Fired Up

free every wednesday | Metro OKC’s Independent Weekly | april 18, 2018

FIRED

UP

Oklahoma prepares for possible legalization of medical marijuana.

BY LAURA EASTES, GEORGE LANG, BEN LUSCHEN AND JACOB THREADGILL P. 4

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inside COVER P. 4 In anticipation of the June 26 state question, Oklahoma Gazette begins its weekly coverage of issues surrounding the possible legalization of medical marijuana in Oklahoma.

By Laura Eastes, George Lang, Ben Luschen and Jacob Threadgill Cover by Jim Massara

NEWS 4 Cover medical marijuana vote

8 Election three primary races to

watch

11 City Holt’s education conversation

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NEWS Paseo Art District’s Herban Mother sells a variety of spray, topical and other CBD medical products. | Photo Jacob Threadgill / file

Republican Rep. John Paul Jordan, House Bill 3468 creates an independent commission, called the Cannabis Commission, to regulate medical marijuana. The legislation is endorsed by the Vote Yes on 788 campaign.

Should Oklahoma voters approve SQ788, they would activate HB3468 and the creation of the Cannabis Commission, which would oversee the medical marijuana program, including “operations relating to the issuance of licenses, the dispensing, cultivating, processing, transporting and sale of medical marijuana in Oklahoma.” The commission will be initially developed by the state Department of Health but would become its own agency on or before July 1, 2019.

“People need to understand that [SQ788] is not the end; it is the beginning of a medical marijuana program in Oklahoma,” Grove said. “It’s a program that will continue to evolve.”

COV E R

Firsthand advocacy

Marijuana quest

As we near a state vote on medical marijuana, Oklahoma Gazette looks at the issue from all angles.

by Laura Eastes, George Lang, Ben Luschen and Jacob Threadgill

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of weekly stories focusing on issues surrounding the possible legalization of medical marijuana in Oklahoma.

In the 22 years since California passed Proposition 215, which legalized cultivation, possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes, 28 other states followed suit, reversing years of demonization of cannabis and restriction on institutional marijuana research.

On June 26, Oklahoma voters could choose to become the 30th state to approve such a measure.

The vote on State Question 788 comes after past efforts to bring medical marijuana to a state question failed. In 2014, a group called Oklahomans for Health circulated petitions for a statewide vote but came up short of the required signatures. In 2015, a separate group called Green the Vote failed to gather the 123,000 signaturess necessary to add the issue to the ballot. The following spring, Oklahomans for Health again tried, this time as a statutory change. On that try, the group was successful in collecting signatures, but the vote became the subject of a lawsuit alleging then-Attorney General Scott 4

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Pruitt changed the wording of the ballot to sound as if the state question was calling for full legalization, including recreational use.

Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled for restoration of the original language, calling for a 2018 vote, which prompted Gov. Mary Fallin to schedule the vote on medical marijuana for June 26, in conjunction with the state’s primary elections.

Now, the push is on to understand what medical marijuana legalization means for Oklahomans.

Herbal remedy

SQ788 is about getting marijuana into the hands of patients in need, said Frank Grove, one of the initiative petition’s authors.

The needs of patients — from children suffering from seizures to adults experiencing chronic pain — united groups who weighed in on draft petition language at public forums more than two years ago. Through feedback from medical marijuana advocates, including current patients and their families, and with legal and medical guidance, the end result was SQ788, the Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative.

“It was written through a public legislature of advocates,” said Grove, a Tulsa resident who remains active in the Vote Yes on 788 campaign.

Those who cast “yes” ballots support legalizing medical marijuana in a state statue, not the state constitution.

Further, a “yes” vote authorizes the state to set up a system to tax and regulate the use of medical marijuana. A “no” vote is against the measure.

Unlike some states with medical marijuana programs, SQ788 places no restrictions on conditions under which marijuana can be prescribed. The petition’s authors wanted to give physicians the “freedom to recommend as they see fit.” Oklahoma Department of Health will issue medical marijuana licenses after reviewing applications signed by physicians.

SQ788, like many of the state questions before it, comes with a companion bill, or at least a companion bill making its way through the state Capitol this legislative session. Authored by Yukon

If voters approve SQ788, license holders may possess • 8 oz. of marijuana • 6 mature marijuana plants • 6 seedling plants • 1 oz. concentrated marijuana • 72 oz. of edible marijuana

Many businesses and entrepreneurs are currently lining up to take advantage of a possible “yes” vote on SQ788, hoping to stake out territory as growers, distributors or dispensary operators. Some began laying the foundation for their entry into a possible medical marijuana industry in Oklahoma last year, when new state legislation legalized cannabidiol (CBD).

My biggest concern is that we may have some people who get lackadaisical in their voting responsibilities.

Hector Najar In April 2017, Gov. Mary Fallin signed House Bill 1559 into law, which amended the state’s definition of marijuana to exclude CBD, a chemical compound found in marijuana that alters neurotransmitter release but does not have any psychoactive effects. In other continued on page 6

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NEWS In 2016, Oklahomans for Health collected enough petition signatures for a state question on medical marijuana, but a lawsuit over ballot language delayed the vote until this year. | Photo Gazette / file

continued from page 4

COV E R

words, it does not get you high, but it could relieve your chronic pain.

CBD products might be how Herban Mother and owners Hector and Mary Najar make their money, but their work is motivated by far more than profit margin.

“If you ever talk to anyone that’s an advocate for the plant, we all have a story,” Hector Najar said. “If you find someone who is passionate like I am, they’re going to have a story.”

Najar owns Paseo Arts District cannabidiol (CBD) boutique Herban Mother, 607 NW 28th St. The store sells oral, topical and vapor CBD products to relieve a variety of pains and other ailments. Herban Mother began more than two years ago as a skincare company located in the Farmers Market District.

From the beginning, Najar was transparent about his company’s intention to sell CBD health products. If SQ788 passes, Najar said Herban Mother will begin selling products infused with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Najar, originally from San Antonio, Texas, served three combat tours in the United States Air Force. His time in the military led to degenerative disc disease and arthritis in his back and neck.

He was first exposed to the healing potential of CBD products while attending the first High Times Cannabis Cup in Southern California and was amazed how it totally relieved his pain after decades of chronic suffering.

Through the use of Herban Mother’s own products, Najar has been able to eliminate the pain he had been experiencOklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter | Photo provided 6

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ing and has canceled scheduled surgeries.

Najar occasionally sees people coming into his shop who he can tell are in pain. They come in because they are curious or they’re buying for someone else. He asks them why they don’t use CBD to relieve their own pain, and often, he hears the response that their pain is not all that bad.

“I shake my head and say, ‘You don’t have to be in pain at all — zero; zilch,’” he said. “That’s what this is about.”

Najar believes SQ788 will pass, but he does not want anyone taking the vote for granted.

“My biggest concern is that we may have some people who get lackadaisical in their voting responsibilities,” he said.

“They’ll let their next-door neighbor cover their vote, and then they wake up

the next morning and guess what — we didn’t get enough votes.”

Marijuana vs. opioids

As the country experienced its largest historic increase in drug overdose deaths between 2015 and 2016, the epidemic gained national and state-level attention, much of which focused on the distribution of prescription opioids.

“If Oklahoma is not ground zero, it is close,” state Attorney General Mike Hunter wrote in the introduction of the final report from the Oklahoma Commission on Opioid Abuse, noting that drug overdose deaths in Oklahoma increased 91 percent over the last 15 years.

The commission’s report released in January before the Legislative session reads like a wish list. It details a few measures, including a “Good

Samaritan” law to shield a person who calls 911 for an overdose from drug possession charges; outlawing trafficking of the synthetic opioid Fentanyl; and encouraging pharmacists to offer Naloxone, which can be used to reverse an opioid overdose.

Unlike states like West Virginia ($10 million) and Tennessee ($30 million), which included state funding for treatment facilities in similar reports, Oklahoma is relying on passage of a 10 percent tax on opioid distributors and manufacturers, which likely have to survive years of court challenges by pharmaceutical companies if it can even get three-fourths approval from the Legislature. State Impact points out that seven states have not passed similar measures since 2015.

Toward the end of a press conference with Oklahoma Commission on Opioid Abuse to announce the report, Hunter was asked about the potential impact of medical marijuana as a pain-relieving alternative to opioids.

Hunter took exception to the language of the state question, which he said does not require a prescription or doctor’s validation of a condition, only that a doctor issues a license and creates a laissez-faire implementation of distribution and cultivation.

“If it is [the voter’s] intention to support a bill that is much more recreational marijuana-light, that is up to them,” Hunter said, noting that the state supreme court did not accept the AG’s re-draft of the state question.

In early April, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a pair of studies showing a correlation between a drop in opioid prescriptions for Medicaid enrollees in states that have medical or recreational marijuana laws.

“We do know that cannabis is much less risky than opiates, as far as likelihood of dependency,” University of Georgia’s W. David Bradford wrote in one study. “And certainly there’s no mortality risk [from marijuana].”

Hefei Wen of the University of Kentucky College of Public Heath wrote in a separate report that medical and recreational marijuana for adults “have the potential to reduce opioid prescribing for Medicaid enrollees, a segment of the population with disproportionately high risk for chronic pain, opioid use disorder and opioid overdose.

Nevertheless, marijuana liberalization alone cannot solve the opioid epidemic.”

Bradford agrees with Wen’s findings, telling National Public Radio (NPR), “I hope nobody reading our study will say, ‘Oh, great; the answer to the opiate problem is just put cannabis in everybody’s medicine chest and we are good to go.’”

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NEWS Nearly 800 Oklahomans filed to run for federal, state and judicial office for the 2018 Oklahoma Elections over a three-day period at the state Capitol last week. | Photo Laura Eastes

Oklahoma State Election Board.

Powell said that if filing fees stayed at 2016 levels, more Libertarians and independents would be running in 2018.

There are no Libertarians running for Senate.

“The voters miss out because they don’t have other choices,” said Powell, a Bethany resident. “Having a more vibrant political environment with more voices speaking, I think helps everybody. That’s what democracy is about. When you put up a barrier to participation and it shuts out a group like us, the Libertarian Party, those are voices that are not heard.”

E l ec t i on

Metro races

Primary issues

A record number of candidates file for federal, state and judicial office, but does that mean competitive elections? By Laura Eastes

A n unprecedented number of Oklahomans are running for office, from the U.S. House of Representatives and governor to state Legislature and local district attorney posts. In total, 794 candidates threw their hats into the ring during candidate filing April 11-13 at the state Capitol.

This year’s candidate filing came on the heels of a historic nine-day teacher walkout fueled by years of budget cuts to public education. Additionally, problems with the state budget persist despite a historic vote on a $447 million revenue package in March. For many first-time candidates, funding classroom education and correcting the state’s fiscal troubles are top priorities.

With education and the state budget weighing heavily on voters’ minds, House and Senate seats are a battleground. But in much of the Oklahoma City metro, races really aren’t much of a race.

“Overall, it is good news that we’ve had a high number of candidates,” said James Davenport, a political science professor at Rose State College who tracks and studies state politics. “On the other hand, the distribution of candidates doesn’t seem to be one in which we are seeing competitiveness increase in a meaningful way.”

Out of 32 House seats in the Oklahoma City metro, seven seats went uncontested with the incumbents automatically receiving another two-year term.

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All seven were Democratic wins. On the Senate side, of the seven Senate seats for Oklahoma County, two were settled in candidate filing without a race.

Some metro legislative districts, which are heavy in one-sided partisan makeup, attract an overwhelming number of candidates for the primary.

For instance, 12 Republicans are running in House District 82, which is an open seat, as Rep. Kevin Calvey is term-limited. The district, which has never been held by a Democrat, encompasses parts of northwest Oklahoma City and Edmond. Democrat challenger Oraynab Jwayyed will face the winner of the Republican primary in November.

In some cases, nobody from the minority party even tries. In House District 99, which includes portions of urban northeast Oklahoma City and northwest Oklahoma City, there are no GOP challengers in a district that strongly favors Democrats. Five Democrats are vying to win the seat in the primary. House District 99 is an open seat, as Democrat Rep. George Young is running for Senate District 48, where he faces a primary opponent in Christine Byrd. Willard Linzy, a Republican, advanced to the general election.

“While we have a lot of candidates running, a lot of them seem to be running against each other in primaries as opposed to running against people in the general election,” Davenport said.

“In one sense, that means it will be a

competitive primary. There are a lot of races where you only have one Republican and one Democrat running.”

Where are the third-party candidates?

Typically in Oklahoma, when it’s time to cast ballots in the general elections, voters are left with two candidates —one representing the Democratic and one the Republican Party — from which to choose. In 2016, the Libertarian Party of Oklahoma gained ballot access after a signature petition. With 2016 presidential candidate Gary Johnson earning six percent of the votes in Oklahoma, Libertarians maintained ballot access for 2018.

After fielding seven legislative candidates in the Oklahoma City metro in 2016, party members hoped to increase Libertarian representation in elections.

In 2017, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 323, which called for increasing the filing fees to run for state and federal offices.

Under the new law, candidates for governor paid $2,000 in filing fees, up from $1,500. Candidates for U.S. Congress paid $1,000, up from $750. For state legislative seats, the fee was $500, an increase of $300. Candidates pay filing fees as a prerequisite to becoming a candidate and running for office.

“I had hopes that we would have more people who would run, but the filing fee is a stumbling block for many,” said Chris Powell, a former chairman of the state party and one of three Libertarians running for governor. “The two establishment parties have people with deep pockets that can go around and get campaign money to pay for filing fees. We don’t have those same kinds of resources.”

Fourteen Libertarians and 23 independents filed for office during candidate filing period, according to the

There are a handful of crowded and competitive primaries worth watching this June. One is Senate District 30, where seven Republicans are seeking the seat most recently held by David Holt, who now serves as Oklahoma City mayor. Those seven are Lori Callahan, Jeffrey Cartmell, Erick W. Harris, Tim Haws, Eric Roberts, John Symcox and Evan Vincent. Several of the candidates began their campaigns months ago.

While Senate District 30 has traditionally been a Republican stronghold, parts of the district overlap House District 85 and 87 that flipped from red to blue in recent elections. Julia Kirt and Larry Dean Buss are the Democrats in the race.

In one of the metro’s most southern districts, House District 20, Rep. Bobby Cleveland, R-Slaughterville, faces five Republican primary challengers.

Cleveland is a conservative who cast a “no” vote against House Bill 1010xx, the recent revenue bill that will fund teacher pay raises. In 2017, Cleveland authored an amendment to divert money from civil asset forfeiture seizures to contribute to the construction of a border wall between the United States and Mexico.

