. SUN

When the Earth Shakes, learn all about the science of earthquakes, tsunamis and tectonic plates while being immersed in interactive exhibits explaining the science behind earthquakes, Sept. 17-Jan. 2. Sam Noble Museum, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., Norman, 405-325-4712, samnoblemuseum.ou.edu.

Christmas on the Ranch, Kent and Shannon from recent appearances on Cutthroat Kitchen and Chopped prepare the perfect ranch holiday meal with certified Angus mesquite beef brisket, grilled asparagus with blanco sauce and more, 6:30 p.m. Dec. 5. The International Pantry, 1618 W. Lindsey St., Norman, 405-360-0765, intlpantry. com. TUE

YOUTH Saturdays with Santa, enjoy an herbal Christmas display with floral arrangements and festive displays that adorn the bridge while the outdoor grounds are decked with boughs of holly and greenery making a beautiful winter backdrop for your family photos, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 2. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, myriadgardens.com. SAT WinterFest, bundle up and try your hand at outdoor games perfect for the winter weather including a sleigh relay, festive lights tangle and a winter dress race along with other indoor fun, 1-4 p.m. Dec. 2.

Martin Park Nature Center, 5000 W. Memorial Ave., 405-297-1429, okc.gov/parks. SAT YES, a radically inclusive LGBTQ+ youth group for ages 13-21 featuring movies, music, dinner, monthly fandom nights with positive, knowledgeable staff and peers, 7 p.m. Thursdays. Expressions Community Center, 2245 NW 39th St., 405-570-1638, bethechange.org. THU Explore Evolution, explore the evolution of life and learn about all of Earth’s organisms, from rapidly evolving viruses to whales that walked, through Dec. 31. Sam Noble Museum, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., Norman, 405-325-4712, samnoblemuseum.ou.edu.

World AIDS Day Art Show Oklahoma AIDS Care Fund and local HIV and AIDS service providers are collaborating to paint the town red in support of World AIDS Day and bring much-needed awareness to the cause. The art show features artists Alyson Atchison, Graham Edwards, Virginia Sitzes and more 5-8 p.m. Thursday at Waters Edge Winery, 712 N. Broadway Ave. Call 405348-6600 visit okaidscarefund.com.

THURSDAY Photo Waters Edge Winery/provided A Celtic Christmas, takes place the night before Christmas in a remote farmhouse in a parish in the west of Ireland with festive Irish music, 7-9:30 p.m.

Dec. 1. The Gate Church, 7700 N. Council Road, 405.343.1025, spotlightproductionsokc.com. FRI Will Sing For Food Benefit Concert, a free evening of music with local artists Peggy Johnson, Catherine Fuller and ensemble Mixed Company. Get in the giving spirit with music focused on holiday cheer and social justice, 7 p.m. Dec. 2. Church of the Open Arms, 3131 N. Pennsylvania Ave., 405-525-9555, openarms.org. SAT Rodeo Opry, Oklahoma’s Official Country Music Show providing quality, family-friendly entertainment every Saturday night since 1977; support live music and the best performers representing country, folk, blues, gospel, rock, bluegrass and more, 7:30-10 p.m., through December,Centennial Rodeo Opry, 2221 Exchange Ave., 405-297-9773, ohfo.org. SAT Messiah!, featuring the famed arrangement by Goosens with instruments only seen in large, Romantic orchestras: two harps, four horns and a full wind section, 7 p.m. Dec. 3. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 405-297-2264, okcciviccenter. com. SUN Plaid Tidings, the legendary Plaids — Francis, Jinx, Smudge, and Sparky — come back to Earth to spread yuletide fun with the greatest holiday hits of the ages, through Dec. 3. Jewel Box Theatre, 3700 N. Walker Ave., 405-521-1786, jewelboxtheatre.org.

go to okgazette.com for full listings!

Ceramic Sale, get your holiday shopping done with these unique, handmade pieces created by local artists, 9 a.m.-10 p.m. through Dec 21. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd., 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org.

Distinguished Visiting Artist: Robert Taylor, view the works of the Tulsa-based artist combining significant symbolism with traditional and contemporary Native American themes in his evocative paintings burrowing from multiple styles and genres such as surrealism and magic realism to create mystical and often enigmatic images of nature, tribal life and spiritual rituals, through Dec. 30. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma.

Life and Legacy: The Art of Jerome Tiger, one of Oklahoma’s most celebrated artists, Jerome Tiger, produced hundreds of works of art and won numerous awards throughout the country. Celebrate the life and legacy of this remarkable painter, through May 13, 2018. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

Not For Sale: Graffiti Culture in Oklahoma, an exhibition promoting the positive impact of public street art and its dynamic urban history. A one-of-akind show including 10 artists who have been integral to the Oklahoma graffiti scene, through Nov. 30. Cox Pavilion State Fairgrounds, 3001 General Pershing Blvd.,405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org.

THU

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad After a wizard shrinks the princess, Sinbad must save her by taking on an island of monsters. This special screening of the 1958 film is part of the Ray Harryhausen — Mythical Menagerie exhibit at Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place. The evening includes a lecture about the film and its history and starts 6 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $10. Call 405-602-6664 or visit sciencemuseumok.org. SATURDAY Photo Science Museum Oklahoma/provided Me and Jezebel, this comedy captures the challenges of trying to please the queen of Hollywood, 8 p.m. Dec. 1-2, Carpenter Square Theatre, 806 W. Main St., 405-232-6500, carpentersquare.com. FRI Jen Kirkman, for women-only and all ages, this comedy is about Jen and her year of seeing fraudulent spiritual healers, holidays without family, tales of when she was a pretentious hater of pop culture and more, Dec. 2. ACM Performance Lab, 329 E. Sheridan Ave., 405-974-4700, acm.uco.edu. SAT Junie B in Jingle Bells Batman Smells, in Junie B Jones’ world, things are very clear: Christmas means you get presents, elf costumes are awesome and May is a blabbermouth tattletale. Things are going well until she pulls May as her Secret Santa, through Dec. 17. Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave., 405-606-7003, oklahomachildrenstheatre.org Lyric’s A Christmas Carol, experience the production of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol with a stunning set and sparkling costumes. Go on a magical journey with Ebenezer Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, through

Dec. 24. Lyric Theatre, 1727 N.W. 16th St., 405-5249312, lyrictheatreokc.com. WED The Christmas Show, OKC Phil’s annual holiday extravaganza returns starring Broadway’s Elizabeth Stanley, the Philharmonic Pops Chorale, the Mistletoes and of course, Santa, all singing and dancing to your most favorite holiday songs, Nov. 30-Dec. 2. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 405-842-5387, okcphil.org.

The Unusual Tale of Mary and Joseph’s Baby, an original folk musical to engage people with bursts of imagination and wonder on a sincere human level, 7:30 through Dec. 3. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 405-297-2264, okcciviccenter.com.

Hansel and Gretel, a holiday fairy tale opera a compelling story of breadcrumbs, guardian angels and a witch on a broomstick, 8 p.m. Dec. 1-2, 3 p.m. Dec. 3. Reynolds Performing Arts Center, 560 Parrington Oval, Norman, 405-325-7370, ou.edu. THU

ACTIVE Learn-to-Swim Program, giving residents of all ages and financial situations the opportunity to learn to swim with proper technique and basic water safety at their own pace offered by the King Marlin Swim Club, ongoing. Lighthouse Sports, Fitness and Health, 3333 W. Hefner Road, 405-845-5672 , marlinswimamerica. com.

Reclamation Re-Creation, an exhibition celebrating 20 years of [Artspace] showing a timeline of major exhibitions and milestones, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. through Dec. 30. [Artspace] at Untitled, 1 NE Third St., 405815-6665, artspaceatuntitled.org.

Sole Expression: The Art of the Shoe, features the creations of 25 local, national and international shoe designers and artists; guests examine how the shoe has been interpreted in art throughout history and the science and engineering behind specific shoe designs, through December. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2020 Remington Place , 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org.

Sonic Family Free Day, spark the creativity in your family this holiday season. Family Free Day features art activities, exciting performances, door prizes, a photo booth and more. Glass art by Dale Chilhuly is on exhibit, 12-5 p.m. Dec. 3. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa. com. SUN The New Art: A Controversial Collection Fifty Years Later, the 150-piece permanent collection purchased from the Washington Gallery of Modern Art is dedicated to the collection of contemporary art and features abstract expressionism, post-painterly abstraction, color field painting and pop art, through May 13. 2018. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com.

The Sculptural Works of William Cannings, featuring the unique sculptures of acclaimed British-born artist William Cannings who is currently chair of the sculpture department at Texas Tech University, 7:30 p.m. through Dec. 1. Nesbitt Gallery, 1727 W. Alabama Ave., Chickasha, 405-416-3524, usao.edu.

We the People: A Portrait of Early Oklahoma, enjoy a selection of Henry Wantland’s photography from his family’s arrival to Stillwater in 1891. Images documented over a two-decade span can be viewed during a temporary exhibition, through January 2018.

Will Rogers World Airport, 7100 Terminal Drive, 405478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org. TUE

Learn to Curl, enjoy one Olympic sport you can learn to perfect with the Oklahoma Curling Club.

Club members walk you through the basic rules and etiquette of curling, explain the how’s and why’s of delivering and sweeping a stone and get you on the ice enjoying the sport of curling with friends or family, 9-10:30 a.m. Dec. 2. Devon Ice Rink, 100 N. Robinson Ave., 405-235-3500, downtownindecember.com. SAT

OSU-OKC Poinsettia Sale Shop for Christmas floral displays full of red, white, pink and even orange leaves at Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City’s poinsettia sale. All plants are planted on campus in the beginning of spring, and the nine-month growing process involves diligent care from students, faculty and staff of OSU-OKC Agricultural Technologies. The sale is 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday at OSU-OKC’s John E. Kirkpatrick Horticulture Center, 400 N. Portland Ave. Visit osuokc.edu.

Photo Oklahoma State University/provided

Devon Ice Rink, bundle up, grab your friends and family and enjoy a great day of fresh air and skating in the prettiest spot in town, through Jan. 28. Monday-Thursday 3pm-9pm, Friday 3pm-11pm, Saturday 11am-11pm Sunday 11am-7pm. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-200-1547, myriadgardens.com. FRI

VISUAL ARTS Body, curated to examine how the body has been used to address the themes of movement, fragmentation and mechanization, geometry and identity, through Dec. 30. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 405-325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma.