Besides Cleveland, the Republicans in the race are Sherrie Conley, Delene Gilbert, Anthony Mackey, Jimmy Smith and Tina Swayze. Donald Cole Gallup, a Libertarian, and Steve Jarman, a Democrat, move on to the November ballot.

In eastern Oklahoma County, three Republicans are challenging Rep. Tess Teague’s bid for a second term. Like Cleveland, Teague voted against HB 1010xx. Teague supports auditing state agencies to make state government more efficient. Republicans in the race are Mike Dickson, Rick Horner and Robert Manger. Democrats eyeing the seat are John Carpenter, Lauren Grotts, John McKenna and Madeline Scott.

Primary elections are set for June 26, with run-off primaries on Aug. 28.

The general election is Nov. 6.

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C IT Y

NEWS

Sharply focused

Oklahoma City’s new mayor wants to focus on establishing an education conversation. By Laura Eastes

On the second floor of Oklahoma City Hall, just inside the mayor’s conference room connected to both the mayor’s office and the council chambers, framed portraits of the city’s past mayors have always hung on the wall. Not so anymore.

On his first day as the City of Oklahoma City’s 36th mayor, David Holt left the conference door wide open, inviting anyone in the public building to take a peek. Photographs of Oklahoma City’s children are now hanging where the portraits of mayors once hung.

“We all know that the decisions that we’re making in this room and in this building and in many important rooms in this downtown are for George, Maggie and for all the kids of Oklahoma City,” Holt said within minutes after he took his oath of office on the morning of April 10. Holt and his wife Rachel have two children, George and Margaret (Maggie).

Much of the new mayor’s message on day one, but also on the campaign trail, centered on building a city for the future, including future generations.

As Holt sees it, the 20 photos of local children will serve as motivation for leaders when discussing city business.

“We’ve come so far so fast that it’s easy to think we are finished,” Holt said when speaking to reporters following his first council meeting. “But we know that we are not. We still have to keep investing in our city. We have to continue to build a city for our kids and our grandkids.”

Education challenges

A new era in Oklahoma City began April 10 when the gavel was passed to Holt, who, at age 39, is the youngest current mayor of an American city with more than 500,000 residents.

While Holt’s top priority is to continue the city’s positive momentum and work toward that momentum spreading further past downtown and the urban core, Holt also has his eyes on local education. When he was asked about where he will place his energy in the first few weeks and months in office, his answer was launching a conversation about sup-

porting public education, including Oklahoma City Public Schools.

“State funding issues are on everybody’s mind, but before the last few weeks, we were certainly cognizant of our local concerns,” Holt said. “We need to have a very inclusive conversation … that involves the city, the school district, business leaders, parents and anybody else who is interested. We really need to come up with a vision. This is the first step.”

Like many cities across the county, Oklahoma City faces some tough challenges when it comes to education.

Districts are doing more with less, in

Inside the mayor’s conference room at Oklahoma City Hall, Mayor David Holt directed city staff to hang photos of the city’s children on the walls. Holt said he wants to remind leaders that they will make decisions that impact the next generation. | Photo Laura Eastes

large part because of the fewer classroom dollars flowing from the state to local coffers. In recent years, certified teachers have left the classroom, citing low pay, lack of support and an overload of assessments and accountability as the top reasons.

In Oklahoma City’s urban schools, continued on page 13

ENROLL WITH IT

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continued from page 11

C IT Y

districts serve larger concentrations of poor students, racial minorities and English-language learners. At the same time, the city has seen exciting new growth and revitalization in its urban core. Those new opportunities in urban neighborhoods aren’t always reflected in local urban schools.

Educators in less-populated areas of the city do not necessarily face some of the challenges associated with the urban school districts.

Oklahoma City has a history of developing customized policy solutions to fit the local environment, especially in the area of education. MAPS for Kids is a strong example of municipal government, local school boards and district leaders teaming to find a solution, although municipal government and school boards are separate entities.

Holt, who once worked in the mayor’s office prior to serving as a Republican state senator, is a student of history.

Familiar with city leaders’ past efforts in education, he sees an opportunity to replicate the community conversation model that later led to a $700 million investment into local school districts.

“We want to engage in [education] because it is the greatest challenge facing our city,” Holt said. “Just because cities don’t run school districts, [that] doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care about it.”

Education emphasis

Holt envisions the conversation replicating the format of Project KIDS (Keep Improving District Schools), a multi-year conversation about education reform overseen by Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation, now known as The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools, back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Led by philanthropist Jean Gumerson and attorney Bruce Day, a diverse group of civic, business and community leaders produced a final report, Building a Learning City, which outlined various recommendations, including capital improvements for schools. That recommendation spurred MAPS for Kids.

Applying the MAPS (Metropolitan Area Projects) model to public-education infrastructure, MAPS for Kids led

David Holt became the City of Oklahoma City’s 36th mayor on April 10. | Photo Laura Eastes

to a $700 million investment into construction, transportation and technology to benefit all Oklahoma City public school students (23 districts) by levying a 1-cent sales tax.

The Project KIDS committee also recommended reforms in areas of school finance, management, teaching accountability and alternative education.

Holt explained that the upcoming conversation would be modern and likely not focus on capital improvement projects as much as how to increase support for public education at the local level.

“I think it is time for us to rally around something,” Holt said. “I think a mayor is uniquely positioned to conduct that conversation and bring us to something that is very tangible.”

At the same time, Holt will push another community conversation, with the help of the council, around the possible fourth installment of MAPS. It’s hard to say whether a conversation on supporting education and discussion around continuing the city’s signature capital improvement program could collide. The power lies in community members voicing their desires about where they want to see the city invest.

For now, local education leaders are pleased with Holt’s heavy focus on education.

“I am thrilled that Mayor Holt has education as his priority,” Mary Mélon, president and CEO of The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools, said in an email to Oklahoma Gazette. “He has served on the board of directors of The Foundation for OKCPS and remains as an ex-officio member as mayor. He proved his commitment to education as a senator and went above and beyond as a foundation board member. I look forward to working with him as we move forward.”

Rebecca Kaye, acting superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) echoed Mélon’s excitement.

As Kaye pointed out, Holt is a parent of two young children in the district.

“I was so moved to learn that Mayor Holt has photos of our OKCPS students, the future of our city, in his conference room to keep our leaders focused on the strength and diversity of this amazing city,” Kaye said.

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chicken

friedNEWS

Textbook kerfuffle

Remember opening up a newly issued textbook and flipping to the inside page to see who else has used the book? Maybe your secret older crush used it a few years ago and you can use it as an icebreaker that leads to a long relationship. You can only dream!

A 7-year-old in Ada became the face of the Oklahoma teacher walkout when the public found out she had the same textbook country star Blake Shelton used in 1982.

Shelley Bryan Parker’s Facebook post showed that her daughter Marley was excited to learn that she shared Look Away (Keys to Reading) by Louise Matteoni with The Voice star, but her mother was much less enthusiastic.

“I am embarrassed!!!! I’m 40, and these people are my age!!! Thank you to every teacher/parent/support staffer for fighting for my kids [sic] education!!!” Parker’s Facebook post, which has garnered over 7,000 shares, said.

Every news outlet from local stations to Vox and CNN picked up the story. A Google search of “Blake Shelton textbook” reveals over 2 million hits.

Gary Richardson, a Republican candidate for governor, jumped onto the “fake news” bandwagon for the story, claiming that Latta Public School only kept the textbook because Shelton used it or that it misused the $265,000 for textbooks it received from a bond issue last year.

It’s just another example of a politician using “fake news” when its something they don’t like rather than being false. Richardson has already failed in two gubernatorial attempts, and he’s likely headed for a third.

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Twice as nice

What does one do to cure boredom in Edmond? Why, totally revamp your shower setup, of course!

As recently featured on KFOR’s venerable Is This A Great State or What? series, Edmondite Garrett McCurrach recently went all Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor on his home shower after coming home from vacation in Canada and experiencing the dual-headed shower in his luxury hotel suite. Being simultaneously sprayed from front and back was a revelation in luxury.

“I got home,” McCurrach told Channel 4, “and it felt like I was taking half of a shower.”

Wow! What a problem! Or as The Tool Man might say, “Uuuuggghhrraahh?????”

McCurrach knew he had to remedy the situation, so he took off for Home Depot right away. With a little time and craftiness, he was able to attach a garden hose to the neck of his original showerhead and channel it through a hollow shower rod to a new showerhead at the other end.

He loved his new shower rig so much that he had to call up his friend and business partner Drew Bellcock to tell him to check it out.

“I walked into his bathroom, and it

was like, literally, a garden hose taped to the shower,” Bellcock said. “I thought, ‘This is the stupidest thing.’”

But a simple spin through McCurrach’s home improvement project made him a believer. The two have now quit their jobs to take their Hydra Shower rig to market. McCurrach and Bellcock will launch a Kickstarter campaign for their new product soon.

Some of you might be wondering why this was a story on the nightly news. Sure, Oklahoma has prisons packed like sardine cans and students using textbooks from back when Blake Shelton still thought girls had cooties, but doggone it if every story has to make us feel bad.

A guy went on vacation, felt something great, came back and replicated the experience on his own in a do-ityourself fashion. And now he might make a buck off of it. Who says the American Dream is dead? If the Founding Fathers did not want us to live in a country where its people could invent a luxury shower rig at a

basement-level price point, then our understanding of this nation’s principles is profoundly wrong.

Picketing reasons

We at Chicken-Fried News couldn’t be happier to see teachers and their allies at the state Capitol grounds, calling on lawmakers to adequately fund common education.

In our opinion, lawmakers shouldn’t be surprised by the large crowds, given that Oklahoma has cut school funding more than any other state over the past decade.

While teachers are raising attention to the black eye on Oklahoma’s education system, we think its fair to wonder how decreases in state appropriations have impacted other state agencies.

What about the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services?

Over the last four years, the Legislature cut funding by $52.6 million, which resulted in an additional loss of $80.4 million in federal funding, accord-

ing to NewsOK.com.

How about higher education? In a four-year span, public higher education was cut by $220 million.

Have bridges and roads been impacted? The Legislature has taken $840 million from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to plug funding gaps in other core functions of government.

How are we doing in human services? Well, Oklahoma Department of Human Services saw an increase in state appropriations in recent years; however, its director told NewsOK. com the agency still had to cut $108 million from its budget “because increases in operational expenses have far exceeded the increased funding.”

Well, it sure looks like the state of Oklahoma is in a pickle.

Our advice to teachers is to keep those picket signs handy, as you might need to pass them along to fellow advocates.

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EAT & DRINK

re v ie w

A $250,000 chandelier hangs over the health bar at Nebu inside Devon Energy Center. | Photo Jacob Threadgill

Corporate nourishment

Nebu encourages healthy eating for Devon employees and all of downtown OKC. By Jacob Threadgill

Nebu Devon Energy Center | 333 W. Sheridan Ave. cafenebu.com | 405-228-8386 What works: The Asian noodle bowl delivers heat and nutrients.

What needs work: There’s no white rice for sushi.

Tip: Get there before noon to avoid the lunch rush.

For a first-time visitor inside Devon Energy Center, I was certainly impressed with the gleaming mezzanine that reminded me of Star Fleet Academy from the most recent Star Trek film franchise.

Plenty of natural light led me down the corridor to my destination as I pondered whether it was acceptable to wear sunglasses inside. Opened in 2012 at the completion of Oklahoma’s tallest building, Nebu, the main cafeteria for the building’s more than 2,000 employees, is open to the general public.

Taking its name from Devon Energy’s first large drilling project, Northeast Blanco Unit, Nebu is one of the best sources of nutrient-rich and healthy food options in downtown Oklahoma City.

Under the direction of executive chef Melodie Thornton, who is finishing her first year in charge of Nebu’s rotating menus, catering and designing corporate diet plans, Nebu has nine stations where 19 cooks prepare and serve food right in front of customers.

Thornton got started at Redrock Canyon Grill and continued with Hal Smith Restaurants group to open a pair of high-end celebrity sports bars: Kd’s Southern Cuisine and Wes Welker’s Sports Bar & Grill. Thornton also founded Paseo Grill, which she remained part of until only recently, no longer wanting to

split her time between two operations.

Devon contracts California-based Guckenheimer Corporate Food Service, which employs Thornton, to prepare allnatural and healthy meals that fall within its dietary guidelines. It doesn’t mean everything offered at Nebu is healthy, but each station serves a “well” item, meaning that it is at or less than 800 milligrams of sodium, 500 calories and five or more grams of fiber.

Devon employees receive a 50 percent discount on all “well” items to promote a healthy workforce. Nebu is open for breakfast 6:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. and serves lunch 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.

“They have proven — I don’t know what the statistics are, but I’d love to see them someday — that by encouraging health and wellness of the employees that they have reduced insurance premiums by millions and have more work productivity, less missed days because of illness,” Thornton said.

The most popular station is designated Well Bistro — which offered Asian glazed pork loin on my visit — because everything qualifies for a discount, Thornton said.

About 25 percent of Nebu’s customers do not work at Devon, Thornton said, and Nebu is actively trying to cater certain parts of its menu to guests that are not driven by “well” discounts.

The broiler station was celebrating National Grilled Cheese Day all week and offered a French onion grilled cheese with caramelized onions, béarnaise sauce and Gruyere cheese toasted in thyme butter. The global cuisine station was serving prime rib near a pizza station that offers sprouted spelt crust from Stone Sisters Pizza Bar in addition to

Neapolitan-style crust made in-house.

Nebu’s taqueria also serves whole grain rice in addition to traditional white rice.

At the center of Nebu is a two-sided health bar that hangs under a modern $250,000 chandelier.

“It’s called a health bar; we don’t call it a salad bar,” Thornton said. “With as much attention as we gave to the chandelier, we try to make sure that the food meets that expectation.”

Although it is a health bar, it does not qualify for the “well” discount because Nebu cannot control how much a person adds to their plate, but it charges 60 cents per ounce for a bevy of fresh and hand-cut vegetables and composed pasta salads.

At the western end of Nebu stands the sushi station, where Khai, a 20-year sushi veteran, prepares bright and delightfully tempting rolls.

“They will all be gone within an hour,” Thornton said while gesturing to the prepared sushi rolls, noting that they’re made with brown rice to qualify for the “well” discount. “We offered [white rice] as an option, but it’s gotten to where it is so predominately brown rice that we got rid of white altogether.”