Cartoons & Comics: The Early Art of Tom Ryan, the drawings of acclaimed Western artist Tom Ryan are displayed showcasing his creativity, talent, and humor from his teenage imagination, high school and coast guard years and his school paper’s sports page, through April 1, 2018. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

Buy This! holiday Gift Guide

ShowcaSe your gift Selection in our

special holiday gift guide feature a unique and local gift in gazette’S holiday gift guide.

Purchase any size ad in these issues to receive your comPlimentary item in the Gift Guide.

puBlishing november 22 & 29 december 6, 13 & 20

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 37

Book your ad space today! call 405.528.6000 or email specialsections@okgazette.com O kg a z e t t e . c o m | N OV E M b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 7

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MUSIC

COV E R

Lady Gaga | Photo Collier Schorr / provided

‘Born’ again

Lady Gaga is set to return to Oklahoma City for the first time in seven years. A mass of dedicated fans awaits her. By Ben Luschen

If there is one constant in Lady Gaga fandom, it’s that it is never boring.

Gaga, the global pop sensation and cultural icon born Stefani Germanotta, will soon be making her first visit to Oklahoma City since 2010’s The Monster Ball Tour, back when Chesapeake Energy Arena was known as the Ford Center. Her fiercely loyal fanbase patiently waited for her return, which is scheduled to begin 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at the redubbed arena, 100 W. Reno Ave. The pop star entered the public consciousness known as much for her wild outfits and stage antics as her music, though the many fans that fell for albums like 2008’s The Fame (later reissued as The Fame Monster in 2009) and 2011’s Born This Way loved her lyrical message of acceptance and love.

But Gaga’s image has become more refined in recent years. She released the collaborative album Cheek to Cheek with Tony Bennett in 2014, impressing many Jacob Abello | Photo provided

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with her eloquent jazz vocals. Her most recent studio album, 2016’s Joanne, is a sonically stripped-down release as close to a singer-songwriter album as most mega pop stars can manage. And, of course, she was seen by millions as the halftime entertainment for Super Bowl LI in February.

It will be interesting to see where Gaga’s career arc goes from here. Will she continue to refine her image and music or move back to the style of her Born This Way peak? Knowing Gaga, it is likely that she could present a version of herself audiences have yet to see.

Whatever the case might be, the artist has accumulated a legion of loyal fans who will be there to support her, in large part because she has always been there to support them. Oklahoma Gazette recently gathered fan accounts from several locals who all credit Gaga as a true inspiration.

Jacob Abello

For a time, Jacob Abello would not even consider leaving the house unless he

looked a certain way. One summer, he wore all black and carried an umbrella.

Prettyboy, the name Abello performs under for his art-pop solo project, was not necessarily inspired by Lady Gaga, but it was certainly informed by her style and pageantry.

“The allure really came from her insistence that performing really was a lifestyle,” he said. “Her art extended past the stage and the record and the music and her performances even. Anytime she was in public, she was a performer.”

Abello began his career as a folk-rock singer-songwriter but fully evolved into Prettyboy with the release of his album Nothing But Gold in 2009. He had wanted to take his music in a more synthy, eccentric direction before he even knew who Gaga was, but discovering her larger-than-life character did help Abello flesh out the rest of his Prettyboy persona.

He remembers one of his biggest shows at the second Norman Music Festival.

“It was totally Gaga,” he said. “I had dancers; there was a lot of Catholic imagery.”

These days, Abello is going to school, finishing up his undergraduate studies in political science and possibly headed to law school after that. He is scheduled to release his long-anticipated new Prettyboy album sometime in 2018.

It is unlikely that Abello will ever be as famous as Gaga, and he is OK with that. But for a few years, within his local sphere of influence, Abello was a highly recognized and regarded figure. With that in mind, it is no wonder Abello latched onto the pop star’s theatrical critique of fame. It’s a world and lifestyle he had once embraced.

“For that short time in my life, it’s probably the most famous I might ever be,” he said. “I got to kind of live in her world a little bit, so it was really fun.”

Madison Ewald

It was not the first time Madison Ewald and her friend Meredith Eldridge had prepared a gift for Lady Gaga, but it was the most memorable.

Gaga often designates a time during her concerts when fans can throw gifts for her up on stage. Ewald and Eldridge, longtime friends who met while growing up in Fairview, always work to prepare something for their favorite pop star, including for her July 2014 Dallas concert in support of the album Artpop.

When the time was finally right to throw the gifts, Ewald and Eldridge enlisted the help of a man a few rows in front of them, who was able to chuck their Hello Kitty doll and attached letter directly in front of the singer.

The gift immediately caught Gaga’s attention. She opened the letter and began reading it on stage. A video of the moment titled Gaga Reads Letter From Fans in Dallas can be seen on YouTube.

The short letter, which the friends gave the title “Hopelessly Devoted,” begins, “We are Meredith and Madison. We are

from a small town in Oklahoma that only has two stoplights. We have always had an affinity for the avant-garde but struggle with a way to express it, especially in such a conservative community.”

The letter goes on to thank Gaga for her music and the way she uses her platform to promote a message of love and acceptance. Ewald and Eldridge are both crying throughout the reading. The pop star was clearly moved too and invited them to meet her backstage after reading the letter in front of a packed house.

“I would really love to thank you in person, if that’s OK,” she said onstage.

Someone with Gaga’s team rushed to their location in the crowd and told them where to go after the show. After the show, while waiting to meet Gaga, Ewald tried hard to keep composed.