Thornton said the second most popular station at Nebu is the Asian bowl station, where two lines quickly serve custom orders of vegetables, protein (shrimp, tofu or chicken) tossed in a sauce with either rice or rice noodles that have less carbs than eggs noodles, Thornton said.

This became my go-to station during my first trip to Nebu, and I found it a perfect representation of what they have to offer. I ordered a bowl ($10) with chicken, purple cabbage, bamboo shoots, sweet peppers, bean sprouts, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots and yellow squash.

The bowl was overflowing with vegetables before rice noodles were added.

It took about five to 10 minutes to go through the line, but I found it orderly and convenient. I got the noodle bowl covered in a spicy sauce, and it packed plenty of punch. Although I’m not the world’s biggest fan of chicken breast, I experienced some cognitive dissonance biting into the bird because I did not expect pre-chopped cafeteria chicken to be so flavorful. The quality of the ingredients shines, as Thornton noted that they don’t overcook the vegetables so they retain as much nutrition as possible.

I found the bowl both spicy and refreshing. It was more than enough for two meals, and Nebu provided an environmentally friendly takeaway container. The next time I’m in downtown around lunch, I will absolutely consider getting a fresh meal from Nebu rather than something processed and fried elsewhere.

Guests choose which vegetables and protein to pair with either rice or noodles at the Asian bowl station in Nebu. | Photo Jacob Threadgill

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f eat u re

Nic’s Place

EAT & DRINK

Name-worthy

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Legend’s has watched Norman grow.

By Jacob Threadgill

Now serviNg LittLe Nics! see you sooN.

1116 N Robinson Ave. OKC @nicsplacedinerandlounge

529 Buchanan Ave. Campus Corner Norman

BAR & GRILLE, LIVE MUSIC MON: Closed THU: Throwback Thursdays! Trivia 7p-9p TUE: $2 Beer/$2 Shots /$2 Sides Wings, Fries & Pint $10 All Day Karaoke @9 FRI/SAT: Happy Hour 3p-7p, Live Music WED: Poker Night! $5 Pitchers/Free Pool SUN: $4 Mimosa & Bloody Marys Get Delivery using OrderUp or Postmates!

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Happy Hour $1 oysters Thursdays from 4-6pm

7408 N. May Ave OKC | 405-840-3047 www.labaguettebistro.com 18

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The hand-built wooden wine cases overlooking the dining room at Legend’s Restaurant in Norman are remnants of Oklahoma’s archaic liquor laws. They are converted liquor lockers from the days when bottle clubs were needed to get around the state’s liquorby-the-drink ban until 1985.

The cabinets are surrounded by wrought-iron railings and chandeliers rescued from the Huckins Hotel, which briefly served as the state Capitol in Oklahoma City before being lost to urban renewal in 1968.

Much like its menu, the décor inside Legend’s, 1313 W. Lindsey St., has modern conventions standing next to living history. As Legend’s celebrates its 50th anniversary later this year, owner Joe Sparks has watched his restaurant grow with Norman.

“When I first came here, there was nothing on the other side of Interstate 35; now, it’s a city over there,” Sparks said, noting that as University of Oklahoma has grown, department recruitment often happens in Legend’s dining room. “When we first started, that all happened at people’s homes.

Several university presidents have been hired right here, and a lot of professors and department heads. There are a lot of deals done in here. Not that we take credit, but we get to observe.”

“It was the first upscale chain restaurant, and then everything chain exploded,” Joe Sparks said. “In the last [five to seven years,] there has been an explosion of very high-quality independent restaurants. Oklahoma City was a culinary wasteland for a long time.”

He met his wife Rebecca at Legend’s; she began as a waitress and is now executive chef and general manager of the restaurant.

“We clash every once in awhile over little things, but we love working together,” Rebecca Sparks said. “Legend’s is like a toddler that never grows up. It always needs watching and babysitting.

There is always something wrong in a 50-year-old building. It is like a living being or organism.”

Over the decades, Legend’s has employed thousands of Oklahomans, including many in the food and beverage industry, business leaders and even a former waiter who became an ambassador under Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Joe Sparks said.

“We run this as a small family business and don’t ever want to get out of it,” Rebecca Sparks said. “We never want to open another Legend’s somewhere because what we have here is that the people are on board and they feel like they own it.”

Making a Legend

Rebecca Sparks and head chef Benjamin Spears find themselves in a balancing act. They have to pay homage to the restaurant’s history while also giving diners new options. Standards like chicken crêpes, chicken salad made with water chestnuts, candied ginger, and curried soy sauce marinade are

It’s a tradition that traces its influence back to former OU President John Herbert Hollomon, who was an original shareholder in Legend’s. Sparks became the sole owner by 1981. Sparks arrived in Norman after finishing a tour of duty as commander of a U.S. Army missile unit in Germany, where he was also in charge of the mess hall.

Sparks accepted a job with U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but an Army friend convinced him to check out Norman first.

“I had done four years in an all-male college, and then I did two years in Germany in the middle of a wheat field with nothing but army troops for companionship. It was most fun to be immersed in co-ed society,” Sparks said with a smile.

He arrived shortly after Legend’s began as a pizza and sandwich delivery shop for Norman’s South Navy base, and just a few months after it relocated to its current location on Lindsey Street. Legend’s got rid of paper plates and became one of Norman’s first fine dining establishments at a time when fine dining was limited even in Oklahoma City. In the early ’70s, the Steak and Ale chain came to OKC.

Food time capsule

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examples of popular dishes that can never be removed from the menu.

“We would’ve loved to discontinue the salad bar 20 years ago, but we have customers who won’t let us,” Rebecca Sparks said. “There are a lot of things that seem old-school, but to pull them off [the menu] is to cause a riot in Norman.”

Spears creates a seasonal menu four times a year, and the latest spring menu features tomato fondue, tomato risotto, smoked duck breast, brown butter sauces and even a red chimichurri sauce. Popular seasonal items rotate on the full-time menu with quite frequency, like the recent addition of Filipino chicken adobo.

“We do international food because we feature every region of the world,” Spears said. “Our classical menu features items that have been perfected over the years and consistently asked for.”

Legend’s has been featured in national publications like Southern Living and Bon Appetit for its lemon cake, chocolate mousse and daily varieties of cobbler and bread pudding.

Everything is made daily from scratch, including soups.

Joe and Rebecca Sparks, along with chef Benjamin Spears, are the driving forces behind Legend’s. | Photo Jacob Threadgill

Rebecca Sparks arrived at Legend’s in 1979 and worked through the state’s oil boom of the first part of the decade.

“The place would be packed with guys handing out $100 tips, and everyone was flush. It was great until it wasn’t there anymore,” Rebecca Sparks said.

“Everyone clawed their way through the second half of the ’80s,” Joe Sparks said of the oil bust, noting that all but one Norman bank closed during that time.

Legend’s recently endured a threeyear stretch of Lindsey Street construction that slowed business somewhat, but thanks to loyal customers, it came out the other end focused on remaining open another 50 years.

“It might have to be someone else managing by then, but we hope so,” Joe Sparks said.

Visit legendsrestaurant.com.

Legend’s is located at 1313 W. Lindsey St. in Norman. | Photo Jacob Threadgill

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Call 405-528-6000 or email advertising@okgazette.com for more information O kg a z e t t e . c o m | a p r i l 1 8 , 2 0 1 8

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Opportunity window

As 42nd Street Candy Co. closes its doors at the end of the month, its owner pursues new avenues.

By Jacob Threadgill

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For 39 years, 42nd Street Candy Co. has been a staple along Western Avenue, but the brickand-mortar location is closing April 27 after owner Teresa Wall said the store never really recovered from the loss of traffic from prolonged construction along the corridor.

“We fought so hard to recover after the construction, and I kept putting more personal money into it to try and keep the doors open, and I can’t do that anymore,” Wall said.

The store sold the majority of its remaining candy by the bulk, but there are plenty of gift items, chocolate truffles, jellybeans and other wrapped confections. All merchandise is available at 60 percent off its retail price, and Wall is looking to sell everything left in the store, including a large display cooler.

Wall said that she considered closing the store after Christmas, but with Valentine’s Day and Easter candy already ordered, she hoped the holidays would bolster the store heading into slower summer months.

“It was such a tough decision. I cried; I prayed; I couldn’t sleep at night thinking about it. I kept thinking, ‘There has got to be some way that I can make this work.’ I just couldn’t. I was working six days a week without pay for the last two and half years,” Wall said. “I don’t know how anyone can do that. You’ve got to

Wall and sister-in-law Valerie Ravencraft have found success with their Gypsy Wicks candle company. | Photo provided

really love something to make that kind of sacrifice.”

Wall purchased the store from Pat Aaron in 1999 and oversaw its expansion from a small corner inside the art deco building that also includes VZD’s Restaurant & Bar to the larger two-room space on the opposite end of the building on the 4200 block of Western Avenue. In addition to a loss of traffic during Western Avenue construction, Wall said that she struggled to attract new customers but was very thankful for the loyal ones that made 42nd Street her home.

“It’s been a wonderful 18 years, and

Stop by and see me!

Shop for that unique and special one-of-a-kind item

2717 W Reno Ave, OKC Tues-Sat 10a-6p Sun 12p-5p

I am very grateful for the support that we have gotten,” Wall said. “I’m very grateful for people that have brought their kids in, and we would have so much fun hanging out with the kids.”

New opportunity

The closing of the brick-and-mortar location is not the end of the 42nd Street Candy brand. Wall said she will continue to make its candy available through pop-up shops and other ventures, like a candy buffet for private events, which is a popular wedding booking.

“I’ve got great friends, family and support,” she said. “Customers have come in to express their sympathy, but their encouragement at the same time.”

As 42nd Street Candy closes its doors, Wall is opening the window of opportunity with Gypsy Wicks, a candle company she started about three years ago with her sister-in-law Valerie Ravencraft.

Since first breaking into the J. Brandes, Inc. showroom at Dallas Market Center, Gypsy Wicks has parlayed its

42 Street Candy Co. owner Teresa Wall shows off some remaining merchandise before the brick-and-mortar store closes its doors to the public on April 27. | Photo Jacob Threadgill

momentum and its candles are now available at 52 stores in seven states.

“I couldn’t imagine pouring your heart and soul into a business and having no place to go,” Wall said. “I am so blessed. I’ve got opportunities with 42nd Street Candy, just not at a brick-andmortar; I’ve got Gypsy Wicks to go to.”

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It’s been a wonderful 18 years.

Teresa Wall Wall and Ravencraft pour 11 types of scented candles across three collection styles in Oklahoma City. The candles retail for $24-$26 and have a 60-hour burn life. Gypsy Wicks’ Boho collection features candles in a shimmering reusable mercury glass container. Its Carnival collection uses carnival glass, while the Element collection is marketed toward men. It features candles in a burnished metal container with gold filigree around the edge and a wooden wick. “[Gypsy Wicks has] a fun, bohemian vibe, and it’s hard to find a good candle and container at that price,” Wall said.

“We’ve been fortunate with the candles, and I think it is time for me to go do something else that will be a benefit to me financially.”

Gypsy Wicks offers scents such as Dreams and Fireflies made with fresh peaches, vanilla and buttercream or Esmeralda with red currant, caramel and vanilla cream.

“We make everything here in Oklahoma, using as many Oklahoma products as possible,” Wall said.

Visit gypsywicks.com.

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3600 N. May Ave

(NW 35th and May Avenue)

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Gypsy Wicks candles retail for $24-$26 with a reusable container and a 60-hour burn life. | Photo provided

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O kg a z e t t e . c o m | a p r i l 1 8 , 2 0 1 8

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g a z edi b l e s

eat & DRINK

Hot doggin’

Whether it’s an Oklahoma original hot dog from Schwab Meat Co. or a classic New York Nathan’s frank, there are plenty of options to have the tasty treat that has been feeding Oklahomans nearly since statehood.

By Jacob Threadgill | Photos Gazette / file

Anchor Down

Chili Dog Express

An upscale corn dog probably isn’t the first thought you have of Oklahoma hot dogs, but the success of this Hungry Town Concepts (The Mule, The Press) Midtown eatery proves that it is what folks are craving. Get a vegan dog dipped in masa batter, an all-beef hot dog in its OG batter or something more adventurous like a wild dog. Its mega Coney hot dog comes with chili, cheese and queso.

This downtown lunch counter (open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday,) churns out more than just its eponymous chili dog. From the barbecue brisket dog topped with chopped brisket and shredded cheese to the BLT topped with bacon, lettuce and tomato, each of its specialty dogs are available in standard hot dog, Polish sausage or hot link.

30 NE Second St. anchordownokc.com | 405-605-8070

329 NW Fourth St. 405-601-7516

BaBa G

Mediterranean Grill

OklahOma family Owned

NOW OPEN! Edmond

1165 e. 2nd St. 285-5015 11 am-10pm daily

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Diamond Dawgs

735 Asp Ave., Norman diamonddawgsnorman.com 405-364-3294

Diamond Dawgs started as a food truck, and its fans have followed to its Campus Corner location for gourmet interpretations of hot dogs, all of which are served on La Baguette rolls unless otherwise noted. Specialty dogs include a version of a chicken-fried dog with mashed potatoes and gravy and a Cajun dog with andouille sausage, popcorn shrimp and fried okra.

Its most popular item is the Wonderboy, a Cap’n Crunch-battered corn dog.

Coney Island 428 W. Main St. 405-239-8568

David Holt’s first meal after being sworn in as mayor last week was at this Oklahoma City institution that has been serving customers since 1928. The interior at the original location is largely unchanged since current owner Bill Mihas took over in 1964, and the menu is untouched, relying on family recipes of Greek chili, Frito pie and chili spaghetti in addition to its famous dogs.

Not just your AverAge CheesesteAk truCk!

Mutts Amazing Hot Dogs & Burgers

Robert’s Grill

The popular drive-thru on 23rd Street spawned a second location in Edmond at 285 S. Santa Fe Ave. Mutts elevates the drive-thru concept with such toppings as chipotle ketchup, cilantro-lime aioli and truffle aioli. You can also get specia lt y sausages l i ke t he Fuhgeddaboudit Dog with Italian sausage, provolone, marinara grilled onion, peppers, mushrooms and fried pepperoni.

El Reno is on the map for its local burger and hot dog stands. Between Robert’s Grill and Sid’s Diner, it is worth the trip to Canadian County. Robert’s Grill is a small establishment with only about 10 stools at the counter, but don’t let its size fool you. In addition to its onion burgers, Robert’s is famous for its slaw dog, which tops a bright red hot dog with chili and mustard-based coleslaw.