Madison Ewald | Photo provided

“The one thing I did not want to do was cry because she doesn’t like it when people freak out when they meet her,” she said.

Ewald remembers telling the pop star that she thought the concert was the best Gaga show she had attended. She remembers seeing the vocalist’s face light up with appreciation. Ewald said she thinks the compliment must have particularly registered with her, possibly because of Artpop’s lukewarm critical reception.

“I could tell it really mattered to her, what her fans thought and felt,” she said.

“To really let her know that I was a fan and supported her was a cool experience.”

Nathan Hatcher

In 2008 at age 17, Nathan Hatcher already considered himself a music obsessive. But after hearing “Poker Face” at a friend’s house, he thrust himself into frenzy of research on his brand-new obsession.

“I hadn’t really discovered such a creative lyricist before,” he said. “I had to hear more, so I looked up ‘Paparazzi’ on YouTube and found a video of Gaga

performing a live, acoustic version of the song. She was the real deal.”

His fascination reached a fever pitch during Gaga’s 2009 MTV Video Music Awards performance, one in which the artist theatrically “bled to death” in a pool of fake blood.

Hearing her message and seeing her following and knowing that there are other people like her — like me — it makes it OK. Ethan Meiwes “The audience gasped,” he said. “I cried.

I was shook, and I was in love.”

To Hatcher, Gaga encompasses a message of love, equality and acceptance.

She is the one thing he seems to have in common with all of his friends, and he’s waiting excitedly for the upcoming show in Oklahoma City, his fourth Gaga show.

“Her music guided me out of my adolescence, and who she is continues to inspire me as an adult,” he said.

Ethan Meiwes

When Ethan Meiwes went to his first Lady

Gaga concert at 16, he heard her say something that registered with him and stayed in his thoughts long after the massive, sold-out arena show ended. Today, those same words can be found tattooed on his shoulder.

Attending the Dallas concert of Gaga’s Monster Ball tour, Meiwes, who was raised in a family where it was taboo to be different, said he was in awe of how many people at the show were dressed up and distinct — letting their “freak flags fly.”

“You were free from judgment; you were free from ridicule,” he said. “It was amazing.”

At some point in the show, Gaga said to her captive audience, “Even if the whole world gives up on you, you always have yourself.”

Meiwes said he was struggling at the time with questions of identity and selfacceptance, so to hear his favorite pop star say those words felt empowering. He never forgot the quote and, after turning 20, made it his first tattoo.

Meiwes publically came out as gay three years later. He had many fears that opening up to his family and others would lead to some rejection, but to his surprise, that was kept to a minimum. What he found instead was overwhelming acceptance.

If he had not ever heard of Gaga, Meiwes said he might still be closeted today.

“Hearing her message and seeing her following and knowing that there are other people like her — like me — it makes it OK,” he said.

Sarah Neese | Photo provided

Sarah Neese

As a past survivor of sexual assault, Sarah Neese finds strength in Gaga’s 2015 song “Til It Happens to You.” “You tell me it gets better, it gets better, in time,” the lyrics go. “You say I’ll pull myself together, pull it together, you’ll be fine. Tell me what the hell do you know?

What do you know? Till it happens to you, you don’t know how it feels.”

Neese said many victims long to be comforted and shown by someone — anyone — that they are worthy of something greater than their assault.

“And yet, we’re met with doubt, closed

doors and the misunderstanding of those who think ‘getting over it’ should be a destination and not a journey,” she said.

For Neese, Gaga was the voice of understanding for which she’d long been pining, and not just in regard to assault. Neese, like Gaga, was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition that affects women twice as often as it does men.

“I look at her honest struggle, and I’m inspired,” she said. “Inspired, because fibromyalgia does not discriminate between fame and anonymity. To her body, she is not Gaga; she is Stefani Germanotta. She’s on top of the world, and yet the very thing that plagues my body also plagues hers.”

Neese said seeing someone experiencing similar pain while still performing with such passion and on such a high level inspires her.

“It gives me hope that the pain that figuratively erodes my body will not erode my spirit,” she said. “I will not let those who do not understand my pain tell me what I should or should not feel.”

Lady Gaga 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 Chesapeake Energy Arena 100 W. Reno Ave. chesapeakearena.com | 1-800-745-3000 $39-$9,996

Home for the Holidays The American Spirit Dance Company Jo Rowan, Director presents

November 30

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Maria BaMfOrd December 8

A Gift of American Dance

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December 7-10

Box Office: 405-208-5227 | OKCU.EDU/TICKETS

Thursday 8 pm | Friday 8 pm | Saturday 2 pm & 8 pm | Sunday 2 pm Tickets $29.85 | Group Rate (8 or more) $18.85 | Kirkpatrick Auditorium - Oklahoma City University

405-70-TOWER | 425 NW 23rd St. OKC O kg a z e t t e . c o m | n ov e m b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 7

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MUSIC Hollywood Undead | Photo Jake Stark / provided

Wed, nov 29

whisky priesT thurs, nov 30

clinT hardesTy Fri, Dec 1

sat, Dec 2

rachel lynch Wed, Dec 6

blake lankfOrd thurs, Dec 7

sTephen baker

EVENT

crOOked feeT

Heavy duty

Hollywood Undead and Butcher Babies unite for a wild show at Diamond Ballroom. By Ben Luschen

Fri, Dec 8

Tanner Miller band w/ cake eaTers sat, Dec 9

raina cObb, ben brOck and naThan lanier Wed, Dec 13

abbigale dawn thurs, Dec 14

clinT hardesTy Fri, Dec 15

isaac Mcclung sat, Dec 16

dan MarTin Weekly events Mondays

Open Mic w/caleb Mcgee tuesdays

Tanner Miller 405.928.4550

Fans who scratched their heads when they saw Hollywood Undead and Butcher Babies were set to share an upcoming tour will more than likely leave the show wondering why they had not paired earlier.