1400 NW 23rd St. mutts-hot-dogs.com | 405-525-3647

Pakistani/Indian Cuisine Wraps, Entrees, Combos, Buffet, Dine In, Delivery, Online Order

WWW.facebook.com/phillmeupcheesesteaks | WWW.phillmeupokc.com Family owned and operated since 2014

EDMOND

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11:00am-9:00pm

6722 NW 39th Expressway, Bethany 405-470-3747

Located in downtown Bethany, Stray Dog Cafe offers classic diner food for all-day breakfast, but its name shines through on the lunch and dinner menu.

Nine “pedigree” dogs dot the menu at affordable prices. The mac and cheese dog and the tabbouleh dog are interesting standouts. Its signature dog is a Schwab’s hot dog topped with chili, cheese and mustard.

pizza, calzones & More

4.99

(39th & Portland)

Stray Dog Cafe

Mexican food

Kids Meal

OKLAHOMA CITY

300 S. Bickford Ave., El Reno robertsgrill1.placeweb.site 405-262-1262

(2nd & Bryant)

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Vegetable biryani 4621 N. May | OKC | 778-8469 O kg a z e t t e . c o m | a p r i l 1 8 , 2 0 1 8

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art

ARTS & CULTURE

Downtown tradition

Festival of the Arts will bring 750,000 people to downtown OKC for the convergence of food, art and music. By Jacob Threadgill

There are plenty of reasons Arts Council of Oklahoma City’s Festival of the Arts, which attracts an average of 750,000 visitors to downtown Oklahoma City, has become the city’s unofficially official spring party: plenty of food, music and, of course, art.

Celebrating its 52nd year, Festival of the Arts runs Tuesday-April 29 in Bicentennial Park with free entry to 19 food vendors, 200 musical acts on three stages and 144 artists from all over the country.

“I like to tell people that festival made Oklahoma City cool before Oklahoma City was cool,” 2018 co-chair Molly McBride said. “It is one of he few things in OKC that brings everyone out, no matter your religion or politics. Everyone comes to festival for some reason.”

McBride, who is a volunteer co-chair with Paul Tyler, becomes the festival’s first second-generation chair — her father Nelson Pickrell chaired in 1991 — and she joked that her children are already lobbying to become the first third-generation chairs.

“It’s like you’re throwing a party for the city,” McBride said. “It’s pretty amazing to be part of something that has so much community involvement and people that feel the buy-in.”

Guests peruse art at a recent Festival of the Arts in Oklahoma City. | Photo provided

Tyler said that the event brings out as many as 5,000 volunteers, which is how he got started with the festival in 2001.

“The most satisfying thing for me is the day the festival opens and you see all these people starting to come and you’re able to say, ‘I had something to do with this,” Tyler said. “‘Look at what we built.’”

Art space

More than 400 applicants from 38 states applied for the 144 available artist gallery spaces in the festival. Arts Council arranged a three-person blind panel comprised of two out-of-state members and one local member. The process takes three days.

McBride said the jury strives to highlight a broad spectrum of artists across many mediums, everything from oil and water painting to fiber and 3-D mixed media art.

“Someone who likes a still-life painting might be different from someone who wants something more avant-garde and abstract,” McBride said. “We want to make sure within each of those categories, we represent a broad spectrum of perspectives.”

Festival guests have opportunities to peruse prospective art for sale or be exposed to new works of art, and the festival pays extra attention to get the artbuying process started at an early age.

The Young-at-Art Mart, located on the west lawn of City Hall, puts purchasing power in the hands of the kids. Participating artists donated small works or prints to the gallery that range from 50 cents to $5 in price, and parents must watch from outside as their kids make a purchase.

It’s like you’re throwing a party for the city.

Molly McBride “It is something a lot of artists have told us is not common at other festivals and is unique to us,” McBride said. “We want [the kids] to find what speaks to them and feel like they can make a purchase at the festival.”

The Children’s Art Field, which costs $3 to enter, features three craft projects and another interactive feature where children will dip bang snaps into paint and throw them at a canvas. Over the course of a few days, the paint will turn into an abstract piece.

“It’s kind of like an assisted Pollock — a Pollock with a little more kaboom,” McBride said.

Paseo Pottery is assisting children and adults in selecting, glazing and firing a pot or vase using the ancient technique of raku, in which colors change after going through a firing process. Pottery prices range from $5 to $50.

“It’s the best-kept secret for finding a good-looking piece at the festival,” McBride said.

Food and music

For as much as the festival is centered on art, many people turn out for the food vendors. There are the crowd favorite standbys like Strawberries Newport — puff pastry filled with custard and topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream — and Indian tacos.

“If it is your first festival, you have to get a Strawberries Newport,” McBride said. “We love the art and are so glad it’s where we’re centered, but the culinary

144 artists were selected from more than 450 applications to participate in Festival of the Arts. | Photo provided

arts is a huge draw for many people.”

Brew Boys BBQ, Tad’s Bodacious Burritos, Café Do Brasil, C&C Famous Fish Tacos, C’est Si Bon, The Crepe Brewers, Dippin’ Dots, dOugh M G, Eddie’s, Fassler Hall, Goforth Concessions, The Grilled Cheesery, Guiltless Concession, Klondike Craig’s Floats, Kona Ice, Metro Minis, Nut Works, Papa’s Greek Foods, Fancy Apples, Pizza & Red Earth, Scoops Italian Ice, Snow S’more, Sizzle n Spice, A Sweet Hot Mess, Taste of Soul and Yokozuna round out outside food vendors.

Arts Council operates Mustard’s Last Stand, which serves hot dogs and Frito chili pie, and every item is $3 or less.

Located in the center of Bicentennial Park is the Culinary Arts Tent that features 45-minute cooking demonstrations with free samples every day of the festival from some of the city’s top restaurants.

The three music stages feature everything from hip-hop acts to children’s choirs, indie rock, belly dancing and clogging.

Angels & Friends — Arts Council’s only fundraising party of the year — begins 5:30 p.m. April 25 in Civic Center Music Hall’s Meinder’s Hall of Mirrors.

The event features all-you-can eat food from 10 restaurants and an open bar.

Tickets are $65 per person and $120 for couples. Matt Stansberry & The Romance and Oklahoma City String Quartet will perform.

“The festival is so famous as OKC’s fantastic spring party that lots of people overlook the fact it is a fundraiser,” McBride said. “In reality, it is generating revenue for the Arts Council year-round.”

Visit artscouncilokc.com.

Festival of the Arts April 24-29 Bicentennial Park | 500 Couch Drive artscouncilokc.com | 405-270-4848 Free

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | a p r i l 1 8 , 2 0 1 8

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art

ARTS & CULTURE

Transitional terrain

Exhibit C’s newest gallery show features three artists in different stages of their careers.

By Jeremy Martin

Transitional periods for artists can be complicated. Changing styles or even mediums is difficult and sometimes even risky, but making a transition as an arts patron can be as simple as changing a frame of mind. Transitions, an exhibition on display at Exhibit C art gallery, 1 E. Sheridan Ave., Suite 100, in Bricktown through the end of June, features the work of three Native American street and mural artists, giving viewers a chance to see their work in a different context.

“We really thought that it would be a new exploration of outdoor mural and street art by bringing it into the gallery,” said Paige Williams Shepherd, director of corporate development and tourism for the Chickasaw Nation, which owns Exhibit C. “Art gives such a personal interpretation, and in a lot of forms, when you bring it inside, you’re placing it in a different environment and the interpretation of what you’re seeing varies.”

Transitions features the artwork of Yatika Starr Fields, Hoka Skenandore and Josh Johnico, three painters inspired by the aesthetic of graffiti art who Shepherd said are in three distinct career phases.

“We are really pleased with this show and how it’s inclusive of an artist 26

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who is just starting out, one who is pretty comfortable in their position and getting their masters and then a third artist who is intentional in his aspiration to where a lot of artists want to be,” Shepherd said. “So it’s not only a transition from outside to inside but it’s a transition of artists and where they are in their professional careers. ... These three artists have taken their artwork outside and promoted it on large landscapes and mural capacities, but they have now brought it inside and they’re transitioning, which is an exciting path to be able to join each of these three artists on.”

Fields, an internationally renowned mural artist named a Tulsa Art Fellow in 2017, attended the Art Institute of Boston from 2001 to 2004 and received a fellowship from New York City’s Urban Artist Initiative in 2009. Skenandore graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is currently a masters’ student at the University of Oklahoma. Shepherd described Johnico as a “mostly self-taught artist.”

“When you speak with each one of these artists individually, where they come from as an artist varies greatly,” Shepherd said, “and they all have a distinct look and a distinct background

left “Cheef” by Josh Johnico | Image Exhibit C / provided above “Divided by the Jungle” by Yatika Starr Fields | Image Exhibit C / provided

and reason as to why they enjoy mural art or, in some cases, street art and some refer to it as graffiti. It’s really a personal interpretation of themselves.”

Shifting focus

While the exhibition gives viewers a chance to see street- and landscapeinspired art inside a gallery and reconsider Native American art in a more contemporary context, Transitions also allows the artists an opportunity to show works in different mediums from what they might be typically known for.

“The interesting thing that these artists also did as they’re transitioning is they pushed themselves and they challenged themselves to do something that they’ve never done before,” Shepherd said. “So, for example, Yatika had never done anything in the past like taking a traditional Native element such as the war club and then making it into a contemporary piece of art. And we have a bunch of fantastic war clubs that he has created that are for display in the gallery. So not only does it challenge the viewer, but it challenged the artist to create something for an indoor space when they’re used to working with massive landscapes.”

Fields’ work often features vivid color schemes, mixing abstract and surreal imagery with sometimes politically charged themes such as his series of paintings inspired by the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock. Skenandore paints on not only canvas but vinyl records, combining traditional Native American imagery with graffiti lettering and pop

culture elements. Johnico’s portraits often feature Native American figures, but he has also painted rappers and cartoon characters.

Native immersion

Exhibit C opened in 2014 to display and sell works by Native American artists, and Shepherd said the gallery attracts locals and tourists from other countries. Traditional artwork and artisan crafts such as clothing and jewelry are always for sale, but Shepherd said the artists featured in Transitions give visitors a chance to see a different kind of Native art, and the gallery is arranged to exhibit it accordingly.

“When you come into Exhibit C, it’s an immersive experience,” Shepherd said. “There’s art hanging from the ceilings. There’s art on the walls, there’s art standing on pillars. It really is presented in all different mediums, depending on the art itself. So we encourage individuals to come in and check out this artwork. One of the things that we love about our store and gallery is that everything is for sale. So when you come in, you can buy anything off of the walls, and it’s our mission as Exhibit C to promote Native artists and to give them a forum to not only Oklahoma but to the world.”

Exhibit C is open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.

Transitions runs through June 30.

Admission is free. Call 405-767-8900 or visit exhibitcgallery.com.

Transitions 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily through June 30 Exhibit C | 1 East Sheridan, Suite 100 exhibitcgallery.com | 405-767-8900 Free

Oklahoma Artists Invitational 2018 12th Art Show and Benefit Friday Reception, April 20th - 4:00 to 8:00 Saturday, April 21st - 11:00 to 6:00 Sunday, April 22nd - 11:00 to 5:00

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27

t h eater

ARTS & CULTURE

Narrative novelty

Pollard Theatre Company brings Disney’s The Little Mermaid to the stage with an innovative take on the classic tale. By Ian Jayne

Fantasy and realism — in theory, they’re worlds apart, as different as sea and earth.

But Pollard Theatre Company’s upcoming production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid presents a kid-friendly show that unpacks the power of narrative and reinvents the fairy tale through innovative staging and plenty of imagination.

Disney’s The Little Mermaid runs from through May 5 at Guthrie’s Pollard Theatre, 120 W. Harrison Ave. Tickets are $15-$30.

Geared toward children, Disney’s The Little Mermaid draws inspiration from the 1989 animated film following young mermaid Ariel as she yearns to explore the world above her seafloor home. Searching for freedom, Ariel loses and finds her voice — literally and figuratively — as she encounters evil, discovers love and chooses the life she wants to live.

“It’s been suggested several times over the years,” said W. Jerome Stevenson, artistic director at the Pollard.

Stevenson is co-directing The Little Mermaid along with Pollard’s production manager, Timothy Stewart.

“It seemed like it would be a ripe opportunity to take a story that, when treated with care, can really be about female empowerment,” Stevenson said.

Although a reputation for over-thetop spectacle often surrounds musicals like The Little Mermaid, Stevenson said that for him and the Pollard, story takes center stage.

“For me, it’s much more important to focus in on the narrative and shared communal stories because, ultimately, I think that’s what theater is about,” Stevenson said. “That’s what we try to do and why we approach such projects, like The Little Mermaid, with such a different philosophy.”

Pollard’s production eschews large set pieces and theatrical devices in favor of centralizing the story. In order to maxi-

mize connection with a younger audience, Stevenson said the show would take a unique approach to the frequently told tale of Ariel.

Unlike Broadway productions, Pollard’s version of The Little Mermaid employs a framing device — a literary and dramatic structuring technique that places stories within other stories to achieve various ends.

In the frame narrative, a company of actors produces The Little Mermaid, Stevenson said. The company actors present to the audience — especially younger attendees — the ways in which they’ll create the environment, said Stevenson. Such a technique allows for an evocative version of the musical that fully engages the audience in the act of imaginative creation.

She’s willing to face those responsibilities and those consequences, and that makes her heroic.

W. Jerome Stevenson

Imagination, intimation

“We did like the idea of being able to say, ‘You’re going to use your imagination, and we’re going to help you,’” Stevenson said. “‘Much like a melodrama, we’re going to let you cheer when the hero does something you like or boo when the villain does something you don’t.’”

In order to generate such an environment, Stevenson said it was necessary to create a working space for the actors and then use basic tools of the trade to make everything else.

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“A theatrical trunk would provide the elements for the under-the-sea world. We would use common theatrical items like ladder and rope to create a ship or a boat or a window or a door,” Stevenson said.

“That gave us a lot more room to play.”

Freeing up staging and technical details also allowed for a greater deal of artistic autonomy among actors, Stevenson said.

Unlike the original production, in which actors utilized roller skates to create the feeling of underwater movement, Pollard’s production will aim for more naturalism.

As many characters are kinds of sea creatures or birds, Stevenson said that actors were encouraged to study animal movements and find elements that can be quickly related to the audience.

“You imitate a mermaid or a crab or a lobster or a guppy or a seagull without trying to create a mascot costume,” said Stevenson.

Through its creative approach, Pollard’s The Little Mermaid forges a path between familiarity and inspiration. The musical’s classic songs, such as “Kiss the Girl,” “Under the Sea” and “Part of Your World” are wellknown among children and adults alike.

“All of those elements that we latched onto as young theater audiences and the things that made us say, ‘I want to do that for a living’ — we should include those things,” Stevenson said. “What we hope is that there are lots of young people who go, ‘I want to audition for my first play,’ or ‘I wanted to be a part of that theatrical community, because that kind of storytelling is really cool.’”

Although the story of The Little Mermaid has delighted and enthralled audiences for centuries — as fairy tale, film and musical — ways of telling it, and the

Jared Blount, Emily Paige Cleek and Emily Pace star in The Little Mermaid. | Photo Pollard Theatre Company / provided

themes emphasized within it, have changed over the years.

Rather than presenting Ariel as passively waiting to be saved by Prince Eric or her father, Stevenson said that Pollard’s production foregrounds her agency and bravery.

“Ariel is just like all of us: She gets ahold of something she wants … she realizes that to get it, she has to become stronger, she has to be better, she has to save some of these guys,” Stevenson said. “It makes her a real hero.”

For Stevenson, Ariel’s heroism becomes apparent when she takes action, even when she’s not guaranteed a favorable outcome or if she encounters danger.

“She’s willing to face those responsibilities and those consequences, and that makes her heroic,” Stevenson said.

“That is something we are really excited about sharing.”

Stevenson said he hopes Pollard’s production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid will reveal to audiences the possibilities of different modes of dramatic narrative.

“There is no wrong or right way to tell the story,” Stevenson said. “Sometimes it’s simply a matter of sharing the ideas and connecting with the audience.”

Visit thepollard.org.

The Little Mermaid 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, April 26-28 and May 3-5; 2 p.m. Sunday and April 29 Pollard Theatre | 120 W. Harrison Ave. thepollard.org | 405-282-2800 $15-$30

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t h eater

Funny friendship

Jewel Box Theatre stages female friendship and a few weddings in its upcoming production of Always a Bridesmaid. By Ian Jayne

One way to define a comedy is that it usually ends in marriage, so what about a play that’s built around four friends and their four weddings? Jewel Box Theatre’s upcoming production of Always a Bridesmaid views commitment — whether spousal or platonic —through a humorous, heartfelt lens.

Always a Bridesmaid runs through May 6 at Jewel Box Theatre, 3700 N. Walker Ave., with performances at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 2:30 p.m.

Sundays. Tickets are $20-$25. Call 405521-1786.

Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten wrote Always a Bridesmaid, and they’re the team behind The Dixie Swim Club, a previous Jewel Box audience favorite, said director Doobie Potter.

“When the audience really likes something, it’s really fun to bring something from the same playwright back,” Potter said. “It’s the same kind of humor, but not quite as dark.”

Always a Bridesmaid follows four friends Libby Ruth Ames (Denise Hughes), Monette Gentry (Teri Hood), Charlie Collins (Amy Kelly) and Deedra Wingate (Christine Jolly) from their senior prom, where they sneak Chianti and vow to always be each other’s bridesmaids, through their lives and weddings.

“The audience sees it every four years,” Potter said. “Every four years is a different wedding, all at this converted Victorian event center in Virginia.”

Sedalia Ellicott, played by Carol McDonald-Walley, owns the event center and gets to know the four brides very well throughout the course of the show.

This structure — jumping through time to show both change and constancy — also looks at the division between public and private. For much of the play, the four women are upstairs at the event center, getting reading for their weddings, Potter said. Such a time, generally thought of as private and intimate, before the public spectacle of getting married reveals how friendship can grow and deepen over the years — and, of course, makes for plenty of comedy.

So do the bridesmaids’ dresses, ranging from stuck-in-the-’80s to over-the-top French fashion.

Temporal distinctions blur further at the final wedding, as Kari Ames-Bissette (played by Larrissa Garvin), Libby Ruth’s daughter, addresses the room. Kari functions as the show’s de-facto narrator, said Denise Hughes, her on-stage mother.

Over the course of the show, Kari delivers multiple monologues.

“The whole audience is at her wedding reception, and she’s standing at the invisible table with her champagne glass, talking to her invisible groom,” Potter said. “She cannot hold her liquor at all.”

Always a Bridesmaid comes fullcircle with Kari’s wedding, at which her mother and three godmothers are her bridesmaids, Potter said.

Creating familiarity

They say that comedy is harder than tragedy, and Always a Bridesmaid delivers plenty of supporting evidence.

Staging a play about four women with a decades-long friendship, crystallized at crucial moments in their lives, comes with its own set of challenges, and creating a sense of familiarity and friendship remained crucial.

Potter, who directed the show in Ponca City in 2008, put her previous knowledge of the play to use by suggesting a longer than usual eight-week rehearsal period in order to get actors off-book as soon as possible.

“I wanted them to bond … as a cast because these four women have been together since elementary school, and by the end of the play, they’re well into their 50s. They’re the kind of people that know each other really well; they know all their idiosyncrasies and their bad habits and their good habits and their secrets,” Potter said.

Hughes said she has drawn from her own inner circle — her sister and two other women — in order to replicate the intensity of long-standing friendship onstage.

“I truly adore these women,” Hughes Always a Bridesmaid follows the relationship of four friends from prom through all of their weddings. | Photo Jim Beckel / Jewel Box Theatre / provided

Always a Bridesmaid culminates in four lifelong friends being bridesmaids in the wedding of one of their daughters. | Photo Jim Beckel / Jewel Box Theatre / provided

said. “The process has worked. … Every time we get on this stage, you can feel just a little bit more. I think by the time we open and we’re ready for an audience, they’re going to see four women who truly not just care about each other on this stage, but truly care about each other backstage.”

Depicting friendship on the stage also requires a specific sense of physicality and movement that draws on Potter’s background as a theater major at the University of Michigan and her time at Valley Studio, learning mime in Wisconsin.

“They’re doing a lot of physical stuff,” Potter said of the actors. “There’s always something — they’re eating … they’re chasing somebody around, up and down.”

This tendency toward movement and naturalism is even more essential at Jewel Box Theatre, where plays are performed “in the round” and the audience surrounds the stage. Unlike traditional proscenium stages, where movement can only go certain ways to ensure audience visibility, working in the round requires a different approach.

“As an actress … you can’t just go to the front of the stage and go sideways. … It’s more like real life,” Hughes said.

Actors move in circles, not standing in one place for too long or too near another actor, Potter said. When talking in real life, Potter said, you’re frequently also doing something else­— cooking or not looking directly at a conversation partner.

“That’s what you have to play when you’re doing this,” Potter said.

She furnishes the stage with real food and water and encourages actors to incorporate movements that feel natural.

Comedies can feel artificial, with deus ex machina endings and forced closure, but Always a Bridesmaid reveals the natural syncopations of long-lasting, non-romantic love.

“It’s just a sweet story about enduring friendship, love, affection,” Hughes said.

Visit jewelboxtheatre.org.

Always a Bridesmaid 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m.

Sundays through May 6 Jewel Box Theatre | 3700 N. Walker Ave. jewelboxtheatre.org | 405-521-1786 $20-$25 O kg a z e t t e . c o m | a p r i l 1 8 , 2 0 1 8

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ARTS & CULTURE

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Sister Mable Stoss stands in one of three storage units that the Free Food Pantry and Educational Center uses to store donations. | Photo Laura Eastes

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Answering calls

The Free Food Pantry and Educational Center serves seniors and more through its programs providing groceries, clothing and furniture.

By Laura Eastes

Back in 1990, when Sister Mable Stoss founded the Free Food Pantry and Educational Center, she saw a need going unmet.

“I noticed that certain areas [of Oklahoma City] didn’t have a pantry while the other areas were flourishing,” Stoss said. “I found that there were a lot of senior citizens and people who were sick — shut-ins who had no one they could depend on for assistance.”

Stoss did what she thought was necessary. She began accepting food donations and distributing to those in need in northeast Oklahoma City. Twentyeight years later, she’s still at it. Now, Free Food Pantry and Educational Center is a 501c3 nonprofit organization with a board and 20 volunteers. What the organization offers to its clients goes beyond canned goods, as volunteers’ deliver donated clothing and furniture, including medical equipment.

“We cater even today to those homebound senior citizens and the shut-ins,” Stoss, founder and president of the board, said. “Their groceries are given directly at their door. … Our organization is very unique because the people who are seeking assistance do not have to get out. That’s very beneficial for senior citizens.”

Supported by community donations, Free Food Pantry and Educational Center maintains three storage units that contain food, clothing and furniture. Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Stoss and volunteers man the phones, accepting applications and arranging deliveries. The organization serves northeast Oklahoma City residents and northwest residents who reside east of N. Pennsylvania Avenue.

Word of mouth and referrals from northeast Oklahoma City churches are 30

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the most popular methods for finding out about the Free Food Pantry and Educational Center’s services, Stoss said.

At times, when donations are strong, the organization expands its services to fit community needs. In the past, utility and rental assistance was provided to low-income households. Another former program, the Gift of Sight program, brought eye exams and glasses to locals who lacked access to vision care.

“We do try to equip them with the proper tools to help them help themselves,” Stoss said. “As the old story goes, you give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. If you teach them how to fish, they can eat for a lifetime.”

These days, Stoss said, donations are stagnant and needs are high. While a majority of Free Food Pantry’s clients are senior citizens, volunteers deliver more grocery sacks to grandmothers raising their grandchildren than ever before.

With services like clothing and furniture, the organization helps the working poor with clothing for job interviews or work-appropriate attire.

With donated lamps, sofas, mattresses, tables and chairs, volunteers make deliveries to domestic abuse victims and their families.

Free Food Pantry and Educational Center meets a variety of critical community needs, however, Stoss said, fighting hunger is at the top of the needs list.

“I would like the people to know that there is someone who cares and is concerned about their well-being,” Stoss said. “My dream is to one day win a contest and purchase a building so that I can fill it full of food and give it to the community.”

Call 405-721-6763.

calendar are events recommended

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

Books Being Boss join Oklahoma boss-lady Kathleen Shannon for the signing of her new book for creative entrepreneurs, 7-9 p.m. April 20. Commonplace Books, 1325 N. Walker Ave., 405-534-4540, commonplacebooksokc.com. FRI Brandon Hobson book signing join Oklahoma author of Where the Dead Sit Talking and Desolation of Avenues Untold for a reading and a book signing, 2 p.m. April 22. Norman Santa Fe Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., 405-307-9320, pasnorman.org. SUN The Little Red Fort Brenda Maier signs her book about Ruby, a girl with a creative imagination, and hosts a special storytime, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. April 21.

Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, 405-340-9202, bestofbooksok.com. SAT Reading Wednesdays a story time with naturethemed books along with an interactive song and craft making, 10 a.m. Wednesdays. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405.445.7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com. WED

Film Before We Vanish (2017, Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa), a science fiction thriller in the near future when extraterrestrials have been sent to destroy our planet, 8 p.m. April 20-21, 5:30 p.m. April 22. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com.

FRI-SUN

Claire’s Camera (2017, Korea,Hong Sangsoo), follows a piano teacher with her camera on a trip to Cannes, 5:30 p.m. April 20-21, 2 p.m. April 22.

Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch drive, 405236-3100, okcmoa.com. FRI-SUN Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, USA, George Miller), an apocalyptic action film about a woman who rebels against a ruler with a female prisoners and a drifter named Max, 7 p.m. April 23. Tower Theatre, 425 NW 23rd St., 405-708-6937, towertheatreokc.com. MON

Happenings Crossing the Bridge a justice conference hosted by Oklahoma City Stronger Together with workshops, April 20-21. Northeast Regional Health & Wellness Campus, 2600 NE 63rd St., 405-419-4150, strongertogetherokc.com. FRI-SAT Dog Day Afternoon a day of music and food with a dog adoption in memory of dog-lover Maureen McMullen-Rodriguez, 3-7 p.m. April 25. Oklahoma Skin Care, 11011 Hefner Pointe Drive, 405-749-2273, okskinandveincare.com. WED

Hoot at the Root features artists such as Sharra Beard, Nora Bisher, April Holder and more as well as musical acts by Gregg Standridge, Dylan Stewart, Tania Warnock and more, 4 p.m. April 21. The Root, 3012 N. Walker Ave., 405-655-5889, therootokc.com. SAT Introduction to Growing Plants for New Gardeners an introduction to the basics of growing ornamental garden plants including trees, shrubs and perennial flowers and grasses, 6-7 p.m. April 24. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405.445.7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/. TUE #MeToo: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Community Learning Council hosts a panel of experts to discuss employer responsibilities and employee rights on the topic of sexual harassment in today’s workplace, 9 a.m.-3:15 p.m. April 24.

Oklahoma Bar Center, 1901 N. Lincoln Blvd., 405-4167000, okbar.org. TUE Museum Theory and Practice Explore the research, preservation, management and interpretation of historical and cultural resources through the University of Central Oklahoma’s graduate program in museum studies. Through April 27. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org. TUE-FRI Nomads of the Plains: American Indian Horse Culture a free K–12 professional development session investigating the nomadic lifestyle of the Plains Indian and the revolutionary impact of the horse on native cultures, 5:30-8:30 p.m. April 24. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org. TUE Red Earth Golf Tournament gather a four-member team for a day of golf and refreshments benefiting Red Earth, Inc promoting American Indian arts and cultures,April 23. Oak Tree Golf & Country Club, 700 Country Club Drive, 405-427-5228, redearth.org. MON Rhythm Restoration Food Drive donate groceries to help fill the shelves of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Through May 11. Caliber Collision, 8216 Northwest Expressway, 405-621-1613, calibercollision. com. THU-FRI Senior Wellness Wednesday A 30-minute hearthealthy exercise class, followed by a heart healthy cooking /wine demo and tasting with Kam’s Kookery, 9-10:30 a.m. Feb. 28. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405.445.7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com. WED Spring Garden Tour enjoy the gardens full of plants and flowers native to the American West with a story about the West’s roots, 1-2 p.m. April 14-15, 21-22, 28-29. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org. SAT-SUN Spring Sampler Tour view the spring exhibitions with works by Jerome Tiger, Theodore Waddell and more, 1-1:45 p.m. April 14-15, 21-22, 28-29. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

SAT-SUN

Solitude View mountains, creeks, trees and more in award-winning artist Alan Ball’s photographs of quiet landscapes. Solitude runs noon-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday through April 29 at Contemporary Art Gallery, 2928 Paseo St. Call 405-601-7474 or visit contemporaryartgalleryokc.com. Thursday-Sunday, ongoing Photo Alan Ball/provided

Food Eat Your Food and Decrease Waste Too make smoothies from foods with zero waste and learn how to decrease our own waste through the foods we eat with Brittyn Howard, MS, RDN/LD, 5-6 p.m. April 22.