Rap rock and thrash metal will join forces Sunday when the two bands bring their shared tour to Diamond Ballroom, 8001 S. Eastern Ave. Oklahoma Citybased rock quartet Atoms Heir is also on the bill. Admission is $22.50.

Oklahoma Gazette spoke with both Hollywood Undead and Butcher Babies to preview what will be one of December’s most surefire nights of moshing and head banging.

Hollywood Undead

Tues, Dec 05

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Texas hippie coaliTion W/ cosmic Wool saT, Dec 16

Jd mcpherson W/ parker millsap saT, Dec 30

Turnpike Troubadours W/ charleY crockeTT Mon, Jan 1

hangover ball W/ codY canada, evan felker, Jason boland, mike mcclure, Wade boWen, Jamie lin Wilson, William clark green, bJ barham sun, Jan 21

Wanda Jackson Fri, Feb 09

blackberrY smoke W/ lukas nelson Tulsa ok

423 norTh main sT

TickeTs & info cainsballroom.com 36

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In the world of hip-hop, collaborating with outside artists is not only commonplace but actually expected by many. So it can be surprising to learn that Los Angeles rap-rock and nu metal fivepiece Hollywood Undead had not previously featured a guest vocalist on a studio album in its four-album history.

Then again, when a group includes as many as five vocalists, it can be challenging to squeeze another into the mix. Still, Hollywood Undead — with a current lineup that includes Jorel “J-Dog” Decker, Dylan “Funny Man” Alvarez, George “Johnny 3 Tears” Ragan, Jordan “Charlie Scene” Terrell and Danny Murillo — made a goal to include at least one guest star on its fifth studio album, aptly named Five, released Oct. 27.

The group could not have found a more appropriate emcee as its first featured artist than Cypress Hill great B-Real, who contributes the last verse on the song “Black Cadillac.” Aside from shared California roots, B-Real (born Louis Freese) is at home with a hard rock backing, rapping with pitch over songs like “(Rock) Superstar” and recently in the supergroup Prophets of Rage with members of Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine and Public Enemy vocalist Chuck D. “It’s exciting; it’s a dream come true,” Ragan said in a recent Oklahoma Gazette interview. “I’m not a kid anymore, but it made me feel young again, which is nice.”

Ragan said his personal background in music was one that was one part hip-hop and one part classic rock. He loved groups

like Wu-Tang Clan and N.W.A., but his dad’s obsession with Neil Young and Tom Petty also made a lasting impact on him.

Hollywood Undead was actually so moved by the death of Petty that they covered at least one of his songs each night on tour for a week straight.

“He’s a quintessential massive rock star that acted like he was any other Joe,” Ragan said.

Hollywood Undead’s albums are usually an emotional grab bag, with themes ranging from social justice and perseverance to sex and partying. Five is similarly varied, but the album definitely carries a more noticeable positive tone than some of its predecessors.

Songs like “Whatever It Takes,” “Nobody’s Watching” and “Your Life” carry messages of empowerment. Ragan said while he did notice Five has an overall uplifting message, that was not their intention when they were writing it. Instead, he thinks they were subconsciously responding to the chaotic state of the world around them.

Ragan said Hollywood Undead always strives to maintain a balance on its tracklist to stay true to its fans.

“You want to be honest and you want to tell the truth no matter what,” he said.

“A lot of people, they work on melodies, they work on progressions, they work on all the technicalities in music, but none of those things matter when you’re not telling the truth.”

Butcher Babies

Contrary to what some might believe, a musician’s personal interests are often far more varied than the singular genre they have been assigned by either clever marketers or fan groupthink.

Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey, dual vocalists fronting the Los Angeles metal quintet Butcher Babies, are known by many as vixens of thrash metal, but both have musical tastes that would likely surprise fans and critics.

“My very first concert was Backstreet Boys,” Shepherd said. “My mom took me to see Backstreet Boys, and I can recite every lyric from any Backstreet Boys or Spice Girls song.”

Harvey began playing violin at age 5 and has a deep appreciation for classical

music. She also loves jazz, particularly Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew.

“When you’re a musician, I think it’s important to listen to and take inspiration from all different kinds of music,” Harvey said, “and everyone in this band definitely does that.”

Make no mistake, metal has been at the forefront of both vocalists’ lives for a long time. Still, Butcher Babies’ newest album Lilith, released the same day as Hollywood Undead’s Five, is the band’s best example of its cumulative eclecticism.

Butcher Babies has existed for eight years, and while the new album keeps the band’s trademark heft and edge, Shepherd and Harvey wanted to use the opportunity to experiment and see where they could take themselves.

The album begins with “Burn the Straw Man,” which is possibly the heaviest and most aggressive thing Butcher Babies has ever done. It ends with “Underground and Overrated,” which carries a hard rock, Van Halen vibe.