0. Natural Grocers, 7013 N. May Ave., 405-840-0300, naturalgrocers.com/nutrition-and-health/events/ events-calendar/have-your-food-decrease-wastetoo/. SUN The Lost Ogle Trivia for ages 21 and up, test your knowledge with free trivia play and half-priced sausages, 8-10 p.m. Tuesdays. Fassler Hall, 421 NW 10th St., 405-609-3300, fasslerhall.com. TUE Myriad Kitchen: Herbal Butters herbalist Lori Coats discusses the benefits of herbs and how to create your own herbal butter, 10 a.m.-noon April 21. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405.445.7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/. SAT

Youth Art Adventures Bring your young artists ages 3 to 5 to experience art through books with related art projects, 10:30 a.m.-noon Tuesdays through June.

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., 405325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma. TUE

RIOULT Dance NY the modern dance company performs sensual and articulate musical works of Pascal Rioult, 7:30 p.m. April 19. OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater, 7777 S. May Ave., 405-682-7579, tickets.occc.edu. THU Shen Yun features unique blend of costuming, high-tech backdrops, and live orchestra with the beauty of classical Chinese dance, 7:30 p.m. April 20, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. April 21. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 405-297-2264, shenyun.com/ okc. FRI-SAT

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, Through Dec. 31. Lighthouse Fitness (Front), 3333 W. Hefner, 405-845-5672, marlinswimamerica.com.

Yoga Series in the Gardens bring your mat for an all-levels class with Lisa Woodard from This Land yoga, 5:45 p.m. Tuesdays. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405.445.7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com. TUE

Explore It! get your questions answered of what, why and how about the natural world we live in, 11:30 a.m,-noon Saturdays. Sam Noble Museum, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., 405-325-4712, snomnh.ou.edu. SAT Family Workshop: Flower and Leaf Pressing for ages 6-11 to preserve leaves and flowers by turning them into art, bookmarks and crafts, 2-3 p.m.

April 20. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405.445.7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/. FRI Summer Camp Contemporary keep kids creative and learning in camps featuring visual arts, music, hip-hop, fiber, clay, performance, robotics and more, through August 10. $100-$215 per camp. Go green and save $5 by enrolling online., Mondays-Fridays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. through Aug. 10. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 General Pershing Blvd., 405-9510000, oklahomacontemporary.org. WED-FRI

Performing Arts Blood Relations a psychological mystery based on the book by Sharon Pollock about Lizzie Borden and the murders of her father and stepmother, 8 p.m.

April 20-21. Carpenter Square Theatre, 806 W. Main St., 405-232-6500, carpentersquare.com. FRI-SAT The Book of Mormon an award-winning musical comedy about two Mormon missionaries who travel to Africa, 7:30 p.m.

April 24-25. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 405-297-2264, okcciviccenter.com.

Fun Home a musical based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir as she navigates her childhood, through April 29., Wednesdays-Sundays. through April 29. Lyric at the Plaza, 1725 NW 16th St., 405524-9312, LyricTheatreOKC.com.

Record Store Day 2018 Support local independent record stores and celebrate the culture behind record stores and the role they play in their communities with promotions, releases and music at Record Store Day 2018. The event is 10 a.m. Saturday at various locations including Guestroom Records at 3701 N. Western Ave., in Oklahoma City and 125 E. Main St. in Norman and 3 Dachshunds Record & Collectables Store, 2508 Edmond Road, in Edmond. Visit recordstoreday.com. SATURDAY Photo Guestroom Records/provided

OKC Improv Enjoy weekly performances of improvised comedy theatre on Oklahoma City’s premier platform for improv, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. through April 21. NOIR Bistro & Bar, 701 W. Sheridan, 405.208.4233, theparamountokc.com.

Oklahoma City Handbell Ensemble a free handbell concert that is collecting non-perishable food items to donate to local food banks, 6:30 p.m.

April 21. West Norman Public Library, 300 Norman Center Court. SAT

go to okgazette.com for full listings!

#OptOutside Oklahoma Breathe some fresh air and enjoy the outdoors while exploring the best options for camping at #OptOutside Oklahoma. Tents, chairs, cooking gear and trailers are displayed for outdoor enthusiasts to peruse. The free daytime event is noon-5 p.m. Sunday at Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave. Adventure-lovers can even try out the equipment while camping in fully furnished tents beginning 7 p.m.

Saturday night. Overnight camping costs $50-$55. Call 405-445-7080 or visit myriadgardens.com. sunDAY Photo Myriad Botanical Gardens/provided

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | a p r i l 1 8 , 2 0 1 8

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A SeASonAl Guide to CentrAl oklAhomA

calendar Yoga with Art Relax and stretch in contemporary art-filled spaces with yoga instructed by This Land Yoga, 10 a.m. Saturdays. 21c Museum Hotel, 900 W. Main St., 405-982-6900, 21cmuseumhotels.com. SAT

Visual Arts Apichatpong Weerasethakul: The Serenity of Madness features films by award-winning artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul who was born in Thailand and earned a master of fine arts degree in Chicago. Through June 10. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com.

Summer never seems long enough so Gazette is giving its readers the go-to guide for filling every second with fun across the state.

FeAturinG A 3 month CAlendAr

Along with expanded editorial content PubliSheS mAy 23, 2017

Ad deAdlineS mAy 16, 2017

Attention

The Art of Oklahoma Celebrate the 110th anniversary of Oklahoma statehood with a diverse collection of art created by or about Oklahomans–and the cities and landscapes they call home. Enjoy works by John Steuart Curry, Oscar Brousse Jacobson, Nellie Shepherd, David Fitzgerald and Woody Big Bow, through Sept. 2. 2018. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com.

Artist Reception a free event for people to meet Skirvin Paseo Artist in Residence Marissa Raglin and peruse her works of art, 5-7 p.m. April 19. Skirvin Hilton Hotel, 1 Park Ave., 405-272-3040, skirvinhilton.com. THU Can’t Touch This features works by six UCO Department of Design faculty in augmented and virtual reality through several technological mediums, through April 19. Melton Gallery, 100 N. University drive, 405-525-3603, uco.edu.

Chromatic Ritual features paintings and fused glass creations by Fringe: Women Artists of Oklahoma with a portion of sales to The Homeless Alliance, through June 1. Verbode, 415 N. Broadway Ave., 405-757-7001, fringeokc.com.

COMIX OK an exhibition featuring well-established Oklahoma comic artists including Arigon Starr, Dustin Oswald, Natasha Alterici and more, through April 22.

Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 3000 Pershing Blvd., 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org.

Divided an exhibit featuring abstract paintings by Oklahoma artist Janice Mathews-Gordon and pots and murals by Mexico native Carlos Tello, Through April 29. JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N. Walker Ave., 405-528-6336, jrbartgallery.com.

Do You See What I See? Painted Conversations by Theodore Waddell Explores Waddell’s abstract expressionism like never before by redirection the visitor’s attention to the importance of what they do not see rather than what they do see on the canvas, Through May 13. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

Dylan Bradway graphic designer and co-owner of DNA Galleries displays his artwork, Through May 6. DNA Galleries, 1709 NW 16th St., 405-525-3499, dnagalleries.com.

Hidden Treasures: Seeing into the Unseen features photographs by Jim Reznicek in his first solo exhibition including art works of landscapes, macro and still life images influenced by his Christian faith, through April 28. Paseo Art Space, 3022 Paseo St., 405-525-2688, thepaseo.com.

Goat Milk Cheesemaking Workshop Attend a hands-on cheesemaking workshop with dairy-product specialist Dr. Steve Zeng. The day includes breakfast, snacks and lunch consisting of goat meat, sausages, jerky, goat-milk ice cream and cheeses. The event starts 9 a.m. April 27 in the creamery at Langston University, 6700 N. Martin Luther King Ave. Registration is $60. Call 405-466-6145. APRIL 27 Photo bigstock.com/provided In the Principles Office: Tom Ryan the Art Student Learn the principles of art as Tom Ryan did with his instruction on “general illustration” with famed teacher Frank Reilly, Through Nov. 11. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 405-478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

Into the Fold: The Art and Science of Origami features origami artists from around the world and displays the techniques of artful paper folding and other unique applications of origami, through Jan. 13, 2019. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 405-602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org.

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.

Mentorship Exhibition a program for high school students to learn more about printmaking, the book

publicity seekers!

arts, and works on paper; the exhibit features linoleum relief prints, plexiglass monotypes and more, Through April 20. [Artspace] at Untitled, 1 NE Third St., 405-815-6665, 1ne3.org.

My Wildest Dreams Features Broken Arrow artist Micheal W. Jones; an artist from a young age, his paintings are created using water media, MondaysFridays. through April 27. Norman Santa Fe Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., 405-307-9320, pasnorman.org.

The New Art: A Milestone Collection Fifty Years Later Features 52 works including paintings, prints, sculptures and drawings; it is a collection that has shaped the museum and Oklahoma in the art world, Through May 13. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch drive, 405-236-3100, okcmoa.com.

Optical Delusions Hilary Black Waltrip’s exhibit that displays the interplay of technique and expression combined elegantly to lead the viewer through a spiritual journey, Through May 5. Sandalwood & Sage, 322 E. Main St., 405-366-7243.

Porcelain Art Exhibit World Organization of China Painters presents a free tour for the member porcelain art exhibit, Through June 22. Porcelain Art Museum, 2700 N. Portland Ave., 405-521-1234, wocp.org.

Sandwich Baggie an exhibit of ceramics that can fit in a sandwich bag that were created by OU ceramic students over the last three semesters, Through April 28. The Lightwell Gallery, 520 Parrington Oval, 405-325-2691, art.ou.edu.

Submit calendar events at okgazette.com or email to listings@okgazette.com

Through Abahay’s Eyes translates as “through my father’s eyes” and features the art that depicts the journey Ebony Iman Dallas takes to find her father, Through April 29. The Paseo Plunge, 3010 Paseo Plunge, 405-315-6224, paseoplunge.org.

Please be sure to indicate ‘Summer Guide’ in the subject line. We do no accept calendar items via phone.

Deadline to submit items for our Summer Guide calendar is Wednesday May 2nd by 5pm.

Call 405.528.6000 today to reserve your space.

32

a p r i l 1 8 , 2 0 1 8 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

Complete Works of William Shakespeare University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) Department of Theatre Arts and Penny Stinkers Touring Company perform a free production of an abridged version of works by poet and playwright William Shakespeare at Complete Works of William Shakespeare 8 p.m. April 27-28 at UCO’s Mitchell Hall Theatre, 100 N. University Drive, in Edmond. Admission is free. Call 405-974-2000 or visit theatrearts.uco.edu. APRIL 27-28 Photo UCO Photographic Services/provided

Submissions must be received

by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date.

Late submissions will not be included in the listings.

Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible. Fax your listings to 528-4600 or e-mail them to listings@okgazette.com.

Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

go to okgazette.com for full listings!

For okg live music

see page 37

EVENT

MUSIC

Pleasant paradise

David Byrne brings his blockbuster American Utopia World Tour — and a healthy dose of optimism — to OKC. By Ben Luschen

Harsh polarization and general unrest have infiltrated many aspects of the modern world, but for at least one night, David Byrne will bring a piece of utopia to Oklahoma City.

The musician and renaissance man’s one-of-a-kind American Utopia World Tour has already dazzled over a dozen eager audiences across North and South America, and soon, local fans will be able to count themselves among those who have seen what the former Talking Heads vocalist has called his most ambitious performance since the filming of 1984’s Stop Making Sense.

Byrne’s show is set to begin 8 p.m.

April 25 at The Criterion, 500 E. Sheridan Ave. Art-pop vocalist Perfume Genius, who played the downtown venue six months ago on tour with The xx, opens the show.

The tour supports Byrne’s latest LP of the same name. American Utopia, officially released March 9, is Byrne’s eleventh studio album and first solo project since 2004’s Grown Backwards. Prior to this year, his most recent musical release was Love This Giant, a collaborative album with St. Vincent (Tulsa-born artrock guitarist and vocalist Annie Clark).

When it’s all said and done, Byrne’s massive world tour will have played at least 80 dates. But OKC should nonetheless consider itself fortunate to host at least one of them.

The setlist will be more or less a 50-50 split between Talking Heads classics (tunes like “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody),” “Once in a Lifetime” and “Burning Down the House”) and new songs from American Utopia. The production value is high and theatrical, with large stage pieces wheeled in and a variety of lighting tricks.

However, the most impactful visual component to the show is its great openness. Every performer in Byrne’s vibrantly diverse 12-player band is completely mobile. The stage is free of all monitors, American Utopia | Image provided

amps, stands and stationary equipment.

Everyone on stage dons the same uniform: an all-gray suit and bare feet.

It took Byrne 14 years to follow up his last solo record with American Utopia. He has kept more than busy since then — recording several collaborative albums, scoring film projects, writing books, lecturing at colleges and designing New York City bicycle racks.

But with that gap of time in mind, it certainly seems that now is the time for proper appreciation of Byrne’s tremendous career. He is far from retired, but it’s hard to know how he’ll choose to spend his time next.

American dream?

On the American Utopia song “Every Day Is A Miracle,” Byrne muses that “a cockroach might eat ‘Mona Lisa’” and that dogs have no concept of religion or who the pope is. His lyrics feel whimsical on the surface, but they also point toward a liberating truth: Many of the things society values are only significant because humanity has collectively decided that they are.

American Utopia is full of Byrne’s trademark wit and stream-of-consciousness ponderings.

[American Utopia] highlights society’s inherent faults while also hinting at remedies and reminding listeners to keep cheerful.

There are definite points in the album where Byrne is blatantly political. “Dog’s Mind” draws parallels between human preoccupation and dogs in a park, lost in their own world. Byrne sings about a government, press corps and people who play into a president’s hands when it’s clear that things have gone off the rails. And even when there is dissent against his words or actions, those people are still playing the same game. When positions of power are switched, the game doesn’t go away; the roles are just reversed.

Byrne’s lyrics on the song describe our reality as a place where nothing matters and the truth has lost its bearing.

“We are dogs in our own paradise, in a theme park of our own,” he sings.

“Doggy dancers doing doody; doggy dreaming all day long.”

It’s a common tendency to view any marginally political album that has

come out since 2017 as an artist’s “Trump album.” But that is not really the case with American Utopia. Byrne has said in past interviews that much of this project was written before the results of the 2016 presidential election were known.

Byrne’s album speaks to issues seeded deeper than any one administration, though he has made it clear that he is no fan of Trump. The project highlights society’s inherent faults while also hinting at remedies and reminding listeners to keep cheerful.

Alongside the release of American Utopia, Byrne has been taking time to point out reasons for optimism in a sea of depressive headlines and cable news outrage. A lecture he gave at The New University in New York City was published on YouTube in January. His speech, titled Reasons to Be Cheerful, lists aspects of global society that could point us toward a better tomorrow. His lecture corresponds with his new website, reasonstobecheerful.world, which features in-depth news articles Byrne has read and found uplifting or promising.

His lecture points to a number of ways in which day-to-day life could be improved, like the use of cycling as an alternative to car-driven transit culture or the viewing of drug use as a health issue instead of a criminal one.

On his Reasons to Be Cheerful website, Byrne notes that he often finds the state of the world depressing. He ventures that many other have felt the same way.

David Byrne | Photo Jody Rogac / provided

“It doesn’t matter how you voted — on Brexit, the French elections or the U.S. election more than a year ago — many of us of all persuasions and party affiliations feel remarkably similar,” Byrne wrote. “This feeling is not confined to one side of the political spectrum.”

In an interview with Vulture, Byrne said he began working on his Reasons to Be Cheerful project around the same time as his new album, but they were not necessarily intended as companion pieces, even if they carry similar sentiments.

“There was no obvious connection,” Byrne said. “Sometimes you don’t realize what you are doing is about until you’re getting near the finish. You’re almost done, and then you realize, ‘Ah!’ You get the perspective on it.”

Instead of focusing on however bleak the world seems at the moment, Byrne instead asks whether there is a new way to approach the way we operate within society. And he does it all with a little dance, a knowing wink free from the shackles of perceived permanence.

“We’re only tourists in this life,” he sings on “Everybody’s Coming to My House.” “Only tourists, but the view is nice.”

David Byrne

w/ Perfume Genius 7 p.m. April 25 The Criterion 500 E. Sheridan Ave. criterionokc.com | 1-800-745-3000 $45-$609

O kg a z e t t e . c o m | A P R I L 1 8 , 2 0 1 8

33

MUSIC

F E AT U R E

Foreigner saxophonist Thom Gimbel will share the stage with Norman North High School’s vocal choir during the band’s performance of “I Want to Know What Love Is” at its appearance at Riverwind Casino. | Photo provided

Class session

Foreigner uses a piece of rock history to support Norman North High School’s music program.

By Ben Luschen

There are a few songs in the canon of classic rock music that are ubiquitously known: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” One could argue that Foreigner — led by the songwriting talents of English guitarist and band co-founder Mick Jones (not to be confused with The Clash founding lead guitarist with the same name) — has multiple entries in the annals of timeless radio. The band has 16 Top 30 hits. Entire generations were raised on hits like 1981’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and ’82’s “Juke Box Hero.”

But chief among all its work might be “I Want to Know What Love Is,” the ’84 soft-rock ballad written for the band’s fifth studio album Agent Provocateur. The song has and will continue to live well past its initial release thanks to a relatable refrain bolstered by a chorus that featured the New Jersey Mass Choir as support for former vocalist Lou Gramm.

Jones has stated in interviews that “I Want to Know What Love Is” was written with a vocal choir in mind. Throughout the band’s history, a choir has occasionally been invited on stage to join Foreigner for the song. But in recent years, the band has made a tradition out of inviting local school choirs to assist them with the song onstage. An appearance always includes a $500 band con34

A P R I L 1 8 , 2 0 1 8 | O kg a z e t t e . c o m

tribution to the school’s music program.

When Foreigner takes the stage at Riverwind Casino’s Showplace Theatre, it has agreed to bring a choir from Norman North High School for the classic tune.

The concert is set to begin 8 p.m. April 27 at the casino, 1544 State Highway 9, in Norman. Tickets to the show are sold out.

Norman North students will also be selling Foreigner CDs at the show to raise money for the band’s charity partner The Grammy Foundation.

Thom Gimbel, who has played guitar and saxophone for Foreigner as a fulltime band member since 1995, said in a recent interview with Oklahoma Gazette that the band began inviting school performers on stage about seven years ago as Jones’ way of supporting music education in public schools.

“So many of the schools are having their music programs taken away,” Gimbel told Gazette. “We really want to ask people to do what you can and get with your board of education or the superintendent and tell them you’re in favor of keeping music education in schools.”

The chance to perform onstage during a sold-out rock concert is a more thrilling opportunity than most vocal students could ever hope for. Gimbel said the band’s school donation technically makes the appearance many of the

students’ first paid gig.

“We get a kick out of it,” he said, “and hopefully it gives them some experience that they can draw on later on in life if they decide to become performers.”

Gimbel remembers being embarrassed to sing in public in high school, but the students he encounters onstage are ready to flex their vocal muscles. Whether that confidence comes from exposure to music competition shows on television or the adrenaline of performing with a band in front of a large crowd, Gimbel said the school choirs have become one of his favorite parts of performing each night.

“It’s really been a fun program,” he said. “We love to see these young adults take the stage by storm.”

Spanning generations

Norman North choir director Stephen Ziegler said this is not the first time he remembers Foreigner coming through Riverwind. The last time the band performed in Norman, it invited the Norman High School choir onstage. This year, Foreigner reached out to Norman North in an attempt to change things up.

Ziegler said he first heard from the band’s tour manager in August but was not able to confirm the choir’s appearance at the show until January. He was not surprised by how excited his students were for the opportunity once he told them about it.

“What I did not anticipate,” he said, “was how many of them knew exactly what I was talking about as soon as I said, ‘Do you know the band called Foreigner?’”

Ziegler said in hindsight he should not have underestimated the band’s popularity among younger generations.

The parents of the students he teaches now would have been at their prime

music-listening ages during the peak of Foreigner’s popularity.

“They’re a great band, and their music spans generations,” he said.

The vocal director enjoys the music of Foreigner but counts himself as more of a Journey or Chicago fan. But he has a high appreciation for the band’s place in music history and is looking forward to seeing the concert aside from the appearance by his students.

This is Ziegler’s fourth year as Norman North’s vocal department director, and it is also the first teaching job he got after completing his master’s degree.

As a graduate of the high school himself, he was one of the first in line to replace the school’s former choir director.

Working as a teacher in the same building where he once studied is a cool and surreal experience.

“It’s very cool to see it all from the other side,” he said.

At the time of Ziegler’s interview with Oklahoma Gazette, Norman Public Schools were still engaged in the statewide teacher walkout, along with several other school districts. However, the lack of class time has not made preparing for the show any more difficult. Ziegler said their end of the performance is pretty straightforward. The band did not provide them with any charts. Foreigner told them to listen to the tune and just sing the chorus along with the band.

“We haven’t done too much music preparation on that because it’s fairly simple,” he said.

Ziegler said there have not yet been any discussions about whether an ongoing teacher walkout might affect Norman North’s ability to participate in the show. He hopes things are resolved by then and that those conversations will never need to occur.

“We’re taking everything one day and one week at a time,” he said.

Strong support

Gimbel was not aware of Oklahoma’s teacher walkout before speaking with Gazette, but he did not hesitate to say that Foreigner supports a general increase in teacher pay.

“Let’s pay our teachers a little bit more if we can,” he said. “That’s the other message that [Jones] sends out, and I think we’re all on the same page on that.

We just have to find a way to do it.”

Gimbel has a nephew who teaches in the Boston area. He also gives one of his former music teachers credit for inspiring him to pursue a career in the industry.

This teacher actually gave him a reason to get excited about attending class.

“That’s part of the reason why I’m so in favor of [music education],” Gimbel said. “It helps kids who might get in trouble; it gives them a reason to go to school instead.”

Music education is not just about learning how to play. Gimbel believes it instills a sense of identity in students who might otherwise be aimless.

“The benefits are innumerable,” he said.

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EVENT

Japanese Breakfast | Photo Phobymo / provided

Cosmic journey

Michelle Zauner brings Japanese Breakfast’s Soft Sounds from Another Planet to Norman.

By Ben Luschen

Editor’s note: Oklahoma Gazette is featuring Norman Music Festival performers each week leading up to its 2018 event April 26-28 in Norman.

Around 60 miles off South Korea’s mainland is the scenic island Jeju. The forested island province is known as a tourism hotbed and is marked in the middle by Hallasan, an enormous shield volcano that is also the country’s highest mountain.

Jeju is also home to a centuries-old tradition of free-diving women fishmongers, a tradition Michelle Zauner first learned of a few years ago during a visit to her mother’s home country.

Zauner, the guitarist and vocalist for the currently inactive Philadelphia emo band Little Big League, is most known now for her experimental-pop and indierock solo project Japanese Breakfast, which released its critically praised second studio album Soft Sounds from Another Planet in July. Zauner’s project functions as the main headliner for day one of this year’s Norman Music Festival and is set to perform 10:45 p.m. April 26 on the outdoor Lyft Opolis Stage.

Soft Sounds came out just over a year after Psychopomp, Zauner’s 2016 debut as Japanese Breakfast. Psychopomp was Soft Sounds from Another Planet | Image provided

April 22 bOWling fOR SOup April 27 CHiCAnO bATMAn

continued on page 36

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April 28 My SO CAllEd bAnd written just a few months after Zauner’s mother died from cancer. If the short, lo-fi collection represents the dark, immediate aftermath of significant loss, the more polished Soft Sounds shows listeners how life and love more casually intersect with grief over time.

The album is sonically set in the open vacuum of space. Though the album is often dense with strings, synths and other instrumentation, Zauner achieves a sense of openness with some echoing vocals and otherworldly effects.

Thematically speaking, Soft Sounds deals more with general pain than specific loss, but bits of Zauner’s mother and heritage pop up across the project.

Take a song like “The Body Is a Blade,” for example, which is about dealing with the aimless anger she felt at the world after her mom died and pressing forward in life even as it seems to be caving in all around you.

Then there’s “Diving Woman,” Soft Sounds’ epic opener, which romanticizes the women of Jeju who are bound by regimen and purpose that stretches back generations.

“A lot of that song was just about being on the road and being in your own head and missing your partner,” Zauner said in a recent Oklahoma Gazette interview. “I was just really fascinated by these women who had a really direct task at hand.”

Though Zauner has an extensive past with music, the heavy buzz around Japanese Breakfast’s musical output and wide public fascination with her private life that comes from emerging out of a band into a deeply personal solo project has made the past few years a very new experience for the songwriter. When constantly surrounded by newness and uncertainty, simplistic consistency can seem luxurious.

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MUSIC continued from page 35

EVENT

“With music, it’s exciting and fun, but it’s also frustrating that there are so many other elements that are a part of your life,” she said. “It’s not just like you’re playing music. You really have to market yourself and do a lot of interviews. I do so many things that I wish sometimes that I had a more structured life.”

School days

Though on April 26 she will likely be one of the most popular people in Norman, Zauner was not exactly a prep star in high school. She was willfully absent from her senior prom.

“I hated everyone in high school,” she said.

She did, however, attend her junior prom, but on her own terms: bucking gender norms by donning a tuxedo at the end-of-year formal.

The music video for Soft Sounds’ second single “Boyish” — which is a softer, transformative reimagining of an earlier Little Big League song — features a young Asian-American actress playing a tux-clad, teenage version of Zauner at prom with two other female friends.

The songwriter said she envisioned shooting a video with a school dance theme as soon as she finished recording the Japanese Breakfast version of

Japanese Breakfast | Photo Ebru Yildiz / provided

“Boyish.” But such a project is more ambitious than it might sound. There are actors to be hired, extras to be gathered and school schedules to work around.

Sufficiently lighting a school hallway or gymnasium isn’t easy or cheap.

Fortunately for Zauner, the video found funding through a sponsorship with Apple. Unfortunately, the administration at the school they originally secured for the video decided not to let them use their facilities just a couple of days before their scheduled shoot.

“We thought the video was a disaster and just not going to happen,” Zauner said. “We had like 40 extras and a cast of five and a band and all this rental stuff, and I thought it’d all been ruined.”

The shoot was eventually saved by, of all people, Zauner’s mother-in-law.

Zauner’s husband is Peter Bradley, who also plays guitar for Japanese Breakfast’s

touring band. Bradley’s mother suggested to a producer that her son’s former middle school might be available. The producer checked in with the school and was able to set something up at the last minute.

“I was really happy with the way that it turned out,” Zauner said.

New normal

Zauner is still relatively new to the festival circuit, as Japanese Breakfast is entering just its second year of existence.

But with upcoming dates at major events like Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in southern California and Sasquatch! Music Festival in Quincy, Washington, she won’t be a rookie to that type of environment for much longer.

“It’s definitely really different, and it’s going to be an adjustment,” she said.

“I think I’m going to learn a lot about it this year.”

Zauner said playing a festival seems

easier in some ways, but the environment presents its own unique challenges. There is a level of intimacy bands have to work to create in the wide-open setting. And while she will be the day’s main headliner for Norman Music Fest, the people in the crowd are not necessarily there to see them. “[NMF] will be super different because we’re at that end spot,” she said.

The success of Japanese Breakfast allowed Zauner the opportunity to play music for a living. She has hectically toured Soft Sounds since its release last summer, and 2018 will be her busiest touring year to date. It is a lifestyle she has always wanted for herself, but never-ending travel and other obligations take an emotional toll. Though she has adjusted to tour life, it’s hard for it to feel permanent. Everything happens so quickly.

“I keep kind of expecting my career to fail at some point,” she said. “Each year, I’m like, ‘Well, this is the best year I could have possibly asked for.’ And then the next year, it gets busier and better.”

But even while Zauner might crave a moment of peace, she is equally as determined to appreciate every second of her rocketing launch into the stratosphere.

“I’m really lucky that I get to play music for a living,” she said. “It’s kind of what I’ve always wanted, and sometimes it doesn’t even feel real.”