“One thing that Carla and I wanted to do when we set out for it was kind of explore ’90s, sassy girl-type vocals,” Shepherd said. “I think we accomplished that in some of the songs.”

Lilith is also the first Butcher Babies album to openly tackle sexual themes.

The band — specifically its two female vocalists — is routinely sexualized by metal novices and fans alike.

In the past, it has decided to avoid sex in its lyrics. Lilith’s third track “Headspin” is explicitly sensual, but it is also very heavy and maintains a trademark Butcher Babies sound. Harvey said if the band was going to release a song such as this to appeal to wider commercial audiences, it was going to make sure the song was done the Butcher Babies way.

The result? Harvey said fans love it and are actually opening up mosh pits to the song at live shows.

“It’s my mom’s favorite song on the album,” Shepherd said.

Harvey said a lot of Butcher Babies fans were at first surprised to hear they were touring with Hollywood Undead. While the fanbases of the two groups might not have a lot of overlap, they both offer hardhitting live shows that have no problem turning witnessing fans into believers.

“That is a fun thing for us to do every night, which is to win over a bunch of people who, at first, are looking at us like we have three heads, but by the last song they’re smiling, starting pits, crowd surfing,” she said. “It’s really cool for us to do that every night.”

Hollywood Undead w/ Butcher Babies and Atoms Heir 7 p.m. Sunday Diamond Ballroom 8001 S. Eastern Ave. diamondballroom.net | 1-800-514-3849 $22.50

LIVE MUSIC These are events recommended

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

WEDNESDAY, 11.29 Amarillo Junction, JJ‘s Alley. COUNTRY Jake Gill, Hollywood Corners Station, Norman.

COUNTRY Moth Wings, Warehouse B. INDIE Whisky Priest, Blue Bonnet Bar, Norman. ROCK

THURSDAY, 11.30 Bettysoo/Jaimee Harris, The Blue Door.

SINGER/SONGWRITER Cavern Company/Space4Lease, Tower Theatre.

INDIE Christophe Murdock, Your Mom‘s Place.

COUNTRY Clint Hardesty, Blue Bonnet Bar, Norman. BLUES Groovement, Bison Witches Bar & Deli, Norman.

ROCK Jabee/Sativa Prophets/LTZ and more, The Deli, Norman. HIP-HOP

Harpeth Rising Jordana Greenberg, Maria Di Maglio and Michelle Younger make up the band Harpeth Rising, playing cello, violin and banjo. The trio transforms folk, newgrass, rock and classical music into something completely unique and genre-bending 7 p.m. Sunday at The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave. Tickets are $20. Visit pasnorman. org or call 405-307-9320.

SUNDAY Photo The Depot/provided

Papa Roach/Falling in Reverse/Locust Grove, Diamond Ballroom. ROCK

Jaimee Harris, The Blue Door. FOLK

R. Kelly, The Criterion. R&B

Jason Scott, The Deli, Norman. FOLK

Rachel Lynch, Blue Bonnet Bar, Norman.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

Michael W. Smith/Jordan Smith, Crossings Community Church. CHRISTIAN

Roots of Thought, Blue Note Lounge. INDIE

Nadia Thomas, Sauced on Paseo. SINGER/ SONGWRITER

Sissy Brown, Anthem Brewing Company.

COUNTRY

Stephen Salewon, JJ‘s Alley. FOLK

Steven Curtis Chapman/Plumb/We Are Messengers and more, Council Road Baptist Church. CHRISTIAN

FRIDAY, 12.1 Crooked Feet, Blue Bonnet Bar, Norman. INDIE Druce Wayne/Jarvix, 51st Street Speakeasy.

HIP-HOP James Cook, Grady‘s 66 Pub, Yukon. COUNTRY JPhelpz, Kamps 1310 Lounge. METAL Justin Robbins, Fuel Bar and Grill. INDIE Layken Urie, Jacky‘s Unique Club.

SINGER/SONGWRITER Lincka, Opolis, Norman. POP Miley Virus, Still Working Bar. ROCK Pluto Rest in Peace/Packing for Pluto/Free Pluto, 89th Street - OKC. ROCK Postmodern Jukebox, The Criterion. JAZZ Raina Cobb, Native Spirits Winery, Norman.

SINGER/SONGWRITER Shortt Dogg, UCO Jazz Lab. BLUES Stephen Salewon, Paseo Arts District. FOLK The Michael Updegrove Band, Big Dick‘s Roadhouse, Yukon. BLUES The Okie Tramps, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery.

ROCK The Sizemores/The Killings, The Blue Note. PUNK Zane Williams, Graham‘s Central Station.

COUNTRY

Sunny Sweeney/Brennen Leigh/Courtney Patton and more, The Blue Door. COUNTRY The March Divide, Red Brick Bar, Norman. ROCK Uncle Blue, Fuel Bar and Grill. BLUES

SUNDAY, 12.3 Broadside/For the Win/We Were Sharks, 89th Street - OKC. POP Dani Carson, Red Brick Bar, Norman. COUNTRY Freddy & Francine, The Blue Door. R&B Hosty, The Deli, Norman. BLUES

MONDAY, 12.4 Bloodline/Be//Gotten, 89th Street - OKC. METAL Bobby Recluse, The Root. ACOUSTIC

TUESDAY, 12.5 Hosty, JJ’s Alley. BLUES

WEDNESDAY, 12.6 Blake Lankford, Blue Bonnet Bar, Norman.

COUNTRY Dan Martin/Ben Brock, JJ‘s Alley. FOLK Elizabeth Speegle Band/Bat-Or Kalo, The Root.

BLUES Keep Flying, 89th Street - OKC. PUNK

SATURDAY, 12.2 Abram Shook, Opolis, Norman. ROCK Brandi Reloaded, Remington Park. ROCK Eldredge Jackson, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. JAZZ John Moreland, Tower Theatre. FOLK Kirra, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK Meanstreak, OKC Limits. ROCK Midas 13, The Landing Zone, Midwest City. ROCK Mojo Thief, The Root. ROCK

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.

go to okgazette.com for full listings!

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puzzles New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

By Tom McCoy | Edited by Will Shortz | 1119

ACROSS 1 Sports figures 6 Words said through a car window 11 The Land Shark’s show, for short 14 Throw (together) 18 Fervor 19 Reno’s county 20 It may come hot or iced 21 ____ Modern 22 This clue’s 110-Across, timewise 24 Not definitely going to happen 26 Furry, red TV character 27 Young actress who played two

main characters in The Parent Trap 28 This clue’s 110-Across, at the Olympics 30 Flipped (through) 32 Former executive with the same

interior letters as his company 34 As such 35 Compete (for) 36 Opposite of blanc 38 NYC attraction 40 “I love her ten times more than

____ I did”: Shak.

41 Large amount 44 Steak ____ 46 End of the sci-fi film titles First Man … and Last Days …

49 This clue’s 110-Across, as is

relevant each November 52 Assessment: Abbr.

53 Mork’s boss on Mork & Mindy 54 Branching point 55 Leave one’s mark?

59 Bro or sis: Abbr.

60 Phillies’ div.

61 Staple of Southern cuisine 62 One after whom a Times Square

museum is named 63 Prefix with -mester 64 This clue’s 110-Across, to the superstitious 69 Martinique, par exemple 70 Words of adulation 72 Mimics 73 Temple athlete 74 Clear, as a table 75 Jordan who directed Get Out 76 Feline’s warning 77 Home of Oral Roberts University

80 Shakespearean plotter 81 This clue’s 110-Across, in chemistry 85 Return fee?

87 Moving companies?

88 Unit of grass 89 Article in a German paper 90 Quash 92 State sch. on the Pacific Coast 93 Co. leader 94 Beethoven dedicatee 97 Pat of The Karate Kid 99 Thanksgiving role 102 This clue’s 110-Across, in terms

of attractiveness 104 2017 U.S. Open winner 107 13th or 15th 109 “My word!”

110 Something to count to

understand 22-, 28-, 49-, 64-,

81- and 102113 “____ It Romantic?”

114 Designer Maya 115 Dramatic battle cry 116 Ornamental crown 117 Rising concerns in modern times?

118 “You rang?”

119 Primetime ____ 120 Sen. Thurmond DOWN 1 “Me too!!!”

2 Warble 3 Snapchat request 4 Uselessly 5 ____ Lanka 6 Has in an old form?

7 Labor agcy.

8 Perform perfunctorily 9 Debt note 10 Certain high school clique 11 One of the stuntmen on Jackass 12 Old-fashioned “That’s absolutely

the last time” 13 The Lonely Mountain, for Smaug 14 Play place 15 Worker 16 Place holders?

17 Kitchen tool 19 “____ have thought …”

23 Giddy happiness 25 Recipe amt.

29 As far as one can recall 31 Hero role in The Force Awakens 33 Country whose name is also a

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two-word sentence 36 Badgers 37 Crumbled froyo topping 39 Nickname for a young Darth Vader 41 Be really generous to a waiter 42 Words before “I’m going in” 43 List-ending phrase 44 Weighed, in a way, as a container 45 Orders 47 University in Montreal 48 Seniors’ org.

50 ____ Heights 51 Mild cheese 56 Famous password stealer 57 Inundated 58 Trash-filled lot, e.g.

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Marketing Manager Kelsey Lowe

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78 Ones stationed at home 79 Told stories 80 McDonald’s slogan introduced in 2003 82 URL ending 83 Push 84 Ride option 85 Hollywood news 86 Businesswoman Huffington 89 Layer of skin

91 Wooden nickels, e.g.

93 Give a ring 95 Blind parts 96 Right-angle shape 98 Fit to be tied 99 2006 film with massive profits in

related toy sales 100 One of Mr. Poe’s children in a

Lemony Snicket book 101 Back in 103 Oleaginous 105 Wrong 106 Blue side, for short 108 Fraud 111 ____ de guerre 112 French connections Note: The circled letters spell a bonus answer related to the puzzle’s theme.

New York Times Crossword Puzzle answers Puzzle No. 1112, which appeared in the November 22 issue.

G I F F I N E R S Q U A M I M S E T O Q U S O U P M R I E E R M T A M H E L O O N V A L I N E R N A S A G S Q U B T U E R E C T A U T S P E N 38

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Sudoku medium | n°2147473041 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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free will astrology Homework: What change have you prepared yourself to embrace? What lesson are you ripe to master? Write: FreeWillAstrology.com ARIES (March 21-April 19) I hope that everything doesn’t come too easily for you in the coming weeks.

I’m worried you will meet with no obstructions and face no challenges. And that wouldn’t be good. It might weaken your willpower and cause your puzzle-solving skills to atrophy. Let me add a small caveat, however.