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Record Swap Meet & Live Bands

Record Store day

w/ Legendary Drummer John Barbata formerly with The Turtles & Jefferson Starship

Saturday April 21st | Starts at 10AM 1212 N. Penn | 208-8833 36

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LIVE MUSIC These are events recommended

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

Wednesday, Apr. 18 Amarillo Junction, JJ’s Alley Bricktown Pub. COUNTRY

Dylan Stewart, Bluebonnet Bar. COUNTRY Husky Burnette, Red Brick Bar. BLUES Lincka/Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards/ Me Oh My, Tower Theatre. INDIE

Thursday, Apr. 19 A-Game/Razakel/Jenocia X, 89th Street Collective.

HIP-HOP

20% off!

Earth Day SalE on 4/20!

The Cake Eaters, Bluebonnet Bar. COUNTRY Charley Crockett/The Greyhounds, Tower Theatre.

R&B

Door PrizE Drawing at 4:20 Pm

Chris Trapper, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER Layken Urie, Whiskey Barrel Saloon.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

Friday, Apr. 20 Abraskadabra/The Big News, Blue Note Lounge.

METAL

Chloe-Beth/Dylan Stewart, Grady’s 66 Pub. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Fossil Youth, 89th Street Collective. ROCK Ginny Mac/Kristy Kruger, JJ’s Alley Bricktown Pub. COUNTRY

Hosty, Lazy Circles Brewing. BLUES Luke Pell/Logan Mize, Tower Theatre. COUNTRY Michael Fracasso, The Blue Door.

Anthology for a Songwriter Threetime Woody Guthrie Award-winning folk singer-songwriter K.C. Clifford mixes music and storytelling at an event 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Commonplace Books, 1325 N. Walker Ave. Clifford will perform with guitarist David “Dr. Pants” Broyles (her husband) and read passages by her favorite writers. Tickets are $20. Call 405-534-4540 or visit kcclifford.com.

SATURDAY Photo Kriea Arie Photography/provided

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SINGER/SONGWRITER

Randall Coyne, Grand House. JAZZ Randy Cassimus, Full Circle Bookstore. ACOUSTIC Scott Keeton, Remington Park. ROCK Shotgun Rebellion/Scattered Hamlet/Final Drive/ Tricounty Terror, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK

Hosty, The Deli. BLUES J Roddy Walston and the Business/ The Glorious Sons, Opolis. ROCK Jake Miller, 89th Street Collective. POP

Monday, Apr. 23

Sissy Brown, Anthem Brewing Company. COUNTRY

The Cake Eaters, The Deli. ROCK

Steve Crossley, Louie’s Grill and Bar. R&B

Mickey Factz/Trip G, Tower Theatre. HIP-HOP

Superfreak, Landing Zone. ROCK

Sissy Brown, JJ’s Alley Bricktown Pub. COUNTRY

Tanner Miller and The Contraband, Bluebonnet Bar. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Tuesday, Apr. 24

Tyler Lee Band, Whiskey Chicks. COVER

Eagle Claw/Turbo Wizard, Blue Note Lounge.

Saturday, Apr. 21

Hosty, JJ’s Alley Bricktown Pub. BLUES

Howard Brady, Full Circle Bookstore. COUNTRY

Smoking Popes, 51st Street Speakeasy. PUNK

Kent Fauss Trio, McClintock Saloon & Chop House.

COUNTRY

Wednesday, Apr. 25

Lacy Saunders, Remington Park.

Amarillo Junction, JJ’s Alley Bricktown Pub.

Mojo Thief, Belle Isle Brewery. ROCK

Hemlock/SevidemiC, Kendells. METAL

RPM Band, Newcastle Casino. POP

North By North, Red Brick Bar. ROCK

Shane Smith & The Saints, Tower Theatre. FOLK

Sushii, Farmers Public Market. ELECTRONIC

SINGER/SONGWRITER

METAL

COUNTRY

The Sunday Flyers, Bedlam Bar-B-Q. ROCK Them Evils/Costanzas/Klamz, Blue Note Lounge.

ROCK

Uncle Blue, Fuel Bar & Grill. BLUES Wight Lighters, Bluebonnet Bar. ROCK

Sunday, Apr. 22 Blacktop Mojo, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK Bowling for Soup, Tower Theatre. POP Chih-Long Hu, All Souls Episcopal Church.

PIANO

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.

Direct Connect Band, Elmer’s Uptown. BLUES

go to okgazette.com for full listings!

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puzzles 1

New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle TRIPLE SPOONERISMS

By Patrick Berry | Puzzles Edited by Will Shortz | 0408

ACROSS 1 Anesthetic of old 6 Forcefully remove 12 Very good, as a job 18 Purple candy’s flavor, often 19 Sea-dwelling 21 Things a spy may have many of 23 Stares slack-jawed 24 What caused the nosebleed on

the playground?

26 Sponsor of U.S. Olympic swimmers 28 Ball hit for fielding practice 29 Burro’s call 30 Tagline in an ad for Elmer’s Glue-Ale? 35 Holiday-song closer 36 Bygone channel that aired

Veronica Mars 37 Chill in the cooler 38 Finish filming 40 Gets up 43 Bernadette of Broadway 45 Succumb to sleepiness 50 High-flown, as writing 52 Big ox 53 Discreet attention-getter 57 Lash with a bullwhip 58 Deliberative bodies 60 Description of a yeti?

63 Parodied 65 Capacitate 66 Tip jar fillers 67 Novice parasailer’s fear?

73 Ingredient in a Roy Rogers 74 Coarse 75 What a Möbius strip lacks 76 Containers for electric guitars?

80 They’re easy to take 85 Unfamiliar 86 Quite a few 87 It hangs around the neck 89 Sandwich with Russian dressing 90 One-room apartment, to Brits 92 Motifs 95 Like the questions in 20 Questions 96 Very worst 99 Law & Order actor Jerry 101 Sealer for sailors?

102 Drawbacks 106 Best place to buy a platter of

fruit-flavored sodas?

111 Square footage

112 Bishop’s headgear 113 Paradisiacal 114 Mend fences after Caesar’s civil war?

120 Maker of PowerShot cameras 122 Apathetic response to “What’s new?”

123 Leave behind 124 Something to live by 125 Market offerings 126 Trick-taking game 127 Napoleon Dynamite star Jon DOWN 1 Easter ____ 2 It’s a bunch of garbage 3 Discovers by chance 4 Pentathlon items 5 Complete policy overhaul, in D.C.-speak 6 1987 action film originally

given an X rating for violence 7 Winter driving hazard 8 Shell-game object 9 Cooper’s wood 10 Game with 108 cards 11 Small scraps 12 Hedgehog predator 13 Second, or worse 14 Quibble 15 Dresses 16 There’s enormous interest in it 17 Nut in pralines 20 Caddie’s selection 22 ____ terrier 25 From scratch 27 Fizzler 30 Lays down the lawn?

31 Classic seller of compilation albums 32 Seek moolah from 33 Alphabet ender 34 According to 39 Cal ____ 41 Setting for a period piece 42 Instrument whose name

means “three strings” 44 What shopaholics do 46 The Martian star 47 Long-armed climber, for short 48 Joins 49 Own (up) 51 Kick out 54 Dance akin to the jitterbug

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55 Prized Siberian animal 56 Bathroom floor, often 59 Podcast that won a 2014

Peabody Award 61 Detectives run them down 62 More rare, perhaps 64 Resonator guitar 67 John Kennedy ____, author of A Confederacy of Dunces 68 Charlton Heston title role 69 Aids in golf course maintenance 70 Irrefutable point 71 Play at maximum volume 72 R&B’s ____ Brothers 73 Sideways scuttler 77 Cutlet?

78 Life Itself memoirist Roger 79 Swahili for “lion”

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110 Drum-kit component 115 Lab coat?

116 FISA warrant objective 117 Genetic macromolecule 118 Unmatched 119 One of the Three Stooges 121 Winner of the most medals at

the 2018 Winter Olympics: Abbr.

81 Actor’s last line, maybe 82 Stayed sober 83 Rules for forming sentences 84 Mock sound of disinterest 88 Exhausted 91 Tufted songbirds 93 Sweetie 94 Multiplex count 97 Dark-meat options 98 Jimmy’s Late Night successor 100 Deceived 102 “High Hopes” lyricist Sammy 103 Snacks in stacks 104 Opposite of o’er 105 Frida star Hayek 107 Spanakopita ingredient 108 Ones who grasp elbows in

greeting, by tradition

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New York Times Crossword Puzzle answers Puzzle No. 0401, which appeared in the April 11 issue.

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Stumped? Call 1-900-285-5656 to get the answers to any three clues by phone ($1.20 a minute).

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3701 N. Shartel Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73118-7102 Phone (405) 528-6000 Fax (405) 528-4600 www.okgazette.com Copyright © 2018 Tierra Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

free will astrology Homework: It’s easy to see fanaticism, rigidity, and intolerance in other people, but harder to acknowledge them in yourself. Do you dare?

Testify at Freewillastrology.com.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) In the early history of

the automobile, electric engines were more popular and common than gasoline-powered engines. They were less noisy, dirty, smelly, and difficult to operate.

It’s too bad that thereafter the technology for gasoline cars developed at a faster rate than the technology for electric cars. By the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, the petroleum-suckers were in ascendance. They have remained so ever since, playing a significant role in our world’s ongoing environmental degradation. Moral of the story: Sometimes the original idea or the early model or the first try is better.

According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you should consider applying this hypothesis to your current state of affairs.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) The Chesapeake Bay is

a fertile estuary that teems with life. It’s 200 miles long and holds 18 trillion gallons of water. More than 150 streams and rivers course into its drainage basin. And yet it’s relatively shallow. If you’re six feet tall, you could wade through over a thousand square miles of its mix of fresh and salt water without getting your hat wet. I see this place as an apt metaphor for your life in the coming weeks: an expanse of flowing fecundity that is vast but not so deep that you’ll get overwhelmed.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) You’ll soon arrive at a

pressure-packed turning point. You’ll stand poised at a pivotal twist of fate where you must trust your intuition to reveal the differences between smart risks and careless gambles. Are you willing to let your half-naked emotions show? Will you have the courage to be brazenly loyal to your deepest values? I won’t wish you luck, because how the story evolves will be fueled solely by your determination, not by accident or happenstance. You will know you’re in a good position to solve the Big Riddles if they feel both scary and fun.

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Health

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Strong softness is one of your specialties. So are empathetic rigor, creative responsiveness, and daring acts of nurturing. Now is a perfect time to summon and express all of these qualities with extra flair. If you do, your influence will exceed its normal quotas. Your ability to heal and inspire your favorite people will be at a peak. So I hereby invite you to explore the frontiers of aggressive receptivity. Wield your courage and power with a fierce vulnerability. Be tenderly sensitive as an antidote to any headstrong lovelessness you encounter.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) In 1973, Pink Floyd released

the album The Dark Side of the Moon. Since then, it has been on various Billboard charts for over 1,700 weeks, and has sold more than 45 million copies. Judging from the astrological aspects coming to bear on you, Leo, I suspect you could create or produce a beautiful thing with a similar staying power in the next five months. What vitalizing influence would you like to have in your life for at least the next 30 years?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) I beg you to take a break

sometime soon. Give yourself permission to indulge in a vacation or recess or sabbatical. Wander away on a leave of absence. Explore the mysteries of a siesta blended with a fiesta. If you don’t grant yourself this favor, I may be forced to bark “Chill out, dammit!” at you until you do. Please don’t misunderstand my intention here. The rest of us appreciate the way you’ve been attending to the complicated details that are too exacting for us. But we can also see that if you don’t ease up, there will soon be diminishing returns. It’s time to return to your studies of relaxing freedom.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Singer-songwriter Roy

Orbison achieved great success in the 1960s, charting 22 songs on the Billboard Top 40. But his career declined after that. Years later, in 1986, filmmaker David Lynch asked him for the right to use his tune “In Dreams” for the movie Blue Velvet. Orbison denied the request, but Lynch incorporated the tune anyway.

Surprise! Blue Velvet was nominated for an Academy Award and played a big role in reviving Orbison’s fame.

Later the singer came to appreciate not only the career boost, but also Lynch’s unusual aesthetic, testifying that the film gave his song an “otherworldly quality that added a whole new dimension.” Now let’s meditate on how this story might serve as a parable for your life.

Was there an opportunity that you once turned down but will benefit from anyway? Or is there a current opportunity that maybe you shouldn’t turn down, even if it seems odd?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) You’ve been to the Land of No Return and back more than anyone. But soon you’ll be visiting a remote enclave in this realm that you’re not very familiar with. I call it the Mother Lode of Sexy Truth. It’s where tender explorers go when they must transform outworn aspects of their approach to partnership and togetherness. On the eve of your quest, shall we conduct an inventory of your capacity to outgrow your habitual assumptions about relationships? No, let’s not. That sounds too stiff and formal. Instead, I’ll simply ask you to strip away any falseness that interferes with vivacious and catalytic intimacy.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) In 1824, two British explorers climbed a mountain in southwestern Australia. They were hoping to get a sweeping view of Port Phillip Bay, on which the present-day city of Melbourne is located. But when they reached the top, their view was largely obstructed by trees. Out of perverse spite, they decided to call the peak Mount Disappointment, a name it retains to this day. I suspect you may soon have your own personal version of an adventure that falls short of your expectations. I hope -- and also predict -- that your experience won’t demoralize you, but will rather mobilize you to attempt a new experiment that ultimately surpasses your original expectations.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Capricorn rock

musician Lemmy Kilmister bragged that he swigged a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey every day from 1975 to 2013. While I admire his dedication to inducing altered states of consciousness, I can’t recommend such a

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the big losers of World War I, which ended in 1919. By accepting the terms of the Versailles Treaty, it agreed to pay reparations equivalent to 96,000 tons of gold.

Not until 2010, decades after the war, did Germany finally settle its bill and fulfill its obligation. I’m sure your own big, long-running debt is nowhere near as big or as long-running as that one, Aquarius. But you will nonetheless have reason to be ecstatic when you finally discharge it. And according to my reading of the astrological omens, that could and should happen sometime soon. (P.S. The “debt” could be emotional or spiritual rather than financial.)

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) “I would rather have a drop of luck than a barrel of brains,” said the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes. Fortunately, that’s not a choice you will have to face in the coming weeks, Pisces. According to my reading of the cosmic signs, your brain will be working with even greater efficiency and ingenuity than it usually does. Meanwhile, a stronger-than-expected flow of luck will be swirling around in your vicinity. One of your main tasks will be to harness your enhanced intelligence to take shrewd advantage of the good fortune.

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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strategy for you. But I will love it if you undertake a more disciplined crusade to escape numbing routines and irrelevant habits in the next four weeks. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will have a special knack for this practical art.

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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

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