It’s also true that right about now you deserve a whoosh of slack. I’d love for you to be able to relax and enjoy your well-deserved rewards. But on the other hand, I know you will soon receive an opportunity to boost yourself up to an even higher level of excellence and accomplishment. I want to be sure that when it comes, you are at peak strength and alertness.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You were born with

the potential to give the world specific gifts -- benefits and blessings that are unique to you. One of those gifts has been slow in developing. You’ve never been ready to confidently offer it in its fullness. In fact, if you have tried to bestow it in the past, it may have caused problems. But the good news is that in the coming months, this gift will finally be ripe. You’ll know how to deal crisply with the interesting responsibilities it asks you to take on. Here’s your homework: Get clear about what this gift is and what you will have to do to offer it in its fullness.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Happy Unbirthday,

Gemini! You’re halfway between your last birthday and your next. That means you’re free to experiment with being different from who you have imagined yourself to be and who other people expect you to be.

Here are inspirational quotes to help you celebrate.

1. “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” - George Bernard Shaw. 2. “Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one’s mind.” - W. Somerset Maugham. 3. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson. 4. “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which

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This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of this law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings in . our newspaper are available on an equal housing opportunity basis

are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” - Friedrich Nietzsche.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) I suggest that you take

a piece of paper and write down a list of your biggest fears. Then call on the magical force within you that is bigger and smarter than your fears. Ask your deep sources of wisdom for the poised courage you need to keep those scary fantasies in their proper place. And what is their proper place? Not as the masters of your destiny, not as controlling agents that prevent you from living lustily, but rather as helpful guides that keep you from taking foolish risks.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) In his book Life: The Odds, Gregory Baer says that the odds you will marry a millionaire are not good: 215-to-1. They’re 60,000to-1 that you’ll wed royalty and 88,000-to-1 that you’ll date a model. After analyzing your astrological omens for the coming months, I suspect your chances of achieving these feats will be even lower than usual.

That’s because you’re far more likely to cultivate synergetic and symbiotic relationships with people who enrich your soul and stimulate your imagination, but don’t necessarily pump up your ego. Instead of models and millionaires, you’re likely to connect with practical idealists, energetic creators, and emotionally intelligent people who’ve done work to transmute their own darkness.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) What might you do to

take better care of yourself in 2018, Virgo? According to my reading of the astrological omens, this will be a fertile meditation for you to keep revisiting. Here’s a good place to start: Consider the possibility that you have a lot to learn about what makes your body operate at peak efficiency and what keeps your soul humming along with the sense that your life is interesting. Here’s another crucial task: Intensify your love for yourself.

With that as a driving force, you’ll be led to discover the actions necessary to supercharge your health. P.S. Now is an ideal time to get this project underway.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Here are themes I suggest

you specialize in during the coming weeks. 1. How to gossip

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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) I predict that in the

coming months you won’t feel compulsions to set your adversaries’ hair on fire. You won’t fantasize about robbing banks to raise the funds you need, nor will you be tempted to worship the devil. And the news just gets better. I expect that the amount of selfsabotage you commit will be close to zero. The monsters under your bed will go on a long sabbatical.

Any lame excuses you have used in the past to justify bad behavior will melt away. And you’ll mostly avoid indulging in bouts of irrational and unwarranted anger. In conclusion, Scorpio, your life should be pretty evil-free for quite some time. What will you do with this prolonged outburst of grace? Use it wisely!

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) “What is love?”

asks philosopher Richard Smoley. “It’s come to have a greeting-card quality,” he mourns. “Half the time ‘loving’ someone is taken to mean nurturing a warmish feeling in the heart for them, which mysteriously evaporates the moment the person has some concrete need or irritates us.” One of your key assignments in the next ten months will be to purge any aspects of this shrunken and shriveled kind of love that may still be lurking in your beautiful soul. You are primed to cultivate an unprecedented new embodiment of mature, robust love.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You know that

unfinished task you have half-avoided, allowing it to stagnate? Soon you’ll be able to summon the gritty determination required to complete it. I suspect you’ll also be able to carry out the glorious rebirth you’ve been shy about climaxing. To gather the energy you need, reframe your perspective so that you can feel gratitude for the failure or demise that has made your glorious rebirth necessary and inevitable.

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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) In an ideal world,

your work and your character would speak for themselves. You’d receive exactly the amount of recognition and appreciation you deserve. You wouldn’t have to devote as much intelligence to selling yourself as you did to developing your skills in the first place.

But now forget everything I just said. During the next ten months, I predict that packaging and promoting yourself won’t be so #$@&%*! important. Your work and character WILL speak for themselves with more vigor and clarity than they have before.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) There used to be a

booth at a Santa Cruz flea market called “Joseph Campbell’s Love Child.” It was named after the mythological scholar who wrote the book *The Hero with a Thousand Faces.* The booth’s proprietor sold items that spurred one’s “heroic journey,” like talismans made to order and herbs that stimulated courage and mini-books with personalized advice based on one’s horoscope. “Chaos-Tamers” were also for sale. They were magic spells designed to help people manage the messes that crop up in one’s everyday routine while pursuing a heroic quest. Given the current astrological omens, Pisces, you would benefit from a place that sold items like these. Since none exists, do the next best thing: Aggressively drum up all the help and inspiration you need. You can and should be well-supported as you follow your dreams on your hero’s journey.

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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